Snowy Trees

Yesterday, we had a bit of snow...somewhere around 6 inches..not much, but enough to make a mess, or create a beautiful scene. I think it created a beautiful scene. Not to mention my wheat crop is going to enjoy the water from the melt. Since we didn't get any wind with this snow fall, all the snow is atop the crop. YAY!

Yesterday, the temperature was only 0...yes that is zero. This morning it was -10..yes below zero. (Everyone experiencing this kind of weather can snicker, we know these aren't bad temps)

This after noon though it is 40 degrees...everything is melting very nicely.

I took a picture of the trees on the hill in the south west pasture. I am not sure if it shows but, the snow shows lovely definition laying on the branches.

I hope you can see it.

:)

Evolution..

I was looking through some of my art books and spied this real cool looking background procedure...only I didn't choose colors very well. They mixed up looking more green than I thought they would. I did like the process though. Choose your colors and dribble them and puddle them *hint* don't use too much...it will make a lot more than you think. At the end of the 'canvas' create the puddle and lines and at the top will be the master color, a straight line across. (I think I am telling this right)
Pull it all to the end of the 'canvas' this will stain the surface. I collected the staining paint onto a second surface and the result is below on a piece of cardboard.

Since I didn't particularly like the stain...I have had trouble working with it...this is the result so far, trying to 'lighten' it up. I am still going to work on it more. I like where it is headed now though.

I collected what pulled off the first canvas and pulled that across a second canvas...a piece of cardboard...and pulled the 'stain' to the end of that piece...let it all dry.

Here is the cardboard piece with added layers. I really like where this piece is going.

On the canvas substrate I had added a couple of transfer images, only I didn't like the result so I painted over them...I tell you this so you realize there isn't a mistake in the creation of paintings, it is an evolution!

ATC Lesson 4

Lesson 4

Take a telephone page and use it as the background.

Add acrylic paint mixed with matte medium to thin.

Lay first color...dry then lay second color...add your image.

I used a telephone page that ads for fishing were displayed.

So the keen notion to use a get away fish story came to mind.

I decided to use a fish stamp.

I couldn't find the right words I wanted to cut out to use...( didn't want to write my own)...without spending the rest of today looking..so I opted for different words to add up to the same meaning...do you get it?

p.s.
I am coming back in...I don't think I am as clever as I thought this should be...
too many of you are perplexed
so
let me help you to my thought process

the story line is
the fish that got away...you probably got that
then
long___ is long
study__ is story
minit__ is short

long story short

:)

Thank you for stopping by...this is for A.R.T. ATC workshop

Balance

In the SoulJournalgroup in yahoo we chose some definitive words to work off in a journal spread.
I am wwaaaaay behind but the word I chose and believed was my word of the "year" is
Balance.

I have been thinking and thinking and thinking some more about this unique "magical" word ever since I heard it on Oprah when she began her Best life series.
I was 'looking' for magic...willing to 'buy' a dream.

HOW can I bring 'balance' into my life.
Make it work so I can be at peace, thinner, wiser, more efficient, ...
Indeed this IS a magical word...
but, but, I WANT to find all this balance too... just like Oprah's guests...

There isn't a magic word. ME YOU WE are magic already.
This balance...it is right here.
I don't need to go any further than my own back yard...(or front pasture if you will).
Looking for the magic pill, the magic system, a magic diet...it is all right here.

Look no further than yourself to give you the inspiration to slow down,
eliminate the clutter,
eat less of a portion and begin to have a balanced diet..walk around a little and enjoy the outside.. to give a balance of some exercise

enjoy the sunshine...go sit outside a minute, to begin a balance of rest

work less hours so you can spend more time with your family (spending quality time make the time you spend with family and friends count),

need less
so you can make the pay you bring home be efficient and enough so you don't need to work overtime...(work IS important to pay the bills and get a little extra something...art supplies...but, in moderation)
I should become less of a procrastinator and make the most of the minutes I have to spend time on the things I would like to do...and say I don't have time for...plan out my time better.

Okay I think you get the general message I am trying to send...we all need ...i need balance...this is my spread.

"No further than my own front pasture. "

Looking at the beautiful trees we have planted, the groves growing up, beautifying my view, bringing a balance to nature, giving me a harmonious feeling, brought to me the simplicity of... 'balance'.
I took a closer look ...inward...and found out it is all right here too...
the little AHA moment.

