Lori Z Art Maniac

Too Many Blogs?

2010-11-08T07:57:00.000-08:00

I've been so busy updating group blogs and Facebook pages that I've completely neglected my own blog. Typical of me! Then I realized I can just post links to those other sites! Duh.

Here's are two posts with LOTS of new photos from the Made in Ojai Book Arts show on Saturday. What a fantastic event!

Made in Ojai's Facebook page
Made in Ojai Artisans' Blog

Adventures in Poly Clay

2010-09-30T12:19:00.000-07:00

During a recent art retreat here at my house with my friends Diana and Nona, we experimented with polymer clay. It was a LOT of fun!

Here are some charms I made using a clear floral gem with an image behind it, with stamped clay made into a surround:

These are simple charms stamped with texture and brushed with PearlEx for shimmer:

Nona made some faux ivory clay and shared a bit, so I experimented with these beads and dangles.

And I made some faux wood and cast them in molds to create these:

The rest of these are cast in molds I made using silicone mold putty and some buttons and old jewelry pieces:

Now to get some jewelry made with these and the resin charms we made the last time we were together!

Gelatin Prints

2010-08-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

Just realized I never posted photos of the amazing gelatin prints I made with my friend Evergreen a few months ago. These were so fun and I was stunned with the results! The photos are pretty lousy, but you get the idea.

Music Festival Booth

2010-06-14T12:49:00.001-07:00

What a great weekend at Libbey Park! Here are a few shots of our booth and my booth space.

I sold SIX necklaces! It was great to see lots of interest in my funky, steampunky stuff.

Ugh. Jewelry is HARD to photograph!

2010-06-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

Just a few shots of new works, some of which I sold at this weekend's Music Festival.

I actually sold a few pieces that I hadn't photographed, 'cause I got frustrated trying to get shots that weren't blurry or blown out.

Time for a digital photo class??

More Steampunkiness

2010-05-28T23:17:00.000-07:00

A few of the pieces I've been working on lately:

gotta get better at this product photo thing.

Sarah's Necklace

2010-05-28T17:55:00.000-07:00

My friend Melissa came over the other day and used things from my growing collection to design a necklace for her niece.

Sarah recently graduated from college and wants to be a writer. This piece could be called "Time to Write."

Ventura Flea Market Haul

2010-05-20T12:54:00.000-07:00

Oh, boy. Yesterday, my sister-in-law clued me in to the weekly flea market held at the Ventura Fair Grounds every Wednesday. I got in BIG trouble there. So many vintage jewelry vendors! I got a bunch of pieces to use in my new jewelry venture, as well as one precious little cabinet card and a stack of topo maps to use to make collage papers. Oh, and I didn't take photos of the 12 cigar boxes I picked up for $20. Oy. It was way toooo much fun!

The next photos you see here will be of new jewelry pieces combining these and other elements in new, fun, and funky ways. ;-)

Canvas Fowers

2010-05-12T17:32:00.000-07:00

The felt has been put away and flowers are now blooming in painted and transferred canvas! These will become pins, headbands, and who knows what else.

Resin Charms

2010-05-07T19:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my first adventure in resin. These charms are made from watch backs and various watch parts, charms, jewels, and buttons.

Not bad for a first try!

Tiny Self

2010-04-30T16:33:00.000-07:00

I had a ball last night at a "create together" event for Made in Ojai AND finished this piece for the Tiny Self exhibit!

Forays Into Jewelry

2010-04-30T09:27:00.000-07:00

oh, boy. I've been resisting jewelry making for some time, knowing that I don't have room for more STUFF in my house. But I've succumbed (sp?).

Here are some funky steampunk necklaces I made from thrift store finds and old watch parts:

And some cocoon bead bracelets (a Nina Bagley invention taught to me by Diana):

And the jewel in the crown: a pendant I made in a class with Carl Stanley. This is done 100% from scratch, with sheets of sterling silver, copper, sterling wire, a Cubic Zirconia, and found objects. There are eight (count 'em!) cold connections in this baby, including three kinds of handmade rivets, folding tabs, and staples. What a learning experience!

Stitched Collage Class

2010-04-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

I taught a fantastic, relaxed stitched collage class at Vita Art Center this week. Just four students, which is not all that profitable, but is SO much easier than a larger class.

Here are the students hard at work:

And their amazing artwork:

Ladell

Melissa

Patty

Love the treatment Patty gave to the core of this apple image!

Peggie

Mom's Day Felted Flowers

2010-04-30T09:04:00.001-07:00

Oooh, having a ball making these felted flowers out of thrift store sweaters! Some have become pins, some magnets, and who knows where else they will end up?

Wrist Warmers Galore!

