my new baby

Isn't she cute, if I do say so myself.I have to say I'm pleased with this piece and will find it hard to part with. I may even have to make something else for the person I was going to give it to and keep it. I haven't gotten sick of the sight of it like I usually do with pieces that take a bit of time and effort, maybe because I made her in a weekend.
The hair was a happy accident with some Angelina, spray adhesive and a heat gun ( lucky I'm still here) and the body was constructed from a haul of watch and clock parts that I won on Ebay.

I have also managed to plan the layout for 2 other pieces, which I think I will give to my son for a housewarming gift.

Altered shoe for Ruby ST

A few different views of the shoe- it was a bit different from my usual style. And is the mate to a shoe I made in my first Michael de Meng class, although they have turned out totally different.

card front for Ruby st

Take three Ruby ST tags

More Ruby ST Pics

This is a canvas, it hasn't scanned very well because of the reflection on the transparency

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ruby street

I was thrilled to be chosen by Kris from the fabulous Ruby St Designs- which you have to visit- exquisite vintage fabrics, ribbons, buttons and supplies- to be one of her Glamour Girls.
If you go to the art gallery you'll see us there.
She sent me a very generous box of goodies and this is a peek at what I made from them

bad blogger

OK so i have to be the worst blogger ever. I have just been making excuses to myself and it's time to stop!
My new day work job entails a lot more computer work and I've not felt much like sitting at the computer when I get home. And I have been travelling doing some relief managing, with no after hours access.
All of which sounds like excuses, doesn't it? sorry- no more
SO I have some catching up to do. First is this microscope holder that I made for a swap on Paperarts


It's made with crumpled tissue, paint and moonshadow mists, and of course microscope slides



The next was part of a series for a Zetti accordian book, also for paperarts.
I made these in a motel room while I was away, with very limited supplies. It was my first attempt with oil pastels. And I have to say thay weren't as hard as I thought they would be- blended beautifully. But I did learn the hard way that Versafine ink will smudge when overstamped

The returns from this swap were fantastic too. I'll post a pic when I bind them

My piece back from Gail

This the finished art work I received back from the talented Gail. I especially like the part on the rusted tin tile- you can't see it very well in the photo but there is a second transparency underneath the top one- very effective

bag of inspiration

After a day of feverish work I have finished the piece made from the stuff Liz sent me. I had painted the cigar box- Notice the blues and greens!- and had spent 2 days moving pieces around and rearranging the layout and not being satisfied with it and just as I was going to sleep the other night it hit me - what was missing - it needed the shriny shape- of course- behind it. Luckily I had just such a thing left from the paperwhimsy shadowbox- and all I had to do with it was cut the bottom lip off and voila! it fit perfectly!


Liz had included a marvellous round calculator thingy that I was realy reluctant to do anything to, but in the end it was just too perfect- so it had to be grunged up.



Liz certainly sent some very interesting pieces- esp what looked like a hood ornament- which became the woman's face at the top- I thought that part turned out esp well. All in all I'm pleased with the way the whole thing turned out- if I do say so myself!

I need a new colour

Just looking back over the last batch of pieces and thinking how alike the colour schemes are in nearly all of them.
So I am setting myself a challenge to use colours I haven't before in my next swap- look out Liz this means your bag of inspiration swap- thinking blues????

triptych

After struggling with this for a couple of weeks now, redoing 2 panels and trying to salvage the front one, I woke up this morning and knew it had to go as well.
Once the decision was made it came together fairly quickly after that.
The theme of windows and doors sort of evolved on it's own after the middle panel was finished- the only one that I started with any clear idea of what I wanted
The front panel is painted in crackle paste, both sides. I've used one of my junk doorknocker finds for the front.


The middle panel is my trusty texture paste, applied over copper tape across the opening and a transparency stuck on from the back. I've used Grungeboard hinges to hold the 3 panels together (not in the pics) and I'm pretty impressed with them



This is the front and back of the last panel, another do over, and bears no resemblance to to original layout.
All in all I'm fairly pleased finally with it. It goes in the post tomorrow, so no more tinkering!

A forgotten piece

I found this background I had made ages ago and put aside for some reason, while I was cleaning up , trying to get back a bit of inspiration. It is texture paste through a stencil, done very carefully in stages, then painted in washes of acrylic paint. Stamped and torn tissue across the bottom with gel medium.
I'm thinking maybe a background for a frame assemblage?

