Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Childhood in the Country -A Peek-A-Boo Project

As I have stated many times before I am a county boy at heart. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania  in a simpler time that has instilled in me a love of quiet and solitude. I try to steer clear of drama and those who thrive on it. "People who have no life will always try to start drama in yours" is a quote I fully believe. Uphill from my childhood home there was a dairy farm I spent many hours at. They had cows, horses, chickens, pigs. dogs, and barn kitties to love and adore. I would help them with their chores and bailing hay and straw from time to time. This story from my childhood Waiting for Robins tells of my childhood spent in the country. When I saw Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Milk Can I was taken back to milking time and my childhood. These are the inspiration for this artwork.

Supplies:  Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Milk Can, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Hypercium Berries, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts- Wildflowers, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Fern Fronds, Vintage Cards of Your Choosing, Plastic Oval Template, Pencil, Scissors, Embossing Powders-Hammered Metal, Weathered Wood, Mercury Rising, Etched Platinum, Clear Embossing Ink Roller, Rubber Baster Brush, Heating Tool,  Bundled Sage Distress Stain, Titan Green Pale, Iridescent Stainless Steel, Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold Acrylic Paint, Paintbrush, Weldbond, Green Stains and Sprays, Green Infusion Stains, Green Acrylic Paints, Green Embossing Powders, Random Acrylic Paints, Ruby and Purple Fingernail Polish, Golden Heavy Matte Medium, Plastic Spatula, Random Embellishments- Pastes, Spices, Materials, Cheap Hairspray, Matte Medium, Vintage Cigar Lid and Bottom

1.  Gather Materials.
2.  Use a Plastic Oval Template to Trace Part of Vintage Cards you will use as focal point on GSLC Milk Can.
3.  Cut out with Scissors.
4.  Use  a Rubber Baser Brush to randomly apply  clear embossing ink to GSLC Milk Cans.
5.  Sprinkle with Hammered Metal, Weathered Wood, Mercury Rising, Etched Platinum Embossing Powders and cure with Heating Tool.
6.  Apply Bundled Sage Distress Stain to fill in any empty spaces.
7.  Next add Patina with a small paintbrush and Titan Green Pale, Iridescent Stainless Steel, Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold Acrylic Paint.
8.  Use Weldbond to Glue cutout vintage cards to center of GSLC Milk Cans. Dry flat pressing down with a heavy book.
9.  Color Fern Fronds with layers of Green Stains and Sprays, Green Infusion Stains, Green Acrylic Paints, Green Embossing Powders. Curing with a Heat Tool between  layers.
10.                Next Use Acrylic Paints of your choosing to paint GSLC Wildflowers and Hypercium Berries.
11.                Add interest and details using Ruby and Purple Nail Polish.
12.                Decide on a design for you flowers, fern fronds, and milk cans.
13.                Add the design to the vintage cigar box lid and bottom substrate using Golden Heavy Matte Medium and a Plastic Spatula.
14.                Some Flowers needed extra layers to better blend into one of my designs.
15.                Dry Completely and Flat weighing down with a heavy book.
16.                Add patina and texture using Random Embellishments- Pastes, Spices and Materials using Cheap hairspray to seal them in.
17.                Once fully dry add a quick coat of matte medium to further seal in all tiny pieces.
Some Final Thoughts.

My childhood is best understood from afar. As I was living it I did not appreciate it's bounty. I had a wandering heart, not easily satisfied by simple pleasures. I longed for the city to be free of all the entrapment I perceived of my childhood home. I've lived longer away from my childhood home now than the time I spent there. Our  family homestead was sold last fall and because of Covid restrictions I was unable to attend the auction and have not returned for over a year now. I miss it, I want to say my goodbyes to lay it to rest. I am more of my childhood county boy than I'd like to admit. I no longer desire the delights of my youth, I've traveled to many a wonderful places and have been to some of the bigger cities around the world. I now want to stay home to be still, to take in the small pleasures each day offers. Seek beauty while it may be found, soothe your soul with contentment, stay true to yourself and live a life worthy of others desiring. Wendell Berry  is one of my favorite authors and best describes my understanding:

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.



