Lino Rug #2--Indian Design

One of the most fun things for me to do is to stencil things. I think that the "pounding" motion of stenciling must be therapeutic. Plus something pretty always comes of it---well most of the time anyway. This is a 22x34 inch linoleum (vinyl) scrap for about $5 painted with some Annie Sloan Old White Chalk paint, some leftover yellow and my new Indian design stencils. It came is 5 stencils to a pack and was pretty tricky to get everything lined up. The sample on the outside of the stencil package showed it painted in black and white and it was really stunning. Maybe I will try that next time. This one will go in the guest bath since it matches the paint and wall paper. 

  I use Gripcoat Ultra on the back and they never slide and don't harm any floors. I had to so some digging to find that out.  And also I use Annie Sloan Lacquer on the painted side.

Had fun making this one.

Registration is open for Lollapalooza!

Yes, registration is now open for

 Lollapalooza One: "The Chunky Art Snippet Journal"

Lollapalooza Two: "The Spray Journal"

Lollapalooza Three: "The Big Grig Journal"

There is a special price now also.

I have even added more art tips that are not in this promo video ---
why...??? because you just might need to use them!

Like this:

I am giving you almost everything but the kitchen sink! 
It's a Lollapalooza!

2 more paintings

Well, color sure is good for my soul. I am very intrigued with Pat Dews right now. Bren told me about her and I am so glad she did because she is very funny and entertaining and if you like this abstract look then she is a great one to learn from. She uses all sorts of things to make texture--grids from the non slip rug mats, rubber mats for the sink, --all sorts of great stuff!

Anyway, these backgrounds I did here are not using her technique completely but I incorporated a few along with some Dina Wakley techniques.

...doing the IMPOSSIBLE

Actually this should say "also BELIEVE" rather than "only believe" but I wrote the wrong word....arrrg! It happens all the time when you are concentrating on the calligraphy. Makes me mad but what can you do? Nothing....just say..."c'est la vie!
Well, at least I didn't mess up on this one! I hate it when I do that. More tomorrow---hopefully...

Imagine---progression

These two above and below are just the closeups of the Golden crackle paste. I added some darker glaze and wiped it off so the crackle would show. I think it kinda got lost in the final one but you can still see it if you look closely.

Now for the first layer of writing. I did this quickly (as you can see!) with a brush.

Then (----time passes...) more layers and stencils. Maybe I should have stopped here...but it doesn't have a focal word element as I had planned.

But here it is...I think it is finished. If I did anything else to it I would probably paint over some elements to tone it down. Hummm...the challenge is--when to call it finished. I guess if I did many of these I would get to know that but I am not sure how long this journey will stay in graffiti-town. It sure is fun though.

The quote says:
"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will get you everywhere." -Albert Einstein

Whew! I'm tired now. Time for chocolate!
And here is my thought for the day:
"If anything is worth doing, it's worth overdoing." That might be appropriate for me today. I will look at this piece tomorrow and see if this thought really is true. If they don't sell then I can always paint over them and pretend like it never happened! What happens in Graffiti town stays in Graffiti town.

Dream Graffiti on Wood

This is on a 24 x 24 piece of Birch wood. I have always wanted to work larger and this is the largest graffiti-like painting that I have done. It really was fun and it actually took several hours to create the layers. You have to walk away and look and think --or just walk away completely for a while. As you might notice on the top picture I decided to put that great quote by Thoreau since I already had the word,"DREAM". I am thinking that I might put this into an upcoming show in July called "Art-rageous." I think this would classify as artrageous. I am planning to paint another one and I have some crackle paste drying on that one. We'll see how it turns out. You never know until it's finished. And Bucky did his pose for you. He likes his summer hair cut.

Yeah, Baby!!

I am in love! Yes, I am! This is the air compressor for the Copics that I gave myself for my birthday. Birthday isn't yet but early presents are good!!! I plan to cut some stencils and use the ones that I have and play. It sprays a very fine spray and it is very quiet too. The houses in the back are stamps that I am going to cut as a stencil. FUN! I'm doing a happy dance right now. :)

"Stencilry" Book

I really thought this spray painting Stencilry online class was really fun. As I look at the colors again I guess they are not really all that bad although they are not my favorite color combinations. I need to get to HL and get more spray paint colors. But.... the only bad thing is that it is so hot in my little red shed out back and the mosquito jihad is even worse with all this monsoon rain here in FL so I guess I will have to suspend my spray painting with the stencils for a while. As I said in the video, my good buddy Lori, at Elvie Studio will be so proud of me for sewing this book together.  She knows how "sew challenged" I am. 

Do you see why I call my blog "Art du Jour"---the art of the day?  Well, each day, I never know what it will be---so it is the art of the day. It's like a box of chocolates--you never know what you are gonna get.   Maybe one day I will settle on one.

nah....

For some reason beyond my understanding, the video within Blogger gets cropped a bit. If you double click it it will take you to YouTube for a better viewing.