Time for Tea & Crumpets

I am not a tea drinker and never have been, so when I decided to do some tea staining recently, I wanted to find some tea that was different than the Lipton tea bags I use for sun tea, for the family.  (Honestly it's been years).  I stood in the tea aisle, browsing the various boxes, smelling the various scents and feeling totally overwhelmed.  I finally settled on a Celestial Seasonings, Lemon Zinger, because I simply love the smell of lemon. So, I proceeded to heat a pan of water, threw in all the tea bags and waited for the whole thing to get hot.  I was pleasantly surprised to see a blood red color instead of the usual sepia color of what I thought all tea looked like.  I poured the tea into a glass jar to save it for later and proceeded to lay the bags on watercolor paper to let them dry and stain the paper at the same time.  Another beautiful surprise!  The paper stains were lavender with a hint of green!  Crazy!

The dried tea bags are a cool pinkish red color and will be used in some collage.

The red tea is being used to over-dye some shibori fabrics I did this past summer and I am leaving them to soak overnight to let the tea process the fabrics, as much as possible.  It's not easy to be patient!

These papers will be used in some art journals later, but these photos will be used in my digital art to create some awesome backgrounds.  Combined with some other photography of local landscapes, the results should be interesting.  Never really know what you will get, unless we try.

I found myself in the tea aisle again today, sort of swaying back and forth until I picked up the smell of peppermint!  I found some green tea too, so hopefully that will be a good tea for staining as well. I also picked up something that I've never seen before, some Lipton tea that is Southern Sweet Tea for the hubby.  Hope he likes it!

What can you do with Stenciled-Gelli Printed Papers?

After creating some beautiful alternative gelli plate prints, using Cecilia Swatton's amazing stencil designs, (exclusive at Stencil Girl Stencils) this question always seems to arise:  What do you use these papers for?  And I always have an answer.  

There are many uses,  depending on the type of paper that I recycled.  The list is long and includes creating bound art journals, but this week I used these beautiful painted papers to create something new:  "Art Jewelry".  

Easy and lightweight!  These take only a few supplies such as: eyelets, hand punches for the shapes and rounded corners, Glossy Accents if you want the paper to look like polished stone, a cropodile tool to create holes and set eylets, plus miscellaneous jewelry parts to create earrings and pendants such as these.



































But since nothing is allowed to go to waste, even the negative cut-out shapes are put to use.  Here they were used to create some fun bookmarks to give as gifts.  Just need to pick up some tassles of tie some raffia through the eyelet and they will be finished. 

Blind Contour Drawing

I recently challenged the Friday painting group to have a little fun with me.  Way back when, I had an interesting assignment that allowed us to use a model in class.  A model who was dressed in a silk kimono, sitting a wicker peacock chair.  The assignment was to draw this image using only blind contour drawing.  In other words, do not let your eyes move from the model.  No looking at your paper until you were done with the whole drawing.  I simplified my challenge to just one thing.  Either a sunflower, a lotus seed head or a small group of rosehips.  Each participant could draw all three or just one, but they had to draw without looking at the paper.  Here is one of the drawings I made:  I did the rosehips first and followed it with seed heads.  The next step was to add splashes of color, which I have not done yet. 
In my original challenge, our next step was to create a collage using magazine pages and I think I might do a collage instead of splashes of paint for this as well.  It's a long time since I've done a collage and it might be fun.  Next week we will exploring watercolor painting without the aid of a drawing.  We will be focusing on flowers, specifically the sunflower. 
If you live in the Salt Lake City valley and are over 60, I would like to invite you to join the group.  We met at the Taylorsville Senior Center every Friday from 9 'til noon.   

