Hearts for Charity

I've been working on two paper maché hearts for a charity event to benefit a senior day care center in Santa Barbara. This is something my collage teacher offered as an extra project for our class, and being the over-achiever that I am, of course I had to make a couple.

The first one I did I wanted to use stitching and give it a patchwork look:





For the second one, I tried a painted lace method from an article in Cloth, Paper, Scissors, which I'm pretty excited about:





I already have some ideas about using this technique elsewhere!

Fun with Art Friends

This past Sunday Susan and Jean and I channeled Jackson Pollock and painted the huge floor cloth for my studio. It took a while to figure out the whole drips versus squiggles thing, but it was messy and fun, and I love the result!

Here we are out on my driveway dripping and splattering (from left to right, Lori, Susan, Jean):



Here's the finished product drying on the driveway after a few coats of varnish:



And here it is in the room:



I love the artsy touch it gives the room, and I think I'll be a bit more free with the paint and inks from now on.

Oh, and I wanted to post a photo of my paper hangers, for those of you who asked. This was such simple, inexpensive, and effective solution. It doesn't impede the door at all. In fact, I forget it's even there when the door is open.



I've been enjoying using my room. Susan and I just hung out on there Saturday night and looked at art stuff and art books and magazines, and it was relaxing and inspirational. My two remaining challenges are my chair, which is not as comfortable as I had hoped (I think it was made for a male derriere), and the lighting, which is just a mess at the moment.

Here's a photo of the chair. If you have any ideas for padding it, please let me know!

Tricked Out Tissue Box

Just a quick post to show off my "Totally Tricked Out Tissue Box," which I made in a class of the same name taught by my friend Shari . I just added the embellishments and it now sits on my desk in my India/elephant-themed office.





Shari is such an inspiration. She decided to pursue her artwork full-time, and now has her work in a gallery, has had work accepted to shows, has written some articles for art zines, is teaching classes, and has some other surprises in store. Go, Shari!

Ikea Rocks!

Went to Ikea on Saturday and got just about everything to finish my studio! And guess what? EVERYTHING is out of the living room! I'll post photos of that area once I get it spruced up.

Here are a couple of photos of the two bookcases and smaller CD/DVD shelf I got, along with all the organizer boxes, which are so cool:





And I was stunned to find a pot rack for just $20. With all the stuff hanging from it, it was still less than $40!





We added the light you see in the center of the rack (with zip-ties!), but it's really not bright enough, so I need to get some stronger bulbs. And Mark's going to run some conduit (not the right word, but you get the idea), across the ceiling and down the wall to the outlet to hold the cords. He was SUCH a trooper this weekend, going with me to Ikea and then putting everything together and hanging stuff, all with a very sore back.

So here's a view of the room from the door:



I made the bulletin board by removing the glass and print from the frame, but it's kinda hard to push pins into it. I think I need to add a layer of soft-ish material behind the cork, rather than the hard cardboard that was behind the print.

And here's how the closet area looks now:



That iron holder on the wall is also an Ikea item. To recap, I got the two bookcases and the CD/DVD shelf, all the organizer boxes, the pot rack and all the stuff that hangs from it, the iron holder, some clear glass jars to hold buttons and other goodies, a few random goodies for the rest of the house, and a couple of things for the kids, and it was all about $360!

I love Ikea and MARK!

Detours

Lest you all begin to believe I am freakishly single-minded, I thought I'd post about the OTHER projects that I've spent time on this week. The creation of my art room has resulted in changes to my office, and I had a big wall to deal with over the bed, where a bookcase used to be. So I decided to finally hang some of my artwork:



In the center is a numbers collage made from tags, envelopes and stencils. On the left and bottom right are altered cabinet card photos I did in a class with Sylvia Luna at Art Unraveled. Here are a couple of close-ups of those fun little pieces, which I finally found frames for at 40% this week.







At the top right is a sampler mosaic I also did at Art Unraveled, in a class with Jill MacKay.



