Wednesday, March 26, 2008

background swap



This is my background for the swap on the byhandartists yahoogroup. It is the layered acrylic technique that I used for the mingle previously. A favorite technique of mine because the results are different every time depending on lots of variables. If you like predictability, this isn't for you! These colors were a very light pastel yellow, a medium green and a midnight blue.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Yalpha Mingle



This is my first of the monthly Yalpha Mingles on the byhandartists yahoogroup. Yalpha is Y for Yogi, our hostess, and alpha for the alphabet (English, that is). The challenge is to use a letter that is a minimum of 3" on a 4x 4.5 page and then decorate the page with symbols, quotes, images representing the letter. I used one of my favorite backgrounds posted by Wanda, a group member. The details are in a previous post. Gesso with 3 layers of paint lightest to darkest,leaving a bit of the original layer visible, dried between each layer except for the last which is spritzed with water allowed to sit a minute or two and then dabbed (in this case) or wiped off.
I used a pale yellow acrylic first, followed by a purple twinkling H2O and a green twinkling H2O. The results are muted but remind me of Easter and spring. I stamped a word stamp with gesso, which is really not visible with the "b" attached.
I used another stamp in the bird series with wisteria chalk ink next.
I like my new bird stamp so I chose a bigger than the page "b" chipboard letter. Gesso, purple twinkling H2O with some intentional brush strokes, dried, stamped with a nest stamp in Archival Ink Jet Black. The bird is also stamped with the same ink on white cardstock and cut out and woven through the opening of the "b". The "believe" is a word stamp I have that is self-inking. Same little nest on the back in the same ink, eggs painted with the purple twinkling H2O.

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Marg's Music Deco


I think this is my final deco to work in. They have all been such a treat to see and a joy to do art in. I'm sending Linda's home and Marg's will get to her soon after.
I do love this quote, I chose it for my own deco.
A question was asked about the background so I'll add it to this post. I used patterned paper by Daisy D, antique music, if I remember correctly. I did a semi-dry wash of gesso and smeared it with my finger over it, stamped over that with a flourish stamp with gesso and antique photo distress ink and stamped the little bird with the distress ink, also. On the left side, in addition to the above, I spritzed over an antique doily with walnut ink and went over it just a bit with a light smear of gesso. I printed the quote directly on the altered paper. Think that is about it.

Saturday, March 08, 2008

A second post today!





I wanted to post pictures of our snow! It snowed for about 28 hours nearly steadily. We ended up with about 12 inches in our backyard and 17 inch drifts. It was a pretty snow. Jim and I walked to the park and watched the people sledding on "dog hill".

Music deco




This is the last page of Linda's music deco. Her theme is Rock Legends and I went with a favorite of mine, the Beatles. My first album ever was the Beatles "Rubber Soul". I about wore it out playing it over and over.
I couldn't get a good scan, the book is so thick, of the spread so here are the two pages. Ooops you can see a stray red fiber over the 2nd picture!

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

another Lisa Vollrath countdown

Listed in the links to the right- Lovely Links- find Lisa Vollrath's new countdown for St. Patrick's day. ( http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/ )
Enjoy- I'm catching up after vacationing in Seattle with DD, who by the way, just received word that she's accepted into her PhD program at UW!