Plaster Play Date

 Way back in June we had the pleasure of a fun filled play date at K's. we were waiting for nice weather so we could play outside - with PLASTER! (it took so long to update this post since Google informed me i had RUN OUT OF SPACE!)  Here are all the great pics of our wonderful creative day. 

We started with applying plaster of paris to canvas boards, or planks of plywood.  You mixed it with a stick in a cup to the desired consistency (whatever that is!)  and applied with a trowel.

 We also did some with pre-mixed joint compound.

 Then we stuck doilies into the wet plaster.  it was a difficult thing to do.  It had to be wet but not too wet.  You had to let it sit - but for who knows how long.  I did this one and it was perfect.  I tried a second and it was a disaster - i had to re-do it three times!  It all depends on the temperature, (ie it got hotter as the day wore on) the humidity, how much water was in your plaster, etc.

 Here is S. trying the doily technique.

 For these thin boards K. used masking tape to create a border to catch the plaster.

 Here is one i did with joint compound on a wooden board.  I wanted to take out the metal swirly things- but they did not leave a good impression - so i left them in!

 Here is another look at S.'s with some added stencils to create more impressions.

 This is K's with various scratches and marks - including a key.

 I think these were Z's getting started on textural backgrounds.

 Here is another one of mine with an assortment of doilies.

 Here is a large doily on wet plaster.

 We broke for lunch - and what a lovely lunch it was!  Here are little cream cheese sandwiches with a little rose petal garden on top!  there were two kinds of flavored waters and a salade nicoise layered in a jar!

 And a watermelon feta sandwich in the shape of a watering can!  Notice the playing cards with our initials marked our places at the table.

A slice of cake with whipped cream and fruits finished off our delicious meal..

 Here are S's textured boards after washing with paints and adding some fibers.

 Here are two of mine after painting and scratching them up to reveal the plaster.  The doilies on the right- perfect.  On the left?  not so much.

Here is one of my square doily patterns painted to evoke the colours of a shell.

And here is the other - a little darker.

 Here are Z's finished pears.

 And this colourful piece done by layering paint and using gel medium in between to act as a release.

And this one shows some great stencil patterns and some metallic paint.

Here is on of S's completed pieces.  Or maybe not!  Sometimes a little bit more is just the right thing!

Here is another of S's richly textured pieces.  You can see the doily impressions in the background and the stencils in metallic paint on top.

 K completed three frescoes.  This technique was a little different.  It is plaster on heavy paper.  you bend it and it cracks.  Here she painted some pretty cherry blossoms.

 And here is another of K's with a lady in a yellow dress and umbrella.

And finally K's ballerina in motion - with some dark tones adding drama to the background.

Vacation Painting

In July we spent some time in the Laurentions, the cottage country north of Montreal. We stayed in my sister's little cabin, next to their larger cottage. It is a cute summer place with nice vintage touches. As a gift to my sister and her family i painted a couple of pictures. This one was based on a picture taken at Ogunquit Beach in Maine, in about 1966.

That's my sister on the top, then me and my two brothers.

 Here is a bit of a close up.  I am not very good at faces.  but it is meant to be whimsical!

 I also painted a "paint-by numbers" image.  This was mostly just to relax and do nothing by the lake.  My sister's niece helped me out a bit with some of those tiny specs of paint.  It was a real challenge!  Well my sister found an old frame which set it off nicely!

 Here it is without the glare!

Ah...July at the lake - it was wonderful....!

Altered Calendar - Dance

I am a pretty meticulous chronicler of my art work.  But i traded  my calendar yesterday and forgot to take pictures!  Oh the horror....!!
Well you have seen the book before.  There are six of us doing a 12 month swap - so we each work on each book twice.  The theme is Dance...!!

I will put these place holders here until i get a chance to take pictures at our next meet up.  I went with an African tribal dance theme and created collage using these images i found online.

 I added fabric and beads and feathers and even a pop-up....
  - well you just have to imagine how great it turned out....

Altered Globes

Yes  - altered books, altered hangers, altered playing cards, altered photographs, altered dominoes, and now altered globes!   

 We each brought a vintage (or vintage inspired) globe to our monthly play date.  After not meeting for two months we had a lot to catch up on.  Our altered calendars, exciting tales from Art Unraveled, and the various art projects we each brought for show and tell.

When we finally got started,  I gave my globe a rough sand then coated it with gesso. I gave up on finding a vintage globe and bought this one at Cost Plus World Market.

 I made a rought template and cut out 12 strips of paper (tapered at each end) in my favorite pallet of robin's egg blue florals and sepia tone text and script.  Since each strip was about 14" inches long (yes i looked up "pi" and how to calculate circumference!!) it was a great way to use my rolls of vintage wall paper, wrapping paper and treasured Cavallini papers.

 I gave each strip a few slits along the sides to smooth out the curvature of the globe.  My globe was small - a larger one would be less fussy.  I used PVA glue.

 After all the strips dried somewhat i added some birds cut from napkins.    It looks very messy at this point.

 Next i added stripes of ecru lace along all the seams.  A great way to hide the puckers!!

 Once it had dried it was MUCH smoother and glossy.  I will probably add a few embellishments to the top or base.  But otherwise i was done!

 Here is L's modern take on the globe altering process.  She gave her grandfather's globe a wash of blue to tone it down.  then added light blue stripes.  She added white dots and paper disc's cut with a circle punch.

 Then she continued with some stripes and cool text cut from a REALLY old newspaper.

 More circles and some bright red dots finish it off!

 Here is K's ebay globe in progress.  She has a very cool concept.  Each strip of paper represents a vacation journey some family members made across the country.  She printed each image on a printer - pre-cropping each shot to the right dimensions.  Because her globe was quite small they fit on 8 1/2 by 11 pages!

 But she is not nearly done yet.... she plans to add a train, a plane and a car to the tracks around the globe to really represent the travels taken to meet together.  Can't wait to see her vision realized!

 S. had a large ebay globe.  She spent most of the afternoon thoughtfully preparing her strips of paper - cut using a tissue paper template.  She pieced together some text pages and glued foreign stamps all over.  then she collaged some old maps with bits of geometric printed tissue.  It will be a really fabulous globe once it is all glued on!

 D went a different route.  She cut black and white images showing people of the world and randomly glued them allover the globe.  On the southern hemisphere some were upside down!

She is not nearly done, though, as she plans to paint over all the oceans in between.  Or maybe the continents (i forget which!)  And then, as no piece by D is ever complete with words - she plans to add some poetry to the globe - for a spining story!

Thanks as always to D for hosting these marvelous events.