Let's Not Get Into Fisticuffs!

...but we can certainly get into making a funky fabric cuff! After months of painting all kinds of folk art, primitive and cutesy girls, I had an urge to totally change directions and make an artful adornment for my arm. I did a little research and found this awesome tutorial and wanted to get started right away!

I also remembered that my lovely and talented friend Claudine Hellmuth had done a how-to video on creating a convertible brooch pendant with her StickyBack Canvas product. So I took her flower idea and used it as a jumping off point for this fabric cuff. Her technique made it super easy and fun. The base of the cuff and the flower are both made with StickyBack Canvas (oh, and I saved the extra strings to make the little nest of fibers there).

The cool thing about StickyBack is that... well... it has a sticky back! So I peeled off the backing and stuck my cuff onto a piece of muslin that was a half inch wider than the base. Just to create a little interest around the edges. Of course I'm doing things totally out of order because I was just so excited (and kind of making it up as I went along)!

And then it was time to add some accent flowers. I wanted to alternate between the stamped StickyBack Canvas and the muslin, but when it came time to add my second flower... the perfectionist side of me had a few questions. What if the placement is off? What if you come up short? Or it's not centered? So I had an idea! I took the waxy paper from the StickyBack and used it as a non-stick base for my flowers. I put down some tacky glue, made the flower the exact size I wanted it, and let it dry overnight. Peeled it off the next day and.... voilà!

A perfect flower I could place anywhere I like! Just a little Tacky Glue to affix it to the cuff... and we're on our way!

Made more flowers. Picked out some vintage baubles to accessorize. I sewed the buttons on. Oh, and I don't know how to do a button hole on my sewing machine yet, so I just cut two slits in the fabric. Hey, it works. More flowers. More fiber nest thingies...

Picking out jewels and beads to match was lots of fun. Went through like a gazillion combinations. And sewed them on very carefully. It took many decades to acquire all that junk.... ahem... I mean, jewels.

When I was done I had completely surprised myself. I thought. I searched. I gathered. I conquered. One of the things about the internet that I actually love...  You can think of something you want to do... sit in one place and do tons of research... and find what you want to create... and then get to create it right then and there! Ahhhh... impatient crafters... we are saved!

And look at all that textured goodness. Isn't it just yummy! I love the tattered and worn look this funky fabric cuff has. Combined with vintage goodies from my stash... this new accessory is going to get worn out in no time. Or is that worn in? Hmmmmm.....

Have My Cake and Paint It Too...

One of my most recent journal pages started out with a sweet theme and just got sweeter from there! With cake as the subject matter... can I really go wrong?

If you know me, any form of pink and teal or blue can be a predictable starting point. This time I thought I'd add a little brown and cream for good measure (a baking reference...get it!).

I had actually painted the cake on the page before the girl was there... part of my brave new strategy of just doing something and not worrying about how it will end up in the final composition. But, I have to confess that I liked it so much, I didn't want to cover it up.

So, of course when I added the girl, she had to be eyeing up that slice of chocolate cake with strawberry frosting. Mmmmmmm. I see that little smirk on her face! She's totally thinking.... MINE!

When I create these pages, I like to alternate painting, drawing, embellishing and pasting stuff on. I kinda sorta randomly pick from my ephemera pieces that just look good on the page... like this number 5 from a flash card. I think I chose this because the nicely aged cardstock went well with the polka-dotted scrapbook page next to it. And because 5-year-olds like cake!

But then i found this cute little spanish language flash card that had a 5 on it... and so I added that to the piece as well. And I just love sounding out (say it with me now...) OO-nah moó-CHA-chah.

Even more delightfully delicious ephemera kept finding its way to my cakey journal page and this one was probably my favorite. The celebratory birthday girl and boy were precisely placed over top of the music page so that the words "be good" appeared between them.

It's funny how when I'm working on a page, it feels like I'm on auto pilot. Not in a bad way. But I just make moves and then work with what's there. Then I make more moves and add more, tweak more and play more until the layout is pleasing to the eye.

But when I look back at all my detail photos, I see dozens upon dozens of carefully calculated decisions... a warm wash of paint here... some extra glitter there... a pencil scratch here... a candy wrapper there.... or the smallest of elements that really felt good at the time. And then I remember what a joy it is to create in the moment... even though my goal is a finished page.

So I guess I can have my cake and paint it too!

Music To My Hands...

Okay... so if you've been reading my blog lately, you know that I've kind of been a little obsessed about painting faces in my art. I'm trying to figure out my own style and in the process have pushed the boundaries a bit on how to go about actually painting. Why not, right?

