Absent

I have been away from my blog for a lot longer than I intended.  I had an unexpected visit from a family member that stopped me blogging for a little while. I did manage to get some art work done though, nothing would stop that, lol.

This is the first page in a small book of flowers that I am painting. It is copied from a photo I took in my garden of a favorite camellia. It is a little too realistic and I am working on developing a looser style of painting. It is going to take some time though.

I made some ATCs at a class recently. First you cut a magazine image out and glue it to some cardstock to make it sturdier.  Then lightly dry brush gesso across it, up and down first, then side to side. This gives the card a linen look. You should still be able to see the original image a little so you can use that as an outline. You then outline the image using a permanent marker or pen. You can change the image if you want to, giving a face different hair or changing the background.  Next use acrylic paints to fill in the picture and your card is done. You can add other embellishments like glitter or diamantes. Usually people choose pictures of people for this technique but I also wanted to do some other objects. The only other magazine photos I could find were of food. I still like the way they turned out.