A New Character

HELEN

Everyone knows that Helen is the cornerstone of her

neighborhood. She will pick up your children from 

school, feed your pets when you are away, console

you when you are overwhelmed, and bring you a

casserole when you are in need.

She loves vintage clothes and often refashions them

into rather odd outfits, but nobody cares. They seem

to suit her perfectly. She hums when she works, and

and sings slightly off-key. 

Her cheerfulness is contagious.

In spite of her kind heart, everybody knows

not to bother Helen on Wednesday nights.

For that is when she meets with Zeke, Ted,

Sal, Hank and Louie

in the back of Zeke's Auto Body Shop.

There they play a few hands of poker.

And she usually wins.

Porch Therapy

I love the little porch on the back of our house.

It is a 3 season, but I have an electric heater that warms it up in the winter.

The cats love it, too, as it catches the afternoon sun for their lounging pleasure!

There is an old butcher block table there that I never have to worry about messing up.

Today I set to work with some napkins, tissue paper and methyl cellulose wallpaper paste

and did some collaging. I started with a piece of freezer paper, shiny side up.

I ripped and cut the napkins and tissue, along with some scraps I had of 

handmade papers, layering them with the paste. The methyl cellulose 

was suggested by my collage class instructor, the great Amy Ropple.

I had some left over from our last class, so it was synchronicity! 

More layering...

And done! For now!

I carefully peeled it from the freezer paper when it was dry

and taped it onto the porch window for this picture,

You could also use Mod Podge for this, but the methyl cellulose

is less sticky and dries with a matte finish. I used a flat brush to spread it.

Later, I did a second collage, in a different color scheme.

I was inspired by this video by Suzi Dennis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu6MpTZf-0c

Hope you're having a very good weekend!

New Collages

I finished up a couple of collages in the last few days. The first included the pen and ink picture of my mom which I had made recently, done from a photo taken when she was 21 years old.

The second collage was based on a silk screen print of a leaf I made with the help of my friend Andrea, who is a surface design artist. 

On Saturday, Andrea and I gave a demonstration for members of our arts collaborative. Andrea did a great job showing how to silkscreen easily with an embroidery hoop and a piece of screening which can be purchased at an art supply store. She also explained more traditional methods.

These pictures aren't that great, but Andrea made it look pretty simple. I'm going to give it a try later this week and will do a post about it with better pictures.  

I did my part talking about collage, using examples of my own work and that of others. I have to say, we had the greatest group, with plenty of questions and lots of laughs. It helped that we knew nearly every person who walked in the door! It was a good experience and I definitely learned a lot!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend! 

Five Faces in Five Days - Day 4

Just finished up this Lady, whom I'll call the Catalog Queen. I used images from magazines and catalogs and had a good time with it. Tomorrow I'll post my final piece for this challenge!

March ATC Swap

I received this ATC from my friend Janice last week. It commemorates the St. Patrick's Day birthday of her brother, John Michael, when he was a little boy.

Janice tells me that she printed the photo on a transparency then softened the edges with a flame. I love the added stitching as well as the whole design, but most of all, the sweet look of expectancy on a little boy's face as he waits to blow out his birthday candle.

What a treasure!