ArtiphyTheHeart

"The Universe...

Is Full Of Magical Things...

...patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper".  

For Crowabout #52 and TGIF...

I love this quote from author Eden Phillpotts.  Our senses cannot take in everything contained in their respective fields, so to make sense of stimuli, they must discriminate and rely on reason to narrow the choices and provide cohesion.  But what if we look twice?  Listen again?  How easy is it on first glance to mistake a rope for a snake?  To see a mirage of water in heat waves?  To hear a baby's cry in a cat's call?  Reason is necessary to organize information and establish patterns, but it is not truth in itself. The truth lies beyond; Is deeper. 

Time...

This may have been the fastest week I've lived through, and for no apparent reason.  A trick of time and space.  I prefer the days to linger and the weeks to last as months.  I'm not in a hurry.  I'd like to be able to finish artwork quickly, but have a limitless expanse of hours and days in which to complete them, finding that when they're done, only a few short minutes have passed on the clock.  TGIF's theme is "it's magic".  I can think of no better magic than to stretch time infinitely for leisure and luxury, then pop it back into miniscule parcels when you need it to pass quickly.  That would certainly get the upper hand on pleasure and pain.

The Weekend...

Nothing earthshaking planned for this weekend, but lots to do.  It's going to be hot again, which must happen once more before it begins to cool off for the fall.  Let's hope this is the last burst of heat.  I need the energy that comes with cooler weather.  In the meantime, I'm:

Listening to a rare moment of silence

Ready to lose myself in another collage and

Have a cup of tea,

But must tend to other things first.

Wishing I could bend time in my favor--

I'd take a nap,

Read a book,

Paint, cut, glue, and draw for days and hours,

And it would take only a moment.

Have a great day, Everyone!

Welcome Home...

For Illustration Friday , TGIF and Crowabout...

Time is in short supply today.  The weekend is beginning early and I'm off to get people where they need to go. 

Have a great day, Everyone!

Thinking About...

...Tears And Stuff...

Little Journals...

The TGIF theme this week is tears, so I thought I'd offer up a collaged journal page for the occasion.  This page is from one of my smaller 4-1/2" X 5-3/4" hand-bound journals which I keep with me always, along with a ziplock of paper pieces, scissors, some pens and a Cocoina gluestick.  I pick a page, then keep piecing, *gluening* and layering until I like what I have.  These pages are like wall graffiti.  I just keep adding to them whenever I like.  There's nothing, nothing, more satisfying than to add doodles and stuff to these pages once I feel they've gotten somewhere.  

Some Stuff To Do and A Place to Get Good Stuff...

If you ever decide to give something like this a try, Lisa Vollrath has a Yahoo group for gluebooks, where you can get and share ideas from other gluers, see what they're up to and post a bit of your work, too.  And for one-stop shopping for supplies, there's plenty of good stuff at Ten Two Studios that will get you started and keep you going.

Art Journaling, Month By Month...

If you're looking for something to expand your artistic horizons, sign up for Kelly Kilmer's A Prompt A Day online course.  Think of it as art journaling times your zip code.  You get a lot more than meets the eye, as the prompts for these classes can be used over and over in infinite combinations, and are new every time you use them, even if you repeat them exactly.   Rather than listening to me try to describe it further, just go and see for yourself.  Nobody's pages in Kelly's forum look like anyone else's!  These are art classes at their best.  Instead of dictating a style, they bring out your own, or help you discover yours if you think you don't already have one.  I've been arting with Kelly for a couple of years now, and these classes are truly some of the best!  

No Tears For Me Today...

After a better-than-usual-in-this-heat night's sleep, I'm having a pretty productive day!  Right now I'm:

Sipping sweet tea

Listening to some more Deep Tracks

Finishing a couple of projects

Looking forward to getting started on a couple of large acrylic pieces and

Getting some stuff together to take with me to Frenzy tomorrow and take advantage of Debbie's open lab time

Have a great day, Everyone!

A Banner Month...

...One For the Studio...

