Friday, August 23, 2019

A catch-up post


I realize I have several things I want to show, so contrary to how I normally feel about only showing one art piece at a time, I must break my rule and share two different art projects today.

First, I'm joining Gill of Gibby Frogett Craftations this month's host at Art Journal Journey where her theme is Anything With Eyes.

Originally, I planned to call this Eye Spy,

but I did something really DUMB and tried to circle the iris of the eye.

I should have known better, but of course, it was the last thing I did, and I had SO much time invested in this already.

In the end, I decided to call it "Catching the Red Eye."

This is the original image I found in a magazine, but, as I'm sure you know, I have only black ink in both my laser and my ink jet printer.

For this page, I began with my focal image I de-saturated in PhotoShop.  I then printed it using my laser printer.  Next, I colored and colored and colored and colored and (by now you get the picture) using metallic gel pens, chalk pens and Zig pens.  After several hours of this, I decided enough was enough and I glued it to a sheet of pink copier paper I outlined using one of the Zig pens.  I used my scissors to ruffle the edges of both the pink copier paper and the black construction paper.  I outlined the construction paper using a chalk pen.

I'm also joining my friend Valerie at Tag Tuesday, where her theme is Anything Goes.

I call this one "Isn't math fun?" And because there are numbers on it, I'm also joining Moo-Mania and More with their Numbers and/or Letters this fortnight.

The first two letters of Add are from a Tim Coffee set of stickers.  The last D and the 8 & 9 are from a set my friend Cindy sent me years ago.  What's amazing is these are possibly the oldest stickers I have and they stick the best of any I used.

The black numbers and ampersand are from a set of black stickers I bought a few years ago.  They didn't stick well at all.

The red numbers are vinyl and they were given to me by a friend who used to live in my neighborhood.

The rest of the large letters were also from Tim Coffee.  I outlined them with a metallic gel pen.  For some reason, I couldn't get the gel pen to go where I asked it to.   It decided to set its own path!

I started the tag by cutting a piece of watercolor paper, then colored it with three water soluble crayons (thanks Cindy).  When dry, I cut the paper into a tag, punched a hole, and added the hole reinforcement.  I then outlined the tag using a Zig marker.  I also used it to draw the Equals lines.  I used the same metallic pen to write the sentiment that I'd used to outline the numbers.

Thanks for dropping by again today.  I'm playing catch up and trying not to fall so far behind again.

Also, please join Bleubeard and me at Art Journal Journey, Moo-Mania and More, and Tag Tuesday, too.

17 thoughtful remarks:

Sandra Cox said...

I Love 'Catching the Red Eye.'
The math instructors out there are going to be wanting the numbers piece.
Have a fun-filled weekend, dear Elizabeth.

Barbara said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
CJ Kennedy said...

If you hadn’t said anything about the iris, I wouldn’t have known. I like your composition. Your math tag made me chuckle. English major. You do the math 😄 Enjoy your weekend

Valerie-Jael said...

I (Eye?) like the first piece, in spite of the mishaps, or perhaps because of them. Thanks for making a tag for TT, I will do the sums later,right now it's still coffee time. Fun idea for a tag, much appreciated. Have a fun day, Valerie

froebelsternchen said...

I love what you did on the eye image and how you made this beautiful page.An excellent entry for Gill's topic dear Elizabeth and the tag is amazing, you are right. Math is fun, but not for those who have their problems with it...lol! Thank you so much for joining Moo Mania & More again. You know how appreciated your participation is. Happy Saturday! Big hugs, Susi

Meggymay said...

I love this eye. It is a fabulous page and it looks even more eye catching in the black/white combination of colour.
I also agree Maths is fun, one of my current pastimes [not craft related] is
Suduko puzzles.
Yvonne xx

Divers and Sundry said...

I'm always surprised at how difficult it is for me to trace on or along a line already there. It sounds easy. Why isn't is easy?! lol

I like both works and find the descriptions about how you created them interesting. Thx! :)

Gibby Frogett said...

Another fabulous 'eye' piece from you - thanks Elizabeth :) and the 'iris' looks good to me - great graphics and idea.
Great tag too - I'm not a math lover - but can get by with the basics and working out angles...hpefully :)
Hope you are having a good weekend... Gill x

Words and Pictures said...

Great to have a double helping today. (It must be something to do with feeling the end of summer coming - for the first time in a long while I've published two posts in two days, and there's another due on Monday!)

I don't have a problem with the circling of the iris at all - embracing imperfection, I think it adds great interest that there's one imperfect circle within the concentric rings. A great image, and I love how you've added the colour blocks. The tag makes me really happy - those wonderful colours and watercolour effects, and then the bold graphics of the numbers and letters. Fabulous!
Alison x

My name is Erika. said...

Nice extra post yesterday. That eye image is really cool. I like how you colored it as it gives it some interest, which if printed in color it wouldn't have that interest. And the tag is cool too. How can there be bad piece of art with numbers and letters? Hugs-Erika

Cindy McMath said...

I love both of these Elizabeth! Circles, eyes, numbers - what’s not to love! I love your use of the watercolour crayons as always. I also really loved the way you altered that fabulous eye image. Great feast for the eyes. :)

Eileen The Artful Crafter said...

I love the math tag, Elizabeth. Lovely watercolor backround and I agree that math is fun. Eileen xx

Jeanie said...

The eye, especially, is really quite fascinating. I find myself being drawn into it and it's quite enigmatic.

WendyK said...

Love your eye piece for Gill's theme and the colourful tag for sharing with us on Tag Tuesday. Hope all is well with you. Hugs Wendy.

Rike said...

It's very creative how you colored the eye - not so bad if you only have black ink in both of your printers :) - so the eye gets its own beautiful style! To outline the iris is the freedom of the artist :)
Yes, math is fun - it was my favourite at school, artwork too. I like your tag and your special title! The oldest stickers glue best, really amazing! I think you have a very creative gel pen - it decided to set its own path!
Wish you a happy week! Rike xx

Anne (cornucopia) said...

These are wonderful Elizabeth. Somehow I missed this post.

Rosie said...

A wonderful post, Elisabeth

Thank you for joining us at MOO MANIA & MORE