I did tell you...

 ...that I got started on the cool colours for collage last week, and, of course, had a blast.  Using Manganese Blue Hue and Hansa Yellow along with black and white, I managed some 35 sheets of paper.  This time I created them mostly with gel printing.  While they're not all complete (by a long shot), some of them are here.  

Years of playing with colour means that I'm no longer wildly surprised at the range of hues associated with just two colours.

I'm liking the glow created around the Tyvek circle masks on the one below.

The wash pull on the gel plate is so soft, isn't it?

The addition of the miniscule amount of black on this print really changes the Hansa yellow.

Stamping on a black card was great fun.

Someone is more-than-slightly circle obsessed!

This was a mistake I couldn't duplicate if I tried, due to Murphy's Oil soap on the gel plate that wasn't cleaned completely off. 

And I'm still loving the self-levelling gel method...it's so organic.

Oh, and I finished that project with embroidery thread and GAC400 I showed you last week, as I created an Easter egg basket for the upcoming weekend.  GAC400 is a Golden medium one can add to fabric to stiffen it.  Do you think that grandkids would believe the Easter Bunny lives in a multi-coloured bird-like habitat?  I'm thinking they'd go for it!

Happy week to you, and may your Easter weekend be filled with the joy of spring, the deliciousness of good chocolate,  the magic of make-believe and the dance of the Easter Bunny.

I promised myself...

...a gel print party, so the studio has looked like this for the past week:

In other words, from floor to ceiling, chaos has ensued.  The bonus is some lovely new background starts from 8 1/2" x 11" sheet size

to small tag/bookmark size bits.  

And yes - I was the only one at the party.  I swear that colour pigs live the best lives when paired with paint and paper, don't you think?  

How did your week go?  Heading over the check it out!!  

All is bright...

...in the studio this week, albeit somewhat scrambled.

While working intermittently on the fabric spiral background,

I've gotten distracted by a screamingly bright pattern-in-process on canvas,

With some of the leftover black paint from that, I stenciled some tag blanks

which led to a yen for gel printing.

One can hardly gel print without wanting to audition some of those papers in a journal,

and one journal just naturally leads to another, doesn't it?

Being obsessed with colour play is obviously the life to live, don't you think? 

What about you - what's going on in your studio?

I never know...

what's going to happen in the creativity zone in any given day.

It might be more work on a piece of fabric that has morphed from a pandemic mask to something else entirely (a background for a painting, a mini wall hanging?).

A gel printing session might seize me by the throat and cause me to lose hours in the day.

I could pick up a journal (one of several on the go), and play with my inner self.

I may create a card for someone who has had a difficult diagnosis,

or one to welcome a new family member.

No matter what's going on, John is willing participant (read Impeccability Manager) in my craziness.

If there's anything challenging/persnickety/fastidious/picky/fussy that needs doing, he's definitely the man.  When he can spare time from his heritage tomato growing and volunteer work, he can often be found in the studio taking care of the detail stuff, bless his soul.

How about you?  Who aids and abets you in your creative life?  I'd love to hear in the comments below!  

Arting...

...in the time of Covid is certainly a new experience for those of us who are creatives.  Between the isolation, fear and obsession with the news, it seems like the muse can be a long way away.

I have been sporadically using the studio in an attempt to get my art brain on, and, quite frankly, it has been elusive at best.  

I've managed to do some card-making,

make a couple of no-sew masks (one's in the wash so you'll need to wait on a photo of that one),

experiment on some canvas pad paper with texture and colour

in a couple of different modes,

do some gel printing using the bottom of a plastic clam shell for some cool patterning,

finish a mini thank-you booklet for a friend who did a solid favour when we got back from Mexico, (there are more of these in the works, too)

and do another spread in my black and white journal.

Texture is heavily thickly richly on my mind these days as we begin to move toward being in a world that has changed considerably.

Like you, I wonder what that will look like, how it will feel, what new patterns will develop.  Are we moving towards something bigger, better, brighter, inclusive, kinder, loving?  May our new-world texture include all of these, and more.

I'd love to hear your thoughts - please tell me in your comments what your practice includes right now, whether your muse is running strong or running ragged, and what you hope for in the time to come.

Every artist knows...

,,,when a project is 'too much', yet most of us happily continue on, oblivious to the doubts that arise.

The Lunacy Dress is just such a project.  It's so far from done it's laughable, and yet....and yet... I can't stop.

With the skirt well-started, I already have a few favourite squares.  Some are already embroidered and some happily await the needle and floss.

As I look at the photos, I can see that I have a penchant for blotchiness - they rather remind me of galaxies in outer space.

I'm making an effort not to look at the list of yet-to-be-done tasks to bring this project to completion by May 6, because contrary to many artists, I don't work well under pressure.  

And because women can't live on embroidery alone, I had a quick play with the gel plate and some leaves that dropped off a croton tree due to distress at a major transplant.  Amazing how some leaf printing can brighten a studio.

Now it's back to the stitching and hang that paint!  What are you up to this week - I'd love to hear in the comments below!  

Oddments

I got into the gel plate again this past week - it's really difficult to get some new paints and not test them, right?  The Golden Open acrylics that Meg sent me are just waaaaaay too fun.  One of them was a very pale green - couple that with a fresh batch of carrots from the farmer's market, and it was time for some leaf printing.

First print, carrot tops

Ghost print, carrot tops

Haunt, carrot tops

Of course I used my journal as a brayer clean-up area, and then brayered the painty leaves onto that.  This spread's going to be fun to finish.  What goes with carrots?  Maybe some peas.  

Brayer clean up and brayered painted carrot tops

And for some reason, I was having a giggle the other day about Alice Saltiel's suggestion of adding googly eyes to a book sculpture some years back.  Wouldn't this look awesome with a host of them nodding and googling?

Expat from Arcturus

That led me to realising that I've never done a video about book folding, book sculptures, or any book tutorial at all.  You know what that means, right?  So here's the first step in most of the book sculptures I've created.  I'll make sure to finish this for you next week, and perhaps a different one in the week after that.  I'll expect to see you sometime in March or April, then, 'cause it's really hard to stop.

Of course I'm working on a dozen other projects as well, so who knows what might happen.  In the meantime, catch me up on what has your creative juices flowing in the comments below - I'd love to hear!