I was posting pictures on my facebook page for a project I’m doing for the Art House Coop Sketchbook and someone asked how I got the effect of the white gesso under the paint to come up through the paint. So I made a quick video. Enjoy!
Wet Paint Pull from Paula P. on Vimeo.
I’ve been busy testing software at work. That means I often come home at the end of the day and the last thing I want to do is get on the computer and type some more. However, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t had some time for play. I’ve been playing with the Hipstamatic, PictureShow, and Instagram apps on my iTouch. These three apps make shooting with the iTouch so much fun. And it being fun means that I’ve kept up my streak of pictures since December 27th. So that make 17 days straight so far.
Today I got out of work a little early. I had to go down to the George R. Brown Convention Center and pick up my race packet for the El Paso 5K. I won’t be running – I’ll walk the 5K but I’m glad I am participating. I also spent some time making some images downtown. My favorite was finding a Dia del Los Muertes Skull outside of Ben’s Beans.
I love finding bits of street art around Houston and have started a collection of images based on what I find.
The other thing I’ve done fun wise this week is to create a tutorial for a technique I used in my Book of Days. In it I use Gesso and Adirondack color wash sprays to create a background for my art journal.
Gesso and Colorwash technique for backgrounds from Paula P. on Vimeo.
I’m looking forward to the three day weekend. Time for playing in the garden and decluttering. Next week is going to be a short week. I’m going to Dallas for a photography workshop and I’m taking next Friday off as well! I am looking forward to some time devoted to photography and creativity.
Last week, my friend Lisa who runs Artistcellar.com challenged her facebook followers to play with the new line of Distressed Stains from Ranger. I submitted the following Artist Trading Card (ATC).
I cut the card from cardstock and then put the Peeled Paint and Broken China stain on the card. I spritzed it with some water and then let the colors run together. I hit it with the heat gun to speed up the drying, dabbed more color on top then hit it with the heat gun again. Once everything was dry, I took my letter stamps in a typewriter font and used the Black Soot Distressed Ink as the stamping color.
When I first heard of the stain, I resisted buying it because I wasn’t sure what the difference between it, the Distressed Ink Pad, and the Distressed Re-inker were. I thought if I just mixed some of the re-inker in water I could get the same effect. However, I forgot water activates the distressing properties of the ink. So I did a little investigating and here’s the difference.
The stains are a fluid water-based dye. They are quick and easy way to lay down lots of color on backgrounds or in large areas. The dabbers on the bottle are spring activated, made of nylon, and can used like a paint brush.
The ink pads are used in smaller areas and to add effects to the paper such as aging and tinting. The ink pads allow you to put down a smaller amount of water-based ink on your craft sheet and then blend it into edges of your paper with a small pad. You can also stamp with the ink pads.
The re-inkers are used to re-ink your stamp pads with color, although I found several tutorials for using them in other ways. If you choose to use your re-inkers for something other than re-inking your Distressed Ink Pads, be sure to not add any water to the re-inker bottle as it will activate the distressing properties of the ink.
All in all I was very impressed with the stains. So I’m going to start added to my collection bit by bit.
A long time ago, I started writing how I upcycled a cigar box for storage. Part 1 focused on prepping the box. Part 2 focused on decorating the papers I used to cover the box. And I’m just now getting around to showing you Part 3 which focuses on decopaging the papers onto the box.
You’ll need the papers, the gesso-primed cigar box, Modge Podge (I used the gloss coat version) and a brush.
The first step is to take all those lovely papers you painted and tear them up into strips.
Start by covering a working area on the box with a coat of modge podge.
Then paint some modge podge onto the back of the paper.
And then put the paper on the cigar box and either use a brayer or your fingers to make sure it is throughly pasted down on the box. Keep doing this process until you have box covered like you want it.
Note that on the inside of the box, you may need to let the modge podge dry before you continue.
The paper on the inside came from the liners in the cigar box. I spread alcohol ink over the paper and let it dry. The spiderweb pattern popped as a result. It also looks cool when I layered it because the paper is sheer and the colors blend a bit as I layer them.
Once you’ve gotten the sides of the box and the lid covered with your papers. Put at least one more coat of Modge Podge on it to seal it.
For this box, I really liked the seal so I left it uncovered and made it a part of the design. You can label it however you want as well. If it’s a larger box you may want to put a label on the front or the side. If it’s a smaller box you may want to just label the end that’s going to be on the bookshelf.
While this is a two dimensional design, you could make it more textural with glass beads, 3D elements, and more. You’d probably have to use a stronger glue such as E-6000 to make sure the elements stay in place. You’d also not be able to stack the box, which was important to me since I use my cigar boxes for storage.
I spent most of today doing one of my favorite non-computer activities. Playing with Mixed Media Art.
