ArtiphyTheHeart

Tea. . .

Tea holds such an exalted place in my life that it deserved a two-page journal spread.  The entire "Tea Or Coffee" theme for this week's Theme Thursday deserves a whole journal section of its own, as they are part of my daily triad of power-ups which include tea, coffee and sometimes, chocolate! 

The journal from Kelly Kilmer's workshop has 4 sets of 4 signatures, or 4 - 16pg. sections.  The theme for my first section is Divas.  The second section is Power-ups, or What Gets And Keeps Me Going.  Tea plays a large role in this, not only as an energizer, but also as a tool for calm, center and focus.  I have LOTS of tea in my house!  So much, that a focal point is my huge basket of tea canisters.  If you look closely, there are two close-up photos of items in this basket in my journal pages.

Speaking of close-ups, here is a detail of the first page which has a close-up of my tea stash basket in the background.

And just so you know about this and don't go away empty-handed, the teacups photo album on my left sidebar has some cups of my own making that are yours, free for the taking.  If you do use them in your artwork, please let me know so I can see what you've done!!

Have a great day, Everyone!

Toys. . .

One thing about kids, no matter what the subject, at any moment you can expect them to be thinking about toys! 

In this collage for Theme Thursday, tilted "Bob's Homework",  the toy monkey and Dick and Jane, are central motif retro figures cut from pieces of Michelle Miller fabrics.  Also included are rub-ons from 7Gypsies, black Sharpie pen, K&Company resin reinforcement stickers, Liquitex acrylic paints and gel mediums, and papers and cardstock by K&Company, My Mind's Eye, and Foof*a*La.

It's about time I was playing with paints and mediums again!  They are my first loves, and I have a real treat coming up tomorrow...I'll be in an all-day workshop with the wonderfully talented Kelly Kilmer, who promises some great new techniques to show us, using acrylics and mediums!  I'll share what I learned with you all next week.  I'm so excited!  I can't wait!  It was really all a big surprise, last minute thing.  I stopped by for a visit to Kelly's blog and found that she'll be here this weekend, and there was a space left in her workshop when I called!  Hoooray!  Very lucky me!

And one last thing...I have a new technique of my own in the works!  A really great idea that so far has worked for me every time I've tried it, so keep hanging out at my blog.  One of these days soon I'll get around to sharing that with you, too, just as soon as I have the time to photograph it in-process.

Have a great day, Everyone!

Cherish. . .

The only requirement for today's Theme Thursday challenge is that the word "cherish" be included.

This image is just a tiny part of one of the photos I purchased the day we all got locked-in the antique store by mistake (click here to read the post with that story in it).   

I am so happy to live in an age where digital imaging software and ideas are of such outstanding quality and so easily accessible.  Below you can see the photo in its entirety.  I'm sure I'll be using lots of bits and pieces of this one over the years! 

I do live with the secret fear that someday the people in these photos will see what I've made of them in artwork and hate it.  I hope not.   My other equally disturbing fear is that somewhere out there, a long-lost relative of mine will have died or moved away leaving behind photos of me and my family which end up in artwork with whips and corsets.  Yikes!  What a thought! 

You're welcome to help yourself to the photo below if you'd like it.  I have no idea who they are.

As for the construction of my card, I didn't have a "cherish" element and I really needed this card to be flat enough to mail, so I created one in Photoshop in a color that matches the patterned background paper, and added a drop-shadow and beveling to it.  The flourishes are K&Company rub-ons and the papers are Deja Views Fresh Print, and Bazzill cardstock.  Ribbon is from American Crafts.

Have a great day, Everyone!

Wonder. . .

Today's TT challenge is to use the color combo of orange and black.  Halloween colors, but I wanted to use them differently, so I did another piece combining op-art and a stamped image from Rubber Stampede, and came up with something that has more to do with the wonder of childhood than ghosts, ghouls and goblins.

And speaking of wonder, I've been pondering the op-art question that keeps popping into my brain.  I know that they're called "zentangles" now, and that they are purported to put one in a relaxing state in which time is suspended, but isn't that what all art does for one?  Once you are centered on your work so that outside distractions are, well, less distracting, then you are in a state of consciousness where time is suspended.  Like getting so engrossed in your reading that you don't hear the phone ring.  As some kids would say (not mine of course, lol!), duh!

