News from the Mushroom - stamp

 

"News from the Mushroom"

Hand-made stamp - Here's my process!

I used a Speedball lino cutter and a sheet of Speedball Speedy-Carve.

I sketched a group of mushrooms right on the Speedy-carve with a pencil.

I inked the sheet before cutting, it makes the process easier. I just opened the stamp pad and rubbed it right on the sheet and then wiped off the excess. I started with the wide blade and cut away the background. Afterwards, I used the smaller blades for finer details.

When I was happy with the stamp, I cut away the excess with scissors.

I used two colors of Memento Ink for my first stamping. 

One for the stems and one for the 'shroom tops.

I actually inked the stamp and put it right side up on the bird page to the right. Then I closed the page on the left over it. I rubbed the page really well with my fingers and the heel of my hand.

Voila! I think I will leave the extra marks. I like the texture.

I added the words with a store-bought letter stamp set. 

Embellies

I found these canvas stickers in my stash. They are from a clearance bin at ACMoore. Cheap-cheap.

I used a brown Zig pen to sketch in the flower details.

A close up of one of the flowers.

The flowers have been colored in with Premiere Design Markers by Nicole. They are ready to go into the journal.

I used the Zig pen to trace around the flowers to ground them to the page. I used a marker to color in the background and then made the loose border.

Pennsylvania Fishes

These Pennsylvania Fishes are ready to paint. The top fish (Quillback) was drawn with a Stablio All Black pencil that reacts to water and the bottom fish was drawn with a 4B pencil.

Here are the fish painted with some very old Terry Madden watercolors that my husband bought used on eBay. These are NOT their true colors!

This is my favorite part of the painting - the head of the Bullhead. I can see different layers so I think that it looks like the technique that I have been practicing - glazing.

One Fish, Two Fish

Drawing fun fish inspired by Felix Scheinberger. These are ready for some watercolors!

I am using some very old Terry Madden watercolors that my husband bought used on eBay.

These fish are an exercise in the process of watercolor glazing! Maybe I need more practice!

This is another fun fish. This one was a practice in doing a watercolor wash.

Zentangle Wren

Another zentangle bird: The Wren. Tangling while watching t.v. Decided to try a "scribble background" for adding the information. Lots of fun to just scribble, scribble! The scribbles describe the legend of the wren who was thought to have betrayed the first Christian martyr,St. Stephen, so that he was caught and stoned to death for blasphemy against the Jewish temple. The wren is a clever bird in folklore who beat the eagle in the contest to be king of all the birds by hiding under the eagle's wing, and then, as the eagle tired, flew out and up to prove he could fly higher.  The Poet Waterford said of the wren "We were all day hunting the wren, We were all day hunting the wren, The wren so cute and cunning he stayed in the bush, While we were running."

Groundhog Day

"Is this current warm weather more than a trend? Perchance this winter has come to an end? There is no shadow to be cast, and early spring is my forecast!" Punxsutawney Phil, February 2, 2016

Derwent Inktense: Faded Love Affair?

When I bought these Derwent Inktense colored pencils in 2009, I loved the way they looked on the paper. And the colors were awesome! Then ugly rumors starting appearing on the webber-net. Rumors about that four letter word that begins with "F". Yes, you know what I'm talking about : FADE. Artists were kicking these pencils to the curb. Giving them away. Throwing them away! All because they said those bright yummy colors faded. Egads! What was I to do?  I decided to not make that decision, took a deep breath, and put the pencils carefully away in a drawer. 

Recently, I came across these kitty sketches that were done in back in 2009 during my happy days with the Inktense pencils. I was curious to see if they had faded at all. So I carefully took the pencils out of the drawer, cut off the edge of the paper that the sketches were done on, and made some color swatches.

I wish I had used more color on the original cats, but as far as I can tell, the orange, brown, and black have not noticeably faded over the last 6 plus years. Should I put it all away for another 6 years and then retest? Or just ignore the "F*@#" rumors? What to you think? 

Permission to Play

#permissiontoplay Working on a project for Carolyn Dube's class - making a cardboard journal in which you just have fun with the pages! This is one spread with collaged items: old almanac page, color chips form the hardware store, canvas stickers from the discount bin at ACMoore.

You can see that I have added lots of acrylic colors! But then I went a bit crazy...

And since NO ONE YELLED STOP! The result is not my fault. The leaves are real. I'm in love with corrugated cardboard. More collage, pentel pocket brush, a bit of shiny paint, spray inks, stencils, and whatever. Somewhere in there it does say "A beautiful age to be - 65". I decided to let the pages of the journal reflect the season's events. I'll be 65 years wise in a few weeks!

National Handwriting Day

 ‪#‎LamyLetters‬‪ #‎NationalHandwritingDay‬

When my son was 2 he went to sea in an old washtub!

Sense of Wonder

"June Bug"is a character from my journal that represents the child-like sense of wonder found in naturalists. I completed these pages last summer after finding a Painted Lady Butterfly in the backyard for the first time. I monoprinted with a Gelli plate, stamped, painted, and just had fun with art supplies.