Aperitif Dinatoire

The French sounds so elegant- it’s basically a dinner that consists entirely of appetizers. 

In plain English we usually call it a graze dinner. Saturday was the fist gorgeous warm day in weeks, we pulled all the chair cushions and rug from winter storage in the attic. We got out our new blue patio umbrella- it has a solar powered charger on top and built in lights on all the ribs.

We invited friends over and had the first patio party of the season - it was fun!

  

Fresh Veggies with Hummus    

Roasted Shrimp with Lemon Pepper and Old Bay Cocktail sauce   

Candied Bacon & Salami rolls stuffed with Boursin Hot Honey & Roasted Garlic

We also had cheese & crackers including Brie baked with fig jam, 

deviled eggs, olives & cornichons

 

My HiNote app had the perfect invitation 

14 Years Later

 

Time flies

So very tired of Facebook and Instagram 

This ancient blog somehow still exists 

I am a different person now (aren't we all?) but still dreaming

Dusting this off and thinking to share old school style again

"Out of Dreams, Color"

and still trying to learn how to fly

Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Take these broken wings and learn to fly

All your life

You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Doodler's Anonymous "Hack an Ad" contest entry;
Please vote for me as your favorite (scroll down I am 3rd from the bottom)
Doodlers Anonymous Contest  (<--click here)

Michael DeMeng's Crusted Crumbled & Cracked Class

I signed up for Michael's online class to get me out of my art rut...it is blast and I am just getting started...

prepping some stuff to try Kroma Crackle

Using Michael's secret quick method - mine turned out with a large crackle pattern -
but I am ok with it -I am playing and experimenting

a still wet application of Kroma Crackle using their method and waiting for it to dry
(can take up to three days if you put it on thick)

the beginnings of a triptych
the center inside is made with regular Kroma Crackle application
it turned out with a much finer crackle

another project from ages ago that I pulled back out to try to finish up
using some of the new techniques I am learning plus I finally have a "vision"
of how I want to finish it (thanks to lots of DeMeng inspiration)

trying out Aves Apoxie Clay because my vision includes some fish and
I hate the plastic ones I found -so trying to create my own

Christmas gifts 2011

Re-done portrait

the original circa 1969

Black gesso goes down 1st to remove the scary little house on the prairie dress

a new dress and daughters added

enjoying the finished product

a bling-a-licious frame for my bling loving god-daughter

The Sketchbook Project part 2

When you sign up for the Sketchbook Project you have to choose one of their themes for your book. I forget what the all the choices were -but I chose "Create & Capture" - it seemed right up my alley. You are allowed to interpret the theme as you wish - I thought it would well with the collage I have been doing.
As a fairly dyslexic person I usually go about stuff backwards so I have been capturing images I like from magazines and creating collages with them and then adding doodles and words to make them my own....
Here are some pages I started for the book:

The Sketch Book Project part 1

This fall I signed up for The Sketchbook Project - my book arrived in the mail and last weekend I took a little "me" time and started working on it. I thought I would document it's progress.

The fun package arrived from Art House Coop in Brooklyn

They sent me a notebook to work some magic on and information  & rules for the project

so the first thing I did was rip it all apart -
but carefully saved  the bar code to reapply to the finished cover
to identify it as mine 

I selected handmade papers for the outside and inside of the cover

I decided on the look of an old book -this paper looks like distressed leather

I can't live with out Best Test spray adhesive! 

For the inside of the cover I used a beautiful piece of marbleized paper
I've been saving to for ages and it was perfect for this project. 

I cut it carefully to size so I didn't waste any of it...

Here it is with both papers applied over the original cardboard cover
but I thought it still needed "something"

it needed a spine -for this I used a piece of "suede" paper in  dark blue  - I wrote on it with a metallic pen. The title is "Create & Capture" the theme I selected for my project

after creating the spine, I decided it also needed corners -so I sewed the suede paper on  my sewing machine 

I wanted to also create a frontispiece for the front cover so I took a metal file label frame and pounded it flat  

I then worked on antiquing it...

I took an old piece of journal paper and stamped the title to fit in the frame

I then glued all the embellishments to the cover and was pleased with the results...

Muggins

2011 went by in a blur...there is never enough time...

Perhaps in 2012

I'll do more art work

Blog more

Take more photos

Be more creative

Zentangle Needlepoint

new pages