Blue Heart

I love the colors in this piece but I'm struggling with naming it - it's a blue heart but it's not sad in any way.  It's really very calming and maybe even cheerful.

I started with three different blue CitraSolv papers that were torn and adhered to  clayboard(the center one had been painted).  Next came some sanding, stamping and coloring.  Yes, coloring.  With metallic crayons.  Then I took the heat gun to everything ~ it's fun to watch the crayon melt, it looks a little like embossing powder.  (Oh!  Embossing powder ~ I wonder how that would work under beeswax.  I see experiments in my near future!)

The next step was an image transfer.  I used gel medium to adhere a striped heart ~ my goal was to have a very subtle image so at least half of the image was white.  After it dried and I rubbed & rubbed & rubbed, all of the paper backing still didn't come off. 

However, since I worked on this partly while I worked on the journal page I posted the other day, I knew that Twinkling H2Os would cover that up.  I used a purply-pink and pearl in the heart as well as kiwi green outside.  The watercolor didn't stick quite as well to the CitraSolv paper ~ I'm not sure if that's due to the CitraSolv or just cuz they're glossy magazine pages.

Next came a NEW beeswax!  The local stamp store where I've been holding workshops, My Heart's Fancy, got in some pebbles of clear beeswax so I decided to try it on here.  Since it's been a gazillion degrees outside, I didn't want to heat up the electric skillet so I just melted the wax with my iron directly onto the board.  The wax seems to be much thinner than usual but that could be because it's perfectly clear - no yellowish tint.

And I ended it all with the addition of color. I absolutely LOVE adding more color at the end.  I think it might be one of my favorite parts because I have only limited control.

ps ~ even after writing this and running errands, I haven't come up with a name for this blue heart ~ I'm open to suggestions ~ hint, hint.

bored bored bored bored & a little lonely

Patrick has a huge deadline tomorrow with his biggest building yet so I don't see a lot of him these days. And while I love, love, love the art time, I do get a little bit bored & lonely all by myself.

Just how bored?

Well, I cleaned out the freezer, I tried to start a Tumblr art blog, I talked my daughter into gutting one of the guest rooms with me, I started a new non-art blog, I redid two pieces of art and started a few more, I've posted every day to at least one of my blogs, I started a new book (reading, not writing) and I went by myself to see this movie.
By myself.

And if thats not enough, I then made a journal page about it!!!!
 
I started with a CitraSolv paper in really pretty pastel shades with what I believe was at one time a hummingbird on it. When I started to journal on the page, I discovered that not every pen works on a CitraSolv page. I finally settled on Sharpies and PrismaColor.

Next I slapped on some scraps of handmade papers and my favorite tissue paper. 

And then I decided to gel transfer the movie picture on top.  I've never transferred onto paper before but I expected it to be fragile so I coated both sides with medium prior to attempting the transfer.  Well, I was wrong, it wasn't fragile.  It was super-fragile!  As I started to scrub off the paper backing, the magazine page started to tear so I had to leave a lot of the white fuzz on there.

And that led to a nice discovery ~ the white fuzz absorbs watercolors (I used Twinkling H20s in the same colors of the original CitraSolv paper) beautifully.  Since I'm working on another collage with a transfer at the same time, I'm going to use the watercolors on its white fuzzies too.

I bet all the world's best discoveries came becuz somebody somewhere was really bored one day.  Okay.  Maybe not ALL and maybe not THE BEST (after all, I know some people worked really diligently to get us medicines and electricity and other wonderful things) but certainly some really cool artsy discoveries were made this way!

More CitrSolv Experiments

Everything I've ever read about CitraSolv and art said you could only use National Geographics.  Since I don't believe everything I read, I tried a few others and got absolutely nothing (well, a color ad in the newspaper gave me a wierd floating text thing but it mainly looked dirty) so I played with National Geographics and made some lovely papers.  You can read about it in this post.

Then I saw this video

on the ARTWAX blog and decided it might be my technique, not the magazine itself, that caused it not to work.

You see, with National Geographics I used the spray-n-squish technique and the lovely inks moved on their own.  But with these fashion magazines, AJ first moved the CitraSolv, and therefore the ink, around with a brush. So I sorta gave it a try - except I used cotton balls cuz I didn't want to set up to do a lot of these. Here are the results with a black & white ad, sepia-toned ad and a color ad all from Vogue.

