Experimentation

I have been doing art, honestly I have! I have slowed down on my productivity in my sketchbook but I joined up with Tammy Garcia over at Daisy Yellow Art to do the ICAD or Index Card a Day.  This has been fun.  I'm not really the best at it but so far I have enjoyed posting on to the Facebook group.

This is the card that got the most comments as it was a complete experiment that I saw in an art journalling magazine and thought that I would try it.  It is quite a multi-media piece even though it is on a cheapie dollar store index card.

I slapped on some soft gel to the vintage dictionary page, let it dry for a minute or so and then tore it off.  I really like the distressed look!  Since there was so much of the page that didn't distress I thought I would do another technique overtop of it.  I used the soft gel medium once again and applied it to a magazine page that had a picture of a rose on it.  I didn't like the way the image "transferred" and think that if I do this again I will use regular gel medium since the soft gel is quite a bit wetter and likely too wet for the magazine page.  I couldn't leave well enough alone so I then used my Uniball pen to outline the image.  Then I coloured in the image with my new Pebeo watercolours that I bought at the Junction in Toronto.

I don't know if you can really notice it much but at the bottom of the card where I show what paints I used I had attempted to distress some sheet music but without success!

Then I thought that I'd best push myself away from this although.  So there is my card for that day!

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.

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.

Experiment in digital art

The pace this summer has been brisk!  I think that I have missed way too much summer this year; it feels like it has passed by me in a blur. The nature of time is marching by me and before I am aware days and weeks have past and summer is technically almost over.  At lease for all those people who need to abide by that calendar; parents with kids and all that.  This week was the first anniversary of my fathers death, so that kept me down a bit!  Really though, it is because I worked too much overtime this year; my greed got the best of me so I will just have to face the fact that it was my choice.

Also this week, I got some very nice comments from my fellow postcard swappers! I just think that it is so awesome that these small works of art can make there way to like individuals all over the world.  I mean I got mail from Singapore and New Zealand; how cool is that!!! Definitely the power of the internet and of course I have to give a shout out to snail mail!

Earlier this summer I tried my hand at distressing some paper pages from National Geographic using Citrasolv (only available State side).  It was fun to do; slapping the solvent/degreaser on the page and viola; you never can tell what the results might be.  It all depends on the colour of the ink on the page and the amount of degreaser that is applied.

 I found a new app and I was able to piece some of these pages together ....

I like how I was able to "collage" these different pages into a whole.  There was even an area to add comments as show above.  I put it in the centre of the image for ease of placement.  I really like how the Citrasolv moves the ink around on the page and as in the case of the two pages on top the solvent left puddles of ink leaving some cool looking marks and circular shapes.

For the above page on the left, it seems that I didn't add enough solvent but I do like the way it left some of the image.  The face page had the symbol of Route 66 on it and it left a mirror image on this page after it dried.  I thought that it looked kind of cool too.  I don't think that any of these pages have anything to do with each other; I just added them together because they had a similar colour palette.

I definitely will have to play around some more with it.  I'm not sure how I got turned on to using the PicFrame app but I saw a YouTube video.  I would love to watch it again because I have forgotten some of the tutorial but as you can see I have the basics down pat.

I used some of the left over paper pieces in some of the postcards I made for the last swap.  I might just have to investigate this some more for the next one!!

Postcar #3 Part 2-Rose Collage

First, there was a bunch of rose flowers on our florabunda rosebush!!!! My hubby has the green thumb in this family.  I like to take photographs and that is about it!!!

I had a chance to grab some petals that had fallen off in the wind.  I put them on a release paper sheet, actually re-used the wrapper that our photocopy paper comes in at work.  I often drag them home to use for art projects!!  The girls at work think that I am odd, but that is okay with me!

I didn't wait for the petals to dry; I just applied gel medium on them right away.  I think I used fluid matte medium to be exact.  I coated one side and then the other.  I did dry some others that I had picked and I will see how them are in a similar project.  I think I rather like the petal this way since they are not exactly flat and creates visual texture.

You can see them on the right edge of the photo below.  I just used more gel medium to apply them to the postcard.

