New Collage -- Ann Baldwin meets Michael de Meng

I thought it would be fun to document a collage. I have made a PhotoShow of my thought process (or lack thereof) and collage process. It was fun for me to see what I originally started out with and what I ended up with.

I dubbed it the "Ann Baldwin meets Michael de Meng" because I applied some ideas from both classes I recently took...... :)

Hope you enjoy! :)

Here is the final collage. You can click on the image to see more detail if you'd like! :)

Michael de Meng Class - Morpheus Box Part II

My art bud, Sherre, and I went to a Michael de Meng class on Saturday. We did the Morpheus Box Class. (See info and picures of my project on the post below) It was a wonderful time!!

===========

Michael is a very generous and gracious teacher! Very open and willing to let the students "go and do" on their own. At the same time he was completely available if anyone needed help or had any questions. He went over his painting techniques and shared recipes for some of his "signature" colors. He shared some tips and hints on embellishing our projects. He also offered a "Dremel 101 Overview" for those dremel virgins in the class.... Overall he was a great inspiration and a very fun person to be with! I would recommend any of his classes to anyone!!

=============

Most all of the projects were texturized with caulk. I decided to use Gel Medium to texturize mine instead..... (such the renegade). My embarrassing moment came when I blurted out to the class during our critiques that I was "caulk-less". Now, I don't think most people heard that "L"........so, there was a confused dead silence for about 2 seconds. After I clarified "C-A-U-L-K", harmony was restored. Heh heh heh.......

=============

Class projects!! Wowzers!! They were all fabulous!!!!!

Sherre's project is on the right. It is absolutely magnificent!! The textures and colors are wonderful! Check out better pics on her blog: Sherre's Art Zone

Sherre and Michael

Me and Michael

Do you think that I could get my insurance to cover plastic surgery for a "genetically induced double chin"?????

Michael de Meng Class - Morpheus Box Part I

My first PhotoShow!! :) Here is a quickie show of my project from the Michael de Meng class I took on Saturday!

We did a "Morpheus Box". A box with a turning piece inside where you can display 4 seperate images by turning the rod. Very cool!!
I'm not finished, but I thought I'd show you my progression through the project in class... I'll post more pics later and a description of the class!

Awesome Art Day!! Workshop with Ann Baldwin

Well, what a GREAT art day!!! On Saturday, 6 of us joined Ann Baldwin at her home studio for an all day workshop. It was a Layered Collage Workshop. "Layering, glazing, collaging, painting" :) I cannot recommend Ann enough as an instructor!! --- She is: Patient, Easy-Going, Lively, Gracious, Funny, Well Organized, Relaxed, Self-Confident, etc. etc! :) Did I mention that we LEARNED a lot, too??? :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We watched some demos, did some exercises (magazine collage and glazing) and then we were given the "freedom" to work through a final exercise of a painted collage. Ann was very helpful with guidance and feedback.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I really had a wonderful time!!

Here are some pics of our class and my final class exercise:

-----------

Left to right: Roberta, Sally, Jackie, Janene, Ann, Sherre, me!

Obviously entranced ..... (I had about 3 minutes to finish my final exercise when this shot was taken....do you see any panic???.....LOL!!!!!)

My final exercise. I'll give you a little self-critique if you make it to the end of this post! :)

Some close ups so you can see the different layers and textures. I REALLY LOVE the look of the glazing and layering!!!!!! Not to mention all of the textures (both visual and physical) that can be made a part of this type of work!! :)

Ok, now if you have made it this far..... I'll tell you what I think about my piece. The more I look at it , the more it disturbs me. I love the colors and I love the textures...... I really dislike the composition. Ann did make a comment that I "broke the composition rules".....but, she LIKED that about my piece! Part of me knows that I do like more "middle of the road" art and that this particular piece was really a huge step outside of my comfort zone. That is a REALLY GOOD THING!! But the piece makes me feel ....... like I have to move around it a lot. I cannot just stand in one place and look at it..... the 2 strong images opposite from each other give me too much to look at at the same time. Does that make sense....??? There is no "easy flow" from one side to another..... you have to look 2 places at once....that bugs me.

So, what to do?? I'm going to try to do 2 things..... 1. Leave this piece alone. 2. Try to "re-do" this piece with similar images and a different composition.

We'll see what happens....... stay tuned!! :)

Toodles for now!

2x2 inch Collage Challenge!!

