What I'm Working On...

I haven't shared in several days. Life has been happening and my 88 yr old father-in-law's kidneys shut down on him. Thankfully the Drs. got them started back and he's up and going again, but we had quite a scare and a few days in the hospital. I haven't had time to do much creatively, but I thought I'd show you what I'm currently working on.

This is Lolly Doll-Person. She's a paper clay articulated doll. My first. She is actually almost finished now, with paint and clothes. I'm just trying to figure out the finishing touches on her, but I thought I'd share a sneek-peek of the middle part.

I'm also re-dressing and painting a large cloth doll that I made several years ago, named Lucy Doll, and I'm slowly organizing my workspace. Sorry I don't have pictures right now, but I'll be back to share the finished pictures, hopefully in a day or two. :) I've also posted some new poetry attempts on my http://scribblesfromrabbithop.blogspot.com/ blog.

In the meantime, I hope you're having a wonderful summer with a lot of creative time. :)

Updated Background Page

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend with family and friends. It was a lovely long weekend here. I updated a page that I wasn't particularly happy with and thought I'd share it with you, because I now like it much better. :)

I don't know if you remember the page on the right, but I tried to make a harlequin print background, because I love harlequin print, but it didn't come out quite like I wanted. It was too dark and the whole thing was off. I can not measure with a ruler to save my life and have it come out right.

Anyway, I pulled the top sheet off a two-ply paper towel that I had used to blot up Bubblegum pink and Turquoise Dylusions spray ink with, tore it into pieces, then glued the pieces on top of the harlequin print with matte gel medium and let dry. It added texture, modified the colors some, and made it more interesting, at least to me. I like it much better now, and will definitely use it as a journal page.

I've also been working some more on the large canvas with the "contrary angel" on it, and I have made my first articulated clay paper doll person, except for the decoration, and I'm still undecided about whether to leave her bald or give her hair, and I'm slowly organizing my workspace, among other smaller projects, which I'll try to share as I get them done.

I'm not doing a a lot of much these days. My mind wants to do a lot, but my body doesn't want to do anything, which is very frustrating to me. I just feel really weighed down, for some reason. Maybe I can get back on track soon.

Have a great rest of the week! :)

More Background Pages, A Poem Draft, & A Sketch

I've been playing with the Dylusions spray inks and found stamps and stencils some more. I need a few more colors, but I'm having fun with what I have. I haven't been creating a lot lately, or doing anything else much for that matter, and making background pages is a quick way to get some art in on the days I don't have time to really get zoned out into my creative place. Plus, I have a stack of pages already started to add to when I do have time to "zone out."

I love letting images emerge out of the ink/paint as it dries. Sometimes it takes a while for them to reveal themselves to me and sometimes they jump right out at me. I've drawn a light pencil sketch around some of the images that have emerged. That doesn't mean that I will keep them when I start actually working on the page, but it's a reminder of what could be.

This one was done with a paisley, or large comma shape, that I cut out of a sponge. I sprayed the inks directly on the sponge and stamped onto the paper.

I love these colors and used a variety of stamps and stencils, handmade.

This page started off with with an old cd, which I sprayed over (some ink ran under it and merged), removed, and then spritzed some other colors onto.

The paisley sponge stamp with 2-3 colors sprayed onto the sponge and stamped randomly around the page.

I wrote a couple of poem drafts onto this page, then stamped the backs of some stencils that had been sprayed over onto the page to clean them off. I like it. :) If you want to read the poems, as finished as they're probably going to be, you can go to my other blog http://scribblesfromrabbithop.blogspot.com/ , where most of my writing is.

Just a quick little sketch I thought I'd throw in. I was attempting something new in her head tilt. I didn't quite accomplish what I meant to, but I like it. Besides, today is another day, and I can try again! :)

The Self Portrait Experience-21 Secrets 2011

The mixed media covers for a journal titled "Metophorical Me" that I did in Connie Hozvicka's 21 Secrets classes last year. It is to be filled with self portraits in various categories. I haven't gotten that far yet...but I will. :) Now that I'm seeing it on here, I'm not sure that I like the gesso I rubbed over it to tone it down. It looks a little chalky to me, at least moreso than I wanted. I'm thinking I may take some of the whiteness back off it. I do love the covers though, and look forward to adding the pages between them.

See the kitty in the lower corner? That's my favorite stamp, and I've lost it among all the clutter in my workspace. :/ Hoping I find it when I start organizing...



Playing With Dylusions Spray Ink

Some background pages I've been playing with using mixed media and dylusions spray ink, which is very intense. I only ordered five colors, bubblegum pink, vibrant turquoise, london blue, lemon zest, and squeezed orange. I really like them, but am still learning how to manipulate them and considering picking up a few more colors. I had great fun on these pages just letting go and playing, excuse moi, experimenting. :) The one above has a little gesso rubbed over the inks in spots, plus Asian and musical stamps added. As you can see, the gesso added a pastel look.

