Play all the Time

Alcohol Ink

My book, Texture Effects for Rubber Stamping, is now thirteen years old this week.  In the art/craft word it would be considered a dinosaur.  We'll take that one step farther and say that I am a dinosaur, too.  I've been traveling, teaching and reinventing myself for over twenty years.  It's hard to believe it's been that long, but it becomes easier when you are contacted by the teen-age daughter of one of your early students.  Molly  found the book in her mother's craft room and proceeded to work through it, but had some questions.  Some of the inks used in it are now gone, but she had scavenged the net to find some. My favorite King James glossy paper was what brought her to me.  I answered her question about what could be substituted and she asked about ten more.  She was totally enthralled with cardmaking and was a little miffed when I said I didn't do it as regularly as I used to.  I enjoyed the back and forth, but especially liked her probing questions because they got me thinking.  She'd mentioned her favorite techniques in the book and what a variety of effects she found she could get and some other interesting discoveries. She said she thought it was still very relevant.  Well, she actually said "on trend,"but I paraphrased that because I've never thought of my art as being trendy.  

I haven't heard from Molly lately, but our conversations got me thinking about how many of those old techniques I'm still using today with different media and different substrates.Whether it's ink or paint application oddities, substrate choice oddities,  or my infatuation with exploiting negative space, I still use over seventy-five per cent of the book's techniques day in and day out.  And yes, I've added quite a few more in the last seventeen years.  I dole them out liberally when I teach, which is not as often as before because of the whole dinosaur thing mentioned above.

CitraSolv & India Ink

What has changed is that I am finally taking my own advice.  During the heyday of my book, I signed quite a few copies.  I signed "Play all the time" on every one of them because I felt the most freedom when I just sat down and played, rather than looking for that "second coming" outcome.  That's how I approached my art for a long time until deadlines started dictating my pace and other commitments came my way.  My studio time became more purposeful and less about the journey.  Beginning last fall I made a concerted effort to leave time to explore new techniques/mediums, immerse in past favorites, and to just "be" in my studio and I'm a lot happier with my output.  I don't blog as frequently but I do a ton of social media uploading, especially on Instagram @nancycurryart.  It's a great world to step into if you haven't.  No politics, opinions, hoopla....just a moment in time photos or videos.  I do use the My Story a lot to show techniques in real time.  I cross post some to both my Facebook accounts so don't think you won't see the art there, too, but I'm consistent with Instagram.  It also take me a while to get my new art on my gallery.  I am doing so many pieces that are color or media studies that I get backlogged really fast.

Alcohol Ink & Oil Marbling

 

White latex & acrylic pour

I don't know what the next twelve months will hold for me, but I'm sure it will be a combination of new and old.  I'm still fascinated by the unpredictability of acrylic pouring and all the different ways to do it.  It does take a lot of space and time so I doubt I will do it day in and day out, but it will be interspersed with my other offerings. 


I am hoping soon to add resin coatings to my repertoire. That involves a learning curve for technique and safety so we'll see how long it takes this dino. 


I'll continue to work with CitraSolv and varying my choice of media. I love the intuitive challenge that these paper provide.  It's also been my most popular class for the last four years running.  I've got to keep my skill set up.  The piece below I did this summer for a blog entry for Rubbermoon.  I had a blast melding old and new techniques on the one piece.  And yes, the whimsy.  I'm all about the whimsy. 

I hope this catches everyone up on what's going on in my world.  If you're new to my art and want to see where everything is, go here.  All my links are there to social media, Etsy, StencilGirl and Rubbermoon.  Thanks for stopping by. 

 

CitraSolv & White Ink

Wishes and Gratitude

I've been reading all the posts of thankfulness on the internet all month.  I really do love to read what's important to everyone...the big things, the little things, the funny things.  It makes me think more about my life and what I have versus what I don't have.  We've had a rocky fall in our household, so rocky, that at times it has been overwhelming.  We are so lucky to have each other, though,  and that realization is what came through when I was putting together the composition of this piece. As many of you know, my daughter, Sam, and husband, Jim, mean everything to me.  Long story short, Jim was my best friend for years before we ended up together after graduate school and Sam came along to complete our family after many long years of infertility.  We've always lived far from family so we became our own insulated trio from the get go.  The three of us share a huge love of music, which is why the house is made of sheet music.  The pumpkins signify the bounty of fall this week before Thanksgiving, our family bounty in the good times and bad,  and all the trips we made to the pumpkin patches in the various cities we lived in while she was growing up.  I believe the mobile with stars was really meant to be a baby card image but to me is a reminder of how long I wished on stars before Sam became part of our family and then wished many things for her when she was here in our nursery.  In fact, I am still wishing all of the time.  I actually did this piece because of the tree.  One of my favorite family moments occurred two years ago when there was a Chinese exhibit at the Botanical Garden here in St. Louis.  There was a wishing tree that you could tie a red ribbon on and make a wish on.  We all three made wishes and Jim shot some pictures of us.  One of them is my facebook status picture right now.  It was a simply wonderful day. I revisit it a lot and am thankful that there are days like that.  I have wonderful friends, a sister I couldn't live without, and extended family that I've been happy to see a lot of this fall.  My blessings are many. 

