Playing with Collage

 The last couple of days I have been playing with 2 cigar boxes, paints, gel medium and collage paper. 

I found myself engrossed with the techniques. I did not want to put it down to eat, sleep or anything. It was like I was possessed.

I was first drawn to this cigar box because of it's size. It is 9x11 so it felt like the size of a book. Then there was all the different textures. It still had the cigar labels on it which were embossed, there were cuts, torn paper, writing in pencil and the best of all....the grain in the wood. It all just seemed to pull me in. Some people would have said it is just a cigar box, right. But I saw it as a canvas with art already going on. 

I started with gel medium and glued all the pieces of paper down. Covered parts of it with gesso and left other parts as it was. I then took Titan Buff by Golden (the best paints ever) and put a light coat over the parts I wanted to see. You should have seen all the texture just popping out, which lead to many other colors of paints. There were golds, browns, greens, blues, and paint that had Iron Oxide in it. Some of these were new colors that I learned about in Julie Prichard's online class "Color: Beyond the Basics."  There was so much depth going on but I still used some modeling paste in areas that still needed texture. I also used wax and shoe polish. 

Well, believe or not after few days had gone by, I managed to put it down and started on another box. This is the picture of the 2nd box which ended up to be more of a collage. So where is my first box you ask? It is sitting on the sidelines waiting for hardware to come in the mail. But here is a section of it and color does not even show like it does in person.

In a couple of days I will post the outcome but the most important part of all of this was how engrossed and possessed I got doing this project.

                                     Wow, was that fun!

Featured on Redbubble.com

I am so excited to be featured on the Redbubble.com website. "My little princes" is being featured in the "Art and Stories made for Children" group. I love free publicity!

Redbubble.com has the highest quality of products I have ever seen. You can buy greeting cards, poster, framed art, t-shirts and more. If you have never visited the site you must go to see the wonderful artist and photographers. It has something for everyone. Christmas is coming and you might find a gift for someone there...visit Redbubble.com now!

It is a small world!

I can not believe how small this world is really getting thanks to the internet, blogs, and Facebook. I have taken a few class on the internet and found so many friends, then you see them on a blog you are following and now it seems I am finding them on Facebook. But here is the thing, so many of them know *my friends* as we are being inter-twined through our interest in the art world.  Take a look at my the blogs I am following and see who you know, it really is amazing.

I just finished another art piece from a class I have mentioned before, Suzi Blu - Les Petit Dolls.  If you have not visited her site, I highly recommend you check it out. There is a variety of classes and all of them are great. I am so hooked. I have dolls coming out of my ears now. As I get them done I put them aside for projects I can do at a later date. This is my latest project I just finished and I am sure there will be many more to come and will be selling them on Etsy soon. Hope you stop by to see them.

Autumn, Change of Seasons

I think I am catching on to this new technique I have learned. This is on wood, then painted, collage, then painted again, stamped, paint, glued, added buttons, waxed, and another coat of paint. So many layers....and much love put into it. This was another fun project. I have 2 more projects going and will post them as I get them done. The biggest problem is I ran out of wax!! Left one is the finished piece with the wax finish.

New Art Workshop

Class is Petit Dolls by Suzie Blu

1. We are learning how to draw dolls, petite style! Yes, I feel like I am young again and playing with paper dolls. We first learn how to draw the face, different looks and different actions or positions. Suzie critiques you as you go and the feed back is great. She explains the little tricks and gives you encouragement too. Shading and then coloring is the next step with color pencils.

So this is doll one. I have drawn quite a few dolls and they just keep getting better. But since this is my first one, I thought I would show the process that we are going to do in this class. My next step is to cut her out and decide on background colors.  Just to let you know, besides learning how to draw the dolls, we are going to collage for the background, paint and finally a wax coating.

2.  Here is the background for this doll.  It is on a wood board, then I used ink, old paper and scrap paper, then paint it very lightly with a cream color.
Since this doll is such a Diva, I decided to put a label at the bottom to let everyone know she is an Italian, cold as ice, Diva. There is also some text that is showing and the title is "Lady Grace's Mistake".  I am trying to build a story also.  But with the little bit that is showing it is up to you to use your imagination...what was Lady Grace's Mistake? Cold as Ice?

3.  Then I glued her on...what do you think so far? Stay tune for more!

4. The finished product! I put more paint, stamps, collage, stars, more paint and then wax over it all.  It looks so cool in person because of all the layers and the wax gives it such a nice finish.

Art and Soul Retreat

I just signed up for the "Art and Soul Retreat" for May 2010, that will be held in Hampton, Virgina. You might think this is crazy to sign up now but this retreat is huge. Some classes sell out in the first 24 hr after they post that registration is open. Well, registration is now open! It is so much fun and you learn so much and I think the best thing is that you are surrounded by other artist and crafters.  If you are interested this is what it is all about:

Art & Soul is a paper, fabric, jewelry and fiber arts art retreat taught by internationally recognized instructors. We are thrilled to bring such a wide variety of skills and artistic talent together for a 6th year!

