CONTEMPLATIONS OF THE HEART
I'm revisiting a beloved image from the vintage photo site for this mixed media piece, this time in color. I've used a 9 X 12 board canvas leftover from when a still-life I was working on at school got destroyed over spring break. The background is acrylic paint and tissue paper. I colored the tissue paper with metallic marker to pick up some green from the image. I used pearl beads and confetti hearts and stars for accents, then finished it all off with gel medium and a spritz of Krylon. I need to find a pretty, ornate type of frame for this one.

CHERRY BLOSSOM GIRL
Here's a new 16 X 20 mixed media piece. I used acrylic paint for the background and to paint the cherry blossom branch. The photos are from the vintage photo site. I've used a sheet of origami paper, some fortunes, an old postage stamp from my vintage stamp stash, and some chopsticks from a local restaurant to complete the piece. The Japanese text also came from the vintage photo site. I framed the piece in frame that is gold with an accent stripe of rusty red that matches the color in the origami paper. I am happy with this one. I like the colors, and the little geisha girl is so cute. I'm definitely putting this one in the gallery show.

CLOUD DANCERS
Here's a new mixed media piece for my gallery show this summer. This is done on a stretched 18 X 24 gallery canvas. The ballerina image is from the vintage photo sharing site I've mentioned before, and I've used it in a prior piece. I've used two old cloisonnes pins that I found at a junk shop in Raymond on a recent trip with my Design class, and some old pieces of jewelry as little accents (I love the little piano!). The clouds are made of tissue paper. The little frames are leather and chrome. The background is acrylic painted with a wet-on-wet technique that I've used in the past. The crowns are hand cut from a magazine and accented with metallic RoseArt pens. It's all finished with gel medium.

I have framed it in a gold frame that is somewhat ornate, but not too terribly frilly and it accents the art nicely.

STRANGE COMPOSITION
This is my latest oil painting. It is 8 X 10 on a board canvas. It's a red delicious apple stacked on top of a golden delicious apple, with a lime resting in the foreground. I tried putting a number of items into the still life on the left side, but kept taking them out as nothing seemed to look better there than the shadow of the red delicious.

HOME-MADE BOOK PROJECT

I had to do a project for my graphic computers class. Part of it was simply to prove that I know how to use the software. That was easy enough. I chose to create a book using poems I've written about my life in the South. The file is done and ready to turn in as a PDF. I was also instucted to do whatever I wanted creatively with it as far as the physical production of the book.

At first I thought I'd just send it to Kinko's. Then, I was in my drawing teacher's office and noticed that she has this little collection of home-made books in a display case...I was hooked. I knew when I saw them I'd have to create my own. This is something I’ve never tried before.

On short notice I was limited on what I could do because of supplies. I had to use things I already had on hand as there was no time to go on a supply excursion. My drawing teacher loaned me a book to help out, but supplies listed in it are hard to come by on short notice (bee's wax, horse hoof musilage...???). It did give me some ideas about binding though, which is what I was mostly after, and I was able to do a variation from the book with the materials I had on hand.

Front View with Bookmark


I used mat board, red craft paper and the backs of old notebooks to construct the front and back covers. The front cover comes from a collage I did some time back and I used a jpg that I desaturated in photoshop to make the black and white effect. I also used it as a backdrop for old family photos that I scanned and used in the book as well. I used gel medium to fasten some metal moons and a cupid and star to the front to add some interest. The binding is an organza ribbon run through three holes I punched with an awl. The finishing touch is a twig from the back yard.

Inside Cover


Overall, I think the craftmanship could be better next time, but for the limited time and materials I think it turned out nice, and it was not terrilbly torturous work! The hard part was deciding on the binding and figuring out a proper variation for what I had on hand to work with, then executing it without screwing it up.

Back View


Accompanying Bookmark