Illustration Friday Alphabet

Letters, letters, letters! They swirl around me in my dreams; I fight my way through them, a sea, a soup, a fog of letters; struggling to organize them into something meaningful and peaceful and powerful...

(As an aside, I posted a tutorial on acrylic emulsion transfers yesterday--take a look!)

Emulsion-Type Transfers

These pix illustrate yet another way to make transfers from your inkjet printer using Jet Print Photo Multi-Project Glossy paper. I get this inexpensive paper at my local Walmart, but you can evidently order it online. (This is the same paper I talked about using for gel medium transfers and water transfers).

As you can see from the second picture, this particular mode of transfer results in an actual transparent film very similar to a Polaroid emulsion transfer. As an aside, let me say that I only use Epson printers with Durabrite inks; I'm not positive that this would work with other printers (like HP) whose ink runs in water.

Step One: print your image out on the Jet Print Photo paper. It doesn't need to be reversed, as in most transfers, because the emulsion will lift off the paper and can be placed down just as it was on the original.

Step Two: Coat your image with Golden Soft Gel Gloss Medium. I usually do four coats: horizontal strokes, vertical strokes, and both directions of diagonal strokes. Let this dry for at least overnight. This is the part I'm not good at. I don't like to wait.

Step Three: Trim the image so that it has a smallish margin around the edge. Then soak it in a pan of water, checking it occasionally until you can begin to separate the emulsion from the paper. This is not peeling off just a section of the paper. What you should be pulling off will not be opaque. Treat this gently and don't let it get folded back on itself, as it will stick. Unless, of course, you like that wadded-up look, in which case you don't need to be careful...

I usually let this sit on a non-absorbent surface to dry a little bit, as the medium may have absorbed some water.

Step Four: Attach this emulsion to whatever substrate you wish to use. In this case, I'm going to mount my digital photomontage "Visitor" to a canvas using acrylic medium. You can underpaint the canvas before you attach the emulsion, or even collage under it.

So, to summarize: You need the following materials:

JetPrintPhoto Paper, Multi-Project Glossy
Golden Soft Gel Medium Glossy (Other mediums may work, but they really should be glossy, as whatever makes it glossy also makes it more stretchable).
Digital image that you want to transfer to another surface
Inkjet printer

Any questions, let me know.

Committed to Creativity

Yesterday I decided that I needed to make some other types of commitment to creativity. So I have promised myself that I:

--work with glue/paint/canvas/pencil/ink every day, not getting so caught up in the digital photomontages that I forget to get my hands dirty.
--take photos every day--whatever tickles my fancy or strikes me just so. Camera with me at all times.

My Sacred Life

Oooh, time just skitters away from me now that all three are in school!

The part of my Sacred Life that I want to share today has no picture, but it is one thing guaranteed to make me feel grateful and humble and happy...

I love hearing the murmur of my kids talking or working or playing together--that low hum, punctuated by laughter, a high soft voice (Katie) and a lower, raspier one (Jenny) and then this deeper voice of amazing timbre (Joel).

I've been so blessed. My children like to be together, like to play together--even with the huge age difference (Joel is 14 and Jenny's only 7, while Katie's 12) they like to hang out together. Joel and Jenny have all sorts of stuff they do together, and Katie and Jenny play together all the time. Even though Joel and Katie sometimes disagree now that they're adolescents, for the most part they get along and enjoy each other.

Now it might seem that this should be a given, but I've seen so many families where the children do not like to be together, even where the children actively dislike each other, that I know that not every family is as lucky as mine.

That murmur of the three voices I love best in all the world--wish I could bottle it up so I'd have it forever. I'm even smiling as I write this. Truly truly truly an important part of my sacred life.

Another Stencil

I'm getting better at cutting the stencils--this is an image from a 1922 yearbook. I've always thought that "Ruth" was particularly glamorous. Whenever I use these old pictures, I find myself thinking about the life the person led. Especially for high school yearbooks from so long ago...I know that Ruth is no longer alive, no longer glamorous, no longer young...

