Matisse Varnish transfer ATC

I tried out an image transfer today using Matisse Polyurethane satin varnish. The idea was to paint about 5 layers of varnish onto a photocopy, letting each layer dry in between. Then soaking the image in water as you slowly rub the back paperoff.

No mishaps while getting the paper layer off and what was left was a thin see through varnish layer with photocopy image.

What i then did was rub some skin toned paint colour onto the back of the transfer to give the image some colour. You can't quite see it in the photo but she does have some colour on her face and arms.. Then i layered the image onto some dictionary paper and some of the writing has come through areas where no paint was applied.

Any marks you see on top of the images are due to my sticky fingers which had residue paint but i think it gives it a nice aged effect, don't you think? :oD

I stumbled across this technique on youtube of all places. Enjoy! :)

Ah the other cool thing i stumbled upon was the Matisse Iridescent Medium. Basically you can mix this medium with ANY acrylic colour at all and voila, you have instand shiny paint!!!!! I haven't tried it out yet but the jar sitting on my desk is calling to me... imagine all the tubes of acrylic paint you have... YES you can convert them all to sparkly iridescent paint.

I''m not trying to sell Matisse Derivan products.. they were just there staring at me while i was at shop buying canvas boards.

Faux rust

2009 is approaching. Funny how it often starts with new year resolutions this time of the year.

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My new year's resolution included trying out some new techniques that I had been meaning to try for years. Unfortunately it still qualifies for 2008 ... so I guess i tried out faux rust painting onto ATCs in 2008!!!

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I started out with painting Jo Sonja 'Celadon' using the credit card technique as described on one of Kelsey's blog posts. Then I proceeded to using a tooth brush to splatter some random sprays of waterred down celadon and then copper paint. Needless to say my pyjamas are covered in paint splatter again. Using my fingers, i finger painted the alphabets, key and keyhole with the celadon and copper paint. Then with a paintbrush, i brushed in some burnt sienna in spots... and after that painted in some areas with prussian blue. Was kinda fun. :o)

Painting - The Wounded Heart

The Wounded Heart

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The heart's light loves
and in that loving, i have come to be
.

Without it, i am not able
for it is my breath
and through it all strength
to live another lifetime
.
But the walls came up
brick by brick with each beating
Instinctively
to protect
that precious love
.
Why should a loving heart
be inflicted with so much hurt?
Yet ironically the walls
became a prison
deeper and deeper it sunk
.
We spend most of our lives seeking
for that wounded heart
buried so long ago
.
But how is it that you were able
to get up from your knees
after each painful beating
and somehow had the courage to choose
how to love and comfort
to forgive and accept
.
Deep down beyond the tenderness of pain
The wounded heart...
The love that will not die
The love that could not die
.
Unyielding in unconditional loving

Healing compassionately

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The wounded heart endures

in order to give

love..

Owl photoshoot and some unexpected surprises

i had a weird feeling about a year ago that someone in my workplace did stamping (crafts etc) and i could never figure out why i had such a thought. Perhaps because i longed to be at home stamping instead of being stuck at my desk at work LOL.....

By some weird coincidence, work decided to have a secret santa event on my floor and we were to have a person from another floor come help us out with work. By a series of unexplainable email events, we came to discover that we both stamped, did atcs and mixed media stuff... lol All this time.....I wonder how many years LOL how funny is that!!! Well... Kerin has a blog too as I soon discovered enough. You may visit her blog here!

Second surprise of the day was this stunning totally amazing canvas art that i received in the mail from Natalie Briney.. OMG.. Nat, you MUST tell me how in the world did you get the flowers and branches to be 3d... what is it? This is such an exquisite piece.. something i would definitely buy from the shop. The flowers are just so beautiful and the little black dots reminds me of spores or flying seeds. Thank you soooo much. i love it very much.

Okay lots of excitement today. I tend to get overexcited and then feel sick from it afterwards LOL. Here's a little mini photoshoot of some xmas cards I made, some for team mates at work. Thought it might be nice to make them some handmade items this year.. not too sure how it would be received. I have had mixed reactions in the past.. i was also going to bake some reindeer muffins on sunday night..

i wonder what others have done with their Collections owls... i would be interested to see...

Painting

'On a Journey'

acrylic on canvas

I was holding off on posting this scene as I had sent it to my friend Natalie :)

Painting

' Holding on for dear life'

acrylic on canvas

Paintings

The Line Up

acrylic on canvas

Untitled

oil on canvas

Dog in Ute

acrylic on canvas

7 months later

It is really strange opening up this blog page. Didn't think I'ld find my way back here.

I have been busy trying to keep up with life and making sense out of it, which really is a futile exercise if you ask me and yet stupidly I keep trying. Nothing ever makes sense and if it did, it only ever makes sense if you believe in the story you or others have made up around it. Reality is a strange story indeed.

I have often wondered which thought, all of which I called "mine" was an original thought and not a product of conditioning or any environment. To "think" that there could be such a thing as ownership of thought is hilarious, like ownership of the air you breathe or ownership of telling lies. Yet there is such a thing of ownership of land... at least they didn't go to the lengths of ownership of grains of sand.....

