lara

For my parent's 50th wedding anniversary i made a scrapbook of photos from their 50 years together. I wanted to give them something special and meaningful. I remembered that the best present i have ever received was from my parents on my high school graduation - a handmade scrapbook. As it turned out, this was absolutely the perfect gift.



The covers are chipboard i covered in a fibrous handmade paper. My brother drew the picture that i framed with ribbon on the front cover. The back cover is simple, with the ribbon used to bind the book visible.



The binding i chose is called Tape Binding even though there is no tape involved. Confusing name. I wanted to choose something simple and unintrusive, since i had never bound anything before, and that looked elegant. This looks awesome, but for such a substantially heavy book i probably should have chosen something a bit stronger.



The inside pages are heavy weight watercolor paper i used to make Gelli Plate prints on. There are 10 sheets i printed on front and back.



I used many colors, whatever i was feeling like that day really. This yellow and pink print ended up being my favorite even though it's so bold.



To mount the photos i used regular scrapbook paper, trying to coordinate colors.









The page edges were distressed and inked with distress inks.



All in all this turned out better than i could imagine! I know it was appreciated by my entire family!

A co-worker of mine who has seen a few of the cards i make for friends asked if she could commission me to make a birthday card for a friend of hers. After some thought i accepted which planted a little seed of idea in the old mind grapes...

Anyways, i asked her what her friend likes to do and colors and she said she likes to dance and loves bright colors... and this is what i came up with!



The background is gelli plate printing. This is one of those "throw away" prints i thought sucked because it was too busy and i just completely over did it, but good thing i've learned to never throw anything away because it worked perfectly as a backdrop for the other imagery i put on it!



See? The subtle design blends into the back as i layered light molding paste mixed with color pigments through stencils over the top. I actually dont believe i've ever done two layers of stencils with molding paste and since i let the first dry completely it worked like a charm!



The dancer was created using my, now, coveted, technique of glass bead gel and dylusions ink spray. I think i found my niche y'all! I also cut up another "throw away" gelli print to put as a shadow behind the silhouette adding extra depth and layer.

To finish it all off i added one of my all time favorite quotes (handwritten!!!!) and used the staples in double duty - to adhere the piece as well as provide a bit of a border/stop for the eye.

So, yeah, i'm thinking of taking commissions for more cards now. It's fun being stretched, and really i have discovered i am most inspired when i am creating something for someone specific.

More to come....????

This project is featured over at Gauche Alchemy today!

Me so love Golden Glass Bead Gel + Dylusions Ink Spray!



And me so love Gelli Printing and Stencilling!



LOVE!

This is one of my favorites now. I found this quote one day on facebook and already had the background done without the white splotches and start stamping. When i saw the quote i knew where it had to live. And it rings so true for me. The balance of life, experiences, emotions. I love the way the colors are dark with peaks of bright.

I finished it off with the white splotches with the Dylusions Spray Ink in White. Worked perfectly!



All the paint layers added some really interesting texture!
Obviously, Im still loving these painted layer backgrounds i've been exploring.
90% are made from cleaning my brayer between Gelli plate layers :)




A topic i keep revisiting is fear, and on this day it occurred to me one of biggest fears on a day to day basis (besides snakes and a loved one dying) is failure. I feel like i am constantly working towards something successful but quit at the last minute. Am i afraid to succeed or fail is the question. Seth Apter's stencils pulled this one all together.




The background on this page truly is a catch all for cleaning my shit off. Whether is be cleaning a stencil of extra paint, using excess paint through some punchinella or another stencil so not to waste it. its been a couple of months in the making and was so dark and chaotic i didnt know how i could ever use it.

For the last two months i've been sidelined by some internal health issues which has basically put me back at step zero at the gym. And i was doing really well for about six months, going to bootcamps 3-4 times a week. But now that i am starting back i find i have lost so much of my strength and conditioning. Like an insane amount of conditioning and it feels horrible and some days even impedes me from wanting to get up and work out.

I took some photos of myself boxing to see just how crappy i look and whether it looks like a joke that i am even attempting to box, but after i saw a couple of the photos (not all mind you), i thought to myself "this fatty can kick some ass!" I got on pinterest as i have been doing to look for motivational fitness quotes and found the perfect one for where i am at "everything is hard before it's easy" because thats exactly how it feels every time i step foot into the gym. I made my own meme with one of the boxing photos. And so it wouldnt just live on my computer or on facebook, i printed it and incorporated it into this page. That target in the center works perfectly.




Lastly a vertical page, which i rarely rarely do! This was mostly to test out the Dylusions sprays through different stencils. Again, the words jumped out at me one day and i wrote them down to remember them. I was able to mask the area off and stencil around them. Again, with the fear... but more importantly ... again with the hopes and dreams!

I created this piece for my brother for his birthday and yes, he is a huge fan of cats.

I am really really getting off with this combination of texture and found object collage lately. And now that i have a better collection of tools it's really starting to come together!




The kitty silhouette is made with a whole assortment of objects I have collected throughout the years. Some are from garage sales, some from Scrapbox in Ann Arbor (my mecca), some from Gauche Alchemy, some from junk drawers and some from sidewalks and streets.

The cat is outlined with hot glue to give me a good area view and then i used Golden's heavy gel to adhere everything since it dries clear. After that i painted white gesso over everything to make the colors a little obvious and then sprayed the crap out of it with Orange/Yellow/Pink Dylusions Ink Sprays. These work so much better then what i had been using previously with other pieces (Glimmer Mist or Homemade pigment sprays).



Finally, the background is made of two layers of texture - molding paste through stencil and masking fluid. I couldnt tell you how many layers of paint and sprays - i kinda went crazy on that until i just had to stop.

I am continuing to explore layers of acrylic paints and gelli prints in my art journal. Each of these pages started out as a place to clean my brayer off of between Gelli Prints. When i thought it was good and layered i added some additional highlighting of areas and a quote that inspires me.
 

This guy used some Dylusions ink over the top. After i was done, the only word i could think of was Gratitude. The colors and the movement made me feel pretty elated and right now in my life i feel so much gratitude to so many people.
 

Exploring texture and dylusions inks some more. Can you believe i just started using these brilliant things?! Scraps of paper were glued to the background, some braile scraps too and then stencils were used with light molding paste. After it was all dry i kinda went spray crazy! I only used three colors - yellow, pink and blue, and i love the way they all combined to create other colors of the color wheel!
 

Finally, a more subdued page expressing emotions i've recently discovered i had. Lots of painty layers with stamps and ink over it!

Seth Apter over at The Altered Page challenged his readers to post photos of their workspace to show that artists get down and dirty - for me, that's where the magic is!

My art table is my old kitchen table because it's waist high - I like to stand when i work because i move around alot, whether it be dancing, lip synching or just reaching for the myraid of materials i have all around the room (not pictured). It's cool i don't have a kitchen table anymore...

I like taking photos of my workspace periodically to document the tools and materials i am obsessed with at the time. I suppose this one illustrates well my obsession with the Gelli Plate and my art journal - it's pretty much all i can do these days. Also love me some stamps, sprays (there's Glimmer Mists and Dylusions) and stencils.

But, yeah, i need to be in a pretty dirty space to create. When it's pristine and clean i don't know which way to go!

This month's gauche alchemy's mixed media challenge was sort of a shabby chic theme.



I've been wanting to explore more mixed media sewing - i.e. what kind of fabric and non-fabric materials can be sewn together and how, and while i'm still obviously quite the novice, this little piece i put together does make me feel fuzzy.

My lace collection has grown really out of control so i was curious what lace sewn together would look like, especially when put on top of other things since it would be somewhat transparent still. I also decided to use some punchinella as it is so much like lace, just made out of plastic not fabric. And it sews delightfully!

I think sewed the whole piece onto a printed shopping bad and cut it would into some hearts. The edges are lightly gesso'd and washi taped to make them a little more prominant. Then to put on the finishing touches to make it more like a mixed media quilt, I suppose.



I used staples and floss for highlights, buttons, a few little scraps of lace, then the letter beads to make it a little more meditative for me, and i have hung it up over my bed.

Gauche Alchemy is now having monthly challenges which I am taking part of! This month, our inspiration is Frida Kahlo.

I've got to admit, I've never actually really looked at her stuff with an artistic eye. For me it's just always been "ok portraits moving on..." (as i usually am attracted more to abstract).

However after looking at her paintings and reading quotes from her and about her life, well, i really love how strong and bold and unique and passionate she is. My art journal page just had to reflect that!




I decided to do some experimentation which worked out so incredibly well i cant wait to do more. I chose a page in my art journal that was started but completely undone and well just kinda crappy. I stenciled over it with glass bead gel from Golden. As you can see, the gel holds the stencil lines incredibly well! I then sprayed over it with three Dylusions sprays to make the beautiful mess it turned out to be: turquoise, yellow and pink. I also gave it a very very light sprtizing of bronze glimmer mist to make it shimmer a bit more.

It's so 3D and tactile, its such a joy to touch and reflect on.




I already knew what words i wanted to put on there. Words that not only described Ms Kahlo but incorporated a word i've been doing alot of thinking and art around - fear. And in this case fearless.

Every year the African Well Fund has a fundraiser in honor of Bono's Birthday. Anyone who donates may sign an online card and then i download all the messages and compile them into something handmade.



This year is a book of sorts - it ended up being about 4" x 6" and was stitched together using a coptic binding - my first time doing it!

The background is made with duct tape, stencils, masking fluid, acrylic paint and Luminarte Primary Element Pigments. The objects on it are things I found in my collection, i have no idea where they came from at this point but everything seemed to fit together rather perfectly!



To see some of the past cards, click here

To visit African Well Fund, click here

A 12" x 16" mixed media piece on canvas I made for a friend using a song lyric that was part of the soundtrack of our lives in the early 90's in college.



Lot's of yummy texture using all sorts of paints, mists, mediums, scraps and beads.



The bike gears were given to me by a friend and the grease that remains on them adds just the right amount of grunge! I also got myself a alpha punch kit for metal and this was the first time using it on copper. LOVE this and can't wait to do more!