Don't Mess With Mother Nature

New canvas. New Recipe. 

Ingredients:

ink jet images printed onto

Apollo transparency film,

 acid free tissue paper,

A bottle that sprays a fine mist 

filled with 70% isopropyl alcohol, 

acrylic paint, canvas,

collage images. 

Thoroughly spray the ink side of the image on the transparency sheet with the alcohol spray. Not dripping wet, just covered. Lay the image sprayed side down on the tissue. Lightly press image with a bone folder just to make sure image is in full contact with tissue. This step isn't even necessary every time, most of the time the tissue just sucks the ink right into it. Wait like 3 minutes, and pull up a corner to see if ink has transferred. If it has, pull off the transparency sheet. It should be clear. Below you can see how clear the sheet is when the transfer works perfectly.

Below is the 8x10 canvas collaged  with images from my stash and painted with Golden's heavy body paint. I thought it was too shiny, so I covered it with matt gel medium. Big mistake. Along the way I added glossy Soft gel medium and I liked it again!

Fooling around here with possible compositions.

And here is the finished collage:

"Mother Nature"

Prints available on my etsy site. 

Thanks for looking!

xoS

Change is a Scarey Subject

For me anyway. So that is how I represented it in these 2 collages, spooky and mysterious. The first utilizes the background I made in Julie Prichard's Layer Love online workshop. Here it is:

The second Change collage is even scarier. There is a spooky skull hidden in there. LOL. The canvas is wrapped with painted deli paper. I LOVE making paper. Thank you again to Marianne for these fabulous images. The transfer of the large crow was done using Elmers Caulk and the transfer on the mulberry paper was spray alcohol.
 I'm not really in love with either of these pieces, but I learned a lot, both what to do and what not to do.
 Feel me??
xoS

Yet More Anti-Valentines 2010

Only 3 more days in February....got to get these out of my system by then....same techniques as previous 3 posts....xoSusan

ANTI-VALENTINES 2010

As the Allman Brothers Band blasted in the background (looking forward to the upcoming concerts I will be attending in NYC, and yes that was Concerts PLURAL yahoo and teehee), I started working on this years Anti-V's. I decided to use scans of some of my abstractish paintings on top of sweet hearty scrapbook paper. Paper that I will never use otherwise, left over from when Sam was a baby and I documented every burp and coo. Who could blame me, she was a gift from the universe YEARS in the trying and finally making. BTW Miss Samantha's 16th birthday is my Valentine present every year. Yup, she was born Feb. 14. But I digress. Alcohol spray/ink jet images/Apollo 7039 transparencies are my favorite and consistently successful way to transfer images. Alas, this technique WILL NOT WORK ON TOP OF ACRYLIC PAINT, so I am going to be using scrapbook paper as the substrate a lot from now on. Both to use it up, and to make it my own.

Above are the scanned ink jet images printed on Apollo 7039 transparencies using my Epson c88 and Durabrite inks.

Above, I have 70% isopropyl alcohol in a recycled perfume mister. Spray the transparency until it is thoroughly covered, but not dripping. Lay the image down on top your receiving paper.
Gently brayer the image. Then lift a corner to see if the ink is sticking to the paper.

The above 2 are not perfect transfers. Doing transfers = embracing imperfection. Difficult, but you can do it!! teehee. See the ink left on the transparency above? Mist that spot with alcohol again, burnish that spot using your bone folder, and it will stick!!! You can repair these, quite easily. Or leave it nice and grungy, your call.
Above is one of the best transfers of the day. Look how clean the transparency is!!After they dry, you can fill in any blank spots with paint washes, or crayons, ink you name it. For this project I will be using Portfolio Water-Soluble Oil Pastels.
When the transfer is dry, I like to go over it with steel wool. It smooths out the finish and removes any sticky residue. You can skip this step. For these AV's I will be adding images of couples so I want my substrate smooth.

Here are a bunch ready to be embellished. If you look close you can see the sweet little hearts under the abstract splashes of color. I have started embellishing, but am not ready yet for show n tell!! I am doing a few sweet for a couple sweeties, but mostly they will be sour!! Remember, they are Anti-Valentines, after all. I hope I get them done on time!! xoSusan

Recycled Cardboard Postcards

I just haven't learned. I tried to do an Apollo 7039 trans/alcohol spray ON TOP of Acrylic Paint. Do Not Try This At Home. It is a complete waste of time. The definition of insanity comes to mind in times like this: Expecting a DIFFERENT outcome after doing the same thing over and over and getting the SAME exact result every time. Okay, that's my personal definition of insanity. I see you smiling, you have a little touch of my kind of insanity don't you??? Here's my proof:

This is one of the Fancy Feast cardboard postcards. If you squinch your eyes, click your heels, and catch a tiger by the tail, you can see a little part of the castle that transferred. On the plus side, I can definitely salvage this. Don't get me started on using Golden's Soft Gel medium for transfers either. I know people who are successful with this recipe, just not moi. I don't have any consistency with my attempts. When it does work, I have no idea why. There are so many variables, the amount of gel used, the amount of burnishing, the length of time you leave the transfer on the substrate, whether or not the moon is waxing or waning. Most often I end up pulling the gel up when I lift the transfer, creating a gloppy mess. In an effort to try ANYTHING, I contacted Marianne from Marianne's Art Blog and she was kind enough to share her successful transfer technique in which she uses Apollo 7039 transparencies and Elmer's Caulk. Home Depot doesn't carry it. She let me know that Ace Hardware does. I am so looking forward to trying this. Visit her blog and see her Amazing Work with transfers. I will share my results, good or bad, when I can get my hands on that Elmer's Caulk. Unless of course, I am waylaid by my Helpful Ace Hardware Man. teehee. Hey, a girl can dream. xoSusan