I had to say goodbye to an old friend today- I killed my trusty heat gun that I've had since I started stamping. And it was my own stupidity- I knocked it off my messy table, along with half the mess.
But it didn't give it's life in vain- I dismantled it and found some interesting bits inside to use- a nice piece of mesh, a coily springy thing, some cone shapes and other little bits. RIP

One of my mostest fav songs

finally found this video of Portishead- been looking for ages

PortisheadGlory Box

Music Video Codes By Music Jesus.com

think I seriously need to learn HTML, it's a bugger trying to edit when you have no clue what you're doing

paperwhimsy paperdoll shadowbox

I've just sent this piece off to my swap partner in America. It started life as a papier mache box. I cut the lid off to make the shriny bit at the top. And used one of my fav paperwhimsy images to dress up .
This piece didn't come easily either, it took a long time to come together, I think I've too much other stuff on my mind and the art work hasn't been helping like it usually does. I've just been feeling like everything is not very good lately. I'm struggling with a triptych for another swap as well , I keep looking at it and walking away and just can't seem to come up anything inspiring

tag swap

This is the front and back of a tag made for a paperarts swap recently. I've used some of the techniques learned from Michael de Meng.
I was lucky enough to draw Liz Aitkin for a partner and this is the tag she made for me

Isn't it gorgeous

More about moo

This is a Moo card made from a fractal and a transparency- how easy and effective

I've had some questions about the Moo cards- they were actually started by Moo.com where you could add some of your own art work and they will print you up a box of these little calling cards- 2.5" by 1.25"- for a small fee.

But of course us mixed media Artists :) think we can do that ourselves and so they are sort of a smaller version of an ATC with your details on the back

Final days

I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days at Kathy's before having to reluctantly leave for home.
We went shopping some more, had a look around up the mountains, where I took this photo.

We visited the reverse art truck and I bought more good stuff. I ended up having to post over 20kg home and still had to pay excess baggage!

Transparency class

The second day was using transparencies. I struggled a bit with this and wasn't 100% happy with the end result- not what I had pictured- I think I used up too much creativity on Donkey:)


One of the best thing about Micheal's classes is the critique he holds at the end of the day, where you can talk about you piece (or not) and he also makes some remarks about it.
I did take a video of this with my phone , but it is orientated the wrong way and after several frustrating tries of rotating it I finally gave up. But I do have some pics of the other girls who turned out some amazing work on both days






And one of Michael demonstrating


Kathy and Marg did an outstanding job of organising these classes and Ancient Echoes was an inspiring venue.It was great catching up with people who I wish I could see more often

The classes!

The classes with Michael de Meng were absolutely wonderful. The first day was Soda Pop Icons


This is Donkey - using one of the knockers we found at the junk shop

This is Trust using some failed rusted arms repainted "serial killer red" and a very heavy brass thingy also found at the junk shop

And this is Pearls before Swine

Melbourne trip

The first day Gail took me treasure hunting and we hit the motherload in an enormous junk shop in Footscray,which went on for ever. We spent hours here and the owner even took us upstairs to look at her private treasures.
The pictures show some of th stuff we bought- antique knockers, keys,an old pilots navigation aid, pianola role, corset, and Gail gloating over our haul. Gail also found a huge rusty plate thingy which she later presented to Michael de Meng at the workshops

back in the land of the living

Such a lot has happened since my last post- how did I let it go so long?
First up was the most wonderful trip to Melbourne, which I think deserves it's own post(finally)
Then I've had a major lifestyle change with work. After 12 years working night shift I've started day shift.
When I say day work it actually means waking up at 3:30 in the morning to get to work before 5am. This has included a lot of travelling so far and a huge learning curve with still heaps more to come.
The adjustment hasn't been easy and I've been left feeling drained and very tired on the weekends with not much inclination or inspiration to do much of anything.
So I have some catching up to do and I might try and do some today while I'm feeling awake

coffee anyone?

The inspiration for this piece comes from a growing pile of empty coffee tins, a mistakenly ordered quart of molding paste and a PaperWhimsy image



I started with the lid from a coffee tin, put down a base of molding paste, washes of acrylic paint, collaged the images, added a mica garden and grungeboard wings

moo cards

Only one day left until I leave for Melbourne for 5 glorious days of workshops with Micheal de Meng and catching up with friends adn shopping. it's probably going to take me all day to pack and organise art supplies, make an effort to leave the house reasonably clean and tidy- there's nothing worse than coming home to a mess- wash some clothes and try and squeeze in a few episodes of the West Wing.




I thought I might make some Moo cards to take with me instead of ATCs. Of course I was way too ambitious and haven't finished as many as I thought I would. This is a picture of my work table after finishing about 10, and gives an idea of the chaos I work in. I was trying use up little bits and pieces lying around on my table, but seem to have ended up with more instead of less



These are a few of the finished ones, my favourite is the one with the little primitive figure

new canvas

Just finished this little canvas, using one of the gorgeous Paperwhimsy images.
My son gave me a gift certificate for Christmas and all the goodies have just arrived.

I got some crackle paint, heaps of Grungeboard,Moonglow mica powders, some rusty stuff and of course heaps of image sheets



This is a first play with the Grungeboard and crackle and acrylic paint.
Oh I wish I didn't have to work to pay for my addiction so I'd have more time to play with it