Thursday, December 16, 2010

My Babushka


The other day I slopped some red paint - as I said love that red - onto a base of modeling paste. Last night when looking at it to decide what to do next I saw this little creature peering out. I drew her with pencil and as she is going to be painted over (sorry darling) I thought I would put her up her for prosperity. She is really small and I can't take a great picture of it. It feels like my Lithuanian history  is peeping through!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Hours of painting

And now, I have run out of steam. So I am blogging cos I should really be cleaning up the house after a week by myself. I am a lot more slovenly when I am on my own!

I've painted a 24 x 24 red which is great but its a background for something and I don't know what. I wish they photographed as well as they look. This one looks fantastic with light shining on it full of iridescence, interference and gold.
But - it needs something.


 Then there is this one which was that one. Do like that red!

The next one I have been working on for a week on an off - well off and on really. I put down sand and went for my usual swirly lines. Oh I want to stop doing them, so the whole picture has been dictated by them. Last night while playing with something else I put this random picture on it and suddenly as a painting, which has serious problems, it came together. Now I need to find the right picture for the painting and find a way to incorporate it rather than have it sitting on top. Back we go to transfers with which I have had very little success so far. I have put up the one I took with the flash one as it shows some of the  iridescence and the interference.

11th March 2011 This is how it ended up and this way up. I am about to put more onto it so I can get rid of the swirls.
This post should be called hours of blogging, getting the pictures how I want them has been a mission. ( and with Picasa still is.)

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

second of three

Here are the stages. This morning I put on the head and got myself a figure and then I did some more playing around - this is the girl who can't draw so I needed to be VERY careful. I think I prefer the first one - oh well too bad! The blue look is both the time of day and that I have added quite a lot of Micaceous Iron Oxide. I have SO enjoyed doing this. Really really enjoyed it. After lunch I am going to start on the blue one. And - if I find my heart still sings for red I'll do another red one. Just realised that the base for this dancer is further down this blog under the heading Going under the gesso.
 And this is the last one. I had another picture up here but changed the picture in the middle on the morning of the exhibition, so am putting that one up now and getting rid of the first picture. Somehow feel naughty doing it! YEAH!
It's amazing to me how excited I was about them yesterday - and this morning - now they're 'finished' they are OK. Yesterday and this morning they were great!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

First of three

10" x 10"
This is the first "finished" red painting. Scroll down to   to see what it looked like last week. I will have three by the end of tomorrow.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Beading with a friend

I had my first visit from four year old Zuva today. We had fun. We played with her stuffed toys, looked at my 59 year old teddy bear and 61 year old rabbit - both much the worst for wear - read stories. Yeah she liked Katie the Kitten best. Then played with the beads, which was the original enticement.. She made the longer string which is curled round the outside of my fussy one. We finished off the visit with a session of Where's Wally...and a good time was had by me and I hope her. Four really is a delightful age, especially in a delightful child.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Art Class homework

And at least I have done some this week. Part of my problem is I don't know what to paint. This is the third coat of this 'style' I didn't take a photo of the one I came home with. It was gray and murky. I spiced it up with red yesterday and enjoyed it so much I did another two. This is the first one. The colour on all of them is terrible. They are much more subtle.
And these are the next two. Put together as two, That's a first for me. Anyway, watch this space as I am sure they will change and I'm not so sure about the blobs. Terry thinks they should be 3D. Maybe they shouldn't be there at all. Note the bottom one doesn't have a blob.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Hee hee

Citra Solv and doodling! How come I only see monsters?

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Citra Solv Landscapes - just a few

These are the "landscape" Citra Solv results. I have done nothing to them except crop.




Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Citra Solv experiment # two

Cooking dinner for 20 tomorrow as am in town all day tomorrow am doing most of it now, but have found time to do some scanning and cropping and wonders of wonders play around with brightness and contrast. I do wish I could do computer standing up. Anyway here are my images. And I am pretty crazy about them.
This looks like some sort of weird village.

I played with brightness and contrast and its more like the orginal

I call this the Chinese girl, but its from a story about Iceland

And this strange face

I love this

I think this one looks better as a whole rather than cropped

Original scan

Brightened and contrasted

Logs

Original scan

Brightened and contrasted

Lightened from original scan

Somehow this one just looks weird but is great in the original 
This is very interesting. I am no where near knowing what to do with them. Art class tomorrow and I have done nothing since last week. I don't think Liz is much into collage but I would like to take them tomorrow and see if I can come up with an idea.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Citra Solve Grand Experiment # One

This is one of the whole pages which kept its look. I have scanned and cropped and am now playing around with printing. I am on Terry's computer so apparently I can up load just like this. Lets see what happens.
Posted by Picasa

Sunday, October 31, 2010

More Citra Solv

 

It's so random. I just did a 2000 + Nat Geo and the first few pages didn't work at all and then they were over "cooked"! I took pictures before and after but haven't been able to match them all up. I thought I might be able to learn what makes what but with some not working - well who knows! I wanted this writing at the top but am not willing to muck with what I have sorted so far. 

