Technicolor Animals

I had a lot of fabric scraps left from other projects- some marbled fabric and pleated pieces with acrylic paint. So I made a bunch of ATC (Artist Trading Cards) backgrounds to use up the bits and pieces.  By adding the pleated scraps to black cards and covering others with the chartreuse and orange marbled fabric, I ended up with a nice collection of cards with  intense colors schemes.  I had been perusing some old books for another project and was intrigued by some of the vintage animal drawings.  The zebra seemed perfect for the strong black background and with the limited space on the ATC (2.5" by 3.5") I decided to just draw the head.  Then somehow, the pink and yellow got in and the final result was a colorful zebra with a green border.  That was so much fun it turned into a series of animal heads.  All were drawn on cardstock with Micron felt tips and colored with Prismacolor pencils then cut out and glued to the backgrounds.

Sunflowers from Mahala

Fellow gardener and good friend Mahala gave me a sweet bouquet of sunflowers and zinnias.  She is lucky enough to have some acreage so her flower and veggie gardeners are pretty spectacular.  She has a long row of sunflowers in her garden - I only have room for a few in my perennial beds.  I put the sunflowers in a blue glass vase and the colors together were so happy and energetic- very Van Gogh.  Took a few minutes to sketch them.  Thanks Mahala!

Tons of beads

I used the Jacquard Marbling Kit and made lots of beautiful fabric pieces.  This one had irregular circular shapes that looked like flowers.  I used some collaged paper and cut out leaf shapes then used red, orange and yellow orange beads to accentuate the circles and create the flowers.  I added the 2 ATCs (Artist Trading Cards)for a focal point.  Beading and copper wire integrated them into the background.  The swirly lines created by the marbling gave a great linear movement to the piece so I added French knots to play them up.  It took hours and hours to do all this beading but it was really relaxing and meditative.

Published in ART JOURNALING & STAMPERS SAMPLER

If you aren't familiar with the publications from Stampington & Co. be sure and check them out!  http://www.stampington.com/    They publish over a dozen beautiful mixed media and lifestyle magazines.  Many are available at Barnes & Noble or from their website.

The card above is from the July/Aug/Sept 2012 issue of Stampers Sampler.  The background was created with newspaper painted with acrylic paint and collaged with brocade and joss paper.  Machine stitching unites the layers.  3 pieces of faux postage highlight the poem by Mari Evans.

The 2 journal pages are featured in the Summer 2012 issue of Art Journaling.  The complete journal was titled Better Than Blank Book.  The book was a simple construction of vintage drawing paper with a sewn spine.  Each spread was decorated with ATCs (Artist Trading Cards), fabric  from indigo and marbling experiments, faux postage, trims and  much more.  Essentially, I did a studio clean up and used it to decorate the journal.  This work also included lots of simple drawings like the yellow flowers above.  The purpose of the book was to create a beautiful place to write and sketch without having to face the dreaded "white page". 

Back from Paris!

Paris is such a visual treat - but all of your senses are engaged when you relax into the experience.   The food choices are amazing from traditional French to ethnic choices from around the world.  The egg flan from our local boulangerie will be on my hips for months!  Listening to the French language with its distinctive cadence is a real pleasure.  I understood bits and pieces of conversations but preferred to hear the beauty of the sounds as conversational music. My olfactories were engaged in a less than pleasant way on the Metro but that was balanced with delicious food smells from the sidewalk cafes.  There was an incredible scarf store on our street and we touched every silk, cotton and exquisite wool scarf they had.  And finally, though not a real sense we were PETRIFIED at the top of the Roue de Paris pictured here.  It seemed like a great idea to see Paris from the top of this ferris wheel- until we were stopped at the top and the wind made the car swing precariously.  My goddaughter Jennifer and I were laughing, screaming and holding on for dear life. When we finally calmed down and the car stopped rocking we got some great pictures of the city laid out below us. 
For me, the best part of a juorney is coming home to the beautiful place I've created for myself with my cats, my wonderful friends, my sweetheart Greg, my house and garden.  I appreciate each part of my life so much more and am happy to return to it.  Can't wait to get in my studio and let my new ideas and inspirations take form.  I do miss that flan though.....