Carving a Niche

I have long admired the art of Geninne Zlatkis (blog here).  I pre-ordered her new book and was surprised to receive it a month earlier than the promised date Amazon gave me.

So, now I have been carving again and am so pleased with my stamps.  I know this post sounds totally like an ad for the book, but I do like to support artists who are so generous with their ideas.  She is one of those.  I could spend hours looking at her Flickr photos (here).  Love her birds, love her carvings.  Some of her Flickr photos link to videos showing how she paints.  Like I said, I love it when artists are so sharing.

So, in my constant jumping around from project to project, carving is currently the thing occupying my time!

Drawing the Line

You have to draw the line somewhere. In this case, I've been drawing a lot of lines. All kinds of lines.

This was a fun little exercise.  I saw it in a quilting book, where the next step is to use that design for machine quilting.  That's not my plan, but I will be doing more of this in my sketchbook for sure.

(From the book Inspired to Quilt, Melanie Testa)

Nature Parts

Before I even started the first lesson of the Ode to Nature class, I had in my head the idea of a nature journal, with pages full of different ways of depicting nature - drawings, specimens, lumpy pages, notes, tags, etc... nothing is off limits.  I can see now it may be months before I can complete all the ideas I want to put in it.  But for now, all the "parts" are in progress. Like these:

This seed pod looks just like a feather.  I like the way it is all flaky and disintegrating.

Feather painted on fabric using acrylic inks, outlined with permanent black pen.

The exploring continues....

 

 

Harvest Time

I've been learning a new language related to harvesting and pollinating.  Because on Saturday, Gaye and I went to an event called ZeroLandfill.  The pollinating occurs when people in the design community drop off stuff that would normally go to the landfill.  Then the harvesting occurs when people in the arts and education community come and pick out stuff to take home and use.  It's a win-win for everyone!

I was so impressed with the set-up, because it was well organized into categories, with a sign for each room, labeled Binders, Paper, Wallcoverings, Fabric, etc.  There are a lot of flooring and carpet samples, tile, binders that used to be sample books, wallpaper sample books, etc.  I was also very soothed by the musician they had on hand!

I have to admit that everything I saw looked like a book cover to me, so I have a lot of bookbinding ahead of me!  Other things might work well in the nature book I have planned in my head.

Here are a few of the things I brought home.  I don't have pictures of Gaye's stuff but she had a lot of great metal samples.

Samples of faux slate in tag shapes. 

Flooring and veneer samples.

Fabric sample book of reptile designs (I've never seen a purple alligator or pink crocodile in person, but then I haven't been in the swamps lately!)

A couple of binders and a couple of future magazine holders.

These floor samples are labeled Sports Flooring, and are soft and rubbery.  Different thicknesses and colors.

Padded fabric samples and carpet pieces.  They already look like books to me!

I also "harvested" these seeds pods in the parking lot.  The pencil is for perspective, to show how big they were.



If you are in the Louisville Ky area, there are more harvest dates coming up the next two Saturdays.  See the Louisville Facebook page here for more information (you don't have to be on Facebook to see the info and pictures.)

I know there are other similar events around the country.  I tried to find a good link for you to find other locations, but a couple of sites had bad information.  I think the best thing to do if you are looking for one is to do an internet search on Zerolandfill ____ (insert the name of your city).

 

I found a YouTube video of an art teacher in Cleveland talking about how much it helps her classes with their limited budget.  See that here.

 

Go forth and harvest!  Did I mention everything is Free?

 

Edit:  Forgot to mention that you need to bring some tote bags for your goodies.  I brought a rolling cart which worked great - all that wood, metal, and tile gets really heavy really fast. 

 

Changing of the leaves

This is the time of year when the leaves start to turn lovely shades of red and gold.  But at my house, that's not quite what's happening...

 

It appears that my lilac leaves are turning white!

 

Also, I can't seem to stop seeing that cypress vine in my head.  I finally used the shape to make a repeat pattern for one of my class assignments, using a white Sharpie poster pen on dark paper.



Now maybe I can move to something other than the cypress vine!

Verbs

Spray.... Stand... Drip... Dry... Admire....

 



I have multiple projects going most of the time.  This is something I played with last month - still trying out spray inks!  I saw some Dylusion inks on sale and bought a couple colors, then bought a few more bottles at Stampaway when I ran across them.  They are such vibrant colors and they spray really well.  I think these are my new favorite spray inks.  (No affiliation, yada yada yada...)

The first and last pictures are done with black and blue inks.  The middle two are brown and blue.  I sprayed heavy layers and stood the journal up to let it drip.  Now these pages are just waiting for the next step (whatever that may turn out to be!)

These inks are from Dyan Reaveley, and I used her techniques.  This last one, I used a paint brush dipped in water to draw leaves - the water removes the ink from the page, leaving that part whiter.  I experimented using black and then white to outline the leaves and make vines.  Not sure which I like the most.  These pictures are really dark, but the pages in person are very bright and vibrant.  

 

To see Dyan's video, go here.

Introducing the Cypress Vine

Thanks to all the people who identified my mystery vine as the Cypress Vine!  I updated my sketchbook page, plus was finally able to grab a flower to add to the page.  (The vine was already attacking its own flower.  What a bully.)

Also, here is a class assignment from Ode to Nature (where I filled a page with leaves).

Mysterious Flowering Sucker Vine

I'm not very good at identifying plant life.  I know what a daisy looks like.  I know what a rose looks like.  And a few other things.  But not much else. 

I have this vine growing in a pot on my deck.  My mom gave me a clump of it a couple of years ago, and when I got home, I put it in the pot while I decided where its permanent home should be.  Needless to say, it never got transplanted.  She may have told me what it is called, but I don't remember.

Most of the time, I forget it's there, because it stays dormant most of the year.  With this summer's drought, I figured it had finally died a sad, neglected death.  Then we had some rain, and it leaped from its sleep and began its routine.

First, it extends it long, spindly vine - reaching and searching for anything to attach its little suckers to.  If it can't find something, it contorts itself backwards and attaches its new growth to itself.  Occasionally, it sets forth a little red flower, such a brilliant red that it's almost fluorescent.  The flowers only last a day, so I have to act fast if I want a picture.

And with all that fascination right on my deck, that's how this nature study came to be.

 

 

Pretend You Know What You Are Doing

I've been practicing sketching my nature objects. 
They didn't look so great sketched in pencil.
They didn't look so great when I added watercolor.
But once I outlined them in black and scribbled a few notes, I could almost pretend I knew what I was doing!

Whoooooo Do You See?

I have been hunting and gathering in my yard.  I'm taking the online class "Ode to Nature" by the talented Alisa Burke.  Go see her post about the art of collecting here.

In my immediate surroundings, I have an abundance of sticks and weeds!  However, I do have a long list of nearby places to venture out to when I get the chance.

Meantime, these walnut shells make me laugh - don't they look like little owls peering at the camera?

 Feather collection:

 Off to collect more things....

Another Postal Book

What do you do when your postmaster retires?  Especially if she is a friend more than a postmaster, one who "gets" the crazy stuff you send and receive through the mail....

You make another postal book and wrap it like a package.

I am happy for her, but it's hard to break in a new postmaster....

Stampaway

When August rolls around, it's time for Stampaway in Cincinnati, Ohio!  Hard to believe this is the 20th year. 

Gaye and I headed up to Ohio on Friday, where she taught two classes - everything went well, and it was great to see familiar faces again. 

Friday night is always a treat with the Preview Party - shopping, eating, visiting, and of course checking out what people wear for the costume contest.  The theme this year was Prom Night.  The first people we saw were Mary Jo McGraw and Elaine Madrid, decked out oh-so-fine in their prom attire (even though Elaine had a dead critter around her neck!) 

Later when we saw Mary Jo at the booth, she had added "Chaperone" to her dress.  Too funny!  I could have watched her demo all night - she was making amazing journal backgrounds with stamps, Micro Glaze, and pan pastels.  You can see what she's up to here.  And of course Elaine's booth (Carmen's Veranda) has always had the fun-nest stamps over the years.  You can find Carmen's Veranda here.

This lovely trio of Prom Queens were found at the Coffee Break booth.  Left to right, the most lovely Chris Meador, Kris of Coffee Break, and Bianca.

As usual, the Stampers Anonymous folks were dressed to the nines.  Ted was hilarious with his long hair and pink ruffled prom shirt, but those teeth!  These two had their "hillbilly" teeth and had the accent down pat. 

I always look forward to seeing what these ladies come up with.  Last year, they were four identical flower pots for the Flower Power theme.  They really outdid themselves this year, when they came as the prom limousine.  I cannot imagine the work that went into this!

And there they go.....

They eventually had to ditch the limo so they could shop.  We saw their limo "parked" in the hallway later, complete with orange traffic cones around it.  Honestly, no detail forgotten!

It was fun shopping old vendors and new.  Jenni Bowlin was there with all the great products she sells (journal cards, stamps, papers).  They also had a lot of vintage things, and I bought this L&N train record book.  Most of the pages were blank, but some had train maintenance records written on them. 

I got a couple of rolls of fun tape from Coffee Break, stamps from Stampers Anonymous, and some Dylusions stamps and stencils. 

After we shopped a little more Saturday, we hit the road south around mid day.  The World's Longest Yard Sale was the same weekend, and when we crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky, the first stop was Covington, where we know there are a lot of booths up and down Main Street.  Gaye is the yard sale professional.  Nothing will keep her from this event.  Not even 100 degree temperature!  Me, I'm a big wimp.  Hate that kind of heat and humidity.  But we only get this opportunity once a year, so we were not deterred.

We shopped one side of Main Street, then stopped to rest and cool off inside at Chez Nora, where we had a burger for a late lunch.  Outside, we finished up the other side of the street, where I bought several ink bottles.   

The trip was great overall as always.  Way more fun and exciting than my description here, but I am one tired traveler today and have a hard time being clever!  Happy August!!