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It was very important to me to write the previous post acknowledging and thanking my friends, BUT it took me all evening to complete (scans, uploads, heartfelt wording, etc.) and I need to get back to finishing the several "end of the month" projects that have deadlines tomorrow. I am running behind---again. I have one little ATC (more magazine/gesso technique to add to my FACES series) to upload tonight and I will have more pix tomorrow.
I have been the lucky recipient of some really awesome stuff this past week. Let me do some "show & tell" and say thank you to all of the generous artista's that have sent these gifts, RAKS, swaps and prizes to me!! I will personally e-mail each of you later...just in case you miss this post.
1. I received the most amazing package of hand made papers from Kathy Wasilewski. I was the lucky winner of her 4th Freebie Friday drawing!! It was very generous of Kathy to hold these drawings and I really consider myself fortunate to have won this fabulous assortment. Here is a pix---but believe me it is way better in person!!! Thank you very much Kathy.
2. I also received a fabulous ATC from my art/blog friend Belinda Schneider in Luxembourg. I read her blog "Bel's Nook" all the time. She is very talented and she does these absolutely incredible backgrounds---painted, layered, stamped, layered some more etc.. I kept pestering her for a private tutorial and she pointed me to several older posts on her blog with descriptions of her technique. I am the kind of person who needs to see to understand so I was not quite getting the technique and I kept being a pest with a zillion questions. In response to all of my queries and whining, Belinda generously sent me a lovely ATC RAK !!! Now that I have this little beauty in my hands I can see exactly what she does and I will try to create some of my own---at least my own interpretaion of the Belinda Schneider technique!! I will post my results after I do some experimentation. Here is a pix of her ATC. Thank you Belinda. I appreciate your "Random Act of Kindness".
3. I won another prize!!! Are you jealous yet??? My friend Fran Saperstein
(check out her blog "artsyfran") holds "Manic Monday" drawings on her blog. In honor of producing her own glorious vintage collage sheets (available in her etsy shop) she offered a set as the prize for Manic Monday and I WON!!!! Lucky me!! Not only did he send me the collage sheets, she also sent some really fun goodies to use in my art. I so appreciate your generosity Fran and I just love your collage sheets!! For those of you who don't know the story of how I met Fran, here is a short version!!! Last year at Art Unraveled in Phoenix I took a class where the instructions were not too clear and as a complete novice I understood nothing other than I probably needed to invest in about $300 worth of tools/equipment to be able to be able to recreate the project at home. I was about to leave (knowing that I absolutely didn't need to learn and invest in a new and expensive art process) when Fran who was also in the class stopped me, offered to share her tools and knowledge and friendship. It turned out to be one of the best classes I took at AU!!! She told me what I really needed to buy to get started (introducing me to Harbor Freight!!) and showed me step-by-step how to do the project. You ar wonderful Fran---and I am very greatful that I met you! Here are pix of her collage sheets. They are wonderful images and the quality is great! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
4. And still more....today I received a charm from the talented Angie Haviland (check out her blog "Angie's Art & Full Life"). I have been in several Charm Swaps this past couple of months, but none of them included Angie as a participant. Who knew there were so many Charm Swaps happening?? I read her blog often and saw a pix of the charms she had made for the swap she is paritcipating in. I loved her charms and knew that I had to have one!!! So I commented on her blog and suggested a one on one swap. Today I received this beautiful work of art from Angie to add to my growing charm collection. It is even more beautiful in person than on her blog!!! I have a confession to make---I have not sent Angie my charm in return yet. Doing so is on my lengthy TO DO list Angie. I will try to get it in the mail tomorrow. She also sent me some pretty fibers in the package. What a treat! Here is a pix of her charm.
5. And lastly...a very, very belated acknowledgment to my friend Heather Bluhm.
I have thanked her personally but I have not sent my trade back to her yet (sorry Heather---I'm just a bit behind as usual). She sent me notecards made using her fabulous art, a sample of her flickr Moo Cards, and several wonderful 1X1 mini collages. The 1x1's included the Frida one that I requested from her when we first started making these mini masterpieces. Here's the pix. And thanks again Heather!!!
