Busy week.

It's Friday again,

and this has been a busy week for me. Normally I don't have things I have to do, except housekeeping and such. So, when each day has something that I must do, it feels busy. I did find some time to play with colors though, and had much fun doing this page in my altered book.

 What I've used here is copies of some old work of mine, prints, rearranged them and add in some new. My old art turned new and the expression is completely changed. The background is in fact a sheet of paper I did for use in an earlier project, and before ripping it, I scanned it and now it came in handy. This is my week 5 piece in the challenge Color me Positive. The prompt was all about having big enough dreams. I changed it to one word, Dreaming.

At some point in my process I'm always photographing what I'm doing, to have a different look at it. And most times I then see things to change, so also with this one. The butterflies have too strong a color and the background need some more depth around the flowers.

 I also added the word, Dreaming in a lemon yellow color to give a bit more warmth to it. Notice how the small addition of the same color beneath the flowers makes a big difference. This is all made using water soluble medias except from white gesso. It was fun and fairly quick done, and you know, cutting and gluing just like in kinder garden. Fun!

Linking to Paint Party Friday, have fun everyone.

Some new toys.

I took my oldest brother's wife to a trip today, she had an accident and broke her wrist so she's stuck
inside. We went to an art supply shop and I bought some new toys, or art supplies as some would call it. I bought some ink spray bottles and a couple of stencils besides the usual black pens.

Lee, a good bloging friend has a wonderful way of doing collages, which I admire alot, so I thought of trying myself. The "background" in my piece is done with acrylic paint and some paper scraps, I used my new stencil, the face, on top and sprayed black ink on top of it. As the ink dried, it sort of melted into the rest, and it's difficult to see what layer came first.
This was my very first try and I'm pleased. I think there should be some more white though, but I don't know how to do it. Pure white will be too hard, and the ink is not water resistant. I'll figure out a way of doing it, and I'll certainly try more of this.

The colors are much more even in person, now it seems there are hardly no paint on the right side, but there is. How do everyone else deal with the not water resistant ink?
I can see lots of fun in the future with these toys, it just depend on myself.
Enjoy the weekend!

Hey, how could I know.

 

I wonder why I developed to be so unknowing/uninterested in tecknical stuff.

 

Today I made a big step forward when talking of Picasa. How could I know I had to download the latest version of that program?? Well, at last I understood and there it was, all the stuff I had seen before. I was so happy I made two collages promptly.

Now I have a big reading job ahead, but that counts as peanuts compared to all the braintwisting I did today. Before downloading that is.

 

Since I filed all my photos, it was easy to pick a file and choose the ones to collage. Nothing new, I'm afraid but it was done in pure happiness. Here they are, my paainted faces once again.



 

 

So are the Russian dolls

 

 

I hope you will excuse my impulsiveness, I couldn't help making them. From now on I'll file the ones I make.

 

 

I hope you'll have as much luck as I had today.

 

Not Listening.

I had a bit time after all so I'll share my thoughts with you today.

Here I have assembled the whole series to make it possible to see them all in one place. I'm sorry for not beeing tecknical skilled. The photos could have been much better if I knew how to do it, but I'm " allergic" to all kinds of reading tecknical stuff. SORRY!! ( Do you think I have a job to do here? )

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When I chose the blue/ bluegreen colors  it  was because I love them. The coolness and distance making effect they have suited well for my project.  The fact that these colors also have a calming effect gave me a challenge though. To fall apart isn't excactly a calming process, I think, and that's why I chose to add all the running paint as symbols of unrest. Each piece has, more or less, a  troubleing mind and needed something to underline that.

All the names of the pieces do describe what I actually did to create them. The doublemeaning is the most interesting part, I think, it can be alot more than just the obvious. It gives people the opportunety to  listen to what that specific piece are telling them. Each piece can live well on their own, together they tell a story. A story of  beeing unbalanced and all the way to falling apart.

I have to tell you a story about my paternal Granny. She was in every way a heavy weighter. She had a neighbour friend that certainly was a great person too, but thin as a line. In one occation they both were photographed together and Granny showed me that photo while saying : Too much and too little are equal bad. Be sure to balance your life. And she was laughing while saying it, she was a humorous person which I still admire. I often think of this and how wise it really is. Be balanced, good advice!

The fact that I didn't add the ears was planned even though it suits me well to avoid drawing them. As said I didn't know this whole thing would end up as a series. The missing ears is one of the reasons I can call my series: Not Listening. I have experienced  a few times that people won't listen while they're having a troubled mind, my main reason for not adding the ears.

Not Listening

 Unbalanced

 Building Up                                                                                             Disturbed

Loose Face

Falling Apart

Did this make any sense to you?
 All in all I've had a fantastic journey. It always feels good when things are working like I want them to. Now I have to get myself a good printing deal. I won't let the colors fade. That copy paper isn't worth much so they'll have to be properly printed.

Thank you so much for your encouraging words during this journey, it ment alot to me!

Please, drop in on Monday and I will give you a small colour challenge. Want to play with me?
Untill then.

A good idea.

I want to share a good idea with you.

Back in the end of the 90's I bought a piece of art that a friend has made. She did use roof stones as her canvases. Those stones have an uneven surface and she incorporated that as part of her art. I thought the idea of using  those stones were great. Now I realize, that in a few years I might have hundreds of canvases. We will need to change our stones sometime in the future and then............

