Happy Monday and It's Prompt Day!!

The top two photos are of some antique store finds (from a trip to Hudson), finds in a shop in Schenectady (CatBird Shop) and a couple things from Bennington. The next is a 6" square Affirmation Collage I did awhile back.

Had a great day today trying out a fun new art technique with a great friend. We did rubbings of embossed wallpaper (I NEVER remember the name of the wallpaper - it starts with an A). Then we painted over the rubbing. It was very cool!!

The prompt for this week is another single word one - the word Bodacious. Isn't that a neat word?? Just the sound of it! Use it as a prompt by being bodacious or by reacting to the word.

Today's quote is one I just came across recently and just love. Short and to the point.
"If there is no wind - row." Latin Proverb

Art Journal Pages and Thoughts

These are a couple more art journal pages.
Every now and then (well, truth be told, it's more often than that), I go through a real period of doubting myself and any talent whatsoever. I feel like one reason that I get that doubt so strongly is that I am basically completely self-taught. Most things that I know about art (or craft) I have learned from a book or a magazine or by trial and error. I don't know why I feel that that makes me less worthy of the artist title, but I realize that I do feel that way. Anybody else have any thoughts on this subject???

"Female friendships that work are relationships in which women help each other belong to themselves." Louise Berkinow

Art News and Pics and a Prompt

The collages are both mini 2 3/4" square collages and are done with beeswax.

My Art News is that I'll be selling some art items at Silver Birch Trading Post in Albany! It is located just up from the Spectrum Movie Theater on Delaware Avenue. It's a nice little shop that has local artist's products and fair trade products.

This week's prompt is a single word. As usual it can be used for poetry or art. The word is emerging. React to it as you will. You can respond to it as you emerging or a part of you emerging or as something else emerging.

I have gotten some terrific swaps from the prompt challenge of 2 weeks ago - the found poetry on a background of art. Thank you to the participants and there's no deadline...if anyone else wants to participate, feel free anytime.

Today's quote is from Emily Dickinson...not one of my favorite poets, but I like some of her stuff. "The landscape listens and we hear it call our own name."

I'm Back!!

Just a quick post to let you know that I'm back from the poetry/art workshops conference. It was really great!! Lots of listening to writers read poetry and lots of writing poetry. As any of you that like poetry know, it can be very emotional - both writing it and listening to it. So, there were more than a couple tears shed, too.
I took a doll-making workshop that ran 2 workshop periods (so 3 hours/day). The head and hands were sculpted from polymer clay and then they're mounted on wire/styrofoam and then dressed in kind of flowing robes. It's quite an undertaking and I discovered (before the end of the first 3 hour stint) that I quite simply hate sculpting polymer clay! I did continue for 3 days or put another way - 9 hours that I'll never get back - but that's a touch dramatic. LOL It is done except for the clothes, which I can complete at home.
Also took a workshop of doing collage and then having that lead to writing from the chosen images. That was a good one.
The pictures posted above are 4 x 5" and 2 3/4" square respectively and are beeswax collage.
I'll be back Monday with a new prompt. Have a good weekend!
Today's quote is one reason I won't give up my film cameras, even though I also enjoy my digital camera.
"Grace wanted to slit open the envelope now. There was always an excitement with a newly developed roll of film, an opening a gift expectancy, a hurry-to-the-mailbox-even-though-it's-always-bills rush that digital photography, for all its conveniences, could never duplicate." from Just One Look by Harlan Coben

Art Journal and A Week Off

Some more art journal pages to share with you.
I won't be posting for about a week because I'm attending a Women's Writing Conference every day in Saratoga. I'll be going to lots of poetry workshops and a few art workshops. Lots of fun!!

A little More on Gel Transfers

Just wanted to say that my post on gel transfers is not the Be All and End All on gel medium transfers, but it is a good start for someone. It is a good way to try them and you should get consistent results. After that...Experiment. You never know what may work!

More Beeswax and Gel Medium Transfers

Both of these are more gel medium transfers embellished with beeswax and are 4" square. The first one has a keyhole pushed right into the canvas. I've been asked by a reader of this blog to explain how I do gel medium transfers (thanks for the question, Evelyn!). So, my process is as follows:
First of all, as an adhesive or covering or whatever, I use any of the different brands of mediums ... Golden, Liquitex, have tried a few Dick Blick. For transfers, however, I only use Golden's. It gives me consistently good results that I can rely on.
I have done gel transfers to stretched canvasses, unstretched canvas, paper, large plastic buttons, and fabric (off the top of my head). Using the exact same process with Elmer's clear caulk, I have done transfers on metal and wood. I have the best consistent results for any of the listed transfers with laser photocopies. I watch for sales at The UPS Store or other copy centers and make my copies then. Make sure to get your photocopies on just regular copy paper, not photo paper or anything special.The image will transfer backwards, if you don't want that to happen, you'll have to reverse the image while photocopying. Whatever you transfer to, will show through light parts of the image. That's why I often use script paper - I love that showing through the image!
Okay, that's all background, now the actual process:
Cut or tear your image out from the photocopy sheet. Apply (I use a 1" foam brush) a thin coat of gel medium to the front of the image. I then apply another thin coat going the other direction on the front (just to make sure that the image is well covered). Carefully flip it over face down on to the surface you want your transfer on. The important thing is you don't want any gel medium to get on the back of the image. Go over the whole back, rubbing gently with your finger or a bone folder or a spoon to ensure good contact is made between the image front and your receiving surface. If any gel medium squirts out clean it up carefully (I use a baby wipe). Since gel medium is an adhesive, if any gets on the back of the photocopy, it will glue it down. Now let it sit. I leave it overnight or at least a few hours.
Wet the back of the photocopy with water all over (not alot of water especially if you have paper as your background). Then start rubbing the photocopy with your index finger. The photocopy paper will start disintegrating and coming off. Your image transfer is underneath. Keep repeating the process (wet and rub). Let it dry and you'll see more fuzz. Wet and rub some more. I have found that rubbing it with a product called JudiKins Microglaze helps get rid of the fuzzies abit quicker (don't do this until you have most of the fuzzies off already). I recently read to rub the transfer image with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to get rid of the residual fuzzies, but I have not tried it yet. Some transfers seem to have more fuzzies than others, for some reason. Maybe it depends on the paper used in the copy center. ♥Sidenote: Spellcheck does NOT like my use of the word(?) fuzzies, but you'll know what they are when you see them!♥
That's it...it is really quite easy! And fun! And has many uses! If there are any questions, just email me.
Today's quote. Reading this, "threw me right back into tenth grade" to the little hot dog/hamburger place we used to go to across from my high school for lunch and to the school cafeteria before that. I can still picture the soup that he refers to!!
"Straightening up, he was struck with a humid waft of boiled hot dogs and some kind of furry bean-based soup that threw him right back into tenth grade." from Samaritan by Richard Price.