Now for the Rubbermoon art!!!!!  I knew I wanted to do a piece primarily in black and white, but I am not a scenic stamper at all so I had to put on my thinking cap for a while.  While I was getting my ideas together, I chose two pieces of cut canvas from Linnie Blooms and brush painted them black and and red.  while waiting for them to dry, I found a piece of 6" x6" matte coated paper and chose some stamps that I wanted in the composition.

I am not an expert in scenic stamping by any means, but decided to wholeheartedly delve in.  I began with the wishing tree (DB4263) and  tall pumpkin (GE2818) to form the bottom of the scene.  You'll see later on I decided to cover up one of the pumpkins.  I added the star mobile (DB4898H) and dk crescent (KP5108B) to finish off the sky.  For good measure, I added some of my own drawn stars.  Just because I could.  All black stamping was done with StazOn and drawing with a thin Sharpie.  (I would tempt you with the last two, but my tired eyes had trouble finding them on the site to provide a link.)  They are available for order.

 I nestled the house among the pumpkins and added the heart as a faux chimney.  Both were affixed with heavy double-sided tape. 

I needed a few finishing touches before mounting to make this scene come more alive.  I chose my own stamps, "joy" and "hope",  to add some words representing my wishes. I don't have a "thanks" so I hand-lettered that vertically to match.   I chose the Music notes on black (GE2737)to create a design on the house.  I used white paint brushed on to the stamp and loved the texture it brought to the front of the house.  Stampwise, I finally added my "love" stamp to the heart.

To add more color, I used Golden Fluid Acrylic bronze to fill in the moon and stars.  I then added bronze nailheads to the black stars and near the ribbons connected to the words. A row of nailheads completed the roof as well.

To finish the piece, I cut a 6 1/4" x 6 1/4" piece of red paper to use as a mat and attached both to an 8" x 8" canvas panel with heavy double-sided tape.

HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING!

Wonderment

Wonderment.  I love that word and knew I had to attach myself to it on my first plate of stamps.  I love it because of the level of emotion describes.  I love it because it is rarely used anymore in this form.  I love it because that feeling of admiration and amazement is such a joyous feeling. And finally, I love it when you just happen upon it...yes, happenstance (another favorite word).

I often look at art with wonderment.  Mostly other people's, but every once in a while I look at something I've done and it takes my breath away.  Not necessarily because it's the best thing I've ever done, but because of the journey I've been on that I never expected to begin.  People's creativity does give me pause.  Ideas that I would never have in a million years or in a million years would never be able to execute just take me to another place totally.  So, not a surprise that art would cause wonderment, but I've spent some time thinking about what else does.

• trees...really any.  I am fascinated by their lines, their history, their everything
• old couples holding hands....I'd love to know their story
• "anticipation" during the month of December.  This covers everything from lights, to traditions, to family time, to a service on the 24th.  
• the ocean....I could sit next to it or be on it for quite some time without getting bored.  It's another place where I tend to lose myself in my thoughts.
• Sam.  best thing I ever did.  I think Jim would agree.  Those who know me well know the backstory.  It isn't pretty.
• time.  memories. moments.  

That's just my short list.  I am sure there are more.  What causes you to feel that crescendo of wonderment? Oh, and be sure to check out my spot on RubberMoon's blog from last week.  Enjoy!!!!

November 2 Classes in St. Louis

I cannot believe it is already almost mid-October.  I've been in and out of the area dealing with family stuff and teaching in the western side of the state.  I've got some other irons in the fire that will keep me busy for the rest of the year, but I'll be teaching the last classes for the year on November 2 at For Keeps Sake in the metro St. Louis area. For those that haven't been to FKS in a while, they have really added many new products and classes that appeal to people wanting to experiment in different mediums with different tools.  You should check it out if you are in the area. 

My classes in November include one new one and one favorite.  I will teach Gesso Illusions in the morning ( 10:00-12:30 PM )which will feature a varied exploration of what gesso can do for you in your art. The piece of art above is one example from this class.  The second class, Tattered and Torn (1:30-4 PM) is one of my favorites especially since I'll be including some shaving cream marbling...always a crowd favorite.
 

In the meantime I'll be working on my second plate of stamps, some text, some images and some other interesting things coming up.  Oh, and Citrasolv.....I am still in love! 