2010-03-08T09:14:00.000-08:00

I've been cranking out the wrist warmers the past few weeks and putting them in the store before taking photos. Four pair sold before I could get in there with the camera!

Here are a couple of shots of what's still available:

I've been experimenting with different types of embroidery, which I've found I truly enjoy!

Lianne's Sweater

2010-03-03T17:30:00.001-08:00

Finally got some photos of the sweater I mad Lianne for Xmas. Had trouble coming up with a closure for the front, since I had planned on using a zipper but could not find one the right color. Still not so sure about the frog closures, but at least she can hook it shut!

Planchette!

2010-02-14T09:07:00.000-08:00

Just found out the Oija letter-finder thingy is called a planchette!

here's the definition:

plan·chette (plan s̸het′)

noun
a small, heart-shaped or triangular device, often having as one of its supports a pencil, that is supposed to write out a message or, as with a Ouija board, point to letters or words, as it moves with the fingers resting lightly on it.

Guess I should know that before I make art with it. ;-)

Steampunk Ouija Heart

2010-02-12T17:40:00.001-08:00

I bought a Ouija set at the thrift store recently with the thought of using the board for journal covers, and when I opened the box I realized the little letter finder was heart-shaped!

So I altered it to make this Steampunk Valentine piece:

It's going into the store tomorrow, just in time for Valentine's Day. Let's hope someone with, um, eclectic tastes needs a last-minute gift.

Steampunk Keychains and Magnets

2010-02-05T09:55:00.000-08:00

Just finished these and will put in the store today for Valentine's Day.

Images are of fronts and backs of keychains.

Hardware Harriet!

2010-02-04T05:59:00.003-08:00

Made a second heart for the store's Heart Art event. Just had to try to do one with nothing but silver hardware. She's a two-faced little robot minx! ;-)

And here's a montage of some of the hearts at the store that Roberta put together:

Art Jouranling Group Ojai

2010-01-29T20:38:00.000-08:00

Having FUN on Monday nights with a great group of women and tons of art journaling stuff!

eBay SCORES!

2010-01-27T20:13:00.000-08:00

Oh, I am soooo bad. Got the Steampunk bug, so went onto eBay to look for watches or watch parts. I won the auctions for two amazing items. These beauties just arrived today.

This one is a little box (4.5 x 2.5 inches) with teeny tiny vials full of little parts. Amazing.

This is a much larger metal box (12 inches wide) with two drawers full of interesting parts, both old and new.

Top drawer with tins closed. Just the tins alone are pretty awesome.

Top drawer with tins open.

Bottom drawer with tins closed.

Bottom drawer with tins open.

A couple of close-ups of the parts.

Now to make some Steampunk STUFF!

Steampunk Heart DONE!

2010-01-24T09:35:00.000-08:00

Wow, just when I think I'm getting better at not overdoing things. But I like it and it was FUN to make!

It's SO hard to take photos of things like this. I think a light box might be in my future.

Oooh, fantastic giveaway!

2010-01-21T22:48:00.001-08:00

Check it out at Rosy Revolver!

Recycled Junk Mail Book

2010-01-18T09:18:00.000-08:00

Sample book for my class at Vita Art Center on February 24.

Books Arts Show: A Success Despite Rain!

2010-01-18T08:57:00.000-08:00

Wow. I had a GREAT time last night at my first-ever book arts show at Made in Ojai. For the first two hours the store was reasonably crowded and folks were truly interested in my work and that of the other artists who showed their books.

Hooked a few new students for my art journaling group and classes at Vita Art Center, too.

We decided to do this again in the summer, when it's light late and won't rain!

My First Book Arts Show!

2010-01-04T11:17:00.000-08:00

Please come join me for this exciting event!

Student Work: Art Journaling Class

2009-11-24T07:42:00.001-08:00

I finally had a chance to correct these photos and get them posted here. In Oct/Nov I taught a six-week art journaling series at Vita Art Center, and I was amazed at the rich, meaningful and varied work my eight students produced! Here's just a taste of some of their completed pages:

And here's a grungy graffiti page I did in class:

More Felted Goodies

2009-11-16T11:48:00.000-08:00

The assembly line is in full swing here, with felt items rolling off daily.

These baby/toddler sweaters and blankies are all made primarily of cashmere and cashere blends, so they're ultra soft for the little ones.

The hard part will be deciding how much to charge for them.

Next up: More full-size Xmas stockings.

Holiday Marketplace Items

2009-11-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

It's been a felt storm around here lately! Here are some of the items I've made to sell at the Ojai Holiday Home Look-in Marketplace, which will take place November 20-22 at the old Ford dealership property.

I've also got baby blankets, Xmas pillows, and more Xmas stockings in the works.

For more info on this fantastic holiday shopping opportunity, go here.

