Blue Collage on Skin

I'm a neat graphic designer, but I'm a very messy artist!

Like most artists, I get lost in the creating. When I'm immersed in the process, no one and nothing is safe from my inky, gessoed, painterly splatters. Just ask my dog.

My abstract painting professor taught me the importance of having all your tools, supplies, paints, etc. set up on the table in an organized fashion. I do this. But, as I'm working ideas pop into my head and I'm always adding more tools and supplies to the mix (can you say art hoarder?) until my table is unrecognizable. And when you're working with the Gelli plate, you better find the stencil or texture you are looking for pretty fast before the plate dries. This leads me to toss, drop and pile items anywhere there is space until my Studio looks like it was ransacked by a burglar. :)

A dried Gelli plate, by the way, is NOT the end of the world! It could lead to wondrous creations, or could simply be wiped clean with a baby wipe.

So, when you can't find the paper towels because they fell on the floor and rolled under the table, you use your hands. I am not afraid to get dirty!

I do believe artists see art everywhere and when I was done with my Gelli plate creations, I realized I had been using my hand as a blotter. I call this: "Blue Collage on Skin" ... LOL!!!

I've learned SO much on YouTube

I'm a big fan of watching How-to art videos on YouTube. Apparently, this is one of my many addictions. (more on Art Addictions later!) I highly recommend finding art and/or techniques that you are interested in and start watching.....I have learned SO much. I have several regular artists that I watch, but I'm a big fan of Patti Tolley Parish....she's talented AND hilarious! (a great combination). She keeps me company while I'm working....it's like she's in the studio with me. :)

Right now Patti is obsessed with Gelli plate printing and I know why. Once you start you don't want to stop! I've been a student of monoprinting and collagraph printing for a couple of decades, but never got really into it in my studio. Well, thank you to whomever invented this Gelli plate...I'm a monoprinting maniac!

Here is link to Patti Parish's YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiqWESzbM3NTuOMgcT7zWAg

One of Patti's video shows how to use packing tape with the Gelli plate to make beautiful art to incorporate into collages, art journals, collage, etc. What was so exciting for me, is it worked the first time I tried it, and that's not often the case. :)

Here is the painted gelli plate before I pull up the 4 pieces of packing tape. Most of the marks were made with stuff around the house/studio, except for 2 stamps:

Here are the 4 pieces of packing tape after I adhered them to tin foil. The back of the tape stays sticky until you put some sort of backing on it. But, you could also just stick these down onto a collage or other art piece. As you can see, I laid them onto the table out of order:

I've been working on several journals, so hope to be able to share soon....have a great weekend!

Shame on me! It's been 3 months since my last blog post!

Hello to whomever may still be out there! :)
I promise I am not giving up on this Blog. I have so many posts in my head...

But, life does get in the way sometimes....and I'm not the amazing multitasker I used to be.

We packed up half of our house in preparation to move to a fabulous condo. The sale of our house (through no fault of our own) fell through. We lost our fabulous condo. I love our house and we don't have to move.....yet. :) So, I wasn't that upset.....but, now I have to keep my house clean for showing.....yikes!

So, having cleaned and organized (and packed) my studio.....I was afraid to bring out the paints, etc. and mess it up again. Well, the crankiness took a hold of me and I just couldn't stand myself anymore (I won't tell you what my husband said!) So, I'm back to messing up my studio and having a blast!

Got a GELLI PLATE not too long ago and finally got to play with it! I've been a student of printmaking for many years.....this just makes it SO much easier, faster and fun!!! I'll definitely be talking more about Gelli Plates in the future......hope to get more in different sizes.

What I'm doing right now, is filling up my one of my Art Journals with Gelli Plate experiments. My Gelli Plate is 8x10 and I'm using mostly cheap acrylic liquid paints.....like "My Studio" and "Americana"....which they had a sale not too long ago! What I discovered very quickly is the TYPE of PAPER is crucial for good prints. Copy paper does not work! I'm using mixed media paper and watercolor paper right now. There are LOTS of papers (and fabrics) that work with the Gelli Plate....check out the tutorials online! (will write about those next blog)

The first pic is ink right on the gelli plate with stampings and my mark making.
The second image is 2 gelli plate prints right into my art journal (from 1 gelli painting)
The third image is  a gelli plate print using an Asian font stamp and my mark making.

Yet another addiction: Washi tapes!

Washi comes from wa meaning Japanese and shi meaning paper, and the term is used to describe paper made by hand in the traditional manner.

Washi has also found a new form, as a tape, usually combined with acrylic glue. It is similar to masking tape in that it is removable from most surfaces. (nice!) So, it is sticky on one size and slightly transparent.

I thought I would look up "WASHI" on Pinterest and wow! was I blown away. I'm pretty sure you could create, decorate, embellish anything....and all you would ever need is Washi Tapes!

Of course, since I am a Digital artist....my Washi Tapes will be sticky once YOU put glue on them, and are extremely versatile in your Digital pages! I've been making WASHI for days....LOL....here's my first one.  Below that are 2 layouts I made with some of the Washi Tapes.

February is the Month of Love

And here's another Scrap Page I made using Painted Photo Masks and Arrows in my Shop (part of my Artsy Collection)...

Although February isn't one of my favorite months....looks like I'll need to buy snowshoes soon!.....Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays. This year I thought I would celebrate with a 20% OFF Coupon for everything in my Shop. All you have to do is type "LOVE20" in the Coupon Code section at checkout. (This cannot be combined with other Coupons and expires February 28, 2014.)

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheDigitalNatureShop

Fun with Photo Clipping Masks

I am having SO much fun making (and using) clipping masks, also know as photo masks. They are so easy to use and can help create a beautiful journal or scrap page in just minutes. The cool thing about clipping/photo masks is you can clip many things to it:

Photos...

Papers, Art and Stamped with Color...

Even more ways to use clipping masks...

I just listed some new Painted Photo Masks in my Shop (part of my Artsy Collection) and made a Scrap page that I've been wanting to make for some time. Since I have more time now, my goal is to Scrap my son's childhood and make a book out of it...maybe multiple books? :)

Eye Candy for the Soul

I'm a Pinster.....is that a word, now? I think it means: One who is addicted to pinning! Pinterest is definitely my favorite website. Because I'm using it to help market my ETSY shop, I don't feel guilty about the time I spend on it! And I get to look at lots and lots of art and pretty pictures. It is absolutely 'eye candy for the Soul'. There are SO many talented, creative people in the world....it's awe inspiring!

Here is a snapshot of one of my Pinterest Boards titled, "Collage and Mixed Media" .... click on it and check out the rest of the pins or any of my other Boards!

http://www.pinterest.com/diginatureshop/collage-and-mixed-media/

But, now that they have "Secret Boards": Boards only you can see or invite a few others to view. I've started using those boards to keep some of my lists organized. For example, I had little Post-Its all over my office, on my desk, pinned to my corkboard, etc. Now, I've thrown all of those away.....yay! I can now find them on my Secret Board, titled, "BOOKS to READ". Now, I not only have a list, but can see the book covers at a glance.....a necessary thing for this visually-oriented person. :)