A Tintinnabulum

Today’s weird bird has a ring to it…

Tintinnabulum – (N) a small, tinkling bell or set of bells playing in succession.

This bird gives new meaning to a “wingding!” Lol!

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Cheers! 🙂

Pie Birds

‘Tis the season for…

PIE!!

These three Pie Birds are a slice of happiness, don’t you agree?!

What is YOUR favorite kind of pie?

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Cheers! 🙂

Printing Imperfections

I haven’t printed with my Gelli-plate in awhile so I decided to take out my 5×7 inch plate the other day.

I wanted to experiment combining colored inks with fluid acrylics. I also added an acrylic glazing liquid.

I recorded my colors in my art journal with a pencil drawing of my paint and ink containers:

I started by printing some Ginko leaves. I normally add the paints directly to the Gelli-plate and mix them with my brayer but it wasn’t working so well with the inks so I started using a paper plate to mix them.

When the brand name logo of the paper plate started showing up on my leaf prints as you can see in the photo above, I decided to use a plastic paint palette.

The paint palette had left over acrylic paint on it but I discovered the uneven surface gave an amazing print:

It is always fun when printing imperfections lead to wonderful new ideas!

I took a 3/4 inch square punch of each of my prints and glued them in my art journal:

Now I have an idea for my October Square-A-Day project! I can’t wait to show you.

Cheers! 🙂

My Lucky Bamboo

A friend bought me a houseplant. I tend to forget to water them so I figure this one must be lucky… it is still alive!

My lucky bamboo collage, cut with scissors and paper:

I like how bright the colors are, how about you?

The second “houseplant” was from my imagination:

It was fun experimenting with positive and negative shapes.

Do you like to grow houseplants? What do you like to grow?

Happy planting!

Cheers! 🙂

Pattern and Color Play

Sometimes I make art for classes that are just for practice but I dislike wasting good art paper.

Yesterday, I decided to add pattern and color to two of such papers.

My first experiment were repetitive triangle shapes on 90 lb hot press paper.  I added more pattern and color with water soluble crayons and then softened them with water:

Next, I mixed a tiny bit of transparent orange acrylic paint with matte medium and brushed it onto my paper.  I added more pattern on top with a plastic tool by Plaid.

My second experiment was adding to shapes I had done with sumi ink and water soluble crayons to create a feeling of rhythm.  I added additional pattern and color similar to my first experiment.

I mixed a tiny bit of transparent red with matte medium but got a little too much red so I softened it with more matte medium for the second half on the left.

I used the end of my acrylic brush to make marks into the wet paint on this one.

Orignally, I was going to use both papers for collage material but I’m not sure I will cut up the first one!  I like it too much.  It reminds me of sailboats and summer.

I encourage you to experiment with pattern and color play over some artwork you’d like to repurpose.  You may surprise yourself!

Cheers! 🙂

Petal Punch

I discovered this super FANTASTIC flower punch at Hobby Lobby before my hip surgery:

 

I love that I can use both the positive and negative of each petal punch!

Below are some examples of handmade cards I recently made using this punch:

 

Do you have a favorite?  I hope you share it with me!

Cheers! 🙂

A Three-Ring Circus Bird

I was experimenting with different collage papers the other day and decided to add watercolor around the glued papers.

Some of the papers I used were from Sharon Mann, when we did our collage paper exchange.  If you missed that post, you can read more about it here:  The Speedball Bird

Other papers were from my own collage experiments that I had sewn on my sewing machine and then printed on the Gelli-Plate.

I made two tags for my art journal and found they had a “circus” feel to them:

That is how today’s weird bird came to be… He is from the “Flying Circus!” 😉

A Three-Ring Circus Bird

I used Sharon Mann’s collage papers for this bird!  Thanks again Sharon! 🙂

I finished my “circus” tags with a few pen doodles:

Do you have happy memories from attending a circus?  I hope you share them with me!

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!

Cheers! 🙂

I Spy… Collage!

As many of you know, I LOVE taking online art classes!!

When Carla Sonheim announced her year-long class for 2019 would be Collage, I had to sign up! 🙂  You can find out more about it at CarlaSonheim.com or CarlaSonheim.wordpress.com

I introduced myself on the private Facebook group by cutting out letters to my name from a color copy of this collage I showed you here:  And That’s How…  I really enjoy the wonderful community of artists who take Carla’s online classes.

Carla will be teaching along with two other fabulous artists:  Lynn Whipple and Anne Marie Grgich.  Class starts today!  Hoorah!

Below is a collage I created with paper scraps in my art journal:

I spy…

A bird,

A dictionary word,

Two pages from a shorthand book,

And some fish lure hooks,

A child wearing a blue coat,

And three scraps of music notes,

There is more to find, like #441,

Collage is fun for everyone!

Can you find all these items in my collage?

I hope you will consider joining me in this FUN online class!

Cheers! 🙂

A Poke In The Eye

Somehow I irritated my right eye…

I don’t know if I got something in it or if I scratched my eyeball.  I’m going to an eye doctor this morning to find out.

It just reminds me how wonderful it is to SEE colors and EVERYTHING!  I am so blessed.

I’m very excited about this new online class I just started, hosted by Carla Sonheim – go to CarlaSonheim.com to learn more about the online art classes she offers.

The name of this class is The College Techniques of Anne Marie Grgich.

Check out Anne Marie’s art on Pinterest  if you’d like to see her AMAZING detailed collages!

I found a few more books at a different thrift store yesterday to add to my collection and I got the Senior Discount!  Yes, there is a plus to being 55 years old and older! Lol! 🤣

I figure what images I don’t use in collage, I could use as references to paint! ☺️

Sorry to report, I did not see any Nancy Drew mystery books at this store but I did find a great book on container gardening for only $1.00 – YAY!

Anne Marie Grgich’s collages are very detailed with MANY layers of images.  One of the things that inspired me to take this class was to learn how to create more transparent layers in my own collages.  Plus, what a bonus to watch videos of another artist’s process!  I’m learning so much and the class has just started!

So back to the process of cutting and sorting images by color for this class…

It is much more fun than a poke in the eye!

Cheers! 🙂

The Unexpected

I think one of the things I enjoy about creating collage art is the element of surprise or the unexpected like this one:

The assignment in The Collage Workbook By Randel Plowman for week four is Color Charge.  He says; “Experiment with adding color to a collage that is primarily black and white.  A few subtle strokes and bright marks can make a subdued collage really pop.”

In the above 6×6 inch collage, the postage stamp gives a pop of color as does the gelli-prints.  It also helps direct the eye throughout the piece.

In my next one on a 4×6 inch index card, I tried to add pink to make you think of lipstick shades.  The large pink circle is from a paper napkin.  I think it adds balance to the collage.

My last 6×6 inch collage is more simple and yet the red paint circles make you look at the whole collage and find something hidden:

Collage is a lot like a puzzle for me.  How can I help you look further and discover the unexpected?

I’d love to hear what you think!

Cheers! 🙂