I finished my postcards

So happy that I got my cards out in the mail today.  As usual, I am late but better late than never! 

This didn't photograph well but I wanted to get it in the envie so didn't retake it.

I really quite like this blue flower with the needle-felted and bead embellished centre.

Putz House Christmas Tree Ornaments

I never knew that these vintage tree ornaments actually had a special name! I have always loved them as a kid and they still hang on my tree!

I thought I should document these paper ornaments in my sketchbook because I think they deserve to be seen more often than just at Christmas time.  In addition, just in case, they get lost.....I was sure we had castle shaped ones too but I don't have those anymore.




For me, what is important is that I am trying to art more often than I have in the past.  I'm not much on New Years Resolutions so I like to start early.  Making some art each day is some time that I deserve to give myself.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Not all Green is Good

Try as I might not everything in my sketchbook is great.  I don't think it is suppose to be but I do try.  I really liked the page I titled The Taste of Red and I tried a green one (at the suggestion that by a fellow student in my virtual classroom at Sketchbook Skool).  I'm just not loving it.  I did it several days ago but wasn't going to post it.

I just can't seem to get the greens just right or that right that appeals to my eye.  I found the green to "olive" or brownish or then it was too blue.  Agh!  Should get some better watercolours.

It has been cold today at 3C and it wasn't until almost 5 p.m. that the sun finally shone.  I went outside for a minute and actually saw some purple so I grabbed my phone and got a shot.

Finally some pretty spring colour out there!  This has been an awful spring after a horrible winter.  I am just so thankful that I have been keeping busy with art.

I am finally getting close to finishing up my postcards for the iHanna postcard swap  Unfortunately, I am late but I expect that I will have them all out in the mail this week.

Wishing and hoping and two days early!

Some days I am running behind and then today I find out I am ahead of myself!  I thought the new Strathmore workshop was up.  Ugh, it is not until Monday.  So I will content myself with posting here and then get cracking at the postcards that I am making for the iHanna Postcard swap that I joined.  I have to get them done since it is a fact....I am once again "late" getting them done and mailed out!

Here are a few more drawings from my sketchbook.  As I said, I am making an attempt to keep at it!  I love the notion of it so I just need to buckle down and do it.  I haven't finished the one I started for today so here are a few from days past.

Kiddie toothpaste

Need to work on the tube again but it makes me chuckle nevertheless.  I am using a children's toothpaste - well - I am +8 years - so it should be okay?  Ha! Ha!  It had fun trying to get the notion across of "bristle" and the handle is a bit wonky but it is all about "the making" or rather the drawing. It is about the act of putting pen to paper.  I did it.  I filled a page with a drawing and I did my journalling in it later. 

I used the sticker from the bananas and added it to the top of the page in my Moley.  I had some difficulties that day with the banana but the paint helped.  I know we call recognize the fruit shape so that is a good thing but I was trying to capture the ripeness.  I like my bananas well past what many other people do.  I have any green parts but as you can see there was some.  However, it had "dots" on it so I ate it anyway.

I love the sound the spoon makes when I stir my coffee in my new mug!  Cheers!  It is Saturday morning and never enough coffee.  

This is similar to Danny Gregorys' video "The Art of Breakfast".  If you haven't seen it yet head over to Youtube to find and watch it.  It is amazing.  This was my breakfast that day.  

I got to go and finish some more of my postcards now.  The weather report has somewhat shifted and there might be a spot of sunshine later.  I want to be ready and head outdoors to enjoy it! 

Do You Have a Blog?

I was asked via e-mail by a friend from Australia if I had a blog.  I have replied to her e-mail but I didn't mention this blog.  Okay so I do have a blog but seemingly I am not a blogger with any sort of stamina.  I find Instagram, Flickr and Facebook quick and easy (well that is a bit of a fib).  However, I can surf through these platforms on my phone; it isn't so easy posting to blogger using a hand-held device.  So, I just kind of got out of the habit.

Anyway, this post is for you Carol!  I just participated in a postcard swap with Hanna Andersson from and we were to post our blog addresses.  Felt a bit weird submitting my blog address after I checked some of the blogs of the swappers that sent me cards - they are avid bloggers.  As I have said, me…not so much.

It seems strange but I retired from work in May of this year and I should have loads of time to put into this blog.  Not true!  It is a conscious decision on my part to not blog really.  I tell everyone that I am as busy as I have always been and finding the time to blog just doesn't make it to the horizon.

