handpainted atc papers

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these are 2.5"x3.5"sheets of translucent paper that i have painted with alcohol inks. they'll make wonderful backgrounds for atc's!

leaves of color

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here's a cute little nature drawing i did using carbothello chalk-pastel pencils. i love these pencils - such brilliant color!

exquisite corpse

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wow, this was such a cool project!

my favorite paint manufacturer, liquitex, posted a challenge on their facebook page. they wanted 6 artists to create an exquisite corpse. we were each assigned a body part to create in whatever style and medium we want. we email a pic of our piece to liquitex and then they will assemble our work into one collaborative "corpse" to share with all their fans.

i was told to make a left arm and hand. i decided to make it creepy looking for halloween, since i have not yet developed the skills to make a realistic looking appendage!

i sketched an outline of my own left arm and hand resting on the table in front of me. then i painted it with iridescent gold, silver, and copper acrylic paints, accented with a pearlescent violet. it really shimmers in the light!

i tiled it on two separate sheets because i want to incorporate it into a mixed media piece later.

i can't wait to see what the other 5 artists come up with!

inspiration board

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i felt like making a quick inspiration board for myself tonight. i wanted to reinforce the feelings i have about being an artist, a crafter, a creative do-er.
i began with a 5"x7" accordion blank board book, and i spritzed color wash sprays over each panel, letting two colors drip and blend. then i pulled out my scrap drawer and glue stick and started adding bits of collage papers and hand-painted papers and fabric.
i allowed myself to work quickly, i put this together in under an hour. it's very liberating and also good practice to make something without thinking too much.

i included a sticker of a picasso painting i really love, as well as my favorite quote of his:
"art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life"

lastly i added some "power words" to each panel:
• don't wait until later...be everything i can be now
• just try
• create and feel art
• live my life well
• do what i love to do!

i hope you try making an inspiration board too, it feels good! many thanks to lorraine, one of my talented friends who inspires me every day...she gave me a few of the collage papers.

a special birthday

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today is the birthday of my very special friend, kari. i love how the colors of the card i made for her go together, strong yet serene...they reflect who she is to me.

just a couple basic cards today

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urban landscape

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this is a larger piece i just finished, 14"x20". it came about quite by accident...each section was a separate experiment with different materials and techniques. then i realized that each section had something in common, in that they felt industrial and architectural. i saw bricks, stucco, metal, glass, tiles, even roads and bridges. i found this thick black corrugated paper in my stash that reminded me of asphalt, which became a perfect background for my urban landscape.
above are strips of lutradur and translucent paper, folded or curled and glued to a backer, then spritzed with various colors of paint. below are woven strips of painted lutradur.
i stamped the dot pattern on gesso-painted cardboard, applied sand-textured medium on top, then distressed it with ink.
i painted a green acrylic square (scraps you can buy at the tap plastic store) with alcohol inks, and adhered a metal disc that was once an earring.
a friend at work gave me a bag of scrap plastic bits in all sorts of metallic colors, which i used to make a little mosaic.
i cut a tree and leaves out of lutradur, painted them, then etched them with the stencil tip of my heat tool.
i really liked stacking the sections like building blocks, and i like the contrast of the geometric shapes on the right with the more organic shapes on the left. thanks for having a look!

in the mood for an atc

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this one is on painted grunge board...collaged with a puddle of turquoise paint mixed with pouring medium, an art-deco sticker, painted strips of lutradur, and assorted embellies like broken glass and pearly gems.

handbound journals

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phew, it has been a long time since my last post!

i was busy at a trade show, bloggin' over at c&t for a while. but now i'm back with a creative troupe project.

this is a 7"x11" journal with a painted lutradur cover. i only put a few pages of translucent paper inside, since it's main purpose will be as a sales model to show off the lutradur.

i just love how acrylic inks bleed into each other when the surface is wet.

i painted the whole sheet first with watered down yellow, then while it was wet, i dripped streaks of blue and red on top and let the inks do whatever they pleased.

for the spine, i rolled and glued the cover around a thin copper tube. i punched holes in the papers with a chipboard backer every 1/2" and threaded embroidery floss all the way around the tube, then wove it back up with gold beads that i tinted green with alcohol ink.

the embellishment is a strip of lutradur that i melted with a heat gun and painted with a green that i blended from blue and yellow inks.

forcing myself into the pink

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i am not generally a big fan of pink (love the rocker, just not the color so much). but i've been feeling like i need to step out of my black, copper, bronzy, earthtone zone. so here's a mixed media piece i made today.

i started with a 12x12 sheet of heavy white board that was debossed with dots, and painted it with seven different pastel chalk ink pads, which glided over the debossed dots nicely, leaving them whiter. i collaged some inchies that my friend lisa made with glitter glue, tissue, translucent paper, punchinella with white flake medium, painted and melted lutradur, plus punched circles of metallic and velvet papers.
the finishing touch was liquitex pouring medium to create drizzles of swirls and drops of pearls. i used a heat gun after the medium was dry to bubble it up in some spots. i like how it turned out...as soon as i frame it, i will put it up for sale on my etsy.

painting on printed fabric

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before...
and after...