So for this rest of the postcard I used:

• applied black gesso to a re-cycled junk mail postcard
• re-used a sewing pattern and seam binding from past projects
• bingo sheet
• paint colour swatch
• painted and glittered dryer sheet
• stamps made from around the house items

I also used one purchased lace patterned stamp that is in behind the sepia coloured dryer sheet.  In addition, on the top left you can just see a piece of paper cut from a magazine of something looking like  zebra's.  The image was distressed so not much of the image is really left but just the right amount for this project.

Although it had been my intention to stamp FUN on each postcard; because they were fun to make, I decided to omit that from this one.  I like a bit of busy or should I say "organized chaos" but there is a point of no return.   I just knew that I wold not be happy.

Oh, I just wanted to mention that I got a nice comment from a woman out in the worldwide web!  Nice comments are always great to receive.  Who know that a woman from the U.S. would  1. find my blog and 2. take the time to comment!!!  Thanks to all who do, I appreciate it!

2nd Postcard Swap - #2

I love making these little pieces of art!  I love to see how I can mix different and disconnected things and put them together in a pleasing manner.  Well, I guess that really is in the "eye of the beholder"!!!!

I especially like to recycle, re-use or re-purpose from around the house:

For this FUN postcard I used.

Again, I tried to lay it out to find a good design or at least see what "pleased my eye"!!!!  I like things that are busy; it might be my ADHD coming out in me even after all this time.  I like to have lots to look at and try and figure out how it was accomplished.  It always makes me laugh when I start I have a vision of what my "right side up" will be but in the end that changes.

I used a recycled card from our junk mail!  I applied layers of gesso; black on the one side and white on the writing side!

My embellishments are: slice of old unwanted book, leftover seam binding from my sewing days, paint chip card, purchased washi tape, cut tissue paper, and my absolute favourite - painted dryer sheet with added glitter!

I also added punch out flower shapes from some unwanted magazines, and painted orange bandage "paper" tape.  My around the house stamps were soda pop bottle lid, a piece of corrugated cardboard from a hot coffee sleeve and the "not so pointy" end of an old paint brush to make the dots.

Yes, this was fun to make!!!

2nd Postcard swap #1

OMG! I haven't blogged for over a month! Wo what the heck have I been doing??? First, I went on holidays in the Thousand Islands with some old time friends (lots of fun!), then I was recruited by my union to get back on the Executive to assist with bargaining our next contract with our employer (hard times are a'comin"!)  Now...I'm working night shift and there has been lots of overtime in the mix - past, present and future!

I think that this is one of my favourite pictures from the Thousand Islands and it is all about the juxtaposition of the people and objects - the very large objects, those ocean going ships.

I had to laugh when I saw that I had taken the above!  When I took it I was only actually "seeing" the ocean freighter; when I saw the snap on my computer I then saw the couple fishing on their little boat and the people on the white speed boat almost overtaking the ship.    As it turns out, there was much more going on than I had initially realized!  Love when that happens, when the composition of a photograph makes itself!


Below is a snap of some "artist tape" that I made.  I do have purchased washi tape but it is expensive and I live in the boondocks and it is not always available!  I have to drive an hour to find some and that just doesn't happen very often. I used "paper tape" that you find in the bandage isle in your drugstore, dollar store or department store.

I painted them up with acrylic and used some glitter paint on some of them as well.

I tried to set up a n appealing design prior to glueing everything down with gel medium.

I have to admit it!  I am a recycler, re-user and a repurpose type of gal!  I still think that you can make lovely creative things regardless of the tools that you use.




I used some found lacey ribbon, a strip of a page from an old unwanted book, paint chips, painted dryer sheets, left over netting from another project, around the house mark making stamps!!  I used a corrugated cardboard from a hot coffee sleeve, the not-so-pointy end of an old paint brush (from my university days) to make dots and a cap from a soda pop bottle to make the circles.

This postcard for the postcard swap really was fun to make!  I do enjoy experimentation.  Each postcard I make I like but then when I make the next one; I like it better.

Blue Cheer - Mixed Media B-day Wishes

I have made another postcard for a good friend of mine who will be having a birthday this week.  I sent the postcard via express post but it will still take two days so she will be getting it a day late.  Oh well, I just couldn't be helped.

I call it Blue Cheer, the title of this project is not solely because of the song (okay so they were a one hit wonder!!) Summertime Blues.  It is because we will be going out on her boat in Lake Ontario again this summer.  So much fun and the view on the water is breath-taking; I never tire of the 1000 Islands.

