Just so Dang Snotty!

So here I am making "SNOT" aka...Sodium Alginate. This stuff is so dang slimey so it got me thinking... Its Halloween so why not pull some practical jokes... don't you think that would be fun? I could dress up in my Ghostly costume.. walk up to the little kiddies and sneeze on them and thow a handfull of this stuff at them... whatcha think? LOL... Ok time to be funny...what ideas would you come up with. Here is a pic of me My Son and our Neighbors son one year from halloween... do you know how many white trashbags it takes to cover a man? LOL

How could you not love these beauties!

I meant to post this a few weeks ago.. Max, Maggie and Milo all getting ready to go to the groomers! Now if they would only act as sweet as they look :)

New Book Highly Recommended

I received my new book by Rayna Gillman. I have drooled over this multiple times already. There are several books that I have in my library that are my mainstay's. Meaning I refer to them often. I have to say this is certainly one of those books! Rayna has done a fantastic job breaking down the steps and takes the "worry" from creating such amazing cloth. The details and the pictures all in this one book definately becomes one of those encyclopedia type books that will be referenced by me for many years to come! One day Rayna I'm sure we will get to meet one another. The writing and how you have put this all together is just top notch! Click on Rayna's name above and ask for a signed copy! What a way to keep a treasured book to come!

OOOOH Don't you just love a shipment from Dharma

I just bet you can't guess what I'll be doing this weekend... I received today my shipment of MX Dye's from Dharma. When I was looking online I noticed they had a bunch of new colors. I'm not typically the type that will order all the colors as I prefer to mix my own but I thought why not lets give it a try.. so here are the colors I ordered.

Oxblood Red.. Reds seem to be so hard so I'm always willing to try a good red.

Rust Brown... Now you know me.. Oranges and brown go hand in hand :)

Emerald Green... Could it be the series from Wicked has its influence on me.

Imperial Purple.. doesn't that just sound majestic!

Ecru... a good light beige should be fun to play with and mix in with other colors

Palomino Gold.. Ok maybe the horse track is getting to me?

Brazil Nut.. now My wife calls me nutty all the time.. I just couldnt resist!

Mink Brown.. no animals were hurt in this!

Sage Green...ok I'm drawing a witty blank on this color.. WHY??????????

Camel... Just no humps on this

Strong Navy.. I'm typically not a blue person.. but deep rich colors will get my attention

Seafoam.... WHY!!! I know its because of a special project I"m working on and that could be the ONLY reason why!

Mist Gray.. cant wait to try this one out..

Truffle Brown.. sounds Yummy

Caribbean Blue... Cruise here I come!

Jade Green... WHY????????? another special project LOL

Moss Green... just as long as no toadstools pop up I'm good!

Thats all for now... more this weekend!

New Sketch Journal

Attached is a picture of my new Sketch Journal. I some the skills I learned from Fran Skiles in the Retreat and covered a blank sketch journal.

I started by tearing construction paper into strips and then glued those down overlapping using Gloss Gel Medium.

Then I applied a decal that I had made from 3" wide packing tape and applied that to a few black and white copier images and rubbed off the white. I find I like this done before adding any shear layers to the piece as it takes away the really shiny look that you get if you just place it as the last layer.. Note Tree on the left.

Then I appled a shear organze silk that I had done a color wash on from the retreat using liquid acrylics watered down alot. After the shear was down I took some of my hand dyed fabric that I had done and tore it into small strips and laide it down with the gloss gel medium. At the end I used black gesso and made markes all over the piece.

I think its cool and hopefully now I can motivate myself to use this tool to get my ideas out of my head!

Fabrications Retreat

Below are a few pieces that I had completed while taking Fran Skiles class at the Fabrications Retreat in Lewiston Michigan. I really enjoyed a lot of different techniques that I learned and will start incorporating them more and more in my work. What I enjoyed so much about this class was the fact that I left "NOT" creating what the teacher created.. I wasn't making a copy but making it my own art instead of replicating what she had done! If you ever have the opportunity to take her class... DO IT!!! You will not be dissapointed, just be ready to learn the process instead of trying to lay it all out in your head first. A big lesson for me and I thought that was worth the cost of admission alone!

I just love the movement in this piece. We started by Random Stitching on Duck cloth with heavy thread, then painted the back with gesso. Then we started layering using the new best friend. Gloss Medium gel. B&W pictures were used as well to place imagery on the piece, we used inks mixed with the textile medium, glack gesso, and used fluid acrylic paint to add color and texture for each layer.
















This piece I used photo's that I had converted to B&W in photoshop and did some editing. Also in this I added some of my own hand dyed fabric as a layer along with a layer of sheer silk that once its painted with the gel medium it is almost completely transparent. We also learned to make Decals by laying 3" Duck brand packing tape over our image. submersing it in water and then rubbing away the white part of the paper. Truely amazing. Another technique was using water color crayons and drawing or rubbing on Pellon Stitch and tear then using the gel medium over the top of the image to screen the image onto the piece or onto chinese tissue paper.

This piece has about 6 layers on it and is quite thick like a "skin" as Fran calls them.





So some of my new best friends from this retreat are... Cathy Arnett... Thanks for making a guy feel so welcomed to a group of fantastic women! Cathy you need to post! :)

Mary.. My twin sister separated at birth.. The more I learn about you.. the more I keep asking my mom.. are you sure I was not a twin? :)

Lynn.. I just can't go without saying AGAIN.. I'm ready to load up your pieces just in case your not happy with them!

These 3 young women had me in stitches all the time... and we had several.. "PMP" Moments!

I also can't go without saying I'm looking forward to next year when I will be taking Laura Cater-Woods Class.

Off for now... back to work :)

I've been Tagged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gosh Darn it !@%$*=&

Cathy Arnett, one of my new many new friends from the Fabrications Retreat in Michigan has tagged me... so here goes... First I will post the rules..

The rules are as follows:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6.Let the tagger know your entry is up.


Random Things:
1. In General I'm very extroverted, but as far as showing my art work I'm an introvert to the extreme!
2. My Wife is the Love of my life! Without her I could not be the man I am today.
3. I enjoy making new friends and tend to find friends with a lot in Common... Yes Mary, I'm talking about you!
4. I love being the teachers pet!
5. I think I'm really funny.. all the time..
6. My wife doesn't think I'm funny ... at all!

6 People I'm Tagging:

Terri Kirchner... Ok Girl your turn!
Mary... Who must have been my twin seperated at birth... We just had too many PMP moments in case you don't know thats "Pee'd my pants"
Carol Myers... Truely and inspiration!
Rayna... To the woman who makes her art work seem effortless! I truely love your book!
Teri Springer.. What a hoot you are Teri.. so glad we finally met!
Kate Madeloso Its been too long since we have connected... I'm getting back in the studio finally!


Whew that was painful! More later about the retreat.

The Adventures of Gonad the Barbarian

Gonad infiltrated the Fabrications Retreat in Lewiston Michigan This week and does he have some adventurous stories to report. More to report later tonight but thought I would at least give you a heads up to stay tuned....