Glitz-Oh Girl

Last Sunday we returned from a lovely week visiting our grand children and sons and DIL’s.  This week I’ve been making art- while trying to spend less time ‘playing’ on FB and Pinterest.  I had good success staying off of FB most of the time, but alas, I’m hooked on Pinterest!

This week’s art:  another book sculpture character doll .  I used vintage buttons, a vintage 50′s West German tape measure in case (the necklace), and the book base is a vintage trig and calculus text geared to surveying technique. (bleah).  So what’s a girl to do?  Become “Queen of All She Surveys”!  The red paper is Japanese and is a large sheet I’ve been hoarding for heaven knows what- so in my spirit of de-stashing, I felt it was the right paper to use, being all about mountains.  This gal is hung by a sturdy vintage door hinge, compliments of me re-doing one of our small attic doors (shown in previous post).

Detail of the Survey Transit- I love old technical drawings!

While I’m here, I’ll also post my new art form- YardArt- art on a yardstick.

These are collages on old book covers, screwed onto a vintage yardstick.  The angle from which I took this picture makes the collages look oddly sized – in reality, the top and third collage are the same size, as are the 2nd and fourth. Items used, in addition to the book covers: washi paper tape, lokta paper, yellow scrap paper, chopsticks, wool roving, threads, Italian silk fragments, square metal 1″ frames with beads, and vintage sheet music.

Collage By the Yard

I found this easy and fun ‘recipe’ for dying eggs  (by Amanda Fomaro) through Pinterest….(the link opens in a new window).

I chose to hard boil the eggs so that I can devil them this weekend. I love this dish I put them in- it was a present to myself  a few years ago when I visited my sister-in-law in San Luis Obispo, CA. (GREAT shopping town! )

Just for fun:

View 1

View 2

UFO??? On the internet,  artists,( some lovingly – or not) refer to projects not completed as UFO’s (unfinished objects).  I’ve had this UFO sitting on a shelf for perhaps a year….today it leaped off the shelf, into my arms, and pleaded with me to get with the program and breathe life back into it.  I did. (I do my best to listen to my art projects when they whine at me.   )

This book sculpture is a flower, carved from the book’s pages, embellished as you see, and is happy now.  She is “Blooming Prose”.

Blooming Prose hanging on the side of our pantry cupboard. The fibers have buttons tied to them.

The four buttons in the corners are vintage reds, from my mom’s stash.

Side View - the flower curls turned out as I'd hoped.

Next – a view of the ‘interior’:

The back has more vintage buttons, with a simple hanger of doubled 4-ply wax linen, threaded through the small drilled holes.  The book’s pages are NOT glued in a block- but secured at the corners instead.  It feels more organic to me when the main block of pages is left unglued.  — Finished!

These pages are in Amy’s book.  Please note the first spread has nudity when the flap is open.  The image is from Ten Two Studios ‘Siren’ paper dolls. (link opens in new tab.)

I painted the face with water-soluble oil pastels on canvas paper.  The interior is created with acrylic paint and white gesso, with stamped words and spirals.  (double click the images to enlarge them.)

Amy's - o1

Amy's - o2

The second spread in Amy’s book is “The Giant Flower Tree”.  I used fabric and paper flowers I had stored up, and drew the tree and squirrels and signs.  Notice anything??

The Giant Flower Tree

The pages do not lie flat as the book is completely loaded with altered pages and etc.!

I’m sure those of you who look at my artwork have noticed I’m rather fond of the color way that includes aqua.  As I’ve re-arranged an upstairs bedroom , I decided to add a bit of aqua to some items I’ve had for years.  This is a 1950′s era ‘tin’ or metal basketweave pattern basket- I painted it with an aqua alcohol ink.  I left the handles,  bottom and interior the original color (cream color inside and on bottom).  I’ve stored used postage stamps in this ever since I got it from my mother eons ago, in which she also kept used postage stamps.  It became so full I emptied it out and re-stored the stamps elsewhere.

1950's Metal basket painted with alcohol inks.

This next image is an altered cigar box- the box was in bad condition – I now use it to store some ‘aqua’ postage stamps!

Box Top - the pink domino is a tab with which to lift the lid.

Cigar Box interior - with postage stamps....

And last but not least, my week included painting this little attic door in the bedroom. The door is only about 4 feet high – and the attic space is on the south (sunny) side of the house and is not used (any longer) – it really has minimal space and is a bit too hot in the summer – after spray-painting the door outdoors earlier in the week when it was warmer, I added a new handle and hinges.  I have yet to paint the framing around the door.  The little crystal knob top left holds the door firmly closed. I may add more to this later- not sure.

I borrowed the phrase from J.K. Rowlings’ Harry Potter book 2. (one of my all-time favorite series). I stamped the letters with black gesso, as the door paint is very glossy.