The mask for the figure consisted of a round bottle cap, two keys on a ring, and a straw paper folded in half, and the small mask is the cap off an ink cartridge. The dots were made using a piece of paper that I had punched holes in to make a stencil, of sorts. Great fun!



This on was actually the last one I did, and I used a paper towel that had been saturated with ink blotted off the harlequin page. I rubbed it on this page, sprayed some yellow over it, and added pink dots with the home made stencil full of holes.

The page on the left was made using a bought stencil. I sprayed the stencil, lifted it, turned it over, and used it as a stamp on the other side of the page. The right page was a disaster, as I used masking tape to do a harlequin pattern, painted it orange, missing part of the diamonds, because I didn't do it right. I used a brush to paint the orange in the missed diamonds, which made these lighter than the others. Hated it! Sprayed the london blue over the whole thing, let it sit a minute, layed a paper towel down on it to blot up the excess ink and it is what it is. I kind of like it...

There's that holey stencil on the left again! I laid a mesh bag that had held fruit on the right hand page and sprayed blue ink over it. It made a good stencil I think.

Another holey stencil page! The orange dancing girl is from a bought stencil and the ghostly figure above her is where I laid a hand made sponge stamp down in the wet ink. The right page is a hand made stencil, which I laid one on top of the other.

I have no idea what these pages will eventually morph into, if anything. Sometimes I fall in love with background page and don't want to cover it up. Sometimes I just add words and sometimes lots of layers of lots of stuff. We'll see...

 If you visit http://creativeeveryday.com/creativeeveryday/2012/04/creative-every-day-check-in-april-23-29.html you can click on the links to visit some wonderful artists in all genres. 

Hope something on here made you smile. :)

Pink Tree Symphony Journal page

Have you ever seen a pink tree? Or heard a tree symphony? I have!

This page is on mixed media paper and is another experiment with masking tape and dylusions spray ink. I taped the tree form off, then sprayed the inks over it, let dry, and peeled the tape off, leaving a white tree form. The inks are intense, so I used some white gesso brushed on top of them, mixing with the ink colors. I used gel medium to glue decorative papers on the tree form, but didn't like it and covered them with modeling paste and let dry. I used a brush to add some of the ink to the tree, a stamp to add music, added a few spatters, and wrote the words, "Sit quietly in the woods and the trees will play you a symphony," with a pencil. They will too. I've heard them. :)

I may have been discouraged from making pink trees as a child, but trees are not always brown like we're taught as children. I, in fact, have seen pinkish grey tree trunks in the early morning light with the sun rising and touching everything with nature's paint brush, casting a pink light over everything it touches, and it was magical and beautiful, and I'm grateful to have seen it.

I love pink trees and tree symphonies! :)

Journal Pages w Masking Tape, Napkins, and a Flyer

I was so tickled over the treasures that I found at Goodwill (see the misc label) that I couldn't wait to play with them. Isn't that just like a kid? lol

I left several blank pages in my Misty Mawn Open Studio journal, which I have now titled "The Misty Mawn Experience," so I created a double page spread about Spring, using the napkins and stamps that I found at Goodwill. I also bought a plastic canvas at JoAnn's the same day, which I used in the background with a spray ink wash. I cut the leaves out of decorative paper and used a blue metallic pen for writing and the dots. This is not for any particular lesson, but I used several of the techniques I learned from Misty. I "layered it until I loved it" and had a great time doing it. Spring is my favorite time of year.

I had a great time doing this one too, also in my MM journal. It started with a flyer that someone gave my husband about a bike rally the other day in the BBQ place. It's the background on the right side with the skull. I don't know if you can see it on here or not, but a lot of the writing on it is slightly visible through the layers. I glued down pieces of the same napkins I used before (the 2 ink figures), a sheet of the navy/cream floral cardstock from the wedding invitations, etc., using matte gel medium. I painted over all of it with titanium white and a little yellow ochre fluid acrylics and let dry.

I didn't particularly like it, and I had seen a tree made with masking tape somewhere, and I'm sorry I can't remember who shared it, so I decided to try it by masking a tree shape over what I'd done and spraying Dylusions spray ink over both pages, rubbing some of it off and letting it dry. When I peeled the tape off I loved the designs on it coming through from the layers beneath. The Dylusions spray inks are very bright and intense, and I lightened some of the places a bit. I have since learned different ways of working with them, but I love how the pages look right now.

There will be words added as soon as I decided what I want to say, but for now it speaks volumns to me without saying a word. :)