Delicioso

Delicioso

Happy New Year to you all!  We are off to a party in a few minutes and I am posting by the skin of my teeth!  I made it with the last post of the year.  I finished this piece in the envelope journal in about 15 minutes.  I am trying to push myself and be free and spontaneous with some of my collage work.  Part of this collage is a collaboration in a way as Terry Garrett sent me the envelope that you see on the left.

Have a good evening and a wonderful 2016!

Bingo

Mail Envelope Art # 2 - Bingo

This evening I decided I had to do two more pieces of art this year, one tonight and one tomorrow, New Year's Eve.  Doing so will give me a statistic of creating a piece of art at least every other day for posting.  It is an average but since I was so close I am going for it.  This spread is in an envelope journal created from mail art sent to me.  So it is a collaboration in a way.  The portion of envelope on the right was created by yours truly and Jacki Long.  The envelope on the left was the back of an envelope sent to me from the UK and the home of Catherine Redmayne.  I created the piece in just 30 minutes as an activity to use whatever I could find on my desk.  Stay tuned for the last piece of my work in 2015 tomorrow.  :-)

Praying to the Grape Gods

Praying to the Grape Gods

Praying to the Grape Gods resides in a RR journal going on an eleven month journey beginning the first mailing day in January.  In this piece I used material that Tim gave me for Christmas.  He found some images from the 1920s that an artist George Barbier created as posters.  My nimble fingers used pieces of three posters to create a new piece.  The moon I found in a recent magazine as well as part of the landscape material.  I added teabags, napkins, and, of course, my favorite tissue crows.  Done!

Paint Transfer

Doesn't Have to Mean Anything

I have a journal that I made out of envelopes from letters, mail art, and whatnot.  The journal is a place that I add bits and pieces from time to time and practice a technique that I want to use in other journals.  So this morning I wanted to try a paint transfer again.   I love paint transfers but I tend to be impatient and want to hurry up the process.  The transfer might turn out better if I let it dry naturally. I seem to always speed up the process with a hairdryer though.  I do not mind the decaying or distressed look of the image when rubbing takes more off than I planned.

The left hand side is the transfer.  I manipulated an image in PhotoShop and printed it.  I then painted white paint on the substrate which is the interior of an envelope from a friend.  I painted white paint over the printed image and burnished it to the substrate.  Once it was dry I rubbed off the fiber backing to reveal the image.  Next came adding collage materials to both the left and right substrates. I like to tie the two side together somehow and that was done with a bit of gray material and some stenciling.  I do not necessarily feel that the composition has to mean anything.  I leave it up to you to decide if there is a story here.  I can always come up with one for myself if I desire.  Guess what?  I have and it involves LOVE! :-)

Round Robin Journal

California Washington, Colorado  Round Robin Journal

Well I did it yesterday.  I made a second journal in the requested format for my latest RR.  Now I have to make the decision.  Do I use this journal or the one in yesterday's post for this RR.?
For this journal I adhered teabags to heavy cardboard cut to size.  Then I stenciled using a wonderful blue spray paint I got from Dick Blick 's.  I bound it using binding tape and a pamphlet stitch and added a metal key tag that I got at an antique store in Bellingham earlier this month.  I plan on adding a string to act as a closure.

Next I best get to journaling as I have three RR going right now and they all have to be done and in the mail by the end of the month. :-)  Let the fun begin!

Merry Christmas, Happy belated Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa,   merry solstice, and happy anything I have forgotten.

Asian Journal

Asian Journal

I am starting a new RR with new friends mostly in California and a few "old" friends in Washington and Colorado. So I made a journal for eleven spreads.  I had some rice paper ledgers which I used for the cover and then I stenciled a simple design over this paper.  I added a dragon button that I found on Orcas Island.  It was ready to go when I shared my journal with Tim and he said, "This one is staying home, right?"  I guess he liked it.   SOOOOOOOOOOOO  I am making a second journal and then I will decide which one is heading out on an eleven month journey.  Stay tuned.

Journal 52

Journal 52

Journal 52 Coptic Binding

I was bound and determined to finish the construction of this journal today.  This morning I started on the coptic binding around 6:00 a.m. and worked for about an hour + or - another hour....probably +. Each time I worked on it something happened  I have done coptic binding before but not for a long time.  I was not happy with it for about four tries and ripped it out that many times.  I stopped, went to breakfast, and returned bound and determined I would go it very slowly.  It turned out fantastically if I say so myself.

The wood makes the journal look like barn siding.  I actually picked up the plywood for this on the beach about two years ago. Some plywood boards had washed up on the shore and since plywood is in layers, the water had worked it magic stripping the outer layers. Cleaning up the garage I found it again and said that is what I need for this journal.  So it done.  I have to work on the spreads, of course, but now that is the fun part.  Creating the journal was fun until the binding.  Now I am happy.

RED

RED

RED was created in a Round Robin journal which belongs to Cathy.  Soon RED will be home as one of five surprises for this owner.  Since I never really have a plan for where a journal spread is going I am always surprised with whatever I do next.  The background is stenciled using stencils I created on Tyvek from Moroccan tiles design.  I did pen work and some e-Brush work.  Finally I collaged a bit and then added a faux encaustic finish.  Done deal!

Tags

Tags

One of my students in my Monday garage workshop suggested that we make Christmas tags to exchange this month at our monthly session.  So the group agreed.  I even made tags for my Tuesday group.  It was fun and I am not sure what I will used them for....perhaps bookmarks or hanging on the tree.

Self-Portraits

Self Portrait 01 

Self Portrait 02

Self Portrait 03

Last June my art buddies, Thomas, Terry, Brian, and I met in Minnesota for a week of art.  Brian had suggested sometime last year that we should do a book of self-portraits.  Terry surprised us with journals and the suggestion that this year we create a self-portrait for each of us to put in the journals. I finally got mine done last week and mailed them off to the boys.  Mine are my interpretation of a Chuck Close portrait.  I had designed a lesson for this type of portrait that I eventually taught at the Schack Art Center in November to a group of teachers.  So it was perfect for creating and sending to Brian, Thomas, and Terry.  Our journals have room for six portraits.  I will have to get busy to fill the two extra spots!

Dreams

Dreams

Dreaming has to be one of the weirdest things about sleep.  Most of my dreams I do not remember. When I was a kid I had two reoccurring dreams that I did remember.  One was about snakes entwining me and the other was about falling off of a train trestle floating in air down towards a river. Who knows why I had these dreams?  It seems that bits and pieces of information whether connected or not make up our dreams.

Dream experts say dogs dream in black and white.  How do they know that?  Right now I think I dream in color but then again since I do not remember most dreams who knows.

Dreams is a journal spread that I completed that belongs to my friend Teresa.  We belong to a round robin group of artists who live in the greater Seattle Metropolitan area.

This is an experiment.  I am trying to create a slide show of some art and so here it is...... Well, now I have to figure out how the total image will show up, but I like th idea so far.


Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com

Italian Gothic Postcard

Italian Gothic Postcard

Every once in awhile I dig out people I have used in pieces previously.  My Italian Gothic men have made appearances quite a bit lately.  I have been cleaning up my desk which is unbelievably messy and I found some postcards that I had already started.  In about an hour Italian Gothic postcard came to be.  I used a stenciled background, deli-paper paint off papers, PhotoShopped images that had been altered, and my new love, faux encaustic.

Italian Gothic Postcard No. 2

Italian Gothic Poscard No. 3

Camembert

Camembert

Hold strong, France! Vive la France!

December 2015 Envelope Exchange

December 2015 Envelope Exchange

December 2015 Envelope Exchange

Here are two examples for the envelope exchanges I do.  I got obsessed with stamping blocks of paint on the envelopes that  I made using my envelope punch board.  If you do not have one or not heard of the punch board....OMG!  Terry Garrett turned me on to it and it is just the best for making envelopes....easy, too once you get the hang of it.

Anyway, I also got some new letter stamps that a friend, Sally, had shown me.  Then there was pen work and image transferring to do.  They were mailed off Monday and will be at new homes most likely today.