What a week!

This was my week. We had an ice storm that was phenomenal, luckily that's the only real damage we sustained. Dad's doing much better being home and getting back into his routine. He's almost to the end of physical therapy. Yay! Thanks so much to everyone who asks about him. 

Dealing with the aftermath of the storm and the comments of people who criticize, pretend to want to help, then back out, and those who completely blindside you when you try to take a moment to help someone else were all catalysts for creating this 2-page spread in my art journal.

Those who stop growing start barking at others.

We should all be focused on growing ourselves, and lending helping hands to others that are trying to find their way. It's just too sad to see people bent on tearing someone else down because they don't desire, or are frustrated by their own growth. Yep. Even in the art world there are those that want to nip at others as away to elevate themselves (hint: that never works!). And no. This isn't aimed at anyone in particular. And yes, it goes beyond the art world. I'm doing it all wrong, caring for my Dad this way. Hahahaha! Bugger off.

She really has an attitude of perturbment (lookie, a new word!). Honest - she came out of my pencil that way. I didn't even have to encourage her any. She's just minding her own business, running her own little world of nightmares and inspiring chaos when this clashing noise shatters her focus. Hahaha! Sort of like SXSW, eh Lydia?

Now, some of you know I am one of the design team members for Splitcoast Stamper's Mix-Ability Challenge. We challenge you each Friday to learn and grow into mixed media art, and it's not scary or demanding. In fact, we'll hold your hand every step of the way if you need it. Jeanne Streiff is our hostess this week, and she's challenged us to use watercolors, blended and run together, to create our background. I chose Dylusions water-based ink sprays for the back ground. That's when it developed a life of its own and I was merely along for the ride.

Then the Documented Life Project challenge came, asking for a bird or wings, so suddenly I had butterflies from a Heidi Swapp stencil showing up, and a bird that sang to me about the art of Sunny Carvalho through a die cut of Tim Holtz. It got psychedelic, man! (George Carlin would be so proud)

The zendoodle bug hit (thanks, Kelli Jo!), and these graphic tails and swirls started popping up and turning into random bird cats and fern coils. Wow! What an adventure I had! I couldn't put someone in this spread without a nod to Alice (see that really long neck?).

Some random cat-woman named Lydia asked about the sharp lines and vibrant color. Lydia, this is my process: I started with Dylusions spray. I overlaid a couple of stencils (the ovals on the left, the florals on the bottom of both pages, the butterflies), 'cut in' with watered down gesso, then outlined with Copic multiliners, and shaded with Sennelier oil pastels, fixed with a quick light coat of Mod Podge. I kept layering things, shading around them, smudging them into the background with a little paint, some stamps, a bit of gesso.

I created a couple of images on separate paper (barking dog, annoyed artist, fern tails, bird) and glued them in, smudging them with charcoal pencils, smeared Copic markers, Faber Castell Pitt pens, and the like. Then I randomly applied some texture paste through stencils, colored them with Prismacolor pencils, oil pastels, Dylusions spray on a brush.

When things settled down and looked calm, I rocked the boat with some Golden fluid acrylics in a variety of colors. I stamped SU! images using Archival inks, and colorized with Inktense pencils. I, in plain, bald-faced fact, PLAYED. Once the chaos began to settle and reduced to smoldering embers, I went back in with letters cut by hand, using QuicKutz squeeze handle and dies, the sentiment. I adhered it, then cut it into the page with Copic multiliners, charcoal pencil, and popped them with a Gelly Roll white souffle pen. More SU! stamps, this time in Memories white ink. Finally, on the seventh day, I rested and called it good.

Seriously - it's all about the shading and brilliant colors. If the colors were soft it wouldn't work. If there were no shading, it would be flat. Sharp lines and vibrant colors blossom when detailed, lined, and shaded. POW.

I hope you enjoyed the drama and the art of this piece. I hope you will take a chance to step out on the limb and allow yourself to play. Just play without worry about the result. You never have to show it to anyone, but you won't learn anything if you tuck your safe supplies into their safe beds and safe and unused. Go. You deserve it. Play. Now. Then hug a kitteh and NO BARKING.

Big smooches!
~ky

Ingredients: 
Kitchen Sink.
(ok really)
Pan Pastels
Dylusions Sprays
Heidi Swapp, Prima, Dylusions, Plaid and Crafter's Workshop stencils
Gesso
Acrylic paint (cheap and Golden fluid acrylics)
Sennelier and Crayon oil pastels
Mod Podge matte
Liquitex light modeling paste
QuicKutz dies and squeeze tool
Copic multiliners, markers
Faber Castell Pitt markers
Gelly Roll and Pilot pens
Koh-i-Noor charcoal pencils
Canson mixed media paper (7 x 10 inches per page, base)
SU! Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge, Tape It
Archival Ink, coffee
and a dozen other things I probably forgot...

Fall or Fly

Hello lovely people! It's that time of the week again when we unveil a new challenge for mixed media over at Splitcoast Stampers! This time it's inspiration-driven. This week, Dina is asking us to be inspired by Kintsukuroi. What is that? I'm glad you asked!

Kintsukuroi or Kintsugi is a method of repairing pottery 

that is done by filling the cracks with a sticky resin,

then covering the resin with gold or silver dust.

This week, use this Japanese art form as an inspiration.

