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
