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...

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.

Christmas ACEO, Shiny, of course!

My latest ACEO done with iridescent acrylic paint on Bristol board. Kind of looks like brocade fabric to me. It is for sale in my Etsy store.

Nouveau Swirls

ACEO in ball point pen.

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.

An ACEO painting fool. Green Cat this time.

During and after pictures. I always like seeing progress shots of other artists work so I sometimes post my own. I think the first one would make a great coloring book picture. This was done with Micron pen and gouache paint. 2.5 x 3.5 inches and up on Etsy.

ACEO's. Trying something new

These are ACEO's. For those that haven't heard of them they are "Art Card Editions, Originals" They are artworks done on anything as long as it measures 2.5 x 3.5 inches in size. If you want to know more about them here are a couple of websites you might want to look at. http://acetsy.blogspot.com/ and http://www.aceomagazine.com/
I listed all three last night on Etsy to sell the original and reproductions. The blue cat eyes one sold almost right away! So maybe I will try a few more of these and see what happens. The top one is pen and colored pencil, the cat eyes is pen and gouache, the bottom one is ball point pen. They are all done on Bristol board.

Pen and Ink

More of the same ball point pen swirls.

More Ball Point Pen

Ball point pen in my sketch book. More playing with patterns.

Ball Point Pen Swirls

Ball point pen in my sketch book which is approximately 6.5 x 10 inches.

Paisley Swirls

This is a 3 x 5 image done on a 5 x 7 piece of Bristol Board with a black ball point pen. Teeth marks courtesy of the new kitten.

Small Detour from the Trees

This is the first in a series of Black and White Swirl pictures I am doing. This was done with a micron pen though and not ball point. I decided I like ball point better for now because of the subtleties you can introduce. All of these pen pictures are done in a sketch book I have with the most wonderfully smooth paper. I bought it on a whim in a Japanese book store and am really glad I did. I may venture onto Bristol Board soon though.

Letters

Another sketch in the series of letter ideas. More to come. This is done in pen and ink with pencil. Brought to you by the letter A. =)