Color Me Artfest!

Tomorrow I zip to Puget Sound and beg them to let me in.  Knock knock knockin on Artfest's door.

Wow, people.  I have been OUT of IT.  I've been doing nothing but working overtime at work to get everything finished in half the time, and every minute at home making stuff.  I'm sure that's how it is with most Festies.  But I miss reading what everyone's up to!  So, if I can do that before I leave, I'll be very giddy and tickled.  Giddy!  Tickled!

Maybe that has more to do with knowing I'm finally going to Artfest...?

I promised weeks ago that I was going to share images of anything I made as gifts for members of my swap group, five of whom I'll finally meet, and for Artfest trades.  So now I can finally share those.  First, however, I'm going to show you a few process photos on how I altered some little plastic Easter eggs.

I read this post on my friend Pam's blog, about Zentangled Easter eggs, and I slapped myself on the forehead.  You know what I mean?  When you can't believe how awesome?  Go over to Pam's place and check out all her holiday goodness.

Well, it seemed to me that, given there's a little more than a week before Easter, that you can't beat a nice egg.  (And I'm certainly not taking real eggs up there in my suitcase.)

I had these cute little eggs in my stash of crap to alter.  My friend Diane said that it seems a little like cheating for plastic Easter eggs to come equipped with their own designs, but I knew when I got them over a year ago that I was going to alter them.  And I finally have!

First, I felt that they should be glued shut so that they didn't move or buckle after decorating.

After gluing shut, I gessoed them.

After applying gesso on a few eggs, all I really had to do was roll them around in my gooey gloved hand.

When all the eggs were dry, I ripped up some tissue papers and some painted paper toweling, and I began applying layers of the colored papers using matte gel medium.

Here are some papered eggs.

I didn't take photos of my doodling, but here are a couple of views of the eggs I'm taking.  I had a few earlier ones that were given away, but these are somehow going to go into my bag.

They take a long time, but they are lightweight, permanent, and festive for Easter!  (And wouldn't it be cool to Dremel a hole in them and hang them from an Easter tree?)

In addition to the eggs, I made some simple, beaded necklaces for trades (not pictured), and I thought a little plastic bag of inchies might be nice as a trade.

These are 'starter inchies' for anyone who likes to work with inchies or paper mosaics, and they are decorated on only one side and the recipient can decorate the other side if she or he wishes to.

Then, having been on a postcard roll anyway, I decided to make a few 'starter postcards' for people to alter at will.  Here are a few of them, with the back shown as well.

And I'll have nine of these little canvas panels doodled up for the heck of it.

I certainly have nowhere near 100 things to trade (a number I've heard is pretty usual), but at least if someone wants to give me an HP Elitebook tablet, I'll have something of equal or lesser value to offer them in trade!

So, I'll see y'all after the weekend.  And I hope to have my 37,000 Artfest photos downloaded before Christmas!

Next Up:  Teesha decides to have a million more Artfests, just so she can see me a million more times!

Happy Spring Equinox!

Yes, it's the first day of Spring, people!  

  

And I must tell you that I'm taking on a new skill set.  You know it's difficult for me to learn new things.  Above is one of my new Photoshop efforts.  I apparently cut the stem of the flower clear out of the photo.  However, I'll go back in and tweak the photo again, and add the stem back in.  This image was made using a photo I took during a hike in Sedona, Arizona.  I added one of Marie Otero's new Venetian textures, which textures you can see, here.

I took Marie's uber-cool workshop, Photo Magic last year.  I have to admit that I let daily life and marshmallow Peeps get in the way of my studies, and I am now going back and learning the really neato tricks and treats I had forgotten.  Thus, the image above.  

Marie's got a new site packed with tutorials, textures, and beautiful imagery.  Check out the Love To Photoshop blog, here.  When I saw her new textures I had to have them.  I used one in the image above.

And then I used another of her textures and turned this

Into this.

And now, I'm off to hone my photoshop skills some more.  If you ask me, there's no reason at all that I can't tweak this image...

into this image:

Greet the equinox with some colors!  Paint!  Photograph!  Doodle and Draw!

Just be careful not to use too much yellow.  Having a lot of close new bee friends is not all it's cracked up to be.


Next up:  Apparently, Chris may never share her Artfest trade items.  Sheesh.

A New Street Team Canvas

Welcome to my new followers!  I'm really happy that you've stepped on board, and I've also enjoyed visiting your sites and seeing what you've got going on.  Also, thanks to everyone who commented on my previous post.  Hanna's DIY Postcard Swap is one of the highlights of the year and is always well-attended.  I'll be sharing images of all the cards I receive, but if you're interested, zip over to Hanna's postcard players links and see what everyone's been doing.  Yummy stuff!

For today, young'uns, I'm sharing another painting I've done for Michelle Ward's GPP Street Team's 61st challenge, Restraining Order.  Initially, I restrained myself on a large scale (11/17).  This time, I did some small-scale restraining (5x5).

I hope you like it.  It isn't as easy as it might seem to leave a background open.  It's not only a challenge to stop embellishing a canvas, it's also a challenge to make a surface that meets my idea of an interesting background.

I've painted a lot of backgrounds, but it's not always easy to make them interesting!  I hope I've done so, here.  The canvas was first covered with painted-and-wrinkled paper toweling, then I applied a heavy coat of matte gel and let it dry before adding more color.  I decided to work with colors I'm not used to working with (red and azo gold).  It's difficult to cover up a turquoise that I think is so pretty, but as I was doing so, it became more visually interesting to me.  As though the turquoise was aged, splashed with mud, and even burned a bit.

Then I added a little ironic journaling as the only embellishment.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Are you celebrating in any way? (I'm having corned beef, cabbage, and fingerling potatoes for dinner.  And then... is Trader Joe's Karat Cake Irish?  Hmmm...)

St. Patrick's Day is a perfect time to go over and read about the GREEN PEPPER PRESS, then join the Street Team and show your colors!!  If you want some amazing inspiration, look HERE at what Michelle made for Hanna's swap!


Next up:  Chris shares what she's made for Artfest trading.  She probably will have made something by then!

Hanna's Annual DIY Postcard Swap

Hola Granola!

I have finished working on my postcard offerings for Hanna Andersson's third annual DIY Postcard Swap.  I always enjoy this swap so much because, well, for one thing, I like Hanna a lot and she's a giver of information and pretty things and ideas and inspiration and stories and... well...

She's just fabulous.

But for another thing, I like getting the arty things people make, and I like making arty things. 

THINGS! 

THAT ARE ARTY!!

Now, I don't want to bore you with this again, but I'm going to Artfest.  So Hanna apparently timed her swap so that I would get the most inspiration EVER in preparation for Artfest!  See how smart she is?

Or, she's working in international surveillance. 

But, probably: just smart.

Anyway, to make a short story long, here are the cards I made and a little bit about how I made them.  A little bit?!  Oh, come on.  You know I'm going to blab on and on.  You can skip to the pictures if you'd rather.  Or, you can ask yourself, 'Why, when I clicked the link for "Amazing Blog About Extreme Sports, Lozenge-Recipes, and Assorted Facts About Terrariums" did I get this blog, instead?'

I've often wondered that, myself.

How I Did It

by Lizzie Borden

I wanted to do something different than what I usually do.  So, instead of painting all my backgrounds and then stamping and spraying and drawing, I decided to do collage.  I wanted to do collage, but I wanted to keep the cards flat.  So, Everything's flat.  Even 3-D glasses won't help you.  They are definitely 2-D cards.  So, there.

First, I decided that I was not going to cut up my watercolor paper again when I had plenty of pre-cut mat pages I'd bought a few years ago, and they were just sitting around doing nothing.  So first, I picked out all my pre-cut mat pages.  Since Hanna didn't specify a size for her swap, I took the pages just as they were, without measuring or cutting.

And I put two together.  One plain side in case I didn't want designs in my way, and one designed side, in case I became exhausted halfway through, and couldn't put any more designs on, myself.

I knew that I wanted to use some decorative tapes I'd purchased and had yet to use in that real and lasting way that would make me a star. 

So I decided to incorporate the decorative tape in highly imaginative and unusual ways, such as taping them across the cards, with their sticky sides against the card itself (to facilitate actual sticking).

Then, of course, I had to use my pens.  My pens are my babies.  I've named most of them.  I named them things no one else would ever think to name their pens.  There's Apple, and Rumer, and Sergeant Gunner Murcheson, and Spiff (who, sadly, ran out of ink as this post went to press).  But we don't have time to go through all the names of my pens.  (Be reasonable, people!)

...and THEN!!!

Then I had a brilliant idea!  It was so brilliant I almost forgot what it was!

I had just made labels out of some pretty pictures (copyright-free, don'tcha know) and some of my own doodles and collages, and I decided to USE those labels as stickers on my cards!!  A kind of mosaicky thing!

Okay, it's possible that 'brilliant' is the wrong word for this idea.  But I used it anyway.

