Work in Progress

I don't have a new finished piece to show you yet. So sorry.

It has been a real work in progress. I started it the other day, I kind of knew where I was going with it but I had some research and work to do. So it isn't quite done.

But I did get the clear coat on the "Great Undertakings" piece and learned in that process that my doodle pen is not the right one for the job, for it bleeds and smears when reactivated with water-based sealers like Mod Podge. So do not use Pilot Precise v7 for doodling if you plan to coat your work. So with more research I learned it is either Christy Tomlinson's Scarlet Lime Pen or Sharpies new 'pen' which is not felt tip like their other products, but a roller ball as I understand it, that's permanent. So I ordered a 2-pack.

So today's project is partially waiting on those pens.

I can tell you today's project involves organic circles as flowers, and I coated each circles before using it with Mod Podge on both sides to kind of plasticize them so they would stand out in a true 3d manner.

I can't wait to finish it and show you. But we will just have to wait...

Great Undertakings

That kind of says it all.

"Self-Confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings."

I forget who this quote comes from but to me it says it all about our move to Hawaii. 

The imagery of the sail boat is from my new everyday life here. Is sail boats at sea everyday, it's amazing to me. I don't think I'll ever get over the wonderful view(s) I'm blessed with.

I took the picture before putting on a clear coat to avoid a glare in the camera. But otherwise I think it's done.

I started another canvas but don't think I'll get to work on it again until Wednesday.

I need to get a box of tacks so I can hang these babies up in my condo.

Mahalo!

finished is relative

Hey everyone!

I finished the two mixed media canvases I've been working on. OK yes, finished is a relative term in mixed media but I think I'm finished.

I'm battling over which one to show you and tell you about first....

 Live joyfully.

I was able to order canvases that were already pretreated with gesso, so that was a step I didn't have to worry about doing.

I used random scraps of blue papers and collaged a sky like area first. Then I did the same in green, but with narrow strips in a vertical way to represent grass. Once that was dry it got white washed.
I stamped with the bubble wrap and acrylic paints for depth and texture.
I had some awesome die cut leaves that I embellished with clock hands some doodling and gelatos. I cut the hearts and stems by hand. I assembled the pieces into flowers. I embellished with sew stampers and buttons and doodling and tiny clock faces.
I textured the whole thing with TP roll stamping, rubons, more paint and gelatos.
I embellished with the butterfly and a faux postage stamp (from washi tape), before adding the words. Then it was time for a coat of Mod Podge.

Dare to be Different.

I was all over the place with this one.

I started with all blues of 1-inch squares, darker closer to the bottom and light toward the top right.

I white washed it.

I hand cut a bunch of fishies and seaweed. I used tiny brads for the fish eyes. I tore strips of chip board to go along the bottom to represent sand, then intermingled the seaweed bases so some look closer than others. I shaded the fish and seaweed with gelatos. I had this little weaved rope thingy and put it in the sand. 

I did a tiny bit of doodling. I used an asterisk shaped brad to stamp tiny star fish.

I cut out tiny hearts to match the fishes, then I cut off the pointy part and made fins for the fish.

I stamped with TP roll and bubble wrap.

I embellished with the bubbles and rubons.

I found some sewing pattern tissue and crinkled little pieces up as part of the sand.

I tore long narrow strips of yellow tissue to play like more seaweeds.

I decided on a saying and choose to spell it out mostly in silver letter stickers, which I doodled around with an aqua sharpie, my doodle pen, gelatos and white paint.

I wasn't sure I'd like this one but now I think I do like it.

Mahalo!

Canvas Collage Play

The canvases I ordered of Amazon finally showed up yesterday. I couldn't wait to get up today and have an artful day.

I had been tossing ideas around my mind with what to do first. I go to a point in the creative process where it needed to dry. I decided to start another on in the meanwhile. So I was going back and forth with 2 canvases most of the morning.

At lunch time it occurred to me I better make a market run. So I left my art to dry and headed out. By the time I got home, and everything out away there wasn't quite enough daylight time left to get back to my art. I set the projects against the wall to wait for my next artful opportunity.

No sneak peaks of unfinished work. You'll just have to wait and see.

