Pictures from Canton

Well, it's official--the fall is the busiest time of the year.  Don't get me wrong,  I love it and it is my favorite season.  I love color and I just want to dive head-first into the golds, oranges, reds and browns.  It is a cozy time of year where you can spend time just taking in the cool evenings, especially after the summer that we have just had here.  It was brutal.  But, that is when I really begin gearing up for the fall shows and I never feel like I have enough inventory to spread around.  This year I have tried to remedy that with making prints.  I call them my "Resurrected Angels".  I have been a busy little bee trying to get  them printed.  I really don't know what sizes will sell well and what sizes won't.  So, I have made and assortment.  From Petite 4 x 4 to a larger 10 x 10 on Canvas and then 8 x 10 and 11 x 17 on print paper.  Since I am new to print making there is a learning curve.

  This past weekend, I broke away from the print making somewhat and did a little painting and building.  I needed a break from the mundane world of making prints.  I managed to get a sewing apothecary finished and three painting just about done.  I will go home in the evenings and finish the paintings.  That will just about do me for the shows.

As promised, here are the pictures from Canton and some of the goodies that I found.

I found a booth that had wonderful old pictures for 1.00 ea.  I stayed in that booth for awhile.

I like to use gloves in some of my shadow boxes, and I thought that the pick would be wonderful for making textures.

I think that this is a raccoon skull.  I will use this for my assemblage.  And the bracelet--I just liked it.

This is a mink skull--another treasure that I found. 

Women just love shoes--even if they are the wrong size.  I plan on reworking them.  Not sure yet what they will become.

These little angels and the heart above came from a booth that has beads and baubles and even animal skulls.

Add caption

And, don't forget to pop over to my art website  Venus Blues Art Hideaway to enter your name for the "freebie" drawing on Nov. 24. You may win one of my new art prints.  Her name is Poppy and I call the piece "Abundance"

Good Luck!!!

Weekend @ Canton, Tx.

We went to Canton this past weekend and had a BLAST. I found some wonderful pieces for my art.  I bought old pictures to use in my mixed-medias, I found old jewelry, old door hardware, old books,  and so much more.  It is a treasure trove of goodies.  I even found an old egg scale and animal skulls (for my assemblage).  I have been so busy playing "catch-up" that I haven't had a chance to take pics of all of my goodies--but I will. 

Elvira--Queen of Steampunk.  One of my Assemblage pieces

The piece above is one of my steam punk assemblage pieces.  I found an old animal skull in the pasture and used that for the head, copper flashing (that has been burned to give it a wonderful patina) gears, dowels, and the use of epoxy clay--(I love that stuff) to hold it all together. If you do assemblage and you have never used epoxy clay, you will love it!  It is a two part mixture that you use in equal parts.  When it dries, it is very hard and durable.  Great for assemblage pieces.

Don't forget to go to my website  venus blues art hideaway to register for the freebie giveaway.  This months giveaway is "Abundance"  

Abundance

It is an original art print that measure 8" x 10" on a gallery canvas.  All you have to do is go to the Monthly Giveaway page from the link above and leave a comment.  Your name will be tossed into the hat for the Nov. 24 drawing--Good Luck.

Hope you all have a great day!!

Hello Creative Souls

If you have been keeping up with my blog you know that I have started creating reproductions of my art work.  I have made 10" x 10",  5" x 5" and 8" x 10".  Now I will begin making the "Petite Angels", they will be 4" x 4".  I got my box in from Dick Blick yesterday and couldn't wait to bust it open.  I can now begin my petites.   Hopefully, they turn out well.  I will post pictures when I get them. Here are a few pictures of the prints that I made last week.

I think that the prints turned out pretty good, although I am ready to get done with them so that I can start creating something else.

Hope that you all have a great day.

P.S.  Don't forget to come over to my art site Venus Blues Art Hideaway to register for this month's freebie drawing.  It will be the picture shown below on an 8"10" canvas.  Just click on the "Monthly Giveaway" and leave a comment.  That's all you have to do to be eligible to win.  Good Luck!!