Raven Altered Book

2009-10-06T17:20:00.000-07:00

Here are some pages from my newly finished altered book. I started this with the idea of using mostly shades of white, against the black ravens, but as you'll see, after the first spread that idea pretty much went down the drain. I'm still searching for the elusive white book inside myself.

Art Journaling Class

2009-09-28T08:35:00.001-07:00

I snapped a few photos of my Art Journaling class at Vita Art Center last week. These ladies were intent on their work!

Another class tonight, and hopefully time for more photos. It's fun to look back at what everyone did. I'm always amazed at the different results each student gets with the same materials.

More Stenciled & Stitched Mini-Journals

2009-09-06T07:42:00.000-07:00

At the risk of being redundant, here are a few more of my recent pages.

I was at the store yesterday, and Shelby came by while I was binding all these mini-journals and she snapped this photo of me, which I love because of the journals tossed on the counter in the foreground, and hate because I look sooooo fat.

Stitched & Stenciled Mini-Journals

2009-09-04T10:05:00.001-07:00

I went a bit obsessive this week painting and stenciling and stitching journal pages. I had intended to put them into a single journal, but Melissa came up with the idea of using each one to create a mini-journal containing only a few pages, which could then be used to write an little story or poem or other personal note and give as a gift. Ialways knew she was a genius!

These are all based on the online class conducted by Mary Ann Moss at Dispatch From LA. Check her out if you haven't already!

Here are a bunch of photos of individual pages and spreads, before assembling into journals.

(this one shows what it will look like with the pages inside; I will wrap the plain paper signatures in either a map, sheet music, or other printed page)

Believe it or not, this is only a small fraction of the pages I did. I completed 15 spreads, front and back. That's 30 spreads, or 60 individual pages! Yes, it's okay if you question my sanity. ;-)

More photos later.

New Photos!

2009-09-01T18:02:00.000-07:00

Lianne and posse at Refugio Beach campground:

Mark, niece Molly and her friend at Refuguio Beach campground:

Just a cute photo of Lianne:

Kyle and GF Mel and her family:

Lianne and BF Brendon:

Giant Journal Pages

2009-08-22T08:30:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of finished pages in my gigantic art journal. this baby is 12 x 24 and it's FUN to have that much room to work. It started as a bunch of pages with stencil and spray paint experiments, and I've been adding collage, more stenciling, rubber stamping, paint, pastels, and writing to turn them into meaningful pages for me.

This page is devoted to my beautiful, fantastic daughter!

Fridge Jewelry!

2009-08-11T07:54:00.000-07:00

New magnets for sale at Made in Ojai! I think they look really cool on the fridge. Definitely unique, aren't they?

Kids' Mixed Media Class 7/31/09

2009-08-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

It's fantastic what you can teach kids who are interested in art! I had a wonderful group of six yesterday for four hours, and look what they accompished!

We did so much in the class. First we altered photos with bleach, bleach pens, scratching implements and pastels. Then we altered postcards with collage and rubber stamps. Then we collaged a canvas board with neutral papers with text, maps, music, etc. and our one or two favorite altered photos or postcards. Then we painted acrylic glazes over the collage. We added a couple of tranfers over this, which was cool because the text, music and colors showed through them. Lastly, we added more paint and pastels to integrate the transfers and finish off the piece. Cool stuff!

Kids' Art Camp July '09

2009-08-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

Melissa and I had 12 kids in our week-long Illustrated Storybook class this summer. The kids worked so hard every day and completed fantastic books. They learned how to plan a large art project and follow it through. As for art techniques, the learned collage; spray watercolor with masks; stamping with gesso as a resist and glazing over with acrylic glazes; cutting and using their own stencils; making pop-ups, pockets and other interactive elements; and lots of options for adding text to their pages.

Here are a few of the class photos and finished book pages.

More Scrabble Journals

2009-07-02T07:29:00.001-07:00

These babies are selling like hotcakes! Good thing they're easy to make.

MORE Stencil Portraits

2009-05-29T09:14:00.000-07:00

I'm getting a little better at the photoshop conversion and at cutting these, but I'm still struggling with the eyes, especially in photos of people wearing glasses, and with the paint leaking under the stencil in areas where it's cut fairly narrow. But I see progress!

Here's my mom:

And my daughter:

And me!

Stencil Portraits

2009-05-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

They're far from perfect, but here are my first attempts and turning a photo of a person's face into a stencil. These are my sister and niece and nephew, and I mailed off the envelope and file folders to them earlier this week. Hope they get a kick out of them!

Mom's Mother's Day Book

2009-05-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

I finished this altered board book just in time to give it to my mom yesterday. It's interesting that I started out with the intention of working only in neutral colors and using just one or two photos on each page. I guess that just not ME!

