Angel in Marble

This is my first attempt at making a transfer from freezer paper. The image on the left is a transfer. The image on the right is a photocopy. This spread is not finished yet. I have not been successful in transfering from freezer paper directly to these pages which are coated with gesso/acrylic. So I transferred to a piece of copy paper and glued it in. I'm going to continue trying different transfers until I find one that will transfer to the gesso surface. These beautiful images are compliments of Above the Mark. They have a great website with lots of ideas and some fun products.

acrylic transfer

Okay, this seemed to work. Substrate is cardstock painted over with acrylic/gesso. I cut out the angel image and smoothed a little acrylic fluid matte medium on it and on the substrate. I placed the image face down, covered it over with wax paper and left it to dry. When dry, I spritzed the back of the image and rubbed all the paper off leaving this transfer.

Birds Everywhere

We do have birds everywhere on our patio. I have my 8 budgies in a cage, Mike has his "Linnies" in one cage and his Bourke parakeets and cockatiel in the top of another cage. In the bottom of that cage are Mr. and Mrs. Flip who are currently taking care of their newly hatched 4 babies. They are red rump parakeets -- Mr. Flip is so beautiful. So this page is an homage to our bird family.

I haven't posted for a few days so I'm posting several entries here from my journal. I have been experimenting for the fat book for our group and not getting the results I would like, so I just make journal pages to rid myself of my impatience and anxiety. I need to make 116 4x4 pages. I've never done this before, but I wanted to push myself to work on a challenge with a deadline instead of just making "pretty" stuff when I feel like it. This one is "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries".

Free Flight

This was a journal entry. I took a piece of map, played with it in Picture It (I still default to this software, but I am learning Photoshop) -- made it a negative and a sepia and used for background. Tan tissue paper over it, rub-on alphabet, punched butterflies and flowers.

Lazy Days

Summer is here in all her finery. The yard is looking great, the birds are happy. The red rump parakeets have given us four eggs in their nesting box. We shall see what emerges. This is our first breeding of birds. Dh breeds leopard geckos with ease. I love watching my budgies. They are little chatterboxes and clowns. All of our birds are a nice addition to the garden. This is my favorite time of year for the weather. The marine layer has left us and the sun shines bright all day long. Average high is in the mid-70's. So I can open all the windows and let the ocean breezes blow in. I have been busy visiting so many blogs. Each time I visit a blog, I click on the links they have posted. It makes for a good day looking at so much diverse art. Wow, the talent just blows me away. There's fabric art, assemblage art, paper art, jewelry, glass art and much more. It's a veritable feast for the eyes. And then there are the photos of people's travels. I can go to Greece or Italy or wherever without ever leaving my chair and computer. Thanks everyone for sharing and making my lazy days so interesting.

Missy 2

My second little woman - this one is a 12 x 12 canvas and has lots of collaged papers as a background. I again am using the style of DJ and Kelly Rae.The scanner could not capture all of the painting and as such I had to play with the contrast a bit and part of the background is missing.

A rose is a rose is a rose...

Some fun with Photoshop. I am so excited I have found on-line computer classes at lynda.com. So I have signed up and have started the Photoshop Elements 5 class. I have learned so much in just the first few exercises. These first exercises are really just about how to navigate in Photoshop. I haven't gotten to the fun artsy stuff yet. I like this site though because for $25/month I can take as many classes as I wish and I can go at my own speed. I think I found this link on someone's blog - but can't remember whose. I've been on so many blogs in the past week or so and every time I go to a new blog, I look at all their links. I call it "Lost in Blog Heaven". I have to be a little careful or I don't get any art done. I actually did this rose photo before I started the class, but by the time I finish the class, who knows -- this rose could be made to look like something from outer space.

Missy

I've seen several spreads of Kelly Rae Roberts and D.J. Pettit in Cloth Paper Scissors and Somerset Studio. I love these winsome looking women. So I had to try for myself. This one I did on cardstock and gave to a friend for her birthday. I'm doing another on canvas with more collage. I did learn that my Micron pen is not waterproof. After all the work, I wanted to paint a coat of matte medium over it and eeeek, her eyes started to "cry". I was able to quickly fix it, but that's a lesson learned. I have a difficult time with faces, so I was happy with this one.

Gratitude

Five things I'm grateful for:

1. Family and friends including DH

2. Living in Southern California (beautiful weather)

3. Another day to play with art or do just what i want

4. Music, dance, visual art

5. My four-legged children Lotus and Ollie

6. Okay, it was only supposed to be 5, but I have to show my gratitude for the internet. What would all of us be doing now if we did not have it? I would miss all the other blogs with all the great art from all the talented people. Oh, and I would actually have to go into stores instead of ordering on-line. Not to mention that if I wonder about any little thing, I can research on the internet. Thank you to the man or people who put this internet thing together!!!!!

Everyday Art

Playing with inks.