Black, White, And Red

It's not all black and white is what the theme is this week at Mixed Media Monday--so keeping  with my colors from  my last post, I'm sticking with the red--

Did you ever have one of those pieces that you're working on , and just aren't satisfied with it, and you keep adding more stuff to it?   Well, this is one of those pieces, and luckily I documented the process with photos. So come along with me on my journey, and I'll show you.  So the first thing I did was take a gallery wrapped  8 x 10 canvas and collaged black and white papers on it, because that's the theme-right?

The sheet music is from a collage pack that I purchased from Ophelia--wonderful items in this pack, including some old ledger papers, which I love.  And she still has more available--just click on her name for the link.  It was perfect for what I wanted, because I knew that I was going to be putting roses on it, and the name of the song was  "Under the Rose Arbor"--perfect :D

After that,  I put a titan buff wash over it (I know, I know--it's not white, but I would say it's ivory--a member of the white family) and Golden's  crackle  paste on the edges and on the rose stencil.  I love this crackle paste, because that's just what it does when it dries-- it cracks.

So I added some script stamp in places and the ladies face--I love this stamp--I use her alot.

Okay, you see that house in the corner?  Well, that's an inkjet transfer, that I'm so proud that I can do now, but I was looking at it, and thought  "this is too dark, hmmm, I know, I'll outline it (it wraps around the side of the canvas too). So after I did that, I said "no, it's too dark--it's gotta go"

P.S. Notice the music title is just about gone, except for the word Arbor--well that will still work.

So let's move forward a little bit--I got rid of the house and added more sheet music there and in other places and at the top I added the word Dance from another song title, because as you can see "Under the Rose Arbor" is long gone.  I had these fabric flowers that I added for more texture, also.  At this point, I said (notice I'm not thinking anymore, I'm saying--in other words I'm talking to myself or arguing with Clara my muse--one or the other),  "okay, it's finished" and I varnished it  (gloss varnish), and this was my final photo for MMM.  Yesterday morning when I looked at it, I said, "I don't like it", so back to the drawing board--

So now...... I added more stamping (I stamped onto old sewing pattern tissue papers and collaged them into the heart and around different places) I dirtied up the flowers, because they were just too white.  Let me see, what else--just more stamping.  And I said  "okay, now it's finished" and this was the final photo for MMM.  A  few hours later I was looking at it, and I said "it needs something,  hmmm, how about a hanger?"

P.S. What happpened to the word Dance?   I can hardly see it!

And here is the finished piece....... I think.  If this was Mixed Media Tuesday, I'd probably be still adding stuff  to it.  I have to say that I like it better in person--everything shows up so flat on the computer screen--you lose the texture of the piece.   So, that's it,  I hope you enjoyed my "tutorial"?

Enchanted

This is the theme at Mixed Media Monday this week, and here is my enchanted land where the sun ALWAYS shines : )

This is done on an 11 x 14 wrapped canvas, and I just had alot of fun using all different types of mediums.  First I just started putting down colors using my Golden acrylics.  I love these paints so much--I just don't understand why they have to be so expensive (I'm very protective of them).  And then I started collaging my different scrapbook papers for the mountains, trees, and birds.  After that, I used neocolor crayons and colored pens.  I loved making this piece.

And I have to give credit to the artist Lierre Foest for inspiring me.  I was looking around on the web after I saw the theme for this week, and that's when I discovered her.  I first found her on you tube.  At first, I thought all of her work was on large surfaces, but they're not.  The majority of them are on ACEO (2.5 x 3.5) cards and 4 x 6 pieces called OSWOA--I've never heard this term before.  Does anyone know what that one stands for? I can't stop looking at her work--all the details on such tiny surfaces--she also prefers 1 x1 surfaces too!

If you like this type of colorful, whimsical art, then you will love this video:

Mardi Gras

This is the theme this week at Mixed Media Monday--Mardi Gras, so I decided to make a Mardi Gras box.

And here's a better view of the cover--

When I first saw what the theme was going to be, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do.  I wouldn't really call myself  a Mardi Gras type of girl.  If  I lived in New Orleans, I'd probably stay at home.  But then Lisa  from my Suzi Blu class (who I have a feeling would love to go to the Mardi Gras, or I may be wrong--which is it, Lisa? : ) said to me-- what is  Mardi Gras without a Suzi goddess, and she was right, so thanks Lisa for the spark!

I just started out with a boring unfinished wood box that you find at the craft store.  You might be seeing alot more of these boxes.  My first art fair is next month, and these are hot items there. Then I just made it colorful and glitzy with different papers, metallic paint, and "jewels", and then finished it off with a high gloss varnish, because it has to be shiny!!

