back home

i'm home again. my visit to chicago was filled with lots of other stuff; not much time for drawing! i did some zens in the airport and on the plane.




upon my return, i also completed my 2 sewn paper masks:

i decided they needed some "hair". i believe this was an improvement. i sewed some shredded money onto the masks.

sewn paper mask 2

i used the shimmery watercolors by luminarte to paint the mask. beautiful colors and beautiful glimmer. they are solid watercolors in small jars. i wanted the gold stitching to show up more prominently. i'm not sure if this was the result, perhaps a bit more visible. the colors are exciting! it's either all or no color for me!
i finished off the outside and inside with a polyurythane varnish for extra shine.

end of week 1

my "tortured" book became a "deconstructed" book. i was happy with the results after i let go of expectations of what the finished book "should" or "could" look like. the key is enjoying and getting into the creating process. there were techniques i didn't utilize while manipulating my paper without paint or additional images. i did use glue, acrylic medium, string, a button, and a bit of charcoal (on the embossed ship page to reveal the image and age the frame).

this was a good warm up project/week. i have fallen in love with pockets. the book project is complete without pockets, so i did a couple of sample ATCs with paper pockets. (thanks Trish)


as i worked this week, i realized some important things:

• it helps to give myself an assignment with limitations. i tend to be indecisive about which direction(s) to go when i am working. it is wonderful to say, "this is your challenge... you may only use the textbook (printed paper) with no additional images or color or objects." i did mostly follow the rules, but since i made the rules i can also break them when i have good reason to! getting focused!
  

• i am so happy to be sharing my project with other artists. thank you so much.

• i will be making ATCs to save as samples of the week's work. they are small; easily created and saved due to size (2.5" x 3.5") . this will be a good way for me to document what i have been doing and learning in addition to other projects.
  

• i like pockets and putting things in them.