In also becoming quickly obsessed with Tim Holtz Configuration boxes. I wasn't too do an Aloha themed box. So I guess I'll keep my eyes out for trinkets around the island. If it goes well maybe I'll do more. I have already got myself a couple pieces of sea glass and coral. Maybe a star fish, some cool shells. I'm afraid if I make a list of things u wasn't too put in them I'll never find them so I'll just see what finds me.

ATC Day

No canvases yet. I was hoping they would come today since the Amazon tracking says estimated delivery date was today... But you learn to hold that with a grain of salt, living on an island.

But my creative juices were flowing and I needed to make something.

So I decided to make some random ATCs.

That's just 2 of the 7 ATCs from today.

Then I was playing with my Gelatos on watercolor paper, I had some interesting effects turn out. In still learning. So I set out to learn more via YouTube which seemed not to be a good day to do that. Every video I wanted to watch was on a lag and buffering. I hate that! I'm guessing servers are too blame.

So I finally gave up on that and just started watching Netflix instead.

A Shop Visit and DIY Experiment.

Last time I took the bus to Kahului I saw an advertisement for a shop called ISLAND PAPERIE. I made a mental note, by snapping a pic with my phone, to visit it another time.

Today turned out to be that time, after a whole lot of bus riding. Curiosity peeked? Go read my not artful blog post for today.

So the place is tiny thing. And everything is Hawaii themed or at least island/tropical. I think they specialize in laser cut shapes. Of which I bought a couple... Hibiscus, Plumeria, and of course Honu. And they seem to have their own paper line. It's a scrapbook store and they don't branch out to mixed media. They don't have the space to have more even if they wanted to.

After I got home and settled in I remembered watching YouTube videos on making my own color sprays. I made a turquoise one and a pink one.

Then I tested them both on a sheet of watercolor paper. They seem to work well. I'm pleased with my results.

On that same piece of paper I then decided to add some texture to it and I bubble wrap stamped in grey all over it, smeared the grey around the edges for a distressed look and stamped my signature TP circles all over it in white paint.

I figure I can incorporate it into my canvas projects or ATCs.

Post Craft Fair Creativity

When I got home from the craft fair and settled in my juices were flowing. Something about being around all of those local artist and crafters, I'm feeling inspired. I didn't know what to do with myself. I had a friend who wanted a Maui whales ATC, so I came up with something for her. And in the process learned about the whales that come here, we get humpbacks. I can hardly wait to see them. They'll start coming around the same time as the hubby. Good timing, we can go watch them together!

So I decided to browse etsy and add a bunch's goodies to my wish list, and finding hard to not just add things to my cart!

So I went back to my stash. I had to do something. I found a smallish piece of card board, maybe 5x7" and pretended it was a canvas. Here's what I came up with. Inspired by Christy Tomlinson. Cute and silly.

I wish it was on canvas because I think it's super cute. I used a dictionary page and colored it yellow with gelatos. And then all the other typical mediums... To make this cute mixed media collage.

Mixed media canvas #2

So the first canvas I got is not the first one I finished.

When I got my first canvas started I had hardly anything to work with and hit a creative wall.

Here's what I did to it before I hit that wall.
Covered it in gesso.
Used matte medium to cover it in town news paper (only text parts)
White washed it in gesso
Various vertical strips of green polka dot tissue paper along the bottom with mod podge
Stencil with punchinella and light blue paint
-------creative wall-------

So after I finished canvas number 2, I started to have an idea what to do with #1.

I had gotten a package in the mail with a bunch of fun stuff. And much of it belonged on canvas #1.

There was a die cut word 'happy' and I decided to come up with a saying to incorporate that. Things fell into place with it yesterday. I used my new Gelato paints and all sorts of found stuff.

The rope for the stem, I found at work. The petals are cut from a handmade envelope that was full of goodies. A bookplate, pearl flat-backs, pearl letters (that I painted grey), chipboard circles, distress ink (Concord grape), doodles, bubble wrap and the tp roll center for 'stamping' dots n circles.. The tp circles might become my trademark... Love the look of them.

So I ordered a box load of canvases on amazon, 10 canvases are on their way to me to keep me going.

