50 by 50 Weeks 17-22

I have become hopelessly behind on my postcards once again. May is a month that gets away from me each year. There are always so many activities, and we were gone for a weekend. Add to that some computer issues (with the result being a new Mac Book), and I just haven't had time for any art work. Now I have finally gotten caught up on my postcards and am posting six weeks worth at once.

For the cards from weeks 17-19 I have use images of Gladys Cooper, a British stage and screen actress (born 1888, died 1971). I love the photos of her from the Edwardian period and have several postcard images of her. She is stunningly beautiful and has such wistful expressions.

Week 17





Week 18





Week 19





Week 20





Week 21





Week 22

50 by 50 Week 16

Well, this week has been busy. Spring has definitely hit the Washington DC area. The temperature has been in the 80s the last few days, the azaleas are blossoming, and everyone is sneezing! Here is the postcard for this week:





Also, I made a major purchase recently. I had not bought a new car in a very long time. My first car was a '77 Chevrolet Monte Carlo - my parent's old car. Then, I bought a new Honda CRX in 1984. I went from huge to tiny. Then, just before I married my children's father, we bought a new, 1991, diesel, VW Jetta. When that died in 2002, I bought a four-year-old VW Passat. I loved my Passat - a manual shift, it handled well, but required a fair bit of upkeep. Last Wednesday, my son went with me as I bought a 2011 Mazda 3. I think that I am falling in love all over again.

Farewell...........



Welcome



Zoom Zoom Zoom

50 by 50 Weeks 12, 13, 14, and 15

Today I was about to let this project go. I am irritated with myself when I can't keep up with something that I set myself to do. Life often intervenes with other things that take priority. But, I thought I would give it another try and catch up four weeks in one day. I thought that it would be fun to play with Photoshop, so I made each postcard digital. The cards are more basic than I would like, especially the backs, but I have them done! And, there is a lot to be said for getting something done and keeping a commitment with myself. I can get fancier when I only have one at a time to do.

Week 12:





Week 13:





Week 14: Artemis took a break this week, and, instead, I used a quote from my son Nicolas today. The picture is one I took of a Rose Parade float from 2009 of the Mad Hatter.





Week 15:





I have some new work to post soon as well.

50 by 50 Weeks 10 and 11

Still trying to catch up..... still a couple of weeks behind.....

This week I have been playing with digital images. I have always used Photoshop Elements to touch up photos and so forth, but now I am having fun learning to create digital collage. On this blog I showed some overlays that I created a few months ago. This week I downloaded some free digital images from DeviantScrap Designers especially for Somerset Digital Studio readers.

They have some fun images and backgrounds. I am learning how to add many different layers, re-size, change the colors, the opacity, and generally play with the images. I next want to learn how to make shadows to create greater dimensionality.

Week 10






Week 11

Miriam

I completed this collage a couple of weeks ago. She radiates such a strong yet playful energy and I had named her Lindy. Today, I purchased more photos of the same woman from Kari, the owner of the Etsy business EphemeraObscura. She offers great vintage photos and cards. I found out that this is Kari's great aunt and her name is really Miriam. Her husband, Howard, apparently took quite a few photos of her, and Kari is selling off the duplicates. I see a series developing.........



I used a print of the original photo, acrylic paint, pan pastels, book pages, text, pencil, and sequin waste as a stencil, all on canvas. For the glue, I used Golden gel medium. I used a fixative to set the pastel before I applied more gel medium over the top of everything. Finally, I applied a coat of varnish to protect the finish.

50 by 50 Weeks 8 and 9

I know that I am getting behind on my postcards. I will catch up. I have been making more of my other work and will be posting that more frequently as well.









This is Margaret, a mixed media piece using a copy of a vintage photo, acrylic paint, pastel, ink, and text on a 8x8 canvas:

Still Lives

I am beginning a new series of work that I am thinking of calling "Still Lives". I am using vintage photos with a variety of media. I intend to tell a story with each collage. I see the photos themselves as depicting a moment in time, but also revealing so much more about the person. As I work, I create fictional lives around these characters, imaging their names, activities, loves, passions. It is so much fun.

My first is called "Marjorie". On canvas, I created texture using gesso, then glued book pages and covered with acrylic paint for the background. Then, after I glued the vintage photo print on the canvas, I used a clear gesso over the photo to give it some tooth for the pan pastel coloring. Well, it took off some of the emulsion of the photo and cracked it. Hence the theme of the photo. I also used stamps and ink for the letters, pencil for details, sequin waste as a stencil on the background and soft gel medium as a glue. I created three backgrounds using the same colors to save time, so the next two pieces will be in a similar color scheme.

I am totally obsessed with these vintage photos and anxiously wait for some I bought on Ebay to arrive in the mail from Germany and from England. I have been using Photoshop to help increase the contrast in these old photos and that has made a huge difference in the quality.