Kipper....A Portrait.

Hello All,

I have a post tonight on the PaperArtsy blog, featuring my boy Kipper.

Just look at those eyes!

If you want to see how it's done, check out the blog HERE.

Back soon, P.

Quilt Cutting Dies.....Experiments!

Hello All,

I never can stay away from fabric for very long I'm afraid.

The paints are all still out and in use, but the ideas were missing. So I managed to

make a bit of clean space on another table to get my sewing machine out.

I really struggle with machine piecing.....the points never meet properly and I just

can't get a quarter inch seam!

When I saw an advert for an Accuquilt cutting die system where all the shapes were

in proportion for mix and match, I thought it might help. I also discovered that there

was a stitch in the quilting section on my Janome machine that made a 1/4 inch seam

from the edge of the foot. How could I fail?

But I have a Sizzix Big Shot Plus and you are supposed to use the Accuquilt cutting

machine. So I decided to risk it....and have been experimenting with combinations

of plates this afternoon.

Now I must emphasise that I am NOT recommending this...... I am not responsible for

broken machines or plates. I found that the safest way to approach the problem was

to start with the thinnest combination of plates and increase by the tiniest bit at a time

until it cut properly.

This is MY successful combination for MY INDIVIDUAL machine.

I have to point out that when I got my new Sizzix machine I found that with some

wafer thin types of paper dies, the recommended sandwich resulted in curved dies

and plates and I was a bit cross. However, when I removed the sticky instruction

label from the base plate, it reduced the pressure just enough to reduce this and still

cut. I now understand when demonstrators say "get to know your own machine".

I am quite pleased with the finished quilt block even though I have slightly more

than 1/4 inch seams so the finished block would not quite be 9 inches.

A bit more practise needed before I tackle a super king sized bed quilt I think.

I hope you enjoyed reading this little diverted ramble....... P.

The First Poetry Pages......

Hello All,

Today I made my first altered book "Poetry Pages".

This is how it started: as I said in my earlier post, I plan to take my

inspiration from the words on the page....... to avoid that "I really want to paint

something, but WHAT?" problem. I painted gesso to strengthen and seal the paper

but just left the word bits that I wanted.

"A Griffin, wheeling here and there about,
 Kept reconnoitring us...."

Stencilled wings and drew a griffin, and added texture paste.

"Beheld afar off, in the hooded shade
Of darkness, a great mountain (strange to speak)
Spitting, from forth it's sulphur-baken peak..."

This side collage, stencil and texture paste.

And lots of acrylic washes and runs.

I like this poetry thing. It's funny when you see things in a photograph, think I

need some bright yellow in the bottom right hand corner for balance?????

Maybe tomorrow.

Bye for now, Penny.

The Beginnings of an Altered Book....

Hello All,

Sometimes when playing with paints, inks and drawing, it is good to

get away from a blank white page. Thinking about that, I found a scruffy

old book in the charity shop, "The Poetical Works of John Keats". It came

to mind that not only would it give a good base to work on, but might also

provide inspirational prompts to create the pages.

I have started stitching groups of pages together to give them more strength to

take the paint, sometimes adding beads.

A bit of a problem though.........keep getting distracted reading the verse!

Always have that guilty feeling "spoiling" a book, but this one is very

much past it's best so that's fine.

It will be an ongoing project, so expect to see how it's going from time to time.

Probably involving gesso.........sigh :(

Bye for now, P.

Playing with Texture Paste.

Hello All,

Played with texture paste and stencils today. Another messy afternoon!

It was just a bit of experimentation, not actually anything recognisable. Perhaps

it's time to go back to an actual subject.......

But what? A bit muse-less at present, but I do like the effect.

Weekend......so time to paint some more :)

Have a good evening......P.

Purples and Pinks

Hello All,

Its all been purples and pinks for a couple of days now, wonder what

that signifies?

This is a torn paper collage background, now waiting for further development.

I can't see what to make of it yet, will come back to it.

While things are drying, small projects fill the time......

Die cutting gives instant results, and is a great way of playing with colour.

This came out a bit disjointed but hey....

Back soon, P.

Doodles White on Black....

Hello All,

Following yesterday's happy doodling, I felt like doing a bit more.

This time a slight variation..... I chose Lin Brown stamps as a base, solid

shapes stamped in black Archival ink, and doodled with a white pen.

I only have one size of white pen, so it is more difficult to get much variation

in tonal value, but it is ok as a design.....looks a bit like a wood cut?

I filled in the negative background spaces to make the shapes stand out.

Might develop this with colour perhaps.

Thanks for looking, P.

A Bit of ZIA......

Hi All,

Spent an hour or so this morning doodling a bit of ZIA (Zentangle Inspired

Art).

Not wanting to overstress my cold-fuddled brain, I made the outline drawing

using a JOFY stencil from PaperArtsy, and filled in the outlines with Zentangle

patterns, adding extra bits here and there. This works really well with any stencil

with blank open areas.

Pleasing result :)

And relaxing.......have a go.

Bye for now, P.

Three Little Soppy Cards

Good Evening,

After a short rest at the end of my blogging marathon it is now time

to get back to it :)

Starting gently with three mini cards for Valentines Day.

I have actually been throwing paint around again today, but not produced

anything that I would wish to share here! So these rather unimaginative but

sweet cards were post paint therapy.

Now I just have to find three "Valentines" to give them to........probably not!

Will get back into the creative swing soon....

Bye for now, P.