Painted Totes

    Last week, I spent my time painting canvas and fashioning the results into totes.  I'm not super happy with the results, but I had fun doing it.  On Sunday, I was up in Carefree, AZ for my younger daughter's birthday, and I took my totes and camera out into the scrub for some pictures:

     I'll probably try to sell these here at the Shopper's Market.  Right now I'm gelatin printing and experimenting with some new techniques.  Also going to try to get back into the habit of blogging more often!

My Hidden Mess!!!

     So far, when sharing  my AZ studio space, I've only show photos of my wonderful large room where I spend most of time each my day.  However, I also have a small "wet room"  (actually my laundry) in which there is a "slop" sink and workbench.  This is where I do most of my fabric design--painting, printing, stenciling, etc., and where I can make a BIG MESS and then shut the door.

Painting cactus on canvas to be made into totes.

Another view of the workbench

Slop sink---the real mess which seldom gets cleaned---but is my favorite part of this small room.

     The surface of my washer and dryer is a perfect place to lay out my fabric pieces in so I can work on several things at a time. 



More Stuff



     Here's a pile of leftovers from previous reorganizating.



     So I made my first (this season) trip to IKEA, and after a few hours of sweating, swearing, cranking  screws and hammering pegs:  BEHOLD the new book unit.  It sits just inside my studio's sliding glass door where I come in from outside, has a handy place for my purse, keys, and sunglasses (I need to find some cool little holders), fits my baskets, holds books, and still has empty spaces waiting to be filled.  Love it.



     For a little additional spiffing, I quickly put together this backrest using a thrift store tablecloth I had picked up last year and a cheap body pillow.  I cut up the cloth and sewed it back together in less than a half hour (just don't look too closely)!  Now it needs a few additional throws. . . .

Back Again--in Arizona

    Finally settled--almost. . . .  It always takes me a while to get everything (and I mean a lot of stuff that somehow gets stuffed in my car and follows me to AZ) unpacked and stashed away.  I headed west on November 4, arrived on the 6th, and yesterday was the first day I really started doing ART!!!

  

     I brought sooooo much more stuff with me this year and really had no place to put everything. . . .  (had to make several emergency trips to JoAnn and Michaels for more storage and do a lot of restructuring) but at last, I'm almost functional (at least my worktop is).

Ahhhhh.  Note small stuff box made especially to fit my NeoColor II crayons, Pastels, Grafitint pencils, and various sets of artist ink pens.  Love it!!!

Another Page

     I've been really busy the last few days helping a friend with costumes for her middle-school play, but I did finish another sketched and painted page in my journal:

This is the background printed last week with my Gelli Pad.

And the final result:  I'm not as happy with this one--I think the flowers are too large and too much of the background is covered up. 



Journal Page and some more Mipad Covers

    I hadn't journaled for over a month and decided to add a few pages between other projects.  I got out my Gelli Pad (a commercial gelatin plate which is reusable) and prepared it for printing--acrylic paints, texture items, hand-made stamps, brayer. etc.  I also prepped pieces of white fabric, deli-paper, dryer sheets, and my journal.  Because I didn't want my journal pages to be too intense, I did a first pull using the other substrates and used my journal for the second pull--it worked pretty well  (I have lots of plans for the first pull pieces!).

     Here are the first set of journal pages in which you can you can identify the different texture used.  In the evening, I sketched over this background using a Pitt pen, and yesterday I painted my sketch using watered-down acrylics and some dimentional paints.  Really fun!!!





     It seems like I covered up most of the background, but in real life you can see through the painted flowers and find the textures. (Now to magnify the page is a two-step process:  first click on the page--it comes up on a black background; then click on the small print in the lower left-hand corner.  It should appear as before--clearly enlarged.)  I may print this pattern on fabric and use it for something.  Also yesterday, I finished up my prepared Mipad Covers:





     This cover was constructed from a piece of glue-resist fabric (fun to play with),

and another piece of glue-resist--this time open,

and finally, another cover using collaged fabric.  Done!!!

Finished Covers

     Yesterday I took some completed Mipad Covers into the shop and actually remembered to take pictures of them first:



made from the collaged fabric

painted and stamped using a raised wallpaper pattern

and another leafy pattern.

     I have more fabric waiting to be made onto covers, but I'll probably hold off for a while and catch up on other stuff.  Actually, I am taking a trip to Africa in November (before heading  to AZ for the winter), and I really need to spend some time getting organized for both.  I'll keep you "posted."