Arte Y Pico Award

I got this nice surprise today. Jillian from Elinors Closet ( http://elinorscloset.blogspot.com/) gave it to me. The way I understand it, it is an award for creativity, design, interesting material and contribution to the blogging community.
Now I am supposed to put a link about the award but I couldn't figure out how. And when i went to the link in Jillians blog it was in Spanish. So even if I linked it I wonder if you would be able to understand it.
But that being said, you can go to Jillians blog and get the info. So now I give the award to 5 friends and they give it to 5 friends and so on and so on.
This is the hard part. There are so many friends that I admire and only 5 awards.
All these artists can be seen on my links.

Dawn-Gold Betty Boop. For being one of the kindest people I have met in Bloglandia, and for the amazing amount of work she turns out and for how great it all is.

Kelsey-KO...OK? For having a blog that teaches so many new techniques with easy to understand words and beautiful examples.

Christie-Serenity Now. For having one of the most interesting blogs I have ever been to. You never know what you will see.

Rose-Altered Rose. For being my lifeline online and for the colorful and exciting work that you do. I'm so glad you're my friend.

Maija-Maigirlz Madness. For sheer happy eye candy, ya gotta love Maigirlz. A truly happy blog to visit.

So I know I didn't do this exactly right, but I did it.
Peace

More Works In Progress

I decided to see if I could do another textured piece using a real dragonfly. So I did some of the crumpled tissue paper on the background. Then I made some grasses from it too. Some real pressed leaves and dried flowers and the dragonfly. All gel mediumed. I really took my time coating the wings 'cause they are so delicate. Then wait for it to dry. Being as how it's been so humid this took a lot of time. Oh and a strip of lace across the top just because. Since I took this pic I have gessoed the whole thing. Next I will be adding modeling paste texture to the leaves. I think this piece will be in greens. This is a piece I am doing for an upcoming art show. I textured the background with modeling paste. After I glopped it on I combed thru it with a piece of cardboard I ripped. I made eyebrows and eyelids with paper clay. The last couple of faces I have done have been a little wierd looking because they didn't have eyelids.
Then the whole face was gessoed and painted with white metallic craft paint.Then I made a mask like piece out of white velvet and glued it to the face. I had cut inserts in each side. I filled the inserts with seed beads and teeny pearls. Then I went around the edges with pearls and more seed beads.
The bottom is more pearls. The top of the face will have a white fox head-fur which I trimmed with micro beads. It will fit her like a headdress. The outside edges of the canvas will be trimmed out with white velvet ribbon. The fur will stick up a little above the top edge. I am considering making small antlers from branches painted white.
The whole piece is in whites as she is the Goddess Of Winter.

Peace

Masks and the Ren Faire

This is the time of year when we would start planning our trip to the Ren Faire. But since we moved so far from it, we can't go anymore. I miss it very much. We never got to take vacations so this was like a day-trip vacation. So I made some masks to remind me. The masks are the plastic ones you can get at Hobby Lobby or most anywhere. I gessoed them first. Then I painted them with regular metallic craft paint.
Then it was just a matter of gluing, feathers and fake leaves and bits and bobs of this and that.
I glued fabric to this one. And some scrunched up blue tissue paper. Then around the eye on the blue side I used some flower petals I had pressed and painted tiny designs on them.

If you ever get a chance to go to a Ren Faire, don't miss it.

Peace

Titled and soon to be mounted

Thank you to Morning Dove http://morningdew15-morningdove.blogspot.com/
for her title suggestion. So the piece is officially titled 'Life Outside The Window'. And I am going to be mounting it on barnwood.

Also I was in an international collage exchange based in New Zealand. The work has been posted at http://virtual.tart.co.nz/ I hope you check it out. There is some truly amazing work here. There are 2 rooms, one is exhibit and one is for pieces for sale.

This is short as there is a storm coming so I will be shutting off the computer soon.
Peace

I LOVE THIS!!!

I am so excited about this piece I can barely stand it! This may just be one of my favorite pieces ever.
So, I left off in the post before this one with the first layer of paint going on. Then the next step is turning the piece in all directions to put little dabs on where I missed spots in the nooks and crannies. This really took a lot of time. Seems like every time I thought I was done there was another little white spot shining at me.

Then I mucked around awhile with paint colors, and ended mixing a red and an orange to get the next layer. I applied it sparingly with a sea sponge and went over it with a dry brush to blend.
Then I used a stencil brush to add a little green to the leaves and again hit it with a dry brush.
Then I gilded the edges of the leaves with copper and the bark with antique gold and the mushrooms and fungus with a combinationof the two.

I may mount it on a board, kind of like a mat, and do the mat in black maybe? Or maybe mount it on some barn wood. I need to live with it awhile before I decide.
And I guess I should title it, but I am not coming up with anything at the moment. Anybody got suggestions for a title and about the mounting?

Peace

New Technique..I'm so excited

I don't usually show works in progress. But I am sooo excited about this I had to share. While cruising around Bloglandia I found http://valsalteredheartjourney.blogspot.com/ and was blown away by the piece she did in her March 13 post. This artist is brilliant with backgrounds and texture.
So I had to try for myself. I used crumpled tissue paper, bark, dried mushrooms and fungus, a dollhouse window, a scrap of rodent wire, a couple of keys and the thing you stick the key into. Oh and a LOT of oak leaves big and small.
So I started sticking stuff on using matte gel medium. Then I gessoed over everything. Then I added more stuff because, well you can never have enough stuff. Then gessoed again. Then I decided to go over the leaves with light modeling paste to make them stick out more. Then I drew the veins in the leaves with a bamboo skewer. Then more gesso.

Then I decided it needed an eye peeping out of the leaves. So I did the paper clay thing again and after it dried,gel'd it on and added more leaves. Then gesso again. Now it is ready for painting.
The hardest part is to think monochromatically. Because it doesn't matter what color the things are 'cause they will all be gessoed and painted. The drying time is hard too. Patience is not my strongest virtue. And there is a LOT of drying in between layers and what not.

So as you can see the first layer of paint is burnt sienna. I have to get some more colors, but I am leaning towards reds and red-oranges and coppers and golds. Maybe a green, I don't know.

So check out her work, you will be inspired too.

Peace

Wood Spirit

This is on eof the Wood Spirits I make using things from our property. The bark is from a dead fall oak tree. The fungus is from another dead fall that I won't let my husband cut up 'cause it grows such good stuff. The feathers are donated from a hunter friend of ours, they are Pheasant.



I make the face using terra cotta clay. Then I dusted it with Pearl-Ex powder. Then I just glue stuff on till I'm happy. The hardest part of this is to make the piece hangable. The bark is curved so I had to make a hanger that was long enough to work with that. So I cut a piece of leather thong. Then I glued it to the back in a loop using E6000, one of my favorite glues.

So in the spirit of Spring which has to be here one of these days I offer my Wood Spirit.

Peace