Second Attempts - Alcohol Inks

After watching more YouTubes I am still not achieving the effects I desire, yet I do find this all sorts of fun.  Only one caveat:  alcohol ink designs on Ranger coated papers chip off easily, as the color sits on the surface.  I'm wondering if a spray fixative would prevent this, or maybe just protecting the inked pieces in cellophane sleeves.

More Purple and Gold ATC's

The rubber stamped leaf and tree images with gold embossing powder were good for another series of Artist's Trading Cards, ready to swap.

Adding accents with a gold paint pen...

And some gold Magic Mesh...

A real leaf fallen from a tree just begged to be picked up today. By coating it with chalk ink, I was able to make an impression for further embossing as well.

Ahhhh, Envelopes!

This afternoon I was in need of an envelope.  Not just any envelope.  Not a plain white envelope!  I scrambled to beautify the one I needed, but then- later- had time to play a bit, and decorated six envelopes thus:

First I scraped turquoise blue acrylic  paint over the blank envelopes, using a plastic store card.
Next I added scrapes of gold, then splotches of red paint.
A new arrows rubber stamp set came to mind, and of course, gold embossing powder.
Ripping strips of hand made paper with similar colors, I collaged one across the top of each envelope.
And that, as they say, was that.

Lingering Raindrops

This morning's rain never completely dried up.  I took this photograph in the late afternoon.

Alcohol Inks- Ooo-Eee!

Thanks to a mail artist who sent in a lovely post card with Alcohol Ink designs for one of the group swaps I was guest-hosting, I developed an immediate interest in this technique and could hardly wait to purchase supplies and begin experimenting.  The colors are so vivid!  Of course there is nothing exquisite about my fumblings, yes, I would love to be an expert at first try, but man, am I ever having fun!!!!!  Another person suggested investigating Yupo papers to go with the Alcohol Inks, so that's on my radar for the near future.  The flow of art, friendship and inspiration makes life so much more interesting than going it alone.

Dots & Stripes - Ready To Send Out

It was an amazingly wonderful swap, and a joy to handle so much lovely art.  Now- these postcards must be sent to their new homes.  So many pieces, so many participants.  This is what the sorting table looked like.

Going Back To Amish Country

T'was a cold and windy day, sunlight attempting to break through purple and gray clouds which scuttled across an Autumn sky.  While on an errand, I stopped to admire the glow of green fields offset by the dark trees with foliage past "peak" color.

This horse grazed behind a typical buggy outside a white schoolhouse.  I was nervous about being seen photographing the horse, although I think it cared a lot less about having its picture taken than the Plain People do.

Down a dirt and gravel road, the little country cemetery looked inviting, sometimes the headstones have a verse or carved picture, but- that's an adventure for another day.

ATC Series, etc.

Getting an idea from a YouTube presentation, I used a plastic store card to spread various layers of paint on larger sheets of paper, then added rubber stamp images, cut the sheets into smaller sizes, did some embossing, and ended up with a few ATC's to swap.   If I had known how much fun this techique was, I would have tried it a year or two ago!

And one post card...

Super Moon - Blood Moon- Full Eclipse

September 27th was a good night for sky-watching.  For the first part of the eclipse, the moon appeared quite clear among the stars.   It looked a lot like an  orange ping-pong ball.  Spectacular! Right after this picture was taken (back yard, front-row seats), clouds obliterated stars and moon.

Taken by JNC, Backyard Photographer

I was remembering back to what I saw on August 25, 1990 as I drove west along an expressway, and later wrote about it:

The crescent moon
rose,
milk white,
yellowed, 
took on an orange cast
as it began to sink
toward the horizon;
then it dimmed,
turned blood red,
and was swallowed up by the night.

Today's Collages

Four collage post cards came together while I was surveying bits and pieces in the art studio today...

Creating In Spurts

I have been wanting to take out the Gelli Printing Plate to over-print some envelopes.  PINK and BLUE were the main colors, sequin waste provided the dots.  Since there's always leftover acrylic paint on the plate, I also printed some post cards and narrower strips for notes.  Adding stickers and sentiments seemed to complete the resulting pieces, although there's always time to add something more.

And two other collage pieces:

ATTENTION:  If any viewer is able to identify the sticky paper (painted pink) in the corner of the Pops Of Color post card and can tell me what it is and where I could purchase more, PLEASE let me know.  Someone sent me a long folded strip of it and I really like it.  (It had a few white dimensional dots but the rest were popped out.)  Thanks! 

Found Poetry cards

These three swap cards feature poetry made using selected text from one page in a delightful old book, Flowers and Ferns in Their Haunts, by Mabel Osgood Wright published in 1901.  The words are arranged in the order in which they occur on the page,

some Colors Of Autumn cards

These four cards made for a group swap started out with acrylic paint backgrounds.  Rubber stamped images (some embossed) and, collaged photo's completed the designs.

Lake George NYS

Sumac along Black River, NYS

Maple Trees Black River, NYS

Bike Path along Black River, NYS

Take-Off On Dots And Stripes

Here are some abstract post cards I finished today:

Playing With Dots and Stripes

Another MMSA swap is underway.  There are my collage attempts at a Dots and Stripes theme, but I recently worked on some post cards using permanent pen and watercolor paints which I may post soon.

Security Envelope Patterns/Designs

Today I made a "play date" with myself to work on ATC's made with the linings from security envelopes.  It was so much fun I hated to stop.  Here are four cards that resulted from lots of cuting and pasting: