Happy Halloween!

Here is my October ATC.  The theme for our international ATC group was symmetry.  I got my inspiration thinking about kaleidoscopes and hence here is my end product.  I totally did this digitally.  Happy Halloween!

Mourning Dove

Mourning Dove

It is funny how all these years I thought that the mourning dove was morning dove.  Not so!  I guess I thought that because it seems that I always heard them in the morning or perhaps I just made that assumption.

This spread did not scan to perfection for some reason.  I like holding the signature better which is one of the signatures in my RR group.  I am way ahead of the game on finishing this one.  It does not have to be done and moved on until December.  That means that I only have one more signature to complete and this RR is finished except for the cover and binding. I am anxious to see all the finished pieces, but I will have to wait until January to get mine back.

Renaissance Woman Postcard #17, #18, #19 - Series End

This is the end of the Renaissance Women Postcard series.  All the cards have been mailed and now they stand on their own scattering across the world to a new home.  I am kind of reminded about the life cycle of spiders.  They are nested and nurtured and then one day they let go with their spinnerets to the wind and float to a new place to continue the cycle of life.  There the resemblance may end or perhaps something is sparked by the receiver to create something new to send on.  Many of my art friends like Connie Rose and Terry Garrett are like the spider sending out postcards and other mail art once one is received.

Renaissance Woman Postcard #17

Renaissance Woman Postcard #18

Renaissance Woman Postcard #19

Renaissance Woman Series Postcards #13, #14, #15, #16

Renaissance Woman Postcard #13

Renaissance Woman Postcard #14

Renaissance Woman Postcard #15

Renaissance Woman Postcard #16

I find it interesting that the CitraSolv papers provide exciting night and/or stormy skies.  Perhaps #13 above should have been set in a location where the aurora borealis exists.  Parts of the sky look like there might be lightning and also reflection from the lights of the city.  The light is more a modern night light than what would have been in Renaissance times.  #14 has what might be a moon.  I could get lost in my thinking of what might be.  I use to do that looking at clouds when I was a kid.

Renaissance Woman Postcard #9, #10, #11, and #12

Renaissance Woman Postcard #9

Renaissance Postcard #10

Renaissance Woman Postcard #11

Renaissance Woman Postcard #12

When I started the postcards for mail art I thought 10 would be plenty and as it turns out the final number is 20.  So I have seven more to upload and then this series is done.  I actually have loved matching the CitraSolv papers with other Italian ephemera and the Renaissance portraits to create collages.  Not all portraits go with all the individual CitraSolv papers.  It has been quite a task to find Renaissance women to fit each, again not all have gone with just any scene and background.  I have also discovered that I have actually created something old with something new in each of the pieces.
For instance, the woman in #12 really goes with the church but the actual face of the portrait contrasts perfectly in the new composition and the something new, the satellite completes the piece.

Italian Landscape and Renaissance Woman Postcard #7 and #8

Italian Landscape

My partner likes Italian Landscape so much that he asked for it for Christmas.  Yesterday I went hunting for frames and discovered that the matting I got at a garage sale and some frames at Michael's would work perfectly.  Since my Christmas gift is a trip to LA to attend Orly and Seth's workshop in February, I could not wait to give Tim his present as I got my ticket to Long Beach yesterday.  Italian Landscape reminds me of Starry Night under an Italian night sky.  Although it is a simple collage, only two pieces, it is one of my favorites as well.

I was going to play a joke on Tim and make a Renaissance Woman postcard out of it.  Scanning is a wonderful tool which allowed me to do just that.  I did not play the joke though.  Postcard #7 is the result of the attempt at the joke though.

Renaissance Woman Postcard #7

Renaissance Woman Postcard #8

One of the next themes for the international ATC group that I belong to is Something Old and Something New.  I think I have the captured in my Renaissance Women Postcard collection.

Renaissance Woman Postcard #5 and #6

Renaissance Woman Postcard #5

I just love the whimsicalness of these two pieces.  The lemon from an ad just seemed like the perfect sun for both.

Renaissance Woman Postcard #6

Renaissance Women Postcards #3 and #4

 

 

Postcard # 3

Postcard # 4

And so we continue with two more Renaissance women.  I wonder what these women might think knowing that space ships are circling the world.  I really am in love with creating narrative pieces without regard to remaining in a specific period.  To me it is kind of like time traveling which as a kid I thought would be just marvelous.  Heck even as a senior I think it would be marvelous!


Renaissance Women Postcards #1 and #2

 

Renaissance Woman Postcard #1

Renaissance Woman Postcard #2

Our last project for Randel Plowman's online class is to create mail art postcards to send to those class members who choose to do the project.  I love getting art mail, so this was a no brainer for me.  Of course I would say yes to the project.  It is wide open as to what we can do.  Most likely participants will create 5 x 7 inch cards using the skills learned in the class.