Wednesday, March 10, 2021

There Might Be Dragons- A Peek-A-Boo Project

I have several images of dragons in  my upstairs bathroom. A reflection of magical days I spent in Ireland many years ago.  I loved visiting some of the old castles complete with moats and wooden draw bridges, high stone walls and hidden passageways. Seeing the Book of Kells, housed at Trinity College in Dublin, with its intricate embellishments and illuminations was stunning to behold. Stopping by the Guinness Brewery also in this marvelous city, with it sudsy full bodied refreshment, tasting so different than the pours one gets here in the states was an additional decadence.   I've always loved St. Patrick's Day and all things Irish, these are the inspirations for today's artwork

 Gypsy Soul-Moroccan Tile-Foam Stamp,Old Script, Weldbond, Weathered Gold, Etched Platinum, Hammered Metal, German Silver, Extreme Peacock  Embossing Powder, Clear Embossing Ink Roller Bottle, Heating Tool, Antique Gold, Phthalo Blue Green, Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold,  ColorShift Purple, Neon UltraViolet, HiLite Blue Acrylic Paints, Paintbrush, Neon Green Ink, Golden Heavy Gel Matte, Texture Stamp, StazOn Black Ink,
1.  Gather your supplies.
 2.  On the back portion of the GSLC Layered Angela Frame Glue a page of Old Script using Weldbond.
3.  Using Clear Embossing Ink Roller to stamp Art Foamies-Moroccan Tile onto the Old Script. Sprinkle with Weathered Gold Embossing Powder and Cure with a Heating Tool.
4.  Use Clear Embossing Ink Roller to add Etched Platinum, Hammered Metal, German Silver Embossing Powders to the front portion of GSLC Layered Angela Frame. Cure with a Heating Tool.
5.  Add layers of Antique Gold, Phthalo Blue Green, Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold acrylic paints using a dry brush technique.
6.   Attach Portions Of GSLC Layered Angela Frame Together Using Golden Heavy Gel Matte Medium.
7.   Allow to dry fully and flat. Pressing down with a heavy book.
8.  Work on layering the GSLC Dragon Shape. First using a texture stamp and clear embossing ink and Extreme Peacock Embossing Powder. Cure with a Heating Tool.
9.  Fill in blank spaced with Neon Green  Ink.
10.                Add more layers using ColorShift Purple, Neon UltraViolet, HiLite Blue Acrylic Paints and a dry brush.
11.                Add an Additional Layer Using Black StazOn Ink and Same Texture Stamp.
12.                Not having enough contrast between the Dragon and the Painted, Embossed Old Script I opted to Add another Layer of Old Script.
13.                Attach Prepared Dragon to Front of GSLC Layered Angela Frame, Pressing Flat With a Heavy Book. 
 14. Wanting to add more interest I chose GSLC Round Frame with Dragons Using the Same Techniques I used above.Use Clear Embossing Ink Roller to add Etched Platinum, Hammered Metal, German Silver Embossing Powders to the frame. Cure with a Heating Tool.  
15. Use a Scrap of Cardboard to Trace Center of GSLC Round Frame with Dragons.
 
16. Attach Vintage Script to Cut Out Cardboard, and attach to Back of Frame using Weldbond.
 
17. Add a Green Man Medallion I Made Using a Mold and Paper Clay. Using Acrylic Paints as Above to Make it Blend  with Top Portion.
 
18. Cut a One Inch Portion of Copper Chain to Attach the Two Frames Together.
 
19. Punch Holes Into Selected Locations.
 
20. Use Jump-rings to Attach Copper Chain to Frames.
21. Add a Copper Grommet to Top Portion of GSLC Layer Frame Angela.

Some Final Thoughts.

Dragon Quotes:

"No I would not want to live in a world without dragons, as I would not want to live in a world without magic, for that is a world without mystery, and that is a world without faith" R.A. Salvatore

"It simply isn't an adventure worth telling if there aren't any dragons."

J.R.R. Tolkien

Irish Wisdom:

"May you never forget what is worth remembering, or remember what is best forgotten."

"A good friend is like a four-leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have."

"May love and laughter light your days and warm your heart and home. May good and faithful friends be yours where ever you roam. May peace and plenty bless your world with joy that long endures. May all life's passing seasons bring the best to you and yours."

"He who loses money, loses much: he who loses a friend, Loses more; he who loses faith, loses all."

"God made time, but man made haste."

"The light heart lives long"

" A little fire that warms is better than a big fire that burns."

"You've got to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was."

 

"Lovely day for a Guinness"