I participated in a 2x2 inch canvas collage challenge. Let me tell you, 2x2 is SMALL!!!!!! LOL. I was rather intimidated by that tiny little white space! I stared for quite some time before getting started.......... then a few smears of watercolor and I was off!!!!!!!

++++++++++++++++

I really went layer crazy with little canvas. Started with magenta watercolor and smeared it over the canvas, added some blue and green metallic acrylic paints, (diluted with Matte Medium) Let dry. Dabbed and smooshed some Distress Crackle Paints over it. Let dry. Smeared on some Ranger Crackle Medium. Let dry. Added more crackle paints mixed with acrylic paints (greens, coppers, and blues). Let dry.

-----------------------------
Printed out woman image from Twisted Paper on my ink jet printer. Colorized with chalks. Tore out image. Sprayed with a generous layer of PYMII to protect the image and hold the chalk. Edged in copper acrylic paint. Let dry.

Glued image onto canvas with Matte Medium. After dry stamped Library Card image over the canvas (Ma Vinci Reliquary) with Sepia Archival Ink.

-----------------------------------

I glued the image onto the canvas as well as the copper German Scrap with Matte Medium. After that dried, I smeared more Ranger Crackle medium over most of canvas. Concentrated most coverage over the woman image. Waited overnight for that to dry completely.

-----------------------------------

Randomly stamped another Ma Vinci image (small text from the new "Fractured" plate) around the sides and up onto the front of the canvas with Ultramarine StazOn Ink. One more light coat of Matte Medium......and.........

VOILA!!!!!!

A couple of close-ups so you can see the texture and color........

Misc. Background Papers

Found a background paper in my stash that I forgot to share! :) Shame on me!!!

Also worked on some new Watercolor Texture backgrounds this week, and one "Kitchen Sink" background! :) :)

Below are some piccys of the papers. I took close ups (about 1/4 of the whole paper) so you can see the detail!

For "uber" detail, click on the photo!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is the background that I did a while ago. I mixed up some coffee grounds with diluted Matte Medium and smeared over a textured watercolor paper. After it dried, I rubbed off the excess "crumbs" and then sprayed the paper with Moon Shadow Mist (the walnut ink with a secondary shimmer color mixed in from Lindy's Stamping Gang)

======================================

Here are 3 Textured Watercolor backgrounds that I did. I did a "wet on wet" watercolor wash over the paper. After I got the colors spread out how I liked, I then covered part of the paper with saran wrap, wax paper, and bubble wrap. When using this technique with watercolors, you must wait until the paint has completely dried before pulling off the papers and wraps!

Purple, Blues, and Magenta:

This one was based off of a picture of an arched window. Yellows, Oranges, Ochre, and Sienna Brown:

Yellow and Purple:

=======================================

Here is my Kitchen Sink Background! LOL!!!! On watercolor paper: Smear diluted acrylic paints. Let Dry. Paint through stencils (punchinella) with Distress Crackle Paint and acrylic paints. Let Dry. Noodle brush some Lumiere Copper paint. Let Dry. Sponge and "smoosh" more Lumiere paint in Indigo and Metallic Green.

Voila!! Paper a la Kitchen Sink!

New Canvas Collage - Vineyard Goddess Dreams

I have been working on this canvas since last fall!! It is a 12x12 stretched canvas. I used distress inks as a base coat. I stamped grape leaves onto the background using acrylic paint. I sealed the piece with PYMII.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I then used the peeled paint technique with a very heavy coat of gree acrylic paint and revealed the leaves underneath. I washed over the piece with a very diluted coat of acrylic paint in a "bright" orangy color. I also highlighted the veins in the leaves with a Sakura gel pen (clear).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The woman image is from Twisted Papers. I modified her coloring on the computer, printed her out, sealed with PYMII, cut her out and glued her onto mat board.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I love this woman image and went through about 10 different compositions before I settled on this final version. She is distressed with gesso, washed over with the orange acrylic glaze and then edged with white acrylic paint.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The embellishments are the top of wine capsules. I distressed them with gesso, washed over them w/ the same "orangy" acrylic glaze and then highlighted again with white acrylic paint.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The wording around the piece is my own. I wrote it using a Sailor White Pen. (available at Outside the Margins!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm so HAPPY to be finished with this piece!! :)

==============

Close up of wine capsule embellishment:

Close up of texture detail:

Stamping Fun!! Made some cards!

A few weeks ago I had a "Stamping" date with my girlfriend! I have not stamped in a long time and we had a fantastic time!!! :) We had a lot of great laughs and I finally put together some cards from the images I stamped.