Please don't get me wrong.  I am NOT an elitist, and whatever you want to call something is up to you.  It's not the name change that gets to me.  After all, the term "op-art" was coined in the '60s in reference to the optical illusory quality present in the doodles of the age. That name was descriptive.  And while zentangle describes something too, it describes not just a type of art, but a product. It is this that gives me a pain in the "I'm no fool" center of my brain - - that an art form which has been around for decades was given a new name just so it could be packaged in a box with a booklet and instructions designed to separate you from your $$ in the name of Buddha (who I am sure is not pleased). But, in the market place this is caveat emptor, so it's up to each of us to decide whether we want to pay for the kit, or just buy a Sharpie to release the "inner doodler".  And as for the name, call it what you will: Doodles, Op-art, Zentangles, or Bob.  I really don't care.  As Juliet said, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet". . . . .but then again, that relationship ended a bit badly. . .so maybe there is something more to what we call things. . .

You don't need to take any of this seriously, you know.  Feel free to take me seriously, or with a giggle.  I don't care.  I'm not trying to start my own branch of philosophy. . .which, by the way, is no longer being offered at many universities. . .I think we're down to fewer than 20 employed professors of philosophy in the US. . .but that's another subject, and I promise not to get started. . .

Have a great day, Everyone!

Pink and Brown. . .

This one took a little longer than anticipated, but it was fun to be back to doing layer upon layer of collage images, gesso, doodles, paints, rub-ons and papers with gel medium.  What looks black is actually brown: the doodles, the rub-ons and the background papers behind the cat.  This page from a book I am altering began pink and shimmery with acrylics and Pearl-Ex powder, got a layer of gel medium, dried, then a layer of paper and more medium, dried, then some hand-made beet paper (Swedish tracing paper that I boil with beet tap roots, stems and vinegar as a dye), more layers of medium, images, doodles, paint, dried, then again, etc.  All for Theme Thursday's color combo theme of pink and brown.   By the time you set eyes on it, it will probably be Friday, but better late than never! 

Miniature Art. . .

For someone who thought she'd have a hard time with the size, I am certainly making lots of Moos and loving every minute of it!  Here's my latest pair for Theme Thursday's "Miniature Art" theme.

Happy Thursday, Everyone!

Mannequin. . .

First of all, if you haven't done this already, stop by the left sidebar of my blog and click on the thumbnail that's labeled "For My Friends".  I've put a couple of images on a page for you to click and copy.  My "thank you" gift to you for being so wonderful, leaving comments and visiting often.  Also, if you're interested in fiber art and/or quilting, check out the post before this one.  There's a link to FiberArts Magazine's online catalog of quilted valentine postcards.  One of mine is there, but beyond that, the selections they have chosen are a real feast for the eyes, and a great source of inspiration.

Now on to Theme Thursday, and it's official!  Art is a drug, and I'm addicted!  It doesn't help that wonderful, creative people keep feeding me these tempting shapes to work with!  Now we can add the torso, or mannequin shape to the growing list of shapes that I love to work with, which was today's TT challenge!  I will definitely be making more of these!  What great tags they would make. . .and what a great addition to the retro altered book I'm working on. . .the possibilities are endless!

The substrate for my retro-tea tag was cut from a brochure for a tea shop.  Images are cut from daisyd's "classic kids" sheet.  I used a smattering of tea labels (which I now know why I was saving), adhered it all with matte medium, and lightly distressed it all with Tim Holtz antique linen distress ink and mustard seed distress embossing powder. 

This may have been the quickest thing I've ever made!  I really like working slowly, taking time to think out a range of concepts while I look through supplies for ideas and color schemes.  This one, however, just materialized in no time at all, so I'm off to make more, more, more. . .!

Paris. . .

