Oriental ATC.....Steps, Decisions, and Batteries!

I believe I left everyone stranded part way in the process of making my double sided ATC with a less than cooperative camera......

We all learned to get along!  >:-)

Above are the elements I was working with for the back of the card, the Geisha carefully cut out and seeing how she fit on the card blank.

At this point, I slipped some old Japanese print paper over the card back, layed on a piece leftover from a previous collage to bring up the red in the print and sized up visually where I wanted the Geisha, or if it all works. I was liking what I was seeing, so proceeded.

One thing I felt would help to seperate the Geisha from the background was to flip the paper over and add some colored pencil. This is a good way to change the tone of a print without really doing a lot to it that would change the look and flavor. I just worked with some warmer color pencils, then as shown below, I coated the back with Titan Buff, to seperate it a bit more from the text on the page. This is a neutral barrier---you can do it with white or black, or whatever works with the color of the print you are using. (yes, it is fly by the seat of your pants the first few times.......but pretty quickly you learn!)

At this point, I am still fond the text on the background but feel it is too bland colorwise. The aging of the paper is not enough, so I go in with the fluids and a stamp......

.....And I like this much better. More visual interest, more contrast, and I also brought up just a bit of color on the front of the Geisha with the colored pencils. Can't really see it? Good. That's how it should be. I want it to look like it was the original and not my hand.

These are part of the items used; a very small section of the large stamp was inked with the Distress Ink and applied. The Staz-On was used with two of the tiny stamps for the leaf side. Tacky Glue is my fix-all for putting two pieces of paper together.....and of course, letting them dry under several heavy books, to make sure they are flat.

I was still not happy with the seperation between the Geisha's face and the background, so with a very fine brush, I outlined her figure and that seemed to do the trick. A subtle little thing, but really bringing her forward more. I also used a finely sharpened colored pencil to retrace some of the fine lines in the drawing....again, not obvious. It just makes things *look better*.

And here we have the two pieces side by side. One note; the leaf had pulled away from the backing a bit, so I used the knife to lift an edge and put more heavy gel under, smoothing it with my finger. When that was dry, I coated it with a combination of acrylic glazing fluid and acrylic paint, to restoe the burgundy that had lessened some after all the manipulation and ironing.

And below, the final front image.......

And back, after being glued together. One thing I added as an after thought to the back was the small die cut maple leaves.

I felt it tied the two sides together better with that extra black. Then I edged the piece with a colored Sharpie marker and varnished both sides. The leaf side is gloss, so it appears the leaf is floating on water, and the Geisha side is satin, to give a gentle depth to the aged print.

And that's pretty much it for this piece! I still feel like I am forgetting something here....and I probably am, but it is gone for the moment.

I just cannot do things simply........pffft!

Sometimes I wish I could....but......I really do LIKE this!  :-)

Now go get creative! Happy Monday!

Pax.

Art Tomorrow!!!

Dear readers, I am bailing on you this morning.

Yesterday I had a day that, for the most part, was spent in making art. I, of course, did not photograph the process, simply because it felt so good to be doing it!!! I did not want to clean my hands or stop at any part to break the flow. This is not fancy canvas art; it is working with paper that would otherwise be disposed of, and it turned out lovely. It was playtime, experiment time, just chill to WWOZ and go with the jazz time!
I got some photos shot of the semi finished pieces and decided that today is going to be another art day too.
Yes, I am being a bit self centered, eh?  ;-)
Tomorrow, I fear, wil be a run-run-run day so I am just putting myself first on this one.
And last evening, while impatiently awaiting the season finale of "Sons Of Anarchy", I drew my first two ATCs. Now how far behind the real world am I??? They were so much fun! If my hands had held out, there would have been two or three more, but as most artists know---when the hands quit, YOU quit. How easy to make those and attach them in some manner to a greeting card.......or for a Christmas ornament......possibilities!
I did get an e-mail about the one commission I had been awaiting more info on and it will be a go--have to reply and see if my answers meet with their needs and then we're set! (and I can publish the working sketch on here! YAY!!!)
So while there are no pics today, I feel like this little blog-burp is a most significant one and hope it suffices for the moment.
I wish you all the joy of creativity, the time to pursue it and the freedom of a child with a new box of Crayolas (yes, the BIG box!) and a ream of paper!
Go make something!

