More mail art love. This postcard is 5" x 7". I doodled the address side while listening to the State of the Union message tonight. The paper on the address side is some of my "paint waste" paper - I always save it to use in projects. The edging of the postcard is machine stitching.
I have been creating various postcards using my previously shared (and prepared)background sheets of watercolor paper and mixed media.
Here is a 4" x 6" postcard which I am sending to a friend. All images of people are from Ten Two Studios unless I state otherwise.
I've been re-working a 42"H x 16"W x 1"D canvas that I painted and texturized 5 years ago. I never cared for it, and it's been leaning against a wall upstairs ever since I 'finished' it. I finally decided to just do the whole thing over- make it into something entirely different. Due to the previous areas of collage and texture, there are some *odd* shapes and protrusions here and there, but they don't bother me at all. My first job was to give the whole thing two coats of black gesso. Check.
Then draw tree with white pencil. Check. Rip 1873 newspaper ephemera (published on my birthday of Feb. 16!) into bits and collage onto the tree outline - check.
Go weird with design elements - check. Seal all with PPA. Check. Hang on wall. Check. Post picture - done.
I forgot I had created 3 ATCs 2 weeks ago- here they are. The images of people are from my fave Ten Two Studios.
Another bracelet to share. This is again all glass beads. (SET TAKEN)
The earrings are my trademark Glitz-Oh! fabric-centered, beaded earrings. They are extremely light-weight, and dangle from copper-toned niobium ear wires. Niobium is a hypoallergenic alloy that comes in a variety of color tones. (Niobium alloys are used in surgical implants because they do not react with human tissue.)!
You can see this also in my Etsy store!
(it's not "Three weddings and a funeral", although I thought that was a fun movie. :)
I completed two more journals the day after completing the aqua journal in the post below this one.
Then yesterday, I made a pink beaded bracelet. Here are all three.
Front
Back
Coptic binding variation
Front
Back- image from Ten Two Studios. I added a bit more color to her dress.
Inside Front Cover - image from Ten Two Studios.
....those are the elements attached to the closure twine of this journal. :) I started this journal months ago - and just decided to get on with it and finish binding it. Glass beads and some of my Glitz-Oh!(tm) beads are attached to the spine with waxed linen. I covered the front with flannel, then the aqua paper, then painted the leaves, sewed it all on my machine, then attached it to the coverboard. After attaching it, I made 'faux' sewing lines in black all the way around the painted areas. I added circles and dots and a few collage elements - generally I had a ball making the cover!
The back is a bit less embellished. The closure includes 2 large wooden buttons. On the front button, I added a disc of curled papers which I pre-glued together before attaching to the button. Think quilling papers.
The coptic binding is with waxed linen. The journal is 11.5"H x 7.5"W x 1.75"thick. There are 10 signatures Each has a cover of mulberry papers in aqua, yellow and red, with the center sig. having an art paper cover in reds and yellows combined. There are three folded sheets of watercolor paper within each signature. The little wooden camel on the closure is from a necklace of my mother's.
ALL PREVIOUSLY SHOWN ATCs HAVE BEEN GIVEN OUT!
Here are 4 more ATCs - let me know if you want to trade artist trading cards.
The backgrounds are collage, acrylic paint, digital image from my art. Women images are from Ten Two Studios. Texts are from a variety of old ephemera. The postage stamp upper right is from Hungary.
I feel good tonight! I sorted through my stash of paper bits yesterday, and today, I finally used up all the small scraps - I completed phase one of seven background papers.
(All of these bits of paper and fabric scraps (cotton batiks) are adhered to the background of watercolor paper with PPA - it's just the best product, imho, for collage of any paper or fabric that is not too thick or textured.)
Which means if I want to do more collage, I will need to create more art with my larger sheets of paper so that I will have more scraps to use for smaller projects-or more of these! Plus, I need to get more PPA.
I've enjoyed going through 'stuff' for making ATC's - even though it's miniscule, I feel as if I'm tackling the larger goal of 'using up' what I have on hand, rather than buying more things I really don't need. (addendum 01-18 - already traded) These ATCs are available for trading.
This first ATC has an image from an old ,old book of dutch fairytales.
This next one uses an image from Ten Two Studios, applied over some of my painted paper toweling.
This last has another Ten Two Studios image and background elements.
I love making artist trading cards, and thrilled to use so many different elements of imagery from Ten Two Studios . These three are up for trade. I will post them in the photos album section here on my blog,as well.
Hello to all my artful friends from everywhere! I have decided to close my website, and come back to my blog. You can still find me on Facebook and Twitter. In keeping with this change, I am uploading an altered book spread I created yesterday. Over the weeks ahead I will be updating this blog to a more current content. In the meantime, please enjoy my muse's sense of humor! :)
The background has paint-soaked baby wipes for the base. I altered a magazine image for the face. The reptile is compliments of Dover Publications - a book of images I've had since 1980. (it pays to save SOME things, though in truth I constantly work at de-stashing.)
The Burden
and
Go Fly A Kite
I only used my fine point Pitt artist pen for these pages.
I am participating in a Round Robin with other Ten Two Studio Design Team folks.
These pages are in Lisa's book, which focuses on occupations which are no longer around, or endangered. I had trouble finding the right representation for what I wanted on the exterior of this fold-out spread. Then my muse kicked me you-know-where. I grabbed some of my digital background paper, and cut out a copy of my Zentangled girl! Along with an ad warning, and some wires from our old phone system, this is what I concocted. My Zen Femme is going to appear in more of my art, I think. I like her- she can be a spokesperson for a variety of causes. Right now, she warns us what might happen when our electric grid goes...
My second spread is about hand made ethnic costumes - and how they are disappearing.
I used tatted lace trim (ah tatting - one skill I didn't learn - :( ...), dyed wool roving, and a bit of hand-sewn beads on ribbon for accent here. All the photo images are originals cut from 1921 and 1922 National Geographic magazines which my dad had for years...
Click in the images to enlarge. Lisa's book is very cleverly constructed!- here is the link to her construction of this book.
My muse often runs amok of my good intentions...case in point:
Hard to explain this... aside from using sharpie pens. My muse thinks she will start with a 'fashion' drawing...then a view of muscles under the skin forms in her mind...then 'exposed' comes to mind, which leads to deception , which eventually leads to 'things that go bump in the night', and 'oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive'. There's sometimes no accounting for my muse's wanderings...
Last night, as I crawled into bed at midnight, who was curled up at my husband's feet? Buster...our 9-yr.-old 'tuxedo' cat. When he's all curled up, only a bit of his white 'vest' shows, plus one of his white boots. I couldn't resist drawing him. After the outline was finished, I kind of went into my own dreamland, tangling away a fantasy cloud/pillow for our VERY spoiled kitty. This morning I finished the other clouds and blue sky.
(drawn with black, blue Sharpie pens, and Pitt artist pen.)
(Buster's collar is actually black with rhinestones....I told you he was spoiled! :))Possessed! That's what I am....with more doodling....did this one today in my Moleskine journal. The colors are simply Sharpie pens (except for the fruit- see description below).
I had drawn the outlines for the apple and pear first. When I was 'done' (am I ever done??), I used a napkin image of a pear and some mulberry paper, cut them to fit, and glued them to the fruit shapes. I can't believe my initials are in plain sight..I didn't even know they were there until I was completely finished with these pages....do you see them?
