The theme for this week’s Challenge on Express Yourself is Numbers.

I used a selection of Glimmer Mist sprays from Katy’s Corner. I used Rum Raisin first, unfortunately the shimmer didn’t show at all so the colour came out a little flat. When that dried I attached some chipboard numbers with repositionable adhesive and sprayed again, with Golden Teracotta, this added a lovely sparkle to the piece. I then traced around more chipboard numbers and coloured in with Galaxy metallic markers. I added an additional chipboard number to add a little dimension to the page and used my Kandi Kane Applicator Wand to add some gems stones to the number 1.

I wasn’t overly happy with the end product here as the colours seem to make the piece feel ‘heavy’. Perhaps this is because the background turned out to be a solid colour so there is little movement in the piece.

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The first Weekly Challenge on Express Yourself was posted, members are invited to post a creation on the theme of Swirls & Flourishes and encouraged to note whatever stamps, papers, embellishments or collage elements were used.

Here I made a skinny page (5×3), not my usual style at all but I quite enjoyed it. I used stamps by Hero Art, Inkadinkado and Innovative Stamp Creations, Collage sheet by Lisa’s Altered Art and paper from Anna Griffin.

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a few tentative steps..

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I finally decided for a title for my book on loss, I took the title from the book I was using for the rr, on Yeats’ Poetry of Death. I thought it quite a fitting title, and a serendipitous find: Elegy, from the Greek Elegos, a reflection on the death of someone or on a sorrow generally.

I got really into altering the covers for this book, I did test runs, using both moulding paste and artist’s cement. I must admit, I was very happy with the results, It’s a bit of a strange feeling for me, actually enjoying making art, having fun doing it rather than it being a labour of love, if that makes sense?

I evetually decided to use artists cement (US ArtQuest), to make this pretty cool texture. After painting the covers gold (Lumieres Sunset Gold), I rubbed oxblood shoe polish (Kiwi) into them, randomly. I also painted the spine and about an inch of the cover with Quinacridone Magenta (Goldens).

For the sign-in spread I used these cute images of doors, that I cut out and into so that they open, for players to sign in on the page behind it. The background I painted with white gesso (unknown) and micaceous iron oxide (Goldens). Using the gesso beneath the micaceous iron oxide gave the page a textured feel. I think I’m quite liking creating texture in my art, there’s something deeply satisfying about the different textures that can be created simply by using materials in different ways. I am referring to sensory textures other than visual ones.

This was supposed to be my first spread of two that I was planning, but things didn’t end that way. This spread wasn’t about my loss, but my Father’s loss, when my Mother died. She died 22 years ago, and my Father’s life has never been the same, it is like he stopped living when she did. Yes, he goes through the motions but doesn’t put his heart into anything. The words on the opposite page were chosen from the original text on the page.

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… I LOVE it when a plan comes together! You know when you spend days and weeks labouring over some idea? Well thanks to my nifty knack of not being able to work on anything until I have completed the piece that is due first, and not being able to finish that book on time due to various complications, (which I shan’t bore you with here) I ended up running over the due date for my current Literatura Infantil book. Crikey, that’s a long sentence. Anyhooo, Enid Blyton’s The Wishing Chair must have been loitering in the back of my befuddled mind (if not on my desk!) for several weeks, because no-sooner had I opened it up again, smoothed open the pages and begun reading, than the ideas for my spreads tripped over themselves trying to get my attention.

The spreads themselves aren’t super-complicated or full of the latest techniques, but I really enjoyed making them. I found THE perfect image for the chair itself. The tatty blue armchair in the first spread is printed on fabric so you can feel it beneath your fingers.

Dame Quick Fingers’ flying dogs sounded just soooo cute I couldn’t resist including them in my second spread. I hope Michele likes it, they are just too adorable.

OK, that’s the last time you’ll hear me referring to cute animals in the context of my art, I promise.