I think I need to do it exactly like she shows in the video - brush & cling wrap - since these still leave something to be desired.  However, I noticed that the back of the ad above looks like when you use NevrDull over a texture.  Hmmmm.  More experiments to try.

Then I tried the photo transfer technique I'd read about so much. Again the experts aren't always right - they say only photocopies not inkjet or laser prints but I did these two with my Brother laser printer.

(I love,love,love this Conde Nast ad - I have to find another one and try again).

Again, the problem with the first was my technique - too much rubbing with too much CitraSolv causing the inks to smear. The second with just pressure looks pretty good.

And now for the beeswax & encaustic part of this post.  Yes, all the CitraSolv papers work great in collage, with or without either type of wax.  But that's not the experiment I want to tell you about.

You see, I work on a glass desk and just scrape it down with a razor blade when it gets too messy.  Lately the wax build-up has really been clogging up my blade-holder-thingie.  So I poured a little CitraSolv on my desk and let it soak a few minutes.  And Voila! the wax came up so easily - as did the paint and glue.

Who knew?  You can actually use this stuff for it's original purpose - to clean!!  But don't tell Patrick I know that cuz then he might want me to try it in the rest of the house.  hehe

he needs a name (since named SEEKER)

beeswax, scrapbook paper, CitraSolv paper, pattern tissue, crayon, pastel

Finally found the time, energy, inspiration and materials to do some art.  Spent Monday digging in the garage for my CitraSolv papers only to discover them in the paper slot marked, wait for it, CitraSolv Papers.  Yikes!  I was just too organized for myself!!!

I found two papers late Monday that I thought looked good together so I decided to use them together as I worked thru ideas for an upcoming beeswax workshop I'll be teaching at My Heart's Fancy in OKC later next month (I'll let you know the date when it's decided - test run is 5/25).  When I started playing with the papers  yesterday morning I discovered the ghostly, melty face of a man in the CitraSolv paper and decided to play up the eye with a bit more color and the melty effect with dripping beeswax.  Usually I do so many more layers than this but he just seems finished.

Except for the title.

In my last post I talked about having a title for a piece only to have the piece tell you later what its real name is.  I have nothing for this one.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Rest (completed)

"Come to me, all of y'all who are worn out & run down, and I'll give you rest" ~ Jesus  (Matthew 11:28, paraphrased by me)

Awhile ago I posted a picture of a citra-solv experiment.

I finally took that piece and created this collage.

It was a real stretch for me to work in blacks & whites.

Do you find that you get into a color rut?

For a long time I was into vintage photos so there were lots of ochres & sepias in my work.

Then there was a red kick started by calls for red pieces at a couple of different local shows.

Now I seem to be all over the place -

almost developing a new, more abstract style.

But even with all the changes and experimentation, these colors were difficult for me.

What about you - do you lean toward certain colors?

Is color one of the things that defines your style?

Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

~ Emily Dickinson

I apparently can only come up with one word names for my art these days:

Hope, Rest, Peace.

I have another work in process that I almost named CREATE but decided to give it a longer name in order to break the habit. I'll show you that one in a few days.

Anyway, back to this piece, HOPE. Before I show you some of the various steps, I have to say I like this piece now - but at least twice in the process I messed something up and had to change direction entirely.

So, do you remember the boards I made in my Obscured Text Background How-To? Well this piece started with the music covered board in the upper left:


Then I added a CitraSolv page, gold paint and some lavender hand-made paper:


Next, some more paint:


Then I tried a photo transfer and it didn't work (at this point, I decided NOT to turn it in to the CitraSolv contest becuz I wouldn't finish in time & when I did, it wouldn't show any of the CitraSolv page):


More paint. Then I tried another image transfer - the bird and it worked. Next I added some spray paint (I did NOT get the look I was going for, probably becuz I'm too used to using spray paint on furniture, going for solid coverage):


I used colored pencil on the bird, added pattern tissue and wrote the first verse of the poem in pencil:


Then beeswax, pearl ex and melted crayon and here it is again completed:


It is so great to be creating again. Thank you for continuing to visit even tho I wasn't around much. I love blogland ~ Sherry

linked to the week 23 challenge at Lots To Do,
challenge #94 at Everybody Art-Challenge and
the June challenge at Alter It Monthly

CitraSolv Tests

After reading about CitraSolv Concentrate and National Geographics on Pam T's Art Loft and on Approachable Art, I went to the CitraSolv website and just KNEW that I absolutely HAD to try this. So I hunted CitraSolv down at a health food store here in Oklahoma City. Then I bought 20 National Geographics at a local thrift store for $2.

Somewhere I had read not to use pages that had lots of black ink so for my first test, I pulled out all the pictures with too much black. And I don't think I used enough CitraSolv. All my results were rather muted, with the exception of a few amazing pages that kept a lot of the original photo (I used one of these in Rest). Anyway, for the most part, my pages looked a lot like this one (click to enlarge - feel free to copy the enlargement for use as a background):

Not bad but not what I was expecting. So Saturday, I left in darker images and squirted on a lot more CitraSolv. And my results are much more dramatic. Here's a sample (click to enlarge - feel free to copy the enlargement for use as a background):
Both times, I kept the pages in a stack in a plastic tub in the garage (PLEASE don't do this in the house, the very strong orange aroma will make your eyes water tho it won't hurt you) for about an hour then pulled them apart and laid them out to dry. I've noticed a few things:

• you can't find this stuff just anywhere - Whole Foods, Akins & other health food stores carry it - their website lists several online stores as well as a zipcode/locator tool (which I couldn't make work for me)
• you need more CitraSolv on the top pages and less on the bottom because it runs down to the bottom
• pulling the pages apart or wiggling them together causes the smears you see most places on the web
• but sometimes you can get an image transfer onto text or another image if you have just the perfect amount of CitraSolv (the times this worked, I had sprayed it on), press it together and leave it alone
• as others have said, this doesn't work with fashion magazines
• however, I laid my images on top of my recycled paper to dry and guess what, it dissolved the inks on the JCPenney little catalog- the look is very different tho, soft with puddles of gray/black dots that used to be the type
• you get ink on your hands but the CitraSolv cleans it right up - we've actually started using it on our kitchen counters in less concentrated form

Hope this helps you all with your own experiments. Please share with me what you learn. Next I want to try getting more controlled results - perhaps leaving a part of the image as is and smearing what's around it. And I'm also going to look for something that will work on fashion magazines - I'm gonna try NevrDull and a few other stinky liquids sitting in the cabinets.

I'll let you know what happens ~ Sherry

added 4/26 - I just found out I received an honorable mention in CitraSolv's contest for my piece REST (you'll have to go almost to the end of the page)

Saturday

Yesterday it snowed here. Normally I would complain about this but since I got to stay home from work and play in the studio, I loved OKC's first day of spring.

I did some experimenting with CitraSolv which I'll write about in a couple days. And I used one of the pages to create the journal page you see here. Nothing elaborate, just an interesting background followed up with some irridescent orange paint, clear gesso, journaling and finished off with a generous spray of pewter Shimmering Mist.

Here's what the National Geographic page looked like after the CitraSolv, covering up some text with white gesso and pouncing on some gold acrylic paint (click to enlarge - feel free to copy the enlargement for use as a background):

And here it is with some irridescent orange paint and the journaling:

I also worked on a couple of other pieces - experimenting, gluing, painting and more. I'll post pictures when they're done.

I've had a great weekend - hope you did too ~ Sherry

I'm still here

I've been squeezing in some play time here & there and actually found time to journal & scribble this morning.

When I was experimenting with CitraSolv the other day, I thru some book pages into the inky puddle that had collected. That's what made the blue/purple coloring on this old journal page. Then I decided to use my white Sharpie Paint Pen becuz it writes on anything and CitraSolv paper has an interesting hand. Anyway, the paint pen worked but in a kinda faded way. Next I sketched a quick little face with pencil and added some Memento ink direct-to-paper - the greenish colors.

OH! I just realized these colors look like a bruise. ICK!! Oh well, that's not a comment on how I'm feeling - just what was nearby!

I will write more later about all my CitraSolv experiments - probably after tax season. In the meantime, I wanted to let y'all know that I am at least getting a few moments here & there in the studio ~ Sherry

ps - anyone know how to put the trademark symbol in here? I really feel like I should have them after all these name brands I listed.

Rest

photo from National Geographic altered with Citra Solv, charcoal pencil, white paint pen

I'll write more later but wanted to share at least the visual of this little experiment ~ Sherry

added 4/26 - I just found out I received an honorable mention in CitraSolv's contest for this piece (you'll have to go almost to the end of the page)