Gifts and Exchanges

I think I love my mailman!


I arrived home from one of those days at work to find a wee box! How exciting, I love pressies!


I open said wee box...

and...

the bestest pressie ever!!!


Art supplies from my gorgeous friend Cat from La Dolce Vita!

Waaaaaaaaa! (Mucho excitment in the camp, LOL!)

(Can you hear me all the way from OZ!)


Omni gel, (which I have never seen here before so yay something new to play with), wonderful ribbon, lace and fabric flowers (I already have something lined up for them), some lovely old book papers on the Tudor period of England ( she knows it's my fav), and some wax beads for encaustic play, YAHOO!!!. Seriously, I am so happy and excited, I can't wait to play with it all. Thank you to a dear friend from the bottom of my heart!




Now I have also been a part of the art exchange that's currently zapping around the world amongst arty folk. If you haven't heard about it, it requires you to make one piece of art and pass an invitation to play to six others. After all is said and done in an ideal world you make one piece of art and recieve 36 pieces of art! How cool is that! I played of course!

So here's my piece I have made.

Currently it is winging it's way accross the seas to the lovely Jill Zaheer.

I hope she likes it!


'Beauty's Muse'




A little mixed media collage play.

If you are interested in playing along with the art exchange let me know and I'll send you the details. One piece for 36 seems a fair exchange to me, LOL!

Now to find that mailman and give him a big hug!

Fragments, Vestiges and Remains-Pulp Redux

I have finally finished the covers for the Pulp Redux book collaboration, at least as much as I will at this time.

I have some brass fittings to add but will keep them until the book returns to me after its sojourn around the world.
The weight of the fittings will add too much to the overall postal costs and the book will likely need rebinding on its return so they will be set aside for a later date.

I have added a fragment of text...




I did say it was a fragment!


I have filled the niche with the title of course and the remains of a burnt photograph and a small brass key.



I have also framed the niche with the vestiges of an old belt buckle that has undergone a somewhat radical transformation from its previous incarnation.






I added a few small details...



the remnants of some chains and some favourite beads...




and lo...




'Fragments, Vestiges and Remains'



A story about the little pieces is born!



I can't wait to see how everyone will interpret the theme and what they will do with it.

Imagine the stories this book could contain...

Update Pulp Redux Collaboration

So I found the matches...

LOL!

I thought I should fill you all in on the progress of the altered book I'm making for my part in the Pulp Redux collaboration.

The end result...


I'm quite happy with this one!


I've created a burned niche in the front cover of the book to house a new title.


Oh, yes, the title, well...


I rather thought I'd call it...


Fragments, Vestiges & Remains!


What do you think?

A book about the little pieces that make up the whole.
Perhaps fragments of fabrics, text, textiles. Maybe a fragment of a life lived, an object from another place or time,
or some small vestige from something that has survived... something.
The idea intrigues me.

Then again I'm curious, and inexplicably drawn to remnants of almost anything and the stories they represent.


Here's the book niche.


I rather thought the niche worked well with the title.

I love it, so of course you should too, LOL!

Ahh, but seriously I thought the burnt remains idea worked well with the theme and you all know I really enjoy a good burning in the name of art!

But there is so much more to do so I had best get on with it!


Now the dark blue covers aren't at all what I have had in mind , so...
what to do?


Well I really like the aged look of the book boards and fabric on the cover so how about a wee colour adjustment, a bit of a reno!



I decided to go with that idea and have used walnut ink to dye the covers.
Wow, that was fun and I'm really pleased with the result, just what I had hoped for!


Look...

Hey, not bad, but you should see my fingers, LOL!

Basically it took about a third of the bottle to get good even coverage and 2 days to dry completely but it was worth it.
I'm really happy with the resultant colouring and it has kept the book covers aged appearance, and I think it fits in with the theme so much better than that blue shade.

Now pushing ahead with the alterations and keeping in with the theme, some fabric dying to add to the covers.

Since my hands were already covered in walnut ink, I have also dyed some cheese cloth and tulle to add to the book with the ink.

I've glued it on and now I have to wait for that to dry too, sigh!

Getting there! I'm sooo impatient, I have all these ideas and can't wait to play!
(Stamping my foot and poking out my tongue too, LOL!)

Think I'll go make some embellishments while I'm waiting!

Pulp Redux

Things have been a little hectic of late, now I know that sounds familiar but well that's life here, always on the go! For those of you that don't already know I am so pleased to announce that I am a part of what I am sure is going to be a fabulous altered book collaboration with another 5 wonderful artists! Introducing...


Pulp Redux!

A fabulous altered book collaboration with Lisa from Lucky Dip, Debrina from Debrina's Diary, Alicia from Altered Bits, Andrea from
The Artful Eye and Lisa from Mudhound Primitives and yours truly of course, LOL! We would of course love to have you all pop in and follow the collaboration as it makes its progress across continents and countries changing, altering and growing along the way. Click on the logo below or the sidebar of this blog to jump over for a peek. Don't forget to say hi while you're there either!



So what am I doing for the collaboration...

well that would be a book you sillies, LOL!

Oh, okay, you really want to know the details, well here goes.
In keeping with the pulp redux theme, I have gone for an already exisiting book to alter rather than a new book construction.