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I must have got this AB a couple of months ago now, and have been struggling with my ideas for one of the spreads. This spread came to me relatively easily. I think I got the stamps for it ages ago, and then forgot all about them. The elephants were stamped using the Castaway inkpad. For anyone who has not tried it yet, it is a bit fab. I painted the page using a watercolour dye and then stamped with the Castaway pad. The ink in the pad seems to almost bleach out the colour you stamp onto.

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Who knew that creating some charms for a Monthly Challenge, could be so contentious and involve so many members of my family?

I decided to make some tiny glass charms, easy, one would have thought, but think again. I shan’t bore you with my trials, but suffice to say, I finally threw my hands in the air and surrendered to the fact that I would have to come up with a different plan.

Someone on Express Yourself! posted a very interesting comment this morning about only feeling her art was any ‘good’ if she had ‘worked’ to achieve it. I think that by this she means that if it came easily she didn’t feel it was ‘worthy’. Well, actually, I think that’s what I feel, but it was Sy’s post that made me think about it. Thanks Sy.

I think these charms are fine but I don’t feel they needed enough ‘work’ on my behalf, for me to consider them ‘good’. If I had succeeded in making the soldered charms that I first set out to make, I think I would have felt they were ‘good’ and worth all the extra effort it took to make them. I suppose this is the standard by which I judge the quality of my art, which may be related to my comment at the bottom of this post, about how I measure whether I am satisfied with my art. How ‘hard’ do I need to work? How much ‘pain’ needs to be involved in order for me to consider my art as ‘quality’? I suppose all this sweat and ‘anguish’ doesn’t mean anything to the people who receive my art, but then, the question arises, “Who do we make art for?”

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For this month’s ‘bit on the side’, I had to create 3 Valentine-themed ATCs featuring either a transparency or a transfer.

This first ATC is made from two pieces of card, one at the front and one at the back of the transparency, creating a frame, so the image is visible from both sides.

For the next ATC I wanted to use a gel transfer but to my dismay I discovered I had run out of gel medium of any description - shocking, I know. I ordered some more but it hadn’t arrived, so Miles lovingly sought out an art supply shop during his lunch break. Time was short so I made a transfer using an image I had bought ages ago from those cool vendors at Tuscan Rose.

I got the idea for the final ATC from Bernie Berlin’s excellent new book. Although it is an ATC workshop, I found the different background techniques really refreshing, and great fun.

The ATC itself is made from two pieces of mica cut to ATC-size, and coloured with alcohol inks. Sandwiched between the two pieces of mica is a transparency with transparent hearts attached to it.

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I finally decided on a design for the kilt pin I was making for the swap on ANUK. You wouldn’t believe how many times I moved the charms from loop to loop, arranging them in almost every combination possible, ensuring it was balanced. I must have moved them so many times, I think the jump rings were getting tired - ha!ha!
As the pin was a Valentine gift I included 3 heart charms on it, a tiny red one, a pretty heavy-weight silver-toned one in the middle and a smaller open one on the left. I tried to keep the colours soft and romantic; shades of pink with accents of red. I think I succeeded in producing a pretty pin. I’ve decided that a good measure of whether I’m happy with my art, is how difficult I find it to send it on. I wonder if other people have the same problem?

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I was just on the ‘phone to Cath at Katy’s Corner and telling her about what I had made with the canvases I bought from her a while back, I told her that there was a picture on here, if she wanted a look. So, I went to look at it myself, and was shocked to realise that I had forgotten to upload it. Quel horreur! I couldn’t believe it, but then I realised that since the person I made it for, reads this blog, I had decided to upload picies after Chrimbo, and then promptly forgot. Duh….

Here’s my ‘Noel’ master-piece (LOL!). It stands 10cm tall, and I used natural beeswax (so it smells scrummy) together with some coloured wax. The brass stencil ‘O’ you might remember from here. I am about 90% happy with the way it turned out, obviously, in hindsight there are changes I would make to my process. Fortunately the person who received it was very happy with it, which is what counts.

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