Look Out!

Look out! It's book making time. Here's a collage from this past year. I like to play around with eyes. I'm not big on figurative imagery but multiple of eyes, lips, etc., are fun. I have more eyes waiting to become a cover on a composition book.

I had a bit of a task last spring while my finger was healing from the gardening mishap. Create a book for our retiring principal. She asked that it be purple and teal, our school colors. Dolphins, the school mascot, were quite abundant!

 

The spine was three inches wide but the book was still bursting with notes and scrapbook pages full of well wishes from staff members.

The hardest part to getting started was deciding the size and basic construction of the book. There were two items I envisioned. The fanned envelopes pictured above and a beaded binding seen below. Yes, those are paint chips we wrote messages on the back of in the envelopes. One day I will be banned from the the paint department at Home Depot...

The spine was constructed from book board wrapped with hand painted and stamped canvass.

Beaded bindings make me drool. In a good way. The book construction is somewhat informal but the beads add texture and subtle bling. If "subtle" can ever go with bling... 

 The interior pages consisted of scrapbook papers, papers in braille and hand painted papers. I went to town using newly acquired stencils from Crafters Workshop. Who knew that painting could be a challenge? Although I didn't need my index finger to hold the paint brush, I had to lean it against the healing finger. It was an education on how every inch of the hand plays a vital role. Healing was not going to keep me from making the book I had in my head.

More paint chips and hand painted envelopes. It was a sad moment when I went to Home Depot looking for Mickey paint chips only to find out they no longer carried that line of paint.

Paint chips, flash cards and rubber stamping were sprinkled throughout.

Making the book was a cinch in comparison to gathering my own thoughts and well wishes to share.

 

When words fail me, I create. I gathered bits and scraps and went to work on the sewing machine.

I created two facing pages, the #1 page as a pocket for a #1 card I wrote on and slipped into the pocket.

Shoe boxes full of my scraps stash. Postcards, magazine images, LOTs of candy wrappers...

It's all fair game for artmaking. The Craft Fair season is starting up here in Phoenix and the scraps will be soon be flying through my sewing machine as I build up inventory for the upcoming season. 

What a blessing to not fry the moment I stick my head out the door :)

Marissa

Pure Experimentation

The Pure Experimentation online class has been pure inspiration. Been trying out some new things and adding some of my own touches. Next lesson will be posted tomorrow. Can't wait!
Here's my makeshift spray station on my back patio. I rigged it out of a big box with some strategic cuts and packing tape. I still have to cover the table. (After I scrub off the spray paint I got on it).

I have another box at work. I figured I could place it under the big exhaust fan in my kiln room and not have to worry about ventilation and fumes. Wrong! The *!#$@*!!!! exhaust fan has to be working. Since day 1 that thing works on and off even if the switch is on. Six years of bringing the issue up with district maintenance and not a thing has changed. Ugh!OK, I'm going to back track. Here's the book I bought last weekend that I used for the ideas to cut these:I used these for the portfolio covers. Two others didn't survive since they're made from regular bond paper.
Here's more that I haven't painted with yet. Hmmm, thought I made more square ones.I was asked how I'd used turquoise on the portfolio covers. I learned about these Preval Spray Guns from Jeane and I ordered some. (Google Paint Pro USA/Distributors Plus Inc. to order). I took craft store paint, mixed them with water an used them with the stencils. My ratios were off but after one try it wasn't a bad first attempt. No fumes! I can still smell the spray paint on he portfolio. Yuck! It turns out my bottles of spray paint were at work. I gathered some materials around the classroom and went to town. I limited the color palette to red, black, gray and sky blue spray paint.I kept some sheets close by and took the stencils and pressed them onto clean paper. My plan is to paint washes of color over these. Frankly, I think I like this subtle effect more.I was pleasantly surprised how well the lace stenciled.This was as far as I got. We're getting our yearly student art exhibition ready and I got way behind so now I'm busy getting all that ready with little time to play.
Marissa

Stencil Mania

After having such a cool experience participating in my first online art class with Kelly Kilmer, I thought I'd try another.
Last Friday Mary Ann Moss began her Pure Experimentation online stenciling class. She's shared some great examples of stenciled street art on her blog. I sure miss that about LA. Street art everywhere. I found these two murals as I was driving down the street in Mesa this weekend.
Here, kitty, kitty, kitty..... There's an alley in Central Phoenix that I read about in a local rag. The alley was constantly vandalized by taggers. The local merchants got together, pooled their resources and used graffiti art to decorate the alley themselves. I have to make an effort to find graffiti art. Mostly I see vandalism on my commute. Bah humbug!Our first assignment-use found materials to stencil on pieces of cardboard that will be made into a portfolio for our projects. I picked up a cool book over the weekend on paper cut outs. I spent Sunday afternoon in my kitchen with a pile of scrap paper, folding and cutting away.I used black and white spray paint. I thought I had the other colors at work. I actually remembered to look for the cans at work today and they weren't there. Turns out I brought them home and they're in the garage...duh!
The aqua and red are watered down acrylic sprayed with my new toys that arrived this week. I'm still in the learning stages of finding the right mix of paint to water. The hardest part was waiting for the paint to dry. This is Arizona but still used the heat gun on my back patio.Another new acquisition. When left to wander the aisles of the art supply store.... I found these. Yum! Perfect for mark making with acrylic paint.This wasn't part of the assignment but the surface didn't feel complete and I was itching to find something to do with my new toys.The front and back finished covers although my initials are calling for a bit of white. Now to hunt down red duct tape to put the portfolio together. Maybe I'll stamp on it or..... the stenciling is only the starting point.

The actual cardboard pieces were lager and then I trimmed them down. I was thinking of using a bookmaking technique I learned from Kelly to use the scraps for the covers of a handmade book. The hamsters are working over time in my head.
Marissa