Where have I been?

Hi Pocketeers! I hope you're still around. Sorry to have left you for so long, but I've been away and then busy and just not getting a lot of art made.  Where was I? 

Deutschland!  We had a fantastic time. Lots and lots of time with the family and lots and lots of sightseeing :). 

When we got home, I launched right into tech week for a play I was costuming for. That was full of adventures... And misadventures... 

I'm still not sure how it bent that far. 

But since then I've been trying to get back into the groove. Been doing some sewing for myself. Finished the last of my 52 Pick Up cards (will show those off soon). Been doing a bit of drawing. Oh, and I finished this box I started last year:

I'm working on a Halloween box now, and trying to keep my drawing muscles in shape.  Hopefully I'll have more to show soon. In the meanwhile, enjoy the Autumn!  Yay, it's finally my favorite time of year!

So Much Glue

Hello, Pocketeers!  I'm back!  Last weekend, with two days of Seth Apter classes, was awesome.  And I know some of you wanted to see what I did in the workshops, so here we go!

Day 1 was Collage Camp.  Seth went over several collage principles and techniques, and we did an exemplar of each one, thus building up a sort of handbook for future reference.  Then, we did some background painting and were let loose to practice what we had learned. 

This is the color combo I started with.  Meh.  I don't like the two-tone.

That's better.

Are you shocked by my choice of stamps?  I bet you are.  Not.

Auditioning the layout.  Employed here are Overlapping (duh), Repetition, and Highlighting.  For further explanation of what those are, take Seth's Collage Camp class wherever he offers it near you ;)

Just put the finishing touches (the gold and the word "sanctuary") on tonight.  Except for how much the washi tape wrinkled, I'm really pleased with how this turned out.

And btw, how gorgeous is that Gothic window stamp?  Mom got it for me (in a set with an awesome door design too) when she was out in Washington state taking another Seth class.  I swear we're not stalking him.  We're just groupies.

Day 2 was actually a class we were supposed to take back in February, but it got snowed out.  It's called Brick by Brick, and this class was a little more project-oriented, though we learned a lot of cool painting techniques and did a lot of, er, sharing.

Pardon the shadow of the window here, this is my painted paper.

Detail of the painted paper after a few more layers of fun.

All that beautiful paper........

And this is what it became!  Sorry, I can't tell you how we did it, you'll have to take the class.

Even the sides of the canvas are covered.

 

Doing all of this collaging and such, I went through an entire little jar of matte gel medium.  I'm not quite sure exactly how much of it ended up on my hands, but it seemed like a lot -- I wasn't sure I would EVER get it all off.  And if there's one thing I hate, it's having sticky hands.  But you know what?  For all of the fun we had, all the stuff I learned, and the two complete works of art I ended up with, I think it was totally worth it.

Almost There...

Funny how having another pair of Seth Apter classes coming up makes me want to get my 52 Card Pick Up deck finished.  And I'm so close to finishing.  Though one card at least will have to wait, because today I ordered a new stamp that just needs to be included somewhere in the deck.  Anyway, here's what I've done over the past two nights.  Tomorrow, there will be new art to post!

 

 

 

 

After tonight's efforts, there are only 5 cards left to do!

Approaching

Quick lunchtime post.  Last night I finally got back to my studio table and back to my 52 Card Pick Up cards.  I'm approaching the end of the deck!  It's been over a year since the class, so I guess it's past time, right?  I got 5 done last night.

I think this is my favorite of the five.  That stamp is one that my mom got me while she was away for a week-long workshop with Seth Apter and Orly Avinieri.

 

 

The other thing that's approaching is another weekend of Seth Apter classes!  I can't wait.  Maybe I'll even be able to finish the deck by then!

Out of Hibernation

*yawn* Oh.  *blink, blink*  Hi.  I hope I haven't completely lost you guys.  I know, I haven't posted anything since Christmas.  Ugh.  Lazy blogger.  In my defense, though, there's a lot I haven't been doing, because it's Winter and I don't deal well with Winter.  It makes me not want to do anything.  I even slow down on art-making. 

This year, though, a tragedy kicked my butt into gear and inspired me to take my art more seriously and devote more time to creating.  Since then, I've been trying to keep my momentum up, and while there have been stretches of days when I haven't done any art, I've mostly been keeping up. 

Blogging, though, I haven't caught up on til now.  So I'm just going to show off some of what I've been doing with my art time, and pledge to blog a little more frequently from here on out.

I'm also trying to work on making some stencils, very slowly.  Got a few stamps I want to carve, too.  And some sewing to do.  As usual, I'm either doing nothing or I'm doing everything.  Maybe one of these days I'll learn to pace myself.

Giving and Receiving

Hello Pocketeers, long time no see!  Sorry I haven't blogged in a few months.  I have been making things, though, so I'd like to catch up a little.  Most of what I've been making has been for a swap group I joined on facebook.  Most of the swaps I've signed up for in the group have been ATCs, but I've done a couple of tag swaps.  Here's some of what I've sent out:

Black Cat ATC

Tea Time tag

 

These sets were for an Earth, Wind, and Fire ATC set swap with a group of 5 of us.

An Apple A Day tag

Christmas Tree ATC

 

It's kept me busy.  I've done a bit of my own stuff, though.  I started a cigar box with the apple themed papers from Authentique from a year or two ago...  You can see it in the photo from the last post.  And I've done a few of my 52 Card Pick-Up cards:

I'm only making one Christmas present this  year, and I can't really show it too much of course, but here are some sneaky previews of my super sneaky secret project:

I have yet to make my gift tags, but I'll post those once I make them.  I'm excited for Christmas, but this year I haven't done much Christmas art.  It's taken a while to get into the spirit.  And my art space is such a mess, it's not very pleasant to work in right now, so I haven't been as active in general.  Ah, well.  I'll get it cleaned up and get in there more often soon!  In the meantime, I plan to share some Christmasy stuff with you this week.  See you soon!