Choose from dozens of mixed media workshops taught by internationally recognized instructors—designed to energize your creative spirit and reveal the secrets of your soul.

Work and play with a multitude of media—from thrift store finds to
tempered glass, vintage photos to polymer clay, beeswax to horsehair, fabrics to water colors and more….

Crackle, quilt, bead, chart, fold, mold, carve, paint, collage, weave, sew and more….
Create a tiara, a shrine, a journal, a vision, a necklace, a masterpiece, a pillow, a shadow box, a memory, a quest and more….

2010 Events

   Las Vegas !!    February 21-24, 2010
Registration is now open

Hampton, VA  -  May 20-24, 2010
Registration begins September 13, 2009

http://www.artandsoulretreat.com/

Check it out now....sign up now!!!

Free IMAGE download of a Lady

Happy Birthday Woodstock!
I was doodling around and came up with this sketch of a lady. Just sign up on my blog and leave a comment and I will email you a copy (9 images on 1 sheet, each image is 3 x 1.5 inch) for you to use. I am keeping the copyright, so you can use as long as you do not sell it.




http://sites.google.com/site/redfishartwork/

Truth is in the Dawn

I have been watching the TV show "True Blood" on HBO and this is what came out on to my altered book.

It started with putting masking tape down, then a layer of gesso. I am still working with crayon watercolors. I put down yellow as my first layer then I put red on the edges then mixed the color with water. Then I put brown down and was amazed how you could still see all colors. Made a skull transfer, collage the couple and painted them with "Marvy" brush markers. This was my first time using these markers and loved how it turned out, and used painters pens for the crows. The last step was using the distress ink along the edges of the page to create on aged look.

So this was a chance to experiment with two new products....I have really enjoyed it. I think I just need to slow down on the "True Blood" marathons!

Max says "Happy Birthday"

"Max wishes you Happy Birthday!"
I belong to another yahoo group "Paper Imagery Designs" .
This is a contest that is going on right now. You download the picture and alter it. They said it was Lori's birthday so I figured Max needed to wish her a happy birthday!

I started with my journal book. This is an old book that I altered for all my journals. I painted a light coat of gesso so the words could show through for the background. I cut the head out of the picture PID provided. I found the body, cake, balloons and hat in old magazines. I think think the head and body goes together nicely but I had to make copies on my printer in black and white and reduced the body and enlarged the head to match. I colored with crayolas, markers and ink. This type of art journaling is fun and fast. Who knows I might win the contest and get a prize!!

Fun with Tins

Since my Art and Soul Retreat, I have been playing around with tins. I have used spray paint, and "Sophisticated Finishes" which ages the tin to look antique. I have finished 2 tins so far and the 3rd should be done in a couple of days. Sophisticated finishes are so much fun. You can take a tourch and burn off any paint or paper that might be on the tin. Then all you do is put the finish on with a sponge or paint brush and watch it age right in front of you. There are different colors, gold, patina green bronze and blue. The 2 pictures I am showing now I used both brown and gold. I found a card, yes...I save all my cards that are given to me, that looks like my sister and me when we were small. I glued it on after the finishes were to my liking. I used distress ink to age the picture and put a a clear sealer on the can and picture. I added ribbon and lace and lined the inside with fun foam. I also added a latch so it will be easier to open. This was a fun project that is a present for my sister. A late birthday gift.

The next tin is more "Steampunk". It is aged but also has copper on top for a handle and nickle star washers for the steampunk look. I also lined the inside with foam and I use it to keep my change in for my purse. Everyone comments on it when I pull it out and that is when I tell them I am an artist. This is great way to start a conversation about art and give them a business card!!! Advertise yourself!! Promote, Promote!! I will be posting more tin on Etsy.com

Art Journal

I went to Art and Soul Retreat at the end of April and learned so much. I got home and organized my art area and put all my new goodies I bought. I wanted to create a project and notice I just don't have enough images, so I started searching on the internet. One thing led to another, images to blogs to magazines to the art stores to ebay. Ok, ebay was addicting! And that is a whole other story I will tell at another time.

I was reading a blog at collagedivatypepad/TrueNorth
which is a great blog for getting ideas to journal about. It was Signs and Serendipity. At the end there are suggestions on ideas and one of the ideas was to open a random book to a random page and be open to the message. Design a journal page about what you discovered. So I did just that, I opened a magazine and I found these words "The road ahead is merely a suggestion". This was a sign for what is going on in my life. Without using any pictures, I jumped in and did my first journal page.

To learn more on art journals go to www.TrueNorthArts.com