2015 | Day 48

Day Forty-Eight

I am home from the hospital -- I am luckily okay...no broken bones, no concussion...but I was in a pretty bad car accident this afternoon.  I was hit by a girl who ran the red light.  My car is pretty much totaled and undriveable.  I am going to be laid up for at least a few days and not likely posting to the blog.  See  you on the other side.

2015 | Day 47

Day Forty-Seven

Well, that was disappointing.  I went to grab my bag of torn up blue Unryu paper to work on Wolfy but darn it -- I must have used the end of it.  I can't find it in any of my paper spots...I found all of the other sorted bags of torn paper...even the very end of the blue marbled paper...but none of the dark blue.  Then I found a tiny scrap of it along with a couple of other remnants of blue papers.  I need to make a run to Hollander's in Ann Arbor.  I love going there but it takes so much restraint not to leave with a couple hundred buck's worth of incredible papers.

This small strip is all I have left of the dark blue Unryu paper that I used for Wolfy. 

And I thought I might be able to use a small amount of this paper for highlights or something but it is just too light.

Specifically, I am after Unryu papers.  I seem to use them the most.   Oh well...so much for getting back to work on Wolfy tonight.  Hopefully I can get to Hollander's in a few days.

2015 | Day 46

Day Forty-Six

I worked on another layer for the clouds tonight but it didn't really work out...so back to the drawing board.

I found some really neat checkerboard patterned tissue paper in the Japanese samples book.

I tore out two cloud shapes...

...but you can barely see them, even when you are right on top of them.  The paper didn't dissolve, it just doesn't show up.  You can almost see it like a very pale gray shadow...but yeah, it didn't work.

So it's back to the drawing board I guess.  I will find something else.

2015 | Day 45

Day Forty-Five

Okay -- tonight I have been back at work on the (new version) Wolfy collage.  I added white Unryu paper to the mountains to represent snow, I layered several pieces of different papers in subtle colors to simulate clouds, then added a less subtle pink to give the clouds a little more color.  This is the first time I have added papers to a collage without getting the paper(s) totally wet with matte medium after each layer...instead I used a glue stick as I was cutting/tearing the papers and adding them.  I hope I got the areas wet enough tonight to soak through and let them do their thing.  I am happy with the mountains to this point.  You can see the flower-like patterns on the three that have it and it didn't dissolve when the matte medium was painted on.  I did give those areas a light, protective fixative spray when I first applied them -- it must have helped.  I still need to fix Wolfy's blue papers and I will go back to my old method of the paper being very wet between layers. I will just need to be patient now and check on the progress tomorrow.

The starting point tonight...I've cut new tracing paper shapes of the "snow" caps so that I can cut more white Unryu paper.

I also made two tracing paper clouds to match shapes between the sun and tower #1.

The first pale pink/sort of peachy Unryu paper for the clouds.

The camera is having a very  hard time "seeing" the colors I am seeing, but you can see the difference between the two clouds -- the one on the right has the pink/peach layer, the one on the left doesn't (yet).

There...now they both have a pink/peach layer.

An overlayer of white Unryu for the clouds.

I wish the camera could see the color coming through the white paper.

You can see it a little better here.

Aha!  I found some stronger pink paper...now for another layer.

Ooh -- I like it so far.

And now for the other cloud.

The clouds and snow caps in place.  I put them all on with a glue stick...I got them all super "wet" with the glue and rubbed the paper down as much as I could (without tearing it).  After this segment I will go back to my old wet-with-matte-medium method.

Okay -- this is how it looks with a lot of matte medium worked into all of the paper(s). 

A close up of the middle mountain...I really like how the blue flower-patterned paper turned out...and it didn't dissolve...yay!

I am quite pleased that the pattern is showing up.  I hope it stays like that after the matte medium dries.

Well, that is enough for tonight.  I need to look for the dark blue paper that I used to make Wolfy...he needs some patching up done.  Gosh...I hope I still have a little left.  I think I pre-tore a bunch of it and it is in a bag in a drawer...hopefully I can locate it tonight.

2015 | Day 44

Day Forty-Four

I am feeling about 80% better than yesterday but I still got a late start on my day.  I went back to Joann Fabrics to see if they had the embroidery floss winder back in stock (they didn't) and also to see if they had any linen or linen-like fabric I could get for making some new soft sculpture guys (they did)...and bonus...the fabric in the home decor department that I was looking at was marked at 50% off!  Then I found another fabric that was marked on clearance -- AND -- when I got to the check out it turned out I could use the 20% off on your entire purchase coupon!  So that included a bunch of hand quilting thread that I bought, too!  Good day to go to the fabric store!

I got four yards (1 yard of each color) of linen and one yard of twill, plus all of those spools of thread.

The twill fabric and the cool variegated threads.

I had planned on trying to work on something but I started fooling around in my iTunes and then crossed over to YouTube and got lost in watching music.  Wow...great stuff...and then I purchased a few of the songs in iTunes then I started to make a new playlist (to make a new mix CD for the car) and then I popped over to Amazon to find the embroidery floss winder (Joann Fabrics is way too dangerous a place for me lately) and a CD and a DVD...and then it was almost 10 at night and I hadn't fed the cats or eaten my own dinner AND I still needed to do a couple of loads of laundry...then I watched the Jeopardy! episode from earlier tonight...and then it was hurry up and blog before midnight already.  Time really does fly!

