ArtiphyTheHeart

Untitled...

This piece is large, mounted on stark white watercolor paper, and I love it!  It isn't often that I get around to making something with a hint of elegance, but when I do, it gives me a satisfaction beyond words.  This Carolyn Quartermaine inspired piece actually began a little more than a year ago with the gold flower petals.  I spent several days perfecting the mix to get the shade and shimmer I wanted, then another day cutting out and hand crimping the petals, inspired by gilded wood flowers on a Carolyn Quartermaine chair back.  The bit of flourish top left is cut from the same paper. 

The pink paper on the left is hand painted, and the textured oatmeal paper bottom right is stamped with Hero Arts "manuscript background" and embossed with JudiKins Egyptian gold.  The paper top right is a piece from a pack I got from Kelly Kilmer.

Wednesday Stamper asks for circles this week.  The mirror circles I used are items I picked over by hand at a Renaissance fair.  They are silver backed which makes them perfect for Layers Of Color's "metal" theme, as do the three fabulous charms--wish you could see these beauties in real life--that I picked up at a trade fair.  They are gold, enamel, dripping with pearls, with intricate designs and rhinestone centers.  Not a bargain, I'm afraid, but I wanted them so badly....they were worth every penny!

I love it when I begin a piece with lots on the table and complete it by subtraction instead of addition.  My favorite pieces are often the more subtly colored, minimally worked.  But I do so love color and packing it all in, that these are fewer and farther between.  Ahhhhhhhhh.  With this piece finished, I feel so balanced! 

If it's not your taste, that's fine!  You don't have to like it.  This one I made just for me!

Have a great day, Everyone!

Keyholes. . .

Another journal page, this time for Wednesday Stamper.  "Keyholes" is the theme, and when I think of the keyholes in the house where I grew-up, I think of peeking through them as a very young child...and being told not to!  And it occurred to me that as we reap all the benefits of a world that is getting smaller and smaller, we must remember to balance our greater exposure with a heightened awareness of the privacy which each of us has a right to and an obligation to protect.

The only stamp used on the page is the "eyes" stamp.  I could really use some help...it came in a grab bag of unmounted rubber and I have no idea who designed it, what it is called, or what company makes it.  If anyone knows anything about this stamp, please let me know!!  The other materials I used include a black Micron pen, a white Sakura gel pen, foil and alcohol inks, and a black Sharpie. 

Have a great day, Everyone!

Happy Birthday, Wednesday Stamper!

Congratulations to Belinda Schneider and everyone at Wednesday Stamper for a wonderful and successful two years!!  Here's wishing you many, many more!!  To celebrate, I made this card with its two-toned background in keeping with the theme of the week.

The image is the "Mucha girl circle" stamp from Gumbo Graphics, stamped with VersaFine and colored with Prismacolors and sansodor.  The background paper was created by stamping and repeating one of the tile stamps from Layers of Color's "architectural blocks" set in mustard seed distress ink onto beige paper.  When the image was mounted onto the background, I finished with a generous helping of flourish rub-ons from K&Company.

Have a wonderful week everyone, and Happy Birthday Wednesday Stamper!!

 

With Newspaper. . .

 

Wednesday stamper's challenge for the week is to use newspaper.  I have prepared another 2-page spread in my colorful art journal, using pieces of a Japanese newspaper. 

The Hello Kitty, fruits and snippets of text and orange lace are actually cut from a cellophane wrapper that came from an orange Hello Kitty lollipop.  Stamps used are a flower and a Chinese coin from All Night Media, stamped with black StazOn and Marmalade distress ink.  The tiny flowers are from a vintage broach.

Have a great day, Everyone!

Sisters. . .

Wednesday Stamper's theme is "sisters" this week.  I picked up the original of this photo at an antique store and have been wanting an excuse to use it.  It was substantially re-colored and played with in Photoshop before I printed it onto matte photo paper and overstamped it with a Rhona Farrer design. 

Created By Hand's challenge for the week is VersaMark.  The fan is part of a stamp from Hero Arts which was stamped with VersaMark and colored with Decorating Chalks, then cut out and inked with a gold Krylon pen.  Most people know that I really do not like working with charcoal and pastels because of the messy dust and potential for smear.  But I do love these chalk cakes that you can neatly pick up with a sponge tool and touch on to VersaMark for a fabulous burst of color. 

