eye-poppers (art4today@gmail.com

Three piece self-portrait

2012-01-11T22:30:00.000-08:00

Copper Journal

2011-06-14T16:39:00.000-07:00

This journal has captured my every spare moment for days.

tyvek wallet full of positive affirmations

2011-06-10T19:26:00.000-07:00

This is the True Currency wallet made and filled with positive affirmations by the residents of a homelss shelter in Riverside. It's going to be written up in the Press Enterprise and I'm hoping we can get more artists involved with the Art Reach program through the Riverside Art Museum.

2011-06-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

If you love over-the-top jewelry, please take a look at my new samples for Art Unraveled. I've been attending AU for seven years and this is my first year teaching. I'm really excited and am bringing tons of beads and ideas.

sample bracelets

2011-05-28T23:22:00.000-07:00

I'm making new samples for my upcoming workshop at Art Unraveled in August. I've developed a few new designs and I'm really excited about them. I am bringing a ton of beads and some 'surprise' goodies for us to design gorgeous pieces of arm wear.

2011-01-08T12:49:00.000-08:00

I hope to start using my art journals instead of just my lined journal. There's room for both I know. Why is it that doing art requires discipline?

Beer Cap Beads

2010-12-26T17:37:00.000-08:00

I took a little while to figure out how to do this, but I had a blast figuring it out. Is this fun or what????

2010-09-28T01:36:00.000-07:00

The real truth always comes out. I've been playing instead of cleaning the garage. This is faux bone, copper, brass and patina.

Jewlery

2010-09-27T14:25:00.000-07:00

I've been having an interesting time with torch fired enamel. These pieces are the first I did and it looks as if I might get hooked. I've been turning my garage into a studio, but everytime I go out there to work, the torch calls my name.

Garage to Studio

2010-09-02T23:51:00.000-07:00

This is my garage. . .a studio in progress. Amazing mess, but I'm kind of having fun figuring out where to put everything. I threw a bunch of stuff out, took a whole lot to the thrift store and the rest is in boxes to be sorted, yet again. Seems like I have to keep sorting.

2010-08-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

Art Unraveled

2010-08-11T20:44:00.000-07:00

Why did I take an enamel workshop? Another interest that might do me in! I loved all my workshops and now I need to order faux bone, thanks Richard; buy a kiln, thanks Susan, get better scissors, thanks Bette and I guess I'll chase butterflies thanks to Jane.

Encaustic 101

2010-04-29T21:10:00.000-07:00

Another experiment with encaustic. I think I like this and hope it's not too cute. I thought about doing some distress work, but I'm leaving it alone for now.

2010-04-29T16:07:00.000-07:00

This is an adventure of pastels on red rosin paper. It's 18x36 inches for pretty big. I'm not sure I'll be able to lighten the left side now that I have sealed it, but I think I'll give it a whirl. I gessoed the paper, then used the chalk pastels, hair spray and krylon. Final coat was acrylic varnish.

Etching at ArtFest

2010-03-30T22:17:00.000-07:00

It's really hard to scan metal so you can see the richness of the color and the exciting textures. I highly recommend Keith LoBue for both advanced and beginning metal work. He is an amazing teacher and explains techniques clearly and concisely. I'm very excited about using the 'tools of the trade' and think I'll pursue making books and covers from etched metal. And, of course, jewelry.

Collograph

2010-02-15T11:19:00.000-08:00

This collagraph was made with a feather, leaves and a tree cut from manilla file folder. The piece was 8.5 x 11 so I had to print by using a brayer. First put the ink on the collograph then use it like a stamp. The collagraph won't last as long as a foam stamp but it's easy to do and can give you a really great look.

Metal Books

2010-01-29T23:21:00.000-08:00

These are very time consuming but fun to make and really quite interesting when done. I'd like to try etching into the metal cover. Maybe when I get caught up.