So, I have been doing some different artistic endeavours and I think that I will pick up the gauntlet and give this thing another whirl.

I took an on-line experimental art course (if I could figure out how to put her badge/icon/thingie here I would but I don't find blogger easy) that I thoroughly enjoyed.  She is a fab artist from the UK and her name is Amelia Critchlow.  I now have a cool new mixed media avatar that I can use.

This is the first pencil selfie I have ever done and I enjoyed the process.  I especially like the hair although this was not required for that segment of the course.  I love the colour purple and so just started cutting shapes from a magazine.  Although I don't have purple hair, I added the grey shapes to indicate that I do have them.  I like the effect.  It is more representative of what my messy curly hair looks like in real life so I much prefer this to a Bitstrips cartoon!  I added some Derwent Inktense to cheeks and lips to add a bit more colour.

Thank you card!

I couldn't believe it when a few days ago I received a letter in the mail and was the very happy recipient of a thank you piece of art.  The sender was the recipient of my 4 X 6 postcard exchange that I did through the Sketchbook Project.  How nice was that!!!  Her is Rachel's watercolour and graphite postcard drawing!  Isn't it lovely!!

I am very happy with my progress on my postcards for the swap.  I have finally completed the blue prototype and have to just find some creative lettering that I like to add my message to the front.

I would like to find more washi tape around but decided to use what I have although I don't really think it "goes" that well.  But really it will have to do as it is all that I have on hand in this colour and I might as well use it up.

The one thing that I learned from finishing this one is that I have to move the beads up more.  I ended up having to cover the ones at the end with the washi tape.  Bummer!  That is the reason that I do a prototype.  I am just not a very good designer/planner in my head; I have to use my hands and make one to find the flaws or make any changes that I think would look better.

I also decided that I didn't like putting the beads in the flower centres because there really wasn't enough symmetry for me.  I decided to move them to in-between the hand stitched crochet cotton which makes a clear and clean line.

With the photo above, I just wanted to show that I painted a piece of cheap paper with the peach colour in the ribbon and then stitched the beads on.  The soft gel was used as an adhesive and the ribbon attached to the postcard.  Then the washi tape was added for the final touch before the writing.

Mixed Media Collage and Prototypes

I  have signed up to participate in another The Sketchbook Project challenge and I can't wait to receive my 4 X 4 canvas to paint.  I haven't decided if I will actually "paint" it per se or if I will make my painting a collage.

I have a bunch of old dress patterns "from back in the day" when I sewed more.  I got the inspiration to do this from a fellow Instagramer.  She was using the packaging in her altered collaged journal pages. My IG friend Carol had some real "vintage" dress patterns from 1950's that were really cool.   Since my patterns are not old enough to be cool, I decided that I would try and use the dress pattern  tissue in a collage.

I really like the effect and I am seriously considering using the technique for the 4 X 4 painting challenge. I found some tissue tape that I had purchased at a local art supply in the sale bin.  The reason it was in the sale bin is because the glue was dry so I just tore off what I could and applied it. 

I like the idea of adding text, of having something to say in my journal page.  I have to remind myself that it is okay to play like a child.  We have to remind ourselves that children live their lives "in the NOW" all of the time.   I think we need to return to that.  I think it makes it easier for me to make art when I get myself into this "childhood memories" zone.

What I used to make these:

-recycled paper substrate (from the recycle bin at work)

-recycled dress pattern tissue applied with soft gel medium

-stencil that I had purchased some time ago and never used

-wooden puzzle piece

-magazine page cut out using paper punch from dollar store

-recycled foil gum wrapper dot applied

-Text (in a different language ) applied using Magic tape from a cookbook  to make "artist" tape

-Micron pen and coptic pen

-oil pastel for smudging

I am planning on joining another postcard swap this month with Shannon Ganshorn and I think that I will use this as part of this next swap.

Green postcard - What was I thinking?!

I an beginning to get very nice messages from my fellow participants in the postcard swap; I had asked that my recipients let me know when they received my cards. I always wonder if they make their way and I am glad to get nice e-mails from my fellow swappers.

I should have posted this earlier but I simply forgot, so I thought I would rectify that today!  Hmmmm, I'm just finding out it isn't so easy as I thought on mu iPad.  I need to work on this a bit and figure stuff out. I guess I'll have to drag out my laptop to finish this post.

I thought I had taken lots of photographs of the postcards that I made and it would appear I was very much mistaken.

