Home

Monday, March 30, 2015

Teabag Series 07, 08, and 09

Teabag Series 07

Teabag Series 08

Teabag Series 09
I especially like No. 09.  I have a soft spot in my heart for anything Asian having lived in Japan for two years.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Teabag Series 04, 05,and 06

Teabag Series 04

Teabag Series 05

Teabag Series 06
Three more in the series.....I suppose I should have waited to post this series until the ATCs were received in the mail.  Since my energy level has been severely diminished over the past two weeks I feel lucky to have anything to post.  I know everyone will understand especially because they do not know which one they will be getting.  So there is still that surprise. :-)

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Teabag Series 01, 02, and 03

Teabag Series 01

Teabag Series 02

Teabag Series 03
In my international ATC group for April our task was to use tea bags in some form.  I used not only tea bags but the inside of security envelopes to add to the design of each.  I only needed to make seven but ended up making eleven.  More soon!

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Columbia Hotel

Columbia Hotel
It seems like forever that I have posted anything.  In fact, I have not been creating much as I have been ill.  I had the flu and a cold for the past ten days.  Most of my time has been energy-less.  I am the aging old man who probably needed to slow down and smell the flowers a little more but didn't. Instead I have been pushing myself perhaps a bit too much.  Hence,  I got run down and that is the way of it.

Columbia Hotel has been in the works for quite awhile.  There are so many layers to this I have forgotten the number.  The first layer began with paint and then random words cut from magazines were collaged....more paint and stenciling and ephemera.  The photos were found amongst my father's belongings.  I imagine either he or his mother and grandmother visited this town in California in the 20's and 30's.

I have imagined a story of the proprietress, Maude, having many scandalous stories to tell about the happenings at this hotel.  Only the blackbirds know the truth now!

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Valentine on St. Patrick's Day!

Valentine 2015
I downloaded photos from my camera this morning and found a Valentine I made for a friend.  How appropriate is it to post a valentine on St. Patrick's day.  Better late than never I guess!   This was a pocket valentine with a little surprise sewn inside.  I wonder if my valentine found it?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  We have already celebrated with corned beef, briny carrots, and mashed potatoes!  I am off to the store this morning to see if they have any soda bread.  :-)

Monday, March 16, 2015

Pulse Project



I have three pieces in this show which opens March 25.  What a busy time framing, packing, shipping, and anticipating the opening!  I wish I could be there but Connecticut is a long way from Washington state.  Seth Apter has included one piece by each artist in his announcement of the show on his blog.  Here is the link:
 http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-artists-from-pulse-project.html

Sunday, March 15, 2015

And the Winner Is?

And the Winner Is?
Someone seems to be less pleased with this situation than the other.  Just who is the winner in this story?

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Target

Target
This piece gave me a bit of a grief.  I started it a few weeks ago.  Then Friday I decided to finish it.  I hymned and hawed.  I fretted.  It just was not coming together as a finished piece.  I liked it to a point but my usual go tos to finish just did not seem right.  Then I had an aha moment just before bed last night. Why not put an arrow over the gentlemen's legs?  It was all that was needed and voila, complete.

Friday, March 13, 2015

3900

3900
Thomas LaBadia, my Florida art friend, has created a wonderful blog called the Elusive Muse.  On his site I find amazing art that he has discovered and is sharing.  It is worth a visit.  Thomas also has a flickr account with amazing saved photos.  I found vintage cursive writing book pages on the flickr account.  One of the practice writings was Do not fail to see and correct all errors.  What advice one could write to practice cursive and to practice in daily life!  This quote appears in 3900 above. Thanks Thomas for sharing so many wonderful artists and so many photos.  I am captivated every day when I visit your sites.


Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Nest Material

Nest Material
I just love spring and we are having an early one in the Pacific NW.  Today is amazing at 60 degrees. The birds are nesting, the flowers are blooming, and a mole is having a hay-day in my garden.

I need to digress about the mole.  I saw evidence of him in my neighbor's garden.  I thought he will never get to my yard because there is a four foot deep retaining wall between our houses.  Well, I watched the evidence progress over the winter months to the west.  That darn mole found his way to the end of the retaining wall, came around it, and headed under the photinia towards my place.  He sure persevered because he made it all the way to my house.  I thought perhaps he had headed back to where he belongs (my opinion is that he belongs next door) as I did not see additional evidence for awhile.  Not to be because he is heading along the north side of my house towards my backyard.  My only hope is that he will continue east eventually!

Back to Nest Material.  I used Japanese ledger paper, paint, ephemera, and my new exciting purchase, paper yarn.  Do you know about it?  It is great stuff.  I purchased it for a class that I signed up for on making Joomchi in July.  Oh, I did not know about Joomchi either until recently but it looks to be exciting. Look it up on YouTube and Pinterest!

Monday, March 9, 2015

Balance

Balance
I am back.  Last week I was extremely busy with other art works and so I ignored this blog which can take a bit of time in my week.  I have been working with Mulberry paper creating sheets and sheets of my own papers for collage work.  Much of what I have done will appear in ATCs and in journal spreads in the future.  I love working with Mulberry paper.  I have printed on it and when I collage pieces of it those fibers disappear leaving only the printed design.

I had many scraps of Mulberry paper left over after trimming off the printed designs.  Those did not go to waste as I have collaged them using matte medium over freezer paper.  When dry I pull off the adhered papers and I have a new sheet to work with.  There is no waste.  That is good since the paper cost me a bundle.

Balance was a bunch of experiments.  I used Japanese ledger paper that I got on Etsy.  Love the effect of the calligraphy coming through.  I used tea bag paper and left over designer masking tape paper that I created. Balance is in a round robin journal that will end up in Southern California in July.