blue and gray

blue and gray
Originally uploaded by paperwerks

just relisted on etsy. it's sister collage has been sold:)

an extra pair of hands

an extra pair of hands
Originally uploaded by paperwerks

birdonabranch

birdonabranch
Originally uploaded by paperwerks

my newest aceo.

framednotchontheleftside

framednotchontheleftside
Originally uploaded by paperwerks

this is what notch on the left side looks like framed. no mat, but i think the small collages do fine without. any opinions?

notch on left side

notch on left side
Originally uploaded by paperwerks

a tragic occurrance

i started to label this event as an accident, but i'm not much inclined to believe in them. there are so many things that happen in life that we deem accidents that we really have a hand in without recognizing or admitting.

my son, the sweetest boy on earth, is responsible for our pets. i have warned him repeatedly to close the lid on the cat food container. two weeks ago he forgot. again. only this time, the consequences were far more horrible than either of us would have imagined.

athena, our tortoise shell cat, apparently jumped into the container, and when she did, the lid slammed down. we came home hours later to a suffocated cat. and alex knowing that he had unintentionally killed his own pet. life teaches some incredibly difficult lessons.

abstract collage 1

abstract collage 1
Originally uploaded by paperwerks

this collage came about as a result of my determination to reuse everything possible in my art! i keep a small bowl on my art table just to hold small trimmings from other collages, and this was the result.

gelatin monoprinting

i'm between jobs and won't get a paycheck until late august -- so the fridge is pretty darned bare! so what better time to make a gelatin plate and experiment with some techniques that i've been wanting to try? the monoprint above is one i made a couple of years ago as part of a series. these will be listed in my etsy shop at www.paperwerks.etsy.com if you would like to check them out.

a couple of my other favorite gelatin print makers are mary buek, whose work i found on flickr. she's a fabulous collage artist, also. http://www.flickr.com/photos/19845158@N00/2365289612/. i also like kathleen garner, who includes very explicit instructions for gelatin printing on her website at http://harborview-arts.com/kathleen_garner/gelatin_printing.html.

crooked letter press is a place i return to frequently for inspiration. ellen knudson makes lovely, monoprints using a gelatin plate using stencils and a (mostly) subdued color palate. her gelatin prints are quite reasonable priced between ten and twenty-five dollars.

Poppy One

Gelatin Plate Monoprint.
Three colors. 10" x 11.25"

there is a lot worth looking at on her site, but the link to the prints is http://www.crookedletterpress.com/2Prints.html.

enjoy!

it's summer

i cut my hair off today (been letting it grow for over six months) and and dyed it mahogany. so to celebrate i'm haing an etsy sale -- www.paperwerks.etsy.com.

buy one aceo or 4" collage and get one of your choice for free!

happy summer!

art from nature

a few years ago my son and his best friend, who were about 8 at the time, constructed a sculpture in my driveway from large smooth stones, bricks, and cement blocks. i loved that sculpture both for the sponteneity they exibited while building it and the artistic expression of two little boys.

so when i ran across escher's flickr stream (richard shilling) it became one of my frequent stops. he makes art from nature in the vein of andy goldsworthy and is a talent in his own right.

you can get to the flickr photos of his work at http://www.flickr.com/people/escher1/
it's a destination well worth checking out, as is his blog at www.jrlandart.blogspot.com.

richard also has a book titled "land art." i will definitely be putting this on my wish list!



Land Art by Richard Shilling

enjoy! and while you are at flickr, don't forget to take a look at my photos there, too! http://www.flickr.com/photos/paperwerks/

new gift tags

these are my new tags made from one of my large collage sheets. they are 1 3/8s in diameter. i think this scan is sort of funny -- it makes me think of some kind of weird vegetable, like beets or something! i'll work some on getting better photos before i list these on etsy.

painting in progress

painting in progress
Originally uploaded by paperwerks

this is the beginning of a large (2' x 4') mixed media piece that i am doing on plywood. if anyone has any experience working on plywood, please share them with me! i'm not sure where this is going as a painting, but i know it is going to hang outside for the summer. my experiment in weathering, as it were:)

there are times

there are times
Originally uploaded by paperwerks

this is a painting that will most likely never go into my etsy shop. it's highly personal and a good reminder of where i have been and how much better things are now. that said, there were some happy accidents technique-wise and discoveries about some of the properties of the paint i was using that i would love to pursue working with again soon.

threebows

threebows
Originally uploaded by paperwerks

as i was going through my listings on etsy and looking at which collages to put on sale, i realized that this little aceo never got posted anywhere! i love the vintage orange and white fabric (thanks, randel! www.acollageaday.blogspot.com). the rest of the papers are all vintage scaps from my huge stockpile of papers. this will get posted in my etsy shop tomorrow:)

blueboy

blueboy
Originally uploaded by paperwerks

the second collage of the set, "blueboy."

pinkgirl

pinkgirl
Originally uploaded by paperwerks

my poor neglected blog. here you go -- a pair of collages.

