29 faces Challenge. #'s 23 and 24

OK. I'm feeling the pressure. I think doing an ICAD(index card a day for 60 days) was not as stressful as producing a face for, in this case, 29 days. Actually, there are only 28 days in this month of February this year. Thank goodness. Faces are hard, I think and I am not feeling it tonight. If I do this again I might have to start a month ahead of time. I love Judi Dench and saw a picture in a magazine. I don't know that it looks anything like her, but I think it does maybe a wee bit. The next one is just out of my head. It's ok but I'm not thrilled. Hey! I'm showing up and doing the work. You can tell my inner critic is right in my face tonight so I'm going to tell her to move on.

Here an Icad. There an Icad. Everywhere..an.........

OK. Sorry for the corny title but I get tired of thinking of grabbing titles....After I posted last night's post I returned to my studio and started another print on the gelli plate. I meant to take a pic of how I left it overnight but I forgot. This morning I removed the paint with clear packing tape and this is what I got. Instead of laying the tape down horizontally I laid it vertically. Yesterday, I had laid one of the strips on a piece of aluminum foil which made the blank areas look shiny silver.(obviously.) And today I spray painted a blank card so see what a different colored background would look like before transferring the tape. I then used the tape as collage and added to what I already had. This is the outcome. Kind of interesting. I am thinking how cool these strips of tape would look on a journal page or on anything else for that matter. You can find the info on doing this here Finally, remember that large piece I was working on? Here it is at this point. . I have to get moving - gotta do some things I don't enjoy doing like house cleaning, laundry and grocery shopping. I hope you have a good day.. Thanks for stopping by........................................jo

There's Always an ICAD

I tried something new this evening, something new to do with that Gelli Plate. I made some transfer prints on clear packing tape with the gelli plate. This has to be done in layers making sure the paint is dry in between each added layer. That was hard for me because I was very impatient in waiting so I put a little portable fan right on my work to speed up drying. You make marks, whatever you want to add layer upon layer. But the coolest part is laying the clear packing tape across the gelli plate and lifting off what ever was on the plate and seeing it now transferred to the tape. Of course you know where those transfers got transferred to. Index cards, of course. You can view the video posted on 5/24/13 here . I did not have some of the items that was suggested on the video(like Perfect Pearls, but still was fairly happy with my outcome. Here are two more ICADS making me current. I just love washi tape. It's good for saving things in a hurry.I rather like the outcome of this one. In the next several days I want to share some pictures of my friend, Patty's garden. When I went to see her last week, she again took me on a tour, as she does every time I have come to see her. So many things to draw and sketch. So much eye candy!! So, stay tuned for that in the coming days. Thank you for spending some time here and thank you for all your many comments. I hope you are well...........Jo

More Gluing and Recycling

I never seem to make it on time to Artsyville's Glue it Tuesday. I suppose better late than never. I find myself enjoying this process of gluing into a journal. In this case I'm sitting in the front seat of my new car the last several mornings with glue sticks and layers of torn paper on top of an already painted page. I finished it off with my own stamps. Since I am on this kick about using up scraps of my paper, this is where I find myself. One of my index cards I made with Daisy Yellow's index card a day challenge (ICAD) from last summer was used in the above piece. She's starts another challenge this June 1st and you can find out more about that here. I thoroughly enjoyed it last summer. I found that many of the pieces I did on an index card became the inspiration to larger pieces and for those days when I was just too tired or unmotivated I always felt like I had done some art because I had done my daily index card. Some of them ended up in a little book I made, some of them got torn up and used in other art work and some of them are still hanging on my art line across the room of my studio. I will again create some art on an index card for 61 days. And lastly, here is the progress on my houses, which also fits in to Glue It Tuesday. I am loving them but I also need to seriously clean up my studio. Thanks for visiting. .......................jo

Save the Post Office

I am a big admirer of Jane Davies' art. She has put out kind of challenge, kind of help thing. I thought it was pretty neat so I have responded. Check it out here I sent this.

It's on an index card. Imagine Jane's mail box overflowing with mail art. Imagine helping to save this little post office from having to close because of the volume of mail art. I hope you are having a good weekend. No. I will not be watching the Superbowl. I would rather be getting painty and making messes in my studio................... Thanks for stopping in............................................................jo

I 'm Going to Arrest Her

My twin brother decided at 50 yrs old he wanted to do what he'd always wanted to do, and that was to become a police officer. Why? I do not know. I made this for him. On Tuesday I shall post this on his Facebook page, maybe embarrass the" badge" off him. Ha ha ha ha. I found some spelling tests from 1964 and incorporated them into the card- front and back.

I rather like it. In fact, I think it's pretty darn clever. Notice on the backside of the card the word for #5. Thanks for visiting..............................Jo

Building Rainbows

Meeting a deadline is new to me in the art world. I used to have to meet deadlines in college with terms papers and projects. I used to have to meet a deadline when I was choreographing a project as a dance major in college or a rehearsal. I had a due date when I was pregnant with twins nearly twenty one years ago. The first art deadline I had to meet was a deadline with The Sketchbook Project Journal. I have met that in terms of finishing it but have yet to mail it. So, when someone says challenge it does mean you are committed to trying to meet that deadline.

I work a full time job. I have artistic collaborations with MY MAN. I don't know why I was so leery about this. I was the mother of twins. I had to be a multi-tasker raising two children, working a full time job, running a household, all as a single parent. What on earth was I afraid of? Not meeting the deadline.
Tammy at DaisyYellow has so many wonderful ideas and so willing to share them with others. She is bursting with creativity. She has a challenge to make something in a different color everyday. OMG!! I thought it said this color and this color. When I went back and reread it said this color OR that color. Oops!!

Ordinarily, I don't care for orange by itself, unless it falls on pumpkins, flowers, sunsets, or autumn trees. I mean it's not a color I would ordinarily choose on the paint palette. I had two room mates in college that loved orange. Don't ask me to choose orange in anything to decorate my home. No towels, draperies, bedspreads or rugs. I seriously do not believe I own one item of clothing that is truely orange. So, as I was choosing a color for my little peice of rainbow I chose yellow with some orange. After realizing it was only to be one color or the other, I drew an expletive under my breath and set about pulling out all the implements of orange "destruction" I could find. I had to meet a deadline!! As I finished it up I couldn't resist "Orange you glad you did it?" And thanks to Tammy at DaisyYellow for supporting my addiction to working with index cards.
And so while my computer skills are not 100% up to par I hope I can properly link this to what I am supposed to link it to.

Here is my offering for Orange/Yellow building rainbows. http://daisyyellow.squarespace.com/vividlife/getting-started-building-a-rainbow-5-days-of-color.html