"It is what it is"

I am often curious how certain pieces of other people's art comes to be.

Sometimes I start with a particular image and build around it.

Or I might begin working on a background and see what develops.

I have been known to start with what is laying loose on my art table.

That is how this piece came to be.

 Only instead of loose bits on the table,

 I used some odds and ends in my Photoshop bin.

The background was chosen at random to use while messing around with the cookie cutter tool.

When I popped it into a new canvas, the image was enlarged.  I liked it.

The coral orchid in the bin caught my eye.

 I wondered how it would look against the rich red background.

I popped it into the canvas.  I liked it.

There needed to be something more....another vivid color.

It took only a quick look into my objects image folder to settle on the teal marble.

I was only looking for vibrant color and this fit the bill.

 Into the canvas it went.  I liked it.

Next I added some light and dark detail.  I liked it.

Depth was what was missing,

so I embedded a couple of deeper layers.  I liked it.

What to call it?   Hmmm.  What else?

I named it "Digital Collage".

I love it!

Wild & Crazy Guys

The conclusion of our series,

Men in the Mixed Media World.

Today's group are some

Wild and Crazy Guys!!

With the exception of one,

the captions for each card

was selected from the same page of

either a magazine or old novel.

In the case of this first one,

I used the entire quote just as it appeared in the book.

The formal dialogue and the vintage picture

 were a perfect match.

This one was also a quote taken straight from the book.

This caption was created by linking two phrases:

This caption I admit I had to go in search of:

This caption was pieced together from a

phrase and random words all found on the same novel page.

I promised some 'characters'  in this post and 

hope I didn't disappoint.

These dudes always make me chuckle.

I hope you did too!

Let me give you a clue

Remember the board game Clue?

We used to love playing it.

In all the pre-Christmas crafty gift making ideas

I saw where someone had made a personalized version of Yahtzee

for little folks using pictures on the dice instead of dots.

This gave me the idea to make a clue game for my grandson.

I used  Mom and Dad and other family members for the characters

 in place of Miss Scarlet and Professor Plum and the rest of that motley crew.

Instead of the Conservatory and the Library, I used rooms from my house.

And since there was no murder involved in this family friendly game,

 I replace the weapons with random objects that a little boy could relate to.

We play it as more of a virtual Hide-n-Seek game--

guessing Who is Where with What.

Some of the combinations make for some good laughs:

 Alan on the Stairs with a Bicycle

Daddy in the Bathroom with a Book

Mimi in the Kitchen with a Goldfish

We also play it sans the game board--that was always the tedious part to me anyway,

having to navigate to a particular room to make a guess.

I made a page of scorecards to duplicate.

In case it really caught on, I laminated the playing cards to protect them

--and I'm glad I did.  This little game saw a lot of action over the holidays!

Truth be told, the adults liked it as much as my grandson did!

Manly ATC's

Continuing our discussion on

Men in the Mixed Media World  

(I totally made that up)

I present to you the following masculine ATCs:

THE TRUE GENTLEMAN

A DECENT OLD BOY

THREE VERY MANLY MEN

THE SINCERE LOVE-LORN

and

A COMPLETE MYSTERY

These fellows were all created during my
"Found Poetry" phase.
I was having fun matching up printed
words and phrases 
to bits of  artwork.

You simply must tune in for the next installment with

some very 'interesting' characters
where I really had some fun!

Feeling magical

A prevailing line of thought among the art blog folk

is the idea of stretching oneself in one's craft.

I try that from time to time.

Most recently, I tried 'dark & twisted'.

Pretty unsuccessfully, I might add.

I promised to try again, but truthfully, it just may not be in me.

Here is another attempt at stepping outside my usual realm:

A little magical..........

.....a little fanciful.

I don't think I've found a new niche just yet,

 but at least it is prettier than 'dark & twisted'

and something I just might attempt again.

The ladies

These ladies are digital, but done in scrapbook style.

Instead of manipulating graphics to create an imaginary scene or image,

I simply arranged them as I would actual paper and embellishments.

I am pleased with the textures.

It is almost as if you could touch them.

That, to me, is a mark of a good page

 when I work in my altered book:

 if the viewer touches it to feel the various textures.

I "tore" the background paper into strips,

 using an image of crumpled brown paper

and photoshop's lasso tool.

In which we are not discussing mathematics

Having fun with the acrylics again.

This is what I did:

Gesso page

Paint black patches just large enough

to accommodate the butterfly and woman cutouts.

Apply cutouts with the tiniest bit of glue stick.

Gesso any remaining black around the cutouts.

Proceed with background and embellishments.

When dry, carefully lift off cutouts.

Viola!  Cool silhouettes!

Then you are left with these nifty painted shapes.

I popped them onto some black paper

for the inverse of the picture above.

Isn't that fun?

Here they are side by side:

Easy peasy,

 and not a single math function to achieve the inverse!

Youth and Inner Beauty

The Flower of Youth fades.

I remember still when I first saw....

.....A beautiful flower, in the bloom of youth,

Dancing between wild roses sways,

To a gentle breeze, in spring’s first days.

But in its place comes another kind of Beauty.

So her love story finally rests in peace....

....The years will erase the pain and the grief.

And my wilting flower will survive the gloom,

Until the spring once more bursts forth in bloom.

Exploring the Inspiration

Inspiration is such an ethereal substance.

I glean the internet for art blogs that inspire me.

 Let me tell you, there are lots of treasures out there.

I have old favorites that have been on my radar for years.

 Every so often I find a new one that makes me ask:

 "Where have you been all this time?"  

That is what happened this morning.

As I was perusing an old favorite I was led to Marilyn's blog:
  In My Room.

I was so inspired by her Deli Paper Tutorials,  that I put down my digital brushes

and started spreading some acrylics.

Do you think she's SASSY?

This is a page in a book and not deli paper.

But the book is an old one (about shellfish farming, of all things)

with those delicious thin slick pages.

Besides brushes, I used

 a straight-edge,

a pizza cutter,

 and a tiny toy muffin tin

to apply the paint.

Thanks, Marilyn for the inspiraton!

I hope I can pay it forward by inspiring someone else.

Man up

You don't see a lot of men featured in this art genre.

There are plenty of Victorian ladies, children, butterflies and roses.

You see birds, fairies, and the occasional kitten.

But the menfolk are a bit more rare.

Why is this?  I cannot say.

Rugged and masculine can be

just as artistically appealing

as bluebirds and sunflowers.

But I will almost always reach for a feminine theme,

maybe because it is just easier,

 me being female and all.

These carpooling gents make me smile.

Some of the gentlemen in my ATC collection:

Just drab and slightly warped

I wanted to do a dark and twisted piece.....

kinda creepy......

kinda ugly.....

This is the best I can do.....

dull and boring......

even with  a grumpy mood on.

Sincerest form of flattery

I recently found a delightful blog,

  Things With Wings, that has captivated me.

Love their stuff.

Love. It.

So much so that I copied made some miniature versions

for a little grouping in Tyler's room.

While these gals' things are larger and made on wood,

my copies versions are smaller, made from cardboard, and mounted on foam board.

And mine don't have any wings. ;)

Go see the real thing and tell me you don't love it too!

Introducing

my newest Grandson!

Some birds and a cutie

The digital, y'all...

Its got a hold on me!

The more time I spend tinkering with Photoshop,

the more I learn.

The tricks and applications seem endless, which makes

the creative possibilities innumerable as well.

Can't wait to see what I discover next!

p.s.  I have also been dabbling with the paper and mod podge lately too......

Hello, 2010!

Miss 2010, ringing in the new year.