A little rusty, but still useful

That is how I feel some days....... a little rusty.  But I am not done yet!   A little patina is a good thing. 

These old gates were piled up in a store of treasures in Cave Creek, AZ.  I kept thinking Michael DeMeng would love this place.....so many very rusty things.

It is funny that we distress and patina things to make them look antique and we freshen up antiques to make them look not so old. Can we not accept things as they are? Right now?

More Variations

Here are two more photos, one altered, one not.  These dew covered flowers were on the Alaskan shore of the Bering Sea.

Variations on a theme

It is fun, interesting and challenging to try different things with the same photo. Above are a couple examples using the same leaf shot.

I seem to be out of "musings" lately.  The well is dry.  A quiet time. Maybe that is a good thing.  Whatever.   It is what it is.

Photos and Painted Pages

 This example is in the Yellow Book shown in a previous post.  An altered photo of an old church bell near Tubac, AZ is adhered to a page painted with very wet water colors and topped with a plastic bag while the page was drying.

 One can hardly see the acrylics applied to these pages.  A large photo was sliced and placed on facing pages. I am going back in with colored pencils on parts of the photo.

Acrylics again with a photo altered on the iPad app ColorSplash.  These Bering Sea flowers were "painted" back into the photo with my finger, while the rest of the photo was left gray scale.

Recycling Revisited

 One of my favorite ways to make books full of painted pages is to recycle Reader's Digest Condensed Books and old belts from thrift stores and library sales.  The covers often have nicely patterned covers with a variety of colors to choose from.

One carefully takes the book block out of the book keeping the covers intact.  If you want to leave the original spine on the cover,  you may.  For this book I cut off the spine.

A sewn-over-tapes binding was done with an old belt and waxed linen. I went around each part of the belt twice to make a nice fat binding.

This book is a nice size and feels good in the hands.   The pages lie flat which makes adhering photos and journaling easy.

Keep the novels removed from the original book  for reading while planes are taking off and landing....that time when all electronic devices must be turned off.   You can rip the book block into separate novels and take just one on your trip. When you land, toss it or leave it in the pocket of the airplane seat for someone else to read.

Here is a shot of a couple pages in this book.

Friends and Fun at Art and Soul

Of course, we all look forward to the classes at art retreats like Art Unraveled and Art and Soul, but one of the VERY important aspects of these retreats is the art buddies we may see only once a year.

Some of my best friends are seen only at these retreats.  Yes, I know..... it is easy to be friends when you are not together very long!!  BUT.......it is so fun to see how we can just start conversing just as if we had seen each other yesterday, not 365 yesterdays ago.

This is my friend Karen, whom I met back in 1999 in Amsterdam.  We happened to be on the same river cruise.  She and Al, her husband, have been with us on several trips after that first one.  Now, we rarely all 4 get together, but she and I have a great time in Portland.

Soooooo, as she and I would say ( a story behind THAT!), get your reservations and registrations ready and join the gangs at the various art retreats.  Art Unraveled and Art and Soul are already online. Art is You West Coast will be up in February. Create is out there..... and many more.

Art Unraveled Registration Is Open!!!!!

From Jane LaFazio's class in '11.  See her listings for '12.

  I am so excited!  Will I get my confirmation email today?  Did I get all the classes I really wanted?

I wonder what things will be in the auction this year?  

Who will win the art contest? 

What will happen at the Saturday Night event?

Get right over to Artunraveled.com and join in the fun!!!