Purple Mail Art!
Four days left and counting! The packing is done except for the last few bits, all the boxes are taped up except for three of my art supply boxes, so we’re almost there!!
Carrying on the addiction, here’s another recycled padded envelope. This one originated from my pen supplier!
I started out with the ‘Fragile’ tape again – I do like how that looks through the paint! Then I added a couple of small gel medium transfers, and followed it up with lots of acrylic finger painting, recycled stamping, homemade stamping and stencilling. I finished off with a little metallic paint drippage. I think this one may have a face lurking in its depths … keep watching to find out!
More Mail Art!
Moving day is less than 5 days away. Almost everything is in boxes, but I keep delaying sealing them up so that I can keep painting! We’re moving into deep clean mode now – cleaning out cupboards, washing down paintwork and stuff like that. I ache all over from all the unaccustomed exercise!
I think I may be getting addicted to painting on recycled padded envelopes! They are so much fun, plus they’re about the only things I can find to paint on at the moment! After the move I’ll have loads of recycled cardboard – but for now I’m really enjoying my mail art.
I began by adding some “Fragile” tape to the envelope to get it started, then added lots of layers of acrylic paint with my fingers. I originally intended to use ink pads to do my stamping, but they are packed too deep for me to get to them right now, so I used some more acrylic paint on my homemade stamps. I finished off by adding a bit of drippage – very watered down acrylic paint. I’m not sure if it’s totally finished yet, but it felt like the right place to stop for now.
Mail Art!
I’m never quite sure what qualifies as ‘Mail Art’. Does it have to be something you make to send through the post, or can it be recycling something that has already been sent through the post? I’m sure someone will enlighten me, but in the meantime, I’m calling what I created today ‘Mail Art’!
We received it in the mail a couple of days ago when it contained some computer memory for a computer Bry is currently repairing. Knowing my acquisitive habits, he gave it to me for recycling. I originally intended to put it with my collection of padded envelopes, but it never got that far. It’s been sitting in a pile on my desk, and this evening when I was wanting to paint something small, it seemed the obvious choice of canvas.
I decorated it using acrylic paint applied with my fingers and an assortment of my recycled ‘stamps’ (sequin waste, old cards, creamer sealers, washers, etc). I finished it off using the waste from a die-cut alphabet as a stencil. I really like how it turned out – maybe I’ll re-use it as an envelope now it’s finished!
More Layers!
I managed a few more layers last night and was hoping to add some text today but somehow the time eluded me! So here’s the next instalment…
… first I added some layers of acrylic paint and some stencilling…
… then I collaged my meditating lady after painting her using acrylic paint and a die-cut dragonfly. It’s taking awhile, but I’m pleased with how it’s looking so far. Hopefully I’ll manage to finish it tomorrow!
Now I’m off to the shops to get some more boxes! Keep watching!
I Begin…
The 1st of August has arrived bringing with it the start of Effy’s challenge to blogalong with her for 30 days in August. There’s still time to join in if you haven’t already, just click on the link below.
Being a little slow off the mark, I have just decided to join in Effy’s Inner Excavate Along where she is going through Liz Lamoreux’s book Inner Excavation. Effy has nearly finished, but I’m just starting …. O well as Effy says, I own the book so I can work through it whenever I like :).
Anyhow… after reading all the ideas and suggestions in chapter 1, I decided to create a word poem using a few of the words on the pages of my recycled journal. Originally I thought I’d add some joining words between the words on the page, but on reflection, I decided that would be overkill and have bravely left them stark and suggestive. I hope you like them.
I started out by very careful covering the words I wanted to use in masking fluid. Once that was dry, I covered the pages with a thick layer of gesso, then started adding layers of acrylic paint, stencilling and stamping. When I was happy with the result, I carefully peeled off the masking fluid to reveal the words, then added my theme ‘I Begin…’ using die cut letters.
I’m off to see what everyone else has been up to now. See you tomorrow!
