Large Formica Tag #7 - Trick or Treat

These little Zetti girls are so darling. They are taking a break from their witching lessons.

Large Formica Tag #6 - Hocus Pocus

These bat images were very appealing. Especially the woman. She looks as if she is off to the bat ball. I have a bat house and have always been fascinated by them. Can you imagine eating your weight in bugs?

Large Formica Tag # 5 - boo

Another large Formica tag. Stamped in black with a tree stamp. Then the image was applied, and altered with a Halloween feel. I love their owl.

Large Formica Tag #4 - Couple

Believe it or not I actually made it into the art room today. Yeah for me! I thought I should start small and build up to something larger and more time consuming. I am still trying to get these tags done. I am not sure if I will make my deadline, but I am trying. This scary couple says it all. No explanation needed.

Antique Color Wheel Images

Every artist who uses colors at some time or another has used a color wheel. It is one of the first things they make you make in any principles of art class. One of my sons is taking such a class and this week made a color wheel. That of course lead him to the internet to do some "research". He found some of these and I went further and found some more. All of these are copyright free and use them as you want. This is a web site that you can down load a bunch of different types of color wheel's to keep handy in your studio from Tigercolor. Enjoy!

This is Boutet's color wheel from 1708.This is Moses Harris's color wheel from 1766.This is Ignaz Schiffermuller's color wheel 1775.This is Goethe's color wheel from 1810.
This is Wilhelm von Bezold's ferbentafel from 1874.
This is the Colorist's from 1908.

Quote

"All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites."
Marc Chagall

Fabric Paper

This is some of the fabric paper I am making. I start with attaching wax paper or freezer paper to a piece of cardboard with painters tape. Then a piece of muslin is attached with tape to the piece of card board. This makes it easier to apply the glue and to move around. After you have done this get the cheapest white glue you can find. A sponge brush and some images, paper scraps, tissue paper, fabric scraps, etc.. Basically all your leftovers you can't bear to throw out.


You are now going to act fast with out thinking a whole lot. Apply glue to muslin then start adhering paper scraps and fabric scraps. Add another layer of glue over this, then lay down some tissue paper. I love dress pattern tissue so I used that, but there is all sorts of tissue, colored and patterned that work perfectly.


This technique can be used with fabric and just colored tissue paper to make incredible backgrounds. You can make several layers of paper scraps and fabric scraps. It is up to you. You can also paint in between layers if you want. Be sure to coat your top layer with glue and let dry. You can cut the fabric paper up and make books, card fronts, ATC's, or backgrounds for other projects.

Altered Emergency Room Lights

Same picture - altered in photoshop with Gradient map feature.

Fiberglass Splint

A fiber glass splint is on my leg now. It is very interesting procedure. First they put a long toe less sock on you. Then they wrap your leg in felted gauze. It is cotton, very dense. I asked for an extra roll to do "something" arty with. Then they put the splint on. It is fiberglass covered with a padding. They wet the whole thing and then mold it to your foot and leg. It dries in a couple of minutes. It becomes very hard. Then they wrap the whole thing with a sticky ace bandage. Ta Da a splint. Depending on the swelling I might get a cast next week, if not a new splint.

I also got this really cool thing called a Dry Soc. It is this big blue rubbery sock that fits over my splint with a valve on it. You attach this hand pump and pump out all the air and you have a watertight sock that you can bathe, shower, or swim with. How cool is that? Plus you can use it over and over. The other really cool thing I got was a scooter thing with big wheels. It has a padded seat thingy and handle bars, it can make very tight turns and is thin so it fits in the hallway or bathroom. You put your knee on the seat and scoot around the house with it. So much better than crutches and really fast. I feel like that commercial Zoom Zoom Zoom. It is all exhausting but temporary.

One Misstep

Misstep is an understatement here. Maybe a duh huh blonde moment might cover it. Early Tuesday morning I broke my foot - going up the stairs. I missed the first step. I heard a crack and thought I might be in a bit of trouble. The pain was like when you stub your toe on something really hard. I just sort of sat down and waited for the pain to get better. All that lovely deep breathing from child birth always comes in handy. Amazingly enough it actually works. By the time I made it upstairs my foot was starting to swell and bruise. A trip to the emergency room was in my future.

I decided to wait till about two a.m. or so as I figured the wait would not be too bad. It is bad enough being hurt, but to see other people sick and suffering is haunting. Takes me days to get over it. So I sat down and did a couple sheets of fabric paper, straightened up my studio and bagged all the packages I needed to get out. A quick hop in the shower, shave those legs and off to the emergency room by three o'clock.

Good news no wait I am the only one there. Bad news I did break my foot. Crummy E.R. doctor. He said they would give me a hard sole shoe and sent me to a orthopedic surgeon. The E.R. doctor last words were "just be sure you see him within a week." Lucky me I know an orthopedic foot guy who has taken care of one of my boys. I called him when the office open and he said come on in.

Bad news - spiral break, no weight on it for at least a month. I wonder what walking around in a hard sole shoe for a week might have done to it? If doesn't heal right a metal plate. Well, I am sending out healing thoughts and vibes, my foot will heal right, no weight and it will all be over soon. I am limited in motion, and what I can do.

Happy Birthday Max

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! You have brought much joy and excitement into our lives. I am very proud of you. I wish I could be with you today. My heart is there. We will visit soon!

6" by 8" Canvas Panels - Part Deux

These are three more of my on going canvas challenge. One a week for a year. I have gone through most of the color spectrum. These are three from some of the color themes. These are not the best and not the worst. I will say I am learning what works and what doesn't for me. Which I think is one of the benefits so far in this personal challenge.

Quote

"When you photograph people in colour you photograph their clothes. But when you photogrph in B&W you photograph their souls!"
Ted Grant

People in Chairs - Freebies

Cleaning up in my studio late last night I started looking around at the photographs I have adorning my shelves and workplace. Trying to decide to put them away in boxes for later use and put something fresh out or to leave them out a little longer. It sort of dawned on me that alot of these people are in chairs. All different type of chairs. Plain chairs, ornate chairs, wicker chairs, chairs everywhere.

This morning I had one of those "duh uh" moments when I realized of course they are holding chairs, sitting in chairs, sitting on steps. It took forever to take a photograph back then. Many people would get tired and holding a pose was much easier if you had something to hold on to or sit on. So this week I am giving you some of the photographs that caught my eye for one reason or another.....

Here he is a very cute young man. I am thinking this is the big one year portrait. Definitely a country boy. I call him Sam. Very nice homemade chair - my boys had several pictures taken in a similar family chair. I love the dark fabric and the polka dots. A very loved child. Which is all children really need. Note the arm reaching out to steady him on the left side of the picture.


Isn't she darling? Reminds me of little Miss Muffet who sat on her tuffet. The tuffet being a very Victorian chair. I love her checked dress with the full skirt and boots. An early "Carrie" from Sex in the City?

This is Patricia or as she says, she likes to be called Patty. I found this and the picture below in a small local shop. The lion headed chair is what attracted me to this picture. {I have a similar settee with carvings like the chair.} They are both postcard pictures. On this one she goes on to tell the person - kid- she calls them that she wishes they were with her and what fun they would have. Also, that she got home safely and the kids were back and how her life would be filled with the usual. I thought it was very telling.


Here is the "man in a chair". The background looks like a painted curtain of a gentleman's study. The woman is lovely in her white dress with all the lace and tatting. She is friends with the woman above. I am wondering if they are cousins or maybe sisters.

Up to My Eyeballs with Bandanna Technique

This is my kitchen table covered with 4" by 4" watercolor paper stamped and bandanna'd. I am in a technique group on yahoo and we got swept away with making the biggest "technique chunky book" ever. It is so big we dropped the chunky and decided for obscene. There are 120 of us brave souls, each with a different technique. Actually it is a very cool idea, hosted by Sherre Hubert.

Each of the 120 artists does a separate technique for all 120 artists. When completed and assembled and mailed out to each artists they should have a book or pages to a book with 120 different techniques. I chose the bandanna technique.


Let me just say making a 120 of anything can be quite painful. Luckily I love the bright colors and I could use different stamps. I also did not fully complete each page so that you can tell the before and after, the highlighted and doodled areas, etc. it would have taken way to long to complete and totally flourish, doodle, and highlight out 120 pages. I did do quite a bit though.

After completing your pages we then had to write the directions for our technique on the back. We all chose to bind or store our book ourself. Many of the techniques might not lend themselves to binding. Also 120 pages is huge! I am not sure what kind of binder will bind all of that. When I receive mine I will share with ya'll. I can't wait. My pages leave Monday for Sherre's house.

Quote - Football

"If a Man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead."
Erma Bombeck

Sweet and Sour Baked Beans

As promised another football or game day recipe. I have another baked bean recipe with rootbeer that is great, but I am going to save it so I can give you my coke a cola cake recipe next. This is a good recipe to serve with just about everything. It goes well with burgers, ribs, or chicken. I am not sure what makes this recipe so delicious, but people will rave over it.

2 16 ounce cans of pork and beans
1 8 ounce can of pineapple chunks, drained
1/4 cup green peppers/ chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
4 to 5 hot dogs cut into pieces
If you don't like hot dogs or want to be more "upscale" you could use sausage. There are all sorts of gourmet sausages out there that are wonderful. If neither of these appeal to you then take 5 or 6 slices of bacon and cook until crisp. Crumble the bacon and substitute.
1/4 cup catsup
1 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon instant minced onion, you can also use chopped onion that you saute before adding to mixture.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a 2 quart casserole, combine all ingredients. Bake for 40 minutes or until bubbly around the edges. Good served with cornbread.

One Sweet Blog Award

What a surprise to wake up and find that someone had given me an award. Talk about make your day! Thank you so much Diane. I really appreciate it. I also want to say that I love your blog. I think Diane is one of the "queen of transfers". She has some gorgeous stuff on her blog. Please take some time to look at her blog.