Bummer!

In this snap, I am just needle felting the roving to the organza.  The addition of glass bead embellishments will be the next step.

Music and more about Postcard Swap V.3

I love to listen to music when I am creating my art and I came across this woman sometime ago from another artists blog.  So here I am.....I am sharing the beautiful voice of this woman too.  I don't use this video, I just went to iTunes and purchased several of her songs to appealed to me.  Again, perfect music for making art; well, for me that is.







My next favourite song is Nadir (Synchronicity) and then Forrest Veil.

 I must admit up front that visually posting these photo's of my art here, I find these postcards a bit too "hot",  too visually over-the-top.  However, in real life my eyes didn't see it that way at all.  So, I will of course all be in the eye of the beholder.  I hope everyone who receives them thinks so too.

The organza is a bit difficult to photograph because of the the nature of the fibre; the glare effects that it creates with the lens of the camera.

 I don't know how the flower motif was created really, it just sort of "happened"! I really liked it.



I photographed this one sitting on it's envelope.


Here are the envelopes all in a nice neat pile!  All ready for mailing!  I hope to be able to get to the post office today to do just that.  I hope all of my participants will forgive me but between work (today is my one day off for this week) and the stormy weather, I haven't been able to get there.

This is my constant lament though so bear with me for the next challenge!  At least I hope that Shannon is willing to host another challenge.  I love to participate but I am somewhat of a procrastinator and then of course I never chose something that is easy peasy either.

These are time consuming because I have to make everything from scratch, right down to the hand made "artist tape"that is the finishing touch.  I don't have a cookie cutter process and probably never will because I would get bored doing that.

I am really glad to be able to re-cycle my drop sheets from other projects.  I had figured that I would have to put them in the burn pile since I had hung on to them way too long.  So, I hope everyone does appreciate the colour if not the oddity of the craft!!

I have always been a camera bug!!

I have been spending a lot more time on Instagram and I have enjoyed it very much so far!  I joined or follow POPYACOLOUR challenge so it will make me take and post daily!  I need routine and at least all the photo's I take then have a place to be instead of being schlepped over to my external hard drive never to be seen again!

For some of the challenges, I have made some art.  Simple things but artful expression nevertheless.

I drew this with pen and then added the oil pastel afterwards.  Not sure if I like the result all that much but it is a drawing and I posted it anyway!  I find that if I don't do some sort of art for a long period of time then I get what one might call "withdrawal pains"!    It was fun to complete something in my sketchbook!

Postcard Swap Envelopes

I just received a very nice comment from one of the recipient s of my postcards.  I just realized that I have not been very diligent at taking photographs of my cards.  I was so intent on getting them out because I was sending them out "past due".  Oh well, I don't think the recipients will be upset over that!

 I love mail, or at least, this type of mail and love going to my mailbox to look and see and be "surprised"!  I am so happy that I have just received my tenth and final card yesterday!

Here is a snap of some of the envelopes.  I didn't want to send out the usual morning white type and really enjoyed making these out of stuff from around the house.  I have way too much gift wrap so it made great envelope material.  I also got to use up some of the brown paper bags that I seem to be accumulating.  I found some cheap tape so I trimmed the paper bag envelopes with that!  So much fun!

I especially enjoy the connection of other people from around the world.  I hope to get a comment on here from Germany.  Now that would be very cool!!!

Postcard #2

I have been trying to get all of my postcards made within a reasonable amount of time and I do try but life does get in the way.  I don't feel bad because I got to go and see my grand-daughter again and help my daughter out by being there for her.  Bottom line I enjoy "grandma duty"!

So postcard 2 is similar to postcard #1 in that it was made using the same process.  This time the image is taken from a publishers clearing house brochure.  I like to recycle! It represents a Sherlock Holmes novel and the tiny image depicts the dark nature of the times.

I think that I could have a better job with the dark side but I didn't realize that until I had put the sparkled netting overtop and glued it together with the metal foil.  I had to paint over it because I thought it was way to "bright" and not in keeping with the mood of the image.

In this postcard I used:

4" x 6" watercolour paper
gel medium for image transfer
acrylic ink
acrylic paint
eye shadow
sparkly netting fabric
glitter glue
metal foil

I really enjoy using this process of image transfer - gel medium and an image from a magazine.  My postcards are experiments and therefore there will be errors.  It can't be helped really especially since this is a "new" project and I don't actually have a "how-to" or any instructions on what should be or should not be done.  I don't really think that my hindsight deters from the beauty of the project as it is.