I've been doing a lot of odd things lately to try and get out of my comfort zone, and this project was no exception. I took an old painting I wasn't very fond of and just painted right over top of it! That was a first for me. But with each exercise, I'm learning to let go more and more.

Recently, I tried painting an entire piece with just my left hand. So this time I thought I'd paint a girl using just my fingers. Good old fashioned finger painting. I figured (or should I say... fingered) that it would be pretty low pressure with low expectations... like kindergarten! That sounds like fun. It actually gave her face a lot of depth, dimension and texture. Yay!

I dressed her in purple, allowing the background to show through a bit. Not sure why, but I was building up layers slowly (still using my fingers only!) and liked it at this point. I wanted to add something, and this torn music sheet title fit in perfectly with the stripes in the background. Plus she looked a little sad, so I thought the title was perfect. Learning not to question everything to death... I just pasted it down!

The scene needed a little something more and so I added a cardboard house.

Now that the left side was taken care of... the right side looked a little bare. I had these lovely peels of cardboard left over from the house — having torn them off to expose the corrugated texture beneath — and so I decided to turn them into a tree.

Okay... so the left and right were taken care of... but now the top seemed a little empty. So I added a little folk artsy crow. And last minute, I decided to utilize some of the extra music paper and give him a song to sing. Love it when those unintended ideas just pop up based on the materials I'm using. Good times.

When I stepped back and looked at my finger painting as a finished piece... I was in awe over how primitive it looked. It wasn't exactly my intention to make it go in that direction... but all that tap, tap, tapping of my fingertips... and smearing lines of paint with my hands made it so.

I really did feel like a kindergartener and getting my hands all messy with paint... not caring if one color got on another... and just going with the flow... was a spectacular lesson in letting go.

So... there goes my everything.

Patch It Up...

Not too long ago, I got Lilla Rogers' book I Just Like To Make Things. In it, she had a few creativity exercises, and I fell in love with this patchwork looking one! She had us pick several of our favorite colors and then fill in the squares with them. I was so ecstatic with the results, I wanted to use the idea in a real painting.

So I divided a 16"x20" wood panel into 4"x4" squares and went to town. I wanted to keep the colors a bit more muted, so that whatever (or whoever) I painted over top would stand out.

I used the same techniques from my last painting... only this time I used my dominant hand (Spoiler Alert! I actually liked the left handed one better!) But the very dry brush strokes and multiple layers still came through and I love all the scritchy-scratchy detail that produces.

I decided to make her dress black so that it would pop over the pastel background. It worked!

And I ended up giving her a black mouse-eared hat just to balance things out. Of course once I made the hat, it felt like too much black.... and so I emblazoned it with my own little pink mouseketeer logo to create some visual distraction.

Typically when I think I'm done, I'll prop my painting up on the living room couch — opposite where I sit to watch TV. I'll glance over at it every once in awhile to see what I like and what I don't. So after staring at it for hours, I went back and added some shadows, and lightened some areas too. It was still a little scary as the Recovering Perfectionist in me didn't want to mess it up.

But the longer I stared at it, the more I saw things I wanted to change. So if it's a choice between leaving it as is (and not being happy), or trying something else to improve it (even if I don't like it)... why not just continue to improve it? And even though she's done... I still see things I'm going to change... and I'm not scared to do it!

Talk about patching things up!

Left-Handed Pinky...

Sometimes I get a creative idea in my head and I must execute it immediately! And such is the case with a recent painting of mine... featuring this adorable little girl I named Pinky.  You see... I wanted to loosen up my style a bit and so I decided to do an entire painting left-handed! I wanted a real folk art feel, so I took several approaches for this personal assignment...

Starting with my usual techniques, I began to create lots and lots of layers. Lots! It's actually pretty funny (and a little scary!) to see where the face begins in this process. It actually looks like a psychopathic fluorescent baby panda, right?

Ahhhhh... a little better with more layers, but still kind of scary without the eyeballs! But I knew in my head where the piece was going, so I let myself trust the process and let it unfold with my non-dominant hand.

For this painting, I used a very, very, very dry brush for all of the strokes. After I put the paint on the brush, I wiped it almost completely dry onto a paper towel. When I changed colors, I didn't re-use that wet brush... I used another dry brush.

It took a long time and required much patience, especially doing it awkwardly left-handed... but the effect was worth it. Lots and lots of yummy layers of colors that highlighted the paintstrokes beneath.

Layers covered. Layers uncovered. Adding more over top. It really was a deliciously delightful process!