Zentangles

2010-01-28T12:59:00.001-08:00

I just finished my first zentangles. I've never doodled....not sure why, but didn't know how. Does that even make sense? The paper I used is cream colored and the pen Sakura graphic. I had a ball doing these. I decided to make each one based on the 'feeling' I had that day or at the time I doodled.

Fractured Faces

2010-01-18T22:41:00.001-08:00

I am working on some things to do in an art journal class for a class at a juvenile detention center. The class will run eight weeks and I want them to experience art as a free anything goes thing. I'm playing with this idea and will probably have to refine it a little, but I think it will be fun.

Sold Out

2009-12-03T21:24:00.001-08:00

I am showing these little rusty guys at a gallery in Riverside, Ca. and the sold out the first week. It's very encouraging that in our current economy anything is selling. I assume it's because they were priced right and people are buying for Christmas gifts. I put some of my art work in the gallery too, mostly monoprints and acrylics, but they haven't sold. I did sell four pieces at the Riverside Art Museum in their annual fundraiser. It was wonderful to have someone like my work, and really great to give back to the community. I would have never dreamed I would sell my artwork. Never dreamed I'd ever make art. Isn't life an amazing journey?

Sold Painting

2009-10-19T20:43:00.000-07:00

I had a great time at the Bob Burridge abstracts (acrylic) class in Pasadena, Ca. this past week. I got more information from that class than at any other I have ever taken. He has a free online newsletter that's worth checking out. I was intimidated going in, but he makes it clear that it was supposed to be fun and not to expect a fabulous finished piece. Sets you free to play. http://www.robertburridge.com

I've been experimenting with watercolor on Yupo and showed my first piece in a juried show. I was thrilled to sell it and got to meet the person who purchased it. It was so cool that she was that excited about it. Just when you think you'll never 'get it', something like this happens.

New Journal

2009-09-08T15:44:00.000-07:00

I made this copper and glass journal in a workshop with Thomas Ashman. I was thinking a polymer clay insert instead of the glass might be interesting.

Making Beads

2009-09-08T14:11:00.001-07:00

Hey, it's my first time using sculpy. I got started on this clay kick while doing another project, now I'm taking a ceramics class at the local Junior College. I laughed out loud while making the faces and if that isn't what it's all about, I'm in deep trouble.

Printmaking Update

2009-08-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

Here are some new prints completed in class. Most of them are monotypes with stencil work, and an etching on a zinc plate and several collographs. Now that the temperature has risen to 107, I am cleaning my garage to make room for my etching press. The press has not materialize yet, but a friend taught me to 'prepare to receive', so if you know of a used press for sale, please let me know. Comments/suggestions are welcomed.

2009-04-30T22:35:00.000-07:00

I've been painting portraits on some roofing paper and thought they were pretty cool. Comments welcome.

2009-03-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

My mischevious boy "Noodles". Acyclic with transfer. (My cat Noodles really does have this innocent "who me?" look after his been bad). The two faces, Moon in Gemini, are watercolor. "Can-Can" is a monoprint gone haywire and brought back to life with pen and ink. Last, the barn was spray painted through a stencil I made. The rest is watercolor on muslin then pasted the cool chickie on. No relation, just playing with an idea.

2009-03-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

This is my new 'working wall'. I need to see my work from a little distance so I created this wall shelf for things I'm working on. It's an 8' wall and I found chicken wire used for corners on stucco prep and they are 8' long. (I think I paid about $3). I nailed it into the wall and as you can see, it supports quite a few pieces. The cat on the top left side is in a frame because I wanted to see how it looked cropped. I won't keep it up there like that, but as you can see the wire is study enough to hold it up. I thought about six penny nails or "L" brackets to further support it, but I'll wait and see how it works first. I'm using clips and picture frame hooks. I'm really happy with it so far.

