Sunday, June 27, 2010

Sunday-10:15am

Rain, rain, go away...yippee!!!
Apparently we are supposed to be rain free for a few days. Ahhh!
Here's the second batch made with Cheap Joe's American Journey watercolors and sprayed with LuminArt's misting sprays--which do drip.
I wonder if you could kind of wrap the bottles with a paper towel to catch the drips?
I'll have to remember that next time I am spraying something larger than a regular card size. (Didn't have as much trouble with smaller items as the drips can miss the smaller card front.) I cut the two on the right side the same size as the last ones (2" X 5") and the rest 2" X 6".
I still really like the sheen it put on the paper.
And I don't mind the drips. Makes it look like I'm one of those carefree messy artists that are supposed to be the "real" artists...versus the anal/OCD artist's like me--hehe! [I always heard complaints in every art class in high school and college to "loosen up"!! Well-this is as loose as I get--ROFL!]
Okay. The moth adventure. I even got the camera before I let Karma loose after her moth "prey". Swallows were diving at it and then realizing it was on the other side of the screen. Probably what was getting Karma extra excited--the birds! I got this picture of her crying up at the moth...
...and a very quick zoom of the big moth...
...before Karma jumped up on the table, knocked it down, and pounced on it hard--before I could even get another shot off. I'm still surprised when she moves that fast--ROFL!
It crawled just a little...
...but the way it fell so readily off the screen, I think it might have been on its last legs. I left Karma with her plaything--gross! Circle of life, eh?
Ten minutes later...I don't know if she ate it or it crawled away. I know Karma was disappointed that it had no fight left in it, no fluttering, and it didn't even try to get away. Odds are it slowly crawled off to die someplace on the porch, but Karma isn't telling.
Later I tried the black Chinese ink stripes with my Schmincke tiny palette.
Didn't work like I had envisioned. Here it is dry. Wasn't very happy with this batch. I still had the paper too juicy--like you need to for the saran wrap technique.
I cut these all up at the 2" X 5" size...
...hoping a few of them might be salvageable.
I like the bolder ones, but the ones that have the blurry gray areas--not so much. Oh well, I really liked the first two batches and they can't all be home runs, right?
Well, this old watercolor block had something like 20 sheets in it--so I still have a lot to play with. And anything we don't like for bookmarks we can always recycle for future handmade paper. :)
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Anyways, I slept really well for half of last night. No pain pill. :) Hot muggy day today. Glad to be inside with my AC and fans.
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I might get the metallic acrylic paints out next time. I'm even thinking about some solid colored bookmarks. I remember a couple of them in solid metallic copper--back when we made them last time--and I liked those, too. Plus, you can use acrylics more like watercolors--can thin them down with water. Play! Play! ;)
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Hope you're having a really nice weekend. :):)
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"There is no large and difficult task that can't be divided into little easy tasks."
Buddhist Saying

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG I wish I could be saying rain rain go away we NEED rain so badly here. I love how your balcony is with the screen on it, thats nice. I also loved the second batch of the bookmarks there those colors are very pretty. :o)

AliceKay said...

The circle of life is everywhere.

Karma was pretty quick getting at that moth. (Super Karma!) :)

I liked how the paper sparkled in your second project. I can see the sheen. Very nice.

It's nice to see the blue skies and white puffy clouds in your pics. It was hot and humid here again today, and tomorrow is supposed to be hot with thunderstorms. We haven't had any thunderstorms yet today, but there are some around. There was just a weather alert crawling across the top of the tv screen for a TV station out of New York. There is a tornado warning in counties just north and west of where we live. I hope it doesn't drift south.

I liked today's quote. :)

Serena Lewis said...

I'm glad to hear you're in for a few days of sunshine.

Your bookmarks look great, Rita...I especially love the colours and design in the first pics of your post.

akartisan said...

sometimes when I am making paper like that, I outline some of the shapes with ink or acrylic paint in those bottles with the skinny tip on them just for a different effect, or I brush PearlEx powder on them with some water for a sheen - not everywhere, just in some places.

Also, letting you know I finally had some time to upload some photos in some new albums on facebook when you have a minute to look.

Rita said...

Lynn--I hope you get some of the rain soon! Leah and I put the screen on the recessed apartment "balcony" to make it into a "porch". I bought three cheap mesh screens to hang over a door from a catalog and sewed them together. We attached it with outdoor velcro--ran out on the bottom and just have some strips down there (which is how the bugs still crawl in). It is so windy up here that we had to hang it rather loosely so it had some give to it and it has been up for over four years now! Also put down some outdoor carpeting on the wood slats to keep out the bugs and make it feel like a solid floor--tacked it down with a few nails around the outside. This way I can prop the doors open and Karma can be "outside" and I don't have to worry about her falling three stories. Keeps most of the bugs out, too (have tons of mosquitoes up here). I love my litte porch! :):)

AliceKay--I'm glad you could see the sheen. It has more shimmer in person. :) Too many tornadoes this year! I hope you stay safe over there.

Serena--I really liked the first two batches, but not the next two. Oh well. I'll recycle the paper. ;)

Sue--Thanks! I'll go look at the photos. :)

Intense Guy said...

Hmmm... I got to go to the store and find Karma a more energetic moth to play with... Hmm.. maybe Neiman Marcus? Bloomingdales?

Durn, I hate a "high maintenance" cat.

:)

I think those green and gold bookmarks look incredible (and awesome!)

Toriz said...

I had a cat who did that. She'd literally climb the walls after a moth. She always ate them afterwards... When they couldn't play any more... Gross! Whenever I noticed her after a moth I'd make sure to stop watching - and, if possible, leave the room - after she caught it. Watching her chase it was amusing, but the rest wasn't as amusing, if you know what I mean.

Rita said...

Iggy--Had another really lively one in here last night and she went berserk! She was delighted, to say the least, for some real sport--hehe! I'm glad somebody likes the green blobby ones. ;)

Toriz--Karma runs leaping over furniture and trying to climb walls, too. And usually eats them--yuck! The look so dry and dusty--bleh! I don't care to watch her eat the moths or the flies, either. :)