Somerset Studio--Thank You

I'm  so  excited  to  have  a  feature  article  in  the  March/April  issue  of  Somerset  Studio!

I  started  out  with  this  magazine  discovering  it  along  with  the  world  of  mixed  media  11  years  ago--so  happy  that  I've  come  this  far,  and  now  to  have  my  art  featured--I  would  never  have  believed  this  all  those  years  ago.

This  will  be  on  sale  in  stores  March 1.   A  BIG  thank  you  to  Somerset  Studio  for  this  and  also  for  continuing  to  be  a  source  of  inspiration  for  me!

New Scrapbook Papers?

Okay,  I  wouldn't  call  these  scrapbook  papers--I  would  say  they're  more  like  art  papers,  or  better  yet--little  works  of  art!

These  are  the  papers  that  I  ordered  from  Stampington,  and  I  just  LOVE  them!   And  as  an  added  bonus,  I  discovered  the  artist--Donna  Estabrooks---she  is  the  artist  that  designed  these  papers,  and  before  this  I  didn't  know  who  she  was,  but  I  sure  do  now--just  go  to  her  website  and  you'll  see  what  I  mean.   If  you  like  lots  of  color  and  whimsy,  you'll love  her  too--well...... just  look  at  these  papers!

They  were  so  pretty  I  didn't  even  want  to  cut  them  up.....but  after  I  added  my  own  style  like  doodling,  stamping,  and  some  rub ons-

....and  oh  yes,  some  embellishments  too

....and  then  some  acrylic  painting--

.....I'm  glad  that  I  did!

....so  happy  with  the  way  they  came  out,  and  when  I  was  making  these,  I  wasn't  quite  sure  what  I  was  going  to  do,  but  they  definitely  helped  me  with  their  fun  images  and  phrases.

These  are  snippets  from  3  different  papers,  but  by  putting  them  together,  they  made  a  whole  new  piece  of  art!

And  there's  a  few  features  of  these  papers  that  I  want  to  mention.   Half  of  them  have  glitter  on  them.  Now  for  all  of  you  glitter  people,  don't  get  mad,  but  I'm  not  really  into  glitter,  but  when  I  put  the  gel  or  matte  medium  over  the  top  of  them,  the  glitter  became  less glittery  and  more  textural (is  that  a  word?)--I  really  like  that.   And  also,  these  papers  are  heavy  cardstock,  and  they  were  hard  to  adhere  with  regular  gel  medium,  so  I  got  out  my  heavy  gel  medium  and  it  worked  like  a  charm!

So  also  when  I  ordered  these  papers,  I   pre-ordered  the  Fall  issue  of  Somerset  Apprentice,  but  I  was  very  excited  to  see  that  they  sent  me  the  actual  magazine.  I'm  not  even  sure  when  this  is  available  in  the  stores.

And  yes,  Lenny  was  very  excited  too!!

And  it  brought  a  big  smile  to  my  face  to  see  2  of  my  blogging  buddies  in  there  Terri  from  Pringle  Hill  Studio ( she  has  a  giveaway  going  on  right  now  too!)  and  Kristin  from  Twinkle  Twinkle  (the lady that brought us a  Summer  of  Color)!

And....in  the  latest  issue  of  Somerset  Studio  I  found  Marilyn's  art   from  In  My  Room  and  Cathy's  from  Artsy  Butterfly  (she  had  a  4-page  spread!)   This  is  another  added  benefit  of  blogging--you  become  friends  and  then  when  you  see their  art  in  these  magazines,  it's  even  more  exciting.   Way  to  go  all  of  you  guys--Congratulations!!

Old Skool Somerset (plus a couple of Giveaways that I want to tell you about)

Okay  another  magazine  that  I   took  with  me  on my  little  trip  was  an  old  Somerset  magazine  from  2003!  I  think  I bought  it last  year  or  the  year  before  when  they  have  their  annual   back  issue  sale.  I   think  it  might  be  going  on  right  now  over  at  Stampington.com--you  can  find  some  great  buys.  Well  anyway,  I  found  another   project  that  was  calling  my  name.

Assemblage boxes!

And   usually  when  I  do  these,  I  start  out  with  a  prompt, and  it  will  usually   lead  the  way.  This  time  it  was  these--

These  great  children's  blocks  that  I  had--nicely  aged  and  dirtied  up--like  they  should  be.  And  here's  where  they  led  me--

This one  pretty  much  put  itself  together--I  love  that  when  it  happens.

