Playtime is the best...

...time, don't you think?

Good friend and fellow artist Laura Leeder stopped by this past week for some playtime in the studio.  We'd been wanting to experiment with different uses for gesso, and we tore right into it.

Laura washing over a stenciled gesso floral...look at those wonderful colours!

The top leaves on the journal spread have been pounced through a stencil with gesso,
and then washed over with a pale acrylic.

This sienna-toned magazine page was stenciled with gesso,
and then washed over with quinacridone orange acrylic.

These images were stamped on to watercolour paper with gesso,
dried and then washed over with acrylics.

A credit card was used to push gesso through the stencil
before applying a wash or two.

Gesso was thickly applied and then distressed with a heat gun.
Washes of alcohol ink and ultramarine acrylic inks were applied.
White gesso was patted on with a paper towel over the black
gesso...nice pattern, right?

A house wrap stencil was used to apply the design,
and then it was spritzed with  Dylusions spray.

Laura's piece at the end of the session...I
suspect there will be more layers!

It was a most entertaining morning, and I hope we can do it again - soon!!

I'm not normally...

...a person who goes for subtle colour (you may have noticed), so when Alice and Bill were visiting here last week and Alice shared a new toy, I was initially subdued about the possibilities.

The understated stamp pad ink made by this company, while needing extensive ironing to be visible at all, changes the colour of the paper.  Using any stamp in your collection, you can ink up, transfer to coloured paper, wait for it to dry, iron it, and then watch the (admittedly slow) action.

We tested it on cardstock (above), painted papers,

 stock stationery and more.

Ranging from strong to very subtle, the results were interesting, although we were unable to replicate anything like the box photo.  In fact, on black paper, we were unable to have it work at all. Instructions indicate that it works best on dyed paper as opposed to printed or coated papers.

I can see where one would find a use for it, and I admit I'm intrigued by the knowledge that no control is possible and results cannot be predicted.  Have you tried it?  Do you like it?

And of course, with Alice visiting, we had a whirl in the studio...in fact, it was such a whirl that both of us nearly forgot to take any photos.  Alice did have a go at Gelli printing, and got some lovely results.

We played with Inka Gold, stamps, monoprints, Castaway and other goodies until we were near cross-eyed.

As always, it was great pleasure to visit, share our artistic passions and indulge our colour pig addiction.  I hope your art friends join you in play occasionally.

In Kimberley...

the art group is WAY beyond obsessed.  Every time I teach at the Centre 64, I'm stunned by the response of the students - the manner in which they pick up and test new techniques, the enthusiasm they show and the fun they generate.

The Gelli plate playshop brought so many stunning pieces to the table (and the floor) I couldn't stop taking photos.  From the gilding technique,

 to textures plates,

 to fun foam stamps,

and they still couldn't get enough of it.

They used ArtFoamies to the max,

they masked,

and they stencilled.

They printed on every conceivable surface from mat board to dryer sheets to card stock to printer paper, and I wouldn't have been surprised to see the walls done up by Sunday afternoon.

You can tell some of them took their work very seriously!

Watch their space;  they'll be up to more shenanigans in that wild art group!  And if you'd like to get in on some of the fun, please join me at The Arts Station in Fernie at month-end!

Who has more fun...

...than artists?  I find it hard to imagine that anybody could!

Today I got to play with Art Foamies, thanks to the generosity of Emmie Roelofse, who loaned me some for use in upcoming Gelli playshops.  They're fabulous stamps - quirky, whimsical and easy to clean in soapy water (gotta love that!).

With 30+ stamps from which to choose, the decision-making process took longer than the actual stamping.

Using brayer cleaning sheets, I stamped with Staz On stamp pads,

tested the Handy Art fabric paint that Emmie uses (it may not be strictly legal, but it works a charm on paper too)

and used them with heavy-bodied acrylics,

I switched to Gelli-printed backgrounds and used fluid acrylics,

and then the Gelli plate (I stamped the one on the right after stamping into the paint on the Gelli plate...waste not, want not!).

I'm also intrigued that one's own designs can be made into a stamp...what could be more fun than that?  

Emmie's motto is 'If it doesn't move - stamp it!', and I can see why.  Heaven help me;  I'm terribly afraid that I've found another addiction.  

And MORE prezzies...

Beyond lucky, I am!  A recent speed-bomb trip to Alberta meant I got to spend a couple of nights with Alice Saltiel-Marshall, recently returned from an extended visit to the US.  She came back with a number of gifts for me tucked away in their R-pod, and I scored

BIG!

Alice's gifts are always legendary - she's the quintessential shopper extraordinaire.  This delicious stamp will be a frequent flyer in my collection, I suspect.

A Tim Holtz speckles stencil is great fun, and terrific for that area where a 'controlled splash' is required.

I LOVE this little 1" foam roller she found - it's fabulous for doing a quick frieze along the side of a piece.

And this embossing folder is a beauty, used on a dryer sheet spray-glued to a piece of card stock.

I used the other floral embossing folder on a another dryer sheet piece,

and because I was on a roll with the Sizzix machine, I used a previously gifted folder on some painted paper.

These delightful little metal embellishments will certainly find their way onto a painting, perhaps coloured with alcohol inks (see below).

The large maple leaf place mat was used as a stamp (top right), the brayer imprint used as rolling stamp, then Gelli printed onto a previous print in progress, and ghost printed onto another.  How's that for a multi-use item with such a delicious pattern?!

I used this stencil by Stencil Girl the last time I visited with Alice, and I suspect I moaned so long and loudly about needing to have one that she gave it to me as well.

She also brought me some metallic alcohol inks and I've splashed and then sprayed them with 99% alcohol,

 dropped and

 then rubbed with deli paper,

 and sprayed with 99% alcohol and then drizzled them.

I'm certain that's not what they are intended for (they were originally developed for use with metal).  How do you use them?  I'm curious about the best way to apply and utilize their uniquely opaque metallic properties!

In fact, with all these new toys and thanks to my ever-generous friend, Alice,  I may not come out of the studio for days in spite of the glorious weather.  Thank you again, Alice;  you know how much I love you!

How's your summer creativity coming?  Are you in the studio, in the garden, or in another country?