A New Direction
Hello again.
Apologize for taking so long to post since last including this one to be long!
Lately, I've been spending lots of time searching and purchasing numerous materials for my upcoming online shop. Especially enjoy receiving these purchases on my front doorstep. Yet suffice to say not enjoying all the labor-intensive work involved what with having to clean and strip away cruddy old oil or latex paint on some of the old items discovered in antique stores. Always time consuming steps necessary to get these pieces in tip top shape for applications of fresh paint. But the newer unfinished items are much easier to do with a simple sanding, gesso priming and then paint. Some of these items are wood boxes and wall plaques in various sizes.
I'm painting everything with a product called Milk Paint.
After weeks of contemplation, finally decided on this type of paint for my products. It has a wonderful texture and timeless quality including environmentally friendly factor. At first I was apprehensive about using it but it's basically like casein which I've used in some of my fine art paintings (if interested see sidebar to visit my other blog). Desiring everything to have a time worn appearance... this is ideal. Had I decided upon latex/acrylic emulsions these would have produced a plastic look which I definitely don't want. Furthermore, I'd rather not use oils due to odors which cause dizziness, and then the slow drying time and overall mess of cleaning brushes. With milk paint you just clean with soap and water. Best of all the smell is fairly unobtrusive.
If interested in learning more about milk paint click here.
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Other things mentionable are one of a kind hand-drawn art pieces I'm currently producing. Once finish I either photograph or scan the art followed by a few minor alterations within Photoshop CS. Then the images are printed onto high-quality photo paper using my Epson printer. Afterward, depending upon material, I adhere the work to item using whichever image transferring technique I think best. But some items don't require this technique such as my potpourri pouches, bookmarks, and gift tags. Some images are simply cut to size using pinking shears then directly adhered with golden soft gel medium to tea-dyed cardstock. Or I just print image directly onto desired paper and then apply distressing and staining.
For references about image transfers click here.
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In the midst of all this going on, I'm also creating hand sewn paper & fabric items, tea-staining new paper to look old, cutting and aging glass. Also utilizing melted beeswax for sealing certain decoupage items that are then buffed to a beautiful sheen. These in particular are the boxes and wood plaques. I'm also considering delving into soldering.
All this week I'm spending time drawing images (my own interpretation) of literary figures such as Edgar Allan Poe and Mary Shelley. These will be first created with either charcoal or graphite on bristol board paper then given a distressed appearance in Adobe Photoshop.
My messy desk bombarded with paperwork filled with ideas and quick sketches.
Afterward they will be depicted on distressed painted nesting boxes with the inclusion of interesting small objects inside that correspond with the author. I'm also preparing to draw my favorite romanticists poet considered among myself and others...the most passionate and intense... Percy Shelley. Admittedly attracted and in awe of this man's brilliant mind. Unfortunate he died so young and tragically. In the near future will be Jane Austen, Bronte sisters, Voltaire, Shakespeare, and Marlowe, etc.
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Depicted on all sorts of other objects such as paper hanging baskets, paper dolls, paper mache cones, shadow boxes... will be figurative, landscape, floral, animal themes from Medieval to Victorian time periods. I will also do silhouettes including motifs in toile de jouy design schemes. As mentioned previously, everything will have a time-worn appearance. I'll keep colors mostly neutral such as cream, putty, grays, blacks. And some with the occasional cinnamon and chartreuse. A vast majority of the artwork will have the appearance of antique engravings using pen and ink with black, walnut, and sepia tones.
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Along with all this including creating my website using web design software Rapid Weaver I've yet to decide on the name for my shop! For weeks on end I've gone through a vast selection of names but some are already being used by others and basically ordinary. I'm forever trying to come up with something unusual that ties into my work and philosophy. Anyway, everything I've mentioned is quite a major undertaking but I'm feeling confident and happy about this new direction.
Finally, come the month of October, I'll be posting SNEAK PEEK pictures of some of the finished items!! Then later you can visit my shop and hopefully you'll want to purchase some things.
Cheers!