(Can you believe that photo was taken near 50 YEARS ago!?!)

I had a lot of fun going through old photos, and I'm really glad I pulled these together here. As gifts go, I think it was a hit. ;-)

Scrabble Journals

2009-04-19T09:36:00.000-07:00

I've been scouring thrift stores for old Scrabble games for a while now because we use the tiles in some of my classes. As a result, I have a pile of Scrabble boards, and I've been thinking for months about making journals with them.

Well, here they are!

They are for sale at Made in Ojai, $28.50 for the large ones, $23.50 for the small ones. Aren't they cool?

Stencilry Class

2009-04-19T09:13:00.001-07:00

Whoooo, baby! I'm having so much fun with spray paint and stencils! I signed up for an online class with Mary Ann Moss, both because I wanted to learn more about stenciling and because I wanted to see what the online class thing was all about. I have to say, Mary Ann sets the bar very high, with a 15-20 page booklet for every lesson, a number of online videos, a class blog with samples, links to supplies, and lots of inspiration.

The first lesson was all about using "found" (as opposed to commercial or cut) stencils. I cheated a bit, and as usual I had to do thousands of these once I got started. The colors are quite a bit more vibrant than they look here, at lease on my monitor.

These use a lot of silver paint, which doesn't photograph well. just imagine much of the white as silver. It's quite cool!

These are done using painter's tape as a mask:

I'm still working on my portfolio cover for the class. Photos coming soon!

Ojai Artisans Space us UP!

2009-04-04T08:51:00.000-07:00

Jean and I spent a couple of hours yesterday setting up our space at Made in Ojai, with the help of her husband Bob. I'm pretty happy with how it looks. I think it might be a little too crowded, but we have a lot of stuff to sell in a small space. What do you think?

Here are Jean and Bob early in the setup process:

Here's the entire space:

And here are a bunch of detail photos!

Please send us lots of SELLING Karma!

Altered Mondays: Session Two

2009-03-30T06:41:00.001-07:00

Announcing the second six-week session of Altered Mondays at Vita Art Center in Ventura!

Altered Mondays
Mondays, 4/6-5/18, No class May 4
6:30-9 pm

Week 1: Altered Papers
We’ll alter sheet music, maps, book pages and other papers using gesso resist, acrylic glazes, stamping, dry-brushing, distressing and more to create our own collage papers.

Week 2: Photo Transfers
We’ll enhance our photos using markers, crayons and colored pencils and transfer them to paper and fabric, which creates an incredible painterly effect.

Week 3: Metal Magic
With metal sheeting we’ll create stunning panels and embellishments using wet and dry embossing, paint, alcohol inks, molding paste, beads, metallic pastes, rubber stamps, and craft punches.

Week 4: Fabric, Lace and Fibers
These items are not just for sewing any more! We’ll glue, paint, and embellish fabric scraps to make beautiful, textural art fragments.

Weeks 5 and 6: Put it all together!
In the final two sessions, we’ll combine the papers, photos, metal embellishments and fabric art fragments you’ve created into a beautiful wall decoration using collage and machine stitching techniques.

Mosaic Mirrors

2009-03-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

I had a great time this week with my sister Jen and her kids (Ryan 12 and Alexa 5) making mosaic mirrors. The grouting was a challenge for the kids, but I love the way theirs turned out looking like a bunch of stuff dropped in the sand!

Here's Ryan's:

And Lexi's:

And here's Jen's:

I made two, one of them for a class I taught at Vita the past couple of weekends. Photos of that class coming soon!

Tea Box

2009-03-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

Last week I created a box to hold tea bags from a very cool cigar box that opens at the top like double doors. This was my demo piece for my Altered Mondays class, and I'm so happy with how it turned out. It looks great on the side table in my dining area.

My Bird Board Book

2009-02-26T08:57:00.000-08:00

Over the past couple of weeks I retreated from the world a bit and spent a lot of time alone in my studio, which I desperately needed. During this time I completed an altered board book as an example for the Altered Mondays class I'm teaching. I wanted the students to see a completed work, building from the demos I'd done in class. I've been wanting to do something with birds, and am pretty happy with how this turned out.

Warning, tons of photos here!

In the midst of working on this highly detailed and colorful book, I hatched (hee, hee) an idea for a much more minimalist book on ravens. Stay tuned!

Our New Fireplace!

2009-02-12T09:14:00.000-08:00

It's finally done! And I love, love, love the difference it makes in our living room!

The grouting iself was not too bad (although messy!), but we didn't clean enough of the grout off the tiles while it was still wet, so Mark ended up scrubbing for days with phosphoric acid to get all the grout off so the color of the tiles would show. The slate gray with blue tones and the rust are just perfect for the room.

Here are a few photos, plain and with some accessories added!

