Trying some new paint...

Yesterday Mary Freeman's monthly Art Journaling started back up so spent a lovely morning with the girls playing. I decided to play with black paint as my main color which isn't my norm but I enjoyed it and may do it again sometime.





A couple pages playing with black, gray and yellow in an abstract.





Later in the evening I spent some Gelli plate play time to try out my new Akua inks. I've been reading about that they stay wet until applied to paper so I asked for a set for my birthday.


The color selection is limited at least compared to Golden Paints but they are very thick and creamy. I used very little to roll onto the plate.


There is a blending solution to use with the inks to thin them to emulate their pigment inks. Haven't tried the pigment inks yet but I have one to test. Above shows were I did a test with drops of the blending solution after the fact and let it sit. After blotting it left the circles and I like the effect.


This is the finished piece after a couple more print layers. I also used the new Strathmore Printmaking paper and I like how smooth it is and it takes the paint very nicely. Next I will try the intaglio paints on watercolor paper to see if there is any difference.

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Birthday Celebrations

Last Sunday was my birthday and I celebrated all weekend long with family and friends. I actually was off for the holidays so I had some pre birthday, pre New Years celebration with some art time.


I've been wanting to use my Gelli prints in collages and this is my first endeavor. I also used some strips of deli paper that I had made random marks on.


This piece is a Gelli print and I used a wheat stencil for a focal point and added some floral chicken wire for added texture.


This print is the ghost from the previous one with a bit of additions.


This print started out as testing and I added some plate cleaning to get the bits of red.



This is another print from cleaning the Gelli plate to get the bits of paint left behind.


So, to start off the birthday celebration, Friday night was bowling with the family. Fun was had by all.


After bowling was a slumber party at my brother/sister-in-laws. Such a great host and hostess complete with home made waffles and my niece also made quiche. We considered it breakfast although by that time it was lunch. ;-)





Saturday was crafty time with the girls and I wanted to try my hand at a landscape and then I used the ghost for more of a foggy tree look. I did another couple prints but didn't stop when I should've and messed them up. Oh well.


Saturday was also my youngest niece's 6th birthday and she wanted to play with painting too. This is her first Gelli print.


This is her first ghost print and I added a bit of yellow to it.


This is her final ghost print with more of my yellow added.


She then painted the Gelli plate using the pattern left behind from her previous prints.


And this is her ghost print where she flawlessly wrote her name backwards. I see another artist in the family.


For my presents I received these two cameras, one from Rebecca and one from Misti. Great additions to my collection.


My niece wanted to go to Medieval Times so that is what we did Sunday. She wore an Elsa dress and looked cute as could be. Neither of us have been before and it was a great show and the food was uncomplicated but tasty.


On Monday I had a final pajama vacation day to recover from the nonstop fun.

I hope everyone had a blessed New Year's Eve.

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Making Christmas Cards...

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas filled with family, friends and love. Are you ready for the new year to begin? I'm not. Feels like 2014 just flew by. I'm hoping that I will manage to create more art in 2015 and actually sell some of it.

So for Christmas I did manage to make cards for the family.


These are examples of the finished product.


The first layer involved a mix of some Goldens Fluid Acrylic red and yellows and creating an all over pattern. I utilized large sheets of Canson Mix Media paper.


For this metallic layer I mixed a couple paints but forgot to write down which ones. I utilized one of the Crafters Workshop stencils.


Here is the cut down version.



For the final step I used another Crafters Workshop stencil with cathedral windows and Turquoise.


Just before Christmas I attended a small portion of the North Georgia Art Ramble. This is a mug I purchased from the talented Robin Miller.



These fun little houses are from Robin Miller also. Her husband is from Iceland and they visit there often. The houses and landscape were her inspiration for these.



These two mugs are by Kelly Harris from my stop at Sue and John Anderson. I love the organic layering.


This platter was an early Christmas present from my mom, also from Sue and John Anderson's. It is signed Mare but I didn't get a card. Just love the details in it. Next year I'm going to apply and see if I can join in as an artist in the Ramble.


For the family Christmas Eve family get together we drew names and this was my present, a pair of toasty warm LL Bean slippers.

I hope everyone has a blessed and safe New Years Eve.

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Some art for sale

So a couple years ago Seth Apter made a call for art in a 5x5 format for his blog which I contributed to. The questions for the submission he asked were:

1. If your artwork could talk, what would it say?

2. Who has had the most impact on your creative life?

3. What is one thing you have never shared with the creative community?

He had over 100 works contributed and some were featured in Somerset Studio magazine and now all the works are on display at Five by Five, a small works exhibition that is taking place at The Empty Spaces Project, a gallery in Putnam, Connecticut, during the month of December.


The works are also for sale on Seth's blog and I'm honored that mine is included (#77).


I also participated in Roco 6x6 in New York. I actually made it to the opening which was quite the experience. Each piece is $20 and is a donation to support the Rochester Contemporary Art Center.


#5444


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Getting things done...

So, for the past month or so there hasn't been a lot of art play time because I'm finally back to installing wood floors. A couple years ago, ok maybe three, I ordered engineered bamboo and with the help of friends and family I installed it in the front half of the house. With major projects at work and as time elapsed I was having trouble mentally gearing up to start again. Well, in September I finally hit the stage of let's get this done.

Right now I am almost finished and hopefully will be done this weekend with the remaining base and shoe molding. Below are pics of the adventure. Completion pictures to come later.



























One of the many cut around challenges (powder room toilet).











One corner (clean) with the base molding done.


This is my art room during the process.





Oh and a couple of cute cat pictures for good measure. Trixie is actually asleep in the window.





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