Art Now for Autism

What a wonderful cause…. Perhaps you’d also like to donate art?

BLEACH STAMPING EXPERIMENT

Today I was working on a background sheet and stamping with bleach. Not a new technique to me… Once I stamped my stamp into the liquid bleach, I’d stamp it on the black card stock (SU) and watch the action take place.  To speed up the drying, I used my heat gun so I could get on to the next step…..  Coloring it….

I used various items…..  Pigment ink, Dyes and Chalks. I then splattered it with watered down white acrylic paint.   I liked the effect but later in the day I wanted the same look but much more subtle.

 

WAAAA LAAAA…..   this is my experiment:  which took up a lot less time as well…..  no coloring in the lines…..just get your fingers into it….. and get busy. 

I took chalks in many colors and rubbed them onto my black cardstock (SU) using my index finger.  I then stamped the stamps into the bleach and stamped them onto the sheet.  If you notice, instead of the paper turning “brown” it removed the chalk in the areas I stamped in.   To speed up drying, I again used the heat gun….. I then splattered the piece with watered down white acrylic paint.  I love the look, what do you think?

Gum Arabic Transfers

I have been through hell trying to get a good transfer.  I’ve tried the following techniques: Ink Jet, Laser, Color Copier, Transparencies as well… I’ve tried Acetone, Gin, Gel Medium, Transfer It to name a few.  I can’t tell you how much money I have spent in the process… between purchasing different products, different types of paper, and Tylenol to take care of my head-aches in the process.Tonight I began to straighten out one of my shelves in my “Craft Closet” and came across a bottle of Gum Arabic. I’m sure like you, you find things in your stash that you have no clue what you bought it for.  You just know “you had to have it”.   I sat there for a few minutes dumb founded…. Now what did I purchase this for?   Then it hit me… I read somewhere a long time ago that some use it for transfers.  OK…. I have a full bottle of Tylenol and several pages of Ink Jet and Laser Printed images…..   I figured I’d try the pictures I printed on regular typing paper on my Lexmark printer.  Nothing fancy, no special ink…. just cheap prints from my home computer. Here are the steps I took.

1. Printed images on plain copy paper

2. Tore pictures from the paper to have irregular edges

3. Painted Gum Arabic on the torn out image

4. Turned the image over and pressed down onto my clay coated ATC card  (I tried this on other papers as well)

5. Make sure you press the image down and brayer or rub it down really well to assure it is adhered in all areas. (Make sure your image doesn’t wiggle around)

6. If you have patience, wait for it to dry.  If not, use a heat gun to dry the image.  (I’m impatient)

7. Rub paper with water and rub until you see your image clearly.

Here is a copy of the first 3 I did tonight.  They are in different stages and are not complete but I wanted to share this will you all tonight while I was in the process of doing them.

Day Off!

Yesterday was a holiday and I had the day off.  Hubby was working, my younger daughter was in DC at school and my older daughter was working as well….. Hmmmm…. what’s a girl to do?

I KNOW… I KNOW…  I’ll take a mental health day and spend it on “ME”…..  I woke up at 8:15 am and got cranky with myself.  Now why would I want to be awake this early on a day off? It was grey and rainy out so I quickly talked myself into going back to bed.  Trust me, I didn’t have to twist my own arm…. before I knew it, I was under the covers and off to la la land again.

I must have needed it… I didn’t awake again until 1:00 pm   WOWOWOWOWOW… what a treat!!  I never sleep more than 6 – 7 hours a night.  I was THRILLED to say the least.

Soon I shuffled myself into my “Closet Studio” to play, putz and pick up.  I didn’t get much accomplished in any department but I did manage to make another ATC. (Picture Below)  I also made a dozen or so various backgrounds using an assortment of techniques.  I was happy as a lark… it didn’t matter to me that I didn’t do much, I was doing just what I wanted to do. 

 I look forward to another one of these days!!! 