Finished Page!
At last all the layers have dried and it’s safe to scan the finished page.
I love how the finished page turned out, and I had such fun making it. The only tricky part was managing the wet media on the thin pages of my new journal, but I managed that by starting with a thickish layer of white gesso and using the acrylic paint with a dry brush. What I love is that you can still see some of the original pages through the layers in places!
Just for a change my ‘ingredients’ list is quite short! I started with white gesso, added layers of acrylic paint, and stamped using various clear and homemade stamps with a staz-on ink pad and some distress ink pads. I printed the quotation onto plain white copy paper then cut out the letters by hand, leaving me with a stencil affect. I coloured this using distress ink pads, then stuck it to the page using a glue stick. Lastly I added some more acrylic paint using an assortment of household items!
Blogalong with Effy!
I’ve not been blogging very regularly of late, so when I got effy’s newsletter today and saw that she was hosting a blogalong during August, I thought it would be a good idea to sign up in an attempt to complete thirty posts in thirty days!
Meanwhile, I’ve been back to playing catch up with the Life Book 2013 lessons. I started with Danita’s great class entitled Key to Freedom. The class started with a link to this cool podcast from Tarah Brach
The theme of the lesson corresponded exactly with the July Rumi Project quote over at the Glitterhood, so I had to incorporate it!
“Why do you stay in prison,when the door is so wide open?”
I started out by drawing the girl and the cage in pencil, then painted them using masking fluid before journalling on the background using a white gellyroll pen. I then painted over everything using Twinkling H2O’s. When everything was dry, I peeled off the masking fluid, coloured the girl using neocolour crayons and painted the cage with Twinkling H2O’s. Lastly I wrote the Rumi quote using a white Uni Paint Marker.
This week’s class was from Dina Wakley.
I started the page with a coat of white gesso then added some collaged book pages and old scanned artwork. Next I dripped some ink down the centre of the page and journalled across it, then placed a silhouette mask I created over the top and used acrylic paint to cover most of the page around the mask. I used stencils to add some interest to the background, and lastly, added some detail to the silhouette using a Stabilo All pencil and white acrylic paint. I found creating this page very therapeutic – thank you Dina.
Faces and Emotions
The last part of Misi B’s Life Book 2013 Class was to journal about emotions on the back of the page then to draw a group of faces showing different emotions. Not the easiest thing in the world for me – but I gave it a go!
I ‘wrote’ the journalling using acrylic paint, added some colour to the background, then drew the faces using a charcoal stick. I coloured some of the faces using acrylic paint, then coloured the remaining background using a mixture of acrylic paint and neocolour crayons. Finally finished! Wow – that was some class Mitsi – thank you so much – I learnt a lot!
Finding Faces
Today, I was very brave, despite serious doubts about my ability to do this, I sat down with a piece of charcoal and my acrylic paint and found the faces in my background. Very scary stuff!!
The first two faces on the right were easy to find. The third face top left took a little longer. Then I got stuck! I had this big space with nothing in it and I just couldn’t see another face. But I could see a rather strange looking leg. I didn’t have the courage to start drawing straight on the background, so I copied the leg onto the newspaper I was using to protect the table. The result was the little monster bottom left! Wow! – I’m quite impressed with how this turned out! What do you think?
Very Messy!
Late last night, about 1am, I decided to start Misi B’s Life Book 2013 lesson. I can always judge how much I’ve enjoyed something by the amount of paint I get all over me – I’m still picking the paint off my fingers now!! I only got as far as the first background, but I had so much fun and am really pleased with the result so far. So I scanned it to share with you.
I started with a collage of leftover bits of artwork prints then added some glitter sprays and ink sprays. Next I added several layers of acrylic paint using my hands and some hand made stamps – very messy!! The next step is to search for faces in the background and paint them in. I can see two at the moment – how many can you see? I’ll show you the result when I’m done – see you later!!