I also think that this box would come in handy for a Suzi goddess--she would put all of her beads that she collected in it   : )  And you know who else would have appreciated this box for storing her beads--Clara of course. I think it's official--Clara is my muse--either that, or my alter-ego.  Or is that one in the same?

And I also wanted to show you the latest photo of my grandson, Bob. This is for my wallet : ) He just celebrated his 5th birthday, which happened to be on Friday--the same day as mine!!

Romance At MMM

Mixed Media Monday's theme this week is  romance and here is my romantic submission--

The title of  this piece is "Clara's New Beau"--oh yeah that's right, Clara's at it again.  This is her in her younger days with  her new boyfriend.  I don't know his name, and I'm sure she didn't remember it  either later on in her life, because she had many beaus in her time. She 's getting ready for her big date with him, which happens to be Valentine's Day. She's made up her face, used her best perfume (looks like she used it all up,too), and made sure to wear her pearls (that happened to be a gift from a former beau), and notice the roses--she received them for Valentine's Day......from someone else.  They both seem  to be very smitten with each other at the time this photo was taken:

I started out with an unfinished shadowbox, and turned it backwards--

I don't like to use things the way they're supposed to be used--probably why I reversed it. Then I collaged sheet music on the outside and inside. After that I  Mod Podged the images first and then the lace on the reverse side of the glass--so basically everything was under the glass instead of on  top:

And then I just used Clara's items, and completed my box. The image of Clara and her new suitor I found on Google--how she ended up there, I'll never know.  You know, all this talk about Clara--do you think that Clara could be my muse??

So there's two things happening next weekend--St. Valentine's Day and my Birthday!  I could do without one of them :  )   And I also wanted to direct you to Kelly's blog.  I met her in Suzi's class and she is having a giveaway, but a little bit different than most.  She makes beautiful jewelry, and her giveaway is any image of your art that she will put in a pendant for you--isn't that cool?  You have until Feb. 12 (which happens to be my birthday--that would be a great present, don't you think?)  Happy Valentine's day everyone!

WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?!

That's what Mixed Media Monday  wants to know this week, and that's what all of these people want to know--

That's what they're saying to each other, BUT what they're  THINKING  is--there's something about her, with her fun and carefree spirit, and her self-condifence of expressing herself.   And oh yeah, I'd be one of those whispering ladies here, but secretly I'd  be envious of her knowing herself so well, and doing what makes her happy.  A couple of weeks ago I made an art piece that you can see here, and in it, I used an old postcard that I had.  And on the back was a message written from Clara to her friend Olga.  So after looking at  this piece--I think that the lady with the spiffy outfit must be Clara,

 and her friend Olga is in the bottom right-hand corner.

Olga doesn't seem too  pleased with Clara right now, does she?   So, I decided to name this piece "Clara".

Clara's outfit was designed by the house of Itkupilli, and all of the other gossiping, snickering, jealous people came from vintage magazines dating back to the  40's and 50's.  When I was looking through the magazines, I loved the different advertisements I ran across, like this one:

She has a strict budget of $25.00 a month for groceries--I think she can do it.  Or how about this one:

How about a brand new car for $645.00!  But my favorite one has to be this:

"Smoke a LUCKY to feel your LEVEL best"  Wow, it was a whole different world back then!  When I saw what the theme was for this week, I was a little stumped.  I almost didn't do it, but these are challenges, so I challenged myself to do it, and I'm glad that I did--I had fun!

And wanted to show you this, in keeping with this week's theme.  WHAT WAS I THINKING when I made this VERY VERY fattening, high in cholesterol, delicious, 3 cheese macaroni and cheese dinner?

I was thinking, "I can't wait for dinner!"

Yep, I ate all that up, PLUS I had seconds!

And finally one more photo that I'd like to share with you.  This is me when I was in my 30's, and of course, there's that question again--

WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?!--with my big hair (that I was so proud of), and those high-wasted , balloon pleated  pants that accentuated my "tiny" hips so well--JUST LOVELY!!

The Games People Play

That's the theme this week over at Mixed Media Monday.  So you've heard the familiar phrase "house of cards"--well for this art challenge, I created a kindgom of cards--

This is where the King and Queen of Hearts live--click on the photo for a closer view.

This is the King's place, and

here is the Queen's--that must be their son Prince Jack up on the second floor.  Also, you'll notice that what's growing there are Club, Heart, Spade, and Diamond flowers, and the trees are Spade trees.

