Wednesday, April 27, 2016

TYVEK the Second

Another scrap of painted Tyvek (house insulating wrap) volunteered for this post card.
 An inked background, stencil dots over that, melted Tyvek (painted with acrylic paint), two strips of painted joint tape, and a rose decal from a decorative table napkin completed this collage.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

A Batch of Envelopes

Starting with Gelli Plate prints, more paint layers, stenciled patterns, or rubber stamped images were added to these envelopes:










Saturday, April 23, 2016

Puffy Mixed Media Postcard

A mail art friend has encouraged me to use up scraps from the piles on my work table. Leftover pieces of  painted, melted Tyvek from almost ten years ago are still kicking around and it seemed like time to include Tyvek in a new project.  Painted self-adhesive drywall joint tape made a middle layer. Lots of texture.  The base card has two complimentary inks around the edges. Pink and gold, how can one go wrong with that combination?

One Envelope Finished

The large fern rubber stamp was an easy choice, as green acrylic paint peeks through the white layer on this envelope.  A fade-out stencil pattern adds pink to the mix.  Butterfly stickers and a bee rubber stamp- that's enough.  (see older post)

"White-Out" Envelopes

This technique I tried a year or two ago and promptly forgot how I did it, even though I loved the soft pastel effect.
It all came back to me when I painted this envelope and didn't like the results.  Out came the white acrylic paint to cover it up.  Then, because there was extra paint leftover, I made some more.  These will be good backgrounds for rubber stamping or collage, or a combination of both.  Check back in a few days...




Friday, April 22, 2016

Composite Collage Postcards

Trying to imitate digital designs, I double-printed these postcards, later adding some collage elements and rubber stamped images.  (My apologies for the decentered and apparently crooked images due to camera challenges.)







Dendritic Aquatic Design

Using drops of coral pink and white acrylic paints on the glass plate to create dendritic patterns which were then applied to a smooshed teal paint background, I ended up with circles of "coral" and, of course, had to add some fish.

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Artist's Trading Card Blast!

Anticipating a possible "FLOWERS & TRIANGLES" ATC's group swap, I pulled out pages from two gardening magazines.  You know- the ones where you want to order ten of almost everything and then wonder where you would possibly plant them.

I cut triangles of different sizes out of cereal box cardboard.  To these I glued small pieces of flower pictures, trimmed them and then inked the edges.


 (Blue iris card is different, with cut-out blue stencil triangles over-inked with yellow and pink to accent the butterfly postage stamp.)


Some ATC's had color contrast.  On others, the colors of triangles and background blended together.


Next, I pulled out a plastic triangles stencil and heavy duty clear packaging tape to make magazine transfers from pictures of flowers.


I think I like the effect of the flower-background "lattice work" even better than I do the flower triangles on a plain background.  Since the (color removed) white paper triangles were rough, I decided to use gloss medium gel to seal the cards.

With over 20 new ATC's completed, I'm prepared for some serious swapping!


ICAD's #15 - #21

Although the previous seven ICAD's are still MIA, I wanted to post this next group before I send them off.


The background for ICAD #15 was painted by a mail art pal.  Flower applique and butterfly rubber stamp image represent wishes for Spring to really arrive.


The next three, ICAD's # 16 - #18, started as a black-and-white theme, but red crept in on two of them.



On ICAD #18 (above)- I'm not sure where this flower outline photopolymer stamp came from, but it was fun to clear emboss over red ink.


Pinks, again, and more Magic Mesh on ICAD #19.  Who doesn't love iris?


 ICAD #20- Wistful for Autumn but not too strongly, as we are still getting rid of the cold white evidence of Winter's last blasts.


Blue-on-blue was the theme for ICAD #21.  It's fun to incorporate bits and pieces from the work table.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

ICAD's #8 - #14

This next batch of Index-Card-A-Day's is lost in limbo somewhere, mailed across the country 1+1/2 weeks ago with no clue as to the where-abouts or fate.  I am sincerely hoping the envelope will show up soon, fingers crossed.

 Magic Mesh was a major player in Card #8, with a Gelli Plate printed background.
 Textured paper strips woven together made for a rather thick, tactile Card #9.
 "Red" was the prompt for collaged Card #10.
 Card #11 incorporates Letters and Numbers.
 "White On Yellow" became the theme for Card #12.  (Gelli Plate printing and embossed rubber stamp images)
Card #13 has paper-strips, a fish, and a heart collaged over a Gelli Plate printed background.

An acrylic painted ATC, a flower sticker, white paint pen and other collage on a Gelli Plate printed background completed Card #14.

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Gold and Silver ATCs

Working with gold or silver is a nice change from bright colors.

These ATC's were so amazingly simple to make, it's almost embarrassing.  (Isn't it written somewhere that ART has to be difficult to make, and complicated to design?  Maybe sometimes I make it more difficult than it has to be.)  

Here's how the gold ATC came together:
The background was already brushed with acrylic paint.
A strip cut from corrugated cardboard added a nice textural focus after a rubbing of gold acrylic paint.
Silver embossing powder sprinkled over two rubber stamped images melted nicely.
A wrapped metallic-look fiber strand added the only touch of color

Elements of the silver ATC on the right included a layer of tissue paper over a patterned background, a collaged tissue paper butterfly, and silver embossing powder over a rubber stamped image.

Orange ATCs

These nine cards started as another full-sheet background painted first with pink, orange and yellow acrylic paints, stamped with a large text rubber stamp and tree images; collage elements (postage stamps, Magic Mesh) added last.


Someone recently dubbed me an "Art Factory."  Perhaps it fits on occasion.  I do seem to work in spurts (notwithstanding that the definition of a "Spurt" is a 'has-been drip under pressure!'). Sometimes the ideas just don't gel.  Other times my head is so full of possibilities and inspiration that there should be five of me to explore them all :)





Green & Blue ATC's


 Painting an 8+1/2" x 11" sheet of card stock, then cutting it into ATC backgrounds, makes for a good start.  Unfortunately, sometimes I enjoy painting more than deciding what in the world to put ON the background.  These eight cards sat around waiting for inspiration for a week or two before I could finish them.