her vision. family. art.

target. the end result

nothing left to the imagination on this piece. it is what it is. so for those of you who love my hunting art -here's another one! this is pretty cool. the background color/olive is actually the wall paint on my downstairs! i distorted it with black acrylic and a rag; randomly blotting, wiping... until i was happy with the end result. i used different tones of olive and greens to accent; alcohol inks and acrylics. what i love about working with sport/hunting elements is the fact that the end result i'm going for is grunge. no room for mistakes, and i just go with whatever i feel. sport artwork isn't and can't be glamorous... it is what it is. raw. real. or it doesn't work. the stamped letters are done in red alcohol ink. on the left/along the hunting photos of ethan and bobby i used pieces of a hunting tag that i stained with green alcohol ink. i cut/tore the tag into strips. the photos are identified with numbers 1 and 2, which go with the hunting dates -also written in dip pen and ink on strips of masking tape along the right side of the collage. the photos were distorted some around the edges with my heat gun. the numbers were circled using bleach and the cap to an ink bottle. mixed into the background is also a piece of a local Missouri conservation map stained with a mix of olive acrylic and water. i tape transfered a Missouri conservation logo and layed it over the top of the cut-out words URBAN HUNTERS. which identifies my 'city(urban)' hunters. i added a compass and with the black ink and dip pen, added my own arrows and letters N,S,E,W. i think it just added to the compass.  the best element is the actual turkey feather that i wrongfully and VERY CAREFULLY pulled out of one of bobby's mounted turkey fans!!!! i know -I KNOW! but it's art. *some of my friends are shaking their heads about now, and some are saying rock out girlfriend!  ( laughing right now )

like i said, focus on the end result.

it's all good. slm.

XO

sunday night. and i'm getting into some SLM time. i didn't get much artwork done this weekend...   but i will post this very simplistic XO st.valentine tag i made for my manfriend. it's pretty cool in real life. my usual distressing, layering and overkill useage of dyes. my new obsession of using ink/dip pen for my writing.....   yes, the photo is of my tattoo. it was taken during a photo shoot i did for a book project a year ago. it was an SLM piece. (coming out in Lifelines/march07). i stained the photo with red alcohol ink for this. it's fun.  i did make some headway in the studio area -in the form of cleaning/organizing...   you know, basically putting away everything i've had spread out from my last few projects! massive mess. as i'm typing this something funny just came to mind...    my manfriend is into street car racing..   rebuilding a camaro right now, and his garage is so fricking neat/organized... one night he said to me 'i bet your studio is like my garage...  neat and organized so you know where everything is'.........    i laughed, but was honest and told him that wasn't the case at all. it just isn't the same concept...    i have to have everything in front of me; around me so i know what i have, and for visual inspiration. i tried to organize once. doesn't work for me in art. ;-)

fyi: thanks for the fab feedback on the adventureous scrapbooker book (see post below). artists are picking this up and emailing me how much they are stoked with -ALL- of the artists' work inside! that's pretty cool. k...     cheers to a good week/slm

st valentine

happy st valentine week! these are the valentines i made for the boys. i cracked up when i found this valentine photo card at barnes and noble- 2 nostalgic wrestlers who seemed to be taking great pride in their photo op!! >laff. i copied the card onto acetate, then placed the image onto pattern-script paper. the cards are actually sitting inside plastic sleeves. i stapled the 'X,O's"(metal letters i stained with alcohol ink) and stamped the red angel wings onto the sleeve itself. the rest of the design is on the cards. i was going to cut out the boys' faces and place them on the images, but i didn't want them to throw the cards away!! -and they would!   here's a closer visual. these really are dang cool in real life. (i photographed both cards; sideXside, and didn't realize that the card on the right photographed really bad until now)

today was seriously productive- my whole house is CLEAN. laundry COMPLETE. i actually COOKED, shopping at target' (i actually cringe every time i walk into that place because i know i'm going to spend some serious money- after today's spree, my kitchen table is completely re-embellished- and i LOVE it). i also discovered a new candle that is awesome -mango papaya- from Pier1.        -AND, after all that, i still got some artwork done!

