Another day in my life

Yesterday (Monday) I was up at three am. After coffee and a shower, I went out and watered my garden. I was not in the mood to do anything except sit in front of the TV and veg. But I had created very little art since I finished the online class and the Anniversary swap, and was having trouble getting motivated. As a result, I thought if I made today a "day in my life," people seem to like these blog entries (even though I celebrate the mundane) and I needed to be motivated. What could be better than taking photos of my day. I would have to produce something and it would make me accountable for my day. So, while it was still relatively cool (79 degrees F) outside and marginally cooler inside, I began my journey at around 5:30.


The first thing I did was cut some rosin paper and gesso it. I mixed gold glaze with gesso as the underpainting. I poured out a lot of gold glaze, so painted a few book pages with the gold, as well as a few splotches on the analgyptus wall paper that I placed under the table to dry. You can tell I'm serious because I have one of the leaves up, something I only do when making serious art.

By now it's nearly 6 am and getting light out.

While waiting for the gesso to dry, I get an idea for an assemblage. I need some heavy white paper, and what better than a USPS flat rate envelope. After all, I have plenty left over from the swap.

As I finish cutting the USPS envelope, I see it's about 6:30 am and the gesso is now dry.

Over the gesso goes metallic turquoise and coral. For some reason, these colors looked lovely sitting side by side in their jars, but not so much on the paper.

I also painted a few book pages. It was now 7:00am.

As I waited for the paint to dry, I die cut three sets of hands using small pieces from the USPS envelopes, then painted them purple and gold, wiping off the excess after each color. I also added both purple and gold to the rosin paper. I had already found everything I needed for the assemblage I want to make and have placed everything in a baggie. The rosary is purple, so I was glad to have it handy when I was matching colors. Click on the photo (or any for that matter) to see the hands.

I also added some brown (believe it or not, it's called "Teddy Bear Brown") to one half of the rosin paper, and the purple to the other. I don't LOVE the piece, but I'll find a use for it one of these days.

Now my problem was, I had no room for anything else in the craft room until everything dried. And it was only a little after 7:00 am! So I decided to go outside and make art until it got too hot.

On one of my groups, we were talking about the turrpentine and National Geographic backgrounds that I made some time back. I was not happy with the results, so I decided to try again, this time only removing a few pages from the book, rather than doing the entire book as was in the original instructions.
Supplies I used:

1967 National Geographic

Pan for turpentine

Turpentine (turp)

Foam brush

Butcher paper

Plastic bag to cover the table

I began by removing some pages that had lots of color, and saturated them with turpentine. When they were dripping with turp, I smooshed them together, but nothing happened. Could it be that the ink was too old? Well, as I later remembered, you don't smoosh when they are dripping wet. DUH!!

After scrubbing the pages together, I remembered punchinella, or sequin waste. I was off to my craft room to find some.

I personally didn't think it worked very well and all the turp did was remove the copper color from the punchinella.

Then I decided to sandwich the punchinella between two pages and that is when the magic started to happen.

Around 10:30, it was getting way too hot to be outside and the mosquitos were attacking me like I do an all-you-can-eat buffet. I had made enough messes and given enough blood. So I made sure the pages wouldn't blow away, then went back into the house to check on my painted pages. Thankfully the rosin paper was dry and I could hang it and move on to bigger and better things.

By now it was nearly 11 am and I decided to eat "lunch." I had already started to eat my cantelope when I decided I should take a photo of it. I also was reading a book that Kathy had left for Dana and me to peruse. It is all about cloth, paper, painting, and decorative stitches. The projects are all very complicated and have many steps, but the photos guide you through everything. Unfortunately, I don't have the type of sewing machine to accomplish the lovely stitches she produces, but I love reading the techniques, anyway.

After lunch, I painted the rest of the anaglyptus paper and as soon as it was dry, took everything to the basement to find the perfect frame for the piece.

Not sure what part or how much of the paper I'll use, I spot painted the purple on the page.

By the time I got the room cleaned and everything put away, it was about 12:30.

My next project was decorating one side of a skinny page with the intention of using it for one of my covers on my Anniversary swap book. Here it is finished, except for adding the polymer clay "6" which I may or may not do. It is made of gifted gold chocolate wrappers and cups. Wish I'd had the candy that went with the wrappers!

Finally the house was beginning to really heat up, so I cut some USPS envelopes to 8.5" X 11", then glued two layers together. I then placed them under a heavy book to dry and straighten.

Back outside, the turpentine papers had finally dried, but they still smelled to high heaven. I brought them in, but left them in the garage. Hopefully the smell will be gone in a day or twelve and I'll have a chance to scan them. Some turned out great. Others only OK. Still, they are better than the last batch I made.

It was not even 2 pm, and I was tired of making art. But, I vowed to make art all day, so I got an idea for my altered recipe book. I've had these Caron Crayons forever, and never opened them. I know they were expensive, so thought I should try them. They turned out to be more chalk than crayon. But I really loved the way they blended together. I'll show the finished project in a few days after I seal it.

My next task was to scan a few pages I had made in my Hands AB, but not scanned. As I was starting the project, my friend Halle in MN called. We talked for nearly two hours, and I told her I would have to take a picture of my phone, since I couldn't take a photo of her.

So, after checking my e-mail, I took a photo of the phone that I was on for nearly two hours.

The nice thing was, by the time I got off the phone, the USPS envelopes I glued together were dry, so I cut one to skinny book size, cut a small piece of anaglyptus and went to town

adding gold, purple, turquoise, and red to the page. I may use this as one of my covers for the Anniversary swap. Now I have decisions to make.

After talking to Halle, and making this piece, I decided to call it quits. It was nearly 6 pm and I was ready to unload the photos from my camera. It was a very busy day, but I kept my promise to make art all day. Had I not been motivated by this blog, I might have quit after I made that ugly background early in the day. So, thanks for reading and encouraging me, in both my art and the days I choose to spend showing my followers what my day is like. I greatly appreciate it.