So... I am here for now.. The last 7 months have been filled with visitors, catastrophes, a death, accidents and dodging other miscellaneous obstacles. One day one of these miscellaneous obstacles is gonna hit me in the head... let's just pray for now as it seems the most logical choice out of an insane year.

Christmas is making me miss connecting... and remembering, wishing and hoping.

Here's some paintings I have been doing this year... will be posting some xmas cards in the next few weeks.

New Painting

'Content'

Oils on canvas

'Everyone Has One'

acrylic on canvas

Some scenic stamping

Painting

Untitled

Oil on canvas

At the end

Looking forward to the end of a day,week..

Looking forward to the end of the year,
What is at the end of these
that make longing for the end so near?

At every end - failure to find the end,
All continuous fleeting joy,
endless sad illusions
and fragile connections to the living.

Do my best or worst,
the result is always the same,
left with that same 'I'
before anything was done at all.

Time forgets successes and mistakes
as though they were never born.
A puff of memory,
focussing in and out of reality,
Is it real or just a dream.

How to know where you are ,
if you don't know who you are,
Someone is feeding me thoughts,
like a life support machine..

If only they would stop

His name is RED

hehehe i have the patience of a monkey when trying to sew. Awful sewing hahah... at least i had fun making him.. *cracks up laughing*

THAT"S IT!!!!!!!!!! NO MORE SEWING THIS YEAR... i had enough lol






sometimes you just got to do something silly even if it's a little embarassing.

Bit tired now... I"m sitting here trying to figure out what to do about Chinese New Year which is on the 7th of February... We're having my chinese friend and her husband over to celebrate next weekend and we are going to have steamboat for dinner.

What is a steamboat??? Well... it's basically a pot powered by gas or electric which has soup stock in it. And the entire table is filled with a variety of fresh raw seafood, meats and vegetables. The idea is to put the food you want to eat into the soup stock and cook it and then enjoy the food with a variety of yummy sauces. Pretty interactive and fun. I googled 'steamboat' and found a picture. http://oz.tranzfusion.net/Recipes/SteamBoat.htm By the end of the meal, you get the yummiest soup ever from cooking all the food. Not too sure where it originated from. China? Mongolia? The Koreans also have their spicy version probably with kimchi...

What the...............

Okay. I have had such a funny morning.


If you like dolls or funky things.. you just got to visit this site. http://www.stupidcreatures.com/ what a collection of funny looking dolls. They just crack me up. Curiousity got the better of me and i just had to try and make a version of a stupid creature this morning (Yes that is what they are called) ROFL...I didn't have a pattern, so it was kinda "invent as you go". First up was to find a not so lint free bed sock interesting enough..... I didn't know how to finish the sewing of the legs so it looks like the sewing is on the inside but i think this just makes him look even stupider hahahha


Actually .. now that i think of it... I wonder if it's possible to just sew him all around before actually cutting the pattern... then inverting... it might be easier.. I'm gonna try that n ext... STAY TUNED!!! In the meantime here are some pictures of how i made my dodgy stupid sock animal.










































































































































Tadaaa poor thing really does look dumb :oD

Cooking on Youtube

I am so totally amazed by Youtube lately. I can't believe the kinds of things you can find on it.

By chance I stumbled upon this clip on how to fold chinese dumplings (jiao zhi) . I thought it was so cool that someone out there has posted how to fold these things. Sometimes cookbooks just don't explain the technique as well. There were many other clips on how to make various chinese foods including those triangular chinese rice dumplings wrapped in banana leaves. Due to translation problems, a lot of different types of chinese dim sum delicacies tend to go under the broad term 'dumpling'.



You can even learn to make bread, pudding or muffin from youtube ... All you have to do is go to http://www.youtube.com/ and put "how to make muffin" in the query box.

:o)

Leonard Cohen and some art

Some art I created yesterday with Stampscapes stamps...



Been playing Leonard Cohen and some buddhist music this morning. Feeling a little intoxicated at the moment. *sigh* I hope you enjoy this little clip.



The Faith - Leonard Cohen

Happy New Year

Hello... am i really blogging again? Has it really been 6 months?

I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. I sincerely hope that this will be a great year for you all in many ways.

I can't really explain my absence except that one day picking up a paintbrush or stamp felt like a heart heavy with dread. I couldn't. I had to do nothing, express nothing.. I hadn't meant to withdraw myself so completely, it just happened that way.

I had my first play day in 6 months with Dawn today and I was surprised to find myself enjoying creating a stampscapes scene. Dawn brought some stampboards and we had a little play of miniture art... What we did was stamp some images and sponged on some inks, and then using a blade scratched the stampboard surface. This revealed the white underneath. I am totally sold by the whole concept and can't wait to get some larger stampboards for stampscapes scenery..

Dawn also made me the loveliest orange sparkly doll with wild hair... i would so like to post a picture of it here but as it is part of a swap she is doing, i think we will just have to wait until the time is right ;o) Thank you so much Dawnie.
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When I am able, I shall..
when I am unable, what can I do
but wait
for me to return
to myself
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