One of My All-Time Favorites

Found this today--this is one of my all-time-ever-in-the-world-very-most-favorite pictures. The little laughing one is me; the handsome guy on the left is my dad, Marty. He's one of the best people I know, and I'm so lucky to have him around. He's helped (maybe more than anyone else) make me who I am, today. So I guess this is part of My Sacred Life, too.

Playing

I've been playing with stencils lately after reading about making a stencil of your own face on Zorana's blog and following her links to HERE. I did the one of myself a few weeks ago, and it turned out pretty well even though I could only find my big box-cutter blade. After coloring election posters with Katie the other night, I've been thinking in more of a graphics mode. Katie said a couple of kids at school said they really liked that she hand-drew her posters rather than doing them on the computer. So while messing around today, I cut stencils that said "vote for Katie"--she's not going to use them, but it was a fun thing to do, especially now that I found my sharp little swivel blade. I'll be doing more of this type of thing, I think, to use on journal pages.

My Sacred Life Day Five

This may sound silly to some of you. But just the fact that I have a space all my own--my wonderful little studio--is still miraculous to me. I can paint the walls deep gold! I can put up shelves so that I can stare at my finished and unfinished pieces! I can put a myriad of K letters on the wall! It's okay! I'm not bothering anyone else...
Love my little letters, here by the door...

Illustration Friday Visitors

For a year, for an entire year, he wrote to her every week, beginning his letters with "Ma chere Marthe" and ending, always, with "je t'aime." And then, the week he was supposed to depart from that dangerous and foreign land, he disappeared. And though she waited for him until she was old and withered, she never heard from him again.

Committed to Creativity

Two day ago, I spent several hours working on a digital collage. It can be a very time-consuming, nit-picky process to take disparate elements and blend them together well and somehow tell a story as well. After approximately two hours of work, I got the message "Photoshop has experienced an error and must shut down. Any unsaved work may be lost."

Humph. It set me back a little bit, to say the least.

My artistic recovery was to spend time (maybe a lot of time? I'm not even sure) playing with my Peerless watercolors. I dribbled them onto photos, I dribbled them onto wet watercolor paper, I dribbled them onto paper towels--you name it, I dribbled on it.

So much fun! Now I'm not saying this is great art--I can't paint like Elizabeth or Jessie or Leah, and I haven't written a book like Olivia's doing--but oh, to just play with no expectation of anything other than fun! This is what children do, ALL THE TIME, and it always makes me so sad that we squeeze this right out of them in school.

Not only did Mrs. Bacon tell me not to waste Elmer's glue, but she also told me not to just dribble water colors on my notebook paper. I guess I was just wasteful in many ways... But Mrs. Bacon was a good teacher, one of my favorites, and I was a very good and dutiful student, so I quit playing with my art supplies. And now, I wonder, isn't that exactly what art supplies are for? WASTING your watercolors would be locking them up in a cupboard, saving them for a day when you could paint a great masterpiece. Ahem.

I think that the luckiest, happiest adults are the ones who retain this ability to play and be completely in the moment. I include myself as one of the lucky ones; I've consciously cultivated this ability (first with gardening and now with art) to be completely involved in what I'm doing. (Don't get me wrong, I'm not completely involved in all I do. Take cleaning my house, for example--if I were totally involved in THAT I'd be up there right now, scrubbing and vacuuming and dusting, all of which it surely needs. I'm only completely involved when I'm doing fun stuff. Like sitting out here in the studio drinking iced tea. But I digress.)

So I think that's what committing to creativity for a month is all about--promising yourself and the universe that you will practice having fun EVERY DAY. So, yes, I do count my yummy crabcakes as creative, just like I count sitting with Joel and Katie last night, coloring posters Katie had drawn to say 'vote for Katie for School Council Treasurer'. She drew them, she lettered them, and then the three of us sat and COLORED, together. Time joyfully spent. (Joel would snort if he heard that I said that, so shhh! promise you won't tell him!)