Updating This Blog

Our recent move has been completed and we are finally-well almost-settled into our new home.  We are loving the new location, which is central to the whole valley and closer to most of our friends.  We have changed a number of things over the past few months, downsized a whole lot and I'm able to devote more time to my beloved passion of painting.  I have started a new "Open Studio" paint group at the Taylorsville Senior Center on Plymouth View recently and it has been well accepted by the community.  Each Friday AM we have a small group of artists get together, but the group will be growing as the word spreads that there's a new paint group opened for seniors to join.  You don't have to live in Taylorsville to use the beautiful facilities, but you will have to be a member of at least one local senior center.
We recently went up to the canyon to grab some pics of the amazing fall colors.  This is a shot of Bonnie getting a shot of our darling hubbies taking a break in the shade.  An interesting photo, the shadow from the trees looks cave like.  There were so many people that we ended up parking in a no parking zone and of course, anticipating the outrageous crowds of illegal parkers, the state raked in the bucks from all the tickets that were issued!  Probably met their whole yearly budget!  LOL!  Seriously though, the parking needs improvement! 
We ended our day by having the experience of watching a D-box movie: "The Maze Runner".  If you have not had the experience of a D-box movie, save your money!  The chairs were the most uncomfortable chairs ever in a theater!  They were suppose to move, but ours rarely did.  They actually kept me awake the entire movie though.  I liked the movie but you can tell there will be a sequel because it leaves you guessing about what's next. 
I will be updating and working on this blog again in the near future.  I also will be participating in a new blog hop in October, so I hope you will follow the blog to get updated as the fun approaches.  I will have a stencil tutorial to share with you and there will be a blog giveaway!  Add your email in the sidebar to follow....

Kandinski Circles

I recently found a new project that inspired, motivated and relaxed me all at the same time!  Kandinski Circles.  I painted these with watercolor but you could color these easy designs with just about anything.  A great art journal project or a wonderful way to spend a rainy afternoon with the kids.  They're simply circles drawn inside of circles and colored in.  When drawing these move your hand to the end of the pencil and loosely move your wrist to get some interesting shapes/circles.  Follow up with crayons, watercolors, pencils, markers, acrylics, etc.  Relax, listen to music, talk to friends, and just have some fun!

Another Creative Art Book Review



If you love surface design, making altered books or even art journaling, along with incorporating snippets of fibers and adding various textures, this is the book for you.  It is chock-full of ideas to give you plenty of inspiration for utilizing texture, color, fibers, design elements, resists, "Brusho" (a product from the UK which is fabric dye in powder form-use caution), oil paint-sticks, wax, papers and options for recycling products we all have available.  This book covers multiple projects and materials such as: mark-making, block printing, mono-printing, hot & cold wax, tie dying, collage and guess what-this is only half of what the book covers! 
The other half of this book will give you plenty of ideas for hand & machine stitching, embellishing, fabric manipulation, applique and ideas for creating your own unique textiles.  Plenty of eye candy to get your thought processes working, so grab your copy today!

Paint It

 

I think this book would be a welcome addition to any child's (young or old) library.  While it is clearly designed for the beginning artists who want to explore the many options afforded by mixed media, it carries some of the projects into an intermediate level, but still remains doable for all ages.  At first I was skeptical only because I am an experienced mixed media artist, but the further I investigated the projects shown in the book, the more inspired I became.  The book is full of useful information, inspirational projects and easy to follow instructions.  Published by: Capstone Young Readers publishing company, it is precise in its instructions, has great photos for guidance and I am impressed with all of the information this one compact book supplies.   The mixed media projects include: Creating "Color Fields"-(which are modern day abstracts), making your own scratchboards (I remember these from elementary school and I loved creating designs by scratching off the black surface), indirect & direct painting with oils, and Chinese Brush work.  This book touches a bit on surrealism, plein air (outdoor painting), mosaics and so much more.
I'll be adding this book to my Granddaughters library for Christmas.  I'm going to love doing these projects with her.  Share your time, share your art. 
PS.  If you do art journaling and want to learn about a variety of supplies and techniques, this is a beginners book that would help you incorporate many forms of mixed media into your journals.  From: watercolor, to oil pastels, to acrylics and applying textures, this book covers what you need to get started. 

