This week in the studio...

... looks less like a travelling salvation show and more like work in progress, although that may be deceiving, too!  As always when I'm in town, it appears as though someone dropped a bomb in my digs.

I got into cutting some new stencils to use on the Gelli plate,

and couldn't get myself to stop.

I've a couple of Victoria pieces on the go, this one started with a sheet from a tax package in the Fernie workshop.

 This one has been added to since the demo start at Kimberley, and hopefully will be completed by month end.

The lovely black and white transfers came from this gorgeous book that John scored for me in his travels.

I've been doing some more on my visual gratitude journal, so these two are essentially complete...only 20 more to go before mid-April and putting-together time.

 This pile will eventually become M for music/Mozart and munchies maybe!

The tic-tac-toe pieces await another layer, totally ignored by The Head, who seems to have gained some colour since last week.

A timey-wimey background ( you Dr. Who fans will get that one) waits not-so-patiently for the skins-in-progress to be finished.

 And a couple of drywall compound demos wait for something to make them sparkle.

Since it gives me heart palpitations to look at all the in-progress 'stuff', I'll stop there, ending with the hope that you and yours have enjoyed a happy Valentine's Day.

What If?

Following the 'what if?' question has to be my favourite thing to do in the studio.

For example, one day when I'd overdosed on blog surfing like a hummingbird on crack, my brain combined two notations - one about foam paint rollers, and another about patterns. The result was a series of paint rollers cut, pulled and mnipulated into designs for patterning.

Foam roller does a wave

A student's query about creating unique stencils lead me to experimenting with a stencil burner filched from John.  Unfortunately, the burner broke, just as I finished this stencil:

Garden fence acetate stencil

You know, of course, that the craze had only started, and I needed to purchase another stencil burner.  Just as I did so, another blog post about using the plastic from mail envelopes prompted me to wonder what the Tyvek house wrap 'stuff' would do as a stencil.  Luckily, a good friend, Louise Olinger, was in the midst of renovations, and I scored a roll remainder to try - thanks, Louise. It works like a charm, and will likely last well into the next century.

Tyvek cut with a stencil burner

Some years ago, I had a piece of palette paper I LOVED, and the question 'What if I turned it into a skin?' popped into my head.  That was a great question, for at that time the finish of the palette paper by Daniel Smith was a heavy, waxy one, and the palette paper skins peeled so easily I was shocked!  Big score.

Palette paper skin on old-style Daniel Smith palette paper

I was saddened a year or so ago to find that they had decreased the coating extensively, and that these skins are no longer an option ( do you hear me whining?).

An  'old-style' palette paper skin overlaying a painted cradled wood panel

A student, Juanita Rose Violini , author, posted on the Facebook student page that she'd created a skin this way by following another 'What if?', and using glossy brochure paper on which to print an image.  Bless her - we've another multitude of options for our skins!

I have, through the years, done many white on white paintings, and one day I wondered what would happen if I combined one of them with my pattern-making craze in progress.  The result was this painting:

'The Key to Colour' © Win Dinn  Mixed Media on board, 10" x 14" 

Here's what I learned from this 'What if?'

• Only work white on white at a distance of 50 feet or more from the area where you're working with colour
• Only work white on white if there are no animals in the house (Opal the Studio Cat NOT excepted).
• Only work white on white in a grid if you want to drive yourself completely bonkers pulling air dust, threads, random cat hairs and near-invisible-but-not items from your finished piece

Don't expect to have a viable product at the end if the above conditions are unmet!  

All in all, however, that 'What if?' question leads me in wonderful directions, opening the pathways to new ways of thinking and making art.  How have you followed the 'What if?' questions, and where did it take you?

Oh those skins...

are a process!

I'm starting here with a sheet of music, as the value of doing a skin is very apparent when it's important that script, faces etc. are right side up.  If you're uncaring about that, or you want the image reversed, you can use a direct transfer instead.

Place the image you wish to turn into a 'skin' on a piece of palette paper,

and coat it with a layer of liquid gloss medium.  I always place a tick mark on the palette paper with each layer to remind myself how many I've done.  It's also helpful to do each layer in a different direction to ensure the paper is adequately covered in all areas.

When you've got at least six layers of gloss medium coating your image, it's time to celebrate (perhaps a glass of wine?).

Carefully peel the paper up from the palette support, and turn it over.  Spritz it liberally with water, and

gently, gently, GENTLY start rubbing it with a plastic scraper.  As you get closer and closer to removing the back of the page entirely, you may wish to use your fingers to avoid removing too much or tearing it.

Although this is not a quick process, it's a valuable one (and you might want to save those bits of paper to paint for another project).

I love the way the white of the paper comes away, leaving a transparent plastic skin - it can be overlaid on any background and becomes beautifully integrated.  This process works equally well for coloured imagery although the background will not show through (except where white is part of the image, since the printing establishment does not normally print white).

It's interesting to note that the backs of these transparent skins can also be painted to add yet another dimension to your work.