i finally got my comp copy of the adventurous scrapbooker this week. hardback. and it's so awesome. katherine aimone and lark books did a fab job on this gig. the photography is amazing, and the artwork/journals WOW-ed me. every one of them. I LOVE THIS BOOK. the players are a group of very talented ladies, including my dear friend sarah F., and the hip and talented denise L.!!

here are a couple of visuals i shot of the 2 journals i did for the book.  

i know you can pick this up at amazon.com. i <think> it's 24.95. worth the bucks.

happy st valentine day (wednesday)

slm

Random

i have to start this by saying...  my boys really do smile!!!  and they're beautiful! it's just that they think that when they smile in a photo, they look like 'dorks'. go figure...   hence, no smiles. every once in a while i get a good, natural smile-   but it's very 'random' that happens..         i finally busted out some artwork with COLOR. i found that working out of my norm gave me the boldness i needed to just let go. i wasn't expecting anything which made the end result even cooler! anyone familiar with my artwork knows that this is not my usual gig. i've always related color to DRAMA. and that's just not something i relate to. i love to see bold art with color, it's just not my own style to do it. i'm more comfortable working in neutral colors- natural.    the more simplistic...  the better. yes, my art is a -little- extreme..   but in my mind it's toned down with the neutral. my issues of working with color is something i want to get past, and start to add more of in my art. i was inspired to do this when i read a recent article in Legacy mag. written by Nancy Elliott. her artwork is amazing.  this is actually a very simplistic piece. i used a hardback book cover and added the photo of the boys and i (taken at my brother's at Christmas). then i surrounded the pix with modeling paste and used a stamp to impress some dimension. the handwriting is done with black ink and a dip pen. it reads : unconditional. my heart and soul is here. in these two boys. Us 3. the heart came to play for life here.  my truth, wisdom, courage. Love. my soul. Always- no matter who... or what comes into play!  i can't say it any better- i'm crazy in love with my kids!  the color element is a mixture of alcohol inks and acrylics. i used some gold jewelry rings to bend around the corners for a little POP. again.. anything went here..

i did this other piece for my brother . His business; Millhouse AEP is celebrating it's first year mark. SO cool, and i'm so proud of him. These photos are of a recent hitting clinic he put on with Albert Pujols. the photos i used in this piece focus on some important people and influences;elements in chris' business and personal life. (i didn't get a photo of my sis-n-law in here, and she supports and PR's my bro's business immensely! she's the rock in his world...   and with my 3 nieces hanging off of her most of the time! laff..)    seriously tho, she's amazing.  the upper rt hand side is a photo of chris and one of his life mentors, his high school wrestling and baseball coach, who was recently inducted into the wrestling HOF. the bottom right is eth hitting at the clinic.  the upper/middle photo is Albert signing a painting, and the upper left photo is an overall shot of the people inside chris' building during the clinic. parents mostly.         this is simple. i used the shell of a hardback book; front/spine/back all still attached, and covered it with reynolds wrap. i added the photos and 2-3 layers of beeswax. i wrote Millhouse down the left side with a stylus when the beeswax was still pliable, the same with the AEP. i used black and red acrylics to fill in the random divits and lettering. wipe away, and i have another piece of SPORT artwork using the same color scheme that i always do!!! seriously, i wonder if i'll ever do sports photos with colors other than black and red!!!  ? anyway, i left some of the reyonds wrap exposed for a little color contrast.. and there's some mesh encased in the beeswax along the lower left hand side. it just adds to the baseball gig. i finished this with another layer of beeswax and smoothed it randomly with my heating iron.

i need to get into a deep project this weekend- i have some new photos of eth wrestling last week, so i'm going to start on his 2006/07 grapple journal. last year i made his wrestling journal from cd's- see it here. it's also published in the new book The Adventureous Scrapbooker (couldn't find the link) by Lark Books. it should be available here though. i have no idea what i'll come up with for this year's grapple journal...   but you can only imagine! (wink)

here's a few pixs of eth i shot the other night.

 

nice finish to a great match. i'm still working on that indoor flash issue-    but i did get a few good shots to work with.

-now i just need to get that freeflow creative rush going on! i'm feeling it...    but the visual isn't quite there yet..