Newest Collage Work

A bit of a mess going on here, but what fun!

I have been working my way through a wonderful book entitled "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron. It is a 12 week process that will probably take me longer because I do want to get the most out of it and not have it turn into another time stresser.

I have been finding myself to be less afraid of making messes. After all I am from the 'old school' Commercial Art trained, nothing messy, no ink blots, smudges, etc. This experiment of mine is to give myself the freedom to make a mistake and turn that into art that is pleasing to me.

In the process of printing up my water color and ink paintings, there are a lot of prints that cannot be sold until I get the setting right on the printer. So using the seconds and some vintage papers and ephemera, acrylics, stamps and other found items I had a good old time!

Garrison Arts Council Craft Fair on Sunday

My booth after we were all done setting up. We had to keep the one side
wall down because the view was just too pretty to hide.

It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend this year!

I forgot to remove that package of tissue paper that is resting on the suitcase full of
my new collages.

The vendor next to me had these beautiful handmade deck chairs and
people were stopping by to sit and just enjoy this stunning view of
West Point Military Academy.

Looking north up the Hudson River.

Looking south along the Hudson River.

The Sloop 'The Woody Gutherie' passing by West Point.

A Pot of Tulips

A new  watercolor finished last night.

Of course it needed a curious little birdie!

The pot of orangey pinkish greenish tulips just called out to me....

Watercolors and pen and ink are just about my favorite mediums to work in. I am hoping to do a few new ones each week.....
This will be listed as a print and available in my ETSY shop by the weekend.

A New Idea

My new Art Bevels!

Working in softer colors and getting back to my favorite watercolors and pen and ink.

These little pieces of art can fit just about anywhere!

They are now listed on ETSY with more to come.

Ribbon Inspriation Board Tutorial

This silver painted frame has been kicking around my basement for a while now. I have been wanting to make a vision/inspiration ribbon board for my studio, but I didn't want to go out and buy more "stuff". So this frame got a good scrubbing and about six coats of a creamy white milk paint that I had left over from another project. 

I cut a piece of foam core board to fit the inside of the frame and a
piece of quilt batting to measure just about 1/2" smaller than that
and a piece of a vintage wool blanket to measure 4" larger than the board.
You don't want the batting to overlap the board or else it won't fit
the frame.

Next I pulled in the corners and held them down with tape.

I then folded in the sides and I stiched up that mitered fold. You could glue it
but I didn't want too much glue on the back since I wanted to poke the needle through
to hold the buttons.

I did hot glue the ribbon, but only because I was not going to have enough to be
too generous with it. I bleached some vintage seam binding to get the color I wanted.

I then carefully poked holes in with this vintage hat pin.
EEEK! CAUTION: be mindful of where your hands are when poking.
I almost got a poke right thru my hand!

I placed a 1/2" button on the front..

and a 1/4" button on the back.

then tied a tight couple or knots on the front button.
I like to see the cut thread ends.

I am so happy with this...

I absolutely love all the textures going on here.

The finished project!

As you can see it will not take me long to fill this board with inspirations!

Happy Valentine's Day!

A peek at the Valentines Day decorations that I placed around the house.
The mantle in my living room decorated with some heart shapes and a vintage card.

I loved these two snowy owls at Christmas time and just couldn't put them away.

Owl always love this little twig tree!!

Another vintage card with some of my art.

Hope you have a lovely day!

Studio in January

Ahhhhh….

January is the month to reorganize my studio space. I will not share photos of the mess that started back in September, but after the holiday craft fair flurry my studio needed a major cleaning!

 I took these photos back in January, but I was having issues with Picasa and couldn't figure out how to

 download them to this blog. However all is good now, I finally 'got it'!

 It feels so good to have every thing all organized and dusted of and ready for the New Year.