Next up, bamboo floors! (Well, at least I can dream.)

Vita Art Party: Greeting Cards

2009-02-07T08:05:00.000-08:00

Friday before last, Melissa and I taught at Vita's first monthly Art Party. This is an event Mary (Vita's owner) conceived to get arty folk together to mingle, party, and create. She provided snacks and wine and music, and 15 of us had a ball making some unique greeting cards.

Melissa was able to snap a few photos, but I was too busy teaching everyone how to do heat embossing. I love teaching this, as it seems magical to the uninitiated!

Amazing Altered Photos and Postcards!

2009-02-05T10:35:00.001-08:00

Last Monday was the second in the Altered Mondays series I'm teaching at Vita, and I was so impressed by the amazing results the students got with their photos and postcards. They loved the techniques and would have gone on creating late into the night if I hadn't packed up my materials and gone home!

Altered Mondays

2009-02-05T10:07:00.000-08:00

Two Mondays ago, I began teaching a series of six classes at Vita Art Center we're calling "Altered Mondays." In the first class, we altered various papers, including sheet music, ledger paper, maps, and book pages. I didn't get any good photos of the finished papers (bummer!), but I did get a few of my students and the tons of supplies I hauled to class.

I Own a Jean Angle Original!

2009-02-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

My friend Jean, whose work I have admired for several years now, took one of my failed collages and created this amazing work of art, which now hangs in my living room!

The only thing that remains of my original collage is those arches in the lower center. And Jean even made the monk's face and hands from paper clay and used lots of copper to go with my living room decor. I LOVE this!

Valentine Magnets

2009-02-04T20:00:00.000-08:00

Just a few magnets I made to sell at Made in Ojai. They're made using UTEE, shrink plastic, and various coloring methods. Somehow I slipped these in between class preparations.

OY! My Achin' Back!

2009-01-26T07:46:00.000-08:00

Mark and I spent the weekend adding slate tiles over the top of the brick surrounding our fireplace. Talk about crouching and bending! Me at the fireplace and Mark doing the cutting; we both had sore backs when it was all done.

Of course, its NOT all done, though. Still have to grout. But the hard part is done and I love the look. Have a peek:

I'll post another pic once the grouting is done, but it will have to wait until this weekend.

UTEE Experiments

2009-01-14T09:01:00.000-08:00

My friend Kristen came over last week to play with UTEE and the techniques in one of Suze Weinberg's books. We made a few things with mixed success, but of course I had to keep on going with this since I had everything out on my art table.

Here are some of the embellishments I made with UTEE, shrink plastic, PearlEx, stamps, inks, Rub 'n Buff, cardboard shapes, acrylic shapes, etc.

Arting with Nona!

2009-01-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

A post-Christmas week-long art fest with my friend Nona from New Zealand was a fantastic way to close out 2008 and begin 2009. We played with beads, shrink plastic, alcohol inks on metal, and much more. Just a few photos to commemorate the week:

We also took a class with Kelly Kilmer in which we made and began to work in an artist's journal.

Felted Xmas Stocking Redoux

2009-01-09T10:06:00.000-08:00

I made and sold some felted sweater stockings this year, so I just wanted to post a few photos so I can remember what they looked like!

I'm not even sure which ones sold, as some are still up at Made in Ojai. Whatever is left will be put away for next year.

Christmas 2008: New Traditions

2009-01-05T12:23:00.000-08:00

Another holiday season has whizzed by and I'm finally getting a chance to have a look back at all we did and made this year.

For the first time in a long while, our family was split up on Christmas. My sis-in-law Amy went to great lengths to create some new traditions for us, including a sleepover with matching jammies for all the girls! Here are some goofy shots of our celebration with my brother's family and my friend Nona from New Zealand:

I didn't make as many gifts as usual this year, but did get a few done. Here is a collage I made for Kyle and Mel's living room, to go with their Asian colors and theme:

And a scarf I made for Mel:

I made this Sedona collage in my mixed media class at Ventura College with my parents in mind. Unfortunately, i ordered the wrong size frame for it!

And several family members and friends got sets of magnetic poetry tiles that I made. The rest are for sale at a shop here in Ojai.

It just got mailed today, but i finally finished a hat and scarf for my sister out of some gorgeous natural and hand-dyed alpaca:

I'm sure I've forgotten something, but that's it for now.

Recycled Wool Sweaters Galore

2008-11-21T08:32:00.001-08:00

I've been quite the assembly line worker the past couple of weeks. A shop here in Ojai, Made in Ojai, has been selling my iPod covers, and they asked for some Xmas stockings. then I had the idea to make larger pouches for jewelry, lingerie, eyeglasses, etc.

So off I went. Can't do anything in a minor way, now, can I?

