First canvas collage

OK, so this strange piece is the first large (16 x 24) canvas collage I've ever managed to complete. I made this for a friend (and co-worker) who is an art-car artist and sculptor. We share a love of rusted things. He just turned 40 and I wanted to make him something to mark the occasion.

The little book is just random things that reminded me of him, tucked into a piece of rusted screening held on by brads that look like screws.

The base is black gesso, with acrylic paints, old paper, a CD I rusted using Modern Options finishes, a genuinely rusted hinge, and some 1/4 watt resistors.

I had fun; hope he likes it.

Gesso & Colormist sprays

One more for today. This is part of a 12 x 12 sheet of bright green cardstock, stamped with white gesso and then oversprayed with yellow and copper Colormist sprays (I keep mentioning these, so: www.outsidethemargins.com). Wonderful stuff.

I need to try this on canvas next.

Oh for the love of a noodle brush

On NGS, we've been challenged to create using a noodle brush, aka a silicone basting brush. Fun things, these. Great for dry brushing and splodging paint everywhere. And very easy to clean up, which was a plus.

In order:
Colormist sprays on glossy cardstock, heated until bubbly. Dry brushed with white gesso.

A wooden box I'm altering. The back of it is painted with brick-red acrylic, then dry brushed with bright red using the noodle brush. It's very hard to see in this scan, but it gave a great faux woodgrain effect.

Resist ink, dye inks, gesso & a top layer of Colormist spray (Electric Pumpkin) applied with the noodle brush. Very subtle, especially on this scan.

Resist inks, Colorwash sprays, overstamping, topped with copper Colormist sprays, again applied with the noodle brush.

Very fun little tool & one I think I'll be using a lot.

Snakes on a headband

Halloween costume in the making: one silver headband and a pile o' rubber snakes. Stay tuned.

Fun with punchinella

At our ATC group this weekend, we played with punchinella, or sequin waste, as well as other things (netting, screens, stencils) that paint and ink can be squished through.

I have a nice stash of punchinella papers to play with now.

Gesso & autumn colors

On Next Gen Stampers, there are challenges to use gesso and autumn colors (two separate challenges). I combined them here.

I wanted to demo how gesso can make very slick surfaces usable.

This little booklet came with a Tarot deck. It was very slick, even more so than playing cards. I gessoed first, using white gesso, and let it dry. Then I swiped with two colors of distress inks (Faded Corduroy and Vintage Photo), and then dry brushed the whole thing with Lumiere Sunset Gold. I left just a bit of text peeking out, as this will become a gift for my sister-in-law and she'll like that.

Mini ATCs

These are for a swap on CC Swaps. At 1.5 x 2.5 inches, they are small. All my friends who got into "inchies" (1" x 1" art pieces) a while ago are BONKERS! :)

P is for...

My breakfast this morning inspired this card. The stamped pear is done on a scrap piece of background--dye inks on glossy cardstock. The pear in the front was inked with Kaleidecolor dye inks, spritzed with a fine mist of water, and stamped. The rest is just scraps of patterned paper.

Sketchbook challenge

On the Art-Venture group, Trish gave us a sketchbook challenge. I did the backgrounds for these pages on a camping trip in August and have slowly been playing. I have to admit, this is outside my comfort zone, but hey, that's the point. So, not great art, but I had some fun.

You can see the original pages in the Sept. 7 post (Marshmallows, lichen & pine needles). In order, here's "All About Me," I (a sort of acrostic with my name); 8 Things I Love; When I Grow Up; Coffee (it was supposed to be morning coffee, but I chose 3:00 coffee); and "In My Dreams."

I felt really limited by the art supplies I took camping and so don't really like these colors or these pages much. But, this is a good exercise for me--need lots of practice! And I will keep playing.

Pages for Stacy's book

Stacy's book was an altered book with an elaborate construction and a theme of "Pooh: Done & Undone." Here is the spread I did for it.

Round Robin Returns

Yesterday, my book came home after being out in the world for six months. This is how the book started. I focused on all the women--authors, poets, songwriters--whose work has inspired me over the years. Used a variety of techniques in here, including gesso, acrylics, stamping, Color Mist sprays, stamping, torn paper collage, transparencies, etc.

Here's my cover, a sign-in page, my welcome page, and three pages I created. This was the first time I participated in a project of this nature. It was challenging, fun, frustrating and totally worthwhile. Thanks to Kate Markey for organizing (see below for Kate's pages).

Deatra's pages

Deatra Cohen and I just met through this exchange. Deatra does fabulous acrylic work.

Her pages in my book blew me away. The text running throughout says "women's words of wisdom" and indicates that they go in one ear and out the next. Deatra may or may not have meant this as a political statement, but I cannot help think of how much better off we'd be if women's words were heard--and stuck--in Washington and elsewhere. In any case, I absolutely love these pages. Not sure if you can tell, but they are sort of die cut, and they overlap and connect to the "storyline" all the way through.

Sharon's pages

Sharon Sahl (who happens to be Kate's sister) does amazing digital collage.

Somewhere in my journal I mentioned how important music and women musicians are to me. Sharon took it to heart, giving me images and lyrics. The cover page of her five-page spread has lift-up flaps and really trippy imagery.

Sharon, thank you so much!

Kate's pages

Kate Markey organized the book project and I can't say enough about her and the pages she made. Each one is so textural. She really "got" the theme and designed pages for it beautifully, touching on poetry, dance, fashion, time, gossip and wit. Thank you, Kate!

Cheryl's pages

Cheryl Lundstrom did these amazing concept pages in my book. Using the Vietnam War memorial as inspiration, she spread hand-written quotes by amazing women across the "walls" spanning six pages, wrapping it all up with a message to "Write Women Back into History." Thank you Cheryl, for the great idea and execution!

Stacy's pages in my book

Here are a couple of Stacy Goldenberg's pages. She went with the historical theme, which I love. She also did a great Patti Smith page and I somehow did not get a picture of it. Will have to post that later.

Oh, what a book!

OK, I had some time last night to sit and ogle my book. I feel so honored by the work done in it, but such wonderful women. Truly a cool thing!

My theme was "Womens' Words of Wisdom" and I love everyone's interpretations of that.

Here are the six books spread out on the table. Mine is top left.

Gesso Resist

We're playing with gesso on the newly burgeoning Next Generation Stampers. I use gesso a lot, in various colors. Very helpful in priming metal and plastic so that they'll take acrylics.

I did this page about six months ago as one of the pages in my book for a round robin swap. (We got our own books back today at a party, and I'm still absorbing the amazing artwork created by Kate, Sharon, Cheryl, Deatra and Stacy. Will blog more about this soon.)

I stamped a baroque image in white gesso on orange paper, then let it dry. I sprayed it with Color Mist sprays (Strawberry Soda), let that dry, then overstamped and wrote on top of all that. Added a transparency with additional stamping, and other embellishments and stamped words.

Stampsmith exchange

This is my final card for a months-long exchange we've been doing on the Stampsmith group. Audrey is a single image, available at www.stampsmith.net.

Big thanks to Michelle Anders in South Africa for hosting this exchange. I have received beautiful cards from all over the world.