2015 | Day 43

Day Forty-Three

Tonight was Second Thursday -- we haven't had one in a few months and it was good to see everyone!  (I was a bit under the weather so I sat it out tonight.)

Leann led the activity which was Artist Trading Cards.  To get a theme for the evening we rolled a letter die and people made cards that had something to do with the letter that was rolled for them.

Here are some photos:

Our newest member -- Nancy -- came by earlier in the day and we visited for a bit.  Nancy brought a snack for us and also gave us a pack of Bristol cards.  Unfortunately, Nancy was not able to stay because she'd rather not drive across town in the dark...and I don't blame her...I have night driving issues myself.  Maybe when it starts to stay light longer she will join us.  I suggested maybe she could car pool with someone from her area, too.

Present tonight:  Janice, Juana, Jan, Joan, Julia, Leann, Jane...and me for part of the time.

Leann's cards -- "M".

Julia's cards -- I guessing "H".

Jane's cards -- "K".

Joan's cards in progress -- also "K".

I wasn't in the room when Jan's letter was rolled...but here she is working on something.

Juana's work in progress.

One of Juana's cards.

Janice's cards -- the letter "E".

Even though I didn't make any cards, I got one of Janice's and two of Leann's.

Leann asked if we would be interested in doing an ATC swap each month...make cards on your own at home -- no specific theme -- and those who want to trade can trade.  It is fine if you don't feel like making cards to trade, too.  We will still have an activity -- the ATCs are a side project.

2015 | Day 42

Day Forty-Two

The day started out with meeting up with Jan, Leann, and Joan for coffee and conversation at Tuscan Cafe.  It has been a little while since all four of us have been available at the same time...it was long overdue...I love Wednesday Mornings with Jan, Leann, and Joan.

Inspired by Jan's embroidery project and her lovely little very colorful box of embroidery flosses I made a run over to Joann's Fabrics to get a bunch of my own...plus new scissors,   Jan also had a really cool little floss winder but Joann's was out of them...they said to call in a few days to see if more came in on the truck.  Oh -- I also picked up a bunch of really pretty and colorful fat quarters.

This pile loos deceptively small...I got a LOT of floss.

...including some really neat variegated ones.

Tonight I added a little to the Wofly (new version) collage.  I outlined his muzzle with a mini blue colored pencil, added a bit of blue pastel to his inner ears, and I made his nose a pastel black.  I have decided I will not be submitting Wolfy or Biteyou for that upcoming show because they are both not quite done.  I want to take my time of on them and they may end up submitted for consideration in two other upcoming shows.

Also today -- I had an early appointment with my pain clinic doctor and he upped the dosage on my meds...I am getting used to them.

2015 | Day 41

Day Forty-One

Wow...another day pretty much like yesterday...clinic appointment early tomorrow...hopefully we can figure this out and remedy it somewhat.

2015 | Day 40

Day Forty

I am starting to fall behind my projected schedule by taking so many personal nights off.  Tonight I have just an insane amount of pain and I can't concentrate on anything...plus I keep nodding off.  This has really caught me off guard. Geez.  I need to get up early in order to accompany Sue to her doctor's appointment tomorrow morning.

2015 | Day 39

Day Thirty-Nine

This is the wacky frame that came with the painting this collage is made over.  It's a bit over-the-top/a little bit of overkill for me...but the more I look at Wolfy (new version) in the frame, the more I actually like it.  (Oh -- and I am not done with this yet...it still needs quite a bit of work...I am just not sure how to proceed yet...I know what I want to do, I just don't know how to do it.)

2015 | Day 38

Day Thirty-Eight

Terri came over today and we had a good lunch at Tuscan Cafe.  We talked about all sorts of things and then we came back to my house and watched that short film I recently purchased -- Dragonflies, the Baby Cries (by Jane Gillooly).  Then we talked some more and it was time for Terri to go home.

My sinuses/allergies have been in high gear all day and still are.  I am taking another personal night.  I'm kinda woozy and not feeling too well.  I just can't get into anything tonight and I don't want to force anything...that just isn't very productive.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

2015 | Day 37

Day Thirty-Seven

After much trial and error...after many, many chalk on/chalk off attempts -- I think I may have found what the big blue fluffy guy is.  He is definitely not a biteyou...believe me, I tried to make him into one but he just wasn't having it.  

I now think he is an updated version of my old character Wolfy.  Although the original Wolfy was absolutely capable (if not actually pretty close to) biting someone, this newer version doesn't seem to need to bite.

This is one of the ceramic tiles I drew Wolfy on...there were several...and most often Wolfy was blue.

I swear -- I get more pastels and chalk on me than on the collage.

Well...here he is.  He needs quite a bit of work because of all of the mess I made on him...plus he has some messed up paper that needs to be fixed.

A longer shot.