Here is a fun effect to try with a photograph. You can find the app for it here. If you try it once and don't like it, you can hit the 'shuffle' button until you do! Here's one more....they are fun to do!
............until later
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May 2009
Thank You
Buying a poppy, attending the parade, buying raffle tickets to the latest event hardly seems enough. How do we convey our deepest thanks for a sacrifice most of us can never comprehend? And yet we try....and hope they know, it is from our hearts.
To everyone of you, in every branch of service, in peace time or any conflict.....we know that our freedom is not free. And yet, you freely served the country you love.
Thank you.
GPP Street Team Crusade #31
It is time for the next challenge in Michelle Ward's Street Team Crusades. The challenge is to take inspiration from anything you chose (be it a product, an image, a process, a pattern on your china, etc), then by applying your own artistic take on it, make it your own. Like applying your unique 'artistic signature' to it!
Recently, I acquired a roll of vintage wallpaper on Ebay. I just love the pattern. The thin leaf branches, extending from the cabbage rose, are a silver metallic. Here, it is applied to the pages in my art journal, in it's regular form:
I dry brushed the pages with gesso, to allow a 'glimpse' of that vintage beauty to show through. Then I doodled my way into oblivion, to commemorate a book I was reading, Life Is A Verb, by Patty Digh. I captured the key ideas of the book in small capsules of their own. After filling the spread with decorative elements, using my black Pitt pen, I added watercolor to liven up the page. Finally, added some handwritten thoughts, inspired by the title, in the large frame segment on the right side of the spread.
If you look closely, you can see the 'shadow' of that underlying wallpaper pattern. It is now the mysterious foundation to an overall whole page. Without the wallpaper, the page would be fine...but with the wallpaper, another dimension is added to make it far more interesting.
When that wallpaper was manufactured, I imagine the designers believed it would be applied to some nice 1940-50's living room wall. Do you see it in your mind, at your grandparent's home? I did! I don't suppose they ever thought it would become the foundation of a crazy art journaler's page, in 2009.
Fooled them..... I made it my own!
DeCordova Sculpture Museum
Not far away....in Lincoln, MA.....is the most gorgeous estate, situated in the country, which was left by its collecting owners, to become a sculpture museum. We visited the museum last week, on Mother's Day. There is a wonderful huge mansion, that has been expanded to house many pieces, as well as short films, and interactive art installations. The rolling grounds are littered with very unique sculptures, and I took a few pics to share with you here.
This is a perfectly round ball made of bricks. The bricks and shingles match that of the mansion.
A giant hammer from their 'Working Tools' show....now placed in the parking lot.
This stone head, lying in the grass, looks a little mournful to me.
This sculpture is made up of strips cut from old tires--all rubber, wood and some metal for form.
A giant heart with all sorts of items embedded, covered with bronze.
Reads "The Merry Go Round of Hidden Agendas". This is a windpowered track of people that run through the little white houses. Each have a description of things we hit in life. Unfortunately every one of them was pretty awful, leaving little hope of redemption for the people on the track! But the sculpture, as a whole, was pretty nifty and racing furiously, as it was a very windy day.
Though this was a Mother's Day outing, the great part is, my daughter gave me tickets to the Newport (RI) Flower Show in June. It is set among the Newport Mansions on the Cliff Walk....should be spectacular! You will be hearing about that at a later date.
More on the stencil front....
In my recent spraying frenzy, I sprayed some of the more intricate stencils I've cut on some ledger paper. A good way to see how the stencil looks, and also to add to my stash for use in future projects. These are such a lot of fun to do, especially when the subject is someone/something near and dear to you.
Head shots are my daughter at 5, bottom left is me at 3, and bottom right is Lily the Wonder Westie!
Top left from a vintage photo, top right my daughter age 5, bottom left is me, and then....the striking eyes!
.......until later
*mea culpa: I just realized I posted a few of these on an earlier post. Well, you probably needed to see them again!!!!
There She is......
I cannot help gushing over the beauty of spring! I never believed I would be one of 'those' people that got their kicks out of seeing something bloom....but I can tell you..... living in the Northeast for 7 winters, I have changed my tune! I am a full fledged 'spring-ie"! If it happens in spring, I am all over it. Without further a-do, here are a few of the miracles I have been waiting upon to appear....
This, my friends, is one of 5 peony plants I put in last summer. I can hardly believe they grew BACK this year, and WITH buds no less! My life is good!
This is where those lovely plants are headed. This is a bloom from last year's plant, but THIS year....it's different. This year, the blooms aren't coming from the nursery, with the plant, but straight out of MY YARD!!!! Oh the splendor of it! Who can explain this?
OK...so I am sneaking in another type of bloom. The dogwoods are out and mighty spectacular. I snitched this branch from a nearby tree, so I could try sketching and watercoloring it. Please don't tell on me. My daughter lives in shame, when I say I am going out for a few minutes in the evening....mostly because she knows I am raiding for a bloom that doesn't yet grow in our yard.
I cannot get over the striking beauty of these spring blooms....forsythia, PJM, redbud trees, phlox, quince bushes, magnolia trees. Every color you can imagine. It is almost too beautiful to take in. I will try to limit the gushing now, but I will be thinking it!
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See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin, yet I tell you that not even Solomon, in all his splendor, was dressed like one of these.
Matthew 6: 28-29
Her Day
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Thou art thy mother's glass, and she in thee, calls back the lovely April of her prime.
~William Shakespeare
TODAY was Stencilling Day!
Finally got a day of decent weather and I got myself together to work on some stencil pages. Mary Ann Moss's Stencilry Class is just great. She really gives a lot of good detail about how to do this. After that....it's practice, man, practice!
Here is some of what I did....remember....I am PRACTICING!
First page. These are about 16 X 20....big for me! These are not finished pages, just something that I may use parts of in future journal pages.
Both of the above are on paint layered backgrounds then oversprayed
A variety of portrait stencils sprayed on ledger paper for use in other projects. I couldn't resist turning my Westie, Lily, into a two tone stencil!
The eyes have it! This is only one stencil (thanks Deb!) but I flipped over to get a pair of eyes. Fun!
That's all for now folks!
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Every once in a while, someone will mail me a single popcorn kernel that didn't pop. I'll get out a fresh kernel, tape it to a piece of paper and mail it back to them.
- Orville Redenbacher
B & W Photo Idea
I have been fooling around with the little B & W photo snaps you can find at the flea market. You know, the type that have people you don't know at all. I scan them and print them on my inkjet printer in B & W. With a light hand, brush watercolor over a portion of the photo to add a touch of color--i.e. a dress, a plant, a lamp. Leaving the rest B & W. Brush with layer of gloss medium (brushstrokes that show are fine). Stitch to a layer of cardstock then cut out with a bit of a white edge.
I embellished this one with the striped hat and some blue glitter on the lampshade after the gloss medium dried.
The girls' plaid dresses are colorized, and the little girl's dress, apron and plant beside her are colorized
These can be a fun element to add to your art journaling pages. Make up a variety, so you have lots to chose from!
......until later
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When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.
- Billy (age 4)
Swine Flu Prevention Advice
In order to avoid the Swine Flu, try to refrain from doing this....
.......um, have a good day.
