Coming to the Ending of the Retrograde

I think I am fairly aware of the planetary activity and try to keep even more aware during the retrogrades when they occur. This time, however, I took a chance and purchased a printer which is one of the nopes during a retrograde. Making large purchases, especially electronic in nature is risky. I'm glad I took the risk but there was one small glitch.

When I set up this beautiful Smart Tank from HP (and believe me, it truly is!) it came with a cord for attaching printer to outlet. Well ... for some odd reason the cord wouldn't fit properly and I tried flipping it, pushing it and so on. I might not have the strength I once had but I do believe it just wasn't going to fit. Thank goodness I saved the cord from the last printer, not an HP, because it slid in the spot with ease and the machine came to life immediately. Yay!

This brought me to my frenzy of printing things I've wanted for collage and personal use. Honestly it hasn't slowed down yet but I told myself to relax, I've got time. I'll share some of the photos I've printed here but I'll mention now, they will get ripped up and/or cut up to fit a collage or art journal. That is their purpose for me and I'm absolutely thrilled to be able to continue the weekly fun with art at the table.

Last week, I took a printout of the birth flowers I did in mosaic a few years ago for April and decided to give it a try in collage in an art journal. Daisy and Larkspur are the flowers. It was a little more challenging than I thought it would be but I do love how it turned out. I'll share the work-in-progress to the end result below. 

I did a little Gelli plate work last week and found taking older papers that were just ho-hum could still pop a little more with extra paint or mark making. One of my favorites that came out of that batch was a paper I had splotted inks on and then did some mark marking using leftover paint from the Gelli plate. It's entirely possible I will never be able to duplicate this but I definitely am going to try. I already used a piece of this in my daily journal collage practice.

 

A piece of the above paper was used on the top right side square. Isn't it cool?!

I also managed to do another Neurographic page and added some fun Posca paint doodles on it. I do love this technique. So much to enjoy!

 I played with glue resist.

Unfortunately I let the paint dry because I got called away as soon as I put it down on the page. It's cool looking anyway but not exactly what I had planned for it. After all, these journals are for learning and experimenting and I have managed both on these two pages. I love the colors!

Here's a WIP that I work on in the evenings. I'm spending a little time with new stencils and I do love this one especially apparently, since I've used it three times here on this page.

Here are just some of what I've printed with the new toy. The colors are so rich and lovely. It's been a very long time since I've had a good printer and I'm so happy to have one now.

 I'm going to be enjoying these prints in so many different ways, including trying another collage of Voorhees (shown above).

 

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey

 

I'm So Grateful

I've been spending time this week organizing a little bit since the muse is sleepy, when I realized exactly how much I have that was gifted to me, mostly from my wonderful cousin who feels more like a sister, Laura. Over the years many have sent or given me broken crockery and discarded microwave plates for my mosaics. Laura has too. But when I switched gears and decided to do more paper than glass, she found ways (and still does) to continue the creative flow going for me. I am so grateful for her support. Actually, she's more than a supporter. She's as close to a benefactor as you can get. Thank you, Laura.

Here's some of what I've done this week and some of the things Laura has sent me over the past year to keep the muse happy.

These are the last few pages for the collage a day journal. Numbers 137-144.

 

I played with turmeric and Isopropyl alcohol on watercolor paper putting it in the sun for a bit. Then sprinkled baking soda on it and washed it with a little water. This is the result. I don't know yet if I'll keep this sheet as it is or cut it up but it's hard to draw on feeling a little like sandpaper but definitely looks like suede or leather. I dig it!

 

A third side of mosaic vase is finished. Yay!

I did manage to work on art journals a little bit. Here's a few pages of one that I really love.

The collage art journal was pulled out. I used an edited photo I took and printed a long time ago (found it while I was looking through papers last week) of a piece of fruit which I can't determine is a pear or a lemon (lemon, I'm thinking) and did a collage on it. I'm sharing progress photos and a description below.

Here's a copy of the photo. It's been glued to the paper using gloss medium. I prefer matte medium but this is what I have more of and so I'm gratefully using it.

After getting this more or less finished, I didn't like the dark colors of the fruit but wanted to wait until it was dry to decide what to do.

Added a little watercolor pencil to define a few areas and knew the purple, as pretty as it is, wasn't right for this.

