Katherine Howard

Finally!! I finished the Katherine Howard piece. As you can see, It's another new technique, which I actually really like, and originally wanted to do collages like this about 10 years ago, but never managed to quite get it.

If you remember I started this in early Feb, and absolutely hated how it was coming along, so I set it aside for nearly a month and a half hoping I would grow to like it.

Just the other week, I picked it up, and started playing with it again, and I managed to finally get the look I was going after, for the most part anyway.

It's not perfect, but I am pleased with it. And believe me, if you saw it before you would see the improvement.

This is a collage on canvas (of course), and for the collage pieces, I used her signature, her portrait, a letter written by her, her motto, and her badge.

As usual this was done by trail and error, and there are several layers involved, some covering up the original papers completely, and I actually had to print them out again, because too much was becoming obscured.

Most of the painting was done with a brayer, but some was done with a wet paper towel if you can believe it. I actually really like that effect, because it's blends the paints so nicely and discovered it by accident when I was trying to wipe off a mistake. Love it when that happens! Though if you aren't careful, the paper towel starts to shed all over the place which of course could be really uncool.

I also tried the paint splattering technique with red paint. It wasn't until after, that I realized it looks a lot like blood splatters, and gives the piece a rather gruesome effect.

Especially if you factor in the fact that she had her head chopped off. I could see how that might lead one to think that the red splatters were meant represent her blood, but honestly that wasn't what I meant to do. I kept it in because I like the accent, but I do wish the splats were bigger.

That's all for today!

Things are a changing...

First off, I'm sure you've noticed that I've changed my blog look. I was getting tired of the old one, so I had a peek over at Itkupilli's again, and chose these cool steampunk one.

She has so many cool backgrounds, and I really wanted something colorful this time, but I swear I must have tried nearly every design, but the colors just didn't go with my art, so to compromise, I chose this one. Then I went over to Pigs in Pink, and was wondering why I was looking at my blog with someone else's artwork on it. It took me a minute to realize she was using the same background too. Guess it's a popular one. :)

Now, I know the black background highlighted the pictures better, but I'm so done with black right now. Spring is coming and I'm looking for a new start.

In case you are curious, this picture is another oldie that I did last year. I guess I forgot to post that one too.

It's a 5x7 on canvas with images from.... uh oh. I totally forgot it was so long ago. I know it's someone on Flickr. Forgive me for not remembering at this time, if I remember I'll update this post it may have been Lisa Kettell. Gee whiz, It's been awhile It could also have been Suzee Que.

Anyway, I'm super excited right now, because yesterday I got my new business cards!! The only bummer is, I can't give them out yet because the website listed on them is still very much under construction.

So that means I still can't reveal my new name and site, but I hope to soon! Also I'm still waiting to clear a few things up before I talk about my other exciting news. It's not terribly exciting to others I suppose, but it's a huge step and beginning for me!

Exciting News!

Here is a piece I did last year, and totally forgot to post it. And thank goodness I did, because I have news to spread, and I didn't want to do a new post without a picture. That would have been terribly boring.

So, first things first. This collage is titled "Lily", and is an 8x10 canvas. The picture of course is by Itkupilli. It is pretty simple for me, but I actually like it that way.

Okay enough of that, let's move on to more exciting things...

I have a new online store!! No it isn't Etsy. Yet. I will get one set up soon ( I hope), but I do not have the ability to make prints yet, and all my originals are on vacation around town, so I don't even have those to sell.

What I do have is a Zazzle account, which can be found here and also on my side bar there is a Zazzle widget you can click on.

Right now I'm sticking to basic stuff like mouse pads, mugs, magnets and totes. I won't have any prints or cards made from them, because they put a Zazzle logo on the back, and call me fussy, but I don't really care for that.

I'm adding new stuff everyday, so keep checking back!

Also I will have a new web presence soon. I'm in the process of creating a website (yuck!) and changing my name. I'm afraid the Cat's Pajamas has to go because that domain name was already taken, but I did pick out a new one, which I hope you all will like.

Of course I'm not going to tell you yet. :) I'll reveal that when all is done, plus I will have some other exciting news to tell soon too! So stay tuned!

Flower Power!

Here is my latest piece. I only did one this week, due in part to "artist block", and not feeling well.

This is done on canvas as usual, but I totally forgot what size it is. I could get up right now, and measure it, but I'm pretty lazy at this moment, so let's say it's somewhere in the range of 18x36.

Anyway, this piece was originally supposed to have a Venetian Carnival theme, I even drew a mask and everything, but no matter how hard I tried it wasn't coming together.

Most of the original work is covered up in paint now, but underneath there is actually loads of paper pasted down. I was doing the patchwork collage technique, but as I went along, more and more would get covered when I tried to cover up the colors I didn't like.

I can't even remember the original colors for this but I do know it had dark purple in it, and that was messing me up big time. It threw everything off. This is not the first time. Purple and I have a somewhat spotted history when it comes to my using it in artwork.

For some reason, I can never get anything to go with it. Although the purple that is left in this piece I do like, and goes really well I think. Go figure. I've now come to the conclusion that it is fine for a supporting color, but not as the main character.

