Gelli Printing Newbie

My friend Kelley Walker over at One January Day loves her printing plate from Gelli Arts so much that she teaches classes. I couldn't take them cuz of tax season so last week when I was being super lazy, I mean, recovering, I watched a bunch of videos on their site and decided I absolutely had to have one. So yesterday I went to My Heart's Fancy and bought one. Here are some results.

 

The above were made using a stencil from Tattered Angels - the first one was with the stencil on top of the paint on the plate printed on a magazine page, the second was printed on a map after the stencil was pulled from the plate, and on the third one I brayered the painted stencil on top of another print (pink paint that had been stamped into).

But my favorites are what Kelley calls Messy Seconds (watch her video) and what Gelli Arts call Plan B.
love, love, love the grungy look
like doors with tons of layers of paint wearing off - but with subtle patterns in them

Naturally, there's a mess to clean up.  But everything fun is messy.

 

Not sure what I'll do with these little gems.  Art journal pages (ah yes, something else I haven't done in forever) or parts of a collage or maybe the handmade books we're making in art group.  

But I do know I'll be pulling this out again.  And again.

ps ~ it's good to be back

Creativity Decline

I've been devoting a lot of my time to learning how to grow my creative business.  Then even more time to trying to put some of the things I've learned into practice.  A new blog/website is in the works - same addresses all together with a new look that actually shows some of my art - HOPEFULLY!!!

And all that time and energy spent on the business of art means no time or energy left to be creative on anything but the blog layout.  "Not Creative Sherry" can sometimes mean "Cranky Sherry" but so far I've avoided that thanks to a lot of support.  (Well, maybe you should check with someone else to be sure I'm telling the truth about that - hehe!)

Then, the other day I found an article about the decline of creativity in America.  YIKES!  That's me.  So I read it and discovered so much more than an article about keeping your art alive.  This long but fascinating article discussed the science of how creativity works, how it’s not just art-related, the need for it to solve the world’s problems, and more.

Here’s a quote:

"Creativity has always been prized in American society, but it’s never really been understood. While our creativity scores decline unchecked, the current national strategy for creativity consists of little more than praying for a Greek muse to drop by our houses. The problems we face now, and in the future, simply demand that we do more than just hope for inspiration to strike. Fortunately, the science can help: we know the steps to lead that elusive muse right to our doors."

Like I said, fascinating - so click here to check it out and then let me know what you think.

Collected Thread

I think this could end up being a very rambling post - but please bare with me (or should that be, bear with me?) So here goes:

You may remember how much I love my hair guy, Sean, so I make sure I go to visit him on a regular basis. The Velvet Monkey where he works is in a part of Oklahoma City called the Plaza District in what used to be an ice house. Most of Plaza District is still pretty rough but there is a real move to revitalize it. (We thought about moving there but I just don't have enough pioneer spirit in my old age - maybe half a lifetime ago...)

Last time I had a hair appointment I was early so I stopped into a store called Collected Thread next door. COOL!! They had handmade clothing fashion accessories as well as some vintage and a few new items related to making clothing & fashion accessories. I found this awesome sketch book for fashion design. Now I don't usually draw clothes anymore but it is how I started my art "career" back when I was about four so I HAD to buy it! When you copy your sketched fashion design, the pre-printed body isn't supposed to show up!! (I think that's what made this hard to photograph - that or the fact that photography is not one of my artistic skills!) To tell you the truth, when I bought it, I didn't really think I'd be designing clothing - I thought I'd probably use some of the cool pages in my collage.

I also found some beautiful vintage patterns and, again, HAD to buy this one for the sewing section of my studio. The sizes were different back then but I think this MIGHT actually fit me - if I were to sew it. I gave up on sewing any clothes that involved zippers, set-in sleeves or buttons a long time ago. In other words, everything but elastic waist skirts which, as you know if you watch What Not to Wear, are NO-NOs!!! But my new machine might improve my skills. Tho I couldn't bring myself to cut up the pattern anyway!

So that's my really rambling post. If you're in OKC, check out Collected Thread. Or Sean at Velvet Monkey (tell him I sent you)! I'm gonna get off this PC now and get to work on an initial bracelet that was ordered. Then to work-work. Then I think I want to try a transfer to beeswax on a piece that I thought I finished last week. Hmmm. Now I'm done with my rambling post!!

a few have asked for more info regarding ordering the initial bracelets - click here