In the snap above you can see it up close; you can see the netting over the organza, the sparkly fabric (I found it in the sale bin and I would expect it is used for skating costumes and such like).  I did a bit of embroidery work and of course my beloved beading.  I put the two fabrics to get using glitter glue for something else different in this mixed media piece.

  I knew that I had a blue button somewhere in my stash and I knew that I just had to add it.  But where?? I decided that it would be an abstract representation of the sun.  I sewed the button on and used slivers of organza to add more texture.

I made the horizon off-kilter reminiscent of being on the boat in a windy stormy day with the waves getting higher and higher.  I hope that my friend can see my vision.

I had a very "fluid" plan in my mind when I started my creation and I am quite happy with the results.  I hope my friend enjoys her card as much as I did creating it!!!

Fake is the New Real!

I was trolling through the net and came across this title for a journal page on making a fake journal.  I don't really have any intention on doing this but it brings up a point.  I now have to acknowledge that "fake is the new real"!!!  I hate having to do this but when I think about the ham we had last night this point really hit home.  Most so-called ham's are pressed meat into a shape that resembles what we think a ham should look like.  I don't know why we think that ham is something that should be perfectly round or shaped like a thigh is beyond me.  If my recollection is correct a ham had a bone in it and when it didn't my parents would buy a picnic pork shoulder (a ham for poor people!!).  Hmmm, weird memories but at least they are fake.

Finishing up my current project but no photo's yet.  In fact, I forgot to take any so it is almost finished and there are only a few to show you later.

I tried to make some "artist tape" using some dollar store and other cheap tapes that I bought at that big bad "W" store.  I don't go there frequently but I knew that they would likely have something cheap.

The article is from Somerset Studio's March/April 2012 edition and it seemed easy enough so I thought that I would give it a go.  I dug out some stamps as well and used my Staz On stamp pad to see how they took on the tape.  For colour, I used Tri Art liquid paint, Liquitex acrylic as well as Ranger Inks.  It was a good trial and depending on the look you might be going for on how likely I would be to actually using these in an journal.  Now that I have made some, I will use them just to say that I did.

I went for a walk the other day and came across these flowers at the end of a farmers lane way.  I think that they are domestic flowers but I have never seen them before.  I love the pastel shades of pink and purple and especially liked the dots on the leaves.  If anyone has any idea the name of this flower let me know.

Mixed Media Fibre Art Card

I made a fibre art card last month for a friend's birthday, that day has come and gone so I thought that I would display it here.

I have been enjoying myself very much making these small art pieces.  I used:

• glass beads
• recycled onion bag netting (painted)
• sequins
• metal sewing notions - black and silver snaps
• embroidery floss
• cheesecloth
• acrylic paint
• molding paste texture medium
• purchased embellishment
• Strathmore watercolour postcard

I didn't really have a "plan" per se and it just could be that is why I like it so much.  I could have made it so much more but really I like the simplicity of it just as it is.

I am really glad that I choose to join the international postcard swap in January of this year as it has taught me to work smaller and to experiment with these small art pieces.  

Wet Felting Experiment

This isn't just about experiment with wet felting, it is also about recycling!  It has been so unseasonably warm that I just wanted to be outside and doing something that I thought would have to wait until early summer!

I saw somewhere else on the internet that someone re-used dry lint and used it like wool roving.  Of course, I don't know where that little tidbit is and I can't remember exactly what she did.  However....I thought I would just "try" it anyway and see what happened.  It is an experiment anyway so if it failed I would just try another method, or process.

I bought a wood reed placemat from the dollar store.  I purchased the least colourful one in case the colour rubbed off.  I'm not so sure it would matter since the lint is so dark anyway

I got my tub of soapy water - just ordinary dish detergent and sprinkled it all over the lint.  After I had tried my first bit of rolling, I then realized that I had forgotten something!  I had forgotten the plastic wrap!  Oh no, it turned into an icky blob!!!!!!!

I had to start over from scratch.  Don't forget to pour some soapy water over the sandwich and rub with your hands to get all of the lint inside the sandwich nice and wet.  Pour the soapy water overtop as well, the soapy water helps to make your fingers slide over the plastic a bit easier.

As you can see in the picture above adding the plastic wrap and making the lint sandwich was better but not quite right either.

I really to do wish that I had kept a link to the website or blog where using lint in felting was used!  If anyone finds one please add it to comments! 

