ad libitum

GUESTS AND DRAWING BIG EYED/ BIG HEADED GIRLS

I had the pleasure of a visit from Martha Brown and Ray earlier this week. We ate out and went to the Georgia O"Keeffe exhibit at the KIA and shopped and talked and arted and then they went off to Lake Michigan before returning to Toronto (they were delightful and fun guests and I thouroughly enjoyed their company; I hope they come back sometime). I had my daughter take our photo in my backyard.

Martha is taking an online class on drawing and coloring Petite Dolls (ignore my very messy computer desk)

As part of her class, she has to practice drawing a lot. The figures are big eyed/ big headed girls and currently very popular. So, we drew big eyed/big headed girls on Wednesday night. It was fun and I really enjoyed it (gotta admit, I'm still not sure how I feel about these babies, but I ended up drawing a lot of them). On Friday, I had to take my car in to be worked on (headed out to D,C, on Monday), so I took my sketch book and drew more big-eyed/big headed girls as I waited. Last night and tonight, I colored some of them. The more I make, the more I like them.

PLAYING WITH PHOTOSHOP AGAIN

It's too hot to play outside (in the 90s here in Missouri; tomorrow, I head back to Michigan where it's in the 80s); so I've been playing with Photoshop.

This photo of a bust I took at an antique/restoration place outside of South Haven MI and some added background layers (two photos taken in Pompeii last summer)...

became this.

This bust of Buddha from the same antique/restoration place and...

this photo from my backyard...

became this.

This house in Cushing, Maine and

this painting from my class with DJ and a photo of taken at my brother's house (with a gaussian blur)...

became this.

PAINTING AND PHOTOSHOP

I am currently in Cape Girardeau, happily being with my husband for 10 days, but sadly away from my studio. So, to prevent total art withdrawal, I played with digital art today.

It is less than a week ago that I was in Birmingham for painting classes with DJ Pettitt and wire wrapping with Deryn Mentock. So, I decided to try to combine some of my painting with some photos in Photoshop. I took a photo of one of the formative steps in the face I painted with DJ's instructions (I wanted to use an unfinished face because I wanted to do "sketchy" things with it). You can find the original photo in one of my previous posts).

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these, but here are the two I worked on today (after we got back from 3 days in Memphis, which is, by the way, killer hot).

FABRIC BANNER SWAP

We had a fabric banner swap at the workshop in Birmingham. There were 11 of us who participated and I am posting the banners below. The banners were all 4 by 6 inches (give or take; it's impossible for me to be precise in most of my fabric work - and apparently for some others, too). The banners range from hand woven  to painted fabric to quilted. There was sewing ang gluing and embroidery. I love them all.

SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY

Joyce Vance organized an absolutely wonderful art retreat in Birmingham AL: two separate projects, four days of classes taught by D.J. Pettitt and Deryn Mentock. It was all good (well, the weather was pretty stormy, but Joyce brilliantly set us up with workspace across a covered walkway from the back of the hotel; so, sweet little artists that we all are, we didn't melt when we got wet). The retreat was attended by old friends and newly minted on the spot friends. It's always so wonderful to walk into a room full of fellow artists and feel so comfortable (everyone "gets it").

I didn't take pictures of everyone (too busy socializing and arting) and I misplaced the cord that runs from my computer to my camera; so I didn't post as I went along. Yesterday, Catherine and Amy and I made the over 700 mile drive back to Michigan. It was a trip that included good company, good scenery (well, at least until Indianapolis), and OK weather (well, at least until Indianapolis). I'm very happy to be home, but will head out tomorrow morning for 10 days in Cape Girardeau with my husband - including a side trip to Memphis to meet up with our friends, Sally and Eric (or, as Dean calls them, Saric).

Belwo are some photos from Birmingham.

Here's Andi working on her face painting.

Here are some early steps in my face painting.

Catherine and Andi working on their paintings with my painting in the foreground.

My painting finiswhed (I'm pretty sure - but I want to fix some parts) with the wire wrapping taught by Deryin (note the cool leaves and circles with Diamond Glazed word inserts and the bird's nest she taught).

Here's Kathy lounging in the cool hotel lobby.

...and Catherine looking pretty cool.

Jackie came in from Hueytown to meet up with us - so cool to meet someone in person whom you've "know" for years over the internet. She's just as kind and gracious and full of humor as I knew she would be (except for a little bit of attitude about nornerners).