The text is called "vertical thanks" from Wordsworth.  It was also stamped with VersaMark, then embossed with JudiKins Egyptian Gold. 

With my limited photography skills, it's hard to re-photograph something that's intentionally over-exposed and get it to show properly.  The card is much more detailed in real life, but at least this gives you an idea of what it looks like.

Have a great day, Everyone!

Eyelets. . .

Today's Wednesday Stamper calls for the use of eyelets in artwork.  I had planned to add eyelets, fringe and other embellishments to the pages of my current art journal as soon as the book was completed, but this gave me the incentive to speed-up the time-table and begin trimming the edges today.

This two-page spread is in the 'power-ups' section of my book where I muse a bit on the things that energize my day.  I used 5 black eyelets from Making Memories with snippets of black double-faced satin ribbon.  JudiKins "mod garden", and Great Impressions "seeded dandelions" were stamped with black VersaFine along the bottom edge of both pages.

The cute little images were cut from the fronts of cellophane packets of Japanese cookies, and attached to the pages with high quality clear cellophane packing tape.

Here's where it gets really good:  I got a package in the mail from Krylon a couple of days ago as a thank you for mentioning their products in connection with my artwork, and as an encouragement to try some of the newer things Krylon has to offer.  Here is what they sent:  A box full of their paint pen "Brights".  Is this not PERFECT for most of my *sunglasses required* journal pages?  I thought so!  I started out gingerly on this two-page spread, adding a dot here and a dot there in bright orange and blue around the dandelions, when I got this brainstorm:  Might these pens work on TOP of cellophane tape??  Of course they will!!  That when dots and hearts began to appear around the tennis bunny and baseball lion.  A few made their way on top of the VersaFine centers of the mod flower garden.  Think of the possibilities for layering!  I can write/draw on TOP of cellophane with opaque paint!  I'm going to be playing a LOT!

Have a great day, Everyone!

Be Square. . .

By now it's probably obvious that working on my journal pages has become a new first-love.  The way I like to do it makes it a long process, and while I like being able to complete something I need or want quickly, I do *love* slow work!  So it's Thursday, and here's my piece for Wednesday Stamper's "Be Square" theme. 

The background was layered with thin washes of acrylics and mediums.  Squares and rectangle frame are chipboard pieces treated with gesso, acrylics, markers and a hard rubbing of oil pastels.  The tiny flower stamen stamp is from an Artful Illusions grab bag of unmounted stamps - - one of my favorite purchases, ever!  $10 for more than $50 worth of unmounted rubber!  Sanne on the bird is from Studio Art Stamps.  She is over-stamped with JudiKins "mod garden" and HeroArts "manuscript background", then tinted with colored pencils and sansodor, gel pens and a black Micron pen.  The rest is either written or hand-doodled with markers, gel pens and Micron pens. 

Have a wonderful day, Everyone!

Art It Up!

The third set of signatures in my current art journal is all about art, and making art.  Wednesday Stamper requires the use of the word "art" for this week's theme, and it appears more than once in this 2-page spread.

                                               

Both pages began with multiple washes of acrylic paint.  The background was then repeatedly over-stamped in black VersaFine ink with Stampers Anonymous "lines" from the Tim Holtz collection.  Torn pieces of artist paper from Somerset were glued into place, and the white writing blobs were defined with acrylic paint. Creative Imaginations Art Warehouse Graffiti rub-ons were used on both pages, then the background was seriously doodled  over with Sakura IdentiPens.

David Horvath's Bossy Bear stickers were used on both pages and Cavallini's bird on a branch was stamped onto page 2 with black VersaFine. 

Last, I added my musings with a black Sakura IdentiPen.

Have a great day, Everyone!

Diva. . .

Happy Wednesday, Everyone!  Today's Wednesday Stamper theme is "Diva", and this is perfect for me!  As most of you know, my first love is drawing and painting.  Throw-in some layering, stamping and collage images, and I am in *heaven*.  So I took a workshop from the wonderful Kelly Kilmer last Friday with the idea of jump-starting my leap back into paint, and she had us do a day-by-day book.  Mine, which is still a work in progress, centers around. . .you guessed it. . . Divas!!

Here's the first two-page spread.  I wish I could tell you the name of the stamps used, but I can't remember.  There are three of them:  The raven on a branch, the leaves next to the raven and the flowery-snowflakey thing that is in a couple of places in the background.  The rest is paint, doodles and magazine images.