Caprice

I had a wonderful weekend in Shawnee, KS at Stamper's Ink.  It hasn't been often in my sixteen years of travel that I've felt totally comfortable on my first visit to the store, but that was certainly the case there.  I had a wonderful turnout for a Friday afternoon demo and three full classes.  In this day and age of less disposable income, it was so nice that people came out to my classes and to support the store.

It was also the perfect weekend as my stamp line was introduced at the demo and in all my classes.  It was so fun watching everyone enjoy the words.  I posted a lot of their art on my Nancy Curry Art page on facebook.  There work was quite good and as always, unique, since my favorite classes are outcomes that are different every time.  Oh, and stop by and LIKE my page to stay on top of the latest meanderings.

So now that I have decompressed somewhat and unpacked mostly from the trip, I have to admit that I had to play today with some Citra Solv and National Geographics.  I've been fascinated with the ink manipulation process for awhile, but never made time to explore.  Well, today I did and I was very pleased with the results.  I'll share a few next time! 

Off the Beaten Path

I leave for Stampaway tomorrow morning but wanted to get some thoughts out before I head out of town.  I am so excited to be teaching my Tattered and Torn class on Friday.  I love to put together assymetrical designs and the happenstance of the coloration techniques for the papers.  I hope everyone enjoys it.  I am also tickled to be teaching at Simply Said on Saturday morning before heading back to St. Louis.  I love to work with USArtQuest's Studio Cloth so the class will be a fun one for me as well.  What else will be fun in Cincy?  Well, that would be Graeter's and my usual trip to Jungle Jim's, the potato bar at the preview party on Friday night, and the company of my friends.I've been frantically trying to finish a new painting to take to Cincy and I am happy to say that I did finish it this morning.  "Off the Beaten Path"  seemed to be an apt name for it since it was quite a wonky piece throughout.  Though not a real tutorial, I will put some pictures up of the layers like the last one so the process can be understood.  It still amazes me how each layer adds interest and builds into the final surface layer.

I am very happy with the outcome and even happier to debut my new line of stamps on it.  It's one of the first chances I've had to really play around with them.  They still make me smile.  They are available unmounted or mounted in my Etsy Shop.  Have a great weekend everyone!!!!

Fusion

April has come in with a bang. I spent two wonderful days away in the suburbs of Kansas City last week. It was the perfect small getaway trip to head to Excelsior Springs for Art & Soul. I was happy to be in the company of several of my collage club buddies and met some super people in my two classes. I took two classes from Jane Davies and both were terrific. Collage on the Grid was a short class on Wednesday night that helped us focus on creating in series with limited papers and shapes. Fabric-Paper Collage was all day Thursday. We created several different kinds of papers and melded them with fabric into a finished piece. Mine needs some stitching to finish it and then I'll post. However, I did try another one pictured above in an altered book that I shared with my collage club. I would not hesitate to recommend Jane as a teacher. She does online classes as well and has books and DVDs out. I am looking forward to next year's return visit to Art &Soul.
I must mention for those in the Kansas City area that I did some visiting before I went to Excelsior Springs. I began with a stop at Paper Source which was filled to the brim with large handmade and commercially made sheets of paper, more artsy note pads than should be in one store, and all sorts of specialty gift items. Coming from a needlework background, I also stopped at Two the Point in Overland Park and enjoyed my journey through their fibers and many needlepoint and cross stitch patterns. It was a marvelous stop but I was able to just browse. Finally, I met with the owner of Stamper's Ink in Shawnee, Tanya, and received a tour of their store, their huge classroom and got a feel for the clientele. We have a great weekend planned for September. I can't wait to return.
Concurrently, we have welcomed two babies into our family within 48 hours of each other. I am a great aunt to two new nephews, David Samuel Pretz and Elliott Scotland Pretz. Both are healthy and thriving and I can't wait to see them when I head to PA in a couple of weeks. There's nothing like new babies to bring joy into your family. On our homefront, I am continuing to look into adding another standard poodle into our family this summer....a different kind of baby, but the only kind I'm adding these days. Tucker misses his buddy and we miss having the two and their camaraderie. We'll keep you posted on the progress.He's only a little spoiled!

I have planned my next few months of classes so I will share the list here. Keep checking back for more info. It's a fluid schedule.
UPCOMING CLASSES:
New Art Legacies, IL Friday, April 12 1:00-4:00 pm Snippets: A Studio Cloth Introduction
For Keeps Sake, MO Saturday June 1 10:30-1:30 It's In the Cards: Mixed Media ATCS
Simply Said Rubber Stamps OH Friday and Sat June 21-22 times TBA It's in the Cards: Mixed Media ATCs, Snippets, Kaleidoscope
Stampaway OH Friday, August 9 8:30-11:00 am Tattered and Torn
Stamper's Ink, KS September 13-14 times TBA Resist, Kaleidoscope, Sheer Fusion