Imaginary Friends

There is a commercial on TV where you see someone head-on and then you see the back of their head and it is a stage. I couldn't tell you what it was a commercial for, because I was so fascinated by the stage. So I got a wig stand and carved a cave in the back. Then I gessoed it all inside and out. Then I used modeling paste to swirl around where hair would be.Then I painted it Bamboo color and the inside of the cave antique white. Then I used pastels and Q-tips to give light make-up to her. I didn't want it to be stand-out because it's not the focal point. I gave her false eyelashes too. Then off to the doll house section of Hobby Lobby. I wanted a chandelier, but they didn't have any. This ceiling fan is what they had. The blade turns!! The chair, table and candlesticks are from there too.

I cut a floor from foam board. Then I instant coffee'd a dictionary page and stamped it and covered the floor with it.

Then with the floor in place I printed a pic of a bookcase and gel mediumed it to the back wall.

I had a dried Puffer Fish and a Frozen Charlotte doll and they just seemed like they needed to live in the cave. I trimmed the edge with cord.

So I hope you like my Imaginary Friends.

Peace

A Giveaway

I thought that I would give this beaded Goddess as a hurry up Spring prize. Just leave a comment, and I will draw a name on Valentines Day. Actually I will have DH picka number and that person will win. This Lady has a leaf for a necklace and the word GROW in her beads.
Good Luck All
Peace

A Tutorial and Award

This is the piece that Val did the background for and I did the tree and Fairy. I am so flattered that so many of you like it and want to know how I did it. So here is how...
I got a sheet of waxed paper and some brown tissue paper. I scrunched the tissue and ripped and stretched and shaped until I had a basic tree. then I smeared Gel Medium on it with my fingers and just shaped it till it made me happy. I let it dry overnight on the waxed paper. Then I GENTLY peeled it off and glued it to the background. I touched it here and there with a metallic paint, just to give it more depth.

The Fairy is a copy I touched lightly with some chalks. I didn't want too much color because I didn't want to distract from the beautiful background. I glued some Cicada wings on her and glittered them. I have a small box of them I pulled off dead Cicadas. I save everything!! I cut a couple of small squares of foam board and glued them to her back and then glued her so she's sitting on the branch. Oh, I mounted her on cardstock before I cut her out. That's all there is to it.

This is an award Val gave me and I pass to some wonderful women. Their Blogs are in my Links list.

Dawn who is always so sweet-Gold Betty Boop

Pat who is always so encouraging-Artrix

Kelsey who is sooo inspiring-KO..OK

Christie who amazes me with her blog content-Serenity Now

Inka who is so generous with her Blog Candy-Inkaland

Thank you ladies for being you.

And thank you Val-Altered Heart Journey- for thinking of me.

Peace

Swapping with Val

Val Foster (the texture Queen) and I did a private swap. This is my piece and I just LOVE it!
We did a background 8x10 in size. Then we sent it to the other and added on and sent it back.


I want to explore color more this year. So I blobbed and blew color around on my canvas and then stenciled FREEDOM around the edge. Then I sent it off and started to worry. Was it too simple, or too odd? But I should have known the Fabulous Val would do something fun and unusual with it.

There's fabric and glitter and a tiny lizard and all sorts of fun.

I had a ball doing this with Val. I think I really like one on one swaps better than the ones where you have to a lot of pieces.

I hope someone else will want to swap with me.

YAY, I own a Val Foster work of art!!!

Peace

A bit of a mess

Well, this isn't turning out as planned. After I painted the whole thing a very questionable yellow, I tried doing the glaze thing with the green. I don't like it. It's not as see thru as I thought it would be. So then I thought I would blob paint on and blod it around with a can of air.

Which I like the effect of but I ran out of air. So till I get another can or inspiration strikes, this one is on the back burner.

This is a deer skull I cleaned and painted as a thank you to the processor who gives me skulls. I wonder what it says about me that doing skulls is one of my favorite things to do? I am waiting with baited breath for the mail today. My friend Val, the Queen of Texture, and I did a private swap. We each did a background and sent it to the other. Then we added to each others work. I can't wait to see what she did, and to own a piece of her work.

Peace

Thank yous, snowmen and texture

Happy New Year everyone. I hope we all have a prosperous and peaceful 2009.
Thank you to everyone who has wished me well in my show. And to the wonderful women who have given me online awards.
I promise to be more punctual with my blog reading and my blogging now that the holidays are done and hunting season is almost over.

I love texture. So I decided to do a piece devoted to just that. But this time I am using all manmade things instead of the usual naturals I use so much .
So I took a bunch of odd little canvases and glued them together using Liquid Nails. Then I covered it all with tissue paper.



Then I just started putting whatever I had laying around on the piece. There is burlap and chains and bamboo skewers and garden wire and shingles and bricks for dollhouses and beads and textured paper and bubblewrap and stuff.

So I'm thinking that when I am done dressing it, I am going to coat the whole thing with gesso. Probably a couple of coats. Then I am going to paint using bright colors mixed with glaze. This is new for me. I don't use a lot of bright colors. And I have never used glaze before. I would like to be able to layer color over color. I'm thinking the glaze will let that happen. I hope. Anybody got any hints?

These are some more snowmen I made because...well...because you can never have enough right? And they are just so much fun to make.

So that's what I've been up to.

My show ends on the 14th. I hear people are enjoying it. I sold a couple of small pieces, and am hopeful that someone will buy one of the bigger ones.

I guess I will put everything in Etsy when I get it all back. But I am not sure that my kind of stuff sells online. We'll see.

Peace

My Show and Snowmen

So my show opened and everyone seemed to enjoy it. My pieces are all hanging. The work on the pedestals is the artist I shared the show with. I am going to take better pictures and will post them when I do.

The weather here is simply dreadful and nasty. We got a 1/4 inch of ice last night. had to thaw the satelites with a heat gun. Man I am NOT a winter person.

These are some snowmen I made from Cloth Paper Scissors. I have such fun making them. Just playing ya know? I am so behind in everything. An altered book RR, a personal swap with Val. Housework. you name it I am behind in it.

This is hunting season, so we have had a big hairy guy friend of Jimis staying with us a lot. So I have been doing the cooking and catering to men thing. Not fun.

But I am hoping to get back on track soon.

What is it about this time of year, no matter how often I say it will be stressfree and easy, it never is.

Peace