I am finding this blog harder and harder to deal with. Pictures used to be easy and now they take forever. Getting two together - takes forever. I don't like this new system What ever I don't put in first time disappears into Picasa and so then that needs loading. Whats happened to one at a time. WordPress here I come I think!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Citra Solv - at last

I've done it. I bought Citra Solv from Ecohip in the UK It came fast and I've been playing iwth it all afternoon. It seems to be me to be very hit and miss. You really have to slop it on but even then sometimes it just doesn't do anything. The 80's National Georgaphic's didn't seem to do it at all but the 2000's mostly do but not always. I have taken a couple of pictures of what I have done today but really I left taking the pictures too late so they are a bit blurry cost the flash is too reflective. I have about 50 pages and will go through them all properly over the weekend. This first one didn't dissolve properly so while it was still damp, I used a brush..

This one which I hope is below, I need a little workshop on how to get the pictures where I want them, is the only one I have a picture of that you can't see anything of the original picture. Thought it has made its own.
The next one two and three - I seem to need to write a whole line to get the pictures to come after the words are all partly 'cooked'. I will put others up soon that are wholey cooked.








Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Going under the gesso

Having a gesso moment. One down so far, the flower one further down and now this below. How may to go? No new canvases for this little black duck. Terry liked this one, he had it on his wall before I took it back again.

Friday, October 22, 2010

New painting class

I did my painting class with  Liz de King on Wednesday. It was fun, a good group, I'm near the bottom, as usual but it was fun. We did some chat and then she said PAINT. I made a red one then ended up scraping it all off and made a blue one which by the time I came home looked like this
Then yesterday I had another go at it, in between making a SoulCollage card, it ended up looking like this
I have now gesso'd out the base, I will have another crack at it. Its darker than the picture shows. A wonderous fluke really! Just for the record, I am editing this blog to show you what it looks like a few minutes later!

Have ordered the Citra Solv and now just need to wait and wait and wait. So frustrating. Its a glorious day and I really should plant the beans but I think I will do it tomorrow. Its a Saturday. A more bean planting day.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

SO many ideas

I'm coming to the end of a four week stay with my Papa, it is his 90th birthday. I am itching to get home. I have so many ideas bubbling around that want to get on to paper or canvas. I am very keen to use the rice paper technique for illustrations. I want to illustrate my most favorite childhood book. It was read to me so many times I can still quote all of it. Gung ho on the citra solve idea. There is lots about it on the net. Some one printing onto cloth with citra solve why not canvas? I asked my brother to bring some over from the States, he couldn't get it in time and its only just occured to me to see if I can find it in the UK and of coure I can BUT it's all on line ordering and I leave in 36 hours so there is no time to get it here. GGGRRR to me. I start my art class next Wednesday. I think there will be a whole burst of creativity which I am really looking forward to. Holidays do have there uses!

Monday, September 6, 2010

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

New backgrounds

I haven't written about the affirmation art for a really long time. But here I am with some words and pictures.
I had a long go at trying to master Adobe Illustrator. I did sort of get it but realised I was still discouraged and depressed after my best day with it - and it was not a harmonious house hold. So I decided, spurred on by Kim's success with finding an illustrator through guru.com, to give it a go to find a graphic designer to do the whole thing including the words. I had lots of offers but didn't like any of the samples. As the samples came in and I didn't like them I realised that I could do the letters myself - or at least Stu can cut them out of vinyl so that I get back to the whole thing of the child putting the words down them selves. Which gives both ownership and a kinaesthetic experience which cements their affirmations in much more strongly. So I thought maybe I should go for an illustrator not a graphic designer and then I thought no, the whole thing was to based  round my art so I'll do it. These are the first two tries. Feedback given is that they are too busy and maybe they are. I will make simple ones and get the whole lot printed on vinyl and stick letters on top and see what looks best. Will this be done before I go to England? Maybe not.

And, I have been and continue to be busy with being a fledgling funeral celebrant, helping with the organisation of Heart Politics this summer and joining the VES committee. Plus of course playing with SoulCollage.