I have plenty of CitraSolv papers and so I have started ten cards using those papers.  I am not sure yet how many takers there are on the project but there were 25 people in the class.  Not everyone will be involved in the mail art.  Lots of people do not have the time I am sure.

 

 

Since I am trying to learn more and more Photoshop skills I scanned each part of the postcard before adhering the parts to the original postcard.  I am trying new things digitally.  I love being able to audition compositions.  Not sure why I am on a Renaissance kick but I am.  Watch for more postcards in the coming days.

 

Oh, here is one skills I tried today in Photoshop......

Renaissance Woman Ghost

I used a grey scale mapping tool on one layer, I think! 

 



Coral Renaissance

Coral Renaissance

I totally worked out of my color comfort zone on this signature spread which is heading home to its owner in January.  Sadly I will only get to see it online or in Photoshop as it belongs now to a member in my RR journal group.  The left portion of the signature folds in and I have to complete the space on the other side of the fold to lead the viewer into this spread.  I do love the coral color but I have no idea why I chose it or the Renaissance theme.  It is another one of those pieces that took a life of its own.

Savannah

Savannah

Savannah took all week to complete as I tried different images to finish the piece and none were quite right.  I found the man yesterday afternoon and he was a good fit with the exception of one thing.  I was a bit disturbed by the lack of sun on the leopard.  If the light source was from the bottom left side of the piece wouldn't the leopard have more sun on its body?  Then I got to thinking maybe there is another tree in the foreground out of site.  So I am happy again!

I used a CitraSolv paper, tissue paper, collage materials, and Photoshop on this piece.  The African map is tissue papered over a yellow ranunculus.  After cutting out the man I scanned him and added him and the tree to the collage using Photoshop.  My plan is to do a transfer of the tree and collage the man onto the substrate today. Everything else has already been adhered. It sure is nice to audition a piece in Photoshop first!

Masai Warrior

Masai Warrior

I had a hoot of a time yesterday!  The Masai Warrior is the result. My intention was to just learn the technique.  The mosquito, the tree and the colors were all added.  Then the warrior was last.  I had not thought of a composition but it evolved.  Would I do things differently next time?  Yes, I have a plan, but for a first effort I learned a great deal.

In Randel Plowman's online class last weekend we learned how to do transfers using digital ground.  It was a very time intensive project that was absolutely fun!  The time issue is that you just have to be patience and wait.  The actual time on the project is not overly intensive.  If you have never used digital ground it is way cool technique.

All you do is paint the digital ground on an overhead transparency horizontally and let it dry.  Paint one more time in a vertical direction and again let it dry but this time overnight. 

In the mean time get your images ready to print.  Using an inkjet printer, print the images  right on the digital ground side of the transparency.  To apply the images, moisten the substrate and then burnish the images.  It takes some getting use to, but I guarantee a good time.

Northwest Collage Society Art Show

Two pieces I completed over the past year have been juried into the Northwest Collage Society Art Show.  The show opens tomorrow, October 17, 2013.  Here is the pertinent information on the show.....

 

The Northwest Collage Society Fall Exhibit at Edmonds Conference Center - Oct. 15 - Dec. 6, 2013

Opening Reception Thursday, Oct. 17, 5 - 8 p.m.

201 Fourth Ave N.
Edmonds, WA 98020
425-640-1808
www.edmondsconferencecenter.com

Hours:
Mon, Wed & Thurs: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Tuesday: 9 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Friday: 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Italian Gothic

The story on this piece is that two gentlemen farmers who lived on adjacent farms in the Italian countryside fell in love.  One was married to a woman and the other was not.  They lived on their farms until their deaths.  (You can add your own details.)  Hence, the name, Italian Gothic!  I was thinking about placing a pitchfork in the collage for awhile and decided to leave it out!  American Gothic already has that prop!

 



Babaji

Babaji honors the film Bend It Like Beckham.  I just love that film and can not tell you how many times I have watched it.  My Babaji is different than the one in the film, but I can imagine the respect he would command.

Journal making - a la Carla Sonheim

Last May, Carla Sonheim offered an online class in journal making and purses.  I was not interested in the purse part but I was curious about the journals.  The journals were to be made out of scrap material and sewn.  I have a bunch of fabric from my 95 year old mother and so finally last week I got the machine out and began the class about six months late.  No matter!  I love how the journals are put together and if you want to take the class, it might become available from Carla  once again... http://www.carlasonheim.com/store/.