They're also having little boutiques with all the artists whose work they sell every Sunday in December, so I'll sell some of these items there.

You should see all the sweater fuzz all over my house!

Low-tech Printmaking

2008-11-16T06:59:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday I began a series of classes at Vita Art Center in Ventura which promised a unique approach to printmaking. Well, instructor Chris certainly delivered!

He's created a print frame for monoprints and uses his truck as the press!

Have a look:

It's truly ingenious, but results in him running in and out of class and driving his truck back and forth about a hundred times! Talk about a dedication to art . . .

Another Great Giveawway

2008-11-16T06:57:00.001-08:00

Hop on over to the Retro Café blog for your chance to win a huge collection of eyelets!

Packing Tape Bag

2008-11-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

With the help of DH, I finally finished the packing tape bag I started during my failed art retreat when I got so sick. This project is from the book Kaleidoscope by Suzanne Simanaitis. It's found on page 104.

Overall, I'd say the effort required is NOT worth the result. I invested about 4-5 hours in this little project, and dealing with the packing tape was extremely frustrating. Next time I think I'd try clear contact paper instead. But the bag IS pretty cool.

The thing that really held me up was the handles. I wanted to use clear plastic tubing with ribbon inside, but couldn't figure out how to attach them. Enter DH with his cool little pop-rivet tool! Evidently these rivets are used mostly for sheet metal, and Mark has used them for attaching things to his kayak. But they worked pretty well here and I'll definitely call on him again to use these nifty little guys on purse handles!

Hand-Cut Silhouette Stencils

2008-10-31T11:07:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased a heat tool for cutting my own stencils and have been having a ball tracing the silhouettes of people and things from magazine photos. I started out with some fairly simple uses of these, as stencils:

Then I used the latest batch as both masks and stencils in layers to make some papers using old sheet music and plot maps, with the addition of layers of stencils from commercial stencils. Unfortunately, these photos don't reflect the irridescent and metallic paints I used very well.

I'm supposed to be spending my time working on Xmas gifts and sewing things to sell at the local consignment shop, but this is just way too much fun! I'm thinking some of these might make interesting journal covers, or even pages in an art journal.

"Squares" Mixed Media, Continued

2008-10-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, I finally photographed the new squares collages I did for my mixed media class at Ventura College. The assignment was to do a piece "in the style of" or "influenced by" a well-known artist. I chose Jasper Johns and tried to achieve lots of texture and color.

These two pieces work so well with the large squares collage I did previously, that I reworked it a bit and now it's becoming a series. I feel like I still have more to explore with this grid pattern.

Denver Doodle Art

2008-10-30T07:54:00.000-07:00

While at my sister's house, I mostly did kid art with my niece and nephew, including a huge election scrapbook project with Ryan that took quite a few hours. But in between all that and in the middle of the night in a steroid-induced bout of insomnia, I doodled!

Family Visits in Denver

2008-10-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

Wow. Ten days in Denver went so fast! I had such a great visit with my son Kyle and his girlfriend Mel and my sister and her family. I also met Mel's family and had a fun time with them.

Kyle and Mel have a new apartment and it's fantastic. Hard wood floors, two bedrooms (a guest room for Mom!), two bathrooms, a big loft for Kyle's "man cave," and a view of the snow-capped Rockies and the sunset. And it was good to see the grand-kitties, Loki and Oni and meet Mel's cat Bella (who only bit me once!).

I had so much fun with Jen and Jim and Ryan and Alexa. On the first day, we went out to the ranch where Jen keeps her two horses. Four-year-old Lexi took most of these photos!

I spent lots of time doing art stuff with the kids. They loved drawing and using stencils with metallic markers on black paper, painting little wooden toys, and doing origami.

Kyle and Mel and I took the kids to the Downtown Denver Aquarium one day and enjoyed it so much. We took our time and relaxed, had a great lunch, and the kids spent a lot of time petting the bat rays and stingrays!

On my last full day, Jen and I took the kids down to Garden of the Gods, a beautiful park at the foot of Pike's Peak featuring fantastic rock formations. We also went to the funky little mountain town of Manitou Springs and ran into their annual coffin race and hearse parade and had lunch at a wonderful little diner. Of course, this was the day all my camera batteries decided to die, so I've got to go steal some of Jen's photos from her online album. I did get a few:

Can't wait to go back and see more of this gorgeous state and it's new inhabitants from California!

Kristin's Great Giveaway!

2008-10-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

Kristen, over at Retro Café, is having a fantastic blog giveaway!

Be sure to visit and have a peek at all the goodies you could win.

Rock, Metal, Rust?

2008-10-05T04:55:00.000-07:00

I've been having a ball with a technique I saw somewhere on the web using gesso and aluminum foil and adding inks and paints on top of it. It's tough to get good photos of this kind of thing, because of all the glare, but I'll give it a try here.