I forgot to mention that all of my backgrounds for these 13 pages were made out of a large piece of Red Rosin Paper (which can be found at your local Menards, Home Depot, Loews, etc.). I always use a piece of the rosin paper as a surface protector under my artwork. It also becomes my paint and glue palette. It is quite water resistant and stands up to great abuse. I always scrape around any extra paint, medium, glue, etc. with a credit card as I work on a project. The rosin paper eventually becomes a masterpiece itself and I use it in a multitude of projects!!! One of the rules for the Lynne Perrella swap Style Series Fatbook was that the back of the pages could not be plain. They didn't have to be fancy---just not plain, so I used more of the painted rosin paper for the backsides. I did not collage the backsides, but they turned out fun anyway. Here are a few pix!
These are the pieces that I created for a "Lynne Perrella Style Series Fatbook Page Swap" that is being hosted on the Altered Art Obsessions Yahoo Group. I hope all of you like my interpretation of her style. I am very pleased with the way they turned out.
Snow, snow and more snow this weekend. Will winter never be over??? I guess that it was OK that I was stuck in the house (my own choice---I hate driving in the snow)---it gave me an opportunity/excuse to stay in my nightgown all day and do art!!! Will post pix later.
I had the best time on Friday!! My son Dan took me out to lunch---we had Sushi (Spicy Tuna Rolls my fav!!) and after lunch he treated us both to a manicure! He was unhappy about how raggedy my nails and cuticles looked (par for the course in the winter and when I am doing a lot of art). I am posting this pix of my fresh manicure before it gets ruined by paint, gel medium, glue, etc.. Not a great picture---kind of fuzzy! It's not always easy to photograph your own hand!!!
This is the finished product from class I recently taught on 1X1 Mini Collage. The class included creating background papers, collaging the mini masterpieces and then mounting them in a hand bound Flag Book. It was a very fun class---it seems like almost EVERYBODY that I introduce to these mini wonders loves to create them!!!
More 1X1's??? These were created for the True Colors 1X1 Swap on the Altered Art Obsession's Yahoo Group.
Well, I'm at it again....more new 1X1's!! These 20 are for an "Inchies" swap on the Chubbyville Yahoo group. I'm hooked again! Think I only created 20???? More to post later!!
I created a few new ATC's for a swap hosted by Belinda Spiwak of the the Altered Art Techniques Yahoo group using techniques from the new Bernie Berlin Artist Trading Cards Workshop: Create, Collect, Swap book. The technique I used for these two ATC's is her Magazine/Gesso technique. These are probably not the finest example of my art work (I am highly critical of any of my art that has my own hand drawing, scribbles, doodles or handwriting in it), but I had a fun time and YES, I was "out of my box"!!!
I seem to always be running behind in life and playing catch up. I have been trying to find ways to keep on track but so far none have worked for me. I realized recently that one of the things that eats up most of my time is the internet, so I have tried to spend less time online. Did that work.....NO. I'm still behind in the rest of my life and now I'm behind in cyberspace as well! I owe a zillion (maybe not quite a zillion!) email replies, I need to post comments on many of the fabulous blogs I read, I need to update my own blog, I need to mail out some things that I promised to mail and haven't yet and I owe several really big thank yous to friends who have done nice things for me. So.....if you have e-mailed me or snail mailed me recently or called me on the phone in real life and you haven't received a reply, please accept my apology and hang in there with me---you will hear from me soon!
Oprahs show this morning is about decluttering your home and getting rid of stuff. The guest just said that the "stuff takes over and it robs you". Uh-oh, is this show about me???
Blogger has finally perfected their new version and it is no longer in Beta test mode. This means that I was able to switch over without losing any of my old blog details!! Hooray! I also spent time deleting "spam" comments (had lots of these lately). Because of all of the recent spam, I have decided to enable the comment moderation function. Sorry to put you through the trouble of having to verify your comments, but I am tired of the spam.
Mosaic In Orange (my favorite color)
Originally uploaded by luvs2create2.
It's too cold to go outside today so I decided it was a perfect day to create art!! This technique is one that I learned in a class last summer at Art Unraveled in Phoenix, AZ taught by Gail Rusakkov. I have made several pieces similar to this one. The other are 12x12 and this one is 8x8. Thinking about trying to sell this one or at least exhibit it. One of my 2007 goals is to sell some of my artwork. I guess I really need to think about it a little bit more. Hope you like it!
