Tidbits

Well, it's almost mid March and hopefully the worst of winter is behind us.  I am sure I am not the only one who is ready.  I finished two new plates of stamps this week that I can't wait to use in the studio.  These include my first imagery that will work well to support the words and phrases that I included this go around.  I call the images, tidbits, since they are on the small side as most of my art is.  More to follow on them and the availability when I get the demo sets back.  I am just a wee bit excited.  The rest of March will be a blur.  Lots of artful gatherings here and one I am attending in a suburb of Kansas City with a group from my Collage Club. I am excited to be returning to Art & Soul for a couple of days and even more excited about doing a demo at Stamper's Ink on the 21st.  I then return home to finish off the month here.



Today I worked on an altered book spread for a collaboration in my club.  The theme of this month's book was zentangle art and I am the thirteenth one to work in it.  I seem to be Moon-obsessed since I chose the sun/moon bookends as my inspiration for my the alteration.  I began by gessoing the text on the right side (2 thin coats).  I decided to work the theme with a black stabilo pencil and Pitt Pen so I could have finite lines and ones that could be variegated.  There are several layers of Stabilo, applied wet and dry.  When the detailing was finished I applied one more layer of wet stabilo to the perimeter and watered it down enough to blur the edges with pools of gray.  I also used more stabilo in the interior to create shadows in the emptier white areas.  I am pleased with the result of my explorations and would definitely work this way again.

UPCOMING CLASSES:

March 21:                Stamper's Ink:    FREE DEMO   11:30 AM
April 11-12:             Stamper's Ink:    Three classes.  For samples and descriptions click here.
April 26:                  For Keeps Sake: Transformations  10:00 AM- 1 PM

Circle of Life

I've been working for a few days on an altered book spread for my collage group and was really excited when the gal chose an engagement calendar for us to alter.  Hers is a 2011 Kelly Rae Roberts calendar that lends itself to these changes very well.  I had the calendar for two months but took the month of November.  Bev loves quotations and words so I kept to her instructions and used some of my own stamps as well as others I have accumulated over the last 17 years.  This is one spread from the month.  The left page is a Citrasolv manipulated piece that I added black and bronze Golden fluid acrylic to with the new Red Rubber Palette from RubberMoon. The right page is folded and the skins from my studio provide an interesting center to the triangle shape.  The page behind that is cut to provide more avenues to see underneath.  Yes, I still love layers. 

SO.........................


I participated in an altered calendar exchange for 8 years and haven't taken them out for a few years to look at.  I thought I would revisit some pages online during January and early February.  . In these round robins we always started the month of January with our book so these will all be pages from my calendars.  ENJOY.....................  Today's snippets will be from 2005 and 2007. 



Our focus until a year ago was gymnastics during the winter.  17 years of focusing that way.  It's fun to look back.  My calendars always included season info, interspersed with the art.  My calendars were always viewed as my playtime so I often did work that had nothing to do with what I was doing in my studio at the time.  They were a great respite for me. 

Late in 2006 and the  year 2007 brought many changes as we were transferred from Cincinnati to St. Louis, but chose to stay in Ohio until Sam was done 8th grade.  Jim lived in St. Louis and commuted on the weekends.  The sale of our house was endless and all I thought of was the move.  What a year! 

It's so funny to look back and see what was trending.  My best friend, Charla, had just sent me my first taste of toasted almond coffee beans.  I can still remember how yummy the coffee was.  We were also excited to be taking a 12 day cruise in the Mediterranean with the same friends that summer.  It was a fantastic trip as well. 

That's all for this week everyone.  Stay tuned for some more ruminations throughout the month of January.