A first attempt at Paper Clay

5 x 7 canvas on board...unfinished

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So this is a real multi media piece and my first try at Paper Clay using Rogene Mana's wonderful book Art of Paper Clay: Techniques for adding dimension to your Art.

There are multiple varieties suggested so this is just a beginning.
There are quite a few steps to getting the clay to the finishing point.  In this piece I chose a piece of hand-painted paper (gelli print paper) as a back ground which is adhered to a canvas board with mat medium.  (Acrylic paint). 

The gulls were rolled out of the clay which comes pre-packaged and is easy to work with.  (and not expensive.)  The feathers, etc, were pressed into the clay with various items around the studio or house...like paper clips, tongue depressors, and etc.  Then left to dry. And because this was not pre-attached to the background and will be glued on later, I had to turn the piece over for quite awhile to get it to dry thoroughly.  I think they can be baked in a 200 oven too.  

Rogene likes a kind of "distressed" look to her clay so I went along with that...putting a coat of white gesso on (dry) and two coats of gloss medium on next (dry between coats).  Then painting over the birds with a watered down black acrylic (let dry) and then removing it again with alcohol.  Let dry.  Then adding color. 

And the "stems" that I decided to add at the end will have some of those steps still to go through.  That is the way the clay looks before all the steps begin.  I think I will use some of yellow green and blue already in the background for the stems.

At the end I will glue them on the background board with Elmer's white glue.  (In some projects they are attached to the board earlier in the project.)  Then several coats of medium/varnish is brushed on at the very end to seal everything.  Title: "At the Shore".

This is my give-away piece for the Fine Arts Show in January.
Only 5 x 7.  But a good practice piece. 

 

Zentangle Along

Icanthis, Drawings, Noom, Waybop, Reel, Moowa, Prasima, Remo, Tumbleweed, Panzee.

Lots of new tangles to play around with.  

Thanksgiving over and now the holiday fun really rolls into gear.  Here at our FL park the first two weeks of December are really full of things to do…caroling, plays, orchestra events, cookie exchanges, and tree lighting just to name a few.  Whew.  

Pacing is everything.  AND keeping well.  

So everyone keep safe and have a good holiday season.

Back to sketching!

pencil and pen and wc in 90# Strathmore Mixed Media Sketchbook

I can't believe how little I've been in the studio the past few weeks…that is in the studio to make art or record art making.  ARRRGH.  (as Charlie Brown would say.)

I've been "teaching" art…taught a wc botanical class one morning and taught a Zentangle beginner's class one morning.

And I now am set up to teach another Zentangle in January (see side bar).   Okay Susan…this is your chance!

In between all this hubby and I hit the ground running here in Fl. In addition to teaching two classes, hubby had some minor outpatient surgery, I survived a nasty fall (all recovered now) and then we had this wild and wooly list of things that needed to get done like 1)buy a new golf card 2)buy hubby his new Laziboy recliner for Christmas and 3) host a luncheon with old friends 4) meet another old friend for a day at the Plant and Garden Show 5) publish a newsletter for the art group and yadda yadda yadda.  

So where is daily ART in this picture?  See what I mean?

Okay I need to get back on track.  AND somewhere in the next few weeks I need to get to the Apple store to discuss a new computer which you KNOW will consume a bunch of time too!

The String Ensemble concert yesterday was a wonderful quiet interlude and Marlene and I were fortunate to get guest passes to see it!  Very nice!  Thank you Carolyn! 

I did get up to DKs to get a painting framed for the spring LAA show.  And this Sat is the first Leesburg Art Association meeting I'll be able to make!  That should get me back in the groove.

I have several "major art projects" I'd like to get to, but first I'll finish the Christmas letter which is very late this year!  I have an interesting twist on how to do that this year.  BUT I need to get to it.  We've had a little stretch of chilly weather hit central FL while our neighbors to the north in WI and MN got SNOW!  

But we'll be back to 80 by Tuesday.  Meanwhile TO THE STUDIO!  

Diva Challenge is Eaxy

Calendar A Day

So my 2015 Tangle A Day did not get finished last winter.

Now I am filling it in using THIS year's date and days! 

The Diva's challenge this week is Eaxy Tangle.  I really really do not like this tangle!!!  Once it is completed it is sort of cool looking but there is certainly nothing contemplative about making this one!  STRUGGLE.  Funny how some tangles just DO not resonate with me.  

Merryweather is painted with Twinkling H20 watercolors so in real life they sparkle like crazy.  A scan just doesn't show that of course.  

I DID like this new tangle pattern "Sea Wave".  Perfect to me to help me "balance" my sadness and fear and lost feeling in reaction to the election results.  We ride now on rough and uncharted seas.
I thought Hillary's concession speech was amazing.  I cried through the whole thing.  What a class act.  Grace under pressure.

Zentangle Calendar 8.5

8.5 x 11

Imagine being a year ahead…in anything?  Hahaha.

We are gradually (VERY gradually) settling in Fl but as soon as we think we have one problem solved another pops up like one of those whack-a-mole games.  

So we get through Greg's battery replacement surgery and then we get home from the hospital and everything in our fridge has completely defrosted.  ARRGH.  AND it's Saturday night.  No one is coming to fix anything on Sunday.

Bless our neighbors who have come to our rescue bringing ice and coolers and offering their fridges and freezers.  

So more on that saga later.  We all have those.  They are fixable.

Voting tomorrow.  Thank heavens.