Paris is today's TT theme.  I always try to post something new.  But today I've gone back to an ATC that I did probably a year ago, when I still signed them on the front.  I don't do this anymore simply because nobody else does.  But I think it's a good idea and I wish everyone else did.  I know that with trading and making multiple copies, rules have developed for required information on the back, such as title, number of copies, and series name and number, but when you make just one of each, not necessarily to trade, but as its own separate work of art, I really feel that like all art, it should be signed.  However, I bow to the crowd and rarely do this anymore myself.

The background is a fusion of tissue papers with flecks of angelina fibers.  I made a bunch of this to use cuttings from.  The blue and gold is just a scrap that I doodled on with colored pencils.  The Eiffel Tower and the hand with the letter are commercial clip art and the stamped doll is from Lost Coast Designs. She's colored with water colors.  Letters and other doodles were made with markers, then all of it was glued and sealed with multiple coats of gloss gel medium.

Have a great week, everyone!

Warmth And Beauty. . .

Today's TT is "warmth", and I just happened to have several new pieces with warm, salmon colored backgrounds that fit the theme.

Last night was a marathon of making ATCs for a live swap that I'm participating in tonight.  I really like to make new art for swaps whenever possible.  It keeps me fresh, and it presents a choice of more current work.  I do throw-in older pieces, just in case they might be preferred.  This is one of the ATCs from last night's work.  The background was completed days ago, as were most of the backgrounds of my ATCs for this particular swap, but the images were chosen, cut and arranged last night.

All images are from Dover, the flower is from Close to my Heart and the rhinestone is from K&Company.  The background is the same white paste and acrylic paint crackle as described in a previous post this week.  It is over-stamped in white acrylic paint with a foam stamp from Making Memories.

Have a wonderful Thursday, everyone!

Teen Angel. . .

About the middle of the last century there was a phenomena in pop music that fortunately didn't last too long:  Ballads of tragedy and disaster.  One of the worst. . .so bad that when I looked up the video on YouTube I couldn't finish it, much less post it for your listening pleasure, was a little thing called "Teen Angel".  My apologies to those of you who love the song.  The best I can say about it is that I don't actually hate it.  But I do have it to thank for the little burst (tiny) of inspiration for today's Theme Thursday piece. 

I started with a butterfly stamp (oooops, forgot who made this one and I'm "out" at the moment. . .), and was going to use the wings to make another button doll, but ran across this blurry teen in a magazine advertisement and immediately knew that those wings belonged to him!   Hard to see in the photo, but the blues in the glossy background (magazine ad, also) are variegated lighter to darker, bottom to top, and in person, he really looks like he's on the way up!  "Teen Angel" is hand-written in funky script on a piece of watercolor paper.  The edges and the script were done with an embossing pen by RubberStampede, then embossed with RubberStampede fine line black embossing powder.  Background stars are PCX mini star stamps, stamped with color box gold pigment ink and embossed with JudiKins Egyptian gold embossing powder.  The shiny black paper is clear film painted black on the wrong side, then affixed to water color paper.  Blue rhinestones were added last.

My only regret with this piece is that now I can't get, "Teen Angel, can you hear me, Teen Angel, can you see me. . ." out of my mind. . .and it is driving me a bit bonkers.   So I'm going to plug into an audio book (never do this. . .love paper pages way too much. . .) and listen while I look at all the really wonderful creations on  the TT website!

In The Background. . .

Regardless of your opinions about Marie Antoinette, I think everyone can agree, she was always in the foreground of life! 

Today's Theme Thursday is all about backgrounds.  Stamped backgrounds, to be exact.  So my little piece, "Living A Charmed Life", began with a background of gesso and  Liquitex acrylic washes in  cadmium yellow, brilliant orange, and yellow oxide.  When each layer dried, another was added until the background was ready to stamp.  I used  three separate stamps from Making Memories, and stamped with a thinned wash of white acrylic paint.  I then added three separate images from Memories of a Lifetime Weddings, and adhered them to the background.  The images were embellished with glitter from the Art Institute, and with rhinestones from K&Company.  Rub-ons by Anna Griffin were added last.

I doubt that in retrospect, any of us would assume that Marie's life was "charmed".  But the life of any princess evokes a sense of fairytale-like awe and wonder, and that is precisely the mood I tried to convey.