More on Yesterday's Prompt

I've discovered that page 3 may be a problem in some books...they start counting before the book actually begins well, the story anyway. So, feel free to take a few liberties, if needed. Go to the first page of the story and consider that page one and then count on from there. None of this is a test -- just fun!!

Monday's Prompt/Swap +

First is a 4 x 5" beeswax collage. This one is quite plain - an image gel transferred over tiny script paper, the doily type decorations at the bottom, and some blue and purple angelina waxed in. I love this image...such a peaceful scene. The sides of the canvas are painted a purplish blue.

These are two very heartfelt journal pages. Please feel free to click on them to enlarge - I wouldn't put them here if I didn't feel up to sharing them. These were done on the 11th anniversary of my Dad's death. The left hand side is kind of a letter to him. The right hand side is a poem that I wrote soon after his death.

This week's prompt.......drum roll, please.......
This is a little different and I hope that someone participates as I'm setting it up as kind of a simple swap challenge. It will be a FOUND POEM. Now don't let that scare you off -- this is a kind of poem that practically writes itself. CHOOSE a book (It can be an old one that you'll tear pages out of OR one that you type or print sentences from.) TURN to pages 3, 18, and 24. NOW choose 3 sentences from each of those pages and just decide what order the 9 sentences will go in -- there's your found poem. It may or may not make sense, I'm seen them come out both ways. Sometimes the specific sentence is specified, too, as in "go down to the 14th line on page 3", but I'm freeing it up a bit more for you.
NOW, glue or write your poem on something and it'll be ♥♥ ART ON ART ♥♥!! Your poem could be put on a photograph you've taken, some background technique you've done, or just draw/paint/or whatever around it. PLEASE don't spend alot of time on this. I'd rather have you do it. The swap part comes in that if you send it to me, I'll send one to you. I'm visualizing doing this on 4 x 6" or 5 x 7" heavy cardstock or such. It could even just be done on a postcard, whatever size that is. If there are any questions about the process, leave a comment or email me at lgj302 at gmail dot com.

"That was the great thing about being alive. Today might not be so good, but tomorrow you got another chance to get it right." from Absolute Power by David Baldacci

More Journal Pages and Angels

These are two more pages in that same art journal. I included a few pages of drafting vellum into my signatures as a semi-transparent look at done pages and you can see one of those vellum pages here.
Then there are three more of my angel collages done with Heather Cockrell's beautiful pictures. These also are done with gel medium transfers and then are embellished with a little melted beeswax at the end. These are 3 x 3" stretched canvases.

"She and Franny have often spoken of men and of how their chromosome structure, x and y, must account for so very much of the differences between the genders. You breakup with a guy and you spend days listening to 'Claire de Lune' over and over and drinking white wine and sleeping until 11 in the mirning. In the same situation, a guy gets his car detailed.

There's only 1 thing, Franny never fails to remind her. Guys wrote those songs...I've got sunshine on a cloudy day...Look at me; I'm as helpless as a kitten up a tree...Oh, my love, my darling, I hunger for your touch...Maria, I've just met a girl named Maria and suddenly that name will never be the same to me....Those were written by men. If they can do that, they cannot really be eight-celled organisms." from Twelve Times Blessed by Jacqueline Mitchard

Angels, Art journals, and a Prompt! Oh, my...

First are a couple pics of one of my art journals. I made and bound the journal. It is made from two 8 x 10" canvasboards. It is made with several signatures of different types of paper to give different experiences as I work through the journal. I actually keep a couple different types of journals at the same time. This one is a sort of diary and I also sometimes address "issues" in my life here. A different one is where I try different fun and/or new art techniques. That one also has kind of "running lists" in it like right now I'm working on a list of "150 Things I Love".
The first pic is the cover of my journal and the second is my very first page. As you can see some paint or ink that I used elsewhere in the book made a big green blob. Things like that don't bother me at all, as they are just part of the process.

The angel statue images are done with gel medium transfers. First, though, I want to credit the photographer for the simply wonderful images!! Heather Cockrell took these photos and some others that you'll see and they are just beautiful. I did gel medium transfers with photocopies of the images and then did the 4 x 4" collages. They've lastly been embellished with a thin touch of beeswax and buffed.

This week's prompt is to think of a happy memory from childhood and write about it OR make art about it OR make art from the feeling that the memory evokes in you. The first memory that pops into my head is dancing with my Daddy by standing on his shoes, so that's what I'll use when I do it. BE CREATIVE!!

"You need only claim the events of your life to make yourself yours.When you truly possess all you have been and done, which may take some time, you are fierce with reality."
Florida Scott-Maxwell