I have 6 more done but I'm not sure if they are actually done, done!  I just finished to that have needle-felting and again I wonder if they are complete.  I will need to look at them a bit more before I make that call.  Therefore, you don't see any of them here quite yet.  Soon though!  I have to have them mailed out by the end of the month (I hope to that is!).

Play Day

My hubby had to go to town today so I thought that it was the perfect opportunity for some "play".  It has been awhile since I have brought out the paints and my mark making tools.

I watched the Doodles Unleashed workshop on the web a few days ago and today I got busy.  I didn't do a "follow along" with the video so my page is not turning out like the instructors - Traci Bautista at Strathmore Artist Papers.

http://www.strathmoreartiststudio.com/

It was fun and I used some acrylic inks with some mini misting bottle, water colour paints, acrylic paints and fluid acrylic paints, oil sticks and oil pastels.  In the beginning of the process, I used stuff from around the house to lay on the 140 lb watercolour paper (it is what I already had on hand, same with the paints and inks) to start misting the ink around on the page.  I'm glad that I had most of the materials already.  Since I didn't have enough mist bottles or fluid watercolours I used the acrylic inks that I had and just added water to the misting bottle.

 Now that I take a look at it again, I think I should have attached the key to the key fob.  What do you think?  Does it really matter since this is only stage one in the process?  In some ways, I like the picture just the way it is; I like its minimalist simplicity. 

Then I added more colour. I'm not done yet because now that I look the snaps I took, I can see that I need more "light" to contrast all of the dark.  This is much more defined in the purple, pink and blue doodle page

My red, green and blue page has some light yellow but again it is way too dark and I need to add acrylic ink to it as well as part of my doodling process. 

It has been a fun day!! I am looking forward to the next time that I have a few hours to spare so that I can complete these.  I did a couple more pages too; for something to do while the wet paint was drying (I should have gotten my hair dryer out I suppose).  Those pages are not even as far along in the process as these above so I have not taken any snaps of them.

All in all, I had a lot of fun on a very dreary, rainy, foggy day!  If I must spend a lot of time indoors then I am happy that I could spend my time making art.

I look forward to seeing how these will morph once again as I spend some quality time with them and apply the final marks on them!!

Sunrise Painting

My hubby has been away checking out the plot of land that he bought in Ambergrise Caye, San Pedro, Belize.  I used my alone time to paint.  It has been some time since I have even felt like painting anything. I am almost happy with it but I can see two things that I want to change before I declare that I am finished.  Oh yes, I need to finish the frame as well.

Here is a photograph of my inspiration...I took it this past October and thought it might be interesting in a painting.  I use acrylics and it enjoyed the layering process to achieve the colour that I wanted.

Now this is not the exact photo that I used but it was taken the same morning (this is the only one that was already watermarked).  I don't live on the water but only about a mile away.  I just took a detour down to the public access on Lake Simcoe to grab a few snaps using my point and shoot Panasonic Lumix.   I usually carry this camera around  in my car with me for just such occasions- moments of spontaneity.  I could see the sky on my drive home and I was sure that this would be a great photo taking opportunity. 

However, what I don't like is the water.  I know that it is the lens of the camera that reads the water as dark when in fact it really isn't.  So, I will use some of artistic licence by changing the colour so that it does not read as "black".  There is no reason to be a slave to the actual photograph.

Now my photographic skills need to be improved, I think that I should have re-positioned the easel  away from the window a bit more.  I think that would have eliminated the glare on the right hand side.  Overall, I need to do a bit of tweaking of the water and the sky above the sun a bit and it should be considered done.  My hubby is a good creative critic and even he agrees with my intended modifications.

Dreams are Free!

"DREAMS ARE FREE!" I heard this phrase in a song from a popular television show N.C.I.S.; it is called Genie in my Dreams and sung by Sharon Little. "When you can't take the living, remember: dreaming is free". I remember my mother telling me to stop "day-dreaming" and she said that she could tell because of my eyes. I do understand what she means by the way one's eyes often become "fixed", "glazed over" or a person just looks "far away". I wasn't thinking really, I was "day dreaming". I still day-dream and when I can't sleep, I night dream before I finally just say the heck with it and get up.