All of these images are from a "new stash" that I recently got from I Brake for Stamps! Fun images and Della (the owner) is fabulous! If you want terrific stamps and super customer service, give I Brake for Stamps a visit!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dyed paper towel and watercolor crayon backgrounds. Image stamped and embossed on patterned paper with rainbow dye ink.

Starburst stains on watercolor paper background. Bird image stamped over text paper.

Mica Powder/Grocery bag background. Image stamped and cut from patterned paper.

Image stamped on Asian text paper. Cool mesh/paint spot background paper was a gift. Isn't it awesome???

Alcohol ink background. Text image and face image overstamped on background.

Homemade color wash background on glossy paper. Image stamped and embossed on glossy paper. Colored with Distress inks and water brush.

Image stamped and embossed. Colored over image with Distress ink and water brush.

More Christmas Tags! :)

More Christmas tags! :) I'm having a lot of fun working with these small substrates! A nice way to put together a quickie collage!

------------------------------------

This is small laminate tag sample. The image is from Lisa's Altered Art. Isn't she darling?! :)

Stamped the tag with StazOn and glued on the red dots and "branches" in the corner.

A larger (3x5 inch) laminate tag sample. This is an "altered" tag that I primed w/ clear gesso and the washed w/ shimmery acrylic paint. Stamped musical score in Olive StazOn and then stamped snowflakes in glitter paint and glued on the dryer sheet background under the main image. Cut the prongs off of the snowflake brads and then glued them on, too! Image is from a seller on ebay. It is a vintage postcard image.



Another 3x5 laminate tag sample. Also clear gesso-ed and acrylic washed. Stamped flourishes in Blazing Red StazOn. Green "lace" on the bottom is some of my super cool cheapo Dollar Store paper lace. I colored with Peeled Paint Distress Ink. Gold skeleton leaves under main image (from Lisa's Altered Art). Wings edged with glitter glue and bow glued onto the corner.

Medium shipping tag crumpled and distressed with Distress Inks. Tattered Rose and Weathered Wood. Musical score stamped in Weathered Wood. Edged with some homemade paper and glued glittered button on the corner. Image is from Altered Pages.

Thanks for looking and ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAY SEASON!!!!

Anniversary 5x7 Flip Book Done! Yippie! :)

I finished my In-Law's Flip Book! As London would say "Yay, me!". (Do any of you have kids that watch The Suite Life of Zack and Cody???)

I wanted to have this ready for my IL's 50th Anniversary party in Sept. Ah, well, better late than never, I suppose! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I asked my MIL and FIL for their favorite colors, some of their favorite photos, and to provide 3 words that best described their spouse. I designed this 5x7 book for them using all of their information.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are 10 small flaps in the book. 2 Flaps have my IL's names, 5 of the flaps have the words they chose for each other (one word was common........therefore 5 instead of 6), the remaining 3 flaps have the names of their 3 sons. Good thing they had 3 kids! LOL!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Front: College photos of my IL's -- aren't they great?! :)
Note: If you cannot find a metal "A" in your stash, take your extra "V" and turn it upside down!







Top view:







Front view, open:






Ah, the kids! I'm sure my BIL's and my hubby will LOVE that I'm sharing these pics with you! LOL!!! Especially the bottom right....nice wig, Doug!







My "family shot" pull out page. Top pic is in Japan around 1968 or so, middle pic is on my wedding day in 1988, and the bottom pic is at the 50th Anniversary party this last Sept, 2007.
On the very back page I placed a photo taken of all of the grandkids at the Anniversary party. You can't see it, but on the inside front page I have my IL's wedding photo dated 1957. The back page has the date w/ the grandkids 2007.


REMEMBER, TO SEE THE AWESOME TUTORIAL FOR THESE WONDERFUL (AND EASY TO MAKE) BOOKS, SEE:
LISA SOMERVILLE'S BLOG:
http://lisasomerville.blogspot.com/2007/08/4-x-4-bind-it-all-flip-book-tutorial.html

2 Christmas Flipbooks......

I finished 2 Christmas Flipbooks for my son's teachers this weekend! Woo Hoo! I'm leaving these blank so they can use as a quickie Christmas album or......???

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I purchased a large pad of Christmas papers from Joann's and we have all been having fun making some Christmas projects with them.
_______________

For the pattern to this awesome little book, see Lisa Somerville's blog/tutorial here:
http://lisasomerville.blogspot.com/2007/08/4-x-4-bind-it-all-flip-book-tutorial.html



Christmas Flipbook 1:





Christmas Flipbook 2: