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.

XXVIII

lazer transfer on encaustic

Happy Birthday Nate!

Not my usual style, huh? 

It's my son's birthday gift so I did something I think he'll enjoy.

I have been truly blessed in the kid department.  Nathan and I have a great bond.  You see, for awhile it was just the two of us - I was single when I had him.  And I think that's why he never went thru that phase of acting like he didn't know me or not saying he loved me.



Sorry about the quality here - I had real camera issues Saturday
(maybe it was really operator error)



Like his mom & sister, he's brilliant (hehe).  Math is just intuitive to him - he used to be my walking calculator (one time when he wasn't around, I asked Dani a math question and she indignantly replied, "I'm not Nate you know"!) and he picks up a lot of info by osmosis.  He's creative, a hard-worker and a good friend, quite charming & good looking.  And he is the most laid back person I have ever met!  Yet when he was forced to sit still in the hospital last year he couldn't stand it.

In some ways he's a lot like me.  So is my daughter.  And yet they're nothing alike.  Funny about that with kids.  And I've made the mistake of thinking I know what's going on with them becuz they're so much like me.  NOT!!

You give birth to these beautiful babies, you watch them grow and see their joys and struggles, you see yourself in them yet you see that they're totally their own persons, and you spend your life wondering at them, loving them, learning about them.  They come from you and reflect you and yet they are not you.  And they make you you.

Happy Birthday Nate.  I love you. 

Lonely Cages

Lonely the empty cage.

Happy the free bird.

(poem also by Sherry Ball Schoenfeldt)

This is the last of several projects I dabbled at off-n-on during tax season.  In early February I started several pieces at the same time that I did tons of journal backgrounds (you can see all the beginnings in Great Weekend - this piece is sideways on the right in pics 2 & 3)

I started this by gluing a pretty monochromatic floral paper to canvas.  Then, for ten minutes here and 15 minutes there, I would spray and glue on all of the projects at once until one by one they said "I'm done!"  Surprisingly, I never glued anything else to this canvas!  It's just layer upon layer of color - I wish the scans could show the depth. The second to last layer was a gel transfer that unfortunately removed some of the previous layers in a few spots.  I'd planned to use beeswax as a final layer so I added some metallic crayon to cover up the bright white areas.

In addition to the last piece to be posted, this was the last one to be completed - I just kept thinking it needed more.  Then as I stared at it the day before Easter, the little poem popped into my head and it felt complete.  (I waited to post it until today because it was a project for my art group that I didn't give away til last nite.)

I feel so free when I'm creating - even if it's for just a little while here and there.  So here's to more lonely cages and happy birds ~ Sherry

Dani

a tree called life

tree image courtesy of Katelyn Swanson

(click here to see her photos on facebook or here to see her blog)

title courtesy of ee cummings

My baby girl, Dani, turned 23 last Friday.  Lately she's been into trees and ee cummings so I made this collage for her using a photo taken by one of her closest friends (I did a gel transfer).  I'm finally giving it to her tonite so I think it's safe to have this post publish while we're out to dinner.

Dani is extremely smart, kind, driven, fun, clever, hard-working, creative, a good friend, a loving daughter and beautiful - actually, exotic is probably a good word to describe her beauty.  I am so proud to know her and constantly amazed that she actually came from me!!!  In December, she graduated summa cum laude in humanities from the University of Central Oklahoma and she's going to continue growing into a wonderful woman and I can't wait to see everything that entails.

I love you Dani.

ps -  the birthday dinner was great - here's a picture of Dani tonite wearing the charm bracelet/necklace I made