Greeting Cards

Two of my latest greeting cards for personal use. I love being able to do this for friends and family. This style is something I've seen and admired on Facebook and Pinterest and it's fairly easy to do. In this case I used Yupo rather than paper so there would be no buckling. I laid down a layer of indigo fluid acrylic with a sponge roller. When it was dry several small stencils and a few homemade stamps were used to cover the entire surface with patterns using 3-4 harmonious colors of fluid acrylic. I used white chalk to outline my subjects and filled in the surrounding areas with more acrylic, this time in a solid color. After the basic designs were in place I went back in to tweak and clean up. Voila!

Christmas Cards 2016

I'm actually making some Xmas cards this year. It's been a few years since I made them. Not sure how many, I'll have to check. Anyhoo, this a sampling of my work thus far. Lots of collaging, stenciling, painting, inking, stamping...you name it. This sort of thing does not come natural to me, I'm discovering. I watched numerous videos on Youtube of artists whipping together these amazingly creative gems of art full of energy and fun and almost childlike exuberance. However when I faced the proverbial blank piece of paper I agonized over placement, color, intent...I took the fun right out of it. Not to mention that I'm short on technique when it comes to some of these materials. Sadly, lack of confidence always shows. Still I persevered and things haven't turned out so bad after all.  Merry Christmas!

Just starting out

The aftermath. Yikes

Feathers ~ #5

Yesterday I played with my feathers again, coating them on one side with walnut ink and using them as stamps. Afterward I embellished with more ink, Quin. gold and phthalo turquoise watercolor. This one is also a small work, roughly 4" x 5".