Love me, love my dog....

New card for art deck - 5 x 7 paper collage.

Somerset Studio

I was fortunate to have these 3 pieces published in the latest July/August issue of Somerset Studio magazine. The sepia pieces are 3-dimensional created with foamcore,canvas boards, inks, vintage French dictonary text and altered photos of Paris I took 2 summers ago. Each measure 5x7. The Eiffel Tower piece (titled "Elle reve de Paris") is a collage of photos, acrylic paints, inks, text , tissue paper and stamping and is 9x12. The theme was "Paris". Who could resist?!

forward or back?

Those of you who know me well, will understand when I say I am the queen of the "transfer challenged". This is a woman who, in my nursing career, could help deliver a baby, pick the overcome father up off the floor and marvel over the wonderfully beautiful squalling baby with one hand tied behind my back... and when it comes to transfers, that competence all comes to a screeching halt. Yes - I have tried them all. Ok, I admit....packing tape transfers I can do. Yesterday I decided that it would be THE DAY that I would conquer that (to me) elusive technique of gel transfers. I had some watercolor paper gessoed and inked - put down a thin layer of Golden gel medium, placed the image on top, rubbed away... and these are the results.*Something* is going wrong here. Yes... this is an unabashedly shameful plea for help from those of you out there who could at least point me in the right direction. Another technique, maybe? Tips? Any and all comments will be most gratefully accepted!!!

Legacy

Recently I became the very lucky recipient of these two tintypes. One is a portrait of my great-great grandmother Emma and the other is my great grandmother Fanny with two unidentified cousins. They were both badly scratched and I have tried cleaning them up a bit with Photoshop, without losing the integrity of the originals. I plan on making necklaces using the photos and some optical lenses for my sister , cousin and myself. Can't help but wonder what these women were like... I've been told they were both very independent and strong women with mischevious streaks!

summer solitude

Altered photots

“A bird sang sweet and strong In the top of the highest tree,

He said, "I pour out my heart in song

For the summer that soon shall be."

But deep in the shady wood,

Another bird sang,

"I pour My heart on the solemn solitude

For the springs that return no more."”

George Wm. Curtis

A Gift from the Heart

The daughter of a friend is graduating this weekend and I decided to make her a journal. She loves to write and sketch, so the book is filled with heavy charcoal and watercolor paper.

Summer Sweetness

One of the loves of my life (my son Adam) with the love of his life ~ Mariah.

Background gone wrong...

The day started with good intentions. I planned on making several background papers for future projects and had some very specific ideas for color schemes and design. "The best laid plans"..... I was so unhappy with the way they were turning out, I tore them up and sent them to the "circular file". At which point they suddenly transformed into something totally new and this collage was born. Oh, how I love buttons!!

I also wanted to try altering some cabinet cards (thank you Maija!!) and came across this old card that I had tucked away - actually almost threw away - as being totally uninteresting. New life for the little garcon!!

What's it?

Here's a little puzzle to keep you busy this rainy Saturday... I purchased this vintage piece the other day and have absolutely no idea what it is! The holder is brass, about 10" long and is embossed with various letters where the holes are for the pins. The larger pins themselves are 6" long, very thick and have corresponding embossed letters on the heads. The smaller pins on the bottom are 4" long. The seller sold it as something that was used at a public swimming pool locker room... but the pins are way too substantial to be used for this. I know pins like this are (or were) sometimes used in the military for marking and identifying laundry... but why such large, heavy duty pins? Any ideas out there?

Les Fleurs

Only in Paris... a beautiful side street in Montmartre.

Sweet Lady of Sorrows

Some of the most beautiful artwork in Paris lies in Pere Lachaise Cemetery.
I'm not sure why this stone had this wonderfully rusted color, but with the basket of flowers sitting off to the side, it was a burst of color in a black and white landscape.

Weekly Art Card Challenge

Ribbon! 8 of hearts... 5x7 format

Summer rain blues

It's been cool and rainy for the past few days... wish we could send some of these showers to those who need it! Gloomy in the studio, but I played a Cd I received from Kristen with some of her favorite music - full blast - and got lost in this week's art card challenge of using the wonderful sherbert colors of lime, orange and raspberry. Just knew I had to use these adorable little boys eating their cones!

header

Vision

New card for the art deck... 6 of hearts

Insomnia

sleep
wild dreaming
of colors
with no name
and wake
on the verge of knowing