So here's some of my 'play'. And may you all spend time today, not making some THING, but MAKING something.

Go play.

My Sacred Life Day 3

A few years ago my Dad bought me a complete set of Prismacolor colored pencils. I'd looked at them for a long time, but they were expensive, and, looking back, maybe I just wasn't ready for what the pencils represented.

For me, these pencils represent something very sacred and special about me: my art, my ability to create. I smothered that aspect of myself for 35 years, and when I received these pencils as a gift (thank you, Dad!) I somehow began to be able to say "I am creative. I am an artist."

I am surrounded by beauty.

My Sacred Life

ZenaMoon is starting a new project, and I've said I'll join in. She writes:

Finally, today I decided to start a new bloggy project called My Sacred Life. Every day for at least a month I'm going to post a photo from my daily life...The idea is to creatively connect with the holiness of everyday life...

So to start, this is a picture of my cozy little corner in the studio. I came down here the other evening when I was panicking, sat down on the little old loveseat and read for twenty minutes while listening to the soundtrack from Wicked. Utter peace.

Walk with Me

I put what I think are the finishing touches on this piece today. I love this one.

I also cleaned my studio and made crabcakes for dinner--do those things count as being creative, too? At one point while I was making dinner, the girls were mixing up a batch of brownies and Richard was working on school stuff at the table and Joel was cutting potatoes in chunks--it was a very busy place! The crabcake recipe is a yummy one--anyone want a copy, let me know.

Creative today

I had this same "problem" last year during Creative Every Day, though it's really not a problem, it's a good thing.

Once I make this commitment, I explode with ideas and experiments, so much so that I have trouble finishing something to share. Today I worked on laminating scraps of text to a piece of plastic, then peeling it off (what will I use it for? I don't know, but it's very cool--I remember I got in trouble once in sixth grade for doing this same thing--Mrs. Bacon said I was wasting Elmer's glue), and I printed the Waterboy out on wc paper, put a wash of transparent paint over it, colored it with colored pencils, and then overprinted it again. Of course, the ink ran out in one printer, and in switching printers I screwed up the registration. But it's an interesting idea. I ordered some InkAid so that I can print on papers that are normally too absorbent to use with an inkjet printer. Until it comes, though, I'm experimenting with everything else.

If I were to do this print over, I'd put a bit of whitewas behind the boy's body and face. I want the text to come through, but not so much. Of course, since this is from a book published in 1854, the paper is VERY absorbent as well.

All three kids will be in school on Monday--a whole day in the studio with no helpers...hmmm.

Self-Portrait Challenge: Pattern

All I could think of when I saw "Pattern" was words. The one constant in my life--writing words, speaking words, thinking words, hearing words...

Illustration Friday Captain

"All I need is a tall tall ship
And a star to steer her by."

Took the little boy from "The Waterboy" and gave him a ship on a sandy beach. The hardest part was painting and weathering the boat... I used my Mister Retro filters to make the wood look old.

Hard to believe that a week ago, Mama Goat was still alive. I looked at the pictures yesterday when I took pictures of the girls for the first day of school. Horrible.

Printer Experiments

I tried overprinting with my inkjet printer today. I opened one of my digital pieces, then printed it out on a piece of watercolor paper that had been collaged with music and phone book pages. Before I printed, I coated that with clear gesso. Of course, I'm always impatient, so I only let the gesso dry for fifteen minutes. I imagine I'd have had a more vibrant print if I'd let it dry overnight.

The paper was pretty thick, so I set the printer on "envelope" and moved the lever which lets thicker papers through.

I think I should have put a translucent coat of titan buff or zinc white down, to let the image pop a little bit more.

I want to keep experimenting with over- and underprinting.

Creativity, Shopping & Panic--All in One Day!

Spent time this morning in the studio working on honing my photoshop skills. Last night I took my three and two others for burgers and Harry Potter--everyone spent the night, so after our guests went home today, it was time to go to town to get school supplies.

