Framing a Fall Walk



Brookside Park, Ames, Iowa

 In my effort to get back into the practice of editing images for Beyond Layers assignments, I chose a shot I took with my HTC Thunderbolt last fall on a glorious Sunday when Hubby and I went for a walk at a local park.

The point of the assignment was to add frames to our images which is just what I did to help draw your attention toward the biker on the path.  I had a similar shot with no biker, but the human element made this seem more interesting to me.

The light was quite bright and scattered across the image - even in the shadows.  I played with the levels and added a color layer to help boost the warmth I felt that day.

Next I added two frame layers.  One is quite broad and is not very obvious.  I used it to darken the outer part of the image and make the center seem brighter in contrast.  A narrow dark border was added to finish this off.  Both borders are heavily feathered to blend into the shot.

I like knowing how to make this vintage-style border that is similar to a quick action I can do with the PicSay Pro app on my phone.

Zing Zing Zing

I'm back to blogging and I hope to make this a regular practice again.  This quick post features a digitally altered image of my new journal cover.

I decided to join Amanda Jolley's Joy Journal Project to help me get back to art journaling.  Our prompt was to choose a word for 2013 with further instructions.  In December I was watching episodes of the BBC program "As Time Goes By".  One of the main characters sighed that the ZING had gone out of his life.  I love the sound of that word.  ZING
I had a much more serious word in mind - STEADFAST, but ZING wouldn't let go.

This journal has bristol board pages and recycled cereal box covers.  I will bind them with my Zutter.  I may also include other paper in the journal since I'm keeping the pages loose for now.

Pieces of scrapbooking papers were adhered to cereal box cut to size.  I added smears of gesso, and stamping.  Die cut flowers were added.  I will probably add doodling to the covers as well as time goes by.  The insides of the covers are the plain side of the boxes which have some gesso and glazes of color on them with a finish of matte medium.  I can easily embellish them in a variety of ways as time goes by.

I'm also planning to get back to digital image processing and have signed up for more of Kim Klassen's inspiration with Beyond Beyond.  This was the first processing I've done with PSE for a few months and I can't believe how much I've forgotten.  I have several weeks of lessons to pour though to get caught up.  This image was altered with a bit of texture layering and blending modes along with some added text.

Tourmaline Eye Candy

 Today I've been reviewing some of my past jewelry designs as I prepare to make some new pieces.
This lovely piece is one of my favorites.  Doesn't the multicolored tourmaline make you think of a nice juicy piece of watermelon?

I added the gooseberry green shade of grossular garnet and magenta colored stick pearls along with some sterling silver and Swarovski crystals.  This lovely is available for purchase along with matching earrings.

Thanks for the well wishes for the Linn Creek Art Fest last month.  It was beastly hot, but we were blessed with a shady spot again this year.  The turn out was wonderful and I had a very good day.  The only down side for me was waking up quite sick with heat exhaustion the next day.  I learned that staying hydrated wasn't enough for me when spending a very long day with temps in the high 90's.

We are finally getting some rain in our parched drought-stricken area.  Even the birds seem happier!

Mixed Media ATC's with Dragonflies

I've created a series of ATC's following most of the same techniques I explained in my last post.  This is a scan of one of them.
If you're in the area, I hope you'll stop by my tent this Sunday at the Linn Creek Art Fest in Marshalltown.

Dragonflies will be at Linn Creek Art Fest 2012

Here's a sneak peak at mixed media art I've been working on.  I'll have a booth at the Linn Creek Art Festival in Marshalltown this coming Sunday, July 15, 2012 from 10 - 4.  This is a fun art festival with plenty to entertain the whole family in addition to the beautiful art you can see.

In addition to mixed media art, I will have acrylic paintings and jewelry.

This art piece was started on acrylic paper which is really just a heavy water media paper.  I think it has a different sizing than regular water color paper.  After applying washes of acrylic paint and allowing the paint to dry, I added visual texture with an acrylic transfer. 