Journal Spank

2009-01-24T14:55:00.000-08:00

Sometimes one must be pushed into doing some art. Here's my 'push' from the Yahoo Group, theartjournal. All you haveto do is reach behind you and whatever you touch you drqw. Well, I touched my printmaking suitcase (with lots of pockets and zippers) and here's my rendition. Earlier that evening, I did my first stencil which sprayed with the only spray paint I had. I don't usually use blue, but was drawn to it last night. I've been thinking a lot about how blessed I am. I don't have any money to speak of, but I have made peace with my shortcomings, and am pretty content most of the time. I have lots of friends, more than enough art supplies, and a great big book I journal/art in. These pages are in my 15"x30" book. Thanks for being part of my journey.

Banty Baby!

2009-01-11T18:13:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed making this collage piece. I used hand decorated papers, tissue and dried flowers. Had some trouble with the background but ended up using what seems to be my stand-by, yellow/gold.

Santa Muerta

2008-11-06T23:15:00.000-08:00

After a wonderful day in Palm Springs participating in the Day of the Dead celebration, I was inspired to do my interpretation of Santa Muerta, Saint Death. I saw a film about her at the Palm Springs Art Museum. There's cult, not approved by the church in Tepito, a crime ridden area of Mexico City. It's poverty stricken , full of drug users and dealers, prositutes, and all manner of 'diviant' folks. Very poor people who cannot afford health care, pray to her for healing, prostitutes petition they won't get aids, drug dealers ask for a non-violent death. They believe that Saint Death is more approachable than their other favorite saint, Guadalupe. It's an interesting concept, assuming we will all meet Santa Muerta eventually. The shrines built in her honor are filled with cigarettes and cigars, tequila or whisky, flowers, food, etc. My concept of her is a bit more humorous although pretty scary. I'm not sure why I was so taken with Santa Muerta, whether the fascination with the macabre or the compassion I felt for the people of Tepito, but I had to do this painting.

"Cafe" monotype

2008-10-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

Last night I won best of show at the Diamond Valley Arts Council show! You could have knocked me over with a feather. Looking at the pix of myself, I think I should get some artistic work done on my face, but that aside, I'm thrilled. By the way, I haven't had a dress on in three years, but I thought jeans not appropriate for a black tie event. (A lot of the men had tuxedos on, and they were great to look at, too). I thought winning best of show was the ultimate, but there's more. The judge couldn't decided which of two works to choose and they were both mine!!!!!! That's why I couldn't sleep last night. I hope everyone who wants to try printmaking will take a chance. It's a lot of fun.

Best of Show

2008-10-18T07:48:00.000-07:00

Space Bag

2008-10-07T15:08:00.001-07:00

I was in the middle of sorting out tissue paper and napkins I use for collage. While I was working on the project my big boy, Boogers, had to investigate the bag and contents. I forget how really big he is until I see him in a bag, the large size space bag. I know.......I'm like a new gramma. I show everybody by kitty pix. Ugggh, never thought I'd see the day I'd be such a mushy old broad.

I'm learning to solder as evidenced by the jewelry on the right.

2008-10-07T15:07:00.000-07:00

Save your stuff!

2008-09-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

A friend told me when I first got into altered art, "never get rid of your stuff", but while cleaning the studio last month, I almost broke the rule. I guess the muse works in other ways, so here I am using the stuff I almost discarded. Re-purposed jewelry.

2008-09-16T12:37:00.000-07:00

Published in Vintage Halloween Somerset Studio, 2008

2008-09-10T22:50:00.000-07:00

I'm on page 103, the odd ball on the page.

FRACTURED FRESCOS

2008-09-10T22:30:00.000-07:00

I'm looking for comments/suggestions for this jewelry I've been messing with. I'm really getting a kick out of them. About 1.25" long x 1/2" wide not counting the embellishments. Using some of Stephanie Lee's soldering and plaster class.

Chemo Bag

2008-07-11T22:44:00.000-07:00

My friend Teresa is undergoing the most aggressive chemotherapy a body can handle. She has an IV for several hours at the hospital and wears a pump for another 46 hours. Teresa was having difficulty with the idea of wearing this bag and called it her ball and chain. We decided to decorate it and make a piece of art out of it. Her bag is the talk of the chemo dept. now, and it gives her a little bit of control over her life. If you know anyone going through this type of chemo, please let them know the ball and chain can be transformed to art.

