BOD's Mindfulness Spread

This is what 

art in bed looks like.

It's not pretty,

but it's necessary!!!

I tried to walk

without the boot today.

HELL NO!!
So, back to bed....

So below you see my supplies 

for Effy's Book of Days.
um, and some other 
supplies, as well.

   

Below, I am gesso'ing

out the elements in the 

2004 Art Calendar

that I don't 

"feel" for this journal page.

This spread took quite a while.

The subject here is 

all about celebrating what 

I am looking forward to 

in the upcoming year.

Not resolutions!

too much presha!!

At this point, 

I have the

tags journaled 

and stamped, 

but don't have a feel 

for the big picture yet.

Here is where I blogged 

about making the tags.

I have both white gesso

to block out images

and clear gesso to 

protect and provide

tooth for the images 

I do want to keep.

By tooth I mean

getting rid of the slickness

of the calendar page

so I can add layers of paint or ink

or GLITTER!!!!

and those layers will stick.

 

 

 Below, the gesso has dried
and I'm adding 
Adirondak Re-inkers
for color.
This is butterscotch, I think.
I used a paper towel to 
lift off some of the ink 
and that cool pattern was the result.
That's an Effy thing. 
Like shabification.
I have a hard time
with shabification.
I love color.
But, it will happen....

 

I decided to keep the profile of 
the face, the fish eyes
and the owl eyes.
Cuz, well eyes are what
I do for a living.
And seeing is part of 
what is required for
wisdom and art.
Very important.
Below you see the full spread.
I used a paint texture tool
for the lines.
Added some Lettuce re-inker.
So my issue was that 
some of the ink lifted when 
I sealed it with 
matte medium.
I suspected it might,
and Effy confirmed.
I let the first layer of medium dry
and added another to seal.
The second time there was 
very little movement.
I was all worried about it 
and then decided not to 
add anymore wet layers.
Ironic, no? 
teehee.

 

Next stop is adding a

flap with tape.

I ended up just folding 

over a flap and using

heavy gel medium as a glue.

cuz, I didn't have any

masking tape in my bed!!!

teehee.

I used a little pan pastels

to color up 

a stamped heart that is

I kid you not,

about 10 years old.

I don't own that stamp,

I was taking a class

from the creator of that 

line of stamps,

sorry can't remember who,

and she was soooo 

generous and let us use 

tons of them!

I knew someday the perfect 

use for that paper would

come up and it did.

I look forward to Art in 2012!

Hey, I cheated and used a color wheel.

Being untrained and what not, 

I knew I wanted to add another

color and had no clue what

would work. 

Voila, and thank you, color wheel!

 Delicious Purple!!

Now the story of the 

transparency pockets:

they are the left over from 

banners I made for my bff's 

bridal shower.

I will blog about that soon.

I punched holes and used brads

to add the pockets. 

The transparencies were ran

through my ink-jet printer

and you can see some

sheet music on the edges

which I love.

Who doesn't look forward

to music?

I love that I was able to

"use what I have".

Big goal for me for 2012.

I used a sticker library card thingy

and covered it with paper.

It is actually my freezer

catch all paper that I put under my 

paintings. The palette just matched 

so I glued it on! 

Slipped the tags in 

and glued on the 

Be Still stamped paper.

I can add more tags

under the pockets

and there is plenty 

of room to journal!

I took the opportunity

to add a couple

sentences about 

mindfulness and suffering

that are very important to me

on the outside 

of the flap. 

This piece of paper 

is also from my stash,

circa Art and Soul 2007 or 8?

I took an INCREDIBLE class

given by Albie Smith

on paste paper making.

OMG.

It was HEAVEN.

teehee, you're welcome.

There is a pic of me and Albie

on my sidebar. 

We are holding the 2 books we

made in class.

I think it was a two day class.

But I don't remember 

and am too booted up to check.

I have very few pieces left of

my special paper, but I love the

purple and bronzy colors.

It was meant to be.

So, that's my 

second spread in my 

Book of Days!

Thanks for looking!

xoS

ANTI-VALENTINES

Before you look any further you MUST play the video above.
The Band is Ludo, and the song is Love Me Dead.

Lyrics:

Love me cancerously

like a salt-sore soaked in the sea. "

High-maintenance" means you’re a gluttonous queen,

narcissistic and mean.

Kill me romantically

Fill my soul with vomit

then ask me for a piece of gum.

Bitter and dumb, you’re my sugarplum

You’re awful, I love you...

She moves through moonbeams slowly

She knows just how to hold me

and when her edges soften her body is my coffin.