November Giveaway

Had a great productive weekend.  I used my new Canon IX printer and made 10 x 10 prints, and 5 x 5 inch prints.  A local artist (Don Cobb) that I know gave me great tips on making my own prints.  I bought the Canon wide format printer and customized to the size that I needed.  I bought a roll of inkjet canvas from Wholesale art and frames   The size was 16 1/2"  x 40' long.  So,from 1 cutting I get 1- 10" x 10" canvas and 2- 5" x 5" canvas'. I print them out and mount them on a gallery canvas that I buy from Dick Blick.  First, I paint the gallery canvas black, then I apply a coat of Golden Medium-Regular on the painted canvas and then I apply the print on top of that.  Before I apply the print I spray it with a fixative so as not to mess up the ink.  After I apply the print, I let it dry for about 2 hours and then I go around the edges of the print again with black paint just to cover up any white edges of the canvas.  If I am going  to take pictures of the piece, I take them before I spray them with varnish because the pictures turn out so much better before the varnish is applied-it reduces the glare. I then spray the piece with 3 coats of varnish.

Also--It is November--yes!!!  It is time to make my monthly giveaway announcement.  This month I am giving away one of the prints that I made of my original art work.  Her name is Poppy and I call the piece "Abundance". It is an 8" x 10" piece mounted on Gallery canvas--by the means that I mentioned above.  All you have to do to be eligible to win is visit my web site  http://venusbluesarthideaway.com and go to the "Monthly Giveaway" page and leave a comment.  Your name will be tossed in the hat for the Nov. 24, 2011 drawing.  Good Luck!!!

Hope that you all have a great day!!

Musings

I did get to the studio this week and had a chance to
try my new Canon IX wide format printer.  The prints were great.  I got a total of 10- 8 x 10 canvas' completed and was so happy with the results.  I hope to get about 10- 10 x 10's done this weekend and a couple 5 x 5's.  I think that will be a good size selection.  It will help my inventory tremendously.

 Also tried rusting some washers that I am going to use for jewelry.  I just bought a bag of washers from the hardware dept. at Walmart, dropped them in about a cup of bleach, added a rusty nail and closed the lid on the jar.  It rusted almost instantly.  So, remember this when you wanna make something look old.  Bleach works great.  Just beware of the fumes, they can be a bit strong.

Don't forget to jump over to my website @ http://venusbluesarthideaway.com and leave a comment for the November drawing--it will be one of the canvas prints.  Not sure which one yet.  But, I will post it on the web site within the week.

Hope that you all have a great day.

Faye

And the winner is................

My Booth at the Mooringsport Festival.

Mooringsport Festival.

 The free drawing was held at http://venusbluesarthideaway.com  and the winner was Jill Blevins!  Congratulation Jill.  Jill won the print "The Eyes of a Clown".  Next months free giveaway will be an original print on canvas.  Make sure you come by the site and leave a comment to be eligible for next month's drawing.

It is official--the Canon Printer beat out the HP printer--hands down.  It did every thing that I asked it to do without an hiccup.  If you want to make beautiful prints of all different sizes on all different medias, I recommend the Canon ix wide format printer.  It operated like a dream.  I love it!!!

My BF Lynn @ Mooringsport Festival

These are pictures from the Mooringsport Festival.  It was a beautiful windy day (everything will need to be dusted). 

Friday, At last.

Thank God it's Friday--Whew, long week.  Finally got the truck back yesterday--the Ford place couldn't find any issues with it. Weird!  Finally made it to the weekend, and I am going to try to install my new Canon printer.  The HP was returned and a vow has been made to NEVER buy another HP product.  After 10 hours on the phone with someone in India, it was determined that they were a bigger IDIOT than I was about this printer and could only suggest that I pay an additional 59.99 to help resolve my problems on a BRAND NEW PRINTER--WHAT!!!!! That didn't fly so I finally just told 'em that enough was enough and the printer could go straight back to India on a short boat--It was shipped off the following day.  So, then I started researching other wide format printers.  So far, the Canon won out.  I called their technical support BEFORE I bought the printer, just to find out who I would talk to if I had issues--someone in Chesapeake Va. --YES!!! A big red check for that!! Then I called customer support to find out who I would talk to--Chesapeake Va.--Yes!!! Another big red check.  After a lengthy  conversation with them I decided on a Canon wide format printer.  Will let you know Monday if it printed as it was supposed to (in wide format).  When I called HP tech. support about my WIDE FORMAT printer not printing in WIDE FORMAT--after 10 hours of support, their brilliant deduction was that my wide format printer did not and was not supposed to print in wide format.  That was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back.  I should have done more research first--a little too late for that.  And, by the way, they wouldn't post my review on the HP web site--wonder why :)  Goes ta show ya--reviews don't tell you everything--only what the Mfg. allows. 

On a lighter note--the freebie drawing on my website http://venusbluesarthideaway is Sunday--don't forget to come by and leave a comment to be eligible for the Freebie--"Eyes of a Clown" print. 

Hope that you all have a great weekend--
F.