Deryn and D>J> really make a great teaching team.

Below are some stages of my book cover (I have no idea when I'll finish the book, but will post when I do). D.J. really got us all excited with the possibilities of how to fill our signatures in these books.

And, now it's time to catch up on some domestic chores (real life rears its ugly head in the midst of art) and then to catch up on emails and other people's blogs.

ALABAMA BOUND AND REACHED

Imagine Thelma and Louise (only with a happy ending)...and Amy.  Catherine, Amy and I set out for the Alabama workshop with D.J. Pettitt and Deryn Mentock. On Wednesday we left Michigan and drove to Franklin TN (just south of Nashville). Today, we met up with Kathy McElroy and Shirley McCutheon in Huntsvilee AL for lunch at PJ Changs (Amy had left the table while we forced the waitress to take our photo).

I ordered a really tasty Shrimp with Lobster Sauce (happy food memory here).

Amy, Catherine and I posed outside the restaurant in front of the horse (not mentioning here what part of the horse Catherine took a photo of).

Kathy took us to the old part of Huntsville to a great antique store.

Kathy lead us into temptation and we succomed (i.e., many purchases).

One of the many mannequin heads in the store, which was filled with treasures.

We arrived in Birmingham in time to go to Joyce Vance's for dinner. Here she is with her two youngest children. Joyce is the one who organized this workshop.

DJ and Andi listening  to one of several discussions going on at the same time around the dinner table.

Jennifer, Jean, Deryn and Beth carrying on a few discussions

Tomorrow, classes start...

TIES THAT BIND ART DOLL RAFFLE

You can win this beautiful doll (ties and charms donated by over 100 artists, doll constructed by the very talented Jan Brown) AND donate to Ovarian Cancer Research by buying raffle tickets here. Tickets are $5 for one, $20 for 6. I'm very proud to be a part of this project (3 charms and a tie - the tie is the dragon hatchling in the photo above and one of my charms is the face below the tie). What could be better than a chance to win this and to be making a very worthwhile donation at the same time! You can read more about the project and see more photos of the doll here (scroll down to see the beautiful ties and charms).

DISCARDED

I belong to a photo art journal group, which makes collaborative books with photos based on assigned themes (by the way, some of our books are in J.K. Ludwig's new book on Collaborative Journals - I'm on pages 24 and 44); and, on the backs of the photos, we either write something of our own or select an appropriate quote (I like to write my own pieces for my photos) and put our contact information. The journal that is due this month is on the theme Discarded. Here are the two pages I'm submitting. The back of the page is on the right side and the front of the page is on the left.

 

ART FOR THE FRONT PORCH?

Today, at the garden center, I saw a large (about 20x24) canvas painting of a landscape that had been treated (UV stuff and waterproofing) to hang outside. It was about $200. I really like the idea of a painting on my front porch, but I'm not too crazy about the $200 part. So...I thought maybe I could take one of my photos, play around with it in Photoshop, get a large print made, attach it to a canvas, cover it with gel medium or tar gel, and spray it with indoor/outdoor sealer. I selected a photo from Italy and used some filters and worked with saturation and opacity in layers.

Below is the original photo and 3 of my favorite results. I may choose one of them, but I'll probably play around with some more before I make my final decision.

The one below is a paint daub/pastel kind of combination.

This is kind of colored pencil-y.

This one uses a pen and ink filter with an overly saturated copy of the photo below it.

It may look like there isn't much difference among these, but there are nuances that give each of them a slightly different character. If you leave a comment, I really would like to know if you have a preference among these pictures.

CATCHING UP ON PROJECTS

I had too much fun visiting and socializing and got behind on art assignments for swaps, groups, etc. So, yesterday, I worked on some projects that needed finishing.

This is a not-great scan of a gutted and collaged book cover for my MultiMediaMavens challenge for tonight. It's dark, but has metallic highlights which don't show in this scan.

Christine's altered book theme for The Altered Sisters Round Robin is "Your Favorite Movie."  I always have a hard time selecting a favorite, but I definitely have favorites. I narrowed down my choices to Strictly Ballroom and Bagdad Cafe and tossed a coin to decide.

Early next month, I have to mail out patriotic ornaments for a swap with the Easter ornament group that Kecia Deveney started. I decided to make little patriotic dancing dolls (probably because I didn't choose Strictly Ballroom for Christine's book).