I sent one of the journals to my friend, Irene, in southern California who recently had a birthday.  Irene loves to go to Starbuck's and journal.  Here is a photo taken by her of her new journal.

Announcement - The Mixed-Media Artist

Seth Apter's latest book, The Mixed-Media Artist is being shipped by the publisher today.  This is pretty exciting for me as I have three pieces (one partial) with some collage tips in his book.  My friend Brian Kasstle  http://apaperbear.wordpress.com/ also has work in Seth's book. 

Here is what is included by me:



Harriet

I will tell you about Harriet later in the week.



Old and New Friends Meet 

What if the artists Donatello, Caravaggio, Michelangelo, and da Vinci could travel through time to the 1980’s?  Who would they have wanted to meet?  It might be Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Keith Haring, and Andy Warhol.  My collage, Old and New Friends Meet, honors all eight artists who I find highly inspiring and who might just have had more in common with each other than you might think.  A little research proved that.  Can you find the major clue in this piece to let you in on a little secret?

The background of this piece shares small tidbits of each artist’s style.  Remember how Warhol became famous for the Campbell’s soup can paintings or Keith Haring’s genius of painting in the subways of New York?  His iconic influences are there as well.  Jasper John’s shared Old Glory in a new way and Rauschenberg would have created a collage using all of these artists’ symbols and more.

 

Italian Gothic (center of the triptych)

 



Italian Gothic (complete piece)

More on Italian Gothic later this week.

Everything is Possible in Your Imagination

Everything is Possible in Your Imagination

I love how disparate things can go so well together.  Plopping a Roman statue down in the middle of the desert seems to work.  I have been pondering this piece all week.  I was thinking that I needed something more.  In this Randel Plowman activity we were to use CitraSolv papers in our works.  I love how the sky turned out and decided against hiding the blue portion with additional ephemera.  I have a narrative about the little girl who is reading.  She escapes to other worlds through books.  I did that as a child myself....still do.

Florentine Flights

Florentine Flights

In Randel Plowman's online class that I am presently taking we were challenged to create CitraSolv papers and then make collages that were 7 x 8 inches.  Throughout this class we have been creating pieces using tracing paper printed images, and using images attached with matte medium and matte medium with varnish.  Now we are free to use learned techniques and the CitraSolv papers.  I had made CitraSolv papers previously so I have a stack and used them.   This piece went over the 7 x 8 recommended size because the ephemera dictated the extension.  I tried limiting the bird's wing and the tower to the size and it just did not look like what I was trying to achieve.  Usually I like the eye to complete the piece even when that means cropping beyond the boundaries.  Not this time.  I am planning on using this image on a journal cover.

Juicy Juicy Mangoes

Juicy Juicy Mangoes

I started my third signature for my three signature journal which will include the signature from Orly Avineri's past summer class and the RR signature that is circling. I want to bind the journal in January when the RR is returned to me. Juicy Juicy Mangoes is a reference from the film Bend It Like Beckham.  I absolutely love the vibrant colors of India which was also an inspiration for this piece.

In the latest issue of Cloth Paper Scissors there are references to using gouache with gesso to create a slate like writing surface.  I intended to write something on that surface but backed away from doing that this morning as I thought the piece complete without writing.  I did not want to take away from the lush color.

Lost in Thought and Ostrich

Lost in Thought

I love reusing images that I used in other works.  The girl was used in a piece I did months ago for a narrative about the French underground.

Ostrich

I just fell in love with this ostrich.  I found her on an old postcard that I got at a garage sale.  These two works are the last of the series of ten.

The Stroller and Curious Nature

The Stroller

Curious Nature

These are #5 and #6 in my latest series (not posted in numerical order).  What do you suppose the woman and the cow are looking at in Curious Nature?

Fleurs and They Walk in Their Fathers' Shoes

Fleurs

Somehow this guy is expected to be like all the others his age.  Maybe his heart is just not in being anything other than himself!  Will he survive or bend to the will of others?  You decide.

They Walk in Their Fathers' Shoes

There is a ghost image behind each man which represents their fathers.  The two gentlemen have big shoes to live up to as they make their way in the world.  Perhaps they are television executives and are expected to achieve at least what their fathers achieved and maybe more.

Batter,Batter and Marm

The next two pieces in the series of ten 4 x 5 inch collages with the emphasis on background, middle ground, and foreground using tracing paper images in the middle ground.  Each of these works has a final layer of colored matte varnish.

Questions arise with these two pieces.  In Batter, Batter, does the batter have a monkey on his back.  Has he been in a slump for some reason?  What could that reason be?

Batter, Batter!

Would  you have wanted to be taught by this woman?  I think her ruler might have ruled the day!  I can't imagine you would take advantage of this woman's sense of right or wrong.

Marm