Challenge

Not much of a challenge, but I tossed this one out to my yahoo group. Use puzzle pieces and rubber stamp on them. A few members played along. After trying a few things the pieces that worked for me were first spray painted with black then stamped with white dye ink and sealed with Future wax.

What's the difference between scanning and photographing? Sometimes there is a vast difference as in the case of a gesso textured mat board with a black acrylic wash and a touch of treasure gold highlighting. I didn't like the scan on the left so once I glued on the puzzle pieces for a cirque inspired effect I photographed the piece. The photograph is truer to the black and white of the piece but still isn't accurate and the puzzle pieces are barely noticeable. (click on photos to enlarge.)

Quote: Got a goal? Without a doubt you will succeed. With a doubt you might not. Sally Huss

So hot that it hurts!

The temps have been excruciating! This is the second time in two weeks that it's so hot it hurts to breathe or go anywhere or play in the garage studio! I'm frustrated! Who knew that 107 would feel cool? When the temps creep up to 115 and stay there for a couple of days not only do the plants in the garden fry and die, but I feel like joining them. A dialysis nurse in ICU told me that it's much easier to deal with the heat if you say to yourself, "this intense heat only lasts 16 weeks." Who is she kidding? The AC has been on since March, but at least it was only in the 80's - 90's then and cooled off at night. The night temps are now around 91 during the night. Yeah, I know, it's "dry heat." That doesn't matter when the pores are dripping sweat!


The thing that might save me is my new-found love for embellishing with the felting adaptor. I'm so far behind, three weeks, with the lessons for Dale's workshop that I'm beginning to think that the only way to catch up is to combine lessons. The first samples above are: gold foil ironed on black felt topped with dye-na-flow painted cheesecloth heavily embellished on both the back and front sides. A bit garish! Fortunately, I ordered black silk gauze from Dharma that I was able to tone down the colors with; I also distressed the black gauze with heat. Sadly, the gold foil is barely noticeable after all of the layering, but there is a hint of it which adds a nice glow. The next step is to add stitches or something which is where I'm stuck!!

The second piece is dye-na-flow painted pellon. Yep, I love dye-na-flow! I just got my order from Dick Blick so I now have a few more colors to experiment with on cheesecloth, lace, pellon etc. I'm hoping to do some felting on the painted pellon but so far the direction is alluding me. I painted the pellon before Stacy's ICU visit and find that most of the ideas I had have vanished. So, if someone finds them please return them to me!!

Thanks for all of the lovely comments here on the blog and personally! Means a lot to me. Liz, I find quotes everywhere and have collected them for years. Lots of them can be found by googling "quotes for inspiration" or "quotes for artists" but my favs are by Sally Huss from the local newspaper.

I can identify with this quote: I have a promiscuous muse. My muse wants to own every color, work in many media, and in numerous genre. Mary Klotz

Give Worry a rest. It gets tired too. By Sally Huss

Oh how I wish I could give worry a rest! Stacy spent three days in ICU last week when her BP was so high the top of her head nearly exploded, at least that's the way she explained it. Numerous seizures and BP readings all over the charts was more worrisome than anything we've experienced in awhile. Hopefully, I'll get some studio time this weekend.

Felting

A little needle embellisher piece.
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This is too large to ignore and obviously of great concern to me. Mom daily loses more ground into the Alzheimer's abyss.

24-hour helpline: 1.800.272.3900http://donate.alz.org/

Dear Gail,
I'm writing to you today with an urgent message. I wanted you to be among the first to know this news because of your interest in our goal of a world without Alzheimer's disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics today reported that Alzheimer's disease has surpassed diabetes as a leading cause of death. Alzheimer's is now the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States.
With our nation facing an unprecedented population shift of aging baby boomers, and Alzheimer's poised to strike 10 million of them, it is clear this escalating epidemic must be addressed now with your help.

Rust dyeing

Found some odd metal, roof tiles, at the home improvement store so tossed a couple into a vinegar, water and salt bath and the next day wrapped a scrap piece of muslin around the already rusting metal and drenched it with more vinegar. Two days later glorious patterns had printed onto the muslin including the price tag on the back side! At first I was upset by that and then I thought that maybe it might be a good idea for a resist. Yep, this is from one piece of metal. The folded muslin made 5.5 prints.

Quote: I have a promiscuous muse. My muse wants to own every color, work in many media, and in numerous genre. Mary Klotz

I'm immersed in an online felting workshop, nothing to show yet, but having a blast!

Color Lottery Challenge

Lucky me! I received the lilac, pink with a smidgen of green postcard in a color challenge lottery. Fun idea. The colors I drew were burgundy and lime green. We could add a third color so I went with black.

The background on mine is a monoprinting from a post below, stamped Fleur de Lis on paper towel, foam letters, a hand embellishment, ribbon, brads and assorted postage stamps.


The gorgeous PC I received is Painted paper towel, scrim, couched yarn, chiffon scarf, a few French knots and a little Angelina.




Quote: If a muse knocked at our studio door tomorrow, how many of us would even notice?
Carol Katchen