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

 

Another Creative Week

Some weeks are so prolific at the art tables, I am just blown away by the end of the week.

No mosaic work this past week but other than that, there was a lot going on at the art table. Take a look!

Watercolor taken from a photo I took years ago.

I've been looking through my plethora of photos I've taken over the years because I have a lot of landscape, still-life, animal and people photos and many can be used for art practice with painting and collage.

I worked in my biggest sketch book I have, 9 x 12 inches, making neurographica, but not really loving either the flower I started with in the bottom right corner (colors aren't my favorite - for reference I used colored pens and markers) or the mark-making embellishments I did within it. My decision to cover it with big and beautiful designs was a no-brainer. And eventually I knew I had to paint the space around these designs in black. I love it now! 

💖

A still-life from a photo

Art journal pages are becoming a habit and I am so very happy about that!

This side of the page, the blue heart, holds a printed photo of my great grandmother and my Dad as a baby. My printer was printing only blue color before it stopped working altogether and of course I kept all these pages knowing I'd find a use for them.

Using a grid is something I find quite helpful. These are painted papers of mine.

Finding shapes and midcentury modern vibes is easy but it's also hard!

Not sure the artist Rex Ray (check out his artwork!) would find these interesting but it was a great exercise to try his style (sort of) and I'll be continuing to do this.

This is a cardboard journal I made recently. The size is 9 x 11 inches. The new stamps and stencils I got are really pretty cool. Love these colors too!

Doodling has continued for a bit. My left eye gives me trouble at the end of an artful day but I find I still need to doodle a little for special Zen time. It takes longer but it's not impossible and that is a wonderful thing.

Another few pages in an art journal. These pages have a few layers of paint on them, then painted papers and magazine pieces before yet another layer of paint in parchment and yellow blend (my own). After doodles shown are glued down, if I use them all, I'll also do some mark-making.

It's been a great week at the art table! Let the fun continue!!

 

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey