happy halloween

weekly challenge from my friend ludgera

i added a purple photo filter to her moon photo

a graveyard photo from salem, ma

a vintage portrait , bat , text

and tripping paint to look like blood

saturday nite lunacy

a nite at zero gravity

photos taken on my i-phone

playing around

a few months ago i was shopping for jewelry supplies

and found these silver cones

i know at the time i had a brilliant idea

today i found them in my stash and wasn't sure what to do with them

but eventually i came up with a necklace and some earrings

encaustic class

fall inspired colours and leaves

i painted the canvas red first

added the leaves in the warm wax

covered them with ocher and gold wax

and while the wax was still warm

i removed the leaves

a photo transfer and oil paint to finish it off

close up of the leaf imprint

corner detail

wandering

alternative craft fair

what a fun way to spend the day

my friend carmi was selling her wares

at the day of the dead show downtown

it has been a long time since i wondered

throught the doors at the el mocambo

it was filled with some cool venders selling

all kinds of interesting and fun art

plus live entertainment

music, magic and burlesque

left: dj misty
who was spinning all my favorite tunes

centre: red herring
a professional distraction indeed

and right: gabriello pitman

amazing us with his card tricks

encaustic class

i'm feeling under the weather

so today's project was something familiar

i've done this project in the past

and have many people wanting to purchase the original

but since it is one of my first and like a baby

i decided to try replicating it using a different image

a sheet of text covered in clear wax

with a photo transfer of a tree on top

layers of white wax to create some texture

i used painters tape to make the grid of squares and rectangles

added black oil paint and mineral spirits to highlite the texture

weekend fun

it started out with scrapfest

friday nite and all day saturday

i was designated booth bitch for

my friend carmi

( who btw, made our aprons)

our booth neighbour karen

from art house studio

(her and all the staff made the whole experience so much fun)

karen is wearing a necklace i made especially for her

i tried to reflect her bubbly personality and match her hair!!!

some of the the other necklaces i made

sunday was a glorious day in the country
we drove to carmi's family farm
enjoyed a lovely afternoon with some homemade apple pie
made by her mother and walking it off on the trail cleared by her dad
my favorite is birch trees and for as far as my eye could see
they where everywhere!!
thanks carmi!
for including me , i loved it!

fall morning

i'm at scrapfest this weekend

helping my friend carmi with her booth
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above photos taken early morning

my japanese maple still looks gorgeous

but the tree across the street had lost all its leaves
layer masks from shadowhouse

encaustic class

this morning i was thinking about playing hookie

i've been burning the candle at both ends

and felt like a break

feeling guilty by 11 i decided to pack up my supplies

clear wax over patterned wallpaper

ironed and then oil paint rub in to highlite the texture

here i added metallic powders to clear wax

a photo transfer of a tree and some metal found
at an antique market this summer
to finish it off

the apprentice becomes the teacher

way back in the '90's (so long ago)

i remember when i got my first computer

what a deal, i went to the ibm warehouse and got a

computer, printer and scanner all for $3500

i had the intention to scan all my photos, crop them in ps

and print them off to make greeting cards

simple right..............

well, after much frustration and wanting to throw

the whole thing out the window

i happened to mention to a then client my problem

lennie, who was someone i always talked about art with,

asked "how can i help?'

long story shorter..... one visit lead to another

and before you knew it i was a scanning, filing, printing machine

eventually our visits turned into classes and a friendship

starting with picture it and then photoshop

thanks to lennie's patience ( lots of patience) and

wonderful teaching skills i got the hang of this whole computer thing!!!

now, my friend ludgera who has been struggling with ps

has been asking me lots of questions

and now i have become the teacher
(now i really appreciate all of lennie's help!!)

ludgera sent me this photo

wanting to know how to make it look grungy

since i love a challenge and to sit and play
i added 6 layers on top of her photo
trying on every blending mode and adjusting
the opacity and erasing here and there
------
above, my finished project
a screen shot of my work
lu's original photo and
the six layers i added on top
5 from shadowhouse and some text
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i do remember that there was times when i just thought it was too
hard to learn, overwhelmed thinking that i was never going to"get it"
and struggling with all the "geeky" stuff
plus i'm sure a few tears where shed!
12 years later, here i am...........
still learning, you can never know it all in ps,
thanks to lennie, marie and susan
plus lots of articles and books
i happy to be able to help someone
------

keep calm

and

carry on

happy canadian thanksgiving

to all my fellow canadians

happy thanksgiving!

hope you are all enjoying the fall colours,

turkey and all the fixin's

room with a view

my weekly encaustic classes in the distillery

have been moved to a new studio on the 4th floor

on the other side of the building

i haven't had a chance to wonder around

since classes started last month

looking out the window all i could see is this crane

building the new condo

don't know why i never looked down

i noticed these funky sculptures

so i went for a closer look

the base of these sculptures cough my eye

and these chairs for enjoying the view

encaustic class

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i've been watching the trees and my street change colours all week

so with a large supply it was an easy decision on what to do in class

lots of layers of wax with leaves in between

a photo transfer on top and then a few more leaves to finish it off

-------

this one i decided to add a little sienna oil paint to finish it off

autumn

besides the autumn poet sings

a few prosaic days

a little this side of the snow

and that side of the haze

emily dickinson

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photo taken at the beach,

the first tree to loose all its leaves

8 layers in all

keeping busy

now that i've got the jewelry bug

i've been going back and forth from

wire to beads and then combining both

i borrowed a book from my friend

making vintage jewelry

by

emma brennan

the beaded flowers caught my eye

and have since made several

so today i added the chain to

see how they look as necklaces

and of course beanie was there to

keep an eye on things

do quality check

and to help!!!