Lady of the Purple Roses

This is what I have been working on this week. Inka from Altered Artifacts sent me some images a while ago and I have had ideas in my head on what to do with them. This week it all came together.

I used a collage technique I learned last summer at the Cloth Paper Scissors retreat in Chicago. I used roofing paper for my base. Then I used matte medium and a palette knife to glue my papers down. I used pages from very old books and sheet music. I love the color of old paper.

Inka sent me a digital collage page of wings that she called "wicked" she also posted a free printable on her blog of this Mourning Woman.

I printed two copies of the lady. I used some tulle with gold flecks in it, satin ribbon and antique tatted lace to give her gown some dimension. After gluing  the pieces in place I cut out the second lady print and cut away her paper gown and glued her on top of the first print. I then found a little jewelled link from a bracelet to create the buckle on her gown.

I chose the angel wings from the digital collage sheet Inka sent me and used a dark purple colored pencil to color them in. Now my lady was finished.

I added a Gothic arch with black acrylic paint and then using matte medium glued that down over the arch to soften it up a bit. I used some Japanese Kozo paper.

Last week In ordered some Tim Holtz rubber stamps- I am really getting into unmounted rubber stamps! Anyway- I figured my lady needed some birds above her head. And tiny satin roses at her feet. Here she is all finished.

 I have this vintage gold frame that I will be using to finish the piece.  After James builds up the back for me so I can get glass over her and there is room for the roses. This frame really isn't a frame it's an insert from a frame sop there isn't a rabbit on the back. (That's the groove on the back of a frame that you place the glass, picture and backing into then nail it in place)

THANK YOU INKA! You make the best digital images for me to play with!

What HAS she been up to?

I realize I have been MIA- missing in art I like to call it- lately. Between teaching classes and kids home on spring break and fighting with my depression I have not posted much of my work lately.

So- good news- I have been working! Just finished these today.

This is a journal/album that I recycled. I used these wonderful papers made by my friend Shari. I keep trying to get her to sell these papers on Etsy. They are so unique! Her process involves gelatin printing, textures, rubber stamps, stencils and anything else she can find to make it all come together.  At our Art Retreat last month I got to try my hand at Shari's printing process- what fun! I just don't have the same feel for it that Shari does though. I love her papers and am lucky enough to receive some as gifts every now and then. The original book was just a photo album. I kept the original clear pocket pages and added in some lavender and purple card stock paper. I like journals where you can tuck items into it and write on the pages at the same time.

This little piece was the 3-D challenge from last month's Art Retreat.  Again it's an up cycled item that I picked up at my local thrift store. Using the papers I designed in the gelatin printing session of the retreat, some sea shells and a few clay fish beads I created this treasure chest fir for any mermaid! This box measures about 3" x 5" and the drawer pulls out. Sorry this picture washed out a little on me.

And finally- I saw an altered spoon for the first time as I was blog hoping the other day. I love altered art and as soon as I saw it I had to try for myself. I used a vintage serving spoon- measures 9" long and the bowl holds 1/4 of liquid.  I have been fascinated with all things Alice and a spoon needs a tea party right? I had this vintage image of a young lady and her dolls having a tea party from my favorite place to get images- Altered Artifacts-

a couple of brass crowns, a clock face and the words "tea time" in glass alphabet beads and I was on my way to altering my first spoon.

All of these items are available in my Etsy shop. Now, I need to figure out what I want to do with this pile of rhinestone jewelry and a travel case that needs some TLC....

"Curiouser and curiouser"

Here it is. The finished version of the pocket watch. Thanks for all of you who told me what you preferred for the watch fob. The bottle won hands down!

Oh my Ears and Whiskers....

...I'm Late!

Once again I've been lost in Wonderland. Everything in the project except for the White Rabbit on a penny farthing bicycle was found in my studio. I have a lot of stuff... A LOT.

  I also need to give a nod and a Thank You to Inka at Altered Artifacts for her digital images. Some are free on her blog and others I purchased from her Etsy shop.




I am not sure what I want to title this piece. I am open to suggestions.



So what have you been creating? And where do you find your inspiration and materials?


Post a comment. I love hearing from you!

falling in love...

I'm not ani-Valentine's Day by any means. I just have this different outlook on life. Last summer- (oh how I miss thee Summer)- I spent a weekend at an art retreat. Lot's of fun and ended up with these 6 x 6 inch canvas panels with interesting backgrounds. I enjoy workshops but there isn't enough time and you can't drag all your stuff with you on a airplane.

So yesterday as I was surfing through my snowday an idea popped into my head. This is the result~

Of course I used collage pieces from Inka's wonderful offerings on Etsy .I also have quite a collection of vintage photographs in my private stash of stuff.

I even managed to trick my printer into accepting a page from an old book to print my words on. Someday I am going to design a printer that does what I want it to do. Are you listening HP?

Enjoy!

Curiouser and curiouser!

