Better Late Than Never, Part 1

Or so I've been told. It's been nearly two months since my return from the annual Keys4Art retreat where I meet up with my art pals from around the country to hang out, share projects, and relax and have fun. Every day since then, I've resolved to update this poor neglected blog, and every day I've failed to do so. Today is gray and chilly and potentially rainy, so I am staying in and am determined!

We rented the same house as last year, which is awesome; huge and on the water. With a view of the ocean and glorious sunrises. Which, I believe I was the only one to ever witness. One of the perks of being an early riser.

As usual, we arrived to a house already prepped for art; floors and rented tables covered with paper, and a big pile of gifts at each seat. Thank you Elena and Jacquie for your hard work, cherished friendship, and never ending generosity.

And I know there was more. Pens, brushes, glue, and lots of other small items that I probably started using and put away before I could take a picture.

And yes, you saw correctly. Elena got each of us a Canon Selfy (portable printer). It works on wifi, so no computer is necessary, and we were able to print out pictures to immediately include in our journals. How cool is that!

It has also been our tradition to bring gifts for everyone. Although we never discussed it, back in 2010, our first retreat, when we really didn't know one another, everyone brought something for everyone else. Art minds think alike, I guess. Anyway, we have always done the same. It could be something handmade, something purchased, something simple or something elaborate. We all have different circumstances and no one is expected to do anything in particular. We all do what we can with what we have, and it's always good.

From Daisy:

Art Mix and What's Your Name Mix from Jen:

Great tags from Sue and Maritere:

Polymer clay heart (thanks to Laurie Mika for the inspiration!) from me:

Other gifts came in the way of very generous amounts of supplies for the classes some of us taught. More on that later.

One way that this year's retreat was very different is that we decided we needed more time to do things other than art. After all, it is March in southern Florida. Why stay indoors all the time? We did a fabulous eco boat tour of the Everglades. There are enough of us that we needed two boats.

That's enough for today. More, much more to come. Another excursion, lots of silliness (in other words, karaoke and photobooth madness), good food, and plenty of art. 

F

DLP 2015, Week 10 -- Make Your Mark

The Documented Life Project
March Theme
Making Your Mark (Doodles & Mark Making)
March 7
Art Challenge:  As A Layer Element
Journal Prompt:  Surviving the Elements

It seems to me that everything I put on paper is a mark, so I just went out of my way to include as many mark making techniques as I could think of.

First mark, paint. Fluid acrylics, to be exact, plopped on the paper and then quickly spread out with a baby wipe. (Learned that technique from Dyan Reaveley, and I love it. What a time saver!)

Next, some drips and splatters of watered down paint, followed by scribbling (more on that in a sec).

For the scribbling, I mixed equal parts of black fluid acrylic paint and airbrush medium, and used this handy little tool.

At this point I got too into the adding of marks and stopped taking photos at each step. Some of the things I used: Portfolio oil pastels, stencils with ink and with paint and also with embossing paste, rubber stamps, bubble wrap, pencils, markers, mica powders.....like I said, just about everything. And that was just on the background.

I also dug out my never ending supply of gelli print scraps, went to the sewing machine, and sewed some wonky flower and leaf shapes. These I cut out, in addition to some minus the stitches. And this crazy garden was born.

The journal prompt is "surviving the elements," and all I could think of is how cold and snowy this winter was, and how looking forward to seeing a flower instead of a snowdrift I am. 

Here are some closer looks. And if they aren't close enough, just click on them. Hopefully, enlarging them won't result in a blurry mess, which has been known to happen.

This was fun for me, because it's not really typical of what I normally do, and the colors are certainly brighter than my usual choices. Which means I operated at least a bit out of my comfort zone, and that's the whole point of these challenges, isn't it? 

DLP 2015 -- Week 9 -- Gimme 5!

The Documented Life Project
February Theme: Layers You Will Love
Week 9 Art Challenge: Use at least 5 layers
Week 9 Prompt: Give Me High Five

I started with this mess of a collage -- random torn and cut scraps from various gelli prints.

I'm thinking this probably counts as five layers already, since each and every scrap had several layers, and the scraps overlapped. But no worries, I added plenty more. Stencils, sprays, embossing paste, crackle paste, ink, paint, and even a few rub-ons for good measure. This piece is all about the texture.

My nod to the prompt was a scattering of 5s and a few hands (hands, high fivc, get it?). Truth be told, layering is something that happens in everything I do, so I'm looking forward to the new theme for March. March? Is it really March? There's half a foot of fresh snow on the ground. March. Seriously.

The Sketchbook Project, 2015

I participated in The Sketchbook Project in 2011, 2012, and 2013. I skipped last year, but signed up again for 2015. It's a crazy thing. Folks from all over send in $25 to receive a small blank sketchbook. They fill it up, following a very few rules, and then send it back. Just like a rock star, the book goes on tour, and then is retired permanently to a sweet little library in Brooklyn, New York. Who would do such a thing? Buy a book, work in it, and then send it on its way never to get it back? Only about 70,000 people, including yours truly, that's who. Anyway, to learn more about it, including the tour schedule, click on the link above.

When you sign up for the project you can pick a topic, although how it is interpreted is up to the artist. In other words, anything goes. I selected "iconology," for no better reason than I like the sound of the word.
I had no other thoughts in mind at the time, but ultimately decided that one way or another The Statue of Liberty would play a part. It is, after all, an icon, it is in New York City, and so am I. It also happens to be one of my favorite things, and Lady Liberty sometimes finds her way into my own little creations.

It then occured to me that it would be fun to do a little visual mash-up of Ms. Liberty and some other iconic images. Here is my completed book, soon to be on its way to Brooklyn. Which tickles me, as Brooklyn is where I was born and raised.

All sketched (except for the cover image, which is a rubber stamp) with a Micron pen and lightly colored with watercolors. And did I mention how much fun this was to do?