Coming soon: BIG PRIZE w/an Altered Pages Challenge!

Just a quick little note to tell you to be sure to visit the Altered Pages BLOG over the weekend!

Our talented DT member, Christine Telega will be posting a challenge with a HUGE prize from Lifestyle Crafts!!! 

{A Chipboard album, double-sided papers, and DIES - including a mini-alpha!} 

A $60 value!

Hint: The challenge has something to do with "ELEMENTS"

Hope you will join in on the fun!!!

Cheers to a happy & creative weekend!

Fairy Dreams - Altered Pages Post

Just a quick note tonight...almost Tuesday morning!

Gotta stop staying up so late! 

I spent the day running errands, so I've been creating away since late this afternoon!

I wanted to share my post over at Altered Pages with you...I just finished this collage tonight with some wonderful AP products. You can see the full post here.

I'll check-in in a few days with more work from my online & local class!

Cheers!

 

Perspective?

As most of know, I have taking a class at the Art Student's League of Denver on collage. 

Last week, our teacher {Jo Fitsell} asked us to bring in a couple of pieces we'd been working on...these first 2 I finished for class, which were inspired by some images I saw in some old Somerset Apprentice magazines.

Count Your Eggs

In Which Becky Revisits Her Ancestors (Vanity Fair book page)

For the canvas below, I started playing around with some bright colors on the background & then layered on top with a couple of images & an mono-print we did in class. It's not finished...we decided that it looks like it wants to fall to the left, so I need to soften that angled edge a little bit. Jo liked this one the best & I think it's because I had no visual inspiration - just the crazy stuff in my head! I guess that's what makes it more free to interpretation.

Happy

Also during the class, she gave a few of us some challenges. She met with me & told me to take her camera & go around the block & take pics of the spaces between the houses, focusing on perspective. When I did this, it was hard for me not to focus on the angles & lines in the architecture. The images she like best were the ones that I took that were not straight on, but seeing a different perspective of the alley looking through a tree or a vine growing haphazard up a wall. She says that I tend to see things straight on. Which is funny to me, since I feel that when I am out with my camera, I like to change the angle of things, but I guess I tend to do that with my camera & not my body. {Meaning, I still stand in one place & just move the camera here & there instead of squatting or something.}

We had a little time to play while Jo was meeting with us about our work & the direction we were going, so I threw this last one together then...

Who R U?

She also brought in her computer & asked if a few of us would like to take a personality test - the Enneagram, Rheti test with 9 personality types {In order 1-9: Reformer, Helper, Achiever, Individualist, Investigator, Loyalist, Enthusiast, Challenger & Peacemaker}. 

After answering a series of questions, the model scores you up to 8 points in all the types; the higher being your strongest. 

I scored a 7 in the Helper Type:

 While I feel this answer is fairly true, I felt that I was a closer mix to the two types that I scored 5's in:

It's very interesting to read these summaries & then apply them to your art as well as your life. I may have to take it again & see if I score the same! I spoke with her a little bit about my art & life, told her that I am definitely feeling a little lost lately in both areas. She said that she was glad I am taking this class - in the hopes that I might find a little of myself along the way! ;)

I leave you today with a little photo of Maggie from hunting eggs this morning...

The house Grandma Pat sent (Nick's mom)

We are off to have dinner with family this afternoon, so I had better get baking done!

Have a wonderful day!

Tootin' My Own Horn...

Ok, not really tootin' my horn that much, but I just had to share that the folks over at Altered Arts Magazine mentioned my Altered Pages blog post on Facebook again the other day! Makes me feel all warm & fuzzy!!

In case you missed it, you can read the original post here.

More Art Journal Picts from Class!

Thought I'd put up a couple of things I've been working on from the 2nd week of the "Art of Wild Abandonment" class...

What We Bring

This was such a fun page of painting & paper piecing! This page is about "what we bring" & I decided to "journal" about upcoming road-trips this summer. I think I need to add a camera in there somewhere! I wish I had the license on these cute girls we did in this class {they belong to the talented Christy Tomlinson} because I could make a MILLION of them! So much fun! I enjoyed this one so much that I made one for Maggie too...

i make my own magic

I like how hers all blends together & the colors are SO her!!

Next we worked on playing with layers by painting on parchment paper!

Poppies I

This was my first attempt that I wasn't too crazy about. We painted a piece of parchment paper {the kind you use in baking} & cut out the flower petals when it was dry. I should have stuck with Junelle's pretty echinacea flowers because the poppies were hard to assemble once the petals were cut out, but they are one of my favorite flowers!

So, I did it again. Only this time I painted the parchment, sketched my flowers on the back side & cut out the entire flower. It doesn't have quite as much dimension, but I like it better! {I even had a friend ask me how much I'd sell it for! HA! I told her we'd talk! ;)}

Poppies II

In the class video, Junelle uses this AWESOME tissue paper with French words in all kinds of text printed on it {from 7 Gypsies' "Metro" collection} to form her vases. Since I didn't have any of that, I made my own using a technique a girl from my ASLD collage class told me about...Cut a piece of tissue paper to fit a piece of computer paper. Glue down the edges to keep from catching in the printer. Let dry & run through the printer! Pretty simple, although my 2nd sheet did jam.

{{In between the flowers & the branches below, we did another layer page with some parchment, but I haven't finished it yet}}...so here are my Spring Branches...

Spring Branches

I don't think my tree trunk will support a spread like that, but I couldn't stop! ;) The leaves are various paper scraps & on the bottom right is a piece of plastic packaging {Tim Holtz placards} that I put some words in {Seeds=plant/grow/bloom}.

Today I spent ALL afternoon working on this canvas...

My Messy Nest

We were supposed to do it in our art journals, but I knew it was going to be too bulky because of all the found objects my Magpie had for her nest! So I did it on a 6x9 deep edge canvas. This was by far my most favorite project & can't wait to see what we're doing next!! Here's a couple close-ups of the nest & bird {which I traced off an image from the Web & painted in!}

My Magpie

the Nest

the Nest from above

So now I am almost caught up on Week 2 - I just have to watch the videos Christy did to see her spin on things! And Week 3 looks totally cool!

In my collage class on Saturday, we worked on all sorts of image transfers. I haven't had a minute to play with those this week, but I have to get to my "homework" tomorrow, so I will try to post some photos of that stuff later this week!

Have a wonderful evening!