I know she drains me slowly

She wears me down to bones in bed...

must be the sign on my head

it says, "Oh, love me dead!" Love me dead!

You’re a faith-healer on T.V.

You’re an office park without any trees

corporate and cold gushing for gold - leave me alone.

You suck so passionately

You’re a parasitic, psycho, filthy creature finger-bangin’ my heart.

You call me up drunk, does the fun ever start?

You’re hideous... and sexy!

Brrrot-dot-da-d-da-da! Brrrot-dot-da-d-da-da!

How’s your new boy?

Does he know about me?

You’ve got the mark of the beast.

You’re born of a jackal!

You’re beautiful

Love me dead!

Love me dead! Love me dead! Oh... love me dead!

So, in the Anti-Valentine spirit, I have used this song for inspiration.

My own sad love life is inspiration enough, but alas,

I am not as clever as the writers of this song!!

So here are my Anti-Valentines 2009:

Only 4 for now, but the song is ripe for more interpretation. I'm digging the paste paper! I mean no offense to anyone, this is just my sick sense of humor when it comes to love. Otherwise, I'm pretty conventional.
More will be forthcoming....xoSusan

Paste Paper Waste Paper

I have been literally throwing myself into paste paper making. You'll get what I mean when you see my arm in one of the photos coming up. I use deli paper to clean my brushes, and to brayer paint off stencils in between color changes. Inspired by this beautiful paper Patty gifted me at last years Art and Soul, I decided to try and use my "waste paper" artistically so I could reuse it. Tell me if you like what you see. First, though, here is Patty's yummy paper. Visit her blog, her art is lovely and she is one classy dame.

You will have to click on photo to enlarge for a better look. Her paper is wrapped around a collage that I consider myself VERY LUCKY to have been gifted!! Thanks, again Patty. Still loving it a year later!
My deli papers:
This is how this one started.
And here it is complete. Next ones:



The deli paper on the left below is from my yankee's collage. Lou is still not home yet. I miss Lou and M. sigh.

Those are gold foil candy wrappers from Rouchet ? spelling could be wrong. And my Stewart Gill paints, yum yummy.
Ok, so I had some GunShot Wounded Hearts I previously printed out on acid free tissue. I decided to use the paste paint as glue and add them to a red deli sheet.


Here I am adding what I call "Ironic Bows" to the Gun Shot Wound deli paper. Notice my arm??? The tissue is from Blackberry Designs. Be very careful at thier site. You will overspend. You have been warned.

I may add these cool flames coming out of the hearts, too. The tissue is from the store Torrid. Not only is their tissue awesome, but they carry very sexy panties and lingerie for the ample, but still interested, woman. I'm just saying...... My next deli paper is embellished with a Phrenology head stamped onto acid free tissue. I had it waiting in my stash.

Flaming Hearts courtesy of the Torrid Tissue, again. I may or may not paste them on. Time will tell.
So that's the end of the deli paper dalliance. Now on to the paste papers. Here are the first layers of paint without embellishments:

Ok, kind of boring right? Here are the embellishment tools: stencils, stamps, contrasting paint etc:
Messy, messy, messy. I know, I know. It's a curse. Here's what happens next:
And what would a blog post be without gratuitous close ups:

In case you are wondering what in the name of all that is holy, that I will actually "do" with these papers, they will become backgrounds for my ATC's. So there. They do have a use. Not just to fill up the empty time in my empty life. Oh, did I type that out loud? teehee.
Hope you have enjoyed my latest foray into paper and paint. Please leave a comment. I need to feel the love. And nobody wants those quilt square kits I posted about last week? Free. Free. Free. Have I mentioned that they are free??? Next week I am going to post some tissue papers I probably will never use.

xoSusan

More Yankees and One More PhrenMen

I'm a little stuck on my Yankee's collage. I had an idea about covering Lou's #4 with part of his speech from his last day as a Yankee. First I painted and sanded the stencil.

Printed the words, in a variety of fonts to add interest, on tissue. Glued the tissue to the stencil and did several washes of paint over all.

I like the transparency of the cutout.

I can't wait to use the deli paper under the stencil in another project!

Here is placement for the #4. I hate, hate, hate that spot were the 4 hits Lou's shoulder. I need something else there but am temporarily out of ideas. Ideas anyone?????

Here is the back side of my latest PhrenMen ATC. This series of ATC's is done on left over paste paper I made in Albie Smith's classes.

And here is "Satisfies Low Expectations" . I finished this last night. Ironically I was accused of this very thing tonight. Isn't that bizarre??

I think the corners are a cool touch. Bribe me and I will let you know where I got them. insert evil laugh here.