Another Halloween ATC...

Welcome to Blogtoberfest Day 17!

Just one more after this, and I can get back to other things...

I have been collecting ideas on Pinterest  lately, of  how I would want my own shop to look. If you have never tried Pinterest, go take a look. So much fun, so many ideas, so addicting...

Over the years, I have collected piles of magazine clippings, and filled a stack of notebooks with craft ideas, color schemes, and how to's. Now Pinterest has streamlined the whole process, negating the need for scissors and glue. But I warn you now, once you get started, and fill a board with things you love, you may find yourself losing hours at a time. Try to pull your self together occasionally at least to eat and to let the cat out, OK?

Until next time...enjoy!

Halloween ATC 3...

Welcome to Blogtoberfest Day 12!

Here is another Halloween ATC for you to see, I am certainly having fun with my digital collage. The hunt for  just the right graphics is a big part of that. It has been great practice, since I am not entirely comfortable using technology in this way. 

I like this combination of the cheerful happy children, and the more serious ghostly lady haunting them. Of course the cat, being able to see spirits, is keeping a close eye on them all...

Until next time...enjoy!

Halloween ATC 2...

Welcome to Blogtoberfest Day 11!

I am in a hurry to get outside and work on the yard clean-up, prepping everything for winter. So today I only  have another ATC for you to see. 

As I have been cleaning and raking and rummaging through my storage/tool sheds, I am amazed how much clutter and junk can be accumulated over time. It is especially bad for Mr. How2 and me, because we remodel houses and own a couple rentals.  We end up with useful looking scraps, extra fixtures, and abandon items all the time. It isn't in my nature to be wasteful, so it all goes into my overflowing sheds, until we find a need for it or it is destroyed by pack-rats. 

This is a habit I am trying hard to break, but it has taken years to build this kind of jumble, and it is consuming months of my life to rid myself of it. I haul off truckloads to charity and post items on Facebook to sell or give away. I have been moderately successful. I try to celebrate this by calling my best friend and doing what we have dubbed, "The Empty Space Dance". We sometimes take it a step further, and reward ourselves with a trip into town for an espresso shake. 

But every time I open another door, there is another pile, waiting to be sorted, cleaned or thrown. I have a dream, that someday the sheds will be all but bare, and what is left will be carefully sorted and labeled. But at times like this, I wonder if that dream is achievable. Right now I am not feeling the joy, more like a grim determination to trudge through this before the snow flies...

Until next time...enjoy!

The Halloween Fun Begins...

Welcome to day 10 of Blogtoberfest!

Today I figured I better get started on my ATCs for this months Flygirls Swap. The theme this month is Halloween and I worked on my backgrounds in preparation for them...

I will be needing six, so I used some scrap foam-core from an artist friend, and cut them down to 5" X 7". This is double the size I will need but it is easier to work with the larger pieces. I will be assembling these digitally, so re-sizing is quick and simple. For me, Halloween means black cats, witches, pumpkins and oddly enough, vintage. I have already collected different elements and clip-art, and with the backgrounds scanned into my computer, I am ready to create...

Here is my first, a mixture of images from vintage postcards, magazines and an advertisement for a funeral home. I just love this ladies costume, all ready for the Halloween Ball! 

More to follow in the coming days...

Until next time...enjoy!

Now For Something Really Big...

Welcome to day three of Blogtoberfest, and thanks for following along. 

If you have been visiting here for any length of time, you may have noticed one thing about my art. I work small. My most common canvas size is 8"x10", then 5"x7", 4"x4", ATCs at 31/2"x21/2" and all the way down to inchies, at 1"x1". I am most comfortable with these small sizes for a number of reasons, including their portability and my ability to scan them using my own home equipment. 

Here are two more small pieces of digital collage, completed yesterday...

  But the other day, I got a hankering to do something big, I mean BIG! So I dragged out the easel I bought a full year ago at a yard sale for $10, and set it up...

 This is meant to be a travel easel, and has a very complicated series of knobs and hinges that took me a while to figure out. But I love the brass lined drawer and compartments...

Then I went rummaging around in my basement storage, looking for the larger canvas panels I purchased years ago, and never used. This one is 22" X 28"...

I love how the upper bar of this easel can slide down and lock tight, holding the canvas firmly in a couple of grooves designed for that purpose. Now I can really go to town, scrubbing and smooshing the paint without it falling off! 

  I think this will be the perfect surface for my Athena painting, with an olive tree and some mountains in the background, and an owl on her shoulder. I think it will be a fun experience, working with bolder strokes and more detail. Come back for a visit to see it as it progresses. 

Until next time...enjoy!

Layered Background Canvases...

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am working on another 50 blocks for the Art-o-mat Project . Somewhere about block 29, I realized I was going to need a larger variety of backgrounds to work with. I really don't like the idea of sending in 50, or even 10 exact same pieces of art. So this week , besides harvesting more veggies from the garden, battling a swarm of hornets at the cabin and cleaning out yet another rental, I decided to focus on background canvases. The plan is to scan these into my computer and assemble collages digitally, using my own art work and some elements from my collection of purchased royalty free clipart. I kept the colors compatible with the MDF blocks that I already painted, and am pleased with the diversity.

  Deciding it would be more convenient to keep the originals small, for purposes of resizing, I dove into my stash of 5" x 7" canvas panels. These are very economical, and make a sturdy piece that is flat enough to scan beautifully on my flatbed scanner. I could have also used the 4" x 6" panels. The 4" x 4" are nice, but being square, I end up cutting off much of the fun detail in order to get them to the finished size of 2 1/8" x 3 1/4" required to fit the blocks. I also made a couple of the backgrounds on heavy watercolor paper, and even though they curled just a bit, they still scan just fine.

I watched the movie Clash of the Titans this week, and that got me reading my Greek Mythology again. I had the idea for a larger canvas, featuring the Greek Goddess, Athena. After all, she was in charge of not only wisdom, but also creativity, art and handcrafts. Here is my initial sketch, which will eventually be transferred to a layered canvas and painted. The sketch will change drastically, but you got to start somewhere, right?

The theme for Every Inchie Monday is "wind", and I found it a difficult challenge. I mean, how do you paint something you cannot see? Then I realized that, though you don't see the wind, you do see it's effect on objects. Since the wind singing through the trees is on my list of favorite things, that is what I painted.

Until next time...enjoy!