Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Cow gelli prints

I spent some time this past weekend making cow gelli prints for the Kearney Art Guild "Art in the Park" art fair on July 12th.

Gelli printing is quite addicting and I ended up making quite a few. Just like the last bunch, I will be using some of these as sets of 6, mounted on canvas. I will probably do some that are a set of 3 on a 12" x 24" canvas as well.


 


 






I actually made more than what is shown here. How many cows do you want to look at in one post?

I hope to do some more gelli printing this week, but I think I will give the cows a rest. I have a new stencil ready to go, and I hope they turn out just as beautiful as these cows!

Monday, June 22, 2015

More Gelli printing - background papers

I had a booth (the weekend before last) at the Summer Art Market at the Art Students League of Denver. It was a great show, a wonderful time seeing my friends, and I left feeling really motivated.  I sold a lot of my cow gelli prints, and since I will have a booth at Art in the Park in Kearney, NE on July 12th,  I thought I would make some more. Who doesn't like cows, right?

I was also inspired to get the 12" x 14" gelli plate. I used it briefly yesterday on some background papers, which were 11" x 11" and therefore too big for my 8" x 10" plate, and I love this big plate. My 11" x 11" papers were from a player piano, so they have interesting holes in them. They also have the words to the song printed on them so you can sing along while the piano played (like old-time karaoke).  I tried to use transparent paints so the words would still show, but the paint still hid most of them.



I also did some prints on 9 x 12 paper and also on deli paper. I used my big plate since it was out (and dirty). These will be the backgrounds for my cow prints.




I plan to make some bigger cow prints with my new big plate, but need to cut bigger stencils. My original cow detail stencil for my 8" x 10" plate is worse-for-wear since it was just made with cardstock and contact paper. I cut a new cow detail stencil out of Graphix Mylar (.005 thickness) for my 8"x 10" plate. I want to test it out before investing the time in cutting a bigger one for the bigger plate.

I also worked on moving things around in the studio to make room for my "drying rack". This is an old brochure display from a travel agency which I picked up at a "yard sale" (though it was in the business building) for either 5 or 10 dollars last summer. It worked great. It is way better than throwing them on the floor and hoping they don't stick together, or that I would forget and walk on them. 


Thursday, June 11, 2015

Summer Art Market at the Art Students League of Denver this weekend

If you are in Denver this weekend, please stop by my booth are the Summer Art Market. I am sharing booth #77 with my friend and fellow artist, Simone Maxwell. Our friend Sabyl Horneck has the booth next door. It will be a great weekend with some great art.

Here is a link to the event website: http://www.asld.org/exhibition-schedule/summer-art-market/



Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Paris inspiration

When I vacation, a take a ton of pictures. Most are scenic, but I always try to include pictures that in some way speak to me artistically. This collage is of quite a few different things that I found interesting or inspirational in some way.

Top Row: Dome model -Arts et Metiers Museum, old bicycles (same museum), small statue -Louvre, plant - Giverny, small scale Statue of Liberty with framing and tiny worker people -Arts et Metiers Museum

Middle Row: Art Nouveau building - Reims, stacked wine bottles - Hautviller winery, love locks - bridge in Paris, metal door - St. Germain quarter

Bottom Row: quay near Notre Dame (taken from sightseeing boat), roof framing - Musee d'Orsay, fountain detail - Louvre (by Pyramid),  Store window - St. Germain quarter, floor - St. Chappelle

Monday, June 8, 2015

Paris, Flea Market

For me, a trip to a big city is not complete without a trip to the flea market.

We went to the flea market at St.Ouen, at metro stop Porte de Clignancourt. After going through the gaunlet of watch, phone, and perfume salespeople standing around on the block between the metro stop and the flea market, then going through the large section of the flea market that is knockoff handbags and cheap clothes, we finally found the rusty bits, antiques, and other lovely things.

It was hard to get into the shopping groove after all the work it took to get to the good part. It was fun to walk around but the flea market was more like stores than flea market booths.  I know we did not explore all there was to see.  



I bought this wool embroidered fabric and am going to make pillows for the living room with it. I originally thought that was a monkey in a tree, now I am wondering if it's a lion?  There are some birds on other parts of it.


 I also bought some lace.

I love the darker one, it has birds on it.
Then I bought some "rusty bits". This vendor had tons of bins on the ground, with tons of decorative metal pieces in them.

Then I bought some old French documents.  Most of these are very old. The handwriting is fantastic.

I love what I bought, but I did like the flea market in Rome better, as it was more "flea market-y" and I felt the prices were more reasonable. I was not very good about haggling though...

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Gelli printed cows

I finally mounted some of the cow prints I made a few weeks ago. These are mounted to 20" x 24" canvases with the edges painted black.



Paris, Doors


A collage of French doors


Top Row: Versailles, Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, St Chappelle.
Bottom row: Door in St Germain quarter, Hautvillers winery, Institut de Paris, “le Bateau-Lavoir”