The best thing about using medical exam paper is how it melts into the paper. Here it adds to the color under it, making the shadowed area of the fruit a little less pronounced. I'm happy with it.

Other examples of fruit I've taken from photos to create into mosaics. I might do both in collage in the future.

The purple pear was for sale for years but it's still with me now and I'm okay with that. It looks great on my wall!

 

Here's a few and I mean really, only a few, things Laura has sent me. I didn't take photos of the many magazines or books she's sent but believe me, she has contributed with them as well. She even sent me the basket they are kept it. How lucky am I?!

 

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey

Slow Days of Summer Have Begun

Garrison Keller sang a song called "Slow Days of Summer" in his A Prairie Home Companion movie many years ago. If none of that makes sense, you can go to YouTube and listen to the old-time country song on your own.

In any case, as I thought about how I'm moving in rhythm slower because of the warmth the sun provides, I thought also about this song. So that's my reason for the title of this blog. 😁

As always, even on slow, uninspired kind of days, I am at the art table(s) doing something. I really did think it would be a week to work on the mosaic vase but it didn't happen partly due to the warmth in the Purple Palace. It's next to our deck outside but has no windows, however it picks up the heat from the laundry room on one side and the noon day sun on another. Most appreciated in the winter, for sure!

Side A of a birthday card I made and sent to my Step-Mom

Side B

Art Journal page using a doodle I made after staining the paper with a tea bag

Sometimes the books I use have some words or phrases I want to keep. This is one of those pages. The butterfly represents my Dad.

Playing with watercolor and stencils. Love this a LOT!

The beginning of a card that ended up only getting a simple flower doodle in the corner. The colors and the way the stencil came through was really cool and I didn't want to cover it.

Starting a layered collage using paper that didn't work well on the Gelli plate. This is a good way to keep from throwing out the rejects but instead finding a way to use them.

Voorhees in watercolor.

Here, I added doodles and really am pleased with how he looks. I call him "Mister Pink Nose", so obviously the nose HAD to be pink.

The pink collage above was covered with blue and sanded. Then a mixture of black glaze I make was added and wiped off quickly.

The glaze hangs around the sanded pieces a bit and sometimes changes the color of the painted paper a little but it's all good and I LOVE the grungy look. As I mentioned on social media, someone compared this technique to the posters from NYC that get pulled down before a new one is added over it, giving it layers. That's exactly how this is done!

The grid work journal this week was supposed to have a layer of blues and then something else on top of it but after gluing down the blues ↓

I love this so much and felt the different painted papers were perfect without adding anything. Just a small section of the papers used shows an impact I hadn't anticipated.

Voorhees in collage. His face disappeared (I used the same photo as the watercolor painting above) and so I decided it was his back because cats have been known to dismiss you when they aren't interested. The cool white shadow look on this happened when I added charcoal around the shape and wiped it off. The matte medium I used to hold down the papers did the actual work on the shadow and the charcoal stick did the rest.

When I don't know what I want to do, I grab stencils and markers or paint pens and do this kind of thing on pieces of painted papers I've made that are just kind of okay looking. Now I can add them to journals or just hold onto them for a bit for some project I've yet to begin.

I'm very much into houses at the moment. After doing this journal page I realized I didn't add any trees, therefore "take a walk on the shady side" must mean to go across the street where trees probably are!

One of my favorite mentors says "just play" and so I did. No real thoughts about the collage or shapes here. Under them is a small bit of journaling just for me and eventually gets completely covered. That's okay because it wasn't necessary for anyone else to read it.

After getting to here, I knew I had to do something with the stems and flowers coming out of the vases. I painted the background completely with a water wash of parchment paper acrylic color but wiped it off in most spots because I actually like the weird looking collage doodles under the vases. Then added charcoal around the outer edge. Love doing that and I do believe it'll be my new "go-to" instead of using an ink pad.

Coloring in the stems and flowers and doodled. The quote is longer than this one sentence but I liked how it worked well with this page and so I cut it to use in this way.

My big book for art is 9 x 12 inches made from cardboard packaging. This page has scrapbook paper, stamps, doodles (again houses!), die cuts, paint and a magazine cut out word. FANCY.

This isn't finished but I kinda love it already. Our 1960's lady has a toolbox and screwdriver in her hand. What a rebel to know she can do it herself even when "life's not perfect". This is how we learn how very strong we are.

 

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey