Art Jewels by Sharon

La Nouba Cirque Du Soleil Collage

2011-06-27T17:07:00.003-04:00

La Nouba Collage

La Nouba Double Page Spread

Inspired by Donna Downey's Collage Monday, I spent the afternoon creating this journal page from our first Cirque show experience last week.

Extra Paint Backgrounds

2011-06-27T16:59:00.000-04:00

After completing two paintings from the Abstract Adventure class at 21 Secrets, I used up the leftover paint to create some journal backgrounds.

Collage, Paint & Soul Workshop Art

2011-06-16T10:20:00.001-04:00

Love Unfinished

2011-06-05T17:50:00.000-04:00

Monday Art

2011-06-01T19:22:00.000-04:00

I spent the holiday in my favorite place, my studio, creating new curtains.

My "assistant"
Zoe (who desperately needs a haircut)

Guess she got tired of sleeping with my beads and baubles!

Sewn Shut

2011-05-21T16:53:00.002-04:00

Your Box

2011-05-14T20:24:00.002-04:00

Creating Wall Art for the First Time

2011-05-10T17:24:00.000-04:00

So, I never really create wall art. I usually just do art in journals, altered books, etc., but after re-painting the living room I thought it was time, and so my learning begins... Larger canvas means much larger brushes... out to the store, I buy one big brush 40% off $17, ouch! Think I will try some friskit, heard about it, never used it. Out to the store, coupon in hand, $5, not too bad. Now to experiment...paint on the frisket, using a good flat brush (not my new one), use a second one for the finer lines, cool, looks like it's working! Yes, a bit too well, ruined my two brushes, with glue like globs! I see this is going to be an expensive lesson!

Sometimes...

2011-05-08T19:51:00.000-04:00

Flowers in Pastels

2011-05-01T21:24:00.004-04:00

Pastel flower Georgia O' style

Art Journal Backgrounds

2011-05-01T21:20:00.000-04:00

Fabric Art Class Project Complete

2011-05-01T21:18:00.000-04:00

Quilted Bag Made for Shopping

Sized to hold wallet, cell, and sunglasses with convertible handles

Warhol and Lichtenstein

2011-03-27T11:09:00.001-04:00

Curiouser and Curiouser...After downloading pics I took from my trip to MOMA in NYC, I saw that Warhol's famous "Soup Can" print is reflected in this Lichtenstein print.

Hot Pink, More Art Journal Play

2011-03-20T06:24:00.002-04:00

Fabric Art Journals

2011-03-19T21:20:00.000-04:00

She's Almost Done

2011-03-19T21:09:00.000-04:00

Self Leveling Gel added

Pan Pastel Play

2011-03-09T22:41:00.003-05:00

This is Kaila! She is my little Yorkie mix who is a lover, but very mischievious! I sketched this from this photo:

She is showing off her new collar from the Etsy store, Pinky's Pet Gear.

(Just went there to get the link, now I have to go back and order a spring collar!)

I used my new purchase of pan pastels which I had never used before. I loved how they blended so easily.

Seeded and Watered

2011-02-27T07:43:00.000-05:00

Layered paint background, fabric flower, stitched border.

Adding color to the face, and was finally able to use my pencil lengthener which I have had forever~

The Quin Magenta on the dress ended up looking cool with the background colors showing through~

Art Journal Cover

2011-02-25T05:40:00.000-05:00

Journal Play

2011-02-20T15:45:00.001-05:00

Pardon Me Boy

Sing Your Own Song

The Journey Begins

Strathmore Journaling Workshop: Sounds I LOVE

2011-02-16T21:38:00.000-05:00

March 1st begins my new workshop. Our pre-workshop homework is to list all the sounds we love. Here are mine:

My grandson's laughter, thunder and rain, waves crashing on a beach, a harmony of voices, guitars that sing, a nostalgic song, my children singing when they don't know I can hear them, the words, I love you, the first birds of spring, the winds working their way across our multitude of trees, no sounds after a day of non-stop noise

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Art Studio Makeover or Under...

2011-02-11T06:21:00.002-05:00

Time to organize and see what I actually have! Books to alter, books for ephemera, books to read, books just because I like the covers!

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Jar of Hearts

2011-01-29T19:58:00.002-05:00

Work in progress, the jar of hearts is starting to take shape.

Spring Beauty

2008-04-19T13:52:00.005-04:00

The air is cool with the sweet breeze as the sun shines to make it the most beautiful day.

Stained Glass

2008-03-25T12:23:00.002-04:00

This piece was done during one of our Second Saturday Art group gatherings. Created out of an image I doodle frequently, I enjoyed playing with the variety of glass pieces to give her depth.

