365 Day 169

more new stuff with the glass "eyes"

If you read Day 168 you know I am having bad allergy days yesterday and today. This is about all I can creatively muster today -- but I am learning a couple of things today. And I DO need to get these eyes done so I can add them to two of my plaster cloth guys.

You know how I buy stuff and then never use it, right? Well, I have several colors of Montana Gold spray paint -- I keep hearing great things about it. Juana likes it a lot, too. I have been meaning to try it out and today is the perfect day.

I wanted the glass "eyes" to have a smoother, cleaner look than the ones I have been doing with acrylic paints and a brush. The spray paint is really great. I hit one of the pairs of eyes with a light spritz of Orange 2070 and then sprayed both sets with two coats of Poison Light CL6310.



outside BRIEFLY to spray some paint
















glass "eyes" sitting on top of tape to hold them in place -- these were hit with a short spritz of orange, then the green











how the plain green ones turned out











the orange/green ones -- I LOVE them --
both sets need to have the overspray cleaned off but I will do that later










WOW -- what a difference! I really like how these look. I will definitely be experimenting more with colors on more glass beads...the colors mix so effortlessly. I need to clean the overspray off of both sets of eyes, but I am really really happy with the results so far!

365 Day 168 (a day late...sheesh)

arrrrrrrgh -- allergies and Benadryl

I am not thrilled about losing a day (and night) yesterday to allergies and Benadryl...it feels like such a waste of time. But you know what -- I pretty much had no other choice. Blinding, pounding headache with major congestion. When Benadryl works for me, it completely knocks me out...other times it does absolutely nothing. Yesterday was a day it was working.

So today I am fighting taking another does of Benadryl. It is already 1:28 in the afternoon and I still haven't gotten anything done...my head is killing me...but I am DETERMINED to do SOMEthing creatively useful today before I have to give in.

Just now it dawned on me that I don't need to stress so much over trying to paint black circles on the glass eyes for my plaster cloth guys. Duh! I can use the unused eraser on a pencil as if it were a rubber stamp. And wouldn't you know it -- the first pencil I grabbed was from The Boca Raton Museum of Art. I guess I needed an arty pencil from an art-filled place to be able to do this.














Okay, so this blog entry is to make up for yesterday's no-post.

I will post the real entry for today later on.

365 Day 167

busy work...but done, yay!

In between errands today and this evening I made the 100 (plus about 10 extra) twisted wire hangers for the backs of the Penciled In blocks that Juana Moore and I collaborate on for our Art-o-mat series.


three colors of doubled over and twisted 24-gauge wire in three colors...red, black and green






















t style="font-style: italic;">they look pretty cool all piled together






The next thing I need to do with the hangers is to decide if I will affix them with tiny copper colored tacks (as in past series) or if I will give the heavy duty staple gun a go this time. Either way, I need to cut the length down and make little loops at the ends.




the spools of wire, pen that I wrap the wire around to make the loop, cutter and pliers...and the 100+ completed hangers




After this, I need to paint the edges of the blocks for a more finished look.

I still need to print out the main labels and the end labels for the boxes.

Then Juana and I sign the backs and pack them into the boxes and wrap them in "cellophane" and then they are packed up for shipping off to Artists in Cellophane (Art-o-mat HQ) for distribution to Art-o-mat machines across the country.

So basically there is still quite a ways to go with these...LOL.

JUST ADDED: this is how the hangers look on the backs of the blocks for Penciled In.
Here is a link for the Penciled In blog. http://penciledincollab.blogspot.com/

365 Day 166 (extra bit)

photos from relief printmaking class

These photos are from the June 6th class...when my old computer was dead.

This was our second class and we traced one of our sketch book drawings then drew it freehand onto the gray soft cut material. Then we carved the block, did a test print, then made more carving adjustments, then printed again. Have I mentioned how much I love this class?

365 Day 166

tweaking plaster cloth guys

I am feeling a little bit off today (I think it is allergies) but I wanted to do SOMEthing.

I started painting some clear glass dots for eyes.



































Then I started tweaking a few of the plaster cloth guys that I have been making as submissions for a couple of local shows. I originally started out with 10 possible guys for the show Small(er) at DAM, but a few of them have outgrown the guideline size. I will continue to work on them, but they will maybe go to a different show.


This is the guy with the bumps on him. He started out the day with just the large green glass eyes...no facial features. So far, he has got a somewhat humanoid thing going on. I'm not sure if he will keep it. I also added another bump on his forehead. All of the bumps are actually glass beads covered over with the plaster cloth.

















The horizontal guy with the orange glass eyes is the wowl I am making for Juana. I gave him eyelids and a little more shape and more of an apron. He still needs work.












Today I changed this guy's facial features to look more like a bear. It is hard to see in the photo, but in person it actually does look kinda bearish.
















I don't have any photos of this guy with just his glass eyes, but he was creeping me out -- looking like some sort of crazed baby bird...so I changed him.














This is the former crazed baby bird...now a creature with ears, a longer face and two horns...except this photo only shows one horn...kind of rhino-ish right now...this is one of the guys who is now too tall for the Small(er) show.














What have I learned today from working with the plaster cloth? I learned that if I am not totally feeling it, I should leave it alone. For me the plaster cloth is best when I am eager to get to it and then something else takes over...today I was forcing it and I am not all that thrilled with the results. They are not wholly horrible, but it wasn't a F*U*N session...it felt like work.

365 Day 165

PLENTY to keep me busy!

I need to get down to work -- I have quite a bit to do! Two Art-o-mat series and plaster cloth pieces for a couple of upcoming local shows that I hope to submit work for.



These are the Penciled In blocks (for Art-o-mat) that I have to finish off. I transfer my images onto the small blocks and Juana Moore brings them to life with incredible color combinations. Now I need to paint the edges of the blocks, finish making the little hangers for the backs and print out the labels. We made 100 blocks this time!










Yep, more Kettle-y goodness! Kettle (John Soukup) and I team up for the Art-o-mat series called KT Goodlove. Kettle paints his characters (lots of pickles, girls, and rabbits) on the blocks then I add my collage elements. There are 50 of these to do.










These are 9 plaster cloth guys I am working on for the Small(er) show at the Detroit Artists Market. I hope I get the majority of them done in time for the submissions deadline!

365 Day 164 (extra bit)

three carvings and test prints

I made these 3 carvings and test prints last week while my computer was dead, and after the Miniature Art Hunt.

I want to thank William Hessian for showing me the "automatic" drawing technique he uses/teaches some times. It has really helped me a lot.

I left these carvings unfinished so that I could get input in class on where to go with them next -- what kind of background to do, etc. The test prints are made with heavy sketch book paper and old ink...not the best materials for printmaking, but at least I could get an idea of how the carvings look. I am very happy with them. Especially the bear-like creature.


This sort of lost and sad looking guy emerged on the day I lost my wonderful new cat, Lord Jagged. We were truly soulmates. After only ten days it turned out that he was extremely ill and had to be euthanized. I was/am crushed.



































































I really love this bear-like creature.











































































I know I will leave the arms white, but I may give it a furry looking design.

















see...I would NEVER be able to just sit down and draw something like this






































this guy will probably get a few small changes, but I like his spotted coat