So, I started over and added a layer of lint, added the netting, then another layer of lint overtop.

Lots of rolling action and voila!

Netting added

 Rolling, rolling, rolling on the placemat sandwich and......

more rolling to get the friction needed to get the lint material felted to the netting.  I then turned the "sandwich" upside down and rolled it as well and again turned the sandwich piece clockwise to get the movement and friction at a different angle. 

It seems to be working!!!  It looks like the lint is fusing to the netting.

Okay, so here is my "felted sheet" waiting to dry on the placemat.  Not sure when I will get back to it but I will report back on how this experiment has gone.  I am wondering if it will be strong enough to add embellishments without  falling apart!

If I do this again I will add threads and other miscellaneous fibres to the mix as I think it would help stabilize and strengthen this new "fabric" sheet.   No, I think I will change that "if" to "when" I try this again.  I will have to collect more lint though, it certainly does use up quite a bit.  I just re-used a plastic freezer bag and left it beside the dryer.  Unfortunately, the ways things are going there won't be as much opportunity to put stuff in the dryer, I will likely be hanging my clothes out on the line with the recent arrival of weird but wonderful warm weather!

There is a give-a-way at a blog that I follow so I am trying to figure out how to link to her blog so that you can see it and enter too.. so go and see Shannon to enter


http://musingsonrealities.blogspot.ca/2012/03/have-you-entered-giveaway-yet.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Postcard #9 - Painted Lace & Twigs

OMG! Is it just me or is time ticking away a lot quicker than usual.  I had hoped to get all of my postcards mailed out by now but I'm not quite finished.

I can't believe how late I woke up this afternoon!  Why is it that when I am working and need to sleep I can't?  Why is it that when I don't need or want to sleep in, I do??!!  I think I got to get off the sleep deprivation shift work roller coaster sooner rather than later.

Okay....this picture shows how I was "thinking" I might put this postcard together.  I had painted two different types of lace ribbon that I found at a charity shop.  I had "made" quite a few thread wrapped twig "buttons" and had arranged them on the card.

As you can see this is not what actually ended up happening.  I thread wrapped another twig (yup debris from the maple trees that fell on my deck) in a variegated thread.  I had ironed some pleats in the transparent turquoise coloured organza and then beaded that down with monochromatic coloured glass beads.  I finally did use the embroidery floss above but not until the end.

I like leaving the frayed salvage edge on the fabric piece and I didn't finish off the edges of the pleated piece either.  The thing I had difficulty with is applying the twig button embellishments.  They were not as easy as I had originally thought.  I'm just glad that I was able to save this postcard from the garbage but at first I had thought that I had really made a dud.

I applied the fabric to the postcard using matte gel medium.

As you can see my "design" was not well planned in advance....I had a notion of what I wanted but the final design just sort of happened.  I wanted the embroidery floss to be in the card and had not really factored that in.  

I hadn't really thought about it much other than I wanted turquoise and orange and it took me a while to see the boat and sky with clouds that this card finally became.  I had wanted to keep everything in balance; the "sky" is one third and the water is 2 thirds of the card.  My "boat" takes up half the card and it meets edge to edge so I think there is a balance there as well.   If I was to do this again, I think I would add more turquoise beads to depict the ripples in the water.  Of course, I didn't think of that until I had already finished off the card. 

I think now that I might like to make another one but use a creamier orange colour and just dull it down a bit.  I think I have some lighter coloured orange thread around is my old sewing box that might be the ticket.

Again I applied acrylic paint to the metal foil finishing tape to dull down the shiny gold surface.  I do quite like the abstract nature of this postcard and was happy to see that it "finished up" quite well.

For this card I used:

- Strathmore watercolour postcard
- acrylic paint
- paint dyed lace ribbon
- organza
-glass beads
- embroidery floss
- thread
- wood twig "button" embellishments
- metal foil

I think that is it!  Very pleased

Postcard #8 - Recycling & Re-purpose ETC

I love using a "lowly" kitchen "utensil.  I don't normally association cheesecloth with art!  It is a fibre that I use in the preservation and the making of jams and jellies; then you throw the cheesecloth in the green bin (long with lots of other garbage)!!  However, I think that cheesecloth can be used to make lovely mixed media art projects. 

