Currents of the Sea

 My first canvas made of this sort,

One of my loves as a child was water, swimming in it playing in it and after seeing the film "Splash" pretending to be a mermaid and loved playing at beaches, the feel of the sand under my feet, being buried in it and of course digging and building in it and with it the look of the ocean and it`s secrets and creatures. 

I started by glueing down palm fibers, mashing down and molding gauze as the sea bed. Glueing collected shells from the beach, flowers and sprinkling it all over with coarse white sand.  

After everything is gessoed over I always paint the background first with layers of watered down acrylic paints before adding the foreground details as it helps set the mood and color tones.

I built the mermaid bit by bit ..... 

...The hair fins and tail are made with ripped tissue brushed with a mixture of gesso and talcum powder then molded to the the desired shape. It hardens to a cement like texture. 

Sometimes tissue tends to form willingly on it`s own into lovely shapes...

                                         
                                     

I have previously entered this work at SATW and I am also entering this work here. 

http://artasticchallengeblog.blogspot.tw/2015/07/and-then-it-was-july.html

Hope you have enjoyed your peep here, thanks and have a great day.

As a child I remember my Mom had a great love for Batik fabrics,  once she took us to a factory in the Philippines and they showed us how they prepare and make all those lovely patterns and designs. I was young, about 8 so I do not remember the whole procedure but I do recall them dying the fabric, drying it, then dipping it in wax, drying it, crinkling it, then doing the same procedure, with other colors.
 I was thinking the other day how I could replicate somewhat the same crackled/crinkled look but with paper. I tried it with baking paper (as it is a bit waxy), food coloring and alcohol. At the end I rinsed the papers, dripped dried them, and finally scanned them at 600 dpi.
Here are some interesting looks and patterns that resulted from my experiment.

I had designed an Ocean themed paper in PS and had it printed out for a scrap image I was working on but  was not entirely pleased with the look.
Here is the finalized background paper. I am hoping to do others with a Mermaid/sailship themed look. 

Hope you like it and thanks for taking a look. Have a great day.

A Gift I made for my dear father on his 79th birthday...

Sorry the picture is unclear, I was rushed and did not get to check the image on the computer before sending it off, it is a multimedia, inverted canvas full of great memories of the places we lived and things done.

                       


  A roll of film I created in photoshop. I selected images of our childhood and placed them on the film, then had it printed out on clear plastic and cut into strips.
 My father worked for a TV company in Norway, doing lighting, filming and still does great photography. A very talented man, Thus the mini vintage camera, old reels of film etc.

I have fond memories of my Dad and Mom reading us Bible stories when my older brother and I were  very young so I created this Bible by scanning a page from mine and downsizing it to the size needed, added pages, distressed the edges, and placed it in a leather cover, et voila. 

A Gift I made for my Lovely Mother...

This was a fun rushed project as my sister was visiting from Norway and on the last day of her stay I got the idea to make my mom a chest and put some lovely treasures inside as a gift.

The outside papers are Bo Bunny including the mini picture frame with birds and the quote inside the box. The cute mini roses are from 'I am Roses', the large one I made and the locks and stands are from a local Daiso store.

I finished it off by placing a black feather boa inside the chest and placed the lovely trinkets inside. She loved it.

My Wee Princess...

If my 3 year old lived in the Viking era...

She loves frogs, worms, fish and other such fascinating critters.

If my 3 year old lived in the Viking era...

She is always full of life and is so active and always on the lookout for something new and different to do, she is a joy to raise .

Just for Fun...A birthday card for hubby.

I had to learn photoshop awhile back when I was hired to illustrate some childrens books. A great way to have a crash course in it.  

This is my latest work . 
The photo is of my lovely eldest daughter who at the time was 10.
 When she got on this horse for some reason it took off to a mad gallop. I felt my heart get stuck in my throat as I started running after them. Right before it was about to jump a fence she pulled on the reins and it came to a dead halt. when I finally caught up I asked her if she was ok, she calmly said ` of course, I just did what they do in Little House on the Prairie, when they want the horse to stop, they pull the reins`. So happy she watched that film.  

I live in Taiwan and as far as I know, there are no large art department stores like you can find in the US, but I recently did find a retailer for different craft stores from abroad in Taipei that has a good variety of supplies, yey, so that is where I got the Wood Flourishes, ( KAISERscrapbook) the blue flowers are from I am Roses and the paper I found online from Far Far Hill  and printed out.  I also used modeling paste, watercolors, distress ink for the edges, lace, black ink for the stems and gause. 

I love art, anything that can be created with hands ( or through other ways if hands are not possible) I can not say I love one over the other, as anything beautiful that is created by one is cherished.

I have just opened this Blog and hope to add to it projects that I have created. Some might be a bit odd, different or not so perfect, but maybe some will be loved.

A great day to all, and never give up on your dreams.