Party Like It's Mardi Gras

Stephen's World of Colors book (from the Kindred Souls group) landed in my mailbox last week, and seeing his color choices (purple and gold) just made me think of the jewel tones of mardi gras.  I began by painting my page black, knowing that would make his colors pop.  Then came the search for images.  I'm sure many of you get Somerset Studios magazine.  You know those free art papers that they put inside for our use?  Well, I usually pull them out and save them in a folder, and that's where I found the two partiers.  Don't know which issue they were in, but the page is called Bohemian Souls.  I printed it in black and white and colored the characters with pastel crayons, inks, markers, stains, paint, etc. And altered the costumes a bit more with stencils and sparkly bits.   Here they are, dancing the night away with great abandon.

 

 

Before glueing them down, I decorated the black page with stencils and doodling, in various shades of gold and purple.  Then I found some sari ribbon for the "curtain" above.  The ribbons photographed kind of blue and brown, but they are purple and gold. 

 

The quote is a rubber stamp I've had for about six years or so....I purchased it at the first stamp expo I ever attended (along with a few MANY others), and sadly have no idea who manufactured it.  It was one of those unmounted inexpensive stamps you often find at those shows, piled together in a shoebox.  I've used it before, and have always appreciated the sentiment.

 

A closer look at the dancing duo:

 



 

The backs of the pages in this round robin are kept fairly simple, just containing our information.

 

 

 

Gold paper, and the rays are a Julie Fei-Fan Balzer stencil, with Wendy Vecchi's gold embossing paste applied over it.  More doodling with glaze pens, souffle pens and gel pens, a little bling in the center, and that's it.





A Perfect Threesome

Did that get your attention?  No, not a description of my weekend, but the combination of stencils, deli wrap, and a gelli plate. 

I was first introduced to the joys of using deli wrap as a substrate by the wonderful Anne Bagby, and I've been hooked ever since.  Later on, I noticed that Julie Fei-Fan Balzer was using it a lot, especially with her gelli plate.  I signed up for her online  gelli plate class (IMO a steal at only $15), and fell in love with the deli wrap all over again.

Last weekend I spent a very happy couple of hours churning out one design after another.  Just experimenting with different stencils and color combinations, not overthinking (truth be told, not thinking at all), and I now have a big stack that will be used as backgrounds, torn up for collages, and who knows what else.

Most of the stencils I used are from Stencil Girls.  I recently joined their stencil club, which gives me three stencils a month (that are exclusive to the club members) and access to MaryBeth Shaw's instructional videos.

For the most part, I used very inexpensive acrylic paint, including cheapo metallics.  A drop of Golden's fluid acrylics here and there, but mainly this is not only low tech, but low cost.  The only thing you might not already have is the gelli plate itself.  Trust me, you will enjoy using it.



The Sketchbook Project, 2013 Edition

This is my third year of submitting a book to the Sketchbook Project, and it was a close call. Life really got in the way and I wasn't sure I'd get it in the mail on time, but I did. And I got the confirmation email that it was received and catalogued. I look forward to visiting the library in the spring with my also participating friends to see as many books as possible. I have many online art friends I may never get to meet, but every year I do get to enjoy their sketchbooks.

I had chosen the theme "Travelog" because I envisioned doing sketches and watercolors wherever I went. Trouble is, I really didn't go many places and didn't do too much sketching. However, I did take a lot of classes, go on several retreats, and made a lot of art. So I transformed my book into a travelog of my projects.

My original cover (no picture) was of passport stamps but I covered that with a collage made of scraps from many of the things I did.

 

 

 

The inside of the front cover lists key words in my artistic journey:

 

 

My travels were more mental and emotional than physical (I didn't get much further than NJ and CT), but travels they were.

This was a crayon resist experiment that could have gone better, but it taught me something, so not a failure at all.

 

 

A class with Dina Wakley inspired me to do more bird paintings at home.  (This should really be the last photo, but since blogger has been giving me fits for two days, I'm leaving well enough alone, and it can stay where it landed.)

 

 

 Learning a bit about zentangling was something I very much enjoyed.

 

 Making stamps from a variety of materials, including this foamy type stuff:

 

 I did try to sketch an everyday object now and then:

 

Lettering classes with Joanne Sharpe, both in person and online really did improve my writing: 



I took a wonderful class with Doreen Kassel.  We made animal ornaments by covering plain glass ones with polymer clay, adding features, baking them, then painting them with oils.  Since I couldn't include one in the sketchbook, I did my best to draw one that I did.  I LOVE this little bird!

 

 



 

The workshops I've taken with Lynne Perrella and Ann Bagby have been a great influence.  I am mad for stencils! 

 

What I learned from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is how a very simple hand carved stamp can be used in many ways on different surfaces:

 

 

An example of how I've learned to incorporate scraps from projects into a new piece, and how stenciling is one way to blend them into a cohesive work.

 

These pages are just a sampling of what I've been doing this year, but I didn't have time to include every class, every project, every experiment.  Or every wonderful teacher!  Seth Apter, Laurie Mika, Leighanna Light, Michelle Ward, Michael DeMeng, Sandra Koterba, Dyan Reaveley, Ingrid Dijkers, and Dawn DeVries Sokol all taught me so much, and I wish I had had the time to do pages in my sketchbook to prove that point.

 

 

 

OMG, Don't Tell Me I Have A New Art Obsession!

Yep, it's true.  I do.  At least it's not one that requires electronics, toxic chemicals or other expensive/dangerous supplies.  It's stamp carving and I AM HOOKED!

Last Saturday I went downtown for Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's awesome stamp carving class, sponsored by The Ink Pad, and held in Westbeth's awesome Community Room.

You know that art friends are the best friends, so this was even more fun because I went with two of my best buds, Heidi and Pat.

Here is a photo I swiped right off of Julie's blog. (Please click on Julie's highlighted name above to visit her wonderful blog and read her take on the class). That's Pat, me, and Heidi very busy carving away:



Julie taught us a very cool three step process for producing stamped images that look very much like screen prints.  All you need is the carving material and the tools, all of them very reasonably priced.  You print with the paints and inks you already have, so no special items needed there.

Basically you draw or transfer the same exact image on three separate carving blocks, and cut away different parts on each.  I won't give any more details than that.  You really should try to take Julie's class if this interests you.  She's funny, talented, and a very thorough teacher.

I will show you one of the stamps, just so you get an idea of what it looks like.

Maybe it doesn't look like much, but when combined with the other two stamps, I think it produces a pretty neat image.

My second set of stamps were of a sort of weedy looking plant.

When I got home I printed a series and put it together to create this wall hanging.  I think repetitions like this are nice and dramatic.





And now I think I need to order some more carving blocks.  As obsessions go, this one is pretty sane.