step by step ephemera canvas.......

Annie Hall......

mask the canvas edges...one is 8x8cms the other 12x12cms...

collage sheet music to the canvas with gel medium...

gel medium over the collaged paper...

spray inks -- I used purple and turquoise...

random sprays...

time for gold acrylic paint and mess--- apply with fingers ;-)

add lace with medium gel

build up texture with recycled sari silk ribbon...

more gold acrylic...

rounding off edges of photo...

adding marks---these with black ink and a aerosol lid

starting to play with composition, using the sari silk bound together,buttons, photographs,old clock findings and a dried rose...

and archival ink edging to the canvas... bits and bobs and a few pearls, dulled down with gold acrylic...

remove masking tape...voila!

enjoy making and creating...

warm wishes...

Ephemera canvas......

Two new pieces....

The larger one, 12x12 cms, has an original photograph that I found at Tynemouth market. I was reluctant to use it, but reckon that this young woman's photograph is better off on this canvas than hidden in a box. 

I wonder what her story is.....

The smaller one, 8x8cms, has a photo that I found on the internet .... she's very 'Annie Hall'.

Collaging, recycled sari silk, lace, acrylics, found ephemera, bits and bobs.......

Have you got a stash at home that could be transformed into a piece of art work?

Whatever......

This weeks photograph prompt is 'whatever is in front of you'. 

Taking photos of the ordinary, without setting anything up.....

So, I was in the studio this week and this is my 'whatever'.....

Also added a filter on my i pad........

Postcards

My friend, Heather and I have been doing a postcard swap since May. 

We started with 6 postcards each and swapped, we think, 6 times.

Here are the ones that I started and ended with.......

Postcards

These started with Heather......

She started with collage - she is the collage queen and I started with painting - splashing watercolour around ......

We have favourites from both sets, and both dislike one from each set!  

Series......

Sorry for two posts in one day - promise not to do it often!

I've been so busy, not with making art unfortunately, that I've got behind on posting the few things that I have been up to creatively. 

The Kim Klassen 'Be Still' prompt (I'm calling them prompts instead of 'tasks' - you know why!), was about looking back over the last 10 or so weeks and seeing if there was a 'series' of photographs - and, strangely there is!

I have fairly consistently, since finding that the light in my workroom is so beautiful most afternoons, south west facing, the stripped pine floor, my very old studio stool, and the blanket with blue stitching have all made several appearances!

Kim reckons to stay with a theme until it feels 'enough'. So instead of feeling as if I aught to move on, I'm going to do just that.

The light will change as the autumn comes, so I'm interested to see what emerges.

This workshop is a great practice. An e mail every week to give me my prompt and then mulling time, shooting time and to be honest, the uploading and getting the photos on the site take longer than anything else! But it's lovely to have the work out there and even lovelier to have people visit and and say hello.

Here's my series ........

Little Mouse.......

This week I have been working on an unusual project.

A friend of mine Ann Dix is a published drama therapist and has asked me to illustrate a short story for children who have been in situations of domestic violence.

Hmmm you ask, how would that work?

The story is such a good one and short. It's called ' Little Mouse'. 

Little Mouse and his mummy find that they are unhappy living with Mummy Mouses' new fella - and they realise that he's not a mouse after all - he's a Rat!!

It took me along time to find 'Little Mouse' in my drawings, but the more I drew mice, the simpler they became until they were just lines. 

Then I did lots of 'just line' mice drawings, using the text to help and then photocopied them so that I could mess some of them up experimenting with ink, paint etc to add colour so that Little Mouse and Mummy Mouse looked different - I settled on differently coloured tails and Mummy has a flower in her hair - to match her tail - of course!

I then photographed them against highly coloured backgrounds - which are big sheets which I use when I'm painting, journaling or printmaking to take up the odd bits of paint that are left over, or print out a new stamp, or try out an ink before printing. These pieces of 'bread and butter' paper are usually used to make handmade books covers from.

May I introduce you to 'Little Mouse' - he's quite shy............

Unstaged.........

My photography work this week is 'unstaged'.

I looked though the photos I'd already taken and found these three.

The apples we're taken at my friend Heathers house when I was visiting back in a June. 

She had bought them and piled them into a glass stand as decoration - as only an interior designer would!

The second two were taken only last night. I have been making a piece of embroidery with silk sari fabric strips and I had found these two feathers during the day and just put them against the bright background ......... and clicked.

Looking at both I am struck by the colour - it's what I love! 

Not really for me muted and pared back!

Here they are......