A couple of months ago I downloaded the Spring Garden Fairies  from Ten Two Studios.  I love working with sheets of components to mix and match, and I love separate arms, legs, and torsos because I can pose them any way I choose.  The vibrant colors in these dolls are fabulous. They are the perfect contrast for the layers of mixed yellows, umbers, and titan buff (raw titanium matte) which pick up some of the other yellows in my studio, and the glaze pen border on top of the acrylic painted pennants!

There's another great banner in my studio that Tracey Lynn Huskamp made.  It's gorgeous.  It says "S-T-U-D-I-O, and it's made of vintage, glided edged portrait mats and vintage glass glitter.  I'll cherish it always and never replace it,  but it's the same color as my wall, and after a lot of soul-searching, I really don't want to repaint the wall, even though the banner is worthy of a better background.   So I came up with this companion banner. These pennants, threaded through with khaki silk ribbon, sit on the opposite wall from Tracey's banner and spell out: "My * Sanctuary".  The facing banners are very different, but perfectly compliment each other.

Here's a bit of a wider view (above), and the entire piece (below).

I must apologize for the photo quality.  I'm not the world's best photographer, but I clean-up well in Photoshop...or at least I could clean-up well, if Adobe would ever get my copy of CS-4 in the mail!  I ordered the X-plat upgrade in May, and I'm still patiently waiting...promises, promises!

Those very few of you who are my Flickr friends have seen pics of my studio (which I will not share with everyone), so you'll know how beautifully this banner fits!  And speaking of fitting in, the Crazy Amigo theme posted last Tuesday was "ladies", One Powerful Hour on Thursday asked for "favorite color", and on Friday, TGIF challenged "use words".  I think the banner is a pretty good fit for all three of them!

With that now done and lots more on the horizon, I'm:

Taking a break to cook dinner for my family, then

Find something good on Hulu (last night we watched "Super-size" me--tonight we're eating organic!)

Sink deeper into the Gormanghast novels, which--I agree with the literary critics--surpasses Tolkein in both scope and descriptive detail, and then finally,

Get some much-needed rest so I can start fresh tomorrow!

Have a great day, Everyone!

Clean Sheets, How I Love Them...

...And How I Hate Snobbery and Hypocrisy

A Prompt A Day...

Most of the journal pages I've done lately are part of Kelly Kilmer's "A Prompt A Day" group, which no matter who you are or what you do, you should join!  I'm not kidding!  You should join!  Without going into detail (if you want detail, you should join...), it is necessary for me to talk a little about today's page.  I've been making pages for lots of years, so for me Kelly's prompts are sometimes literally what I do, and sometimes just a nudge, then I go off in my own direction.  Either way it's good.  Also, too many years ago to count, I got into the daily routine of sketchbooks and art journals, so I have lots of books going at once.  The page above is from a hand bound book of 9 X 9s, and it's what I'm currently using with acrylic paint.  

Sheets of Paper and Sheets for the Bed...

Another one of the other journals I'm working in is a hand bound book filled with many different types of papers.  This one is purse-sized and goes with me everywhere.  I use it to jot down lists of books I want to read, quotes, stuff I hear, stuff I see, sketches, and lots and lots of doodles, drawings and collage.  This book was with me today when I had an hour-and-a-half to wait.  Early this morning I had taken a look at one of Kelly's prompts, but was half-asleep when I saw it.  So I used the little book to sketch out an idea in my head of what I remembered was central to the theme:  Sheets.  Bed sheets. I thought to myself, "What do you say about sheets?"  And instantly, I felt a wave of anger so strong it could have knocked me over!  Sheets!  The things I really want to line dry so I can curl up in the freshness of the sun every night and drift off into peaceful dreams of gentle breezes, but I can't, because of the narrow-minded snobbery of suburbia!  You see, we have a Home Owner's Association, and plainly speaking, these people feel that clotheslines belong in neighborhoods where people can't afford washers and dryers.  Yes, you heard me correctly.  They are snobs!  Ignorant, superior, snobs!  

Clotheslines ROCK!...