Published in Sommerset Sudio Gallery

2008-06-01T21:45:00.001-07:00

I took a workshop with Michael DeMing where we worked on altering shoes. I added some of my own ideas after I got home as I am still somewhat intimidated by workshops. I feel much freer to play around at home...........the trash can's closer. Anyway, I had a great time with the shoe and would encourage anyone who has doubts about their abilities, to send something in for publication. You just never know.

I've been walking 2+ miles every morning and the other day stepped off a curb wrong and blew my ankle out. It hurts a lot, but keeps my running around to a minimum, so I might get my studio cleaned up. One limp at a time.

2008-04-02T22:36:00.000-07:00

out of hiding

2008-03-30T19:39:00.000-07:00

I'm struggling with updating my blog as I've had some recent success with my art and think that blogging might be bragging. My mother taught me that 50+ years ago. What's up with that?????? How could I still be living in the long gone past.

So here's the local art association updates. I took first place with a monoprint in February and took two second place ribbons for the month of March. One for portraits and one abstract called the 'wailing wall'. The portrait is for a friend of mine who is battling cancer and 'wailing wall' is one I'd rather not sell.

In March, I was juried into the 39th annual Redlands Multi-Media Mini show. I've heard it was very difficult to get in and I made it. I'm a new artist, so for those artist who wonder if you should try to enter shows, a clue from me. Never dreamed I could or would even want to be in a show, and yet, it's happened.

My other great news is the Riverside Art Museum picked one of my monoprints to be in the "Art Alive" show. I feel like I'll be the great-great-gramma moses here. haha

I'll post what pix I have for now, but will update later. Thanks for putting up with my introspection about what Mom said. Time to move on.

Busy with life

2008-01-16T07:34:00.000-08:00

I have a wonderful friend who is battling stage IV cancer. I'm having a hard time dealing with it and feeling selfish because her side of things is so devastating. All I can do is cry when I think about it. It's bringing up memories of another person that I couldn't really share my feelings with. I am changing that with my friend. I'm talking about my feelings when she wants to and she is sharing her feelings with me when she wants to. After her diagnosis and when she was feeling better she wanted to get out of the house so we went to the Los Angeles Corner's Office. They have a cool gift shop and once I accepted her need to go, I had a ball. We drove around that part of town a bit, which is East L.A., I guess, and took some cool pix. I want to incorporate some of those pix into my art. It just hasn't formulated yet.

I entered my monotype into the Hemet Art Assoc. for the month of January and took honorable mention. I'm please with that. This monotype thing got started at Art Unraveled and Dorit Elisha. I loved her class and although we didn't do monotype with a press, it awakened a new interest. I'm going to Riverside City College for monotype class. Three days a week, six weeks. I'm loving it.

More Monotprint

2007-12-24T12:15:00.002-08:00

My art girlfriends and I purchased an etching press together and had some fun monoprinting Friday night. It's all pretty experimental, but we had good results for our first attempt. It was our Christmas get together. I have two kittens, Boogers and Noodles, Angelica has a toy Chihuahua, MooMoo and Teresa has a little Chihuahua Elvira. Lynn didn't bring her dog and Penny left Abby, her stuck up cat at home. It was insane.........animals everywhere, all of us working on our printing plates and getting caught up on gossip and show and tell. Five women on art steroids. I can't imagine life getting any better. Merry Christmas to all.

Monotype with Acrylic

2007-12-07T09:49:00.000-08:00

Last year I took a five day workshop with Ron Pokrasso. It was my first time trying monotype and I had a mini-meltdown halfway through. I was told it was normal when being in creative mode for that length of time. Each day was eight hours, several days were longer. I was used to fun classes like Art Unraveled where everyone chats and admires everyone else's work. The workshop attendees were 'working' artists and were all experienced. I learned some valuable lessons there. Not all artists want to play and not all players are artists! Aha! I hope to take more workshops with Ron. Something about his work really captures my heart.

