Making art papers.....

Here's a great recipe for success!!

Join Joey at Keeton's Office and Art Supply here in Bradenton for an exhilarating morning of turning ordinary paper bags into ART!!!!  As always, click on each photo if you want a closer look.......

The ingredients.....

Some tools........

There were 10 of us in the workshop, and these photos represent just a few of the wonderful diversity of papers we created using brown paper grocery bags, acrylic paints, an assortment of foam stamps, and the best - spray webbing from Krylon in white, black, or silver (think it comes in gold, too)!!  I can't wait to set up my own play table at home and get started on more colorful creations!!!

Some of the photos are my papers, some are the WOW! inspirations of the other participants.

Raspberry soda anyone?

When the deep purple falls over shady garden walls.....

Hot, hot, HOT!!

Polka-dot Paradise

Luscious Lime Squeeze...

Metallic Mambo ;-)

Misty dreams....

These papers are quite sturdy and could be used for gift wrap, or for covering books or a small box, as backgrounds for collages or ATC's, or ..... Just about anything your inner artist can dream up!

Sunny Day Jaunt

Though it is a bit on the cool side (for Florida, anyway) the sun is shining brightly so took a little trip to Bradenton Beach and to Cortez, Florida  So sorry I can't make a workable link to the Google map.  It's just a short hop for me but always a thrill with sights to see each time I visit..  Walked on the beach a bit to clear my sinuses.... and then came home across the bridge.  A large yacht was going through the drawbridge so had to wait.

Looking north and west to Anna maria Island vacation condos

Here's the beauty that opened the bridge......


I stopped at the charter boat place to see if any pelicans were hanging out and they were....!!  Even a White Pelican (different and MUCH larger than our more familiar Brown Pelicans.

"Ixorus" Challenge

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The Diva's weekly challenge # 6 is Ixorus.  Drew mine before looking at all the other postings and was interested to see that they seem to fall into two categories - open and airy, or very detailed and mixed with other tangles.  I'm absolutely loving seeing all these fabulous tiles every week!!

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I also featured these in an earlier post, but they seemed to get lost in amongst the other photos - hope this doesn't confuse either Laura or anyone else!

Confessions of a [busy] lazy blogger.....

Got to wondering if I'd ever post again - the days fly by with creating art of various sorts, reading your posts, and taking  photos for my blip.  And when I'm not doing all this, I just want to flop on the sofa and read!!

Little Blue Heron (blipfoto)

Lampwork Glass Bauble (blipfoto)

Am also still working away on my entry for the Hoffman Challenge (can't show you that, of course ;-D)  

But trust me, there is a lot of beading to keep my fingers occupied.......!!!

The whole Zentangle© thing has me very excited.  Here are my two for this week's
Diva challenge # 6 - "Ixorus"

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Please click to enlarge

I have also continued to make some vintage pieces just for fun... though for me, I'm discovering that working in a vintage collage format is not my fave!  Oh well - we live and learn.

Pretty ladies images courtesy of Mary Green - see Green Paper Collage Club on the sidebar.

We've had some wonderful beach combing weather (sorry to sound like I'm gloating, but it is what it is.......

DeSoto National Memorial, Bradenton

Bradenton Beach

Sandpipers scurrying

Weekly Zentangle Challenge # 5

The theme for this week's challenge is "Orbs."  I Am the Diva has a lovely and inspiring tale to tell about why she chose this theme.  Here are a couple of photos of my "Orbs."

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Please click for larger image

Jane's fabric vase....

Although it wasn't especially chilly today, the rain came down in torrents most of the day.  It was a good time to stay inside and dry!  Have been wanting to make Jane LaFazio's  fabric vase (see her wonderful tutorial here), so got out the scraps from a small quilted strippy tablecloth I had made several months ago.

After I'd finished, I emailed Jane to show her what I'd done and asked her permission to post these photos and to link to her blog post with the tutorial.  If you haven't been following this talented artist, you'll be happy I sent you..... ;-)

Following Jane's directions and her photos, I was able to create a reasonable facsimile.

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It's a fun project - not exactly super-simple, but not very difficult, either, and heaven knows we all have scraps we can use!  I enjoyed rearranging the pieces of fabric until they suddenly looked 'right' to my eye.  Ironing them down to the Peltex is a snap, and then the stamping and stitching can begin.  Except for the fabric used, mine is pretty much a copy of Jane's (brights with B&W) but have other tablecloths.   Will make another vase using scraps from  my collection of blue batiks, which will match other placemats and runners I use on the dining table.  I think these vases would also be great holders for breadsticks!

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Jane didn't say how she got the shape for the vase sides - I folded a piece of 8 1/2 x 11 paper in half the long way so both edges would be even, and then drew a template.  Cut out the template, unfolded the paper and voila!  I started with a piece of Peltex about 18 x 20, so had plenty of room to lay out the sides of the vase to include some of the special free motion stitching I'd done.

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Definitely a fun way to while away the hours of a rainy day, and the end product is something different, useful and would make a terrific gift.

Shifting gears......

..... or going back to horse-and-buggy days perhaps I should say,  I've also been participating in Mary's Green Paper Collage Club and created this small piece using her wonderful downloaded images.

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In doing all these art activities, I'm discovering where my interests do and don't follow.  What is a truly inspiring challenge and what is a form of drudgery just to get through.

Maybe someday I'l discover my own personal 'style' but for now, it's just exciting to explore!

This and that.....

We can blog and blip or make art, and I'm finding it difficult to do both. Whole hours seem to disappear into the glow of my computer screen.  Sometimes I love the feelings of sharing and connectivity my blog, blip, and flickr friends give me, but at other times, I just want to chuck all the technology and get back to my art table!  Since I'm new to blog/blip land, will work on finding an acceptable balance!  There's just so much to see on the web, and I do love reading everyone's posts and seeing what they are working on.....

I've been mostly playing this past week - had to have a little skin cancer surgery so have needed to be quiet while a stitched and stapled area healed.

Here are four of the ten tangles I did for a swap today at my local art supply store (local business - not a chain).   The theme is 1-1-11.  I'm more into organic shapes than angular ones, so tangling 1's was a problem for me - decided to do some curvy double string j's as an alternative.  Of the 10 I made (all different btw) I like the j in the lower right of this photo best.  My tangles tend to be simple and airy, but I admire the more complex and densely created ones.

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Starry-Eyed Surprise - Challenge Week #4

If you're following the weekly Zentangle© challenge, here is my offering for this week.  There will also be a tangle swap at my local art supply store this coming Saturday.  The theme is 1-1-11.  Ten people have told the swap facilitator they will attend, so we are to make 10 tangles - whew!!  I only have five finished, all different, and am not sure I'm going to make any more.  Would it be cheating to photocopy the five I have, cut them out and paste them onto cardstock?  Probably... ;~(  Since New Year's Day is two weeks past, the theme isn't very inspiring to me, either - such is life.....

nothing new under the sun...

While watching an episode of  "The Quilt Show" online this afternoon, I saw a sort-of Zentangle© image that just floored me.

The episode guest was Susan Carlson, who makes fabulous fabric collage quilty creations.  One of her most stunning pieces is a pink rhinoceros.  When asked what her inspiration was for this piece, she showed a drawing made by Albert Durer.  The drawing is dated 1515!  Google "Durer rhinoceros" and you will see it - the link was too long and complicated to post here - not exactly a tangle, but the detail is so similar to some of the patterns in use now.

January Challenge

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I'm new to Mary's monthly challenge, and after viewing some of the other lovely art, I'm honored to be in such creative company.  I used a favorite bit of cranberry print scrapbbook paper for the background, Mary's three vintage images, a bit of gold stamping, and some wonderful white vinyl embellishments that I've had for several years and never knew what to do with.  I enhanced them with a rub-on metallic finish, then added a few vintage postage stamps.  Lettering is not my strongest talent and don't have just the right stamp to add a caption of some sort, so this little collage will just have to speak for itself!

I did not make my bed today.....

Love those red sheets!!!
Instead I decided to try my hand at dying bleached muslin (washed but not ironed) with tea bags.

Big pot, lots of family-sized tea bags

Tea bags cooking - regular ones in the big pot, chamomile and Celestial Seasonings mandarin orange spice in each of the two little pots.

Ah, the steam is rising!

Color beginning to develop.....

tea bags laid out in a sort of brickwork pattern

Tea bags removed and fabric hung up to dry

The poor woman's shibori wrap (no silk, just the muslin....)

Only subtle color gradations using tea.

Partly finished little quilt I made with the tea bag tinted fabric - will add some beads, buttons and hand stitching this evening.  

Zentangle Challenge Week 3

Here's my week three tangle - the theme is "Eyes Wide Shut" (drawing one's string with eyes closed.)
For those who missed an earlier post, you can read about this challenge here.

Altered Book - Day 8

Hope you all realize that these days aren't actual ones chronologically, but just a way to give each page project a header.  Also, as I flip through what used to be a pre-printed journal for get-healthy enthusiasts, many of the quotes at the top of the text page have lots to do with sit-ups (ugh!) or being sure to drink lots of water (yes, this is a good idea, but has nothing to do with my art!) and nothing to do with creativity, so I just keep flipping until I find a page with a quote I can use to inspire me.

Day 8 Text

I've been playing with waxed paper mono-prints and made the background flower in the lower right corner, and then I had a waxed butcher paper stencil ........

.......that was a left-over from an art quilt project.  I really loved the gold stamped paint, so fixed it to a piece of pink paper, then did some highlighting with a trusty Micron pen.  Dug into my stash of pink paper odd and ends (I have done some serious scrapbooking using photos of my lovely daughter) for the subtle stripe and the misty floral.

Some stamps, a kissy lips sticker and a few wonderful sparkly stars, with a nice coat of glazing medium and I felt about as self-nurtured as a girl can feel!!

And here's another photo with the flash off....

2011 Art Calendar Challenge for January

Read about this challenge and view some amazing art!!

Here's my January offering, and in lieu of a word for the year, am going to use the January calendar to meditate on a word a day and see what beams in from the greater universe to inspire me.

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