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!

All Packed Up and on Their Way...

Welcome to day 9 of Blogtoberfest!

Today, I finally finished and packaged my second submission to the Art-o-mat Project. I have been slow to finish, summer is just such a busy time, but today I brought the box to the post office...

 This project can be time consuming, there are a lot of little steps necessary to getting the blocks just the right size and thickness. They start with a piece of 3/4" MDF, but need to be 7/8" thick, so a layer of 1/8" Masonite must be added to each block. I came up with quick way to evenly apply wood glue using a small roller from the dollar store...

and clamped the layers 7 deep. These dry fairly quickly, and are then ready for the table saw. I carefully set the fence on the table saw at 3 1/4", and run the now 2-ply boards through, then reset the fence at 2 1/8" and run them through a second time. This sounds complicated, but really you can whip out a LOT of blocks quickly this way. I tried cutting the MDF and Masonite first, then gluing them together, but was left with uneven edges and gaps where the glue didn't fill. This is much quicker, I ended up with enough blocks for almost two shipments! ( They ask that you send 50 at a time.)

Then comes a light sanding, which smooths the MDF beautifully, and a light scuff to the surface of the Masonite, to give it some tooth for gluing on the artwork...

Next, I paint each block with a base-coat color. At this point, I am starting to group them by ten. It makes the time commitment more manageable when I work on only ten at once. After the base-coat, I use a brayer to grunge a second color over the first...

Then I start adding extra detail with stamps and ink. Now my blocks are that old, grungy, interesting look I like, and ready for my artwork...

I have been working on the art steadily over the last few months, so I have a decent variety to offer. I try not to include more than two of any one design. I use GIMP to re-size and enhance my art, as well as add some lettering. Then I cut it out and use Mod Podge to glue it to a block. I like to use the brayer again at this point, to make sure there are no air pockets. A bit more ink applied to the edges give a nice finished look to each piece...

The last step is wrapping each block in a band of cellophane, and boxing them to ship. They are fairly heavy, when you get 50 of them together, but they fit in a Medium Flat Rate box from the post office, so postage stays around $11. 

I hope that if you ever considered participating in the Art-o-mat Project, this little tutorial can help you streamline the process a bit...and should you be traveling and come across an refurbished cigarette machine selling tiny pieces of art for $5 each, I hope you will indulge yourself and give it a pull!

Until next time...enjoy!

Happy Memorial Day!

Just a quick post this morning, I am having a family BBQ, but it is last minute and the place is a mess! I spent the week happily puttering around in the garden and my studio, and completely ignored all else...I haven't been able to work on anything large, but I did finish my ATC's for this months Flygirl ATC Group exchange. The theme is "Mellow Yellow" and our hostess this month is Kelly Hoernig, go check out her lovely blog.

I showed these to Mr. How2 last night, and he really likes them, he is my biggest fan, but asked why I wasn't doing larger pieces to sell, and didn't these take up a lot of my time. My answer to him was, first, I AM painting larger pieces, and he would see them if he followed my blog...(he is strictly a computer solitaire kind of guy) and that these are not a waste of my time, for two main reasons.

  First, I get to communicate and exchange with a wonderful group of other artists online on a daily basis. With wonderful, heartfelt conversations, encouragements and commiseration. Not to mention the beautiful art, which has been an absolute joy to watch as styles are developed with time and practice. Which brings me to my second reason, I have learned so much about my own style/brand/technique over the last few months, and it is a direct result of my "playtime" making these ATC's. The size makes them a comfortable format for trying new methods, and there is never any fear of messing up an expensive canvas. I have instant feedback when I post them to our group, and learn what works, and what shouldn't be done again. With a theme chosen for each month, by someone else, I am challenged to stretch my abilities and my interpretations to entirely new levels, things I never would have thought of myself.

So there you have it, my tiny little art! Speaking of tiny art and challenging myself as an artist, here is my Every Inchie Monday creation for the theme "Number".

Numbers and I don't get along very well, there doesn't seem to be a lot of room left in my brain after all the creative stuff. As a result, I have to spend an inordinate amount of time making sure they are correct, which SO goes against my nature. I work better if I keep my calculations down to a very simplistic method, hence the "counting apples" concept. The kiss is a reminder to "Keep It Simple, Stupid"!

I hope you have a wonderful day with friends and loved ones. Until next time...enjoy!

Outside My Comfort Zone...

When my daughter started designing her new living room, she took a walk on the wild side by going with an African theme. She surprised me by asking me to create a piece of art that would work in the room, but also had some personal imagery. This sort of request is way outside my comfort zone. More painting than collage, custom theme, not really cutesy...But I decided to give it a try.

I started with a 14"x18" canvas panel, and layered it with papers and ephemera. I found magazine photos of elephants and giraffe, a map of Africa, and a great line on cardstock called Safari Chic, by DCWV. I gave it all a really good coat of gel medium and used my brayer to smooth it out as best I could. The magazine pages gave me some real fits, right from the start and even after they were down flat as can be, when I started adding paint, they lifted right up again, and made bubbles, which I don't like, but have to live with...
I added washes of color, and used the brayer to added thicker, grungy layers of acrylic paint. Then painted the mountains and background, working my way forward to the tree.

My daughter is a redhead and became the warrior in the piece. She is very fond of her cat, so I made him a bit larger, more of a panther sized, to be a companion in her wanderings. I was pretty nervous about painting the two figures, so I created them on a scrap of paper first, using a sketch and watered down acrylics, then cut them out and collaged them to the painting. I left the foreground mostly untouched, so that more of the collage papers would show through. I can't seem to do anything about the wrinkles in the lower right corner, and I am trying to accept them as a "textural element"...

I added a coat of acrylic encaustic, which did help smooth the pieces out a bit, and blended the figures into the background, so they didn't seem so "cut and paste". So here it is, my finished mixed media canvas; "Forever Fierce". I hope she likes it...

This weeks Every Inchie Monday theme is "makeup", you can see the others in this challenge right here!

My First Inchie...

I have mentioned in previous posts that I am a member of an online Artist Trading Card Group, and that each month we choose a theme, and create three little pieces of art, 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" and trade them with each other. Well, as I was learning about ATCs I came across mentions of "Inchies", same concept, but only, I know this sounds crazy, 1" x 1"! Very tiny, very challenging! Soon after, I learned of this site...

They host a weekly challenge to create an inchie based on a list of words. You make your inchie, post it in their Flickr group and then share it on their blog page.

Challenge accepted!

This is my first ever inchie, theme word is "city"...

It is amazing how quick these are to make, yet how difficult they are to get your message, or theme across with one square inch to work with. I had a lot of fun making this, and will try to keep up with the challenge...until next time...enjoy!