I got a small package in the mail today from a crafty friend who sent me some more 1-inch squares to play with. I can hardly wait to do another. And another...

Friends of the Library

Today, I found a used book store run by the Maui Friends of the Library.

This place is great! I stopped in during a break today and found some mixed media material. I grabbed a medical dictionary, a French-English dictionary, and a couple books with quotes and sayings. The dictionaries ought to make good collage backgrounds while the quotes books provide snippets to add to them similar to the Live Your Dreams on yesterday's piece.

My new craft supplies

The best part is I snagged all 4 books for a grand total of $5!

If you're looking for old books to use in your projects, find your local friends of the library. I think every city has one. Some, like the ones here, maintain stores away from the library itself. Some, like the one in Indiana, hold monthly or quarterly sales in the actual library. All of the sales help fund the library, which is a great thing.

I have ideas for my new books but I need more canvas. Ace Hardware carries them but I want to price shop on Amazon first and see which has the best deal...

Mail call!

The mail carrier brought me some fat mail today. I opened up the package to finally find the gelato paints I've been waiting for. Super excited! I need to watch some more YouTube videos of people using these so I can refresh my memory with proper technique and so forth.

My new gelato paints

In addition to the gelato paints, I received a low-end travel-sized hair dryer I plan to use for helping to dry layers of paint and mediums on my projects. I also got a mini hot glue gun that will help me attach some 3D elements when needed.

It feels almost like a normal studio! I have supplies. I have tools. Of course, I still have only a small 20" x 15" TV tray on which to work, and a bed on which to sit. Still, crafting almost feels normal with all my new stuff.

I pulled out the 11x14 canvas I've been working with. Up to this point, I'd only laid down 1" squares of paper under a matte gel medium - 154 pieces of 1" square pieces of paper, to be exact. With my new supplies, I thought I was ready to finish up this project.

I used my new gelato paints - the grey, in particular, makes a great shape medium. I also used a few upcycled crafting tools like the cardboard tube from the inside of a toilet paper roll...and bubble wrap! Who doesn't like bubble wrap? Both "tools" make some amazing effects when used like stamps. My fingers turned out to be great painting tools as well.

When finished, I stood back to see what I had created. I love the way this turned out. I can't wait to do some more with these paints.

I'm back

I started mixing pleasure with pleasure. Ironic, yeah? If you read my other blog, Maui Honu Honi, you know what I mean. If you don't, go read, come back. You must forgive me for any repeated thoughts, though. This idea of organizing my thoughts is new for me. Being messy just sometimes works better for me.

So, you may know that my good friend Debra got me interested in making ATCs again. I adopted a totally different style this time around, though. I like the mixed media styles, collage work especially. I obsess over the styles created by Christy Tomlinson, using her YouTube videos as a source of inspiration.

I especially like working with canvas. Unfortunately, I lack all of the supplies I need to finish many of the canvas projects I have in mind. I started one a couple weeks ago, involving tons of tiny 1-inch pieces of paper, but I need to wait until my studio arrives in a month or so before I can finish it. I posted a request for people to send me 1-inch scraps of paper, though, and I received the first of those from Christina in Indiana.

As soon as I got home after work, I changed into my crafting clothes. I reserved special raggedy clothes for working on my projects because I get messy at times - wouldn't want to get paint or glue on my new favorite Maika'i Ola shirt!

My "studio" these days consists of a TV tray that I set up bedside so I have somewhere to sit while I work. My supplies live in a battered cardboard box that might not last through the end of the month. My only light to work with consists of the natural light I get when the sun shines in the window. The cardboard box goes on the floor next to the TV tray, I take my spot on the edge of the bed, and I get to work.

Today, I worked on a canvas project using my just received 1-inch paper squares. When I reached a stopping point at which I would be able to pick things up again tomorrow, I moved everything aside. The supplies return to their cardboard box. The cardboard box gets stashed on the sad little window shelf/desk/thing. The TV tray becomes my nightstand, holding all of the electronics that need charged while I sleep.

I can't wait until my real studio gets here, until I have loads of supplies to work with...and ArtBin containers to keep everything neat so The Hubby doesn't have a breakdown!