In the Art Room

There are lots of types of art.  One that I often participate in is sewing and quilting.  

In honor of Mother's Day, I am repeating an old post - or at least part of it. Mom's Birthday is in May so even though this talks about her birthday, It was also close to Mother's Day. 

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Yesterday I stopped by Mom's house, as I usually do after work.  She wanted to go get some takeout, so we did.  We ate and talked.  Mom has a birthday coming up, so I asked what she wants for her birthday.  "I just want y'all kids to be happy, that's all." she said.  Hmm... I can't buy that or sew it either.  I will come up with something, I think. 
We also discussed a little retreat that she is going on with "the church ladies."   Mom is so excited about it.  She has been talking about it for weeks. She was given a list of things she needs to take with her. She has all but one of those things in a stack on the guest bed. (I told you she is excited about it.) However, she didn't have a notebook to take (she wants a nice clean new one. )  I told her I thought I had a spare one at home.

K

nowing that Mom's favorite color is yellow,  I dug into my stash and found some nice fabric from Riley Blake.   I had three fat quarters which is plenty for one of these with leftovers for something else. I also saw a strip of a yellow blender fabric so I added it also.
I sewed up the journal cover and put it on the composition book.  Then this morning I got to work early and "borrowed" one of the dogwoods in the parking lot for a photo shoot.

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Mom still has this covered notebook. Although as she has dementia, she doesn't use it. 

In other news, I am working on an altered book.  I spent some happy time watching a class on various things you can do to create an altered book.  Then I did my usual "different" methods based on what I saw.  

Here are the pages I have worked on so far.

This first one is "a bit much."  I am undecided about gessoing over it.

The blue page needs something added.  It is really just a background.  I haven't decided just what it needs yet.

This page is just a background but I am tempted to leave it plain. 

I may do some small simple collage to give it content without covering up much of it. 

Linking to SITAR

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Art for Sunday

I was in a local discount store and saw  simple wooden skull shape.  It had some decoration lines on the surface.  I thought  "that could be fun to play with."  

When I got it home, I decided to use it as a "stamp" to remove paint from the gel plate surface. This would give me a print AND would put a base layer on the wood. 

I took the print after it had dried and used some paint pens to embellish it a bit. The fine surface lines didn't imprint well, so I improvised the design. 

I also had the wooden skull shape to paint on.  I used the same set of paint pens and had fun with it.

They look quite different, don't they?

I showed the base print for the one below on April 26th. 

I mentioned then, that I might use a white pen to enhance the design. 

That is exactly what I did with it. 

If I weren't "afraid" of ruining it, I would use the green paint pen to add a bit of color to the

stem and leaves.  Hmmmm.  It could still happen.

Linking to Sunday in the Art Room

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

 Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Printing Playtime

I have been playing a LOT with the gelatin plates (One is Gelli brand, and one is Gel Press brand.) 

I have also attempted to make my own plate.  So far it has not been wildly successful, but I haven't given up just yet. 

Here are a number of prints I have pulled. Most of these are planned to be used as collage paper.  Some of them could be collaged onto a surface and have a subject painted with these as backgrounds. 

This one is interesting but I am not sure how I will ever use it. 

The black shapes are from a stencil that I cut myself. 

This one will make lovely collage paper. 

I do wish it were fabric.  I know I can have it printed on fabric, but that is quite pricey for me.

This one is just various colors of paint "mooshed" together on the plate. 

This is what is known as a ghost print. I made a print using string on a black layer of paint. That print was pulled, then the string was removed and the remaining paint left to dry. More paint is added - a thin layer and then this is pulled. The ghost print if often the better image. 

More "mooshed" paint - this should be great collage paper.

This piece was just paint that I put bubble wrap into, the bubble wrap is removed and while the paint is still wet, the print is pulled. 

This one used one of the flower stencils that I cut. I am thinking of going back in with a white pen and drawing on this one to enhance the design.

Another of my flower stencils.

I usually use a lot of color, but this neutral one  - well, I love it. 

This is another ghost print using a circle stencil and some pieces of 

cut cardstock to create the design. But you may notice lots of tiny bits of color from previous 

prints on this one. Once the ghost had dried on the plate, I put a neutral color over it and put the 

paper down.  I left it to dry for several hours (probably too long) as I forgot about it.

A few bits of the paper were left on the plate, but I got them off easily. 

Of all of thes, I think this is my favorite. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

 Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Some of my favorite artists

For Sunday in the Art Room,  I am sharing three of my favorite "weird" artists.  I will tell you names, but if you are curious about them, I say "use google."  I have made "use google" easy by linking a google search to each name. 

