Chess Anyone?

Ever since PBI last Spring I've had it on my artistic to do list to make some chess piece stencils.

My hubby & I have been playing chess a bit more lately during these long grey days.

It's a great game. Timeless. Have you played? 

 

 

We have this old book, part novel part chess strategy. 

My older son won it in elementary school at a chess tournament. 

The illustrations are wonderful.

You can still get a copy.

This is my favorite Laura Wait image where she created her own version of chess pieces. 

She was one of my instructors.  Lots of inspiration was absorbed. 

 Love the metal pieces on the cover as well.

Working from an old wooden chess (2 opening images) I sketched my design. 

  

I folded them in half and retraced so they would be symmetrical. 

Cut them out of card stock for the stencils.

Trail run in my journal to see how they turned out.

Made some refinements.

Decided they would be my January Artist Trading Cards. 

I have loads of cards for my ATCs cut from cast off projects & experiments.

 Recycling at it's most obsessive. But that's how I roll.

Breakfast & Beyond

Today is a hodgepodge of items.

Been making large batches of baked oatmeal every few days for our breakfast.
Lots of the local blueberries I picked, almond milk, vanilla, brown sugar,
cinnamon, apple & or raisins. Banana is a great addition as well. Yum!

This was an Artist Trading Card month. I pulled together some fabric scraps I 

doctored up with white pen & a metallic stamp, added pieces of fall leaves 

I had soaked in glycerin then used the white pen again. All that glued to tar paper
(roofing material) background. 

Wanted to share this beauty of a find with you. On one of our kayaking days on North Fox Island
hubby spotted this deer skull in the tall grass on the shore. It's in pristine condition! Great teeth.
A search for how to clean & preserve it ensued. It soaked in a peroxide solution for a
long time then left to dry. It still needs a coat of poly sealer.
 I envision it hanging on my studio wall with a flower in the eye socket a la Georgie O'Keeffe

Some news about classes I'm teaching this winter next time. 
 

Birds of a Feather

Having woods out our back window gives us lots of opportunity to bird watch. 

The past couple summers we have Barred Owls we hear at night & in the morning behind our home.

Recently one showed up during the day & perched outside the window. Link is the call we hear.
He's in there, can you see him? Dead center below the clump of snow. The camouflage is amazing. 

What a treat to have him hang out for us to watch for awhile.

I love dolls. Saw this wonderful owl ages ago and recently found the artist, Ann Wood ,
who created him has the pattern for sale.  I think I could use my canvas scraps
 in different colors for the plumage.  She has lots of other tutorials & patterns
 for other birds as well as all kinds of inspiration for hand sewing. 

Awhile back I did a flamingo card for an ATC (artist trading card) group I participate in.

I created it as a pop up since a fold was needed to accommodate the long legs.

Here is the image  that gave me the idea.

   

Have to include the Puffins. I was inspired on a trip to Kodiak Is. in Alaska a few years ago.

 The image that gave me the proportions to use in my stencils.

 What birds do you see in your "neck of the woods" ?

Spring Musings

 

It's finally Spring, some days.  Still not shorts weather. 

Since the A to Z Challenge ended my posts have dropped off. 

The trip to Denver, work, and general activity have taken precedent.  

My plan going forward is to post 2 times per week with shorter ideas from the studio,

nature, as well as general artistic tid bits that cross my path.

 I have three pieces that will be in a 15 day long event in 

Elk Rapids June 10-25. Stay tuned for more on that.

While driving on the express way a couple weeks ago I noticed the perspective of the clouds.

Decided to do a quick sketch later to catch what I saw in my travel journal.

These are my May offerings for our ATC group in progress. 

 The finished product that just went out in the mail.

Scraps of hand painted fabric stitched, then a bit of stencil with acrylic paint added.

I've done several more embossed cards recently. More on that next up.

Belated Happy New Year!

 

 Here we are at the end of January. This is a bit tardy but wanted to share my latest ATC swap. 

2017, Bring It On!

 

I played with Golden Heavy Body medium mixed with black acrylic paint to see

 what kind of result I might get. 

 Adding some Viva Inka Gold "wax" to show off the texture. It comes in a rainbow of colors, may have to get some others.

The red background was put on first with my favorite grid creator, hardware cloth. I use a stencil brush for the application of paint. Originally found in the man cave, I have several pieces cut to different sizes for different projects. One is the size of my journal pages so I can have a good background 

for writing in a snap. 

I have some good old fashioned stencils I used to apply the paste. That was a little messy & time consuming as each number had to dry before the next could be added. 

Given the strange year we are faced with, and the fact I'm retiring from my day job in April, I decided the cards needed one more thing. Bring It On! was printed on some old book pages and added for contrast & to let everyone know I'm up for the challenge.

Tid Bits & Pieces

 I tend to work small most of the time. Not sure why. Could be the reason ATC's are a good way for me to play with ideas. One from latest batch for this month seen above.

Substrate is 2 sheets of tissue paper fused when painted with acrylic and glaze medium. String is embedded between the 2 sheets. When 3 of we artsy types had a play day recently I was taught the tissue paper technique. Wanted to use the paper for something so I cut it up and used the new stencil I posted a bit ago.

 All lined up & ready to go.

The next few posts I will focus on one or 2 small things that have caught my attention or been created recently. That will keep each post a bit shorter. What do you think? Good idea?

Little Bits of Art

Before I head to PBI I had to get my May edition of Artist Trading Cards ready to ship out.

I painted Sumi & walnut ink onto muslin. Once dried I embellished with a gold oval using my trusty hand cut stencils & Inka Gold paste...new item for me that I love! Then used one of my kitchen/art tools, an apple corer, dipped in red acrylic paint for the little dots. 

For substance I stitched the muslin to heavy water color paper with a satin stitch. Voila, done. I try to make my little cards original and hand made each time. I find playing with techniques I've run across i this little pressure free format gives me lots of ideas for larger projects.

Staying Focused

Seemed like a good title for right now. I wanted to share a few more pictures from the My Still Sunday class. But first some thoughts. Yes I do have some.

The days have been so grey, wet, & dark for a few weeks. It doesn't help that the days are SO short. SADD takes hold. But hey, as of today they are getting longer.

Listening to Darren Rowse pod casts recently. Lots of inspiration and help with blogging, goal setting, social media. I'm always curious to learn how others manage their lives. Check him out.

Another fun look into the lives of others is My Morning Routine Most of the folks featured are much younger, but it's fun to peak into their days.

Here lies some of the problem. Spending too much time looking for inspiration and not getting into the studio to play. I need to heed my own advice from the last ATCs.  Remember?

So on to photos. This simple set up seems soothing to me. Used some pieces of the vinyl flooring in my studio space for the base. Did lots of tweaks in the VSCO app. It really is a great one.

 This was from a couple weeks ago. But the I like the focus on the Queen Anne's lace  at the higher level.hand made paper of mine as the back drop.

 No idea what I will do with this, but wanted to play with depth of field with my "real" camera.

OK all you artisits. Let's get into our creative spaces and get something going!