Background Fix Up

 

Have you ever completed a project and then wished you could change something about it?  For me, this little chickadee is one of those projects.  I never did like the background.  My color teacher would say this piece has "background fatigue".  It's all the same, doesn't have any interest, doesn't allow your eye to move through the piece, it's dull - blah, blah, blah.  So, I decided to try to "fix it".

 

Here is what I did.

 



 

I took a piece of deli paper and created a mask by tracing and cutting around my subject matter.

 

I then took a handmade stamp I created using fun foam and a plastic placemat and determined which section I wanted to use.  The placemat is pretty big so I only needed to use a small section which I painted blue and printed on to the background.  The deli paper kept the chickadee safe from blue paint and allowed the stamp to appear to be continuous behind the bird.



 





I added Christmas postage stamps, glass dots to the holly, and small circles cut out of tissue paper.  Much better! 

Lesson learned - If you don't like it, find a way to fix it.

DIY Christmas Tree Collage

I have built up my art inventory enough that I feel more comfortable applying for art shows.  As some of you may know, booth fees for these shows can range from very reasonable to quite expensive.  For the past few shows, I have created a small, inexpensive product for the sole purpose of covering the booth fee.  What better project for my upcoming December Art Market than a few Christmas tree collages.  Here is how I made them.

 

In an effort to use my "stash" of odds and ends canvases, I created these trees on 9 X 12 flat canvases that I already had on hand. I sprayed the canvases down with water and used two different blue inks to create the base background color.  After the ink had dried, I splattered and dripped acrylic paint to complete the background.

 

 

 I painted a quick guideline for my paper collage to help me gauge the tree shape.

 

 I collaged the trunk of the tree with a variety of brown papers.  Next up, I took my green papers and began to tear them into slightly curved strips of different lengths. When I had a nice pile of green "pine needles" I started to place them individually using soft gel as an adhesive starting at the top of the tree and working my way down to the bottom overlapping papers and filling in blank spots as I went along.  Adding Christmas postage stamps, glass dots, scrabble tiles, and paper stars completes the look. 



 

Fast and fun!

 





A Dream for Nola

One of the wonderful things about being an artist is the creative community you can develop right in your own backyard.  When a fellow creative told me about her granddaughter, Nola Carter, I knew I had to do something to help.  Baby Nola has a rare, terminal disease called Sanfilippo Syndrome.  Sanfilippo is a genetic disorder that causes progressive damage.  Many of the children affected with this disease will not live beyond their teenage years.  While some parents dream their daughters will become productive adults with adventurous hearts, Nola's parents dream that she will speak their names, run with other children, and live to be the woman she was created to be.

Because her disease is so rare, funding for research is slow in coming.  Nola's parents have taken on the momentous task of raising funds for a clinical study of Sanfilippo Sydrome that will begin late in 2014.  Nola is the youngest child ever to be diagnosed with Sanfilippo and her participation in these trials could be life altering.

I created this collage for Nola that will be auctioned at an upcoming fundraising event in November.  Prints will also be available in the near future with all proceeds going to Team Nola.  Learn more about how you can participate in Team Nola fundraising by liking Team Nola's Facebook page here.

Here are a few detailed views of the finished piece: