Awesome and Big! Spring Giveaway

• Willowing Arts is having a huge  & fabulous art giveaway. The prizes are super fabulous and you could win on of the following prize packages!  ----> 
• A lifelong pass to Willowing Arts courses and a $50 Dick Blick Gift card; 
• A free space on Tam’s up and coming Business Course + $30 dick blick gift card;
•  A free space on Life Book 2014 + $20 dick blick gift card
• Access to 7 of Tam’s mini classes (winner chooses) + $10 dick blick gift card
• Access to the 5 of Tam’s mini classes (winner chooses) + $10 dick blick gift card
• Access to 3 Summer Series Mini Classes (Summer Gypsy, Summer Goddes, Summer Fae)
• A space on any of Willowing Arts self study courses (not including Life Book 2014)
• 1 Free Print from Tam's Etsy shop (winner’s choice)
• 1 Set of 10 Tam postcards
• 1 Set of 5 Tam postcards + 1 pocket mirror of choice
  
  Contest closes May 31st (no time stated, so assume it was midnight)

So quick like a bunny, run to Willowing Arts by clicking on the hyperlink and do what she asks to be entered.

Inspiration from Kandinsky

Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky is my all-time favorite abstract painter. He was an influential Russian painter and art theorist and is credited with painting the first purely abstract works.
At Artful Mail Groupies I set up an ATC swap entitled Kandinsky with Jazz and a Twist. The idea behind it was to put on some jazz and start groovin' to the tunes and get busy making magic. The twist, well, it was a resist. They had to use a resist as part of their creation.

Lordy, mercy me, you would think I asked them all to jump off a cliff! Ha!  Seriously, abstract art is difficult for some people. And all abstract really is - is the absence of similarity to any real object. Period. Myself, I find nothing hard about that concept. A Kandinsky I shall never be. But I still love his art and his use of color. And of course, the geometic shapes.

The thing with Kandinsky is that he was clearly enamored with geometry and geometric shapes. It is evident in so much of his work. He was a prolific artist, and not everything he did was in abstract. 

This journal page in my "everyday" journal was made from what was leftover from the art I created using watercolor, with white crayon as the resist and black acrylic paint. I cut all my ATC's from this piece and have sent them out into the world to my assigned swap partners. I hope they enjoy my trading cards as much as I enjoyed groovin' to some Quentin Marsalis and playing with my paints. ~~bgr

DIY GELLI PLATES

Printing background pages on the Gelli Plate is one of the latest rages in the art journaling and art community. You can create dozens of pages in just a few minutes and this method offers tons of variety with unlimited options for experimentation with your stencils, objects, shapes and mediums.

Tammy Garcia from Daisy Yellow is featured today on The Crafty Crow, A Children's Craft Collective with her DIY Gelli Plate tutorial she made back in February.

I have the 12x12" Gelli plate and love using it. I just haven't in a long time and need to drag it out and get some more backgrounds made to use in my journaling, to share in happy mail swaps and other projects.

If you are interested in making your own, it is inexpensive to do so. All you need do is run to the grocery store and buy up some unflavored gelatin and follow the instructions. This particular DIY version will last about a month.  How many hundreds of pages can you make in a month?

iHanna's 2014 DIY Postcard Swap

This is my second year to participate in this fun swap that iHanna hosts every year, twice a year.  You make 10 postcards and get 10 postcards.  Everyone pays a nominal fee, but it is so worth it to see the creativity of people from all over the world.

My latest fun thing is using lace and crocheted doilies and my beloved Dylusions spray inks.  I've done envelopes large and small, greeting cards, ATC's, notecards, and of course, postcards.

 Here are all 10 of my cards that went forth into the world on May 2nd to California, Alaska, Mississippi, Florida, 2 to Australia, South Dakota, Sweden, Virginia, and Georgia.

 I have received two already and anxiously await receipt of my other eight.

Maybe the people who are receiving these will try this technique and have this same grand fun of seeing how they turn out.

Don't you just love "What-if?"



The technique is rather simple, but the effects are super striking don't you think?  

1.  Start with a nice weight watercolor paper. I used 300 pound cold press for these.

2.  For a "white" image, just lay your doilies, lace or crochet pieces on the paper.

3.  Select your paint & mist all over.  (I recommend you do this inside a box to prevent overspray everywhere!)

4.  For a multi-color effect, spritz a lighter color over the paper.  Then lay your doilies.  Now, pick a dark color like After Midnight or another dark color to contrast with the color(s) you already sprayed.  Mist all over again.

5.  Remove your doilies carefully and let dry.

6.  Seal with a light coating of hair spray so the ink won't smear or rub off. Then cut to your preferred size. These are all 4x6".

That's all there is to that.  Embellish further if so desired.

Enjoy all the pics, and thanks for stopping by to visit. 

And she cried .....

There are days we just feel morose. We miss loved ones who have gone before us. We are sad for our friends who are suffering. We are exasperated with the daily challenges we face. We're upset at the insensitive and selfish nature of other people we come into contact with on a daily basis. Today is one of those days for me and out sprang this face from my pencil. Rudimentary at best, but it definitely reflects my mood. 'nuff said.