All Things Altered- Part 2

Last Friday I shared with you my love of altering pumpkins. I'm showing you the photo of the two I had done this year and asked you if you could tell which was the real one and which was the artificial one. Many of you guessed right and some of you said you weren't exactly sure but pretty sure. I think if the turquoise one had a longer stem it might have been harder to tell. I have found that most live pumpkins have shorter more imperfect stems while the orange, colllaged one has a stem that looks a bit too perfect. I dunno but the answer is the turquoise one is the real one. I'm sure you must feel better now that you know. hee hee hee. Not too long ago I showed you the shower curtain I designed for my Mom that can be viewed at Society6. My Mom had relocated a couple of months ago to another state and wanted to redecorate her bathroom with some different colors, which is where I came in. The reason I am showing you this again is that I have also altered a couple more items. and Lately I seem to be in this home decor line of thinking with my art. It's weird how the same things look in different lighting. And lastly, one of my coworkers asked me if I would paint her phone case. Here is how I altered that. I was pretty pleased and so was she. So that's my chapter on my latest altered projects. I am linking to Paint Party Friday here and wish you a good weekend full of painty messes, fun and maybe something altered. Thanks for stopping by.

All Things Altered - Part 1

Two years ago around this time I really went all out. I discovered the great pleasure of altering pumpkins. Everything from collaging them to painting them to doodling on them. I gave a lot of them away to family, friends and coworkers. I had shellacked them all and the ones I kept sat on my dining room table until just after Thanksgiving. I was kind of sad when I had to toss them in the garbage. I got the itch to alter some more this year. I discovered when the fall season was over last year that you could buy artificial pumpkins so I bought a couple. Hmm. Good idea. You can leave them out until just before Christmas I thought. I wanted to show you all sides. I discovered two years ago if I gessoed the pumpkin first (because of it's slippery surface) that paint would really take hold. Otherwise you're just moving paint around and it's not sticking to anything. So between using my fingers, small sponges and paint brushes I got that paint down. I think I did several layers followed by my homemade stencils ( I made with a hot glue gun) and homemade stamps made from foam shapes glued to a piece of cardboard. Pretty simple and pretty good results if I do say so. Finally, I added some pen work and doodling with various markers and pens. I took it outside one afternoon and gave it several coats of spray shellac. This one was also gessoed in the beginning but then I decided to collage it. I had already done some painting on deli paper and then finished it with the homemade stamps and stencils and shellac. So here's the question. Can you tell which of these two is the real one and which one is the artificial one? Usually I am late for this very important date at Paint Party Friday but for once I am early or perhaps right on time. Go here. Thanks Eva and Kristin. You will feel welcome and they've lots of good treats. Thanks for visiting here.

The Art Abandonment Project and Just For Mom

I have been reading about the Art Abandonment Project, a project where artists "create and share random acts of art." I know there's a book about it out there and Facebook group devoted to this, neither of which I have investigated yet, however, I did, in the process of making a bunch of mail art recently, set some aside just for abandoning. This week I did abandon five pieces of art, using those advertisement post cards often seen in the mail in various sizes. You know the ones I mean- those that get tossed in the garbage or recycling bin. I worked on about 8 cards, used three for mail art and on my way home from work this week, while running errands, I discreetly left the rest of them in public places. Leaving them in public places discreetly was like I imagine playing spy at the airport. I had to find an area or aisle where no one was around to place it in a spot. Several times I stood at the end of an aisle or nearby to see if I could spy someone spying the card, but no one did. I was too tired to wait around. Placing it and then quickly photographing it without someone seeing me added to the feeling of playing spy. On the back of each card I had written the following: Hello! If you have found this card it's your lucky day. If you don't want it please pass it on to someone who might like it or need some kindness today. It was created by an artist who wanted to share it for free. Taking a quick, clear photograph was not always easy. I intend to make more. IN fact I intend to make it happen often. This idea came to me as I was experimenting with new colors and design for something I wanted to do for my Mother. Before she moved to her new home in CT she mentioned something about wanting to change the color scheme in her bathroom. Like maybe a new shower curtain. Something maybe with turquoise she had said. No problem, I thought. I love turquoise. In fact it's one of my favorite colors. So a new shower curtain was born!!! I snapped this picture on my Iphone as it's shown on Society6 so it's not very good. You cans go here and view it much better. I also thought it looked pretty awesome here. Again, you can see more of this design and others I have created by going here By following me or liking me on Society6 would be greatly appreciated. Or perhaps you might be in the market for a new shower curtain or pillow? Either way, I am pretty tickled with the way it looks and even more tickled that my Mother really likes it and will be redecorating soon. Thanks for stopping by and for your support and kind comments. Happy Paint Party Friday!! I hope you have a great weekend.

Got Happy.

Since I last blogged I've been so busy making art I haven't stopped to post what I've made. I often wonder what happens if people just forget about you when you've been gone for so many days, and I didn't want that to happen. Here I am hoping to show you in bits and pieces this week some of what I've been up to. I took an ordinary composition notebook. You know the kind. We've all used them at least once or twice during our school years. And you know how they come in all kinds of colors and patterns now, not just black and white as they did when I was in school. And then I got happy. Wow! I would have loved to have a composition notebook like this when I was growing up. I think it would have been called a designer notebook at that time and we probably could not have afforded it. And then I got happier with what I had laying around the house. A cheapo clip board from The Dollar Store. And this....... and ordinary small clip board. So, I can talk to the home decor angel, right? Here are some closeups. What do you think? I've more to show you in the coming days. Thanks for visiting here........................and as always, thank you for taking the time to comment. ......................xoxo Jo