Mini attic door to empty attic....at least I think it's empty... ???

Check out the Live from CHA – Summer 2012 link!  (opens in a new tab.)

“A Place To Bark” is a no-kill animal rescue organization I donate to every  month- it’s not much, but every bit helps and is needed!  Have fun with your artwork, and benefit the critters too!  Do check it out! Thanks!

Here is ‘Chance’ – our wonderful cat that we got from A Place To Bark – by ‘chance’ he was delivered in person by Bernie Berlin- owner/operator/artist/loving person extraordinaire!

Chance- feline ruler of my heart!

If you like art- any kind, and have questions, or ideas, or links or blogs or whatever- come join Kathie and me over at our new Yahoo Group:  Sharing Our Mixed Media Art. (links open in a new tab).    From our Home Page:

“Members are free to share what project they are working on, through a link to their blog or through the photos section of the group. (also through messages to the group!)
Members are free to share links to other art sites or possibly interesting art groups.
Members are free to share links to their Etsy store or Ebay store – this is limited to ONE day a week – Sunday – (to keep the group from becoming nothing but ads and comms.)
Members are free to share quotes or experiences about their art – and feel FREE to share anything else in their lives that comes to mind, if they want to.”

There will sometimes be swaps or challenges, but no one ‘has’ to participate- it’s all free will (or won’t) .  We wanted a home base in which to knock around mixed media art ideas, techniques, info, etc., without the pressure of ‘rules’ to do this or do that or you must sign up for this or that, etc.  Check us out and join!- see if you like it- and better yet, come to build our community of like minded artists.  We may be walking different paths of life and activity, but we share a common love of arts and crafts – and we love sharing about them!  Facebook has various friends lists, and is not always a comfortable venue for some folks – so we thought a one-stop ‘shopping’ for art ideas place might appeal to others as it has to us.

Hope to see you there!

I’ve been steadily working in this ‘altered’ composition book- I’ve made it a gluebook, gluing in lots of my leftovers from various mixed media projects.  My mission in my art these days is to use up supplies as I’m able, before buying anything new.  I have a LOT of ‘stuff” from which to draw- and I love collage.

Front Cover

Finished Gluebook

To see all of the pages in between, go to THIS ALBUM (link will open in separate window.)  You can double click each image to enlarge them.  Thanks for looking!

( EDIT NOTE:  ALL STAMPS HAVE BEEN SOLD!  THANKS SO MUCH!)

I continue to de-stash the art supplies I no longer use.  I have given away to local friends, to charity , and some things I’m selling, such as these stamps.  Many are used, and many never used.  Such is the way with my ‘stuff’.   I quote the prices here, but please go to my Etsy Store to Purchase these stamps and more!  I added more lots to my Etsy store on Monday, March 12!

Here we go:  (CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM)

LOT 06 - 55 stamps- 2 are unmounted (the 3-fold red) - $50.00

MORE WILL BE ADDED TO THIS POST SHORTLY!!!

Here they are!

LOT 07 - 49 woodmounted stamps and one acrylic -mounted rubber stamp - $50.00

LOT 09- 53 Stamps - 2 are unmounted rubber- the rest are wood-mounted. - $50.00

LOT 08 - 59 Wonderful rubber stamps- 2 units are cd cases with unmounted rubber - the rest are wood-mounted rubber stamps.-- $60.00

LOT 07 - Mixed Lot - 20 'units' - some are unmounted rubber in CD cases, a couple small ones are mounted on foam core, and there are 9 wood- mounted stamps. - $20.00

(edit. note:)  All of the stamps below have been sold.  Thank you!

There comes a time in a girl’s life when she looks around her and says: “Where did all of this come from?!”  Well- I KNOW where it came from,  , and am grateful to have been able to use a ton of these stamps, but my mixed media art does not include much stamping anymore- so I’m putting them up for sale- CHEAP!!!! One USPS flat rate ‘large’ box will hold approx 50-60 wood-mounted stamps.  I am putting the stamps in lots of about 50- sometimes more- sometimes a bit less.  Each lot will be in one of these large flat rate boxes (12″x12″x 5.5″H). The postage is $14.65 for each box.  Below are pics of what’s for sale- with prices.  If interested, email me and I’ll give you my PayPal addy- I will only accept payment through PayPal- and alas, due to the weight, these are for US residents only.  Many of the stamps are unused!!

I love to play with old vinyl.  In this case, these records were cast-offs from our younger (almost 39 y/o) son – records too beat up to keep. He and his best buddy from college were DJ’s of a popular radio show at the U. of Oregon in the early-mid 90′s – it was called ‘Biscuits and Gravy.’  Our son amassed a huge collection of records,  but I talked him out of these when he was moving them, because I loved the labels! lol (and they were not too playable). One record is Frank Zappa – classic!

Technique: Find an oven-proof bowl of your choice.  Pre-heat oven to 225F.  Place bowl in oven upside down.  Place record on top of bowl, so the label is centered over the bowl’s base.  Heat for about 1 minute, or until the vinyl begins to soften and ‘fall’ around the bowl.  Immediately remove the record with a pot holder or ‘hot’ glove, and gently pinch the softened vinyl into ‘waves’ or folds.  It hardens immediately and voila, instant record bowl. 

(Edit. NOTE:) Some people prefer to do this work outdoors on an opened grill to avoid possible fumes.  I had NO fumes, the slow ‘drape’ of the vinyl took about 20 seconds in the preheated oven and then the record was immediately removed.  I also had our super-powered hooded exhaust fan on high (it is vented to outdoors) during the process.  If you are worried about food-safety for your oven, then I would recommend you heat these on a grill outdoors.  I have baked a zillion times since making these record ‘bowls’, with no adverse problems – and I have quite severe allergic asthma.  But caution is a GOOD thing when creating with mixed media!)  -please read the comments.)

These are NOT for food, unless lined with food-grade foil or plastic wrap- I put a pretty napkin in them and use them for chips in the summer when we have barbeques.  I have 5 ‘bowls’ still black – but painted these three for decor.   I painted each bowl front and back with 4-5 layers of acrylic paint. I didn’t gesso first, but you could.  I used dimensional paint for the ‘petal’ lines.I’m definitely in my ‘Aqua’ phase of art and decor.  They hang on the side of our pantry cupboard, between kitchen and dining room.  The second image shows my paper umbrella collage hanging in the dining room.  The color scheme is identical.  (They sort of remind me of the Chihuly seaform glass shapes, though they’re not transparent, of course.)

(Click images to enlarge).

Altered Vinyl records -

Altered Records, Funky cupboard, art in dining room

I don’t know about you, but I am in love with the site “Pinterest”.  It can be a ‘time suck’ if you aren’t disciplined in budgeting time, but for me, it has given lots of inspiration for my art-creating muse.  I love color, as you all know – this latest canvas of mine was totally inspired by an image I saw on Google under images of ‘paper decorations’.

Here is my 14″W x 18″H canvas – which I have entitled: La Rive des Parapluies – that’s French for ‘The River of Umbrellas’. The black background is acrylic paint- I attached paper ‘cocktail’ umbrellas through the canvas,firmly adhering them with Liquid Fusion, and then painted the river ‘waves’ with dimensional paint.  I added blue ‘hole-less’ beads. Stick-on letters give the title.

La Rive des Parapluies

Below is the image I found on Google that inspired the above .

If anyone knows who took this image, please let me know so that I may properly credit the photograph. Thank you to whoever created this display and image. 

Thank you Kathy- for the update.

[Edit.] . Decor inspiration via Style Me Pretty, photograph by Sarah & Chris Rhoads of Sarah Rhoads Photographers

Read more: http://www.mimiandmegblog.com/2011/04/outdoor-spring-party-aqua-red-yellow.html#ixzz1o81mESMb

I’ve had a lovely time rearranging my art room and guest room- in other words- I switched them!  Though in a smaller room now, it is great inspiration for creating art, using what I have, recycling, and enjoying the creative drive.

I had several frames left over from my mother’s crafts- I painted them; then added them to my art wall in our family room.  I also created 2 oblong canvas collages.  The yellow frame encloses an altered postcard I  received from my dear friend Jen Worden several years ago.  The pastel in the center in the deep aqua frame is from  dear friend, Tom Stauffer, a professional cellist who is also a dynamite pastel artist! He wouldn’t let me ‘buy’ it- so I traded him for it by creating a large hand-bound  pastel ‘workbook’ for him, in addition to giving him lots of pastel papers.  He said the scene is from a canal in France.  I got this idea to hang empty frames after viewing some cool images on Pinterest showing walls of frames hung- empty!  I loved the idea and am proud to share it- and grateful to the peeps who share such inspiration!

Now on to a new gluebook!

It seems the craft industry wants folks to get in on ‘smash books’- which is simply the commercialization of what has been around for a very long time- gluebooks.  Check out the Yahoo group, and this Facebook group!. No need to buy supplies- gluebooks are all about glue, paper, scisssors(or not) and a surface upon which to glue the paper bits.  I get cheap composition books when they’re on sale- then set to gluing- this is one I started today…enjoy the fun!

I used old game pieces (I think from the game of ‘Fate’) on the cover, as well as freezer paper which my grand daughters and I used as a paint palette 2 summers ago (I save color) .  The frog and goblet images are from a 1980′s Dover book of images.  The zentangled image is mine- a laser copy of one I created awhile ago.  A fabric clothing label is on the inner front cover.  Other gluebook images of mine are here.

I’ve been enjoying time spent creating collage, using my art supplies in a different way,  with my paints, papers and sewing machine all in use.  This first collage is to go with the ice cream cone collage, featured in my previous post.  The flowers are colored crayon wax, the rest is antique newspaper, acrylic paint, and washi paper tape.  This collage is 12W x 16″H.

This second is an abstract, and a departure from the norm for me.  I created this collage with one sheet of Fabriano 300 # watercolor paper.  The shapes were ripped from the edges, covered with book pages and newsprint, then sewn with a fabric ‘topper’.  After assembly (I painted the white substrate black and used Golden’s matte ‘regular’ gel medium to glue the pieces to the backdrop ), I added metallic filaments with buttons, glitter glue and ‘Liquid Fusion’ adhesive.   I then painted a stylized bare-branched manzanita tree.  This piece measures 21″H x 20.5″ at the widest point.  It currently is hanging in my home.

'Reflection'

I’ve been wanting to create more collages on wrapped canvas- so yesterday I created this 12″W x 18″H  x .75″D collage using 19th century newspaper and advertisements (thank you Lee Kirk!), one piece of napkin image at the base,  acrylic paint and those tiny devilish hole-less beads.   I got this idea from a photo I saw on Pinterest, where the cone held stacked scoops one upon the other. The cones are from shaped newsprint, then ‘doodled’ with Pitt artist pens.  Is it summer yet?

Ice Cream, Anyone?

Here is another of my ‘book art dolls’.  I’m in an aqua mood these days (kitchen is black/white/gray with accents of aqua, red and yellow.) This gal hangs in the archway between our kitchen and dining room.  Enjoy!

Glitz-Oh! Girl

I knew You'd Look!

Her Right side - here the book pages show.

Her Left

To see more of my book dolls, you can view THIS ALBUM.

More of my doodling- which I call doodangles (kind of like doodads and zentangles combined).   This flower design comes from a 1974 book with needlepoint designs.  I ‘just happened’ to have an office envelope full of unused carbon paper- it was my Dad’s (from the 1950′s  – I don’t throw things away easily in my house- lol).  I painted some watercolor paper, using fluid acrylics in hot pink, blue and yellow; I placed the carbon paper on it, and took a flower design from the book and traced it over the carbon paper. Voila- instant ‘nicely drawn’ flowers.    I then did my thing and doodled away using my Faber Castell Pitt artist pens.  I started with black for all the design work, then colored the flowers with colored Pitt pens.

I have no idea what I’ll do with this, but it was VERY relaxing art time.

11.5"W x 10.5" H - Flowers

I knew my ‘page-a-day’ work in my Codes and Ciphers altered book would not last- but I periodically do a few pages when I’m not in a mood for anything else.  I have uploaded six new pages to THIS ALBUM.

Yesterday I created this page, honoring Oregon’s VERY special wolf, ‘Journey’, formerly known as OR-7 (I still call him that).  Here is the link to tell you all about this amazing animal.  ( the link opens in a new window.)

OR-7 - now known as 'Journey'

Journey has a radio collar on.  The images I took from a century-old nature volume on mammals, given to me by fellow artist Lee Kirk.  I used removable painters tape to create the multicolored background, adding color as I repositioned the tape several times.  I then added a single ply of painted paper toweling (that had been used under some fabric I was painting.)  The images were added last – I used PPA for all the collage.  With my black pen, I added lines which , to me, resembled mountain ranges.  To travel from NE Oregon to SW Oregon and N. Calif., this amazing creature has walked some mighty mountain paths.  I hope common ground will be reached with naturalists and ranchers alike, so that these Created beings can continue to share in the beauty and natural bounty of our land.

This is my 2-page spread for Margie’s book- the theme was secrets, mystery, etc.

I based this on 103-year-old girls’ book “Dorothy Dale’s Great Secret” – and used the old linen book cover, which I stripped from the book.  I also used text and then painted my own conception of the text.  The background is black gesso.  I used a century-old Nat’l Geo. image to start with for the painted girl, then overpainted nearly all of it with acrylics.  Everything was re-done except eyes, nose and general face shape.

Why Was Dorothy Afraid??

I spent most of today cleaning out ‘stuff’ around the house and in my studio – I even managed to consolidate and get a few more things ready to gift away.

During the clean-up, I decided to make a couple ATC’s with some backgrounds I’d made quite a long time ago.

Paint and collage on the left;  on the right a little collage with the addition of a charm I made 4 years ago using some elements from Ten Two Studios.