Stamps Used:

• 58009 D Pointed solid design #2

A piece of art from Transparent Art on page 167 inspired me to create this art. I loved large daisy image framing with faces showing through transparent daisy. I found an image of a daisy on the internet and decided it pair it with a wonder vintage photo I have of four young women. Both of these images are available in the free vintage gallery #3 for you to download.
I used a one of the Color Harmony books (listed on the Reading list page) to help me isolate the colors from the two photos. I decided to use pine green, golden yellow, pale golden yellow and cream. The golden yellows were created from hansa yellow medium and a touch of cadmium red medium. To create the pale golden yellow, I added Titanium white. Titan Buff was used as the cream. The pine green was created by using a base of Cerulean Blue with hansa yellow medium and cadmium red added to reach the pine green I wanted. By using just these 3 "colors" (not counting the whites), I know these color would go well together.
I painted a base of titan buff on the canvas board. The image of the young women was glued down with Golden Soft Gel. I printed the daisy image on Wash Away Transfer Paper. I cut out the daisy and transfer the image using matte medium and a tacking iron. The paper came of quite easily. When spritzed the paper with water, it turned to jelly which I was able to wipe off. This was repeated several times to get all the paper off.
The border area around the the picture was dry brushed with golden yellow, pale golden yellow and titan buff. The pine green color was stamped along the edge with the solid design stamp. The daisy image lost quite a bit of color when I transferred it over the girls. I tinted the daisy transfer with a glazes made from the paint colors. The center of each daisy was tinted using cadmium red with a tiny bit of hansa yellow medium. I think this "hot spot" brings the eye to the center of the art and to the girls faces.

The tacking iron and Wash Away Transfer Paper are for sale on the Miscellaneous Page of my website.  

"The bird you thought to surprise, bat its wing and flew away. Love, love, love." Habanera - Carmen aria from Carmen.

Stamps Used:

• 19001 J French handwriting
• 48002 J courier alphabet
• 58007 D Solid swooping bird

In early May 2007, I attended a performance of Carmen with the San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows (opera singers in training with the SF Opera), UC Davis Symphony Orchestra and University Chorus. Though it was not a professional performance, I was still awe of the beauty of live music.

The photo of Celestine Galli-Maire, the very first Carmen in 1875, was the inspiration for this piece. It was part of the cover of the program. A color version was easily found on the internet. The source of the text is from the Habanera aria sung by Carmen (you would all recognize it if you heard it).

The mauve shades came from mixing cadmium red, hansa yellow light and a tiny bit of phthalo green (blue shade). Titanium white and matte medium were added to make the paler shades of the background. The brown used for the lettering came from mixing burnt sienna and ultramarine blue. The green wash for the hearts was made with the phthalo green with a bit of cadmium red to tone it down. I painted with Golden Fluid Acrylics.

Torn masking tape was first placed in the upper right corner for texture. The I started painting with the lightest shade. The french handwriting was stamped in the darkest color. I used washes of the light color to push the text into the background. The darker shades of mauve were painted around the edges. Next the photo was glued down with gel medium. The bird was stamped with titanium white. Finally, the text from the aria was stamped in the dark brown. The piece was a bit too monochromatic for me, so I added the green hearts. Sheet music was washed with phthalo green and punched with a heart punch.  Green is the compliment to red. The buttons were added to give depth.

The image is a photograph of Celestine Galli-Marie is available in the free vintage gallery #3 for you to download.  

Stamps Used:

• 59008F Giant check

The most recent issue of Cloth Paper Scissors (Jan/Feb 2007) has an interesting article about a "faux" transfer process. The author was printing onto dressmaker tissue to make a transparent image with an inkjet printer.  Although I have a laser printer,  I could make some cool collage ephemera.  I printed the image on copy paper so I knew where to tape the tissue using double stick tape.  I sent the "sandwich" back through the printer a second time to print on the tissue paper this time.  It looked just like the designer tissue paper.  The image disappeared too much when I glued it down with matte medium, so I glued down a second copy over the first.  Next time I will crumple the tissue paper to add wrinkles.

I used cadmium red, hansa yellow, cerulean blue and titan buff to create all the various colors in this collage. In this way all the colors coordinated.

 I wanted a very transparent orange over the background. The tinted matte medium I brushed on was too strong. Wiping it with a shop towel took it all off. So I painted it back on, but this time I took a credit card (the type that come in the mail) and scraped off the excess. This left a wonderful thin layer of glaze.

Stamps Used:

• 58004 E Left solid bird

• 60005 H Giant solid feather

This piece started with the Omni Gel transfer of the Botticelli painting.  I loved the red dress against the bright green background. 

The border on the right is a paste paper technique I learned from Albie Smith.  I painted a layer of titan buff mixed with matte medium to make a semi opaque layer.  I pressed the dry feather stamp into the layer.  The stamped was wiped clean, then stamped again.  This allowed the green to show through.  The veining in the feather area is a result of not all the paint coming off.  I love it.  The border was dried with a hair dryer. Then put a glaze of of burnt sienna and matte medium over the border to tone down the white.  The Omni Gel transfer was next glued down with a piece of text in between the background and the transfer.  I glued down a scrap of the text in the bottom left and stamped the bird with burnt sienna paint.  A darker ring of paint outlines the bird.  This happens when you overload the stamp with too much paint.  I wish I had put on more paint to create a stronger ring.

Omni Gel and Wash Away Transfer Paper are for sale on the Miscellaneous Page of my website.

The Botticelli was a painting I found on the Internet. The image have been included in the free vintage gallery #3 for you to download. 

Stamps Used:

• 57004 G Chain border

This piece started with the Omni Gel transfer of the Botticelli painting.  The colors worked well with a canvas board I made during color exercise #24 with all the extra paint.  I used making tape to mark off the area where the transfer would go.  This gave me a area guide for gluing down the postage stamps.  I glued the Omni Gel over the postage stamps.  The face just disappeared.  I cut out a face from another copy of the face.  This is why the face is opaque but her body is transparent.  The chain border was stamped around the transfer with white Memories ink.

The three blue flowers are cutouts from Embossed Paper #1 is for sale on the Miscellaneous Page of my website.

Omni Gel and Wash Away Transfer Paper are for sale on the Miscellaneous Page of my website.

The Botticelli was a painting I found on the Internet. The image have been included in the free vintage gallery #3 for you to download. 

Stamps Used:

• 48006 G Porcelain marks

• 56001 J Giant building

The base of the collage is painted with Metallic Russet, Metallic Bronze and Brass Lumiere paints.  I masked off part of the bottom and added a lighter area with a wash of additional Brass.    The Porcelain Marks stamp was stamped over the lighter area.  I masked off the space for the house and painted a gray area.  The Giant building stamp was stamped over the gray area.   I cut a piece of black paper to fit behind the dollhouse window.  This was glued over the house.  The dove was cut out from the color copy of a postcard and glued down. Blue lace paper was added around the edges.  Magenta, raw umber, and cerulean blue oil paints were used to enhance and illuminate.

The dove is highlighted with the new Uniball Signo white pen I am selling on the Miscellaneous Page of my website.

The dollhouse window was glued to the collage with contact adhesive.  The window is for sale on the Miscellaneous Page of my website.

The dove postcard was a scan of a card I bought in an antique store. The image have been included in the free vintage gallery #3 for you to download.