jeliza

I need to make prints this week.

I haven't *needed* to make prints in ... 5 years? Longer?  Because the stack was deep enough and sales so sparse, but I am actually out of my most popular print and down to one of three others. 

It is strange to me that being next to glittery space jewelry suddenly makes my weird silly SF stuff register with people, but I'm not complaining.

(Now, if I have to order more custom cut mats to replenish that stash this year, I will be shocked. So many mats. So, so many mats. Mostly in the sizes that don't sell.)

I'm searching through pinterest looking for new mixed-media tutorials because I don't have the energy to actually get my painting workspace clear enough to *do* the eleventy billion things I already want to paint. Perhaps sleep is a better choice.

(Also, tutorials involving plexiglass and torches. I bought the torch even, which is ... a little scary, really, given my klutziness. I'm gonna wait until the weather is decent enough that I can do my torching out in the nice cement carport.)

New! very small pendants and a fresh crop of rings, which will be appearing at the Cascade Winterfest this Saturday!


It should not be this hard for me to get through my skull that most people like small jewelry. Maybe it's because it's such a pain in the patootie to paint small (note paint-daubed toothpick.)

Yesterday I took a class on a new-to-me style of reverse painting on plexiglass at Shoreline Arts Council, taught by Rosie Peterson,  and I am pretty excited about what I should be able to do with it. The intermediate stages have a whole lot of "what on earth will this look like?" to them. I was convinced in stage four that it was going to be horrific, but in the end everything but the sky works pretty well for a class project, and it was fun to play outside my usual aesthetic.

Materials: sharpies, basic acrylic paint, small/medium paintbrush, big mop paintbrush or stencil brush. 1/8 inch cast plexiglass sheet. Acetone/alcohol for cleaning the plate to start and fixing mistakes.

Step 1: Using a photo underneath the plexi as a guide, use a sharpie to delineate features you care about. It's most effective to vary the drawing technique here, using outlines, stippling, hatching/cross-hatching, cross-contour lines, etc. And filling in solid areas, though I didn't really like the way that turned out for this photo-base; it was very effective on some of the garden pieces other people did, though.

(Mountain photo provided by teacher)



2 and 3. Flip the plexi over; paint goes on the non-sharpie side. Have the photo to the side as a reference, Using a wet brush lay in some loose, thin washes. Avoid portions that should be fully white. It should be wet but not full on runny; dab off excess with paper towl if necessary.  Then, while still damp, use a toothbrush to spatter undiluted/slightly diluted paint to add texture.

4. Block in any parts you want to be fully opaque/bright highlights. (This is where I messed up,.) You can have lots of empty space still at the end of this phase (in other words, I should have left the sky blank, but I didn't understand what was coming next.)  You don't need to follow your outline exactly if you don't want, this is a very loose style.

5. Using a big brush, cover the back in dabs -- like how you use a stencil brush -- to bring the piece to fully opaque, and add background color and texture. This is what the back looked like when complete (which I almost like better than the front, lol.)




6.  The finished piece. I like the mountain with the stippling, and the bottom with the darker valleys, I don't like the streaks in the sky, and pretty much anything laid in with the larger sharpie, particularly the solid places. It's hard to see straight on, but the separation between the drawing on the front of the plexi against the painting on the back adds a nice depth.



When/if I do this for my own work, I'll probably do paint/ink on both sides rather than sharpie, or sharpie only very sparingly. (Of course, anything I paint is likely to finish with a largely black background anyway. And I'll seal the front with a glossy arclyic varnish for my own peace of mind.

Christmas is only ten weeks away, so I am torturing this poor glass ornament with every glass painting technique on YouTube plus a few of my own invention in a quest to be able to make Really Cool ornaments. (This one will never be anything but hideous, poor pioneer.)

Next attack involves loose glitter. I predict it will end messily. But the sacrifice will be appreciated by the 23 ornaments awaiting their turn on the painting table.

Also, slurpee lids are awesome drying stands.

Should you attempt this yourself, don't use pearlescent acrylic ink. It will only end in tears and particulate

Works in progress -- I am experimenting with painting "right side up" on metal and wood pieces. It certainly leaves more room for improvising when you can actually paint over a bit that isn't working!

These are heading off to #CONvergence in Minnesota to appear this coming weekend.

It's an odd thing when an artwork turns out exactly like you pictured it, and then just doesn't seem to work.



This piece was inspired by last year's Worldcon, which was in Spokane while it was ringed with forest fires; the sky looked absolutely apocalyptic most of the time (there is a good photo here).  I feel like it pretty accurately conveys my memory of the event, and yet ... I don't know if I'm going to bother actually setting it in a bezel and loose into the world (I had intended it specifically to go to this year's Worldcon.)

Or maybe I don't like it because it just isn't colors I wear, and is much less punchy than the usual space-y things I do.  Or maybe I should have done it on a much larger piece -- that one is about an inch high, and I could do a horizontal 1x2 rectangle if I wanted to get really landscape-y, but ....

I have been searching out new shapes and settings and am really pleased with these two new options. There is another small rounded rectangle added to the lineup as well, since I have been reminded that lots of folks don't likes to wear the really big pendants I tend to go for. 😉