Paul Klee

Wassily Kandinsky

Joan Miro

Happy Sunday. 

Linking to Sunday in the Art Room

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Playing in the Art Room

When I have the time from everything else I have to do, I love playing in the Art Room.  

Okay, so it really isn't just one room. I do have part of a room set up for painting.

That doesn't move into other parts of the house.  But I have my sewing station (another art form) 

in the living room.  I have sewing supplies (fabric, etc) stored in another area.

More than you needed to know, huh?

An acquaintance contacted me about buying an art piece for her daughter.

Here is one piece I offered. 

It is a small canvas that I painted and then collage on top of that using

pieces of another painting that I wasn't happy with. 

Those interesting stones are some I created with a construction material  

I have been pulling more prints from the gelli plates. 

This one used an image transfer.  For the transfer, I printed the image that

I created to make a stencil. 

Here is another transfer used in a print. 

And finally here is the painting the lady chose. It is a small 11" by 14" canvas.

I told her that it is a little weird.  She said that for her daughter, weird is good.

Happy Sunday. 

Linking to Sunday in the Art Room

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

AI Photos of ME for FFO

While I was sitting with Mom on Thursday,  my phone offered me a new option with photos (Android/Pixel phone) using AI.  Of course I wanted to play with it. 

I did a cartoon version:

It was seriously influenced by my cruise photos and my videos.

Next I took a photo of me with country singer, Mandy Barnett. I used the "fashion shoot" mode:

We look like we are ready for Fashion Week. 

Finally I did two of me as a Professional. 

I would say that they don't look exactly like me.  I think it does a bit of a 

facelift and thins the nose slightly. 

Linking to the Friday Face Off

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Cutting Stencils and Printing

My public library has a really cool resource. They have a library of things and in that library there is a CriCut Explore Air 2. I borrowed this device so I could try cutting some stencils. It is working well and I have cut several stencils. I started out trying to cut stencils from card stock. Unfortunately, they are just a little flimsy for printing on a gelatin plate. I remembered that I had some synthetic paper called YUPO. The Yupo makes a perfect stencil. It is thin enough for the Gelli plate while being sturdy enough that it doesn't tear or move around while you're using it. I even used to piece that I had painted on and was unhappy with to cut stencils. 

You should know that this is going to be very photo heavy. First, I will show you some stencils I cut.

Wavy lines interspersed with dots and shapes.

Wavy lines in a row

I don't know what to call this one. 

Ladders/building windows

More wavy lines and "stuff"

Circles

Wavy lines, circles and a missing ladder.

Here is an odd swirl shape and the missing ladder

The missing ladder was part of the learning curve.

I cut this out of pink card stock.  I used that green section in one of my prints

Honestly this is too fine and flimsy to work well. 

Again, part of the learning curve

I created drawings for the stencils on my iPad in Procreate. 

Then I send the file (jpeg) to my computer. From there it goes to the Cricut software. 

I delete the background white from the drawing there. 

Then the machine cuts the design and I am left with a stencil which is actually the background.

I also get the shapes that are cut out.  Those can be tossed out or used as masks when printing

 on the gelatine plate. I will say for me, it depends on the size and if I think I will use it. 

So here are a bunch of my more successful prints. 

As a gelli print, this is a failure.  For me - well, I love it. This was an attempt to print on

the Yupo paper that I used for cutting stencils. I have painted on this paper in the past, so

I know it takes paint well.  The problem is that it doesn't absorb the moisture and dry. 

Thus, when I pulled the print, lots of paint was left on the plate.

Which leads up to this print

This is what was left on the plate.  I printed it on newsprint so it isn't as white in the unpainted areas.

I like it and think I will use it in a collage.

Printed on deli paper using the "ghost print" from part of a stencil

I took weaving thread/yarn and laid it into the paint on the plate and pulled a print. 

Above is the ghost print from the previous string print. 

I will likely add more color to this - but maybe I should leave it neutral for collage

Decisions, decisions.

This is on tracing paper that is very similar to deli paper. 

I think this was string also, but I am not sure. 
I printed the black on the front of the paper.  Later, I added color

to the back because I wanted to try it. 

Left side - using string (ghost print)  Right side - ghost print from a stencil

All those lovely circles. Hmm... I know I printed the black first then used transparent

paints and printed the colors over the black.

One of my FAVORITES. I put the cream paint on the plate, then the stencil. I pulled the print.  

THEN the ghost print was pulled over a field of blue, purple, red that I had previously printed. 

I just find this one so satisfying.

At some point I need to use some of these papers to create collage. But that last one, I 

don't think I can cut it up.  It could just get mounted on a canvas - as is!

Linking to Sunday in the Art Room

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.