First, you take a piece of mat board or illustration board and coat with gesso. Then lay strips of foil in the wet gesso, and push the gesso up around the edges of the foil to be sure it's well adhered. I also added bits of crumpled tissue paper and some pieces of the woven-type butcher paper Cheap Joe's wraps all their shipments in. While it's still wet, you sprinkle on sand, salt, and sugar.

Let these dry completely, which can take a day or so. Be careful where you put the one with sugar on it! I left it outside on my deck over night, and it was covered with ants in the morning!

Now the really fun part begins. Take those little re-inkers for stamp pads, calligraphy ink, or any other liquidy color you have around, and drop spots all over the sheet. Spray with a little water, then set vertical and let it run. Watch what happens in the areas of salt and sugar. Turn the sheet around to get the drips to go where you want them, especially across the foil. Let that layer dry a bit, then add some walnut ink spray, Adirondak Color Wash, or whatever you want to try. I think some Pearl Ex mixed with watercolor would be great. You can also drop on fluid acrylics with an eyedropper. Spray with water again and let it flow!

Here are a couple of in-progress shots:

After this part was dry, I also rubbed on some Rub 'n Buff in various colors, scratched in colored pencils and graphite, and worked in some oil pastel in some areas. Oh, and a fantastic addition is some drybrushing of Micaceous Iron Oxide acrylic paint!

I cut the sheets into 3x3, 3x6, and 6x6 tiles for use in a "squares" series I'm working on. Stay tuned for photos of finished pieces!

This is the kind of artistic process that really gets me out of my head and into the flow, just letting the materials lead me and I watch where they go.

Taming the Art Room!

2008-10-05T04:42:00.000-07:00

Is there ANY art form out there more material-intensive than mixed media??? I can only think of one, perhaps: assemblage. Which is why I've avoided that one as much as possible, though I do have one box of 3D junk and a little shadow box into which I've been dropping intriguing little gems. I know, I know: It's a slippery slope!

Anyway, I can't believe it's been TWO months since I posted here. Illness and general life busy-ness have intervened, but I believe (hope) I'm back into the creative flow.

My goal these past weeks has been to tame the beast that has become my art room. To that end, we cleared a cabinet in the garage to house all the materials that I have set aside for teaching art classes, and got all that stuff put away. It made surprisingly little difference in the room, but it was a start.

Then, Mark helped me tame the most out-of-control corner of the room, where I had stacked all my large, flat items vertically and they were constantly falling all over the place and I ended up piling things on top of them. I wish I had taken a "before" photo, but here are the afters:

We built that vertical file unit with particle board, and I LOVE it! Not only does it keep all the big, flat stuff organized and accessible, but it also gives me three little stepped shelves to clutter up!

Then, my mom brought me this fantastic tiered lazy Susan thingy, so I corralled all my pens and odds and ends on the table behind my work table, and reorganized all my brushes and other tool-type stuff. Now I can actually see the surface of the table again!

I now feel like I can move around in there and find things easily, which is essential for me when I create. Whew.

More Nature Journal Class Photos

2008-08-12T19:01:00.000-07:00

My co-teacher Melissa just posted her class photos here.

Looking through them helped me to recall and reflect on the varied approaches the kids brought to their books and boxes, and I decided to recap them here, so I don't lose them.

Hannah is one of the most patient artists I've ever seen at work. She insisted on drawing and creating everything for her book by hand, and fully embraced the complimentary colors idea. She drew a progression of a wave break on four of her book panels, and the other side of her book included flaps which revealed hand-drawn images on every panel.

Emma decided on an underwater theme and stuck to it throughout her book. She was intrigued with the vintage postage stamps I provided that had images of fish on them, and used them to great advantage on her pages. She created wonderful underwater images by sticking with a gorgeous palette of blues and greens.

Ryan was intrigued by the idea of adding texture (sand and 3D items) and scents (teabags filled with cinnamon bark and lavender) to his book. One side of his book shows a progression of views of the same beach scene: from the beach, under water, from the sky, and looking back at the beach as if from a boat. The other side shows things you can do on the beach. His box is a representation of the beach view looking out over your own feet as you lie back and enjoy!

Jenna decided to use birds as her theme, and she has clearly begun to understand the idea of effective composition. Her juxtapositions of colors and interesting layouts are a treat for the eye. She also captured the feeling of looking up at birds against tree branches and sky.

Rebecca was the only student who decided to construct her book in a vertical format. It doesn't show in the photo, but the top panel has a copper wire loop with which she can hang the book on a wall. She also chose a beach theme, and cleverly hid an image of a starfish on each panel. The colors she chose for her box include stunning purples that evoke a sunset.