Growing up, that was what my brothers and I did for entertainment--we played alot of cards.  When we were young, our favorite card game was War.  Does anyone remember that game?  It's basically a never ending game--we would play with a double deck and we'd play that same game for days.  And then as we got older, our favorite was Pinochle--we loved  that game.  As much as I love now and modern technology--I still like the "olden" days before Play Station 3 and computers.  I don't think my kids growing up ever even heard of the word Pinochle.

When I started out with this piece, I knew that I was going to make the houses out of the deck of cards that I had.  I loved the round playing deck that I used for the trees.  I like putting houses in my artwork,  but I didn't know how they would turn out.  I made the houses, and then my muse just took over and they came to life.  When I finished, I looked at it  and realized that it was the King and Queen's kingdom!

 And when I'm in my art room, I talk to myself ALOT.  What scares me though, is that I tend to have a conversation with myself.  But I had an "aha" moment.  I was at Sharon's site --All Norah's Art--the class doesn't start until Feb. 5, but the site is open now. Well anyway Sharon (she's a cool lady :) was telling us that she talks to herself  also, and sometimes things just come out of her, and she told us that it's her muse, Norah talking to her.  How cool is that?   Her muse has a name.  And then that's when I realized--there's nothing wrong with me--it's MY MUSE talking back to me!!  Thanks Sharon, for giving me that insight--I feel better now.  Sometimes my muse (I don't know her name....yet) can be a bit irritating, but I always listen to her, because she's usually right.

I also wanted to tell you that I went to our mall a couple of days ago to get some things, and of course I had to stop in at Michaels and Borders to treat myself to a latte (my drink of choice).    And when I was there, I picked up the latest issue of this--

I haven't had a chance to even open it yet, but I'm looking forward to it.  The main reason is that I am loving all of these beautiful journal pages that I'm finding on alot of your blogs.  I really want to start an art journal.  My first step was starting this blog, but I want to start a real life one.( well I actually kind of started one with my upside down Suzi faces)  I found Jo Reimer's blog One a Day, and on it she encourages everyone to keep a journal, whether it's art or just writing--just basically to record your life.  She tells of her mother and father being married during the Depression and the tough times that fell on them, and she wished that they would have kept  some kind of journal--anything just to know how they felt   during this time of their life.  And don't you wish that you could read things from your relatives that are no longer with you --even if it were just beautiful artwork in a beautiful journal. After I read her post, I felt guilty for not recording anything of what I do.

And also on her blog, she had a very  interesting  utube video of a man who discusses his journaling, and you guessed it--I'm putting up another VERY interesting video for you to enjoy (Thanks Jo)--I LOVED this video!!

Wings and Imagination

Wings is the the theme this week at Mixed Media Monday,  and a couple of weeks ago, I made my
garden angel. so this week for the challenge I made my butterfly angels--

 The butterflies are Dover images and I used my favorite garden book for the background again--

And when I was making this, I knew that I wanted to add text or a quote.  I don't really have a way with words, so I just went to Google and found this quote:

"Imagination will take you everywhere" 

The actual quote is "Logic will get you from A to B.  Imagination will take you everywhere."

I found it here:

Now, I'm really proud of this.  I was never able to figure out how to get the actual utube video up on my post--I'm still in computer grade school.  So with a little help from my son, Nick, via email, I did it.  My son is a college professor, you know (Dr. Salter), and he's been teaching me computer skills since I started my blog, but he'll only tell me how to start things  and then let me figure out the rest by myself.  Look Nick, I did it!

This video has really great quotes in it, that I know alot of artists like to use in their art, and also there are some amazing butterfly photos in it, or if you just want to be a little motivated, it's nice to watch.  Okay, if anything, at least put it in your favorites (after all this trouble I went through  to figure it out). There really are some wonderful quotes on here.  And I want to give credit to the utube artist Elaine Gilbert for putting this together.

Isn't the internet wonderful?  It has become such a useful tool for artists.  I can't even count all the techniques I've learned, and look, I'm taking a class that I've always wanted to take.  I really don't think there's a local Goddess and Poet class in my town. I think one of the best parts about it, is just interacting with other artists all over the world.  If I have a question or need help, I always know where I can go.  What was it like for artists when there was no internet I wonder? 

And in December, I bought myself a laptop for an early Christmas present.  The main reason was, so that I could have it up in my art room, because I knew that I was going to take a class, and it would be much more convenient for me.  But it's really become one of my art supplies that I can't do without--for instance when I wanted to find a quote.  She's become like my little art assistant. I call it a she, because there are days when she's a bit moody, and there are days when she can be a downright  ITCH with a B, but most of the time we get along very well and I've become very dependent on my little Dell.  And after reading what I just wrote, I  think that I'm spending WAY, WAY  too much time in this house and I think I need to get out more : )