The hunchback goes formal

From this mass produced and well used cover

to

this swirly number. The running guy is happier don't you think? Just seems to have more of a spring to his step.

Cinderella Books, Which Makes Me the Fairy Godmother

So, I've done a few more books since my last post. I finished the two that I had bought specifically to paint on and so I looked around at my own books thinking... "hmmm" and found a few that needed a little sprucing up. I am very happy with the results and have a bunch of ideas for more of them. I have a few books from the early 1900's and really like the color designs embossed onto the covers. I also saw one the other day that had the cover illustrated in just gold so there are many avenues to explore. Tell me what you think. Maybe I should do a workshop? Think anyone would sign up?

Painted or Altered Book

Final version of the first painted book... I think...

More gilding

I have added more to the book from the last post and started a couple of others.

Gilded books, mine that is.

From this...


To this...

I like fancy books but I can't afford to buy any at this time so I thought I would make my own. I bought an older book for a couple of dollars that looked like it needed a little face lift and here it is. From rags to riches in one afternoon. I don't think I am done yet though... it still needs a little more... something...

Three ACEO Topiaries that go together

In my opinion. I really like the curly branch thing. Now I have to decide if it is time to move on to something else... what do you think? More topiaries or a new subject?

Wooden Cross ACEO

Another recent ACEO.

A Forest of Topiaries

Here is a group of the topiaries I have been working on. A couple of them don't have the background finished yet but I thought I would include them anyway. Funny how I have been working so hard to get good pictures of the gold and now I just take a silly group picture and the gold shows up perfectly! I will get the rest of them up on Etsy soon.

Snowman Topiary

ACEO Topiary Number Three

Here is the next one but I am going to have to wait for the sun to come up (assuming it shows itself tomorrow) to take a photo of it on the easel.

Another Crooked Topiary

I kind of think of them as Bonsai Topiaries. =) See how the photograph does not show the gold like the photo in the last post? I need tips here. Feel free to post your ideas. Same materials and size as the last one.

It is a Topiary Kind of Thing

This is the latest thing I am obsessing about. As I posted earlier, I am doing a bunch of topiary ACEO's. I have always loved topiaries and now putting this iridescent gold behind them I am really loving it! As you can see from the scan, if you look straight on, it just looks like a kind of a bluey grey. But when you tilt the artwork it shines gold. There are a bunch more coming that I will post, maybe later today or tomorrow and I have a bunch in the pencil sketch stage right now. The really difficult thing is getting a good photo of the gold part shining. It usually just washes out so you can't tell what it is. Then when I finally got a good shot of it shimmering, the rest of the picture is way too dark! If anyone has any good tips on how to shoot reflective serfaces like this I would be very interested. It is painted with acrylics (Golden Brand of course) and Micron pen for the outline. The dimensions are 2.5 x 3.5 of course.

Brought to you by the letter H

ACEO size letter H. Done with a Micron pen (can you tell I like Micron pens?) watercolor, and acrylic gold paint on Bristol board. It is up in my Etsy store if you are interested in purchasing it. 2.5 x 3.5 inches of course.

Gold, ACEO's and Icons

Some of the latest to come out of my studio. As hard as I try I just can't seem to stay away from shiny glittery things for long. =) I really like Golden's iridescent series of acrylic paints. I am not sure where the idea came from to add gold to these cards but once I had done it, it made me think of Russian religious icons.

New Letters and some changes to others

I added more letters, added color to other letters, changed a few, what do you think? Comments and feedback are appreciated. I am too tired to crop each letter individually so I just scanned my sketchbook pages and put them up as is. The gold looks really cool but I am not sure it reproduces well. Does anyone have experience scanning or photographing gold paint?

Finally Finished

The finished product. Image is 4.5 x 5.5

A little more progress

This is where I am at now. Unfortunately the gold doesn't scan very well but I think you can get the idea. Little bits here and there to do and I want to add more gold but am not sure where yet.