I took one of my prints from his workshop and had it framed. It looks pretty cool after putting it away for a while. We used Akua (soy-based) inks in the workshop. This print combines chine collete (collage) and acrylic paint. I wasn't sure if the acrylic would hold up with the Akua inks but it worked well. I'm going to enter it at our local Art Association to see what kind of response I might get. I'm new to the Association, but I would expect someone there is interested in printing and I hope to meet him/her.

Tissue and crackle paste

2007-12-05T13:13:00.000-08:00

I did two backgrounds using gesso first, tissue paper, then crackle paste on #140 watercolor paper. I used Golden fluid acrylics for color. After I finished with color, I covered with polymer medium. I thought that might strengthen the crackle paste. It's so amazing in person! I am going to use one of the two pieces to make some jewelry. Don't know what yet, it's just percolating in the back of the brain.

Watercolor

2007-11-09T21:56:00.000-08:00

I've been taking watercolor classes at our local Art Association and my instructor suggested I enter one of my works. I entered the "Pink Orchids" posted below and took first place. I'm really tickled. Since I'm new in the organization, I'm entered in the 'bronze' category. No matter how good or bad you are, that's where you start. It takes 40 points to be in the 'silver' category, so I've got lots of time to stay down here with the beginners. It's funny though, my watercolor was done before I took a class. Nothing I've done in class comes close to it. I think it speaks to playing without expectations. Tomorrow, I am picking up some of my artwork I had matted and framed. It's funny how easy it is to frame someone else's work, while waiting to get better to frame your own. I'm really excited to see how my work looks framed properly.

Acrylic Pour

2007-10-19T22:31:00.001-07:00

I created a 'crackled' background and did a pour on top. The pour is heavy enough to drop other colors and 'draw' into it. I like the depth created with the pour. I used self-leveling gel on this experiment.

Pink Orchids-Watercolor

2007-08-26T23:53:00.000-07:00

Had a lot of fun the other day just messing with some watercolor techniques. I was surprised at the work I created. I stopped by Angelica's house just to visit and had no idea I'd be working on the watercolor. Just played and made no judgements. I wish I could be as free all the time.

Art Unraveled

2007-08-20T13:20:00.000-07:00

Just finished installing a new computer. What a mess. I wasn't able to transfer all the blogs, emails, favs etc., so I'm a bit frustrated.

My altered bib overalls won the 'wildest' or most original name badge this year. I had my instructors sign it so it will be a good memory of AU 2007. Linda did a great job. Chuck was ok too. ;) It was a great experience.

I went to Marney's presentation on Sunday night before AU started and I took away the idea that I needed to 1. Get organized. 2. Finish existing projects. 3. Be true to myself and my artistic expression. 4. Discipline. 1, 2, and 4 are most challenging for me. My artistic expression is still developing and I think this will be a lifetime process.

Altered denim 'farmer' pants

2007-06-29T11:35:00.000-07:00

Cleaning out my garage, I ran across one of those farmer pant things that were so popular some years ago. Why are they still in my garage? Anyway, I'm attending Art Unraveled in August and thought I'd make myself a new apron. I'm afflicted with a rotten cold the past few days and haven't gotten anything done. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

2007-06-25T00:05:00.000-07:00

Still June 24......I'm trying to upload pix so I can get a feel for what I'm doing. This is a collage done with paint, inks, stamps etc. Wish I'd used a better substrate. It's done on an old file folder.

June 24, 2007

2007-06-24T23:46:00.000-07:00

I started a blog in 2005, but never got around to doing anything with it. Today I sold my first piece of art and felt inspired to try again. A friend bought the painting and I couldn't decide if she did it out of pity or did she really love it. She's assured me she loves it so I need to step away from my self critic in order to evolve. I want to grow as an artist. Take a leap of faith, if you will. So, here I go.