Here are some of the printed label thingies, all in a pile (because I forgot to take a picture of them before they'd been ravaged).

And, after all was said and done, and then apologized for and taken apart and re-done, I was able to send out my cards, just under the wire, and before I had to.  Because that's how I roll.  Plus, I had to move on.

And here they all are, in a pile ready for the postal professional to come and get them.  I decided to put them in sleeves because I was afraid those priceless stickers (which is true--they didn't really have prices on them) would get wrenched off in a tragic fight at the docking bay of some post office in Pamplona, where the carriers were starved for works of classic art and adhesive-tape-products from America.

Drop on over to Hanna's place, and look at all the lovelies everyone's been sending to and fro, upside and down, the east side and the west side, around the clock, and in your wheelhouse.

Word.

Next Up:  Chris shares photos of what she's made for Artfest.  Hopefully, she'll have made something.

Shannon's International Postcard Swap

As mentioned in an earlier post, I joined Shannon's International Postcard Swap.  Unfortunately, I've been delayed in sharing my winnings from this swap until now.

Ten cards that looked exactly like these:

went out in early February, and I have been waiting to show you the cards I received in return.  The last one to arrive didn't get to me until Saturday, but that was just fine, because the long, steady flow of mail kept the goodies moving in for a good three weeks' time!

So, here, in no particular order, are the cards I received from Shannon's international contributors.  Some of the cards didn't have much in the way of identification, and I never did receive responses from two of the artists.

I know nothing about the creator of this card, except for her email address.  She has not responded to my inquiries.

Jennifer Downing Tan has plans for a website, but as yet, she simply sends her lovely offerings out to the world to speak for themselves!

Sylvie Bellet created this innovative piece.  I love it.

Tejae Floyde is versed in many media, and imbues all her work with beautiful colors.

Margriet van Tol signed this bright and smile-evoking card, yet I could not find her through an internet search or through inquiries to two different emails. 

Debs Pouliot has contributed to Jenny Doh's Crescendoh site, and created one of the most whimsical and colorful cards I've ever received.  I love all the textures and detailing, here.

Shiree Johnston evoked a vintage and exotic feel, as she brought the international spirit into her offering from New Zealand. 

Cindy Trobaugh's card suffered a bit of mangling in the post, but do you not love the simplicity of a bold silhouette over one of my favorite graphics--the map?  This guy's prepared.

Donna Schmidt's card combines my favorite shape, the circle, and my current favorite color, green (just in time for St. Patrick's Day, doncha know).

Anne Mieke's card just cheered me up.  You can see the layers of paint, stamping, the collaged letters and inked edges that combined to make this cheery greeting.   

I'm glad to finally be able to share these cards with you.  They are welcome additions to my growing collection of cards from around the world!

I'm now on the verge of sending out cards I've made for Hanna Andersson's DIY Postcard Swap.  I find postcards a really good size for swapping.  They are manageable for finishing within a reasonable time frame, yet roomy enough to really get involved and spread your creative wings.  Plus, they can easily be made into small journals or put into standard 4x6 frames for display, if desired.

If you happen to enjoy trading your work with other artists, what is your favorite size or medium?

GPP Street Team, Crusade 61

I want to welcome my new followers!  And all my worn-out followers!  It takes a lot of fortitude to stick with me, so I love you all!!

Today, kids, I'm celebrating Michelle Ward's 61st Street Team Challenge by actually stepping up to it!  Ironically enough, she's titled this challenge: Restraining Order.  I find this ironic in so many ways, and not just because of the injunction.

previous canvas--icky, covered with gesso

main colors glooped down randomly

But we don't have to go into that here.  For our purposes today, we're going to address Michelle's challenge to allow and even, to welcome, the vast open spaces of the un-adorned journal page (or canvas or aluminum siding or whatever you happen to have handy at any given time).  It really can be difficult to allow space on a journal page or canvas to rest without collaging or doodles or embellishment. But I so admire it when people are at peace with their spaces.

heavy bodied acrylics spread with edge of plastic gift card

blue added.  several layers spread beyond this one.

So, with no further doo-doo, I present my offering for this challenge.  I've titled it, encroaching, because I believe it has an ironic tie-in to Michelle's title.

Also, it's the first title I thought of.

textured with waxed-paper-lift technique, 

gesso and paint stamping, 

lettering with bamboo skewer

To any of youse who have not visited the Street Team and its contributors, you've been Missing Out!  I suggest--no, I implore! that you zip on over to the Street Team and challenge yourself to the art of restrainment.  Restrainism.

Just control yourself.