Dispatches From Hellpeckersville- Back To Work

Sorry for the no post last week, I was down with a fever. The good news is that shortly afterwards I solved a problem with my art that had been vexing me, and I was able to get back to work. In my work I use some stamped images, and I noticed that no matter what kind of ink or stamp pad I tried when I would put on the topcoat, depending on what color or type of ink, some of them wanted to bleed or smear. I couldn’t have that. I sold a piece that included tiny stars. Because I knew of the problem I used ink that had an iridescent quality and decent staying power, so that when I applied the top coat it just lent a twinkle around the stars, but that wasn’t going to cut it in every instance. I felt like I needed to solve the problem or stop using stamps.

For the tiny stamps, that wouldn’t be a big deal. I used to be a decorative painter, and while it would be a bit more time consuming, I do know how to make all manner of tiny stars, flowers, and fancy doo-dads. But I have this cloud stamp that I’m really fond of, yeah, I might be able to replicate the look with the tiny end of my stylus, but just one cloud would take who knows how long, and I use that thing, at least, half a dozen times on most of my pieces. And I don’t have the manual dexterity that I once had. So I needed to figure this out, and nothing I was finding on the illustrious internets was helping me!

I started making art again after a break of nearly twenty years just because. I shared what I made with some friends because after I finished it, it was almost exactly what I had envisioned in my head. Even though I used to have a little sideline selling things I made, it was never really my art, it was more crafty things. Sure, I would paint on some of it, but that was what the market wanted, what I saw at the craft fairs or in magazines, not my vision, and it sold. I never honestly expected anybody to want to buy my art, something I designed and created start to finish. So when they did, I was unprepared. In every sense.

I had learned the importance of doing things right from selling my wares in the past, but this? Oh, man! Mixed media is new territory for me. I have a lot of experience with acrylics, and stamps on paper, and stencils. But mono-printing? New. I’ve just learned how to get the look I want out of that. putting it all together on canvas? I can achieve the look I want with the paint, stencils, stamps and cuts, but if I can’t finish it right, what’s the point?

Then, one day last week, I’m meandering around the toobz, and I see a post from a woman who is not satisfied with her white on black stamping. I click, not expecting much, but much to my surprise, JACKPOT! She’s advising her readers to use acrylic inks because they show up better on dark cardstock and, here’s the kicker, they don’t smear under a topcoat. Of course, I don’t have acrylic ink, but what I do have is tube acrylics, iridescent medium, and airbrush medium. The important thing there is the airbrush medium, it’s thin, almost like water, but unlike water, it will not break the polymer in the paint. Once I mix paint and airbrush medium I have something about the same viscosity of ink. I can use it in the same way. So far, I’ve only rolled it out on a piece of acetate and stamped from there, but it worked. I think I’m back in business!

This is my latest piece, completed using the method described above.

Cat Lady Day

This link shows how I put this piece together
Cat Lady Day