My second 2-page spread has no stamps, just paper, paint and doodles, but since there's another Diva, I thought I'd throw it in.

The third 2-page spread uses Tim Holtz "X" stamp all around the background.  The eye and lips are my doodles. I used to think, "Who'd buy a stamp of X's, when you can just draw them yourself?",  but then I used it.  Whoa!  An entirely different experience and look than hand-drawn.  The question is not: which is better, drawing or stamping?  The answer is simply: Both are great! - - and even better when combined! 

This is 2-page spread #4, and again, I cannot credit the stamp.  I just picked it up and used it, and if I'd had a brain for anything other than the delight of creating these pages, I would have bought all the stamps I used!  But alas, I was not thinking of shopping at the time!  And digressing just a bit, in case you have DHs who like to count pennies, you can pass along my experience if you like:  Just tell them that art is so fulfilling that it makes you forget to shop!  That should give them the push they need to support your habit!!

And last but not last--because the work is in progress and there are more pages to come--here is 2-page spread #5.  Thank you to Nordstrom's department stores for hiring such a fabulous artist!  This little Diva (actually, just part of her) and the surrounding leaves and berries are from Nordstrom's magazine ads.  If you can get your hands on a current American Vogue magazine, you'll see some truly  inspired  illustration in the Nordstrom ads!  Again, here is that little snowflake/flower stamp, and I wish it was in my collection so I could just read the label (and use it over and over), but it was part of Kelly's collection, as was that great Japanese tape that runs down the spine of this page and makes my "1" in spread #4.

Have a great, artful day!

Stripes. . .

For today's Wednesday Stamper I am finally using one of the wonderful unmounted stamps from Stampattack.  He's mounted on striped K&Company scrapbook paper and embellished with a couple of photo corners and some rub-ons from 7 Gypsies and Making Memories. 

Have a great day, Everyone!

Insects. . .

This week's Wednesday Stamper is all about insects as a sign of the new life brought by spring.   The challenge is to create something that depicts what is felt by the thought of insects.  I chose to focus on the the theme of new life.  Just last week we discovered the beginnings of a Mud Dauber Wasp's nest in the corner of our front door.  Mud Daubers don't make hives, they mold mud into tiny cells, and do it very quickly.  When we left the house early in the morning, there was no nest.  By the time we returned, close to noon, there were the beginnings of two small cells made of mud, and plastered to the bottom corner of the door.  Had we seen this anywhere else, we probably would have left it alone.  But wasps living on the outside of our front door?....That's a little too close, even for Mud Daubers who rarely attack like other wasps, so we cleared it off while the wasps were away.

For this piece, I've made my doorway to spring.  It is a doorway of opportunity:  The opportunity that comes with a life renewed.  My only insect stamps were bees, but that's close enough.  You can imagine the brown of the wasp cells in the color of the door.  The blue-green panel housing the metal flower are the color of grass and trees and the blindingly bright sunshine of a desert spring. 

Bee stamps are from PSX and Artful Illusions.  They were stamped with Staz-On black, colored with Lemonade Adirondack Lights, cut out and adhered with dimensional tape.  The light brown cardstock was stamped in walnut distress ink with Hero Arts manuscript background stamp.  The same stamp was used on the blue-green cardstock, stamped in Tsukineko's Brilliance white pigment ink, and embossed with JudiKins White Diamonds.  I embossed a one inch metal square with a flower template from Paula Hallinan Littleton Co., using the PaperCraft tool kit from the Punch Bunch (I LOVE this set of tools!) and roughed-up the area around the flowers with some cross-hatching and scratches, then touched on some Adirondack alcohol ink in "stream".  The door handle is a brad that I got in a small grab bag last August at Art Unraveled.  I colored it with various alcohol inks several months ago, sealed it with gloss medium and then had no idea what I would do with it until today.

I hope that the doorways of spring open onto renewed energy and beauty in all of your lives!

Altered. . .

Here's my WS offering.  Thanks, Belinda, for the wonderful inspiration!  It helped me get my mojo back!!

Image is courtesy of Belinda Schneider.  Stamps used are a Kelly Panacci border stamped with Nick Bantock brown ink, and a Heidi Grace swirl, colored and stamped with black Marvy marker.  Text, bottles and glasses on the tray are cut from a magazine.  Glittery mask is a dimensional sticker from Jolee's Boutique, and the dots around the swirl stamp were made with the same black Marvy marker used to color the stamp.