I did not grow up in suburbia with its middle class hypocrisies.  I grew up mid-city in a fairly affluent area.  WE ALL HAD CLOTHESLINES, AND WE KNEW HOW TO USE THEM!!  We had washers and dryers, too.  But we knew a good thing, and it was considered a luxury to sleep in clean white sheets, bleached by the sun and kissed by the wind!  

When I sat with my cup of coffee, working out my anger in that little book, it occurred to me that my anger was hurting only me.  Ignorance is not bliss, and I thought about how the HOAers will never experience the kiss of the sun as they fall asleep to the artificial perfumery of fabric softening dryer sheets, which ironically come in scents titled: "sun-dried linen"  and "summer breeze".   

Now that you've seen my little page, please forgive the spelling and grammar errors.  When I'm working out an idea, I usually do it quickly, often in run-on sentences, and always around a central sketch, since I get my first images pictorially and express them graphically before I write.

Back to the Page at the Top...

After I finished the little journal page in the coffee shop, I no longer felt the need to vent about the clothesline, and I remembered that another of my all time favorite things in life is to turn the pillow to the cool side.  Absolutely nothing is cooler than the other side of the pillow!

And Last, But Not Least...

Since my journal pages are filled with letters of the alphabet, I hope everyone at TGIF doesn't consider it too much of a stretch to put these pages among the others of that theme!

Now I'm:

Off to do some marathon watching of NCIS episodes

Drinking cool, sweet tea

Reading the current issue of Wired magazine

Listening to Amy playing the piano in the background

Happy to be starting the weekend!  

Have a great day, Everyone!

Shhhhh...Come Closer And I'll Tell You...

...A Secret!

Today's TGIF theme is "secrets", and this journal page illustrates my secret crush on all things endearingly cute!  Maybe it's only semi-secret, since every once in awhile I let it slip out, like when I'm sitting at Starbucks obviously reading a children's book, or going through stacks of cast-off library editions for children's artwork, or making gushy comments when I find something especially precious and adorable. 

And here are a few more secrets I'll reveal:

When I'm in an happy and encouraging mood, I tend to use lots of pink

When I'm low-key, I tend toward the blues and greens

I'm most productive in the late afternoon to evening hours

I love to read myself to sleep, or stay awake to finish it if a book is particularly riveting

Next to painting, hanging out at bookstores is one of my favorite pastimes

Have a great day, Everyone!

This Makes A Dozen

My Top Ten List. . .

 

The written word is Mixed Media Monday's theme for the week, and what I've written on this journal page are ten things that make me happy.   They are of course also what I "wish" for, which is the TGIF theme this week.

This page was done with acrylics,  two thin strips of patterned paper, a magazine image, Pitt pens, and images (gloved hands) fromPhenomenon1859's Etsy shop. 

Today I:

Made and labeled batches and batches of home-made glimmer-mist

Painted ten pages

Cut out a dozen gloved hands and one chandelier

Drank lots of tea

Had a late lunch and skipped dinner

And now I am very sleepy, and am still peeling paint off my hands. 

Have a great day, Everyone!

 

 

 

 

Masked Ball, No.2...

Masqued Ball 2 Polyvore.com

Here's a second piece of artwork I made for TGIF's "masked ball" theme.  It is a digital collage made on a website that is so much fun, you'll all want to play along!  At Polyvore.com, you can create a free account and make an unlimited number of quick and easy digital masterpieces, using elements and backgrounds supplied on-site.  And, if you're really hooked on one of the items in your collage, you can purchase it in the shop...no, not the digital photograph, the item ITSELF! 

I made this piece playing around with my daughter's account, so if you click on the links under the picture it will take you to her space, not mine.  But I plan to sign myself up right away and continue playing!  This is way too much fun!  OK, it's not PhotoShop CS3, or Painter X, both of which I use almost daily.  But I think that's the point.  Quick.  Easy.  Compact.  Fun.  What could be better than that?

Have fun playing, and if you make something, leave me a comment with a link so I can see what you've made!!

Have a great weekend, Everyone!  I'm off to a workshop!

Masked Ball--No.12

 

My 4 X 4, using Hermine's image #12 for Art Creations Friday, and with a "Masked Ball" theme for TGIF.