The guy at the bottom right was a lot of fun to create.



I also made a bulletin board as a going away to college gift for my neice, who leaves next week for UCSB. I'll give it to her at a party tomorrow night. She's doing her dorm room in black and white and hot pink, so I painted the frame and glued buttons on and stamped a bit on the cork. The buttons in the middle of the cork are glued onto flat-head tacks, so she can use them to post photos of her friends and other memerobilia.




Next up is decorating an envelope for an ephemera swap that must be in the mail by tomorrow. And at some point I might get motivated to dust my house (still fighting the ash) and clean the bathrooms. Ugh.

Decorative Touches

Okay, I admit I'm not taking a utilitarian approach to this room. It's just as important to me that I FEEL good when I'm in there as it is that I can locate what I need to create. So, I've been focusing on making the room look and feel colorful, feminine, and inspiring.

I finished the table cover for the folding table that will hold jars of brushes, pencils, markers, and all the stuff I need to be able to grab quickly. I ordered glass for the top of the table, but it is not in yet. Here's the cover, though.



I also stamped a design onto the old curtains I'm using from the dining room and got those hung:





Ah, but here is an item that is both decorative and practical. I've mentioned this locker-type cabinet before, and it's finally painted, in the room, and full! I'm still thinking of collaging the panels on the door, but as that's purely decorative (!), I decided to move it to the bottom of the list.




OOoohh, FedEx just delivered my cork to make my bulletin board. Gotta go . . .

Smoke and Progress

Though the smoke and ash from the massive Day fire has altered my plans a bit, I have been making steady progress on my studio. Painting furnuture and my floor canvas outside has not been possible, but I was able to paint a small cabinet in the garage (photos of that after it's all done).

Mark has been a big help. He hung the curtain rod on which I'm going to hang the yellow curtains after I stamp them with fabric paint. And he is still working on the best way to get an electrical box installed on the workstation. Of course, Tinkerbell keeps me company as I work in the studio.



I added a Vyco board cover to the top of the workstation. This stuff is really nice. It's self-healing for punctures, and will protect the table top, but is not as sturdy as the self-healing mat you see in the photo. I was surprised that it attaches with double-sided tape! And the cost for it was reasonable.



I also finished my little folding chair (thanks, Susan!) and one of the tablecloths. I love the colors, and this chair will be perfect when I find a little desk for my sewing machine.



I'm off to finish varnishing the cupboard so Mark can help me move it in before he leaves town for the rest of the week. Then back to "real" work.

Art Room Insomnia

I think I'm driving myself crazy. Or, more accurately, I'm thinking myself crazy. I have been awake for a few hours in the middle of the night the past few nights, and what am I thinking about? All of the things I want to do in my art room! The problem is, I want to do them all at once! I've got to find a way to just slow down and enjoy the process. It's not like the queen is coming to visit, right?

We are making awesome progress. I spent all last week varnishing the pieces of my worktable. Gave myself a headache in the process by doing this indoors without good ventilation, but it was worth it. Here's what my room looked like last week:



And here is my wonderful assembled worktable, complete with casters so I can roll it around as needed! Thank you Mark!





I actually used the table yesterday to stamp up an envelope for mailing to a friend, and it was wonderful to be able to stnad up and work without hunching over and straining my back and neck. I ordered a stool, one of those stand/sit ones with adjustable height, so I'm anxious to see how that will work for me.

Mark and I spent all day on Sunday sanding and priming a locker-type cabinet we've had out in the garage for years. I'm hoping to get it painted and into the room later this week. But I also have grand ideas for collaging on the front of the cabinet door. We'll see!

Here are a few samples of the other projects I have in progress:

I bought this huge print at a yard sale on Saturday because I love the frame. I'm going to remove the print (and possibly use it to collage the locker cabinet) and replace it with cork to make an elegant bulletin board.