Catchin' Up/ Rock and Roll

2008-03-25T12:19:00.002-04:00

Since I was scanning already, I decided to add some pics of past pieces I had done. This first one was for the Rock and Roll Exhibit at the Dover Art League.

Liberte's Wine Labels

2008-03-25T12:17:00.002-04:00

Ignorant Indifferance and Honest Heart

2008-02-23T09:51:00.002-05:00

This is the Free Choice round for the Vices and Virtues Round Robin. After thinking about lots of things going on around me, I came up with the this theme. I hadn't used any encaustics for a while, so I played around with them and enjoyed the process.

Pride and Humility

2008-02-03T13:05:00.002-05:00

Inspired by my son's first dance, I created this piece for the Vice and Virtues Pride and Humility theme. Created with watercolors, one side of the spread portrays Bryan as a baby in my arms and the second is him today as I was teaching him how to dance.

Temperance and Gluttony

2008-02-03T13:04:00.002-05:00

This theme was much more difficult for me to create. I wanted to do something different and finally became inspired. It seems that both gluttony and temperance are rooted in money, hence the torn dollar bill representing the roots.

Digital Deck

2008-01-21T08:12:00.000-05:00

This is one of the After pics from the Digital Deck. The final one had a couple of more tweaks to it.

Liberte Postage Stamp/Digital Deck BEFORE

2008-01-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

Liberte has been born. I have been invited into the Recollection Parlor. This artistic group will be creating a country from their own inner minds. This was the first project. This also became the BEFORE piece for the Digital Deck hosted by Red Scott of Travelers Hart.

Envy and Contentment

2007-11-23T21:24:00.001-05:00

Two sisters dreaming of their futures...each will end up envying the other. Created with Adobe in layers then colorized with acrylics. Image printed onto inkjet transparencies.

Wrath and Peace

2007-11-23T21:00:00.001-05:00

Does she really decide who I will be? This was a commentary on whether we become our mothers.

Using the same main image of the young girl (the daughter), it was scanned and then in Adobe, the
background was "erased" out. Two copies were done on ink jet transparency. The first mother image was scanned and the tiled in Adobe. It was also copied onto a transparency. Offsetting the two transparencies gave the daughter quite a menacing appearance.

The peaceful mother was done in the same way.

Greed and Generosity

2007-11-23T20:49:00.001-05:00

Greed and Generosity...vintage image was scanned and then copied onto a heavy vellum paper. It was then punched with a circle punch. The greed image was swirled in a vortex pattern using Adobe. The circles were attached with mini brads.

Sloth and Service

2007-08-08T09:57:00.001-04:00

After the last player dropped out. a new player was added. This was the journal that I received a week ago. The theme for this round was Sloth and Service. I had an original idea prior to receiving this journal, but after reading the artist's guidelines, I had a complete change of thought. This artist expressed that she loved writing, so I thought that I would devote this spread to that. I set this up as a journal entry format over the life of two brothers. The diary entry begins with this photo and the events of that day:

The vintage photo was edited using Adobe Elements 5.0, then printed onto photo paper. The frame was a slide frame.

Encaustics were used to create the texture of the frame.

The white pages were painted with two coats of Golden Carbon Black to give it a vintage scrapbook appearance.

The entries were written with silver calligraphy pen.

The ceramic tile represents the tombstone.

Is It Love or Lust?

2007-05-20T18:31:00.001-04:00

The spread is complete and in the artist's journal.

Lust and Purity Become One

2007-05-20T18:25:00.001-04:00

Normally these would be opposite each other in a book style, but because of the size of the paper, I decided to do them back to back.

Purity....It makes Itself

2007-05-20T18:09:00.001-04:00

I rarely have a piece of art completely planned out. The most that I had envisioned for this spread was for the backgrounds of lust to be fire colors and the purity to be pale in color. I realized when I started this page that I didn't really have any shades of white acrylics, except pure white. It has been my vow to not purchase new materials, so I looked around and decided to use several shades of Pearl Ex to tint the paint and add a shine.

I had printed a second transparency that I was planning on cutting out and using. As I laid the transparency onto the paper to judge the size, I soon realized that the paint was still wet. The transparency now was covered in paint. I decided at that point to lay down the transparency in the same way as the lust page, but just press around the outline of the image (not transferring the background). I then was left with the transparency covered in paint, but I thought it looked quite cool. So, I cut around the wedding girl on the transparency, and placed her opposite to the first image. It looked lost. I decided then that I would create the girl with layers. The bottom layer would be her struggle with her lust, the next layer (the paint covered transparency) would be her defense layer, and then the final would be outside "face".