A minor drawback is that the stones are pretty heavy, but they have these marks in each side so it is possible to hang them.

My last two pieces are done. I'm working on one more but it seems impossible to do what I had planned. I will keep trying though.

The one below is called " ONE Side Open." This one is slightly different from the others, and so is the last one.

The last one is called " Building up "  What I didn't PLAN with this series was  the clear story that slowly came into beeing. Of course I knew there would be some bonds between them since I worked within the same theme. I now realize that I started with the end of a story and worked my way back to the beginning.

Otherwise all the rest was planned, that is, there is a meaning behind each element. Both the obvious ones and the more not that obvious ones.

In my next post I'll tell you how I think about this series. Anyone who has been wondering about the missing ears?

This weekend Sandra is coming and tomorrow I'll have to prepare for that. We will plan her poster and perhaps start making it. So my next post might not show up untill Monday.

Have a wild weekend everyone!!

Loose Face

Todays result was hard to gain.

 I made three trys before I was satisfied. This piece is called  Loose Face. I sort of like the double meaning, can make people think and have their own opinion.
I wanted to add the running paint at the same time as I wanted to control the running area and I didn't want the the running startpoint to be too obvius. It worked well I think.

Have you ever experienced to see someone in the phase of loosing face? Just imagine how it looks, you know that "glassy " expression, they see but they don't see. They pull themselves together and makes a distance to all the rest.

I tried to express this by using some glossy things at the falling parts. That idea came to me right before I was going to bed last night. A bonus effect is that the running paint doesn't fasten to the falling parts either. That is a plus, because I was a bit worried if the small parts would kind of disappear in all that other mess. This way they stay almost clean. The photo below is very close to how it looks in person. It was a bit challenging to photograph this piece because of the glossyness.

I used a flashlight in the one below, the shiny parts overtakes it all.

 In the photographing process I was a bit creative and I got some amazing results. Look at the photo below, isn't that amazing? It's not white paint, it's the flashlight tucked in with papertowels. The rest of the photo didn't get any light on, just a tiny bit on the shiny parts.

I think  Loose Face will be interesting to hang on the wall, imagine candlelight.

I have two or three more coming. Not sure I can do them but I'll try.

Good luck on whatever you are doing!

Two more done.

I truly wish to stay in this mood forever!

I have been playing, trying, doing over again and and even repeat it. I think it's the first time I've had such a RICH idea. How do you normally work?
It seems I'm working in series. It's easier to try out different things that way. Thanks alot for leaving a comment on my former post. I was so surprised when Janet said I was always thinking of new ways of doing things. Why surprised ? Because I always feel I'm doing the same things over and over and over again. That's why I always look for new ways or new ideas, trying to avoid beeing boring. Thanks alot Janet, for beeing an eyeopener.
 Well, nobody has ever told me that I was boring, it's probably me that's beeing bored.


I'll show you two different pieces today. The one below is the one I made as my second.  I was thinking of calling it Disruption, but I'll have to check if that term normally are used describing a human state of mind.
There is something about this piece ( I can't nail it ) that make me wrinkle my nose. It improved alot when I added all the strait lines. Mostly it's the colours I think, but there are something else itching my brains too

Because of my wrinkled nose I made a second try. This time I'm pleased, even though I speed painted the background and didn't believe in it at all. See the differens in the colours? It's more airy this one, the summer feel. Perhaps that's what my nose like. :)  I think this one is my favourite so far, but I'm working on another one that looks exciting.

Now I'll continue working, it's a blessing with all my new colours.

Have a beautiful day everyone!

Falling apart.

After finishing my third doll painting last evening

 I wondered what to create coming week. I sat down to read some posts in google reader and Quinn Creative's was one of them. Her post is called: It's Not Creative if it's Disruptive. And BOY did she light a spark in me. Blogland is a fantastic place to find inspiration. She didn't write about falling apart but, on it's way from her, through my brains and onto the paper, this is what happened.

I sat down at my desk promptly and made a very quick face. This simple face will be the main element in all my work this week. When this was painted, it was time to find the bed.

I rose early this morning with my head filled with even more ideas. First thing was to make some copys of the face and I downsized them a bit.

With my new colours I made a background using some summerly ( is that a word ?) shades.  Cutting the face and placing it before the final touches.

VOILA....... Falling Apart is done.

I had to "frame" it to calm it down a bit. I'm very pleased with the result of this day. Tomorrow I will make another one.

My selfportrait promise is broken, it's so hard to draw my own face. Another time perhaps. But this week I'll have sooooo much fun. Now I'm off to say thank you to Quinn.

Have a creative week you too!!

January gone.

First month done.

It's unbelievable, but now we can look forward to more light during the day. I can already see that our days (light) comes earlier and lasts longer. This morning we had a beautiful sunrise too. All the smal birds singing and preparing for nesting. This photo got me thinking of the folks that knit one row a day and use the sky as colour chart. Not much grey in the sky this morning.



We have a tiny layer of snow now and that's alright. The howling storm we had last week seems to be gone and that's a relief. You know the feeling, when heading outdoors and it's bitterly cold. Your bones are freezing and that cold won't let go for awhile. Those winds from east bring us a taste of Siberian frost. Good then to have a warming place to be.

I was thinking of doing a monthly collage this year, and here is my first one.

Have a nice day and take good care everyone.