To create the spread..(which didn't exactly turn out as I envisioned, but works) I took a picture of the pasture and transferred the image using the 'gel transfer' technique. (I could have sketched it just as well)



added some layers of paint, including the creek that runs through the bottom.. added the panes of windows that I look through
wrapped it all up in a gold bow ...leaving off the centering of balance because imperfect and making adjustments.. is just fine by me...

thanks for looking...and I hope everyone finds their own sense of balance...you don't need to look very far.

:)

ATC lessons

I signed up for the ATC lessons off A.R.T. artists of the round table art group. I just noticed I am out of sequence...this is 3.

From Bernie Berlins Artists Trading Card Workshop...pg 28

I didn't get all that carried away with the production of this card.

needed:

magazine image

scissors

gel medium

gesso

fine point marker

opaque markers

acrylic paint

detail brush

Finding an image took the most time...cut out affix to card. Use gesso and paint over the image

then work on the details from memory...it is to practice getting over fears of drawing and painting.

use the opaque markers...i think mine are drying up ...i had a difficult time making them color.

I added the door...and answers found here...

that is the ATC for the day...

The enlargement is kind of blurry...sorry 'bout that

Thanks for looking.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day

and

Happy Anniversary for those Celebrating!

I am participating in Kathryn's invitation for a Blog Party!

Over to the right find the beautiful Valentine that represents the invitation and click it to go to her blog where you can find a blogroll of the participants.

Enjoy as well, looking through her blog at her inspirational artwork and get to know Kathryn through her posts. She leads a group of us on a soul journey and arting journal journey.

Welcome!

Today I will lead through how I created this page.

A Valentine.

Here is a picture with all the supplies and a few of the tools involved.

1. Gesso applied to a sheet of cardboard; or canvas; whatever you choose for a substrate. I chose cardboard recycled from some food packaging.

2. Applied the first layer of paint randomly; Transparent Quinacridone Red Airbrush paint

3. Stenciled using Golden Soft Gel Gloss spread with a credit card (or something with a similar edge) Gave me roses on the side and the bottom dragonfly.

4. Layered more color thinned with matte medium (Golden) cobalt, turquoise, quinacridone/nickle azo gold...keep adding color layers as you like..let dry in between so you can see through them.

5. added stamp using acrylic black paint...wash stamp immediately.

6. " Whisper I Love You " is a gel transparency. Printed onto regular copy paper from ink jet printer. Transferred using Golden gloss gel medium.

I apply the medium to the area of artwork I want to transfer ..a thin layer 2-3 different directions then lay onto the area for transfer.

Using the bone folder I smooth over artwork to make the adherence a good bond. Give 5-7 minutes and peel up a corner to see if the transfer is good.

GENTLY

remove the rest of the paper.

Most of the time paper will be left behind, if so with a damp finger gently rub the area until the pulp comes off and continue to do so until the are is smooth of the fuzzy paper.

You CAN rub too hard and will lift off the image you transferred.

Trial and error will give you the practice and give you a sense of what I am talking about.

The nice thing about transfers are you can see through them. Had i not used a dark background behind the letters the whole are could be seen through.

Click and go large you can see part of the stamp under the clearer portion of the letters.

7. The cherub and hearts artwork are affixed with a glue.

8. Added tissue paper over the cherubs.

This image shows a before I added the last layer of clear sealer.

This shows after my layers of sealer.
That is the only difference...the sealer.

Go Whisper...I Love You...to your special someone.

:)

Can't Pick Just One!

Come and LOOK!!!!!

The souljournal group had a book mark swap. I played along and these gorgeous bookmarks are mine .....all mine!!!

http://morningdew15-morningdove.blogspot.com/ Morning Dove contributed the bookmark in the center. It has lots of trim and baubles attached for the tassel.

http://mescrap.blogspot.com/ Lay Hoon sent the bookmark on the right.

http://averageamericangirl.com/blog Christy sent the mask bookmark...ingenious!

Click on the picture and go large to see all the details I lack to tell about.

This was a fun project. If the group decides to do another bookmark swap...do join in...this was the second for me. I now have 5 gorgeous bookmarks from 5 different artists I admire.

Thank you Christy for hosting the project.

:)

Valentine ATC

I worked up an ATC today.

# 1 gesso a piece of cardboard.

# 2 I smeared a little red airbrush paint onto the piece.

# 3 I took a copy of a ledger printed onto regular paper

and gel transferred onto the piece as my background.

I have found that gel medium in gloss works the best for a gel transfer.

Apply the medium onto the area you want to transfer

a thin coat smeared in a few directions assures a good coverage...

lay onto the area of transference.