Manic Monday

Hi,

Not much going on…. I’ve finally had time to get into my “CRAFT CLOSET” and play around for a few hours over the weekend.  I belong to several artists groups on Yahoo…. one of which is “Artists of the Round Table”.  We are working on creating ATC’s using different techniques from Berie Berlin’s book.  I’m enjoying the process and really appreciate the fact that I have to be more disciplined in this workshop.  Here are some of the projects I’ve worked on so far.

Interviewed

Recently I was approached by an “ETSY BLOGGER”….. Kae asked if I would be her first interviewee… as you can probably guess, I was very excited she asked ME!  I mean really…. there are soooo many wonderful etsy artists out there….  But she picked ME……   If you are interested in reading the interview just click here: http://kae1crafts.blogspot.com/

While there, take a peek at Kae’s blog as well!!

Tag Book

Here’s a peek at the Tag Book I created for one of the art groups I belong to.  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/The_Artists_Circle/  It was a lot of fun going from step one, two…. three….. etc…  

I really enjoyed the process of this one.

I made it with everything that means something to “ME” rather than just going with the flow of anything else.

This one spoke to me and I spoke back filling it with things tucked in that meant a whole lot to me.

“Front Cover” Me, always and forever looking after my family.

“Grown with love”  My children growing into beautiful flowers with never ending nurturing and love.

“Butterflies” as my daughters have grown their beautiful own wings and are gliding through life.

“EXPRESS”  for American sign language (One of my daughters is deaf)

“Immensely Strong” with the tree……  Our family roots and ties are immensely strong and bond us forever.

“Vintage Music Sheets” because I absolutely love music.

A Simple Hello!

Just a quick hello and to say that it was non-productive today.  Shame on me….   you see… it was either go into the “Closet Studio” or take a bit of a nap.    I chose the nap!!   A much needed one I might add.  I’ve been fighting  a terrible cold since last Monday… this one is lingering on and has kicked my butt.  Trust me, I wanted to be productive… just didn’t have the energy.

So…………… hopefully tomorrow!

Happy New Year

Hello and Happy New Year!

As you can see, I have been very lazy regarding my blog. It seems like life just gets the best of me and whatever time I do get, I end up in the studio. (Better known by me the “closet studio”)  More on that in a moment….

This year I want to make it one of my priorities to at least write in my blog once a week or better.  I won’t say it’s going to be my New Years Resolution as I have never been able to stick with resolutions.   I also want to scan all art pieces and put them on my blog.  I’m sooooo bad at doing that!!   I get so excited that I finally managed to get enough time to create a piece I tend to forget to scan it. 

OK Mary Lou, take time to breathe here…. 🙂

 There is so much I’d like to write about… but I don’t want to bore any of you.   With that, I’ll just mention that I believe this year is going to be a WONDERFUL year!  WHY?   Well… my dad has had a second heart attack recently and had to undergo emergency triple bypass.  Dad came home just before Christmas and he’s doing wonderfully!

So…. I’m greatful he’s still with us.  He is a very lucky man for making it and our family is even luckier to have him in our lives.   Sooooo…. you see, I believe because of that alone, it’s already the start of a wonderful year.

Now… about that Closet Studio of mine….   Often I’ve been asked if I have a “studio”…. I tend to laugh as I’ve always called it a craft room.  BAD BAD BAD, slap my hand……   I’ve been told that if I sell my works of art, then it no longer is called a craft room and it is a studio!  OK OK…. but having a 7′ x 7′ room called a studio seems rather funny to me…. but ok… I’ll meet you half way, it’s my “CLOSET STUDIO.”   If you’d like to see my small piece of heaven you can find images in the CLOSET STUDIO.

Zentangles

OK… The Zentangle Craze ( www.zentangle.com ) is happening and I had to try my hand at a few. (Talk about getting into a zone….. how relaxing to create these)   The first three I decided to keep in the black/white motif as they are so commonly seen. BUT… I decided I’d like to see what a few would look like in luminaire paints. (Great shimmer not being picked up by scanner, sorry)  Let me know what you think…. black and white or colored!!