I have been busy on eBay recently. I haven't been able to get to some of my favorite junky haunts so eBay has to be my stand in. I won a bid for a lot of clock faces. They arrived Monday and they were delightful. No idea what I want to do with them but that has never been an issue before. One of the pieces is 16" across with a pearl finished clock face and marked "Made in West Germany". The cool thing about this clock face is that it had a hinged frame attached to it with the bubble glass still in place. This got me to thinking......

a couple of months ago I purchased some collage sheets from my favorite Etsy seller Altered Artifacts  an Alice in Wonderland Articulated Paper Puppet Theatre. Three sheets of wonderful full color images from the John Tenniel illustrations.

I added some other embellishments that I had in the studio. A miniature glass bottle with a cork, a gold key, an interesting watch face that I liberated a while ago from an ugly watchband, and some paper flowers.

I am almost finished with the piece. I am working on making a stem  for the top with a ring and a chain so it will hang on the wall and look like an over sized pocket watch of "Wonderland"  I am kicking around ideas for a watch fob to hang from the chain. Tea pot? Key? Top Hat? If any of you have an idea leave a comment. I am open to suggestions!

Close up of "Curiouser and curiouser!"

Oh Dear! Allice has gone missing again!

"It's Half-Past Four, Time for Tea and Alice has gone Missing! Oh Dear! Where can She be?"

This Steampunk thing has me fascinated. I love the gears and watch faces and keys and all of that other gadgetry.So I can use up a lot of the junk I have been collecting over the years into something quite interesting.

My Very Dear Friend Inka, at Altered Artifacts sent me her Steampunk collage sheet to play with. I had just returned from a successful foray into my favorite thrift store with this wonderful vintage antiqued brass frame with original bubble glass. the glass is so old it has some wonderful flaws in it- I love rolled glass! The frame is stamped "Made in Italy" on the back which makes it even better!

The background is an original piece made by my talented sister Cecelia Comito - she used acrylic paint and gold leaf on this "fabric paper" and then different found objects to create texture in the wet paint.

I chose two pieces by Inka one of them from her Steampunk Collage Sheet available on Etsy. The little girl with the top hat and wind up key holding what appears to be an over sized fork in her hand. The other piece I used from Inka is "Alice's Tea Table" which she has posted on her blog as a freebie. ( make sure you check her blog thoroughly she has many wonderful free downloads for you to use!)

I also receive in my inbox twice a week emails from Dover Publishing with free download-able design samples. I have a file on my desktop dedicated to these wonderful images! That is where the old Bi-Plane and the tea cup came from. I hand colored these images with my artists watercolor markers. These markers create a watercolor look without the messing around with paints and brushes. The rest of the images in the piece are various stickers that I have in my collection.

Putting the Tea Table together in such a way that it would appear 3-D in the frame was a challenge. I had to take it apart and trim it 3 times to get it to fit just right. I also wanted the tea cup and airplane to stand out a bit so I used a piece of double stick foam on the back of them. The clock on the wall is from an old watch. I used this one because it is marked Victoria Rhein and I have set it to read 4:30.

Here's My Heart!

A few months ago while surfing Etsy I came across a shop that I totally fell in love with. Altered Artifacts has an amazing shop. She creates collage sheets of vintage images and ephemera for artists to use in their artwork. I am also following her blog. Inka has a great shop, great blog and is a really nice person!

I volunteered to create some pieces using one of her new collage sheets. The theme of the collage sheet I was given to work with is called "Here's My Heart"

I am not a heart person. Never have been. So this was challenging for me to work with. That's a good thing because it made me work harder. Even though Inka said no deadline I put a self imposed one on me because I know what a procrastinator I can be.

The piece is called " I will love you forever". Back in August I attended a three day creative conference in Chicago. One of the classes was all about creating backgrounds using medias I had never played with before. I left the workshop with 10 6 x 6 canvas panels with some pretty interesting textures and layers on them. The background for this piece is one of those panels. It has layers of paper ephemera collaged over paint and then textured with bubble wrap and lace and this new product from Krylon called spray gesso (great stuff by the way!) The three cherubs are images from Altered Artifacts. The rest of the items in the collage were all found in the studio. The white rose and two butterflies are stickers, the stars and the large cherub at the bottom left of the collage are rubber stamps I had on hand. using StazOn Ink Pad in brown ( this too a wonderful product for rubber stamping on just about anything). In the upper right corner is a portion of a gold foil doily with a resin 3-D face.

The second piece I made for Altered Artifacts is an ATC (artist trading card) called "Be Mine"  The background for this ATC I made using a Distress Ink Pad by Tim Holz. These stamp pads give you a great grunge look. I  generally use these inks by rubbing it over the blank ATC card. in the upper right corner I used a calligraphic line stamp and then placed a pink flower made out of acrylic jewels. The two cherubs were cut from one the vintage valentines on the Altered Artifacts collage sheet. I covered over the hearts these two little darlings were holding with faceted red acrylic jewel hearts. Unfortunately my photo doesn't pick up the brilliance of these little gems.