Anyhoo, a few hours in, I was fed up with the whole mess (this happens often I know). I took the cat for a walk to get a break, and then it came to me. Make a flower! The colors by now, were perfect for flowers, but not so for the mask theme I wanted.

So, as soon as I got home, I sat down and drew the flower, and after screwing it up big time trying to color it with pens (the color would not match), I decided to paint it, which surprisingly took several hours, and half a pint of ice cream.

Long story a lot longer, this is end result of a huge mistake, and guess what, I actually think it might be my favorite. :)

Ta ta for now!

Mushroom House

This piece is a 15x30 canvas. One of the biggest I've done with this technique.

Believe it or not, this was inspired by my Kelly Rae book. It looks nothing like her stuff, but I did use her patchwork collage technique, or my version of it anyway. I can't actually follow directions, so whatever I try to copy always ends up totally different. Which is good and bad at times.

On one hand, I certainly don't want to copy an artist outright, but on the other, I would like to actually learn the technique I'm trying to do. I guess I end up learning it in my own way, and usually things turn out nothing like I'd imagined.

That is exactly what happened with this piece. Like I said, it's good and bad. Oh well. It's all definitely a learning experience.

During the creating process I took pictures of every step I did. Which is the first time I've done this, and I really like going back and seeing how it all developed. I might actually post all the pics on flickr someday to show a step by step process.

Now however, I need to get back to painting!

Yes We Have No Bananas

You will have to excuse the title. I couldn't help it. What with her banana outfit and all, it was only natural that the "Yes We Have No More Bananas" song would get stuck in my head. Obviously I had to give it that name.

This is another 3x3 on canvas that I did a few weeks ago. I thought I'd already posted it, but I don't think it did. I do remember posting it somewhere though, I wonder where that was? If it is a repeat, so sorry about that.

I've been trying all week, to get some art done but for some reason, I seem to have artist block. I'm not really coming up with any good ideas and it scares me. I think tonight I will just sit down and play around and see what happens.

I've been scared to do that for fear of "ruining" or wasting canvas and supplies in case I don't come up with anything, but I really need to create. I think if I don't I might get discouraged again, and I do not want another 3 or 4 months to go by before I can paint again.

Wish me luck!

Suzy Homemaker

I'm really liking this collage now. It's a 10x10 canvas, and believe it or not, I started this last September.

I drew the girl and started the background, and then never did anything else. It sat on a shelf until now.

I just saw it again the other day, and thought I wonder if I could apply Kelly Rae's technique to it?

So I stuck a bunch of papers on and slathered it in paint, added embellishments and this is what happened.

The dress I actually did last year too, and it is made up of various fabric scraps I had lying around. I was afraid at first that it would be too busy, but I think it actually works ok.

That's all for now.

Learning to Fly

This is one of the Kelly Rae inspired pieces I've been working on lately. In fact this is the piece that had the brown pastel mishap. I think I fixed up pretty well. Thank goodness.

It's an 18x24 canvas, which means it took a lot of paper and glue! Wow. I was super surprised at how much gel medium it actually took. The other collages I do, are usually smaller, so I don't normally use half a bottle of glue in one piece! And it was new too!

Originally I wanted this piece to be titled You can Fly When You Want To. Which to me that means, you can do whatever it is you want to do in life, whenever you are ready to let go of everything that is holding you back. Such as fears, anxieties, etc.

I really wanted to put that saying in this piece somewhere. However, I did not have all the letters to complete the saying, and my handwriting looks like that of a three year old, so I chose to omit the phrase altogether. I just couldn't justify yet another trip to the art stores when I'd been there 5 times this week already.

I'm not sure why I think we have money to spend on art supplies seeing as I've been on disability for the last six months, and therefore not contributing to our household income. But whenever I step into a Michael's or Aaron Brothers it's like I forget all financial woes, and go crazy. That feeling lasts until the credit card slip is signed and then I'm like holy cow, how, and more importantly, why did I just spend $130.00 on embellishments and paper?!

Anyway, getting way off track here, (perhaps I'm feeling a wee bit guilty about my art addiction?), basically I could not go back to the store, and get what I needed to make the painting complete so I altered it a bit. Which now makes me thrifty right?

Anyway....

In other exciting news, I got a call yesterday from someone who had seen my work in the coffee shop, and they loved it so much they want to display it at the library too!

The only teeny tiny snag is... Almost all my work is at the coffee shop. I'm not sure when exactly they want to display my art, but I hope it's not right away. I sure hope they like the new techniques too, because that's what I'm working on right now, and all I have. Yikes!

Green Fairy

Here we are. Another 5x7 collage on canvas. The image is from Itkupilli, and you may recognize it from my big patchwork quilt collage.

A lot of those images I used in the patchwork collage, I really liked, so I'm probably going to do a bunch on 5x7's just to show them off better.

I finished that piece that was giving me problems the other night, and I think it came out quite good. It's very colorful! I'm having it photographed tomorrow so I won't be able to post it until then.

Now, I'm working on another Kelly Rae inspired piece, and as usual I'm having trouble. A brown oil pastel is to blame. I was using it to cover up a mistake, and well, things kinda got out of control, and now it looks like a brown pastel exploded on top of my collage.

I've been thinking all night and morning how to fix this little boo boo, and I think I might have an idea. I sure hope it works!