Gothic Arch Garden Fairy

This week's Gothic Arch theme is Garden Fairy. For my base I used cold press watercolor paper sprayed with my Color Mists , I then stamped with white gesso. The fairy I pieced together since she didn't have legs and added the dress from some tag board dresses I've had for awhile waiting to use them on something.

It's that time again...

Prom time again!

Here's my son and his girlfriend ready to go to the Senior Prom. It seems like just yesterday he was going to the winter formal his freshman year!

Even harder to believe is that a month from now he'll have graduated and will be off to college.

Coffee Palette

Clouds in my Coffee

Here's a piece I did for a monthly lottery, since I'm the host this month I thought I'd try and entice some more participation by creating this coffee palette, the theme is coffee. I used a wooden palette that I adhered paper that I had misted with Color Mists to using soft gel medium. I free hand cut out shapes to form the cup using bits of scrap paper and highlighted it with paint and gel pens. The shading I added with a brown charcoal pencil and when I was completely done I sealed it with PYM II.

Mail-Art For a Friend

Here's a mail-art tin I made for a friend. I intend to send it as is in the mail and as always pray that it gets there in good shape...but hey that's part of the fun of sending mail-art right? So far I've had good luck in the past and I've sent some pretty odd things through the mail as is....I like to believe that it gives a bit of joy to the mail people and perhaps that they even take a little bit of special care even....don't burst my bubble I like my fantasy LOL

If you want to know more of how

I made it click on the link below to find out:

http://otm-inspirations.blogspot.com/

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More Asilomar Pix...

While at Asilomar I met up with an old friend of mine Diane Bouchard as luck would have it we both stayed at the same Stuck Up Inn (It was fun to hang out and see you again Diane!). Diane just posted pictures of all her amazing trades, art and Asilomar goodies! Diane is quite a prolific artist, Check out her pictures here:
http://www.alteredbookstudio.blogspot.com/

Gothic Arch Challenge

I've been continually inspired by my friend Karen Owen's entries for the Gothic Arch Challenges, so I finally took the plunge and created my first Gothic Arch challenge for the theme My Doll and Me. Here's my first Gothic arch piece (my apologies for the blurriness, I probably should have used the digital camera since my scanner doesn't do 3D well).

Surprises!

This was a nice surprise...Mz Jackie sent me an email to share that Blogarithm has posted my blog on their popular blog list, I had no idea and probably would have missed it if she hadn't sent it to me, thanks Jackie!! :-)

http://www.blogarithm.com/discover.php

Treasures!

Check out my estate sale finds! can you say SCORE! I couldn't resist the hands I'm hoping to separate them and use them in an assemblage. I also found mini baking tins that will be perfect for shrines some brass candle cups that look like feet to me, a variety of tin snips, a rubber mallet and a antique jar of beautiful shells from Baja to name just a few of my finds!

Whens the last time you went garage sale hunting or antique shopping? I hadn't been in awhile and had forgotten how fun it is to come home with new treasures! :-)

Color Mists Beach Set Now Available!

The Limited Edition

Color Mist Beach Set

is now available while supply lasts!

http://www.outsidethemargins.com/detail.php?product=278&category=11

Back from Asilomar

I made it back from Asilomar yesterday it was a beautiful drive home that is until I reached the valley and could feel the heat ugh! I was already spoiled by the cool weather at Asilomar! If you get the chance to go to next year's Art & Soul and have a choice of which one I highly recommend the one at Asilomar it's such a beautiful, relaxing and friendly place!

*****

Here's a few more pieces from my Relic's in the Round class with Sally Jean the Solder Queen!

Test Tube Trinket Necklace

Beach in a Bottle
This started out as a I think a Vinegar or Oil Bottle that I cut off the neck and then closed up the top with a piece of glass soldered.

Back side of Mermaid in a Bottle

Captured Bird

This was the top of the previous bottle, it's hard to tell but I used sheets of music cut and curled for the nesting a bit of glitter and then the bird was added.

A few pictures

As promised here are a few more pictures (you should be able to click on them to enlarge).

Vendor Night

My niece is on the left and me on the right (No I promise I wasn't hiding this time LOL Mz. Bev took the picture before I knew it lol).
See I wasn't making it up here's pictures of where I stayed and below if you have good eyes you can read the history of Stuck-up Inn.