So put your feet up, mix yourself something wonderful to sip, and look at all the other fabulous creations made for this challenge!!

My Farm. . .

This was so much fun!  I had no idea where I was going with this until I got there, and then I knew I was finished. 

Wednesday Stamper's theme is "arrow", and I began with the weather vane rooster stamp from Close To My Heart, added Invoke Arts "script house" and put the man in the window - - a 7Gypsies rub-on.  After that came the cow, barbed wire and hay, and the numbers and text stamps, all from Close To My Heart.  I added rub-ons from Anna Griffin and K&Company until it looked right, then I lightly sponged-on Nick Bantock inks in yellow, red and brown.  I burned the edges and mounted it on black decorative paper, then mounted this on K&Company cardstock.  I cut out more of the swirls and glued them on top and added the rub-on bird from K&Company's new "Urban" sheet. 

If you look hard enough, you just might find a few arrows.  I think the house qualifies, and so does the weather vane. 

Have a great day, Everyone!

Palm Tree. . .

Go to any art blog right now and chances are you're going to see or hear something about two of the most popular current trends:  Zentangles, and Stamp-carving.  Actually, both have been around for more than a century, under different names of course, but right now, these are the hottest of the au courant!

For me, both of them started in the '60s.  What are now "zentangles" was then "op art", and before that, artists and designers, especially Klimt, mixed repeated designs often to fill-in shapes and open space.  Block printing was taught in high school crafts, at least in California and Arizona, and I still have my first X-Acto set, pictured here.

   

Unfortunately, I no longer have my first carved block. Too bad because it was actually pretty good.  It was torture carving the not-so-soft and tending-to-splinter pine blocks, but it was good practice and I'm glad I learned how.  The carved block pictured here is one I did a couple of years ago when I needed a palm tree stamp right away and couldn't find one anywhere at the time.  The emery boards are for sanding, of course.  I cut one to fit the nooks and crannies so that I can smooth out all the points before I stamp.  If you decide to try this, be sure to score and chip away the larger chunks first, and always, always, carve away from yourself!  I don't do a lot of these because I'm prone to mistaking my fingers for the block *ouch*, and I really don't look good in band-aids.    

For all you aging hippies, you may remember the rock promoters that called themselves The Family Dog.  They designed and made the posters for the then up-and-coming San Francisco rock groups like Jefferson Airplane.  I haven't done a search, but if you're interested, I'll bet you can find examples of these on the web.  They used wood blocks and op-art in most of their poster art and had no idea that they were carving home-made stamps and making zentangles.  I used to get in trouble in high school art class for doodling op-art when I was supposed to be seriously sketching a subject.

Well, so much for my reminiscences.  The theme for today's WS is "trees".  I dug out the old carved palm tree stamp, inked it with Staz-On black, put my paper on top and brayered over it (you can't really stamp a wood block and get good definition by slamming it onto the paper).  The rest is black Sharpie--another of my all-time favorite inventions, and some Adirondak citrus acrylic paint dabbed and streaked to make the background.

Have a great day, Everyone!  I'm off to play with my Prismacolors, and maybe revisit some OpArt????

Purple - - A Royal Color

It wasn't until first or second grade when I learned that most people in the US and the UK think of purple as a royal color.  In Russia and the Ukraine, and in the Prussian roots of Austria, Hungary and Germany, a gorgeous creamy shade of turquoise and 24kt. gold are royal, and this is what is native to me.  But here in the Southwestern US, the color turquoise brings to mind the semi-precious, recently elevated to precious, gem stone so well known to and used by the Navajos in their costumes and jewelry.  Out here it is purple than reigns supreme as the ultimate royal color.  Today's WS theme is purple.  I used purple throughout as a royal symbol, in my arch, A Letter For The Queen. 

The collage includes:  Hero Arts "Manuscript Background" stamp, canceled postage stamps, pearls, black tulle, a chipboard crown sponged with pearl and magenta acrylics over gesso, some flower trim around the edges and three of my hand-made felt paisleys (I have made dozens of these little gems, and they are sitting in a little box, just waiting for the right project to present itself).

Have a Royal Wednesday, Everyone!