Pax.

A Retrospective Of A Portion Of This Years Art

I have to do this sometimes. I get busy and forget what I have done during the year. Naturally, I assume it was *nothing*........then I start looking through images of items I have completed and posted at different times on the blog, and wonder why I can't remember past whatever the current project is in front of me. Maybe that's how it is supposed to be......to keep me pushing forward.
But I'm also posting this so later on in the year, when I can't get to the wet studio, I can reminisce about the lovely box canvas pieces that I made.
Follow along and just enjoy the images! No text about them......just some nice eye candy!

Pax.

(all photos copryright Anne M. Huskey-Lockard 2009)

Things To Come

Yes, this is a tidbit of a piece I posted the front of last week--Thursday's "Artsy Activities", and you'll get to see the steps tomorrow (at least as many as I photographed!) and how much it changed. I believe in letting a piece set it's own path, and this turned out completely different than what I thought it would. Which shows what I know....... ;) .......at least I have learned enough to listen to what the materials are telling me and let them take their own course. Sometimes we need to push the work and sometimes we need to step back and follow. I chose to follow, and have been greatly rewarded!
I'm working on more accurate photos to post. For whatever reason, was getting a lot of burn out, and it was too hot to shoot outside, plus some of the paint was wet.
So maybe later today or this evening, I'll get the camera out again and go for round two.
In the meantime, may you always end up with the lucky side of the wishbone, and may your wishes come true!
Happy Monday!

A few quick Monday words....(and my FAVE fiber piece...well, ONE of them...)

Okay, normally I wouldn't post my very favorite piece of fiber art without a whole lot of fan fare, but dang it, I am in PAIN, and when I pulled this "Cut From The Crypt" it just seemed to fit my mood, emotionally and physically!
This whole week is one thing after another and if I am able to keep up with a blog post each day I will be doing good. Frankly, if I am able to physically keep up with what I have to do, it will be a miracle.....
So when all else fails, dig the skeletons out of the closet! And yes, this is one HECK of a skeleton!

I admit it. Even at my age, I'm still an old school Punk at heart, and having met Jerry Only of the Misfits (plus he's a bass player, so that bumps him up in MY book!) I did this very small quilt--14"x15". It has some of my old used bass strings on it, real leather jacket, studs, spikes, synthetic hair, drawn on tattoo and portrait....it was hard to figure out and definitely hard to photograph but dang! It was fun to make! It was a pull-out-all-the-stops, reinvent everything, disregard rules and make it rock!

My only regret was that due to the amount of black in the piece, I could not get a decent photograph and had to go in and play with bringing up color. Which is okay, but getting ONE color right meant others went berserk, so I finally said enough, here it is, and left it alone.

There was stenciling and tulle overlays, all sorts of stitching with specialty threads, computer printed fabric, beads, everything to give it that creepy, Halloween night kind of chill up your spine glow---my kind of work!

So that's Monday.

You might be afraid to check here come Tuesday.....MUHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Come on.....walk among us! ;)

---ahem---

(the grown up Anne will now take over, thankfully)

There's an online quilt festival, and it is HERE (click me!) at Park City Girl's blog. So I had to link this.....had to....just HAD to.

The point of this---and there is a point!---have fun with your work.

Look everywhere for inspiration. Take it, use it, bend the rules. Make your own work and don't worry when it doesn't fit into the marketing-world , precut, little square. Don't bother copying something that's been done, don't do other people's work, do your OWN---go do something edgy.

Life's a whole lot more fun here anyway.

Gosh, I wish I had a good skull and crossbones JPEG to insert here....sigh.....

P.S. This is now in Jerry's collection, I am most proud to say! Yeah! Life rocks!