The book below is the choice, a Dutch text -'An Introduction to English Art'.

How apt an art book for an altered book, LOL!

As you can see just you're average book. The book is 10" x 7" so large enough for plenty of fun but hopefully not to large to post as weight will be an issue as it progresses through everyone.

The book has some beautiful pictures and I have had to thin it down by a third to accomodate lumps and bumps for additions by everyone so out went the gorgeous pics. I have included one here to show you.

Gainsborough, Yummmm!


After some thinning, time to get to work creating a cover. Nothing too complex. It needs to set the theme but not be too heavy for postage or overly embellished as I don't want bits falling off with postage and handling and also as I expect I will be rebinding the book on it's eventual return back to Oz, so simple to kick off I think!

Time to chop!

Wow, aren't old book boards tough going but at last a hole. The start of what will be a niche for the new title of the book.
For those of you who know me, I think I will be doing a little more altering here.
That blue has got to go and I have one or two other ideas as well.

Don't forget to pop over to the Pulp Redux blog site and say hi. We would love to hear from you all!

Now where did I put those matches...

Immersion

Time for some journal love! I'm working on a few ideas and projects but it's too early to fill you all in yet, so in the mean time here's a journal page. It must be spring fever or some such thing but colour seems to be taking over everywhere here including my journal pages, and so it's time to soak it all up.


Immerse yourself...

I think I'm tempted!

Are you?

I think it just may beset me too!

Sound advice that!





As I said, a colour fixation at the moment. It's everywhere here, an absolute riot of colour and true spring weather at least for a little bit until the heat of Summer arrives. Now I know for many of you things are cooling down, so I thought I'd share a little of life's colour around to warm your artistic hearts!

The butterfly pic is a photograph and I have painted out the background just leaving the butterfly in all his glory. Isn't it beautiful!
All that fragile beauty gone in such a short space of time.
As to the rest, watercolours, ink, lace scraps, acrylic, text and mat medium and natures inspiration, the best bit of all!
Have a colourful day!

Paper Swap

If you haven't heard, Lawendula over at Woven Letters is organising an international paper swap for all the mad paper peeps out there! Now you all use it somewhere, somehow. Umm, paper that is, LOL, so why not join in too. Think of the possibilities...

Paper, cardboard, postcards, stamps, book papers, decorated paper, wall paper, vintage paper....

I could go on...

(and frequently do, LOL!)

So why not jump in and join in, then you get to use something new in your art, yay!

Click the pic to go to Lawendulas post!

And it's free, and you all know I'm all about the free when you can get it/ it falls into my lap/ hits me over the head, LOL!

Golden Sunshine

I thought I would give you all another sneaky peek into a creative process. Okay so last post we looked at a little journal creativity, now onto something a little more challenging. I thought I would post the process of creating a mixed media piece. Nothing too elaborate, collage and acrylic painting. Sounds easy...well truthfully it is. So lets begin.

Now I have a primed canvas board ready to go. Next I add a little paper for the background with some mat medium.




I'm impatient so I dry it with my heat gun. What can I say, I don't want to waste time so the heat gun is one of my fav essentials.
Next it's time to add a bit of paint. Now I want the background to be quite pale, hints of colour showing through but no real colour domination, so lots of white shades with hints of colour.

Now you can see the collage papers have receded to the background and have really become more background texture. Its hard to see here but hints of the original colours show through the painted surface. So now its time to sketch out a few ideas. I use a pencil to lay out a rough sketch then collage some papers over the surface. These lovely papers were part of a gift from the lovely Ro Bruhn. She has the most gorgeous papers available for sale.Fabulous colour and patterning. I would highly recommend them. The papers have formed the main structure of the figures dress and the building set into the background, and I have used an offcut from some text for the bottom of the bird cage. Now over the surface its time to lay on a little paint, beginning to build the main framework for the piece.

Oh dear no legs! Its a part of the process I will add them in later.
Little by little it starts to come together. Gradually I am building layers of colour, filling in the details.

See legs!

Now you can see the detail building. The dress sleeves, castle, tree and cage, the flowers. They are all strarting to pull together. It doesn't matter if it isn't perfect, just go back and refine it later. At the worst you can always start again. What's a little paint between friends! Time to cook dinner I'll be back later.

Okay back again. So now lets just keep filling in detail. Time to paint the features of the face. Now to add some fine detail using ink. I use a pen to draw in the detail of the dress, bird cage, castle and flowers. I add detail using acrylic paint to the flowers to create colour depth and highlight areas. The light is the trick. It has to look right. I'm not perfectly happy here but everythings a learning curve, right?
This photo had some sort of weird lighting moment its not quite as yellow as it appears here.



Now we are almost there. Add some flowers to the tree and the figures hair. These are tissue paper and then over painted to highlight them. Add the butterflies and bird, then the words and...

tada!

Well not a masterpiece but you get the idea. Now this is very not my usual style but I was having a little fun trying out something different and decided this would do to show you the process. Hope it helps.

We will get back to your regular viewing channel next post, promise!

Mixed media-collage : tissue, assorted paper scraps, mat medium, acrylics, ink