ad libitum

SNOW DAYS ART PROJECTS

The unusually mild Michigan winter gave way to a traditional snow storm this past week-end. I gave myself some snow days and indulged in painting papers and drinking a lot of hot chocolate.

I made some background stamps by cutting fun foam and then gluing it to a cut up cereal box.

I painted deli papers black and white...

I stamped white paint onto the black papers...

I stamped black ink onto the white papers...

And, I used color paints on some more deli papers...

I will use these papers in collages, to make fabric papers, and for backgrounds.

FABRIC PAPER AND METAL MAGIC

I'm at CREATE (yes, another art retreat!) in Chicago (well, Rosemont). I just had two days of classes with Beryl Taylor, an excellent artist and very generous and supportive teacher. Yesterday's class was in making fabric paper and today's class was in working with metal and the fabric paper (and alcohol inks, and gesso, and sand paper, and molding paste, and paints and sewing). What fun!

Here's a sheet of fabric paper I made.

sewing a stamped wing fabric paper onto a French text piece of fabric paper.

 

sewing bug stamp over text fabric paper over tissue paper fabric paper...

 

skeletal leaf fabric paper

 

embossed and alcohol ink dyed pieces of embossed metal

 

embossed metal piece from bug stamp

 

metalic bug sewn onto fabric leaf

 

metalic pieces sewn onto fabric paper

BANNERS

I have been home from my travels for 4 days now, so I've been able to indulge myself in some solid art time. I am involved in two different banner swaps and have just completed the second batch.

The first swap is a "winter white with touch of blue allowed" fabric banner swap. I sewed strips of white fabric to each other to make half these banners and used a wide lace I love for the other half. I mailed these off this morning (before today's winter snow here in Michigan got too bad). They're going to California, but they won't melt.

The second banner swap is for paper banners with bird images. I decided to use 6 different designs:  photos I've taken and images I've photoshopped. I made these reversible, so there is a full image on each side. I will send them off tomorrow, after the roads get plowed. These, too, are headed to California (different address), where I hope they will fly freely in sunny skies.