The last thing I did was add the polka dots to the background... because I'm an ass-backwards kind of gal... and because I thought it needed a little something subtle. But when I stepped back... I fell in love with her immediately! She was everything I had hoped for in my mind, before I started to paint. And when that actually happens — besides being a miracle in and of itself — I start to believe in myself as an artist. I start to believe that maybe I really can make the things that I see in my head. And I start to want to create more things because I trust myself.

Now that's one left-handed compliment!

Fishing With Love...

When you are fishing with love... you can catch whatever you wish! And so catching a few hours of paint time this weekend was exactly what I was fishing for. After all, if I don't love myself enough to let myself play every once in awhile... who will? So I gave my permission!

I couldn't wait to get started! I had these oddly rectangular canvasses for awhile and wanted to do something interesting with them. A whimsical fisher-girl seemed like just the right subject for this substrate. I began with a bluish-greenish monochromatic palette and let it fade into the background, so the girl and fish would stand out!

I'm not sure why I made her eyes so big! They looked a little more proportional in the sketch... but I went with it... chalking it up to a bit of whimsy. Whimsy never hurt anyone!

The pops of color were exactly what I was looking for, and the fish turned out even sweeter than I thought he would. I must confess though... that I drew him on a separate piece of tracing paper until I liked him. This little goldfishie is the 3rd iteration of my original attempt, and a sweetly creative expression of exactly what I was fishing for (with love)! You see... I'm trying to discover my own personal style. And like any good fisherwoman...patience and perseverence is what I need!

Calling All Artists... Seller Beware!

Last week, I received an e-mail — from a man named Bill Curry — with an inquiry about one of my top selling products... an arcade style Knock Down Doll...

From: Bill Curry

Date: Wednesday, July 24, 2013 10:36 PM

Subject: Tillie Knock-Down Doll arcade-style plush doll

Hi,

I'm Bill Curry from California. I was going through your works and my eyes caught this particular piece, I want to purchase it as I am moving to a new apartment next month. Kindly let me know if you still have the piece available and also let me know it's final price and more information about it. I will be waiting to read from you.

Regards,

Bill.

------------------ 

I thought it was a little odd the way the e-mail was worded, but who am I to take off for grammar? I sell items internationally all the time in this cyberworld and lots of people speak broken English. Although, it was a bit strange that he used the name of the product but did not indicate where he saw the item. But I replied with the information he requested and a link to my Etsy shop.

Soon after, I received another e-mail from Mr. Curry. But this time I had an uneasy feeling in my gut after reading his reply. Red flags were popping up all over the place... 

From: Bill Curry

Date: Wednesday, July 25, 2013 9:08 PM

Subject: Payment and pick up

Dear Michelle,

Thanks for your prompt reply.

Unfortunately, I'm on my way to France on an official trip (I'm a marketing Executive) and wont be back for another two weeks.

If you'd like to know, I'm relocating to South Africa soon and I'm trying to gather some good stuff for my new abode.

However, I'll have to notify my shipper who's helping me move my stuff to get set for the pick up of the piece from your place as I MIGHT be delayed depending on how things goes.

P.S. In the mean time, kindly get back to me with your contact address and phone# so I can get a check prepared and have it mailed out to you right away.

-----------------

Following my intuition, I Googled "Bill Curry California scam" and sure enough, I found numerous posts and articles about this same person, using the same name*, and even the same e-mail address... as far back as 2008! And in each article, the e-mails sent were worded the exact same way!

I wanted to warn all you lovely, hard working artists out there to be careful when you reply to queries and what type of information you give out. It's too easy to these days to fall victim to identity theft. Trust your gut and ask yourself some important questions. Here's a few things that made me think twice about "Bill Curry".

• The broken English and poor grammar.

• His name is Bill Curry, but his e-mail was emadamiduro01@gmail.com. Not even close.

• He knew the exact name of my product, yet there was no mention of where he had seen it. 

• He's giving me too much information about his life, "If I'd like to know..."

• If he's some big-ass, jet-setting Marketing Executive, why does he need to send me a check? Doesn't he have a credit card that he can use to purchase the item directly from my shop?

• So instead of me having to send the item to his "shipper", he's going to have the shipper personally drive to the New Jersey coast and pick it up at my house? Really?

• He wants my address and phone number. I don't even give potential dates that information! And why do you need my phone number to write me a check?

So there you have it. My intuition saved the day, and hopefully by sharing this, it will save someone out there from becoming a victim.

*I did want to mention that when I found articles on this scam, there were other names used, but the wording was exactly the same. Sellers.... beware!