A Kingdom of Peasants

I don't recall ever agreeing to lead this type of kingdom!

Contrary to popular belief (and an advanced apology to those whose hopes I'm about to dash), I did not run off to the funny farm like my hair was on fire. You'd have to have insurance for that. Neither did Prince Charming show up and whisk me off to some exotic island. That requires too much energy - what, with making the childebeasts pretend they are more human than beast. No, girls - your faithful and fearless friend has not dropped off the face of the earth...I can't afford to fall from anywhere these days. This would not include the fall from grace I've apparently taken. Which would lead you to believe I had grace to begin with, wouldn't it??

I was fulfilling my role as Queen Crazy (as only I can) - creating art, wasting more than my fair share of time on the Internet, and even combining those two passions into an investigation on somehow actually making a living on my art. I was furiously researching ways to sell my interpretation of the world, not entirely convinced I was the next Picasso...but more than a little confident that I could hold my royal own with the likes of Donna Dewberry, Jennifer Perkins & Sandi Genovese. Pretty sure that I could out-crown Cathie Filian & Steve Piacenza (of Creative Juice fame), shoot adhesive out of the top of my scepter faster than Donna Kato can work a block of clay, and grind out a royal funk design faster than Traci Bautista.

It is entirely possible that my crown is too tight and therefore my brain is in short supply of blood - or that I've spent just a little too much time around odoriferous art supplies without adequate ventilation. Then again, it isn't totally unbelievable (or unlikely) that my life of poverty caused delusions of grandeur...especially since the only "grand" thing this queen can afford is delusions!

That said, I decided that mixed media art is hot right now. (Well, I didn't decide this as much as society has decided it's popular right now.) Around the same time, it became impossible to ignore that a reliable source of income is pretty important in the scheme of things. For years, people have said I should sell my art - and when I put some of my jewelry up for sale online, it sold better than I expected. Everything else I've made has been either to decorate my space or to give as a gift...and as far as I know, nothing I've given to my friends/family has ended up in a dark closet, only to lugged out right before my arrival. (I've been known to make surprise visits to check...or compare dust levels!)

As usual, this is the long way to get around to the point...but really, wouldn't you miss all the commentary if I made this quick??

As I was researching the best way to go about selling my art, my computer became extremely unfriendly and began giving me this nasty message. Something about "fatal error". And no matter how many times I tried to ignore the doom-filled message and continue on, the machine would adamantly hold the "fatal error" stance. I finally gave up, admitted defeat and took it to the repair shop. (This only happened because I was too embarrassed to keep explaining to the landscaping crew why my laptop kept "falling" out of my window and landing on the grass they were trying to mow.) It only took the repair store techie .0035 seconds to diagnose the problem: dead hard drive. After all the surfing we'd done together, the upgrades I'd lovingly bestowed upon it, and the fun we'd shared with the canned air...it hijacked every morsel of information I'd shared with it. My computer selfishly grabbed everything I had freely allowed it to store. This betrayal was worse than any divorce. It shut down in angry silence, never once responding to my repeated questions about WHY. And although I had spent years taking care of it and fulfilling every need that it had, it was clear I wouldn't even get half.

Which brought the true level of this kingdom's sad state of financial affairs into immediate focus. Not to mention that the collapse of my computer clearly violates the sanity clause I have.

The positive spin? I've had lots of time to work on new projects and organizing a good portion of my studio...which has been nice. Not as nice as staying in touch with everyone and sharing art with all the talented people I know...but I'm trying to find the good side. Especially since I don't know when I'll be able to replace my computer and return to my incessant online gabbing. Waah!

I will be checking email and blogging as I can...so please don't give up on me or forget about me. I'll be working on buying another computer as fast as I can - but until that's possible, I'll be creating like a mad woman - and continue to keep all of you in my thoughts. I'll pop in as possible...and hey - if you see Ed McMahon wandering around with that Publisher's Clearing House check, point him in my direction, would ya?

A Quick Peek

Just in case there's a question, yes - I do realize I've been a total slacker lately! The craziness of life directly correlates to the amount of time I can put into my blog. I have lots of projects to post and different things to show you - and I promise I'm trying to get there. There should be a whirlwind of posts soon - so keep your eyes open! (I spent all day playing with polymer clay...so stay tuned!)

I still don't have any pictures of my Funky Art Journal (based on Collage Unleashed by Traci Bautista) to share with you - because it was so late, I was in a huge hurry to get it mailed to my partner - and I forgot to take pictures before I did. She has kindly offered to send me pictures of it so I can share it with you guys - and as soon as I receive them, I'll post the pictures.

This is a quick peek at the journal I made for Sherre, the hostess of that swap. This journal was much smaller than my original - and it had a completely different feel to it. I made the cover out of chocolate organza, then hand-stitched flowers and grass to the front. After sewing on blue buttons in various sizes and shades, I used a metallic pen to draw swirls on the back. A funky little beaded star I made adorns the lower corner...and on the front I attached a tiny silver tag engraved with "thanks" that I'd antiqued. The inside cover is made out of this neat collage-looking fabric I found. It's hard to see a lot of the techniques I used so I'm not going to explain each page - but if someone has a question, please post a comment and I will happily explain anything you're interested in. See if you can find my favorite page - a piece of 8.5"x11" acetate, folded in half, with a mix of colors and pressed flowers "mushed" in the middle (along with a couple of pine branches stamped in for good measure) and 2 pressed flowers with Magic Mesh - covered in Diamond Glaze...it's hard to see!

I had so much fun making my original journal that I decided to make a smaller version to thank Sherre for her patience and understanding regarding my serious tardiness, and her friendship. Sherre is an incredible artist who has limitless ideas and always inspires me. I am fascinated by her work and love reading her blog - and if you click on her name above, you will be transported to her mesmerizing blog so you can see her talent firsthand!

I am going to post the pictures of this journal - you can always see a larger image by clicking on the picture. This is not the entire journal - but scanning every page would have taken forever. Especially since the pages are all different shapes and sizes. This quick peek should give you an idea - and hopefully inspire you to create your own Funky Art Journal - to share or keep for yourself. Come on...you know ya wanna!

My New Wand

Thanks for the comments on my lil Angel Diva...I'm still lovin' her! I wanted to quickly mention that the stand she's on was something I'd made. I painted wood balls and disks, glued them together and then placed her on top. It would have been an easy stand - but since I was trying to attach flat disks to round balls, they wouldn't stay on their own...so I had to hold them together until the glue dried. Which I have no patience for. Besides...as the Queen, aren't I supposed to have loyal subjects to do that sort of thing for me? ;)

Unfortunately, right after posting her, she became the victim of a Dirt Devil accident. She almost met a most torturous demise - but some quick moving and a loud gasp - saved her. (I'm pretty positive the ear-shattering shriek I let out did something to save her.)

I've been a crazy one-woman-dusting-vacuuming-throwing out-donating-Windexing-antibacterializing Queen lately...I have been nothing short of ruthless as I move, organize and set up my new studio. (I've given away 36 30-gallon trash bags of things to the Lupus Foundation - and last week I lost count at 24 bags of trash.) I've traded in my scepter for a Dirt Devil wand...able to suck up little toys, beads and miscellaneous "junk" in a single swoop of my arm. I have replaced my fascination with adhesives and paints...temporarily...with a new curiosity and appreciation for how much a single vacuum bag can hold. I've gone from Googling art supplies to wondering which filter kills more dust mites. Forget playing mad scientist with ratios of epoxy - I just wanna know about HEPA filtration systems and which spot remover works on Kool Aid. The change has been so dramatic that even the childebeasts have commented they wish I'd retreat back into my world of art, and leave their stuff alone. (I will admit that most of their stuff seems to be "junk" - while even the tiniest scrap of my paper is comparable to the Holy Grail.)

In a dust-collecting frenzy, my wand got away from me - and while quickly trying to make sure it wasn't going to "eat" a tray full of odds-and-ends, the hose knocked over the Diva...and she fell. To the ground. Behind the TV. Which I can't reach. Thankfully the dust bunnies caught her - her feathers and halo were all just fine. But the stand I had carefully crafted for her, broke. Every disk came apart. I knew I hadn't used the "right" adhesive...but then again, I didn't expect my wild ways to knock her clean off the bookcase!

She's still recovering...not wanting to stop my obsession with dusting - ok, fearing that if I quit dusting/vacuuming long enough to glue her back together, my fondness for art would quickly replace my new found obsession with cleaning. I'm going to make a new stand for her this week so she's ready to take her place overlooking my new studio. The only problem is that the stand was the worst part of her - and I dread making a new one. Hmmm Sounds like it's time to come up with a new stand plan.