Comic Christmas

I purchased a blank "canvas" picture frame at Wal-mart for under 5 bucks. Still thinking Holidays, so I perused my collage sheets and decided on a Comic Book themed frame for my nephew and his wife. Altho Joe is a grown man with a wife, mortgage, and a job, I still remember him like this:

He is Handsome and Hilarious. My two Favorite Features in a man. Anyhoo, I printed a comic collage sheet that I have had a while, and am so sorry that I can't remember where I purchased it. I have since become devoted to attributing work correctly. Used an Apollo 7039 transparency:
And yes, I broke one of my nails. Boohoo. So I had to get another gel manicure. This time I went with a neutral. I wanted a pinkier color, but it looks almost clear. oh well. Back on topic, arranging collage elements:

Used alcohol to transfer onto frame. It looks distressed, I wish the blues had transferred a little better.
Below is the frame with all of the transfers completed. I sprayed with a matte acrylic sealer and will let that completely dry before adding washes of paints. I'll probably go with a light blue. I thought I would do some messy white circles in different sizes. You know that stain you get when you leave your coffee cup on the newspaper? Kind of like that.
So far so good. Tune in next week to see the the story unfold. xoSusan

Medieval Mixed Bag

I took a much needed break from Charm Chicanery and Dabbled in the Middle Ages. WAAAY before DG3 was invented. teehee. I worked on two more Armored Men for the Manuscript:


He's not glued in yet. I have to find a very beautiful male face to add. I just love the crackle stamp on the Armor. I used my fav embossing powder color, Marcasite, and watercolor markers to color the cross. On this page I also used Portfolio Oil Pastels to color in the Maiden.
The next spread is Armored Man after the Skirmish, and it's not pretty.

I purchased the digital anatomical 1" circle collage sheet from Piddix on etsy. I love creepy anatomy illustrations. You probably know that by now. teehee.
I also bought the Most Gorgeous digital collage sheets on etsy from Itkupilli. They are simply scrumptious. Marsha from TumblefishStudio turned me on to Itkupilli. There is NO Turning Back Now!! By the way, Marsha has some magical collage sheets for sale on etsy. Good Luck in your New Venture Divine Miss Marsha!!
Here is an ATC background with an Itkupilli image transferred with alcohol and Apollo trans 7039. The substrate is illustration board, which I adore. I did a watercolor wash over top the transfer:
Couldn't you just eat that with a spoon???? teehee. Anyhoo, being in a Medieval Mindset and all, I added another Crackle Stamped and Embossed Armored Man and since he is nothing but a ghost, some stamped, embossed wings.
He's not glued down yet. Not sure what words I'm going to add yet, have a couple ideas running around. And yeah, they're all creepy. teehee. xoSusan

Old Fashioned Cut And Paste

Had a very productive weekend. Cleaned the whole house, laundry, lovin, and Art!! Ok, by whole house I mean not the Teenagers Bedroom and Bathroom (ghastly shiver) or the studio. I haven't had a chance to take my next on-line photo shop class this past week and I've been missing glue and scissors. So today I made some ATC's the old fashioned way. The first is the final in the triad inspired by the wisdom of my friend Beth from BarnOwlStudio. I used my hand painted watercolor paper for the substrate, the photo of the little girl is from my Aussie friend Lorri from Artivity, (thanks again for the ephemera Lorri, I had this image once, loved it, and lost it, so happy to have it again!!xo) and the stamp is from Invoke Arts. I think. The quote is from "The Dark Bride" written by Laura Restrepo. Border's Books review describes it as "A slyly humorous yet poignant love story." Right up my Alley, folks.

The next one is "Don't Ask". Substrate is illustration board gifted to me by Beth. Thanks Again, Beth! I love this stuff! Never used it before and I like it much better than my baseball cards!! Dollar bill is an ink jet alcohol transfer using Apollo 7039 and my new baby, little Epson C88. Inked and marker edges. Vintage cabinet card image. The dollar image is from a collage sheet from an etsy seller, but I have them all mixed up and I'm not sure which artist I purchased it from. My bad.
Next one is "Soft Repose". I had another phrase in mind before I found these words from different parts of an old book. I used D3 to fill in the copper ring, and dropped a little alcohol ink on top. The statuary hand was another ink jet transfer done using the 7039 and alcohol. The substrate is paper I sprayed Glimmer Mists and Adirondack Sprays on. The woman's face is from Artchix Studio.
And the last one is "Settling". Inspired by Death Cab For Cutie, one of my favorite Bands. The inspiring song is called "The Sound of Settling". Here's the video for the song. Painted watercolor background, Krylon gold webbing spray, (Anyone know where I can get other colors, especially silver and black?) slide mount thingy with stamping and alcohol inks, ink jet alcohol transfer of music on top of Greek lady. Ink and acrylic edges.
Very diverse sampling, right? Could it be that I have a short attention span?? now, what was I saying??? xoSusan

Crying Eggs

Inks, stamping, acrylics, alcohol and Apollo 7039 transfers, Portfolio oil pastels, charcoal pencil. Words from my Own Head. This next one is in process:


I just noticed I lost a follower, but can't tell who it is. I feel like I've been dumped!! brokn up with!! kicked to the curb!! Feels really weird. Anybody else ever lose a follower? Maybe I need to step up production? I've had the flu now for 5 days, am just NOW getting over the dizziness and inability to breathe. That's my excuse!! Give me another chance! I'll Come up with a New Exciting Technique, that makes you look Richer and Thinner....... come baaaaaaaaaack.........must be the drugs I'm on.....xoSusan