Dali ATC 03 and 04

Dali 03

Dali 04

My printer must have been running out of ink because when Dali printed it printed lines.  I liked the happy accident so I went with it in the collage. 

Dali ATC 01 and 02

Dali 01

Dali 02

 The task for my international ATC group was to take a favorite artist and create the 3.5 x 2.5 inch card to honor that artist.  I chose Dali.  Over the next few days I will post the cards that I made.  Here are the first two.

Manzanita 2021 - 04

Manzanita 2021 - 04

This piece was so fun to create.  I love the contrast between the pigs and the woman.  For me, it is odd that she would be anywhere near swine.  One could spend a great deal of time coming up with a narrative or several narratives for why this woman is anywhere near a farm.

Manzanita 2021 - 03

Manzanita 2021 - 03

Yesterday a friend told me that he does not quite understand collage.  He was looking for a meaning. Perhaps sometimes we do not have to have a meaning.  Perhaps the meaning is something that only the artist knows.  Perhaps one could just enjoy the composition or the colors or the line quality.  Maybe one does not have to understand the collage but just appreciate it for what is viewed.

Manzanita 2021 - 02

Manzanita 2021 - 02

 This is a very different piece when you consider my work.  I was limited to the ephemera that the Creative Gents brought to Manzanita.  Terry provided me with the bird and the rest was in boxes that I had not looked in for a long time.  This piece is definitely a narrative which evolved in about an hour one morning.  The vintage flower images were a bit of a challenge as they were stuck with one drop of glue on a piece of paper.  The glue did its job as many of the images tore.  Thank goodness I could work around that.

Manzanita 2021 - 01

Manzanita 2021 - 01

 I made a series of backgrounds last May and most of them were just waiting for me to work on them since.  I had time in Manzanita to do just that.  This is the first of four that I did there.

APC October 2021 - 10

APC October 2021 - 10

 Everything has to come to an end and this is the end of this series.  The end of my art retreat with Terry and Brian was yesterday.  The guys are now home and we are left with the memories and what we have created.  A good time was had by all.

APC October 2021 - 09

APC October 2021 - 09

 Rain and wind today on the coast.  Rain all the way home…four hours of driving.  We have had so much fun and wish it would not end.

APC October 2021 - 08

APC October 2021 - 08

 

Our trip to Manzanita ends tomorrow and we have had an amazing art retreat.  Today we bound some books and journaled.  Rain has been our friend as it has mostly kept us inside.  We have ventured out during sunny spells.  This is an amazing place to be. :-)

APC October 2021 - 07

APC October 2021 - 07

 

It seems like the feet of this guy playing a musical instrument are off the playing card but it is just how my scanner scanned the image.  

Our Oregon retreat is quickly coming to a close.  Today we worked all day creating and even bound some books.  Lots of creativity going on around here.

APC October 2021 - 06

Two-fer Thursday……

APC October 2021 - 06

 

I am posting twice today since I forgot yesterday.  100% rain predicted for today.  So I guess we will just have to do art all day long.  Oh so sad! :-).

APC October 2021 - 05

 

APC October 2021 - 05

No post yesterday as we were so busy I forgot.  I made another caterpillar stitched book which I will show you soon.  We gelli plated which was so much fun.  We got our papers painted for a new seeded journal and I got several rubbings done for an ATC project that I am working on.  Then we watched Mare of Easttown.  OMG!  What a good show!

APC October 2021 - 04

APC October 2021 - 04

 Today at the ocean was so much fun.  We worked on making book cloth for our eco-dyeing books.  We played the journal game where in a round robin method we gave prompts….some people know this as the prom game.  We had an amazing breakfast out at Wanda’s in Nehalem.  Tonight we got stuck watching an HBO series which kept us on the edge of our seats.  Totally awesome day!

APC October 2021 - 03

APC October 2021 - 03

 Today in Manzanita, OR the Creative Gents are eco-dying.  We found lots of ocean vegetation to try to see what might happen.  The plan was to use the hot plate outside to boil the papers and the steam the cloth but it did not work.  So we have the boiling and steaming process going on inside.  The house smells of the ocean as we have lots of seaweed between our papers and rolled up cloth.  It sure has been a fun day.

APC October 2021 - 02

APC October 2021 - 02

 I had a bit of scanning problems and had to use a different scanner and the WiFi was not cooperating.  So the figure seems a bit light but I like it anyway.

We arrived in Manzanita, OR today and we all are really happy with the house.  Tomorrow might be our only day of sun.

APC October 2021 - 01

 

APC October 2021 - 01

I am off on my trip to Manzanita, Oregon for the Creative Gents retreat.  Can’t wait to see my art buddies. We usually get together every two years but because of Covid we did not meet up last year.

Caterpillar Stitched Book 4

 

 

I was going through my stash of books and found this unfinished book that I had bound using a different stitch.  That stitch was less than perfect and so I decided to restitch the book with the caterpillar stitch.  I am happy with how it turned out.  Now I am working on the inside pages of this book which I will publish soon.

Caterpillar Stitched Box and Book 2

 

I like that I did two lines of the caterpillar stitch versus the previous one.  Maybe I will try three the next time.  It is hard to tell but the "stick" coming out of the box is a chopstick with a Japanese motif.  I added washers to cover the hole into the box.  I debated on the length of the of the chopstick but decided to keep it in its original size.  My other option was to make three books for the box.

Caterpillar Stitched Box and Book 1

 

I decided I wanted to see if I could do the caterpillar stitch on the side of a handmade box.  It worked.  I had to do the stitching and then assemble the box but it worked pretty smoothly.  On this one which was the “practice” box I could have put two books inside but I decided to change it up and added some cube letters I had.  I like how it turned out.

Caterpillar Stitched Book 3

 I am itching to do another caterpillar stitched book and hopefully I can next week on my art retreat in Oregon.  So looking forward to a week away just doing nothing but art. 

Caterpillar Stiched Book 2

 

I have now done about six or seven caterpillar stitched books.  I especially like how this one turned out.  I think I have the procedure down to muscle memory now.  Cross learning this stitch off my bucket list. :-)

September APC 2021 - 13

September APC 2021 - 13

 This is it, the last APC of this series.  More caterpillar stitched books and another APC series coming up.

September APC 2021 - 12

September APC 2021 - 12

 Another carp APC, another favorite.  I worked all day on the next series of APCs.  I had started on a design and then went totally different.  So those will be coming up very soon.

September APC 2021 - 10 and 11

September APC 2021 - 10

September APC 2021 - 11

 I find the monkeys kind of scary looking.  Years ago when I was in Bali I had a monkey jump on my shirt and grab a bag of peanuts.  It happened very quickly and I was startled to say the least.  I am sure the monkey had done that many times  and knew exactly what he or she was doing.

September APC 2021 - 09

Two-fer Thursday….

September APC 2021 - 09

 

Here is my second one for the day to catch up with the blogging calendar.  The catfish and the target provide movement for my eye from right to left in this composition.  This may be one of my favorites of this series of APCs.

September APC 2021 - 07 and 08

September APC 2021 - 07

September APC 2021 - 08

 Wednesday was a very busy day from early morning until late afternoon and guess who forgot to blog?  So this will be a two-fer.     I particularly like how the white misty circle appears on these APCs.  It is tissue paper that my friend Irene gave me.  Thanks for the effect, Irene.

September APC 2021 - 05 and 06

September APC 2021 - 05

September APC 2021 - 06

 Tuesday special….two for one.  Maybe this series has a poster feel to each of the cards.  Today I have to get busy and work on the October APCs.  I have to have them done soon as the Creative Gents head to Oregon in just over a week.  Can’t wait to see Terry and Brian.

September APC 2021 - 04

September APC 2021 - 04

 Each of the APCs has a target somewhere on it.  In this case it is just behind the cheetah. For me the composition really works in this card.  Usually I use matte medium in my work but in these cards I used glue stick.  I hope the adherence is permanent.  I have gotten cards in the mail and the ephemera became unglued.

September APC 2021 - 03

September APC 2021 - 03

Sometimes I use the total playing card so that one does not see which card it is and, like this one, sometimes I allow some part of the card to show through. He-Haw!

September APC 2021 - 02

 

September APC 2021 - 02

Funny thing about collage artists, they love the gift wrap paper just as much as the gift.  The red and blue diamond paper was given to me by my friend, Jan.  I knew it would come in handy and it did for this series of APCs.  In the game of collage one has to be able to give up something that they once thought precious.  In this case there is a target just showing behind the cat.  I love that the diamond paper is on diamond playing cards.

September APC 2021 - 01

September APC 2021 - 01

 

I made 13 artist playing cards for September.  This is number one, the boxing cats.