I hope to have pictures of my new studio space up in the next week or so. I thought about painting the room before moving everything in - but decided that's way too much work and I'll never get it done. (I have a tendency to put off things that start with "work"!) Don't know if I mentioned it, but I'm taking over the living room. This has been the room the childebeasts owned for the past few years - and I rarely even ventured down there. I finally did go down a few weeks ago - about the time I was trying to decide whether I should keep trying to cram my studio in my bedroom, or move it to the living room - and when I saw the horrid condition, I immediately decided I deserved the room more than they did. They can play video games in their room - the trashing of the living room was going to stop that day. And it did...for the most part.

I've spent the last couple of weeks sorting through mounds of supplies and grouping them together...and throwing lots of things out. This week is going to be full of carpet cleaning and moving furniture. The oldest childebeast starts school Tuesday and - are you hanging onto your hat?? - it's a mixed blessing. I so can't wait - but at the same time, my muscle power will be gone. Then again, it's only 7 more days and all THREE will be back in school. One in elementary school, one in middle school...and one in high school.

How did I get so OLD???

Altered Angel Diva

I've had a plain paper mache torso for quite awhile - I'd seen a neat variation done by Tim Holtz a few years ago and had a terrible time tracking one down. (The piece Tim did can be found in the book Bravissimo by Design Originals.) Once I found one then I put it aside, "saving" it. I don't know what I was saving it for - I suppose it was just so hard to find one that I didn't want to mess it up.

I came across the torso while I was cleaning out some bins with art supplies. (This studio moving/organizing/cleaning is a really good thing!) Rather than setting it aside and saving it for some unknown purpose, I decided to go ahead and "art it up".


Front of Altered Angel Diva

This is my Altered Angel Diva - she has white feathers surrounding gold angel wings. She's periwinkle (my favorite color) on the top and a bold sea green on the bottom. I free-handed pink swirls on the bottom of her with dimensional paint and then attached some fun purple beaded fringe to the bottom. Her stand is made up of flat wood disks and rounds that I painted Emperor's Gold (an antique gold). To antique them I put some Rich Espresso (metallic brown) on a plate, dipped a finger in the paint and the rubbed it over the pieces I'd painted with the Emperor's Gold (antique gold). I glued several sizes of disks to the 1" rounds - then glued this "stand" to the bottom of the torso.

After using some yellow dimensional paint around her waist, I added pink, gold and clear rhinestones to her top. Iris Japanese seed beads and copper/clear drops make up her necklace. Her heart "halo" is a brass charm textured with flowers and vines - which I rubbed metallic brown (Rich Espresso) paint into in order to make the texture "pop" and dim the brightness of the gold tone. I twisted some gold wire and attached one end to the halo and one end to her back. The feathers and gold wings were attached to her back and I used a small piece of felt flower ribbon to finish it all off.

There are two copper tags which are impossible to read here - but one says "create" and the other says "art". The words on the tags are raised - and I added Diamond Glaze over the top to give the tags a glassy finish.

Before attaching her wings and finishing her back, I poked a hole with an awl and filled her partially with potpourri. Not only is she adorable, she smells good too!



Back of Altered Angel Diva

I'm so glad I quit saving her for some unknown time and purpose - and actually finished her. She's a great piece and will sit on the shelves being installed behind my desk - watching over me while I create.

She was so fun to create - I can't wait to do another one!

The links included in this post are done in an attempt to be helpful to other artists. The inclusion of these links should not serve as an endorsement of the companies or websites linked to. Although the Queen has had great experiences with the companies she has dealt with, providing these links does not mean the Queen has dealt with all companies listed. THE QUEEN HAS NO AFFILIATION WITH ANY COMPANY CONTAINED IN THESE LINKS. Should you choose to purchase from - or otherwise deal with - the companies contained in the links, the Queen assumes no responsibility. Please use common sense and only purchase from reputable companies.

An Obsession with Containers

I have been consumed with containers lately. Maybe it's the push to actually get my studio together. One of the problems with putting it all together is arranging it in a way that allows me to find what I'm looking for - AND - fitting it all into a small space.

I've had these little boxes laying around forever - I just couldn't figure out what to do with them. Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to put in them.







And this one is my favorite - made from a solid pine box with gold hinges on the back. Painted with light turquoise and stamped with dark brown accents that remind me of flowers. I placed large clear rhinestones, small pink rhinestones and tiny pink marbles in the centers of the accents. The top lip has paisley gaffer tape around it and I used a white marker to free-hand white swirls and dots.