I will tell you that I used to love buying school supplies when I was little. We never got much, but oh! a full pack of college ruled paper was so exciting! I wish my kids still thought little things were exciting... Unfortunately, the two biggest are at the point where they need a certain kind of binder, and such and such color ink pens, and three separate spiral notebooks and so on and so forth...

Truth is, I haven't been feeling up to par the last few days--the panicky feeling that I used to have seems to have reared its ugly head, almost as though I haven't been taking my medication, even though I haven't missed a single pill.

And tonight, Joel said, "Do you think it's because of what happened to the goat last week? Do you think maybe you're upset about that?" And I think maybe that IS it, and how perceptive and sensitive is that boy??? (Of course, he also said, "I think you better go see a doctor, because it's not normal to act the way you have been lately," but I just won't mention that...)

Here's my actual physical piece I created tonight. Postcard-sized pieces do help me get out of ruts! It took me so long to find the right image for the words I'd cut out of scraps--but I think it all fits together delightfully! I got an old phrenology book, recently, and I'll share some of the text with you some day--it's horrifying and amusing, all at the same time.

three masking tape brushes for PS

Directions for uploading these brushes:
Right-click on the image and choose copy image. Paste image into a new document in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Then choose Edit > Define Brush Preset and give the brush a name.

Then, when you want to add a piece of 'masking tape' to an image, choose that brush, resize it to fit, and use it almost like a stamp--"click" and there you are. You can click several times or copy the layer and use "multipy" mode to make it darker, and you can choose any color you want before you stamp/brush it.

Any questions, let me know!

Today's Creativity

Not very much time out in the studio today, but I received a book I'd ordered from Amazon and it really inspired me. The book is Digital Art Studio: Techniques for Combining Inkjet Printing with Traditional Art Materials, by Karen Schminke et al.

Some of the techniques in the book I've already done, such as wet and matte medium transfers from Jet Print glossy photo paper, or gessoing a page from a book and then running it through my printer, like I did with yesterday's postcard with the eyes. But some will require more preparation before I can attempt them. So tonight I will read and make notes, and tomorrow I'll experiment. Thursday the girls start school, and Friday Joel has a freshman orientation, so by next week I should be operating on a more workmanlike schedule out in the studio.

Mini-tutorial on inkjet transfers (note: top images are the gesso transfer and its release sheet, middle images are the gel medium transfer and its release sheet, and the bottom images are water transfers onto rice paper):

Print reversed image on Jet Print Glossy Multi Purpose paper, available at WalMart. The paper is important, because this paper will release the inks, even from a pigment ink printer like my little Epson.

Water transfer:

thoroughly wet the receiving paper and blot. Place the glossy inkjet image face down, and rub firmly with a brayer or the back of a spoon. Peel up the corner to see if it needs more burnishing. When it appears that the image has transferred, lift paper off. This is great for putting images into diaries and journals, or onto cool papers like rice paper.

Gesso transfer: (which didn't work that well here)

brush gesso onto receiving paper/canvas, then burnish as above.

Gel Medium transfer:

Brush Golden Semi Gloss Gel Medium onto paper/canvas and follow directions as above. (You can use other acrylic mediums, but I always seem to have the best luck with this brand and type).

A few notes: The IMPERFECTION of the resulting image is part of its appeal. Don't expect a perfect image. This is a hit and miss transfer method, at its best. Also, the brand/type of paper is important, although you can always try others. This brand is cheap and readily available here in the U.S. You can try the water transfers with any gloss paper with inkjet prints that will smear when wet, such as HP. I love my Epson printers with their waterproof pigment ink. Wouldn't trade them for the world.

Hmmm. I'm sure I've left things out, but it's time to go make dinner for the kids. I'll add more later after I've thought about it.

I also made some Photoshop brushes, which I'll post later for anyone who wants to grab them...

A Piece of Art Each Day

Jessie at Diary of a Self-Portrait has made a commitment to do a painting every day for the next thirty days, and I'm going to join her. I did this last November with Leah at Creative Every Day, and it was really a jumpstart for my commitment and my creativity.