When I went into Texas Art Supply on Saturday, I happened to notice they had a class for Visual Journalling and for Patterned Doodles (a.k.a. Zentangles). Since I believe the universe sends us messages, I signed up and spent 6 very good hours playing with some new art materials and getting some ideas. I can’t wait to do more work. Here’s some pictures from what I did today.
An envelope I made. It turned out to be too big, but I can put it in another Journal.
Geometric Design using Derwent Inktense Pencils and the lid of a cookie tin.
The inside of my new Visual Art Journal.
The outside of my new Visual Art Journal
This past week has been good. The biggest thing that’s happened is I got invited to participate in the TEDx Houston as an audience member. I am excited by this opportunity because the Ted Talks are something that I really enjoy.
I also started Susannah Conway’s Unravelling e-course. There are some really interesting women in this class. It’s been an interesting exploration of self so far. We started off with Feet and its amazing some of the discussion topics we come up with from our pictorial and written explorations.
I’ve decided to start a mixed media Journal to put all my stuff in for the class. I found a really nice $3 Photo album at Half Priced Books.
I sanded the cover and then put some gesso on it to give some tooth so other paints will stick to it.
Then I started painting and stencilling the front cover
I’ve also started playing with some of the inner pages.
I’ll post more of these pages as I get going. But it’s been a lot of fun so far and I’ve learned some things about me:
That’s all I have for now!
Last month, I got brave and entered my first art show. My friend Ramona at Texas Art Asylum enocuraged me to give it a go.
I started playing with mixed media late last fall. Since then I’ve put together quite the stash of different materials and have been experimenting. I’ve got paper, paint, and glass bead medium on this piece. This weekend I think I’m going to try playing with string gel. It looks interesting and I’m feeling the need to create.
I’m also participating in an online class called Unravelling. I’m nervous about this, but excited too. One of the things that I figured out in the first couple days is that I’m essentially invisible. While I write a lot, I’m rarely in pictures. That needs to change.
Last week, Mrs. B.’s oldest Boxer, Durl, got hit by a hybrid SUV. Durl is doing fine, but the cone she’s been sportin’ so she wouldn’t lick her wounds to death needed decoratin’.
See even she was embarassed by her cone.
So while I was babysitting the dogs this afternoon, I got busy and drew a flower on the cone and started decorating it.
Here’s the cone after the petals have been drawn and the I’ve started coloring in the center of the petals.
And here it is after the yellow has been added but it hasn’t been installed on Durl yet.
And here it is installed on Durl.
One of the folks who rent Mrs. B’s pasture got a good chuckle out of decorated cone and my 3 year old self is very satisfied with her art project.
You can see the rest of her pictures with her decorated cone on Flickr.
Saturday night’s paper weaving experiment is still not really finished. I’m having issues with how tight the weave is. It’s causing me to rip the paper.
So here’s what it looked like as I was getting ready to start.
I worked about half the picture and this is what I’ve got so far:
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I’m thinking about maybe gluing all this together, then trimming it, and incorporating it into another piece. But there’s also the stubborn part of me that wants to finish it to see what it looks like.
If I use this technique again, I’ll definitely make the strips bigger.
Tonight’s project is an artist trading card (ATC).
I started with a vintage black and white picture that I had scanned of a little girl in a dress holding a rose.
I took Copic markers and colored the dress, the rose, and leaves.
Here’s the end results before I trimmed off the excess around the little girl.
And here’s the little girl on the ATC blank before I started working on it.
I laid a base of Distress Ink in Broken China and then took some Distress Ink in Black Soot to soften three of the sides. Then I took some star-shaped sequin waste that I got from Gauche Alchemy’s Shoppe and pounced some Stewart-Gill Pearlise Paint in Clamshell through the waste. Then I printed out the words and toned them down using Distress Ink in Old Paper. I glued everything down and this is the end result!
Techniques that were new to me on this one: Using Copic Markers to color an image.
Today is the start of a shiny New Year. I finished 2010 and started 2011 with family. It was a most excellent way to end the old year and start the new. The family theme will continue tomorrow when I see my brother and his family. We’ve even convinced Grandma to come with us to visit them.
Action is happening. Today was day 6 of my Polariod project and I can’t wait until I get home to scan them all in and share with you all. Many of the pictures focus on family members, but I’ve also got some interesting shots of other things. I started my art journalling for this year. Milliande.com had a theme of “Z is for Zebra” so I played with that for today’s entry. I also need to make a gift card holder for one of my Christmas presents. There’s been a bit of writing each and every day. The polariod photo has been good for generating that. Plus there’s been a series of prompts that I’ve jotted down that will explore memories I have along the I-35 Corridor.
I really can’t wait to see what else this new year brings. So far, it’s been good!
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