Playing With Plaster.....Again

I love painting on plaster, and happily spent my day painting these two leaves.

                       

I enjoy wrapping the painting around the edge of the piece.

                                         

My husband made me a supply of wooden cradle boards that I can add a layer of plaster to before painting.  I love the look of the plaster with tiny holes, gouges and not quite straight edges.   Unfortunately, I have run out of plaster, and the plaster store is 100 miles (160 kms) away, so even though I am in the mood to play some more, it will have to wait.

Little Bits

 Last week, I challenged myself to make something with bits and pieces that were laying around my desk.  It was a bit of a way to clean up and not clean up at the same time.

Here are the two pieces that happened.

 Using tea bags, strips of paper, paint, ink, lace, copies of images I had drawn, paste wax, and my sewing machine, I made this little creation. 

 I love making pieces that can stand on there own.  No need for framing.  I also enjoy working small, and the element of opening something.  This piece fits all three of those things, as it can be tied shut (as seen in the first image) and stand up, or displayed open.  I also like the tattered, aged look, as well as using whatever supplies I have on hand.  And so with this one finished, I decided to make another one. 

 This one was decorated with layers of paint, paper, fabric, ink, tea bag etc. and then I sewed leaves and other ragged style stitching onto it.

 It can sit closed as well.....

 or open to show the bird inside. 

 I love birds, and I drew this one some time ago.  I transfered the black and white image to a tea bag that I then painted onto with pan pastals to give it just a light layer of colour.  Once it was all put together, I added a layer of paste wax inside and out.

I hope to add these two pieces to my etsy store in the next day or so. 

Journal Pages

 I continue to work on decorating pages and writing in my journal.  I like the way the pages look when they are filled with writing. 

 Here are a couple more pages that I decorated and are ready for me to add some words too.

I used a copy of the flowers I drew to decorate this page.  

This page is really out of my comfort zone.  It was an assignment that was part of the journaling online course that I took with Judy Wise.   

These words were words on Judy's page, and I thought they were perfect to include here.

Constant State of Becoming

This piece is one that is presently on my desk.

I started it many months ago. It is a painting on a plaster covered cradle board.

and although it has had many different looks I forgot to take pictures along the way.

This is how it looks today. I am not sure if it is finished or not

as she, like me is in a constant state of becoming....

I did hang her on the wall to take a picture .... which usually means the piece is done, but I have taken an "on the wall picture" of her three times already, (which I deleted so I don't have them to share) and continued to add to her. I will leave her for a while and see what she becomes....

I Wear a Smile

Do you remember this little chair I made out of wire and plaster and a bit of twine?

Well I had been thinking about making a little book to put on this little chair. But then something wonderful happened.

A beautifully addressed envelope arrived for me in the mail. Inside it was this lovely little handmade book (made out of a tea bag!) made by my friend Norma.

Each page is beautiful

and holds

so many treasures.

I love each and every page.

Now I have the perfect book for my chair.

I only have to decide if I should put the book on the chair....

or beside it.

Thank you Norma, I LOVE it!

Spring Time Flowers

Although we still have a couple of feet of snow, the sun is warmer, and we have lots of daylight. It is now light to 10pm! So it is feeling spring like, and I wanted to have some spring time flowers.
So I took the drawing I just finished, and drew it onto a tea bag that I then added colour to.

A New Drawing

Here is my new drawing. I love the look of old botanical drawings, and have been spending a bit of time each day working on this one. The shading doesn't show up as well here as it does in my sketch book.

After I drew it I played with it a bit on my computer....

and will probably use it in a few creations down the road....

Continue On

I continue on - healing from a concussion. The only creative thing I am doing lately is working on journal pages as I also continue to take a course from the amazing Judy Wise.
Here are some pages that I painted and decorated, and are waiting for me to write on them.

On the bottom of this page I stuck part of a tag that was on my new jeans. It says "this product is made from the finest materials and designed to move naturally with your body." I thought those words worked so well for my new journal.

Judy talks about the importance of including your own work on journal pages, so I included a copy of a painted face that I tore and added some paint and scribbles too.

This page went in an entirely different direction, but I loved doing it. I am excited to add my thoughts by writing (hopefully daily) on each of these pages.

One of the things Judy showed us how to do was to make a stencil of ourselves, so that is me smiling away on the corner of that page.

I found this artwork in the newspaper with an article about a women who fell when skating and is struggling to heal from a concussion. I knew it had to be included in my journal.

Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

All you need to make these beautifully dyed eggs
is some onion skins,

some white eggs, and a pair of old nylons that you cut the legs out of.

Each egg turns out so beautiful. Last year I wrote a post with instructions on how to make these (you can find it here). And since Easter is only two weeks away, I thought I would show you these eggs with some time to gather what you need in case you want to join me in making some.

I have found that it doesn't make a difference in the colour on the egg whether you use the red onion skins or the yellow ones. What does make a difference is how tightly you hold the peels against the egg, so I always nestle them as tightly as I can. When the eggs are finished, I then rub them with a paper towel that has a little vegetable oil on it. This gives the eggs a nice sheen.

I always love how they turn out.