ART - Just Do What You Like!

I really like having different altered books to work in at the same time, because if I'm not in the mood for one subject... I can just pick up another book and work on ...that subject.

 HOME & GARDEN

Here is what I did this weekend.  I love my art supply cabinet, which I have photographed on earlier entries on this blog, but I decided to do a drawing of it and put it in this book....well, it had to be there, because I love this cabinet and isn't "home" all about putting things in it that you love?

The Gift

I received a gift in my email yesterday....a belated birthday present and a great one!  My friend and artist, Morna, created a new banner for my blog...something I've wanted to change for quite awhile, but technology doesn't come easily to me...so I love it and it's more special because it came from her.
Her blog is http://www.mornacrites-moore.blogspot.com/ 

 My Altered Book Class

Yesterday I had my altered book class and we learned a new technique...encaustic...working with wax.  We worked on special boards designed for encaustic work, adding our collage elements and then putting the coating of wax over these materials.  Suffice to say, that this is a technique that takes practice and sometimes the wax doesn't "take" the way you think it should....which happened on my collage.  The background paper resisted in several places.  Not being a patient person, I don't think encaustic work is for me.  You could create a beautiful collage and then not have the wax work well....and there goes your piece.

When I got home, I decided to do the theme I intended for the class in my altered book since I already had the background pages prepared and I really love the result, love the colors.

ATC Card

done with napkin using the encaustic technique

Backgrounds

I have my monthly altered book class next weekend and we're going to learn how to do an encaustic technique.  We're supposed to bring our own collage materials for this particular class and I was struggling to come up with a theme....and then I decided it's going to be Sunflowers.  I don't know if you can actually do this technique in  an altered book, so I also prepared a background on a stretched canvas.  
The two pictures above have the identical colors, but you can see that in spreading the paint out....the canvas took the paint differently than the paper.  I spread the paints with an old credit card.  The colors are Night Sky, Basil Green and Quinacridone Azo Gold, with a little bit of matte medium mixed in.  I've been gathering "sunflower" themes/colors..a packet of sunflower seeds, a yellow felt button, some dried leaves, a poem called Bring Me The Sunflower by Eugenio Montale,  nature stamps...bee, butterfly, dragonfly...somewhere in my art room I have some tiny sunflowers on floral wire but I'll be darned if I can find them....