So I will be posting my daily dose of creativity here, every day, just as I hope Jessie does! Anyone else want to join? I'll put up a link list. I'll include creative writing, too, since I'm definitely going to participate in NaNoWriMo this year (National Novel Writing Month).

Vista Print Special

Vista Print is having a special for free custom business cards (250) and free standard size postcards (100) and free large postcards (50) until August 17th. The shipping and handling ends up being ~$7.00 and if you only print the biz cards on one side, that's all it will cost! The postcards can be printed on the back--I do mine with the name of the piece of artwork and my name--and the uploads, everything--FREE!

If you'd like me to forward the email to you, email me at karen at ksmithey dot com and I'll forward it.

This really is an amazing deal. I got a set of postcards and biz cards last week, and just ordered more (different) ones today.

They have templates that you can download and use to help you get everything the right size...

Snakes

Last night, I dreamed that my yard and my house were filled with pairs of snakes. Everywhere I looked there was a pair of snakes twined or coiled together, waiting. I kept trying to see if they were rattlesnakes or gopher snakes. Even the ones with the wide pit viper heads didn't have rattles, and confusion just filled my chest. I picked one snake up. Its tail was wriggling on the floor, having been cut off. I said, "This one's a gopher snake," and it bit me. Big fangs pierced my skin, I watched the venom filling the wound. And then I...waited. And waited. To see what was going to happen to me.

IF Emergency

Awakening from a dream, Enid looked around and saw a nightmare. She was surrounded. It was all over.

All the World's a Stage

This is from before Katie got sick. The curtains are from the painting of a tent from the 1800s, photo of woman during Civil War, harlequin floor fabricated by me, photo of sky by me, baseboard pasted together from the background of the picture of the woman...

I love the colors in this--and isn't she beautiful?

Elements of The Waterboy

All in all, there were more than 30 layers involved in creating this, as well as many others that I threw away. I stretched things, darkened things (like where the top of the water meets his leg), masked things (like his legs under water), and warped things (like his reflection), and colored things (like his hair and outfit).

Very fun. I wish I could say that I had this in mind when I started, but this was originally an ocean piece, with a woman in a long red dress standing on some rocks. In the end, I used the sky from the ocean shot (taken 20+ years ago by me, badly underexposed), the water and ripples from the fishing picture (which I got from an online collage pool on Flickr), the canvas (one of mine with its color tweaked), and the postcard photo of the boy (also from the Flickr collage pool). I created the moon using Photoshop. Any questions, I'll be glad to try and answer, though I'm far from an expert at this.

The Waterboy, Part Two

Lying in bed last night, I figured out a way to minimize some of the damage that the original postcard of the little boy had sustained. Even though this will only be meaningful to Photoshop users, I'll tell you how I did it: I used a monochrome color mixer adjustment layer, decreasing the amount from the blue and green layers, which had the most damage, and increasing the amount of the red layer, which had the least damage. Of course, then the image was completely black and white, so I duplicated the image, set it to color, and placed it above the adj layer. That gave me the original color, but minimized the damage.

No wonder I have trouble sleeping!

I'll be posting all the pieces I used to make this soon--just need to gather them all together...

The Waterboy

Today I spent several hours in the studio. It felt good to have time to work. Katie really does seem to be feeling better--she danced around the livingroom this morning to show me how great she felt!

I like this piece. Tomorrow I'll post all the different photos that I used to make The Waterboy--mainly because I think it's interesting how photos/paintings/textures morph when they're used in Photoshop...

IF Missing

I feel like I've been out of action forever.

Katie's feeling better, although the trip to go school shopping wore her out on Friday and she ended up in tears on the long ride home...So I'm out in the studio today for a little while.

This is the first time I haven't posted an Illustration Friday on Friday in, well, forever, I think. But I was determined to start something new when I came out to the studio today, and just now, when I logged on to Blogger, I realized that the piece is actually IF's "Missing." Not sure which of the two versions I prefer--let me know what you think, if you have time, either via a comment or by participating in the poll in the left sidebar of the blog--