Views by the Stuck-up Inn

Adventures from Asilomar #3

Another beautiful perfect weather day here although at night it gets a bit cold but I haven’t minded and haven’t worn a coat I’m savoring it because I’ll be going back to warm weather!

I had another class with Sally Jean the Solder Queen we made soldered vessels and shrines very cool ideas using small bottles and cutting the bottoms and the necks off and using those portions for our encapsulated shrines then soldering a piece of glass to seal it. Unfortunately “Big Red” their bottle cutting machine broke we wore him out so he had to go into retirement poor guy! I was able to finish 3 pieces before I had to leave early to set up for vendor night.

Vendor night went well once got things set-up, our problem was that I brought too much stuff for only one table but we made it work!! A BIG thanks to my niece for all her muscle, quick adding and organization….and to Bev and Diane for their help, THANKS GUYS! What fun it was, as well to put more faces to names some were customers already and others I knew from various Yahoo groups.

Today I have a class with Ann Baldwin, which I’m very excited about even if I haven’t had enough coffee yet LOL The class is called The Palimpsest, it looks like a great layering class which I love.
I’ll post pictures once I get them uploaded.

Adventures from Asilomar #2

The weather today was a lot cooler and towards evening windy, but still the sun came and was pleasant. I had a class today with Sally Jean the Solder Queen! She’s not only a wonderful teacher, stays on task, is clear with her directions, explains things well, keeps things moving along, but she is also a sweetie! I’ve soldered before and sometimes I have good results and other times not so good, so I was really hoping to pick up some tricks and tips which I am thrilled to day I did! We learned how to make some fun charms with buttons, stones and baubles sandwiched in-between glass as well as how to solder back to back flat glass pebbles and even how to solder a round ceramic marbles with small stripes. I was finally “getting my groove on” as sally Jean likes to say when it was time to clean up, the day flew by!

Everyone here is so friendly, I haven’t met a stranger yet! It seems much more relaxed and laid back here then at Art & Soul Portland. I think because we all eat together and not as many are going off in all different directions. I’ve meet some of the nicest people some new some I’ve only known online, but I was finally able to put a face with the name J
I’m sitting in the social hall with the big fireplace going people playing ping pong, pool and every so often someone comes along and sits down to play their beautiful oak grand piano. This is where the wireless is so there’s lots of tapping of keyboards as well LOL

I’ll post a picture of a few of my goodies I made today....just don’t look too closely at the soldering I hadn’t quite gotten my groove on yet LOL

Adventures from Asilomar #1

The weather was gorgeous yesterday; you couldn’t ask for better weather it was clear, sunny and warm for here. Asilomar would be heaven for any nature lover or outdoor person since you’re surrounded by it and have to hike from one building to another. It is not for the faint of heart or out of shape person because you have to walk all over up and down hills and steps excuse me while I try to catch my breath::gasps for air:::.

The buildings and rooms are weaved throughout the park and most are designed in the Arts and Crafts Mission style. I am staying in a little bungalow type building nestled in the trees called Stuck-Up Inn—kid you not! We’ve had good fun with that LOL as luck would have it I met an old friend who is also residing in Stuck-up Inn as well as another gal I’ve met before at another retreat. We are now known as the Stuck-up ladies LOL If your wanting luxurious amenities such as a TV and phone forget it rustic is the theme here. We have a main common/great room that has couches, tables and a fireplace and then the rooms are off that down a hall. My room is actually quite spacious I have a double bed and a single bed, wood floors and a bathroom large enough to set up an art studio if need be!! LOL.

We met in Merrill hall for a meet and greet last night after dinner and that was fun-lots of trading going on. Since I didn’t do any trades I enjoyed watching my friends rake in their bounty and boy what a haul they got! There were lots of newbies who were reluctant to trade because they’d heard of all the snobbiness surrounding trading I helped facilitate them trading if they were too shy plus doubled as their guard watching over their loot! LOL a job I was happy to do since I could look and touch everything J I’m happy to say I did not witness any snobbery people were so nice and generous and it was such fun to see so many different ideas, I’d wished I had participated of course! LOL

There was a small group of ladies that had gotten together previously to make crowns and then wore them that night and man were they cool I gleamed some good ideas...watch out Kris!!