Lust and Purity

2007-05-20T18:01:00.001-04:00

The first round's theme is Lust and Purity. I immediately thought of fire when I thought of lust. The first photo is done on yupo paper with acrylics. The vintage photo is of a woman in a wedding gown in what I thought was quite a provocative pose. The photo is done on transparency and while the ink was still wet, pressed onto the paper in certain areas.

And I Receive One

2007-05-14T10:31:00.000-04:00

Yes, that is how it all is supposed to work. Each month we should receive a new journal as they revolve around the United States. This journal did not travel very far as it came from PA. Each journal opens your mind to new ideas, whether it is the art that you see, the words written by one of the players, or even the medium or surface. In one round robin I worked in an old cookbook, you know the Betty Crocker kind with the three ring binder. It was quite cool! In another round robin, the journal was book of record sleeves for the old albums ( the real ones). The artist had cut circular watercolor paper to resemble a vinyl record as our surface. Again, a challenging and unique way to think.

The journal I received this month was created from a scrapbook photo album. It has plastic sheets for the artist to insert their completed spread. The pages are for me the challenge. It is large in size, 12x12, and square. I usually work in rectangular shaped paper and a smaller size. So, this would be quite fun!

Ist Stop

2007-05-14T10:26:00.000-04:00

My journal has arrived at its first stop on its journey. I mailed it to another player in California. So from the East Coast to the West Coast, it has already traveled farther than I ever have! I received a sweet email from the receiver and I was glad to hear it had arrived all in tact.

Gifts for the Artists

2007-05-10T21:27:00.000-04:00

In this round robin, it was suggested, but not required, that gifts be sent along with the journal for each artist. Another of my interests is jewelery making, so I sent along nine pairs of earrings that each person could choose from. I wrapped them in this antique tin that my sister had given me for Christmas one year. It was tied with a corresponding color ribbon and on the vellum tag, I wrote in blue Sharpie, so that each person knew what they were.

Welcome and "Rules"

2007-05-10T21:19:00.000-04:00

I can't draw. It has never been one of my talents. However, with this journal I had decided that I would step outside my comfort level and experiment. This Circus de Soleil inspired clown was one of my first attempts in a journal to draw. I spent more time on this page than on any of the other parts of the journal including the cover. I searched the Internet for inspiration, drew several trials, and finally ended up with this version. The blue girl has been colored with Prismacolor pencils, highlighted with Glaze pens, and had Diamond glaze added to the eyes and lips. The circus tent was less than satisfactory to me. But, as I was running out of time to meet the deadline, I kept it the way that it was. On the stripes are the themes for each month. At the top of the tent are the "No Rules, Rules". In a round robin, each artist uses a welcome page to introduce themselves, the journal, and any limitations that they request. I really didn't have any as I believe in giving the artist full reign to create.

The Players

2007-05-10T21:12:00.000-04:00

With the one side of the two page spread for the sign in done, now it was time for the actual sign in page. Since I had decided on a circus theme, I used tickets that my youngest son had leftover from a trip to the arcade. They are being held inside a vellum envelope that I had cut down to size. Each artist's name was written in the same silver pen on top of the harlequin cut out. "The Players" was done on cardboard circles that had been painted with Lumiere blue paint. This two page spread was done!

Artists This Way

2007-05-10T21:00:00.000-04:00

I wanted to add another layer to the sign in pages, but it needed to be something lightweight. I found these memory glass pieces, that I think I originally bought to make photo charms. Using Pinata alchohol inks and a dab of Krylon gold, I decorated the backs of three pieces of glass.I then used a calligraphy pen in silver and wrote the directions Artists This Way. Using the drafter's templates I then colored in several arrow shapes pointing towards the next page.

Artist Sign-in Pages

2007-05-10T19:05:00.000-04:00

A staple of all round robins is a sign in page. This is where the players will record their name and date that they had the book in their home. I wanted to create a harlequin theme, so I began by cutting out some purplish paper in that shape. It needed something more, so I glued and glittered a border on them in metallic green.

The next day, I looked at them and hated them! So, back to square one. I still wanted the harlequin pattern, so I looked through some papers that I had hand painted in the past. I found a sheet in the colors I was looking for that I had done with acrylics and punched out the harlequin shapes.

What Didn't Work

2007-05-10T18:58:00.000-04:00

So, I wanted to use book rings for the binding of my journal. I thought the small ones would work well, but no, they could not close. I then purchased the larger rings, but found the diameter was too large to go through the already punched and reinforced pages.

The Journal Begins

2007-05-06T06:51:00.000-04:00