I moved this little bookcase into the room and got most of my art instruction books into it. Those little shelves sitting on top will be perfect mounted on the wall above it, but I don't want to put in any molly bolts until I'm sure I have everything where I want it. On the floor to the left of the bookcase are the yellow curtain panels that used to be in my dining area. I plan to stamp and/or paint on them and hang them over the window.



I sanded this little folding chair a friend gave me and took off the cusions so I can recover them. I bought some awesame jaquard fabric for it yesterday. I think I'll leave it with the rough, sanded black paint and just add a layer of satin varnish.



I also bought fabric to make a cover for a plastic folding table that will sit behind the workstation against the wall. An I'm going to get glass for the top of it. That way, I can keep often-used supplies within easy reach, and use the space underneath the table for ugly box storage.

So you can see how frenzied and scattered I am at the moment. I've started going through all the stuff in the living room and slowly moving it into the art room, mostly into the bins on the shelf in the closet. I can't wait to get that mess cleaned up. In between all this I have actually been doing some paid work too. Whew.

Both Sides of the Story

After posting that looooong missive yesterday, I walked out into the living room and was confronted with the art mess I've created in there over the past couple of years. Then I realized that so far my blog has been telling only one side of the story, since I've only shown the cleaned-out room and the new organizational stuff.

This is what my living room looks like right now. It's at its absolute worst since I returned from Art Unraveled (a week-long art retreat) a couple of weeks ago.



So now you see why I need an art studio! And why Mark barely hesitated when I told him I wanted Lianne's room, after I already claimed Kyle's for my office and he's still stuck out in the garage. Our deal is that I will keep all of my stuff out of the garage and he can have that entire space for his office and projects, plus we get our living room back (which is the only living space we have in this house).



Anyway, there IS some underlying organization under all that mess. If you look closely you'll see little drawers for mounted rubber stamps, and binders (stacked on the rocking chair) for the unmounted ones. Plus little boxes for stuff like embossing powders, and clear glass jars for all my buttons.



But it's just completely out of control at this point and I can't possibly get any work done in that space. Now you know why I'm so motivated to get the art room set up!

Painting is DONE!

I've been working like a maniac (seems to be my M.O.) and my studio is painted! Man, painting different colors is a pain because my walls are highly textured and taping doesn't really work, the paint leaks underneath in lots of spots. So then I have to spend lots of time touching up with a teeny-tiny paintbrush. But I decided to let it be IMPERFECT! Once all the furniture and stuff is in, I don't think the jaggedy corners will be noticable.

I really like the colors, but I seem to be in the minority. Lianne (my daughter, who lived in this room for 19 years), walked in this weekend and kind of rolled her eyes. But she did concede that since I'm "middle aged," I can go crazy with color (this was in another conversation about a pink polka-dot purse my mom got me to carry Tinkerbell in; for those of you who don't know, she's my four-pound Chihuahua), but I think it applies here too.

Wow, I'm wordy today. Anyway, here are my colors:





I really hate that dark bookcase in there. It goes beautifully in my office, which has dark woods, but I've moved the trundle bed in there and now the bookcase won't fit. Don't tell Mark yet (he had to take the trundle apart to move it), but I may move the bed back into the studio so the bookcase can go back into the office. Gotta save some room for guests, lest I become an art hermit!

My first organizational tool is two cube thingies from Target, along with some canvas and wicker baskets that fit into the cubes. Of course, they only had three of the wicker baskets left, so Mark is going to search for three more at other Targets while he's on a business trip to No. Cal. this week.



I love the way these units fit right on the closet shelf. I think I'll label them with tags tied to the handles.

Now my challenge is to find or make some piece of furniture to use a work station to sit in the middle of the room. I was thinking of two bookcases, back to back then spread apart, with a door on top. But I saw an awesome kitchen island at an unfinished furniture store that would be perfect. Unforfunately, it's $500. But I may convince Mark to go look at it with me today. Oooh, I have a drawing of it I can scan.



It would be so perfect, but I think we'd have to assemble it inside the room!

I'm happy with my progress so far, but I think this furnuture thing might take a while. I'm working on PATIENCE!