Burnish well...(means rub over)

I use a credit card, or a fid, or a bone folder...anything smooth..even the bottom of a glass.

Burnish smooth..and leave 5-7 minutes...you can let it dry but then you have a LOT of clean up

I like to be able to peel most of the paper off (begin in the corner gently lifting the image to make sure it has been left...if not wait a bit longer...)

this leaves the impression and a lot less paper backing to rub off

# 4 Wet finger and begin to gently rub off the pulp...you will able to feel the difference and know you are done...this is a gentle rubbing if you rub too hard you will lift off your image.

# 5 let dry completely

# 6 I added a stamp using black acrylic paint...then painted on the hearts and added the lettering with a stamp and red acrylic paint.

# 7 Then sealed it with polyurethane

I find this helps bring depth to painted areas using inks or paints...

Hope you enjoyed the process...thanks for looking...

The Winner is.......

drums roll...........mom picked number 8.............Vicki Holdwick wins the tips and hints DVD from Derwent

YAY

Step 2...of Restoration Project

Step 2:

Brings us to taking the panel apart. Finding pieces in the pile of discarded panels on the floor

or

Cleaning the intact piece of the old cement and years of dirt.

Then, placing it into the space on the new pattern.

This picture shows:

1 piece that was retrieved from the discard pile and cut to fit.

And 2 pieces that were intact and just cleaned...1 gold piece and the turquoise piece along the border.

This will take me a few weeks to get through. Good news is the discard pile has a good selection of replacement parts.

AND

The old cement seems easy to clean off...so far.

Restoration step 1

Step 1:

Trace with a piece of charcoal or soft pastel, over the lead lines of the panel that will be restored.

Next,

lay the tracing onto the work space and place grid paper over the tracing. The grid paper helps to true up the lines, make them straight and create the pattern that will be worked from.

Next, start pulling off the old lead, and clean up the piece of glass then lay in the respective place on the pattern.

Next update will show the glass cleaned and in place.

See ya.

ATC Lesson 2

This is lesson 2 for the ATC workshop class on A.R.T. artgroup.

Resist using a leafing pen.

I used matte gold. Then use 2 watercolor paint...paint over noticing that the paint doesn't stick to the resist. Then use stamps and black acrylic paint. "Follow U" is the ATC result.

This is my example that is going into my class folder.

Long Term Project

The Avera Hospital here in Platte, SD just delivered these panels for restoration. The 2 panels on the table will be restored, using the parts from the panels on the floor. They are building a chapel in the hospital, where these units will be permanently displayed.

The first task is to make a working pattern from the best (most intact) of the two panels. Then I pull off the old lead. Which doesn't look like it will be a problem, it is literally falling apart. Then, I clean all the old cement off the glass parts and dig around in the spare parts for a piece to replace the broken and missing pieces.

Then, I reconstruct the units with new lead and cement. Reinforce and up to the chapel they go.
With out any major complications this should probably take 2 months.
Depending on my work and lesson planning with demonstrations to schedule working into studio time.
This is where the word of the year for me...."Balance" is going to come into play!

There isn't going to be much to show for progress reports...I will probably just re post these pictures with the finished results when the time comes.

Just thought you might be interested in being on the first level of something like this.

:)

Altered Journal Cover

This is the almost finished journal cover from Sarah Whitmire's class she offered through Joggles. She is currently going to offer another class through herself

http://sarahwhitmire.blogspot.com/

Check her out!

I won't go into the details of this project since it IS a class from Sarah. The class was easy to follow and the results are better than this picture shows...even though I have more to do with the project I could, should I want to..be finished now.

Blog Award

I was tagged by Diane (Thank you)

http://dianesmixedart.blogspot.com/

so I'm spreading the love!!!

Honorees please follow these instructions and share the LUV!

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.

2. Nominate at least 5 blogs which show GREAT ATTITUDE and/or GRATITUDE

3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received the

My choices are:

http://gaalcreative.blogspot.com/

Anne

http://annielittlewolfstudio.blogspot.com/

Annie

http://lindavincent.blogspot.com/

Linda

http://magpiesenvy.blogspot.com/

Diane

http://thelastdoordownthehall.blogspot.com/

Elizabeth

Highlighting 5 blogs I visit is hard for me. Everyone of the blogs I visit regularly keep me inspired and offer so much creativity. Begin at the top of the blogroll located on the right hand side of this blog, and keep clicking on each site.

This activity might take you days to complete

but

there will be NO disappointment in some remarkable work to view.

An added bonus:

They all have blog rolls too, and different artists yet to go see....

It Can be addictive though...