Painted Eyeglass Case

     Decided to get busy this weekend and begin work on projects for a few Christmas Bazaars I participate in every year. One of my artist friends recently brought some extra eyeglass cases to share with my local Mixed Media group...she had tons of them and wanted ideas for how to use them in art. My plan is to alter them to house wonderful little trinkets and gifts for the holidays. As I began working on one I ended up doodling eyes on the case (this happens to me a lot) I always gravitate to funky eyes of some sort.

      I painted them first with a couple of coats of gesso, added inexpensive acrylic paints and finished off with a couple of coats of gloss medium.....very simple.

      This particular case is going in my purse to hold my sunglasses. Jeepers Peepers...what fun!!

Mustache Love

Mustaches are popping up everywhere....cell phone cases, license plates even tattooed on fingers (personally I love this one). I have a mustache bottle opener, mustache stickers and a whole stack of fake mustaches...just cause I love 'em and you never know when you will need a good disguise.

Recently I was out in the studio finishing up a piece of art and happened to glance up at a package of mustache stickers...then it hit me, I should put a mustache on my art!  It was just the touch of whimsey the piece needed. Now I can't stop making mustaches. All shapes and sizes!

The  most fun I have had with them is drawing tangles on them. Simple cut-outs from white cardstock and a micron pen and now I have tons of Zentangle® mustaches to adorn my journal pages, my works on canvas and even my grandson.

Have fun with this trend, Halloween is right around the corner....tangle a few mustaches to get you in the spirit.

Ode to Jesse Reno

Making my own journals from recycled materials is something I have been doing for a few years now. I save all of my old envelopes to use in my handmade journals. For some of my journals I use only envelopes...when you add gesso and acrylic paint it makes a wonderful, sturdy surface for art. I also like the fact that the used envelope is already a distressed surface with uneven edges and sometimes even ripped up a little....perfect!!

The low cost as well as the funky look of these journals make it so easy for me to feel the freedom to experiment with materials and techniques. I often use them to try my hand at different artist's styles to see if I can figure out how they did something I like...what materials they used, their symbology and color palette. My journal is just for me so I don't have to worry about copying the artist in the work I may want to sell. I recently listened to a great podcast interview with Rice Freeman-Zachery and artist Jill Berry where they discussed the benefits of intensive study of other artist's work.

Jesse Reno is one of my favorite artists...he paints with his hands, draws amazing creatures and uses color brilliantly. I am hoping to take one of his workshops in the next year.

In the meantime I had fun experimenting in my journals with acrylic paints, markers and a few Jesse Reno like creatures.