Here is the lovely example:

I really love that - more beautiful for having been broken. Isn't that a summation of our lives? We strive to grow, we make mistakes, we get knocked down, beat up, embarrassed, but God is there to fill the cracks and put those pieces back together. He mends us in His way, and we are MORE BEAUTIFUL!

Here I've represented the golden mending on a heart that has been broken, but manages to be mended and ready to take a chance on relationships, again. I've used texture paste, Dylusions sprays and stencil, Tim Holtz Winged Heart die, crepe paper, recycled bits from other gelli-plate printing, acrylic paint, gesso, Creative Memories alphabet stickers, Copic markers, Bic white-out, Copic markers, and 8B graphite pencil. Whew!

I made my heart out of mulberry paper, tore it up, then glued it back down. I filled the cracks with gold embossing paste, then stitched over that with gold embroidery thread. It really looks more rugged, and I love that!

I had a blast making this page for my art journal, and I hope you get a chance to play along. It's really fun, and you can make anything using this prompt - card, scrapbook page, art journal, even 3D items. Share your work with us!

Ta for now,

~ky

Growth and Challenges

Hey there! It's time again for another Mix-Ability challenge over on Splitcoast, and I'm hosting this week! Here's a close-up detail:

This week we are all about the LAYERS! I love layers, almost as much as I love bacon!

I started with a little paint, and scraps of paper and bits of collage left over from previous projects. Then I added texture paste through stencils to get some texture. I colored the texture paste with Dylusions spray - using a small paintbrush to apply it just to the areas I wanted to accent.

I added bits of washi tape, some gold modeling cream, a little more bits of acrylic paint, some rubbed on with my finger, some put through a stencil. I added a photo of myself, and taped the edges with washi, added more texture paste over the edges to embed the photo into the background, added 2 word stickers. I die cut the letters and the banners (Tim Holtz - Sizzix), glued them down and accented them with my graphite pencil.

Once I was happy with it, I went around the edges with Distress Stains, added more shading with graphite, and some white accents. I used a gel Souffle pen (Sakura) for the white, but you can use a liquid paper corrector pen, too. Once I get it all done, I coat everything with Mod Podge to seal it all up.

This is a project in progress photo for another page I did not long ago.

You can see the raw texture paste through stencil in the corners, bits of paper, paint, stamped images and book text. I follow the same process, generally, just putting things on the page until I'm pleased with the effect.

And this is the final photo of that same project:

Can you pick out the details? The thing that pulls it all together, for me, is the shading. Don't forget to go around the edges of your pages - that really frames the page!

Here's another in-progress picture:

And this is where I'm at with that page. Not done yet! I still have a lot more layering to do, and I need to get some more items to pull the whole thing together. I was working on this at the hospital today, and the social activities director saw it. She wants me to come teach and play with her patients in the rehabilitation unit.

I know these last 2 in particular look odd - I took the in-progress picture with my phone camera, and the final with my Canon SLR, so the color and detail quality aren't the same. I think you can pick out bits and see where the layers have been added and changed as I went. It's very obvious how important shading is between these last 2 photos.

In case you can't read it, it says, "One day this pain will make sense to you." Caring for an elderly parent with ICU psychosis is very painful indeed, and I need to remind myself that while I'm going through a dark place right now, God can see beyond it. I just have to trust Him, and know that the sun will shine again.

I really wanted to give you a video, but my Dad had surgery and there have been complications, so I've been at the hospital all day every day. So, let me be in your debt and 'owe' you a video, ok? I love to share! Is there a product or technique you really would like to see me demonstrate? Leave a comment below!

Thanks so very much for stopping by, and play along! I want to see what you do with my challenge!

Ta!
~ky

Swap and Trade

Hey there folks! I've been very busy and spent a lot of time contemplating whether or not I should resurrect my blog. I've decided I should give it a try, despite the lack of comments and traffic. If you have any suggestions about my blog, please kindly leave me a message. I would greatly appreciate constructive ideas!

I am a proud member of the Splitcoaststampers' newest challenge site. It's all about mixed-media! I do hope you'll check it out, and play along. Share your work here on my blog - just add a link in the comments - because I want to give you some love! Here's an art journal page I did a few weeks ago. Our challenge by Tiffany (IHeartArt is her blog) was to use multiple surfaces in the creation of our project.

I pulled together a lot of surfaces because I love collages. I started with gesso over a layer of distress inks, then built more layers with tape, gesso and bits of papers. My surfaces include: cardstock, medical tape, corrugated cardboard, Styrofoam  twine, vellum, metallic paint, acrylic paint, tissue paper, gesso, wooden stir stick, and machine stitching. The text on the embossed vellum says: 

"As a son, a man receives love. As a husband, a man shares his love. And as a father, a man gives his love." 

This will have a good bit of journaling about my life with my Dad. He's an amazing man whom I am getting a chance to be with day in and day out.

These pieces are Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). I participated in an ATC swap on Tamara's Willowing website. My partner was Sherri Mash, and she sent me the ATCs on the right.

Our theme was summer travel, and I created the ATCs on the right. I used Tim Holtz's and BoBunny papers, Distress ink, miscellaneous brads, ribbon, spinner. The gold edging is Viva Modeling Cream (Love this stuff!). I used Prismacolor pencils on the truck, and the stamps are by Tim Holtz and Gina K Designs.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit here. Feel free to follow me, or 'like' my Facebook studio: the ArtLab. Head out into the land of art, inspired!

~ky