Here's a few pictures:

Social Hall Fireplace
Social Hall pic 2

Looking from beach towards Asilomar grounds

Asilomar Beach

I'm Almost Ready!

I'm almost ready to go to Art & Soul at Asilomar near Monterey, California. I'll be taking some workshops and I'll be a vendor there as well, so if you place an order between Friday April 11th through Thursday April 17th I won't begin process orders until Friday April 18th. If anyone reading this is going to Art & Soul Asilomar stop by my booth and say hello :-)

Happy Creating!

Aileen~

Spring

Here's a 5"X10" masonite panel I first painted with gesso then sprayed with Color Mists once that was dry I used some chalk ink and pounced through some netting to add some dimension. The little girl is named Clara and she's from my friend Karen's collage sheet. I painted both Clara and the egg using gouache paints and also painted the tree and grass using the gouache paints. I sealed it using PYM II before I painted with the gouache paints and after wards.

Here's a link to a post blog post showing a tutorial on painting vintage images using gouache paints:

http://aileensmusings.blogspot.com/2007/08/gouache-technique.html

Are You Left or Right Brain Oriented?

I ventured over to my friend Kris' blog and took a creativity test she had posted. I've taken tests similar to this before, but this one I found to be much better.

C R E A T I V I T Y

T E S T

Left Brain ------------Right Brain

42%------------------------ 58%

You are more right-brained than left-brained. The right side of your brain controls the left side of your body. In addition to being known as right-brained, you are also known as a creative thinker who uses feeling and intuition to gather information. You retain this information through the use of images and patterns. You are able to visualize the "whole" picture first, and then work backwards to put the pieces together to create the "whole" picture. Your thought process can appear quite illogical and meandering. The problem-solving techniques that you use involve free association, which is often very innovative and creative. The routes taken to arrive at your conclusions are completely opposite to what a left-brained person would be accustomed. You probably find it easy to express yourself using art, dance, or music. Some occupations usually held by a right-brained person are forest ranger, athlete, beautician, actor/actress, craftsman, and artist.Your left brain/right brain percentage was calculated by combining the individual scores of each half's sub-categories.

They are as follows:
Your Left Brain Percentages
34%
Symbolic (Your most dominant characteristic)
32%
Linear
27%
Verbal
18%
Sequential
17%
Logical
14%
Reality-based (Your least dominant characteristic)
Your Right Brain Percentages
39%
Random (Your most dominant characteristic)
37%
Concrete
36%
Fantasy-oriented
24%
Holistic
24%
Intuitive
19%
Nonverbal (Your least dominant characteristic)

How creative are you
Take The Test

Here

New Additions!

Spring is definitely here and my porch/veranda has been become my retreat to relax for a moment from the chaos of everyday life! Here's a picture of a chair my grandfather had made, I had inherited it years ago and it wasn't quite finished it still needed stain or a paint job and strapping for the seat and a cushion. Hubby painted it what else but purple for me and added the strapping and I finally found a cushion to fit it Viola!

Last year's straw mat was looking pretty grubby after winter so hubby decided to spray paint it and presto a new mat is born!! I'm loving it more then the original color (See below for the before picture)
Imagine our suprise when we discovered

these two critters crawlin' around ;-)

More Digi Art

Here's some more digital art I made for a friend.

Yep, it helped cure my creative urges again!

Curbing the Creative Urge

Lil' Man

I was in the mood to create something last night but didn't feel like digging things out and getting dirty since it was late, so what better way to cure the creative urge then to do a little digital art! I've been saving the picture of this wee kilted laddie for awhile now wanting to use him in something!

The Pink Artist Doll is Done!

Some of you may recall a few posts back about the

Pink Artist square I made and donated
http://aileensmusings.blogspot.com/2008/02/be-pink-artist.html#comments

the doll is finished and she's gorgeous!!
Monica did an extraordinary job creating the "Pink Artist" doll, as did all the artists who contributed! The "Pink Artist" doll is made of 180 2 x 2 donated squares of art. After it is exhibited by Art Doll Quarterly, it will be auctioned off for Breast Cancer research.
To see more pictures and info visit Monica's blog:
to http://girl-gone-thread-wild.blogspot.com/