Sending some love…

So I’ve been playing with several things in the studio lately, today it only seems natural to share some “heart art” with you! I am slowly working my way back to creating more batik artwork. I took a break for several months but know I’ll be wanting new work for an upcoming show so I started playing with it again yesterday. Instead of creating on plain white paper this time I am using colored paper or paper with natural elements embedded in it. I also decided not to draw out and color in the designs with ink first but to preserve some of the paper color by painting the design on with wax instead. This was my second attempt at a heart, I stressed the paper out too much with the first one and it crumbled into pieces after the second waxing. Ooops!

I did go in after it dried and add some marks and lines. I like how loose and easy-going it ended up!

While I was in the studio I played with a new heart stencil (plus a couple others) in one of my journals…along with some “blendable” inks. It turned out cute enough for my first attempt.

I like it but…well, I just couldn’t help but do some digital editing on it. I know there are a lot of people out there that don’t necessarily enjoy Valentine’s Day. I don’t have strong feelings about it either way, I try to let the people that I love know they are loved all year round so I don’t get very extravagant celebrating just one day! Anyhow, the more I played with the image in Photoshop it morphed into a “dark” version…just for those that aren’t into the happy pink & red hearts or sentiments.

Enjoy the day…however you celebrate (or don’t). With love,

Your Randomly Creative Friend,

Lynne

P.S. If you are out & about and happen to be in the area, the RED show opens tonight at Flourish Gallery, 88 Morgan Street, Martinsville, Indiana. I have art in the RED show and a selection of items for sale in the gallery too. I’ll be there from 2 p.m. till around 7 p.m.

Stamp it up!

Last weekend in the studio I decided to do a little side project while I was there. I’ve got a nice stash of scrap wood from the studio construction that I’ve squirreled away so I dipped into it and pulled out a selection of different size pieces. I spent a few minutes with my hand sander knocking off the rough edges (I hate getting splinters!) before I continued.

Then I rounded up the rest of the materials I’d need:

A sheet of block printing foam, white glue

Pen, ruler, scissors, hole punches

Exacto knive/Cutting mat

The first step was to trace around the blocks of wood on the block printing foam and cut them to size, at least for the first few.

For the larger two stamps I created the designs with a pen, the rest I just kind of “winged” as I went along. After drawing the design I marked out the pieces I’d be removing from the foam with the exacto knife.

I kept all the removed/marked pieces to use on the second large stamp. I felt like I should seal the wood somehow before adding the foam so I sprayed the wood block with some clear spray paint. After assembling that stamp it dawned on me that by covering the entire surface with glue that was probably enough of a seal so I skipped that step on the rest of the pieces. One or two already had paint on them so they were going to be fine anyhow. The gluing was easy and straightforward, the drying time always takes the longest!

For the second stamp I used the cut-aways and arranged them randomly. With the pen marks they leave a fun print! The next few stamps were all random lines and curves to fit the sizes of the stamps.

The last two stamps I brought out a few hole punches. Circles, holes, dots, squares and rectangles, all just willy-nilly random fun.

I ended up with eight new stamps for just a bit of work, a few materials and a little time. The best part? No one else has one like them. 🙂 Later this week I’ll share some of the prints I made with these new stamps and a gelli plate that added the fun colors you see in the top image!

Hugs,

Lynne