Please note-I am an affiliate of Amazon and I do receive a few pennies for every book you purchase via the link.  It adds up and allows me to purchase a book or two each year.  So thanks for clicking on....

5 Stencil Techniques To Share!

The following posts are each a technique that can be used with stencils.

My friend Cecilia has a new line of beautifully made stencils at Stencilgirl and I wanted to share some techniques for using them with you.  I am a hoarder of stencils.  I love, love, love them and have them hanging on pegboard hooks.  I have them filling plastic bins and simply overflowing in some drawers.  They are like rubber stamps, just can't ever have enough. 

Here is a quick and easy way to get layers of fabulous color:
Start with a decorated Artist Paper, also known as: Scrapbooking Paper.  Thin some acrylic paint in your choice of colors and base coat the paper.  You want the paint to be transparent so you see some of the decorative paper underneath.
Once this paint layer is dry, you will want to work relatively fast for the next step.

Paint this paper with Black Gesso and while it is still wet, lay your stencil down on top and spritz with rubbing alcohol.  (The cheapest you can find is OK.)  Keeping the stencil in place, take a paper towel or baby wipe and lightly scrub away the gesso from the design.  As you can see from these samples, what you get is determined by the acrylic paint you first selected.  Let everything dry and your newly made paper is ready to use in a journal, add images, etc.

PS The gingko leaf is one of Cecilia's stencils available at Stencilgirl. 

To view even more techniques and stencils that were designed by Cecilia, please visit her BLOG

Scroll down for another stencil technique!

Stencil Technique #2

This technique is super easy and done in no time at all.  Any paper that is thin enough to do a rubbing will work, even a shipping tag!  You will need a clear wax crayon, a piece of paper (I used an old ledger paper) the stencil of your choice, (again I used Cecilia's Gingko stencil), and a dye based inkpad in your choice of colors.
Lay your stencil down on a hard work surface, place the paper over the stencil and rub the crayon around to get a rubbing of the stencil.  You might have to rub fairly hard to get a decent imprint.  This creates a wax resist that can now be used with the dye inkpad or thinned acrylic paint.  If you use paint, you will need to wipe of the wax areas with a baby wipe, but since I used a thin paper here, I chose to use a piece of polyfil to apply my ink.  The polyester in this fiberfill allows the ink to blend on the paper if using multiple colors, but it also will remove any ink from the waxed areas, polishing the wax to a soft shine. 

Scroll down for another stencil technique!

Stencil Technique #3

For a quick watercolor effect, I used a watercolor paper as the substrate, my stencil of choice, a baby wipe and ink color of choice.  The baby wipe has enough moisture in it that a watercolor effect simply appears.  I dabbed the color through the stencil, but didn't try to get color over the whole stencil.  I like the grungy look of the hit or miss approach.  Randomness is a good thing. 

Scroll down for yet another great technique!

Stencil Technique #4

The substrate I used for this technique was a recycled cardboard that I salvaged from a cardboard shoe box.  (See post below for another project I did using recycled shoe boxes).  I didn't have to paint a base coat of paint on this since it already had a black paper coating, but if the substrate you choose to work with needs a base coat, choose any color you like.  Next, grab a glue stick!  That's right, you want to cover the substrate with a glue stick, this will give you the amazing crackle texture you see here in the background.  Let this set for just a couple of minutes and apply an acrylic paint that you slightly thinned.  You don't want it too thick, but you don't want it too thin either.  Just like Goldilocks, you want it just right-like thick gravy!  LOL!  Let this dry, then take another stencil and dab another acrylic with a stencil brush in a random hit or miss action.  (The lines are from a beautiful heart stencil from Stencil Girl).  The red design is another stencil from Stencil Girl, but to apply this I again used a baby wipe and an inkpad.  A hit or miss action for applying, allows all the underneath colors to show through. 

Want more techniques?  Keep scrolling!

Stencil Technique #5

This will be my last technique and I think you will love it.  Start with a sheet of glossy photo paper, a cosmetic sponge and some Mod Podge or a liquid gel medium.  (I used mod podge for my sample that is shown here.)  Lay your stencil of choice on top of the glossy paper and using a cosmetic sponge, simply dab the mod podge on the stencil.  I tried to make sure it was evenly coated so I got a good impression from the stencil design.  Set this aside to dry.  I let mine dry overnight since you will be doing multiple steps on top of this. 
So, the next day, when it is dry, you will need to use a dye inkpad or various inkpads of your choice.  (I choose to use a denim blue and walnut. inks.)  With a polyfil, buff the ink over the entire surface of the glossy paper.  this will stick everywhere but over the mod podge.  This acts as a resist.  The darker the color of the inks, the better the resist will show up, so you may want to apply several applications of ink.  Now you need a texture plate of some sort.  Something like this collagraph I made using Tim Holtz's grunge board design.  (To make this I simply glued the design onto a thick cardboard.) 
Place the texture plate, collagraph, rubber stamp, etc. on a hard surface, lay your glossy paper over the top, grab a nail file or piece of sand paper and lightly sand along the surface of the paper at an angle.  You don't want to drag the file over the whole paper, just the edge of the file, over the texture plate.  This produces what looks like a rubbing even in the resist areas.  Move your texture plate as often as needed, turning it in different directions. 
I hope you enjoyed these quick and easy techniques for using stencils and please, go venture over to Stencilgirl to see who else has some amazing stencils being offered there!  I was pleasantly surprised!  A great lineup! 

Valentine's Day

This morning I was thinking of what to share for Valentine's Day and one of the ideas I thought of was "Sharing Art".  There are several people who leave art laying around for others to find-why not you!  Here is a little something I made for you to print and share tomorrow.  It is sized at 5" x 7", but it can be printed at other sizes so you can print more to a page.  Use either card-stock or glossy photo paper and once you have them printed, simply cut them apart and leave one on your table at lunch, for your waitress, or leave one on your friends desk at work.   I challenge you to find other places to share art on Valentine's Day!  It's all for fun!  Enjoy your day! 

Assignment 4

If you haven't been following Milliande through this journey of self discovery, it's not too late to join in the fun.  We are only at Assignment 4 and the previous assignments can be done in just a few minutes-maybe an hour.  Developing a pattern from shapes which is this assignment, took the longest.  I call this: "Three Sisters of St. Mary's". 

Brooklyn Art Library

In NYC, at the Brooklyn Art Library, are housed this years 22,000 entries for the 2012 Sketchbook Project.  You can view these amazing journals at their Digital Library  Simply scroll down to click digital library.  When you have arrived, if you know of an artist who has a journal in this collection, you can search for them by name.  Otherwise, plan to spend some quality time, viewing some amazing works by 22,000 artists! 

Cleaning House

Actually I'm de-cluttering, de-hoarding my studio-workspace.  It is extremely time consuming since I have so much crammed into such a tiny space, that it is near impossible to remember where everything is.  Shelves and shelves of supplies hidden away in chipboard shoe boxes.  Not any more!  I replaced those shoe boxes with see-through shoe boxes so that I can see at a glance, where everything is.  The clutter is still there, but better organized. 




So, I also hoard cardboard, chipboard and a variety of vintage papers that I need to dispose of, so I am going to make art journals from these recycled materials.  Using my digital software and the custom shape tools, I can create some interesting journals, which I love to use.  (I hoard these little journal beauties too!) 

Do You Play Bunco?

If you like to play Bunco and if you are hosting a game soon, here are some printable score cards and tally sheets that I created for a friend, that you can print off, cut apart and decorate for St. Patty's Day.   Simply click  the image and "Save As".  They print to a regular 8.5 x 11" sheet of cardstock.  Have fun!