Have a  great day, Everyone!

Every Color Is My Favorite

   

The Arty Girlz challenge this week is "favorite colors".  An easy one for me, since I love all colors!  I have some favorite combinations, but I truly love every hue in the spectrum equally!  And since Thanksgiving is coming up this Thursday in the U.S. and Canada, my offering is in the colors and shades of autumn, with a pumpkin as the center of attention.

The background is Basic Grey cardstock.  I cut parts of the design with a craft knife and glued them over the piece of Bazzill cardstock that frames the pumpkin from PSX, which was stamped in black and colored with watercolors.  The sentiment is from Inkadinkado, and the white dots were made with a Sharpie paint pen. The flowers are vintage from a wonderful local shop, Melrose Vintage.  I'm a little late, but since the TGIF theme this week is "vintage", I'm posting my card there, as well.

Have a great day, Everyone!

Black Cat

 

"Halloween" is the theme this week for TGIF.  I've spent a good chunk of this week tweaking my method of making bottle cap charms, and have come up with quite a few new ones, but chose this black cat collage to photograph because it fit the theme so perfectly.  Also, because it recycles bottle caps and magazine scraps, it qualifies for Arty Girlz Ongoing Recycling Challenge, as well. 

I've found that there is an art to smashing these caps with a hammer, and the success, as well as the effects generated, are all in the pounding and the prepping.  After that, I apply alcohol inks and the central image.  Some of the ones I make are sealed with diamond glaze and others are covered with thin sheets of mica.  There are so many possibilities for use that I won't even begin to name them all, but I think that this little kitty will end up on the cover of a tiny altered book. 

I'd love to hear what you'd do with these little gems, as I've been asked to sell them and I would love to have a stash of creative ideas for their use. 

Have a great day, Everyone!

Puppetry

 

One more page journaled in my funky/chunky book! 

The Zetti puppeteer is one of my favorite stamps, and I've used it here with with a theater curtain image from Sandra Evertson's book Fanciful Paper Projects, adding watercolor and scribbles.   TGIF's theme for the week is "favorite stamps", and actually, any Zetti stamp would qualify as a favorite of mine.  If you click to enlarge the image it will probably make the words a bit more legible.  I'm really enjoying playing in this book, and am having lots of fun seeing how the pages in the background add to the look of each new collaged page as I work.

Have a great Friday, Everyone!

Something With Lace

Meet Jane!  Jane is my latest stuffed tag, made for the TGIF challenge, "lace".   

I really wanted Jane to look like a well-cared for vintage piece, so I used a scrap of old muslin, recycled from what was once one of my mother's white pillowcases.  I have spent a life-time having fun collecting and saving things that other people might throw out, and even packing and moving them as I've moved from home to college dorm, and from there to the various other places I've lived.  I'm sure I violate all the rules of what normal people people who are not artists, live by in terms of what to keep and what to throw away.  At least I've finally achieved some semblance of order and organization, so the organized closets people won't have me arrested for lack of order.  But I have kept things that other people would have tossed, simply because they struck my artistic eye, and I just couldn't let go of them.

Some of these things include my mother's linens, a couple of patterned shirts and ties that were my dad's, most of the interesting buttons from things that were sent to various charities (replaced with functional ones), and the thread that you see at top.  If you could read the top of the spool, you'd know that this is Belding Corticelli, Bel-Waxed Mercerized Cotton, shade 1337, for 15¢!  It came in a box with about 30 other spools of various colors, lots of trims, squares of silk, velvet, cards of rick rack, pins, hooks and eyes, and various other notions, that were treats from my Grandmother, sent to me when I was 8 years old!  I had never sewn a stitch, but I taught myself whatever I needed to learn to make clothes for my dolls and other things with this wonderful box of colorful delights!  I still have quite a few of the spools of thread.  None of them are brittle, and even though I have boxes of colors of new sewing threads in every fiber imaginable, when I'm looking for "that certain color", it's usually one of Grandma's spools that fit the piece!

In making "Jane", I tried very hard to imitate the stitches of a child.  She is an unmounted stamp from Vintage Bliss, stamped with black VersaFine and colored with gel pens, heat-set with an iron.  The back is a replica of a vintage print. 

