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!

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!!

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.