So, like most of these awards go you are to spread the fun around. I like that it is sort of appreciation an affirmation in motion. I am to award several more blogs, list them and their links, then email them that they have receive this award. This is my five.....or more....

1. Roberta - She is always consistent, encouraging, great with color and most important creative. That is not as easy as it seems. Her work is inspiring and informative.
2. Deanna - I am going to turn you on to her cooking blog, she has an art blog, too. But anyone who can make such good food with a three year old has to be admired. Plus, I love a good recipe.
3. Zeborah - I love Zeb's wit and her photography is great. Zeb gives us a look of life through her lens.
4. Art with Moxie - Sort of says it all doesn't it? She is an art teacher and you can tell, which is really nice when you look at one of her great pieces and say to yourself - "how did she do that?"
5. Nicole - I enjoy the fresh fabrics and energy that is displayed in this blog. There is fabric to soldering going on.
6. Deb Lewis - I first found her blog through the name and then as I started reading through I realized - whoa - an hour or so had gone by. Deb will show you some adventure.

Large Formica Tag #3

These large Formica tags can be pretty addicting. I am trying to get a dozen of them made and on bags of goodies by the second week of October for some girlie friends. I have only done about half a dozen. I would actually like to make about twenty, but we/me are thinking that may be wishful thinking.

I am hoping people will see these scattered about my blog and get inspired to make a few for themselves. The tags are free at your local hardware big box store. Just take a few at a time when you think about it. I actually got these giant ones from an art friend who was cleaning out her studio. They were on a big chain. She handed me a bag of goodies about three years ago and told me to do something with them. So Barb.... I am doing something with them. Finally.

I Get to Brag a Little

Some of you who know me, know that I have a younger and very talented sister. She is a writer and has written over thirty published books. Fantasy and history are her thing. She has done some very amazing things. Well she just returned from California with a new book deal with Del Rey and Lucasbooks to be one of three authors writing a nine new Star Wars books series called Fate of the Jedi. These will be their first Star Wars hard cover books ever published.
You can read all about it here. Go Christie! You rock girl! You can also go to my sister's web site and read all about her, or just Google Christie Golden.

Board Book with Canvas - Play

The cover to my 8" by 8" altered child board book. This all started with a piece of canvas I used as a worksheet piece of paper on my work table. When it became covered with paint I used bits and pieces of scrap text and fabric from other projects to glue or sew on it. I then added the fairy and girl images. Originally I was going to cut it up and make ATC's and 4 by 4's with it. However it seemed a shame to separate the little fairies so I made a book instead. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.



This is the first page to my altered board book. I used some of the same ideas throughout this little book. First each spread has canvas collaged images that are beaded and sewn. Each page was prepped the same with gesso and dress patterns. I picked a color theme that was dictated by the canvas - pinks, yellow and oranges.




Page two, which is actually the center of my book, is again like all the other pages gesso, then a dress pattern tissue glued on with gel and then paint, paper, etc. On this page I needed some different texture so I went with dyed cheese clothe.

I dye the cheese clothe by mixing acrylic paint and water in one of those small plastic deli containers with a lid. Make sure you mix the paint well with water. Then, wet your cheese clothe, wring out and put in container. Put the lid on and give it a shake. Let sit for awhile then remove cheese clothe and squeeze out moisture and let dry. I dry it on paper towels. You can use remaining paint water to dye fabric, lace, or even paper towels.

On my little fairy girls I sewed the canvas an added the beads before I attached them to the book. The buttons were an after thought so they are just glued on with gel medium.




This is the last page of my board book. I used a vintage embroidered handkerchief that was badly stained in one corner. I soaked it in yellow ink and dried it to take the really white out of it. I then laid it crosswise across the center of the book so that I would get most of the embroidered part in the book. Also my center was a little tacky looking and this covered it up well. Again, I used canvas panels that I painted, collaged and sewed on.

Large Formica Tag #2

This big Formica tag was made for one of the yahoo groups and their weekend "art party". The image of the young woman was what we were to work with. I painted the tag on the rough side with gesso and then orange acrylic paint. Stamped the torn mesh image and added the spooky house image. The woman's wings are off of a mylar bat wreath. The wings sort of shimmer in the light. I highlighted the woman's dress with my white pen. These are quick and take less than half an hour to do if you use a heat gun to dry the paint. I have another tag that I made that is a tad bit smaller, but yet similar, that is in a previous post. I only have nine more to make....
small postscript - my tag made it to the Homepage of this Yahoo group this week - 9/22. I was speechless. Thanks all.

Worn Out

Quote

"When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us."
Alexander Graham Bell

Bird Freebies

This week I was a little late with the free images. So I decided to share a few of my favorite birds. Some of these birds I see almost daily. For instance the Red- Winged Blackbird, the sweet Tufted Titmouse and the Brown Thrasher. Others, like the Baltimore Oriole are only here for a short time before they fly away to nest and raise their young. I find that the simple things in life - like these birds enrich my life. I hope these images will enrich your art work.