These dreams come in many forms; some continue to be day-dreams or "I wish" thoughts, some are thoughts that are attempting to conjure up a solution to a problem. More often than not, I do "dream" the answer to whatever pickle that I am in. It could be a workplace issue, or an artistic technique one (since I often do not have a set of instructions follow I need to think through to the next few steps).

Then there are always the "I wish" dreams but when one gets to a certain age, these rise to the top very often and must be stuffed back in the box because they are pointless, the past can not be changed. The future is the only thing that we have and we need to make the most of it! I consider myself lucky that answers do actually "come" to me in my day and night-dreams. I wonder if this should actually be called "lucid" dreaming? To answer my own question, yes, I think so.

A friend of mine told me about this incredible internet sale, Interweave had a sale on some old videos regularly priced at 19.99 for .10 cents (imagine that!). So, being the cheap type that I am I couldn't help myself. I had a ton of fun making some stamps from cheap dollar store vinyl erasers (4 for a $1). The DVD I downloaded was originally designed for use on fabric but I gave it a try and paper is also a suitable substrate.

This really fits in my my "childish" self; that self that still daydreams, daydreams about making time to "make art". This doesn't really take too much time and it really is worth the effort.

I love the results because it is so simple and close to "immediate" gratification.

Print on a piece of paper your word (making sure it fits on the eraser) and pressing hard to get lots of graphite on the paper (so a softer 2B is preferable to a 2H). Then rub hard over the word you have printed and once you have then fill in the "rubbing" so you can see your work clearly. Yes, it will be backwards when you are cutting it out but remember it will be "right" again when you stamp on your page or on your fabric.

The only other piece of "equipment" one needs is an x-acto style knife of utility craft knife the type that has the triangular shaped blade with a long skinny point. The point is used to pivot in the eraser to get a really great circle.

Reclamation Project

I'm on holidays and I decided that it is time that I finished up some of the many "unfinished" projects that I have had on the go! I know, it is shocking but nevertheless so very true. I am "one of them"!

So for the last few days, I took it upon myself to finish a proto-type that I had started for the year-long project challenge for members of the Marmalade group! I hadn't liked the way it was going so I shoved it in a bag.

As it happens I had the mat and the frame has been cluttering around my workspace for years. Viola! I had a chance to use a RED frame. What was I thinking when I bought that thing? I have absolutely no idea!

I had named my project - The Reclamation Project - because I wanted everyone to make beautiful art from reclaimed materials. Of course, art is in the eye of the beholder but I think that this example demonstrates what I meant. Here I used old men's silk ties, painted coffee filters, painted dryer sheets and beads from my collection.

Pastel small art work

I'm feeling a bit chilly today and had a few minutes to spare so I got my sketchbook out and for expediency, my soft pastels. What I thought was, I wanted to do some art that would feel warm. The only thing about abstract work is that one has to be careful not to "over work" the drawing or painting so that the fundamental feel of the work doesn't look contrived. Now, I don't really have that problem with this piece because it is just a gradation in colour but I could see that the colours were about to become "muddied" slightly and so I had to walk away.

My favourite part of this small "paining" (for the lack of a better word) is the saturated colour. A pastel girl, I am not, or at least for the most part!

As you can see in the picture, this box of short pastel pieces haven't had much use. I did remember that I need to clean off the residue off because it is one reason that the wrong colour is applied to the wrong area. I need to get out my books and find out more about the use and misuse of soft pastels.

Even my wiping cloth looks good plastered with colour!!!! Can you tell that I love colour???!!!

This was a fun way to start my day!!!!

Small ArtWork

I did this piece some time ago and was happy to see that I had actually taken a picture of it because often I forget and give the piece away without doing so. This was a fun piece that began life on a piece of cardboard. Then I painted on two canvas board pieces and using some silicone glued the pieces on to the painted canvas "frame". This was a second attempt at doing this particular "style" but I don't have a picture of the last painting.

Just in case you are wondering, I didn't use acrylic paint for this painting which I think was 8" x 16" and using 4" x 6" canvas boards for the actual picture. I have a small collection of nail polish that I used. I truly did enjoy doing this piece except for the smell; very toxic! I used paint as a "primer" only so that the polish would adhere to it without much problem. It took some time to dry and it took what seemed like forever for the smell to disappear. I would only do small works because the brush that comes with the bottle is only meant for nails and therefore virtually useless. It means that your art must be constrained and limited to something small. It was an experiment and I did have fun so I think that it was indeed a success.

It is a fun piece and even now when I post this, it still makes me smile!