Playing and experimenting

Yesterday started out like most days. I was out in the garden before it got too hot or too light, watering and picking the "veggies of the day." I found a tomato that looked so much like a strawberry I had to photograph it.

Next it was off to the computer, where I spent way too much time going to some blogs I had not yet seen in Seth's Disintegration Project. Sorry, I don't have the link handy, but click on the icon found in the sidebar and it will take yo to his blog.

Next I began working with three flat rate envelopes that I had previously glued together and flattened. One already had a coat of gesso, too, so I was ready to start something on these "canvases."

I decided to use nothing but UHU Glue Stic the entire day, which is the glue of the month over at UHU (see sidebar for link) .

As I glued the strips of vintage sheet music to the substrate, I used the bottom of the glue stick to get a really good bond.

Something I have found is to not glue the entire piece down, but leave a bit unglued. That way you can flip it up and continue your glue to the next area, thus reducing the risk of getting unwanted glue on the top of what you are gluing.

These are now ready to paint.

For this piece I used two shades of green paint that I bought recently. I first laid down one green, then dry brushed the lighter green over it and blended, blended, blended.

For the substrate that had only gesso, I used a different technique. I laid out both colors at the same time, thus hoping to get a different look.

It started out OK, but before I knew it, I was blending more than I had planned. Note the paint brush in the photo has seen better days and it's finally time to give it a proper burial.

I got out one of my new brushes I bought at Michaels the same time I got the paint, and went to town with two colors of lavender.

This is the same piece, but it's a better representation of the color of the piece. Not sure if you can tell, but this new brush SUCKS. They were on sale (if memory serves me they were 15/$1.00), so I jumped at the chance to get some new brushes. Now I have a bunch of WORTHLESS brushes. They are flimsy, don't blend well, and don't hold up. So much for bargains.

Here are the three sheets after I painted them. Note the sticker on the bottom piece is from the worthless foam brush. It was the best part of the "deal."

Next, I called my friend Donna and returned a pan to her. She told me she had some "trash" for me, so I was glad I went. I spent way too much time at her place, but at least the paint would be dry by the time I got home. However, just as I walked in the door, my friend Sally called and invited me to lunch. She had found a new restaurant in our neighborhood she wanted to try. Since it was nearly noon, we agreed on 1:30. Great! I still had time to make one more thing before it was time to leave.

By the time I finished sewing and gluing (with UHU as planned) a spread for my altered recipe book, it was time to get ready to go to lunch.

This place is brand new and its huge. It's sort of a diner, but without the diner atmosphere. Hard to explain (and not sure I would give it a very good rating), but you can see Sally in the reflection of the glass (in pink top) and she liked it.

The name of the restaurant is Clear Lakes Cafe. What you see is about half the building. I took another photo of the other half, but my batteries died in my camera and it didn't take. I need to keep a closer watch on the battery level, since it seems they never quit when I'm at home.

When I got home, I charged my batteries. While they were charging, I made a few embellishments that I sewed, including this one using some of my gold foil I recently backed with Wonder Under. At this point, I don't know if I will leave this piece intact, or cut it in four squares.

I finished the afternoon by painting some purple and turquoise on the piece I painted earlier. Then I glued (again using only UHU glue stic) sewn vintage music scraps to the piece and added some purple paint using punchinella (sequin waste).

To end the day, I played with some images I will put in my Hands AB and started a fourth piece that I forgot to photograph. Although I didn't get to play as much with paint yesterday as I had planned, I had a good chat with two neighbors and a decent lunch. All in all, it was a fun day.