Tools of the Trade 10/30

It is time to get back to the Gelli plate! Now that my tables have been unearthed there is room to spread out and make a lovely Gelli mess with paint and textures! It is fun and very freeing to slap on some color, play in it a bit and repeately pull layers of artwork. Paper isn't my only surface either - I love those cradled artist panels. They are rigid enough to press down into the Gelli plate and pull really wonderful images. Even boxes make a great surface for Gelli printing. Here are some of my print makers - a variety of commercial stencils, needlepoint canvas circle, plastic lace placemat, shelf liner, bubble wrap, paper scrapbook cutouts. The "low tech" tools such as bubble wrap and other found materials sometimes make the best textures. And searching for new textures to use is an ongoing adventure. You never know what you will find wherever you go! What unusual tool do you use in making art?

Yes, I would rather be in my studio! 9/30

Part of the studio cleaning has been a bit of sorting/discarding of books. This little stack is shelved by size rather than category as most of my other books are organized. It wasn't until I took the photo that the STUDIO book jumped out at me. Slowly it comes together.

First Time ? 8/30

"When was the last time you did something for the very first time?" Loved this sentiment! Another one of my new Tim Holtz stamps inspired this page. There were a couple of "firsts" on this page. I drew the rose from my Secondhand Rosie pattern packet onto tissue from an old sewing pattern using a brush tipped Pigma pen in brown. I also used the Tim Holtz masks with Decorating Chalks for a very subtle pattern. Let's see if I can show some of my steps for this journal page.

The page had the background started (companion background to yesterday's journal page). TH masks were placed on page and various pinks & brown layers of chalk applied. Once chalk was finished, the masks were removed and a light spray of Fixative applied to set the chalk.

Next layer is embellishment. The Paris embellishment is a stamped image over a Gelli print, various dye cut tags & elements, a piece of tulle with an embossed image, a silk yoyo over a small crocheted flower. There are 3 small freehanging tags from K & Co.

The main stamp was applied early on for positioning but some dragonflies were needed (of course!) and the tissue paper was glued to the upper right corner. Dated & done!

Course Change 7/30

This was supposed to be a different post today but I have finished cleaning the studio to a point that the table top finally reappeared! To celebrate it was time to do a little playing in the journal. Now that supplies are relatively neat it was time to break open some glue! And there were new stamps to get dirty! Woo hoo!!!

Art Flux 6/30

My art life is in flux at the moment. Since the fire, I simply don't want to create art for the same reasons - or even the same type of art. Therefore, I find myself spending lots of time "arting" (for lack of a better word). I am painting/silk dyeing/sewing/quilting/Gelli plating/journaling/glass fusing/drawing/mixed media/photographing/embellishing/etc. I looked up the word flux in the dictionary and among the definitions were "constant change, strength of field in a particular area, quantitiy of movement, and my favorite - make or become fluid. I certainly like that last one - art should be fluid!

My Little Slavedriver 5/30

Alas, I am not neat and tidy when I am creating! My sewing tends to be a bit neater and I tend to clean up after each project. The mixed media supplies seem to take over every available surface and stay out for some reason. Add to that packing up & traveling to Texas to teach has turned the studio into one giant pile of hot mess!! Cleaning out the studio requires pulling stuff totally out of the room to reorganize. Right now I am using my dining room as a staging area for all this stuff. One big deterrent to all this moving about is it has interrupted the dog's schedule. Yes, you read this correctly - I am imposing upon the dog! His bed lies under the dining room window. It is sunny in the afternoon and he can lie there and look out on the world passing by. Even though he could pass by on the other side of the dining room table, he refuses to enter the room because there are boxes sitting in the doorway nearest the front door. So he pouts and sleeps on my bed (where he usually sleeps in the morning anyway) or will go lay down on the couch (where he sleeps in the evenings). The fact that two of his usual sleeping spots are available is beside the point. He is an old man set in his ways so I get long-suffering looks as he stands there waiting for his beloved window space to be clear of my clutter! He doesn't understand why I am doing this or even care. But this must be done. When it is over, I will be happier and can spend more time with him. Until then, I am working hard to get this job done and then it is back to making art!

I get by with the help of my friends... 4/30

Before the fire, I had a formal living room (now my studio). This secretary sat just inside the doorway and acted as an end table as well as housing a good portion of my teapot collection. At that time it wasn't in really good shape and I always had plans to sand it down & paint it. After the fire and the decision to turn this space into an art studio, I was in need of extra furniture for the space. Since I would also have my very own computer -yay- the refinished secretary moved to the other side of the room. My laptop is happy and I have wonderful display space for my art treasures behind glass doors. I am very fortunate to have originals by Ginger Edwards, Trudy Beard, Sherry Nelson, Bob Pennycook and Jean Zawicki, along with some other pieces painted by my friends. This is the inspiration that greets me each day when I sit down to reach into the internet world and beyond. What inspires your vision?

Summer Heat 3/30

The photo I was planning to use today didn't turn out... so on to Plan B! The mixed media group I participate in has the challenge this week of "summer heat" but the studio is still in flux. What to do?!? Noticed the small clock in my cabinet of painting treasures (will share that one day soon) and decided it met the criteria for the challenge and would give me a blog post as well - twofer! This is a little piece I designed several years ago. I remember growing masses of roses when I lived in Southern California. We had old vines that grew along the garage wall and up onto the roof. That first bloom of summer was nothing short of amazing - a solid wall of color. Alas, my roses struggle here in Florida. The cooler weather of late winter & spring (cooler being not as hot as July, mind you) is wonderful but by August the heat and heavy rainfall begin to take its toll on the hardiest specimens. That doesn't stop me from trying though. I just enjoy what I can get and paint the rest!

Storage Idea for Hanging Stencils 2/30

The blog challenge group that I mentioned yesterday is thru effythewild.com - still trying to figure out how to post up her button but I will persevere!! Now back to today's post... While I am in the process of cleaning out the studio, thought I would share an idea from someone else's studio - just wish I remembered where so I could give them credit! This is a short over the door towel bar I found at a discount store. I used a package of those cafe curtain rings with the dangling clips and threaded them all on the towel bar. This get-up is hooked to the front panel of my cutting table. The panel doesn't go all the way to the top of the table but stops about 10" from the top so I have access to the top cubbies without having to rotate the whole table. Paper rolls and small storage boxes/bags are accessible through these openings. Okay - I am off topic a bit - back to the hooks! I have collected quite a few long stencils that don't fit nice & neat in the filing cabinet. These are hung 2-3 together on the hooks. I can easily flip through & find what I am looking for, they aren't getting bunched up and/or wrinkled and bent up, and I can store quite a few in a very small space! Since I stand at this table when I use my Gelli plate they are getting much more use. Win/win!

August Blog a Day Challenge 1/30

Challenge Accepted! Kelly Hoernig is participating a blog a day challenge via (will post this info tomorrow) and I thought it would be fun to play along. I will try to get the challenge link up by tomorrow but am a bit short on time to get that info plugged into this post. Working on some new ideas and my hibiscus tree has been prolific with new blossoms. Photographing this particular intense red has been a challenge. I am having to photograph the flowers at different times of the day. Intense bright sun gives me the glow from underneath the blossom but washes out all the detail on the surface. Fortunately these are only reference photos!