A Couple Christmas Cards

I am not much of a card person - while I used to send out store-bought Christmas cards to my friends, most of them didn't do that, so I didn't get many in return.  These days, about the only Christmas cards I do are handmade ones for the members of my paper arts group.  I want to be creative rather than bored, so each card is different.  Here are a couple from this year's bunch:

fabric collage

I started this in a class I took at CREATE art retreat in Chicago this summer, taught by Elin Waterston.  There is a picture of it as a work in progress in her blog:
http://willlovelogic.blogspot.com/

Tracks of India

Pearl Ex backgrounds

A Yahoo group for mixed-media artists, Cloth, Paper, Studio,is discussing art supplies one buys and then forgets what they were for.  Pearl Ex was mentioned and I brought up the technique of spraying dark paper (textured is best) with spray starch, sprinkling a little Pearl Ex and manipulating with a sponge brush.  Really simple!  I've scanned some of the papers I've done although the metallic sparkle doesn't photograph that well:

Back from CREATE

I didn't go to CREATE last year because it is scheduled so soon after Pennsic, but since I can't go to Art Is... this year (they've scheduled it with Saturday falling on Yom Kippur), I thought I'd give it a try.  The classes I took were interesting and enjoyable, but I didn't manage to get much finished.  However, during the Encaustic ATCs class, I got the materials and the advice to finish something I'd started at Art Is... last fall.

Elizabeth Regina

I also completed an abstract ATC in that class.

Back from Pennsic

I meant to post something before I left for 2 weeks to a large medieval re-enactment camping event, but there is so much to pack and so much to organize that I didn't get to it.  I did do some art work while I was there but didn't finish anything, so I will put up a picture from a couple years ago that is thematically appropriate.

Gothic Architecture

Okay, this isn't medieval

After titling this blog Medieval Mixed Media, the first new thing I have to post isn't medieval at all but based on the 1920s.  I made the background in a class that I took with Serena Barton ( http://www.serenabarton.com/index.php ) and added the lady in the lower left corner and all of a sudden, I was in the Roaring Twenties.

Jazz Age

First Post

Well, here it is - I finally have a blog!  I realize I'm at least 5 years behind the times and everyone else is doing social media now but I just wanted a place where I could post my artwork and have it easily available to friends all over the country or right here in Erie, PA.

Things may change, but I envision this as mainly a blog of pictures rather than a description of my home life, my travels or my cats.  I tend to work slowly so don't expect frequent posts - there will be a new one when I have something to show you.

This is called "Death Comes to the Magic Castle".  The background is acrylic paint, the castle is an inkjet print of the Victorian engraving colored with Pan pastels and the tree and part of the sun are made with Golden soft molding paste put through a stencil.  The skeleton figures are from an illuminated French manuscript on the Dance of Death, found online, printed and cut out.