My next favourite household cast-off is the "used" dryer sheet!  I like to recycle so I painted the old dryer sheet with some fabric paint that I found at a charity shop (I don't usually use this sort of stuff!).   The purple dryer sheet became the simplistic yet abstract flowers in my postcard.  I added some beads and then some Gutermann star-shaped sequins that I purchased at the creative sewing show I went to in Toronto awhile back. 

I attached the floating flowers and sequins to some cheesecloth backed with organza.  Then I applied light molding paste and topped that off with the glass bead texture gel.  I don't know if you can see the beads here as I had hoped but it was pretty cool looking!  If you click on the picture it will bring you closer so you can see the bead textures better. 

I painted my "frame" a bright blue and when I look here in the cold light of the camera's eye; I'm not so sure I chose the correct colour.  I think that a pale lavender might have been nicer but it is "done" now and I need to get them mailed away so it will remain as is.

I am glad that I chose to do something different on each card.  On this one I then applied some interference paint in Interference Violet by Tri-Art paint (made in Canada).  I see that it looks blotchy in the lower right corner.  Honestly, this picture does not do it justice at all.

Postcard #6 & #7 - More Needlefelting

This next postcard is another needle felted image with glass bead embellishments.

I have been so involved in trying to get this card made that once again I have little "before" pictures save one.  I am trying to get all of these done by the end of the month so I can get them mailed off by March.

I really like this card as well.  My photograph here does not do it justice really.  As you can see, I also decided to change the card background from the snap above.  I made another needle felted image and had a hard time deciding which one looked better on the two different cards.  Although you can't really see it here the background does look "worn" in places.

I let the needle felting process just take me where it would and I did not have any pre-conceived ideas really other than the colours I used.  The same goes for the beading as well.  I especially like the way the glass bead texture gel took to the paper.  It has all resulted in a "vintage" feel that really appeals to me.

For both cards I used:

-recycled card from junk mail
-wool roving
-hand needle felted image on organza
-glass beads embellishment
-acrylic paint
-glass bead texture gel
-Strathmore watercolur postcard


Postcard #7 - Is the same but different from #6!  Each of my postcards are individually made and therefore each are different in some way although the process may be similar.

I should add to the list above:  I crunched up some brown tissue paper I got from a gift and applied it with matte medium.  I was going to paint over it but decided that I liked the transparent nature of the paper.  Again, I used the glass texture gel to create a "frame" of sorts for the needle felting.

So far, I really have enjoyed experimentation!!!

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!).

Postcard #1

I'm on night shift tonight so I don't have too much time that I can spend on the internet.  I had tried to get through my e-mails but then I clicked on Facebook and wow! - one hour gone!

I want to show one photo of my first completed postcard for the mixed media postcard swap!  I really enjoyed doing this one because I love the colour orange!  I love its' warmth; I love the fact that it has such warmth without the overpowering nature of its' cousin red.  Indeed, autumn is a favourite season and I never tire of the colours that nature produces when the season begins and ends

I found the image in a piece of mail that my husband receives that was relegated to the recycling bin.  So I grabbed it and cut out the image.  I found a site somewhere on the internet that had a tutorial on "image transfer" using gel medium (it might have been Golden paints actually).  I used that product to smear matte/satin/gloss gel medium on the image.  I applied multiple layers - I think it was a least 6 thin layers or more.  Then I submersed the image in a flat bowel of medium warm water to removed the paper.  Remember you don't want to soften the polymer gel too much.

Once that was done! I painted my postcard and applied the appropriate background image.  I looked around my fabric stash and found the right colour of organza to put over the postcard but under the image transfer.  I squeezed out some glitter glue to ensure that the image was adhered to the card. I finished off the postcard using some scrap-booking foil (I'm not a scrap booker myself but thought it would do the job) that I painted since I don't like the overtly shiny surface.

All of my postcards will have experimental elements to them which may work well and then may not.  The one area that I need to work on with this card is my alignment; the image is slightly crooked and when I realized it, it was too late!   I think that I could have darkened up my tree trunks a bit more too but overall I am happy with the results.

I used:
140 lb watercolour paper (a paper pad I had at home) cut into 4 x 6 cards
recycled magazine imageorganza
gel medium (satin)acrylic paint
acrylic ink
glitter glue
metal foil

So there is my first completed postcard that is finally ready for mailing!!

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!