Painting Fusible Interfacing, then making Postcards

Not my idea by any means, but lots of fun. I took a length of fusible, some Adirondak Inks, sprayed them on here and there, then added water and moved the ink around. I followed up with a bit of paint here and there, and of course, some gold.
I'd no idea what I'd be doing with it when I painted it, but the answer turned up at retreat.
Stitch practice again, creating some postcards with it. It's so easy, it should be illegal.

I'd promised a finished pic of the collage I showed being made in stages in my January 3 post, Collage. It's about time I came through. I'm pleased with it.

Here are some details. I finally figured out how to take detail shots on our camera so I can get in nice and close and you can see the texture of the gel medium.

I got some great rusty texture, too, from some bits of copper I found on the garage floor.

...and just to show that I really did pay attention during Sharon Boggon's terrific Studio Journals class on Joggles.com, I've shown a bit of a journal I was playing with, along with a couple of canvases I painted. I actually used Setacolor fabric paint in Indigo, but I just love the transparent quality it worked. For what? I'll post when I figure that out, but I just know the colour worked.

A couple of inspiring blogs

I've done it again - whiled away time jumping here and there on blogs. I have some time this morning, so after this will head upstairs to do something useful with the ideas floating around in my head. As always, Sharron Boggon's Inaminuteago blog has me fired up. I don't think I can link directly to her September 1 post, but go take a look - thanks to her I've signed up for ColourLovers. Colour combinations are something that have always intimidated me. I've never thought I really have "it". The only thing to do, then, is to keep at it to improve.
Color by COLOURlovers">This one's great. I love the collage it came from.

I also took a look at Digital Gran; lots of lovely pics and ideas. I've saved it and will visit again to see what she's up to.

Easing back into teaching

I've done almost no teaching this year, as I'd thrown myself into classes to complete my professional designation. One way or another, it's all over October 4th when I write my first of two exams. I hadn't really gotten my head around teaching again, but when I stopped in at Quilter's Dream yesterday, Carol told me that a half dozen people had asked if they would run a Crazy Quilting class! I've given her a couple of days in October and November I'd be available to do it, so if you're interested, get in touch with them and let them know! I've suggested a two day workshop to really get people going on the wonderful embroidery stitches and embellishments you can do. Their #'s on the link, so I'd appreciate it if let them know if you're interested.

I get more out of ArtBizCoach.com every day as I spent the week catching up on Alyson's podcasts. A drive to visit friends in London was a big help, and I'm all caught up now. I ordered a copy of her book, "I'd Rather Be in the Studio" for a friend's daughter who just graduated with an art degree, and I'd encourage anyone looking to improve their art business to get Alyson's book.

I was at a beautiful wedding last weekend where I took lots of pictures of the bride (whom I've known since Kindergarten) and groom (who was in our grade 4 class!), but this is the one I'm posting - I thought this wall outside a great gallery called Artists Walk in Village Square in Burlington had great texture and I can see it incorporated into something arty in the future.

Too long away

I put most artistic pursuits away for most of this year to concentrate on work. I don't blog about work, but it's been a tough and busy year. I'm pursuing a professional designation which has also taken alot of study time. One month to go before I write my exam and my thoughts are turning back to art (anything to avoid studying!).

I've gotten great ideas from ArtBizCoach.com, Alyson B. Stanfield's terrific site and I'm starting now to get back on track. It was fantastic to see my piece, "Eggplant #1" at the Greenwood Gallery earlier this year in the Fusion group show, and I like the feeling so much I'll try to see if I can't do it again.

Accepted!

I'm very happy! The piece I submitted to the Greenwood Quiltery show (pic in my December 31st post) was accepted to the show. "Fusion", that starts March 4th! I'm really happy about it, as I've always loved the works that appear at the gallery.

I've also found a really cool website called Big Think, which is a website about ideas, dialogue and debate. Right now, there are 2,650 ideas on the site, according to the header. I think it's a site I could get lost in.

Alex got his braces off today, and his teeth look great! Almost $6,000 well spent. I have to tell myself that or I'll cry. I didn't realize he had the night off work, or I would have bought corn on the cob for him, because he loves it so much. I think I'll get some tomorrow as a treat (ha! corn as a treat!! I fugured by now an entire bar of McIntosh's Toffee would be gone, but I don't think he's had anything unusual to eat today).

Collage

I took some pics of a collage I started a couple of days ago. I frequently make bases and then let them age for awhile as the plan for them grows. OK, usually there's no plan whatsoever, I admit it. How about: until the Muse strikes? She takes her time about it, and doesn't usually strike too hard. That must be the reason I'm generally unsatisfied with my results. Maybe I need to get a new Muse. Serendipity, for instance. She seemed fun. (If you didn't see Dogma, that just fell flat).
On to the Collage: I started with a 4 x 6 inch board I'd painted blue. I then decided I didn't like the blue just then, and wanted a greener colour. I didn't paint too heavily, so some of the blue would show through.

I then found out that crackle medium doesn't work too well on primed board and thin coats of paint.

After that, I gave it a spritz of Espresso Adirondak Ink to see what that would do.
I liked it, so I let it dry. Then, I applied Mod Podge very thickly. I've got to work on the order of things. If I'd applied it lightly, I would have smeared the Adirondak Ink. Maybe a spray medium in those cases first to hold the ink. Oh - important tip - don't knock over the Mod Podge container. That's where that thick coat came from. All over the darned thing!

I'd finally bought some Walnut Ink (why? because every time I read an article about ageing, it's there. Do I know how to deal with it yet? Heck, no! That can come later) so I used the dropper it came with to put dots of the ink onto the drying medium. I also found a bit of copper wire I pressed into a particularly thick glob of it, and did the same with some paper scraps sitting on the table.

My camera batteries are recharging, so you'll have to come back to see a picture of the dry collage base- shameless, I know.
Now, back to that CQ I was doing a couple of posts ago. I'm on to beads and buttons.

Happy 2008

A great start to the New Year. The predicted snowstorm wasn't bad here and my studio is getting marginally tidier every day. I bought a shoe organizer on sale this weekend, and have attached shipping labels by clothespins to each pocket. I'm going to put rubber stamps in it, I think, and will stamp each shipping tag with the stamps in their pockets.
I organized my postcards into a sample album for the store I'll be teaching at,
and am working on the Crazy Quilt square for the CQ class. It's coming along well, and I found the silk fibres I got at Greenwood Quiltery during the retreat - the colours are perfect for it. I'm using lots of varietgated threads, and I've figured out how to take a decent closeup with the camera finally. My garden pictures should be better next summer because of it.
Speaking of Greenwood, I promised myself by the end of today the pictures of Eggplant #1 would be in the Greenwood emailbox. That's going to be the next thing I do after this post. In the next couple of days, I'll post pictures I've been taking as I've been working on a collage. Because of the matte medium incident, however, it'll be drying for quite awhile before I can continue with it.
I've added the Fiber Art Traders link to the blog, too. I highly recommend joining if you want to learn great techniques and stretch yourself. If you do, let me know!