May 2022 ATC -06

 I just noticed that I am not doing these ATCs andAPCs in order.  No matter they all will make their debut eventually.  I particularly like this one.  I love the waterlily that I found in a magazine.  The image of the man I found at a garage sale in a stack of photographs and the ephemera on the right came from a children’s reader.  When I finished adhering the elements I thought the piece needed something else.  Hence, the asemic writing was added.

May 2022 APC - 04

 This APC came together pretty quickly.  I had been looking through some magazines and found the background.  Then I had some illustrations that were scraps basically.  I never thought I would be able to use this boy because part of his head and leg were missing as I had cut him off when I used the other part of the illustration.  But it worked.

Perfect for a Cold Remedy Commercial

 This guy looks like he is having a very bad health day.  Perhaps he could be used for a cold medicine  commercial.  I think he is still in his pajamas and he has decided he is not going into work today.

Kevin

Two-fer Saturday

 

I think Kevin gets himself into trouble a lot.  Is that because he is coming to grips with who he really is as a person?

Lenny

 

During my portrait drawing practice I frequently turned young guys into older men.  Not here.  I called this portrait Lenny because of the John Steinbeck character in Of Mice and Men.

The Gardener

Two-fer Thursday

 

Yesterday got away from me and I forgot to blog.  Oops!  I did the same process as the one below.  This time I used a photograph take of the euphorbia in my front garden.

Coach

 After the portrait was completed I uploaded it into iColorama where I added a mask over the image.  I then added the background of the vintage athletes.  I think the black and white background and the colored portrait work well together.  I like the contrast.

Just a Little Bit of Embroidery -07

This is the final piece of the seven with embroidery.

Just a Little Bit of Embroidery - 06

 

Jacki suggested yesterday that these could be used as cards.  I like that idea and could make more for that purpose.  All of these in this series have been bound into a book.

Just a Little Bit of Embroidery - 05

 

I try to do French knots from time to time.  I really want to master them but I am still learning.  I managed a few here.

Just a Little Bit of Embroidery - 04

 Just no. 4 out of 7.  I found some old fabric that I have in my stash and tried it out.

Just a Little Bit of Embroidery - 03

Two-fer Friday

 I just plain forgot to post yesterday.  I am dog sitting and Scout took a lot of my time.  He is a great dog, a mix poodle and golden retriever.

Just a Little Bit of Embroidery - 02

 

Here is another one.  I love taking a photograph and cropping it.  It gives a total different representation than what was presented in the original total composition.

Just a Bit of Embroidery - 01

I was given a box of this and that which I had not explored until recently.  In the box was a long piece of paper with a series of wires and beads attached.  What to do with that?  Well add a photo, a paper clip, and some embroidery on cloth and voila.  There are seven pieces in this series.  
 

Man in the Lavender Shirt

 

I would say this guy is deep in thought.  He is troubled or worried or maybe even transfixed.

Bird Man, Not from Alcatraz

 

I am not quite sure why I gave this piece that title but I guess it is because for some reason I think this guy is quite the grifter.  He seems like he could work his way out of any situation.

Horse Whisperer

 

Just where is this cowboy’s hat?

I was asked if the Puget Sound Book Arts Show would be available online.  In the past years it has only been open to the public at the library at Puget Sound University and not online.  So I doubt that it will be available in any other format other than live.

Worried

 

Is he worried about his son?  Could he be worried about something from his past?  Is he worried about getting older?  Perhaps he is just reflecting.  The eyes tell a story.

Book Sculpture

 

This is my entry into the Puget Sound Book Arts Guild show this summer which begins in June and runs through to August.

Male Portrait - 03

 

The glasses were the most difficult part of this portrait.  Yellow reflective yet being above to see the eyes a bit took a long time to achieve.  Things I particularly like about the portrait are the neck, the hair and the background.  Doing these portraits is challenging me and it provides me something new to learn and refine every day.  When I look back at some of the first portraits that I have done until now, I am seeing progress.

The mouth needs work

Heading to Middle Age

 

There is something about this guy that I do not trust.  I think he is struggling with the aging process. Perhaps he still wants to be a player and things just aren’t the same as when he was younger.  Maybe if he smiled I would I would have a different opinion. :-) What is your story for him?

Portrait of a Boy

 I decided not to crop this piece.  I think he looks French, perhaps he is from Brittany.

Portrait of a Man

 

Every time I look at each of the portraits that I have attempted I find something that I might add or take away.  I find things that I like, too.  Each portrait has a personality just like we all do.  I say this because each of the portraits that I have been doing is a conglomerate of more than one individual. I started adding a background with this one.

May 2022 APCs -12

 

This is the final APC of the May 2022 series.  It was a fun series to work on and I hope the recipients will enjoy them this next month when they come in snail mail to them.  When I am making the APCs I never know who they will go to until the first of each month.  I keep one for my collection.  I wonder which one of the twelve will remain at home?

