Art Journal---A Creative Journey

First Strathmore Workshop

kathy — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:24:53 +0000

Strathmore is hosting more workshops this year. The first one is being taught by Traci Bautista. Here is my first week’s work…er…play.

There are layers of stuff on here…Smooch Spritz inks sprayed over resists and plastic canvas, acrylic paints, acrylic inks, markers of all kinds, white-out pen, and oil pastels last. The neat thing about these workshops for me is they help me get acquainted with different products that I have not used before.

More ACEO’s With Wax

kathy — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 02:23:04 +0000

More Wax ACEO’s

kathy — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:48:17 +0000

I “edited” some of the ATC’s from the last post. Then I took the plunge (gulp) and made some in black and white photos to see what would happen with them. I’m VERY pleased with the black and white. The wax has a honey color that adds a vintage patina look to the card…I think it’s quite wonderful.

Loving Beeswax

kathy — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:21:04 +0000

I played with beeswax again with a friend this week. We used the wax that I bought from honey producers. My, my, what an enchanting smell! There was a new Cloth Paper Scissors issue out with a technique using plexiglas. Lynda wanted to try that so we did. You can see our results here on Lynda’s blog, Bloom, Bake, and Create. Neither one of us were terribly impressed, but perhaps that is just due to our lack of experience with the technique. However, I wanted to have a go at it again, this time using some ATC sized bristol board pieces. I cleaned in My Room yesterday and found I had bunches of ATC size packs that absolutely needed be used.

Yesterday I watched Amy Stoner’s dvd on using collage and wax. Now I’m armed and ready. I made the collages last night using 100 lb. Bristol board, prints on copy paper and words clipped from an old book. First I glued the paper pieces down, then I inked the edges with a black ink pad, just like Amy did. Let that dry and this morning I am getting the wax out.

I used the ice pick to incise some lines and free hand circles in the wax, then I used a gold paintstik to rub paint into the lines before sealing them. There is more that could be done with the ice pick and just maybe I will. I think I could get addicted to this.

December 31, 2011

kathy — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:18:49 +0000

I should blog today…well, I guess I am…sorta. I haven’t written here since early November. Life just gets so busy during the holidays. I’m still cooking and preparing food for a get together at our house tonight…and cleaning. I’m not going to share much except that, the last day of the year is always a bit poignant for me. I look forward to the opening of a new year, but I grieve a bit about the passing of an old year. It’s my age. I just had a birthday. Actually, I’d love to be 40 again.

But! I do sincerely wish all the readers of my blog a very Blessed new year! Now to get ready for its arrival….

Monday

kathy — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:25:49 +0000

Today, my intent was to get started on printing some silk scarves in Christmas colors for my opening reception. Well, getting started is about all I’m getting done.

First the scarves have to be soaked in white vinegar, then they have to dry. That takes some time. Then I made a silk screen with glue…and now it is drying. So I decided to blog while I’m sitting here waiting for everything to dry!

First, I gotta tell you about all the new flavors of fudge I came across this weekend. I’m in fudge heaven. I went to a craft festival in Harrisburg to purchase some lotion bars and other products for Christmas. I came home with MUCH more!

First, the fudge. We taste tested pumpkin, dreamsicle, white chocolate with apricots and walnuts, white chocolate with cherries and pecans…oh. my. gosh. I’m in love with the two white chocolate fudges. I purchased these to send to my mother-in-law for her birthday. She is a fudge lover, so that is usually what I get her. I was going to order some from a catalog until I saw this locally made fudge. I purchased both the white chocolate fudges and some Rocky Road that I knew she would like. Of course, since I brought it home with me, she now has to share some of it with me! She can’t eat 3 lbs. of fudge by herself anyway! I have since found a recipe online for the white chocolate with apricots and walnuts. I will definitely be trying that recipe this year.

drool.......

Yesterday, I crocheted the other wrist warmer. I had made one and embellished it and had never gotten around to making the second one. I finished it and then fished out a pattern for a flower that is used on a strand to wear around your neck. So I had to try those out….

Cute? I think they are.

Little crocheted flowers

I love the yarn. The red and purple flowers are made from Deborah Norville’s Everyday soft worsted anti-pilling yarn. There’s no fuzzies on it. It’s very nice yarn.

So now I put a question to you….should I use this one on my wrist warmers?….

…or this one?

I’ll probably just end up putting a row of buttons on the left one, but I did think it would be fun to have different embellishments on each one. These are fingerless and fun to wear!

At The Gallery Part 2

kathy — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 01:33:11 +0000

Here’s a couple more pieces of my exhibit that have not been seen on my blog before.

Sticks and Stones #3

Rust dyed cotton sateen, silk screening, stenciling, applique, hand writing, paint, ink, dyes, stitching with polyester thread.

Sticks and Stones #4

Rust dyed feed sack, discharge dyed cotton sateen, silk screened, stenciled and stamped, paint, dyes and automatic dish washing liquid and other discharging products, hand writing, inks, stitching with polyester thread.

New Mixed Media Part 2

kathy — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 01:16:16 +0000

If you scroll down to the New Mixed Media post on October 17, you will see the beginning of a new mixed media piece. I am going to go back to that process and show the next couple of steps and you will see it beginning to change and transform from the initial fabric and paper collage.

First stage: Gesso on the top part, then paint and some gesso on the bottom part

More paint on the bottom part, then oil pastels on the top part...a shape has been sketched in place

I love using oil pastels…I guess it’s the whole blending with my fingers attribute that I like. I seem to be able to do it better that way than with paint and a brush. It’s definitely more up close and personal. With my finger I can make the pastel go where I want it. I have even been known to apply liquid paint with my finger and rub it in. Anything that gives me a bit more control and blending.

Now more elements are added and some ink lines...

And then it will sit while I decide what bothers me about it. It is not finished. More to come…stay tuned.

At The Gallery

kathy — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 01:39:00 +0000

I thought I would post a few photos of my exhibit, Surface Matters, for you to see how it is hung. These photos are of the Flow series.

Flow #2, #3, #4

Flow #5, #6

Flow #7, #8

And then of course, the one that started it all…

Flow

Tuesday Stuff

kathy — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:38:54 +0000

Yesterday it was rapidly ripening tomatoes I had to deal with…..

Initial haul of green tomatoes brought in before the frost hit

….so I made a big pot of fresh tomato soup. With a little bit of cream, it was so good.

Today it is turnips. Someone gave these to us…and look at the size of them! I have to quarter them to be able to peel them.

mess of turnips...see the quarter...

I would rather be in the studio! I have ornaments to make and art.

I did finish Flow #9 yesterday and today and it is ready for framing. I posted a photo on FB, but I decided it needed one more thing. Flow #9 has all kinds of stitching delight for those who want to come closer….

Flow #9

I think I can see the actual threads in the cloth on this…I scanned it instead of photographing it. That probably made the difference. If you don’t follow me on Facebook, the new news is that the first Flow in the series sold at my exhibit this past weekend. It was framed and behind glass. It was a different size than others in the series. You can see it on the sidebar here on the blog. All of the others are mounted on 12 inch canvases which have been covered with a soft gray Kona cotton before mounting the art. I pondered whether the reason this one sold is due to the presentation of it versus the others. Contact with the buyers revealed that they found it hard to choose which one to purchase so maybe it didn’t make any difference. I will frame this one as it is a little larger than the others and will not mount comfortably on the 12 inch canvas.

The opening reception for Surface Matters is rapidly approaching on November 19th.