When I need a break from artistic composition, I find crafting little hand-sewn things, crochet, origami, and other crafts that allow me to both focus and let my mind wander at the same time, very relaxing.  This is not possible with fast-drying acrylic paints and mediums, and other pieces of artwork, like collage, where the general idea might be planned in advance, but a lot of the decisions are made along the way.  These little crafted pieces are a respite from having to think-through each step.  It would drive me crazy to spend all my time with them, but every once in awhile, they're a real treat!

Oh, and I almost forgot...the reason this piece works for the challenge is because of the lace!  In fact, my first thought was what to do with the lace, and that's how I came up with "Jane".

Have a great weekend, Everyone!

Popsicle Man. . .

There's a point in July when the heat in the desert really starts to eat away the brain cells.  At least that's my excuse for making Popsicle Man!  Flavored ice on a stick is about the only satisfying dessert when it's over 105 degrees, and when I saw this guy on the outside of the box in our freezer, I knew he was destined for a slide frame....which just happens to be the theme for the week at TGIF!

The sinister little boy holding his morbid drawing is a Bartholomew's Ink stamp called "that's nice dear" from Stamp Francisco, stamped with VersaFine and colored with watercolor pencils. The yellow slide frame and yellow strip of cardstock are from the batch of RAKs I received from Rosie Rowe.  The slide frame was die-cut with my Sizzix Sidekick, and Popsicle Man, the skyline, and the WOW! are all from the Popsicle box.  The dialog balloons containing my scrawl are stickers adhered with dimensional tape. 

It helps to have a DD who is into manga and animation, because the background is a partial sheet of deleter screen tone.  This is not at all the proper use for tone, but it's a collage, not a comic book, and all I needed was the effect (...and speaking of tone, if you're interested in using Photoshop to create tone in images and photographs, there's a tutorial on my other blog, ArtiPhacts).

Have a great weekend, Everyone!

Keys. . .and Birthdays. . .

The TGIF challenge of the week is to use keys in your artwork, which I have done.  But first a word about birthdays.

Birthdays were a really big deal in our house when I was growing up, and they continue to be hugely celebrated in my home now.  They are such a big deal, that the perfectionist in me rears its ugly head and I begin to stress about celebrating them "perfectly".  One thing you need to know about that word, "perfect".  It's considered the only true 4-letter word in our home.  Not that we go around using all the others, but "perfect" is absolutely VERBOTEN!!  Why?  Well, my husband and I are both first-borns (read: Type-A) -- worse -- we are ONLY children.  My daughter -- the first born -- quite definitely acquired the Type-A gene from us.  Our son, thankfully, received his genes from the pool of more laid-back ancestors, and is amused by the rest of us when we lapse into perfection mode.  What does this have to do with birthdays in general and this particular card specifically?  If you notice the sentiment, the card is "belated". 

Very rarely do I ever get a birthday card in the post on time.  Everything else, absolutely everything, goes on schedule.  But birthday cards, if sent at all, are notoriously late.  Why?  Because I stress so much about perfection in connection with birthdays in general, that if I even end up creating the "perfect" one, it's already past-due, so I'm not compelled to send it.  I can't do birthdays imperfectly! 

OK, so I'm exaggerating a bit.  Maybe a lot.  Most of you probably have gotten a card from me at one time or another.  But I do stress about the birthday cards like no others.  So I've decided to circumvent the problem and add a dash of humor to the situation by creating "belated" birthday cards, with my own little group of sentiments that rationalize the "belatedness" of the card.  Hence the card above.  The keys are symbolic.  They represent the "key" to solving my problem by creating cards that are designed to be late.

The background is glossy cardstock with Tim Holtz broken china and faded jeans Distress Ink applied with a Color Box stylus.  The Punch stamp is unmounted rubber from Artful Illusions, and the keys are by 7Gypsies.  The sentiment is my own, computer generated onto a transparency sheet, and attached with Diamond Glaze (keys too), as is the German scrap border that surrounds it.

Have a great day, Everyone!