To make an acrylic transfer-

Choose a laser or toner copy of clip art (I used copy of a floral design from a Dover royalty free book.) and adhere it face down to the art surface using matte or gloss gel medium.  Rub the paper to make sure there are no air bubbles, but be careful to not get any medium onto the top of the paper.  Allow the medium to thoroughly dry which can take several hours to over night, especially in humid conditions.

Now you will wet the paper you adhered to your art. 

A damp cloth works well to help keep the paper moist as the paper gets softened.  When it starts to look translucent, rub the paper and it will peel or curl up from the surface, leaving the toner image behind on your art.  If your image is coming up as you rub, you didn't adhere it with enough medium or it wasn't thoroughly dry.  Occasionally, you may be rubbing too hard.  I find Golden gel medium has very consistent results.  I've used Liquitex, too, but its gel is not as creamy as Golden and is trickier to apply evenly for this type of application.

Keep rubbing away the paper until the milky appearance is gone.  As the surface dries, you may find that you haven't removed as much paper as you thought!  Just keep wetting the surface and rub away.

I added more layers of matte medium and paint over the transfer.  I also used Caran D'Ache water soluble crayons, Inktense pencils and water soluble graphite to enhance the surface.  The transfer was very bold and I wanted to push it way back so my dragonfly clipping and text could be the stars.  The background was still a bit intense for my purposes, so I stenciled the vines with gesso and added more color glazes on it.  I also used a bit of interference paint in one of the glaze layers.

In person, the result is reminiscent of encaustic. 

The dragonfly is my personal clip art.  Last fall I painted a set of dragon flies on Tim Holtz Grunge Paper for a client.  Before delivering them, I scanned them to use for clip art in future projects.  After this collaged dragonfly dried on the surface, I embellished it with Sakura gel pens and outlined it with water soluble graphite.

The text was salvaged from an old music book that I rescued from a friend's discards.

I scanned the finished art and added the border effect to the digital image.

Now it's time to finish a bit more art...

Zentangle Inspired Note Cards on Etsy!

I've been doodling like crazy, inspired by the Zentangle® method of pattern drawing.  I scanned a dozen of my favorite creations and created sets of 6 notecards.

This is the set of cards that are folded at the top.  They are available in white or cream.

These designs open to the side.  All cards are printed on cover stock and come with matching envelopes.

You can find them in my Etsy shop.  You get 6 cards and each design is different.

If you have a favorite pattern or group of patterns,  I can put together a custom order.

Something fun you can do with these cards is to color them in!  I've used colored pencil and pastel pencils.  A fun gift would be to give the cards with a set of colored pencils.

Thanks for looking!

GPP Crusade 61 - Restraining Order

This is a simple journal page for the last GPP Street Team Crusade - Restraining Order.  The challenge was to create a simple journal page that we didn't feel compelled to cover with journaling or other details.   This page started with a bit of gesso stenciled on.  The paint was scrubbed and stenciled on with leftovers from a book project.  I poured out a bit of Golden fluid acrylic for an illustration I painted and I couldn't waste those few precious drops!  That's when I started doodling the paint on the page using a pointed calligraphy nib.

This bit of ephemera happened to be on my art table.  It came from a fortune cookie.  Do something daring.  OK - I'll post this strange for me page from my journal.  And what else can I do?

I scanned the page and converted to black and white.   What if I made a digital brush?  So I did and look what happened next....





I've been all wrapped up in patterns and repetition which is what I think inspired the digital print I created.  Following are a couple Zentangles I drew.  Have you tried it yet?  It's fun and relaxing and very portable.

This is one of my favorites - probably because of the organic lines in it. 

If you have been a follower of the GPP Crusades, you know this is the last for now.  I had my page done several weeks ago, but haven't had an opportunity to post due to busy circumstances with family.  I'll always be grateful to Michelle Ward for all her generous tutorials and challenges from the past years.  You can still go back to see the crusades and do them on your own.  Go ahead.  I dare you!