Natalie chose to focus her book on her favorite animal: dogs. She depicts dogs playing on the beach, and if you look closely, you can see that she's added wings to the dog image she embossed on copper for the top of her box. She took naturally to the idea of collaging text pages with colored mulberry paper over them for depth, and had a great time adding acrylic paint to just about every page and the entire inside of her box.

Harmony has a long-standing love of bee images, and devoted her book and box to them. She used a fantastic twist on the traditional black and yellow theme for bees, using copper instead of yellow on her box and some of her pages. One of her panels includes a large image of a hand-drawn bee on a dynamic black and yellow background, and one includes a bee image from a napkin, which she made into opening doors that reveal a bee embossed into copper. She also cut out a bee image and laid it on copper mesh, then sprayed the mesh with liver of sulfer, resulting in a wonderful masked image.

Maddie's theme was the sky. Her panels depict the sky at various times of day and night. In one panel, she cleverly used colored sand to represent a sunset. Images of suns and moons are used throughout her book and a beautiful sun is embossed in copper on the top of her box. This theme gave her a chance to explore a wide range of colors, which she used skillfully to give the feel of the light at different times of day.

It was a delight to work with these kids. Teaching them is so easy; I feel like all I have to do is provide some materials and techniques, and they just take off. They truly inspire me.

Kids Wow us Again in Nature Journal Class

2008-08-10T16:30:00.000-07:00

Melissa and I taught an art camp once again last week. Four hours a day, five days in a row, and the focus, patience, commitment, and talent of these kids blew us away!

Here are a few photos. For more, go here.

These were taken as the kids presented their books to all the parents on the last day:

And here's the entire gang, teachers included, with finished books:

Bags and More Bags

2008-08-06T21:32:00.000-07:00

Somehow I just can't stop making bags. While my sister-in-law was here recently, we worked on some sewing projects, and these are two of the items I created. Bev brought her super-computerized sewing machine, her serger, AND her embroidery machine all the way down from Redding. It looked like a sweat shop in our living room!

First we worked on recycled wool items and I made this backpack:

I made a couple more recycled wool items, but I can't show them here yet because they're going to be Xmas presents.

We had a ball painting canvas and stamping it with foam stamps and acrylic paint, them made some of it into canvas totes:

I'm using this one for a knitting bag, but the other canvas I painted will also become some Xmas gifts. Hey, I've got to do SOMETHING with all this stuff I make!

Wow, What a Yard Sale Surprise

2008-08-05T16:15:00.000-07:00

I bought a little box of some vintage postcards at a yard sale the other day, and when I went through them, I found this little gem in the bottom of the box:

It looks to me like a cashier's check from 1840 for $1000, and it's never been cashed. Now I need to get somebody who knows something about antique documents to take a look at this for me. If you know anyone . . .

I Learned Cables!

2008-08-05T16:13:00.001-07:00

I finally learned how to knit cables. Just finished this simple scarf, and I'm anxious to get on to more intricate cable patterns using smaller neeedles.

Nature Journal Class Sample

2008-07-13T10:01:00.001-07:00

I finally finished my sample book and box for the nature journal class Melissa and I are teaching August 4-8 at Vita Art Center in Ventura.

I made a bunch of leaf prints and in the process discovered that Lumiere metallic paints and gel medium coat the leaves enough to preserve them. Or I think they do! Time will tell.

Here are LOTS of photos (click on each photo to enlarge):

I think it turned out pretty well!

Paula's Blue Dog Calendar

2008-07-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

This month's calendar round robin was a book full of "Blue Dog" illustrations. I haven't had this much fun working in a book in a long time! I broke out the bright colors and some collage elements I purchased for a kids' class I taught, and played and played and played!

This spread includes a playable game:

Pat's Sepia Journal

2008-07-01T09:44:00.000-07:00

I just finished working in Pat's gorgeous Sepia journal for the True Colors round robin. I had a ball! I had just found an old dictionary from 1898 at a yard sale, so I found the definition of "sepia" and started there, and ended up building a little village under attack by the ink-spurting cuttlefish . . .

June Postcards: Violet and Lime

2008-06-30T20:52:00.001-07:00

I just got my postcards in the mail under the July 1 deadline. Gorgeous colors!

I used texture paste and a stencil to reverse the colors here: violet palm frond and green flower:

My Art Journal Pages are Published!

2008-06-25T18:25:00.000-07:00

I just received my copy of 1000 Artist Journal Pages and have been staring at pages 76 and 77, which contain images of three of my art journal pages. Have a look!

You can see more about the book on Amazon. It really is well done. the pages are varied and interesting and, most of all, inspiring! More than 300 gorgeous, large pages, which I think makes it a great buy.