And   I'm  sure  alot  of   you  know  Rebecca   from  Daisy  Dolls,  and  if  you  don't,  then  you  are definitely  in  for  a  treat--you  have  to   check  out  her  blog.  Well,  she  had  showed  you  on  her  blog  a  gift  that  I  had  given  to  her........and  NOW--I  want  to  show  you  what  she  gave  me  in  return!

This  is  a print  from a painting  that  she  had  done  when  she  returned  from  India  last  year.  Is  this  not  gorgeous!!  And  look  at  the  bead embellishments  that she  added on--all  covered  in resin.  And  how  about that  very  cool  elephant?!  Rebecca,  I'd  say  that  you  captured  the atmosphere  of  India very well--thank  you  so  much!!  It's now  happily  living  with  all of  it's  other  new  friends  in  my  art  room.

And  speaking  of  Rebecca--her  daughter,  Emma Grace  has  a  blog  too, and  she  is  having  her  very  first  giveaway!   Emma  Grace,  you  inspire  me  with  your  enthusiasm  and  creative  spirit!!--don't  ever  loose it!!  So  if  you  haven't  gone  over  and  signed  up  yet--what  are  you  waiting  for?!.........GO!!.......NOW!!

But  before  you  do,  there's   one  more  giveaway  that  I  want  to  mention  to  all of  you  face  addicts--

Jodi Ohl  is  starting  this  new  workshop  at  the  Creative  Workshops  ning  site,  and  she  is  giving  away  a  free one  on  her  blog.  It  starts  in  September,  and  it's  really  tempting  me--let  me tell you.  So  you  can  go  here  to  sign  up  for  it.  Good  luck  on  both  of  these  giveaways!!

 

Painting Papers

I am now going into my full-work mode, well I wouldn't really call it work, more like play.  My art show season is starting soon, so I've been  busy painting papers for collage--

I found a tablet of plain scrapbook papers, and there were a bunch of white ones, so I used them, and I've been experimenting with different techniques (some were so bad, that I trashed them), but most of them turned out pretty good.  This one technique that I really like to do is stamping on foam stamps with clear gesso on the white paper--

And then when it's completely dry, I just put an acrylic wash over it. The gesso acts as a resist--you could do it with regular gesso too, and you don't have to use stamps--you can do anything. I love the clear gesso--I was introduced to it by Suzi.

And there was this paper--

I just started doodling and playing around with acrylics, pitt pens, and mostly neocolor crayons I and II.  The more I use these crayons, the more addicted I get to them.  This one turned out so good that I decided to keep it whole and put it on canvas like this and finish it--I'll post it when I do.  And  I read a tip from Pam Carriker--instead of using water with the neocolor II crayons , use Matte Medium instead, and this will set the color.  I read it from an article from here--

I just got this, and I love it--what a great publication. I love Stampington!

And I'm also excited about my new stamp--

It's a crackle stamp--that produces results like this--

You know, I love the crackle look, and I have yet to master it.  I always have problems.  Can anyone help me?  The effect I like is the very tiny crackle look, but I'd be happy with any type of crackle.  What am I doing wrong?  (I'm just adding this in--what I mean by the crackle method--is the method where you apply the crackle medium  out of the bottle, and then when it's dry, you apply paint over it and supposedly cracks will occur, which never happens for me.)

 

I've also been looking around at online classes (remember in my last post, I said that I'm kind of obsessed?)  What I'm looking for now are workshops on backgrounds.  I've looked at Julie Prichard's, and there are a couple on the Creative Workshop ning site, but I'm thinking more of Traci Bautista's--I am really loving the graffiti style art out there, and hers is outstanding.  Has anyone taken any of her online workshops?

So, I'm really looking  forward to my first show of the season at the end of this month.  It's actually more of an art and craft show, which to me is no different--don't get me started about crafters vs. artists--there is no difference!!  We're all artists!! I get to see my fellow exhibitors that I haven't seen since last year, and also returning  customers  (I guess that's what you call returning buyers of your work), and it's fun just to get out and be with everyone who's all there for the same reason. It's in Pittsburgh, too--one of my favorite cities--it's such an eclectic place--I love it!!