google stuff i'm trying

google11cb58a273e8a426.html

a few more of my new moo cards

a few of my new moo cards
Originally uploaded by paperwerks

i went ummm, a little crazy, making my first set of moo cards. i think i made over 50 different designs! my two oldest friends came over yesterday -- one now lives in chicago and the other california -- and took a small stack each. it was a lovely afternoon.

oregonstreet

oregonstreet
Originally uploaded by paperwerks

this collage was made on a postcard blank made of watercolor paper by strathmore from my stash of found and vintage papers. the upper right hand corner has the return address from my package from printtroll, from when he sent my swarm. thank you, printtroll! not only do i have a wonderful swarm of miniprints, you provided some good collage material:)

s is for shoe

some of my best memories are spending monday nights, "art night," with my sister and one of my closest friends. we working in clay, painted, made collages -- anything that we wanted. at the time there was a wonderful art center where we could pay a nominal fee per night and use the space. it was also open pottery studio night, so we we joined by other creative types:) at one point we decided to make an alphabet book -- hence "s is for shoe." we each made one print, so three letters were completed.

a few years after that i decided that i missed the collaboration and gentle critique of having a regular group and i started an art group with three other women. it didn't last terribly long -- two of us were working full time and in graduate school -- but it was invaluable. this next weekend i'm going to franklin, tn, to meet some other etsy artists. i know we won't be able to meet that often, but i'm very much looking forward to it.

fly

i worked all weekend on making art and going through my huge stash of papers to decide what to get rid of. i am having storage issues! this is one of the postcards on watercolor that i made this weekend in the 10 minute collage tradition:)

how to draw a bunny

i finally watched "how to draw a bunny" about ray johnson tonight. thank you randel (acollageaday.blogspot.com). sometimes a great piece of cinema is like a great work of literature -- you have to see it or read it at just the right time for it to make sense in your life.

i've been making postcard collages tonight -- just a coincidence. i'll post some later this weekend depending on how they come out. for some reason the mat medium i usually use with watercolor paper doesn't want to work on the watercolor postcards. go figure.

this is, of course, one of ray johnson's collages.

working large

i love working large. not that i don't enjoy the 4 x 4 inch collages, mind you. but they entail an entirely different process than the large mixed media pieces i do on canvas. the mixed media works take a loooong time to finish -- sometimes months. i put them up somewhere in my house and let them catch my eye at unexpected times -- an idea will start to form about what my next step is -- but i will wait until i can't stand it and have to work some more. i flat out abuse the canvas on the larger pieces, too. sanding, scraping, gouging, more sanding, glueing paper down simply to be ripped back off. lots of physicality. so here's mona. she barely fits in the back of my little car. she's finished:)

moo cards!

these are just a sample of the moo cards that i ordered and just received. what a great art week, swarm number 15 is now in my possession, and my business cards have arrived. i think moo does an exceptional job -- they cards are beautiful. i love how many different images i can put on them and how easy it was. i got both traditional sized business cards and the small moo cards. i will definitely be reordering from them when these are gone!

if you want to see how a few more cards turned out, check out my flickr site. http://www.flickr.com/photos/paperwerks/

again, swarm

i am so happy to say that i am the proud new keeper of swarm 15. i haven't figured out how i am going to set up the swarm's abode, so i don't have pics yet. but printtroll is a genious. pure and simple. the swarm is just about the coolest thing ever. i suggest that everyone obtain a swarm. your life will improve. you will become instantly hip. you will lose 10 pounds and grow 2 inches taller.

visit printtroll and you, too, can be a keeper! (links in previous post.)

the swarm

i love flickr. there are so many incredible artists from around the world -- sometimes you have to search a bit -- but well worth the effort.

so now i have a new favorite (sorry randel -- from acollageaday -- you now have competition!

printtroll is a fabulous printmaker and -- never thought this possible -- a bigger packrat and collector of all things paper than i am. his swarm series is fabulous! and i am happy to say that i won a free swarm by posting on his blog http://www.printtroll.com/. my new nickname is miss persistant. i like that. it paid off for me wonderfully:)

so now i am a keeper of a swarm. i plan on being the best keeper there is.

check out robroy's work on etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5238404§ion_id=5995707, and on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/printtroll/.

7

10.00 aceo -- collage on watercolor paper made with handmade, vintage and miscellaneous papers

myself, here for ages

$10.00 aceo on watercolor paper with antique letter and handmade paper

del

10.00 aceo on watercolor paper using vintage papers and tissue

bird of my heart

SOLD
Aceo using vintage papers and vintage bird illustration

cut 2

$10.00 aceo, free shipping

time to regroup

after many months of ill health, family issues, too much work and wintertime dullness, i'm finally back to work. with deadlines looming i've returned to my dining room turned studio with all the fear and apprehension one can feel after a long absence from art making. so here is one of the aceos i made yesterday. i have several large canvases waiting, and a couple of unfinished mixed media pieces to work on before life intrudes again -- my son will be back home at 4:00. the push is on!