May 2022 APCs -11

 

One thing that I appreciate about making APCs every month is that it is challenging to come up with different ideas using the same concept.  Like in this one I wanted to keep the boundary provided by the black line around the face cards of the deck.  I wanted to always use a part of a black and white photo and I wanted words.  I also wanted to use portions of postage stamps.

May 2022 APCs - 10

 The blues and the oranges really go together in this one.  The composition is pleasing to my eyes.

May 2022 APCs - 09

 I do not have much to say today.  Enjoy this piece. :-)

May 2022 APCs - 08

 

This was the first one I completed I this series.  I like the simplicity of it.  It feels strong.

May 2022 APCs - 07

 

I love adding words to a collage.  Stamps provide just that.  Vintage children’s books and old text books are perfect for text.

May 2022 APCs - 06

 

The orange in this piece cause movement big time.  My eye bounces from right to left and back to right again continually as I look at it.  I try doing the same with the blue and it works but not like the orange.

May 2022 APCsm -05

 

It is hard to decide about the number of elements in these APC.  If one has stamps as an element but uses many different stamps such as I did in the one above plus the vintage photo is that just two elements?  Or is that five elements because I use the five individual pieces of ephemera, four stamps and one photo.  One could argue that I used six elements because of the playing card being one as well.  I am going to call this piece three or six elements and call the discussion complete.  Thoughts?

May 2022 APCs -04

 

I was asked yesterday about the purpose of APCs.  One can make them for yourself or for trading.  I belong to a Facebook group and we trade APCs once a month.  Usually I trade ten to twelve monthly.  One can opt in or out for any month.  I like getting art snail mail.  So I usually trade each month.

May 2022 APCs - 03

 

I should have done some editing and lighten up the completed images.  They do not look so dark in person.  I really like the text sprinkled throughout.

May 2022 APCs - 02

 

I love the boundaries formed by the black rectangle of the royalty cards of each suit of playing cards.  It defined the space for collaging.

May APCs 2022 - 01

 

I have worked all day and I am exhausted.  So here you go with the first in series of twelve.  Have good day or night wherever you are. :-)

Works in Progress

 

Today I worked on two projects.  The first is combining muslin, sari ribbon, a beaded wire and a vintage photo.  I have twelve to complete for a book that I am making.  The second project is my May APCs and I am doing twelve of them.  In this case I combined stamps, a vintage photo and a piece of writing from an old math book.

Love the Suit

 This guy is wearing his jacket weird.  Why does he have it turned up on one side and not the other.  I have had that happen where my clothes were on weird and I did not know it.  Right now I am seeing people wear different socks, totally different patterns.  I guess in that case it is a style thing.

Disneyesque character

 I could see this guy being animated easily.  Well, maybe not easily but doable.

 It is good to step away from a piece that you have worked on for awhile.  I found three things that were missing from the piece.  I suppose some people might be bothered by the man’s left eye but I am not especially when I look at an enlarged version of the portrait.

Portrait of a Woman 2

 It is pretty funny how when I start out to do a portrait I do not know how it will turn out.  Frequently I start a portrait of a man and it turns into a woman or vice versa.  That happened in this case, too.  Oh well!

Composite Portrait

 Well, getting up in the morning and creating on the iPad using Procreate and iColorama is way too much fun.  I experimented a lot with this program and am getting more familiar with Procreate.  This portrait is a composite of three different men. I like the blue tone that was added.

Portrait of a woman

 I have been taking Lewis Rossingol’s online workshop.  We have been creating portraits and using Procreate to do all sorts of magical things.  There is so much about this portrait that I would do differently next time but there are also so many things that I learning using the techniques taught.

I started by taking one photograph of a woman that I found interesting.  Then I overlayed two other women over the top of the first one.  Using Procreate I was able to keep portions of the faces that I wanted and to erase the others.  I then incorporated the image into iColorama which I had learned a few years back.  I am such a fan of iColorma and now a fan of Procreate.

I brought the working image back into Procreate and did some shading and added a background.  I am not happy with the mouth or the nose but that is no matter since it was fun and I learned so much.

Treasure of Handmade Boxes with Miniature Books

 

I have a treasure trove of miniature books.  Most of them are filled with collages.  I have more but they just do not fit on the top of this cupboard.

Scrabble Book - Video

 

Video of scrabble book......

Scrabble Book 1

 

I was given many old scrabble boards several years ago and I finally started using one of them to create a mini-book.  The book is 3 x 3 inches square when closed.  This book is an accordion with nine or so spreads.  On the left side of the spread is a wax seal and a collage on the right side.  Each collage has some free-form embroidery, a stamp, and a photo.  

I wrote something alongside the wax seal.  I looked at the photo and whatever came to mind is what I wrote.  I am not sure if I will show each separate spread because the scan is rather out of focus.  This is due to the fact that the embroidery and the photo are encased in a fabric teabag.