Arting a Birthday Gift

After a big reveal to the birthday girl earlier today, I get to post my gift recently completed.

This effort was done on Canson Watercolor Art Board -- my new favorite substrate! The materials used include a Monoline Studio pen for the face sketching and dot/line structure; Sharpies, Dr. Martin's Bombay India Inks, Golden's Iridescent Pearl and white Posca pen for the color; and a fun blue adhesive gem for the forehead.

I'm very happy with this piece especially with something you can't see in the photograph. That is the yellow hexagons that were made by filling in the shape with yellow Bombay India Ink. That particular ink color dries shiny and slightly raised, and the resulting sheen really adds to the richness of the piece. (By the way, yes, there is a bee theme.)

This is my first time finishing a piece with varnish. Using recommendations from the Alcohol Ink Art Community (AIAC), the finished piece has three (3) coats of Krylon's Kamar Varnish (spray type) -- the first varnish used -- and then three (3) coats of Golden's Semi-Gloss Archival Varnish that contains UVLS (also spray type). In two test pieces I sprayed before doing this one, I noticed the alcohol ink areas darkened a bit. However, I didn't notice as much change in this one after the same applications.

To read the AIAC article, the link is included at the bottom of this post.

https://alcoholink.community/how-to-seal-alcohol-ink-art/

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Visiting The Hague and Amsterdam (Netherlands), and Paris!

Since late March, I've been planning an international solo trip that included meeting up with friends. The planning is what makes a trip an adventure, and it was definitely fabulous -- now that it is in the rearview mirror -- so to speak. During my two weeks abroad, the sights visited included the: Mauritshuis, a lovely art museum (The Hague, Netherlands) Binnenhof (The Hague, Netherlands) Delft (Netherlands) Kasteel de Haar, a castle (Haarzuilens, Netherlands) Museum Speelklok (Utrecht, Netherlands) Walking Tour of Amsterdam (Netherlands) Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Dutch Resistance Museum (Amsterdam, Netherlands) De Oude and Nieuwe Kerks aka old and new churches (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Anne Frank House (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Sainte Chapelle/Conciergerie (Paris, France) Giverny - Monet's residence at one time (outside Paris) Versailles (outside Paris) Musee d'Orsay/VR Event titled 1874 Impressionists First Exhibition

New Project in Progress

I'm working on a new project with multiple layers and shapes of different colored organzas. It is an interpretation of lighting on an ice rink...from a show I recently saw. There is a lot more stitching to do, but I like how its coming along. I'm learning organzas are not easy to work with especially when you layer them and have overlaid edges. The fabric also tends to ravel easily. This post also linked to http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com .

Concertina Dazzle Days

If you don't know what a Concertina Sketchbook is, it is folded paper (back and forth) that looks like the bellows of an accordion when done. Concertinas can be home-made or purchased, and they are fun to work in. The photos above are of three continuous two-page spreads from my own Concertina (the one on the right - the latest). The mark-making was done with Sharpie markers, Posca pens, Micron pens and Sakura PenTouch markers. All the shapes and color choices in the images above were spontaneous as well as the details. There was no plan. What I like about these is that each two-page spread collaborates with the next one and so on (as the designs spill over from one spread to the next). As new ones are created, they add to the wonderful visual feast. One of the things I love doing with these also -- is to crop sections and digitally mirror them to form symmetrical designs. The results are occasionally delightful. In fact, this one was made from such a process and has a n

Cay Denise

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