Bean Bag Tutorial

I have been making sets of these numbered bean bags for my grandkids the past couple of weeks and yesterday one of the sets got used by my great grandson, who absolutely loved lining them up in order.  He's only 3, but knows his numbers and colors!  this morning he wanted to play with them again.  They are the perfect size 4" x 4" to fit his little hands and they are weighted just enough to be tossed but can't hurt anything.  If you would like to make a set for the younger generation in your life, here is a quick tutorial for you.
Supplies needed: Fabric (fat quarters of various bright, bold colors worked great!)  You will need 1 strip 4" wide from 10 different fabrics, cut into 4" x 4" squares and 1 strip 3" wide or scraps from another project to make the numbers.  You will need No-Sew Heat N' Bond, an iron, a 1/4 yard of unbleached muslin, cut into 3 strips 4" wide, than cut into 4" x 4" squares.  Sewing machine, thread to match and "Food Grade" beans for filling the bags.  Makes 4 sets of 10 bags!

Step 1. Cut out all the squares and using a 2" stencil, copy the numbers , (mirror imaged) onto the no-sew heat n bond fusible web.  Iron to the wrong side of the fabric scraps or 3" strips and cut them out.  Peel off the paper and iron the numbers to the center of each of the muslin squares-as shown here.
Step 2; With right sides together, stitch around the outside of the squares using a 1/4" seam and leave the bottom, center open for turning.  Clip the corners and turn right side out. 
Step 3: Fill with 3 tablespoons of beans and stitch closed.  Do not over fill these bean bags or you will have a problem stitching them closed. 

For those of you who would like a set of these bean bags but don't have time to make a set, or perhaps you don't sew,  I have one extra set you can buy for $20 + postage.  The set even comes with it's own carrying case!  If interested, e-mail me at: powellcynthia@comcast . net

Halloween-Day 7 Art Project

What can you do with a stack of  6" x 4" index cards and two recycled manila folders?   With these two things and few additional supplies you can create some fun and funky Halloween journals to give to your family or friends, or keep them for yourself to jot down some fun Halloween recipes, games and party ideas for your next get together!
Here's the list of Supplies you will need:

• 2 manila folders cut to 5" x 7" size and at one of the ends, create a 2" tab using the tab on the folder as a template.  You can get 8 of these from 2 folders plus an assortment of bookmarks to recycle! 
• Squeegee or Brayer
• Mod Podge and paint brush
• Artist Scrap-booking Papers or Hand-painted Background Papers
• Scissors or cutting mat & Rotary Cutter + Ruler
• Workspace and Freezer Paper to protect your work area
• Bind-It-All
• 6" x 4" Index Cards

1. Using the mod podge as your glue, adhere artist papers to one side of the folders, trim off excess paper and set aside to dry.  
2. Adhere paper to the reverse side, trim off excess paper and let dry. 
3. Using the Bind-It-All and the instructions on how to use this fabulous little machine, punch the holes in all the paper covered folders and index cards.  Affix the metal spiral coil to the end and you are done!

New Art Project

Recently I started a diet and with dieting, I started collecting interesting recipes that sounded good to me. Instead of using a normal index card and recipe box to hold these new found recipes-I decided to create a Rolodex of cards. On one side I added some decorative artist papers and on the other side-I left it blank so that I could write the ingredients & instructions. Of course there isn't room to write a very detailed description or lengthy instructions, so I save those recipes for the normal way. LOL! :-D I think there are probably close to 150 decorated cards on this Rolodex, so I'm busy hunting up some recipes. I'm also thinking of starting a diet blog where I can post interesting tidbits, tips, exercise info, etc. I have been really getting into this again-working out at the gym-lifting weights-boot camp classes, etc. and I have been keeping journals of the progress-which isn't much at the moment-but I at least started the journey. :-D