Crusade nr 39 - pulling prints

Prints...Easy...I do it often. I printed from aluminium foil, wax paper, wax paper, ceramic tiles and so on. No big deal. Really! So I gathered first my supplies:
printing plates

 shapes

 and papers.

 I decided to use a vast assortment of found papers, card stock, scrapbook papers, old book pages, painted pages and so on.

The printing plate of choice ended up being the ceramic tile, aka my palette. Soon in the process I had to acknowledge that things were not working out as expected and the results are proof of that.

 Out of this pile, I could salvage a few:

Seeing these less that stellar result, what's a crusader to do? Accept the losses? No way...
I decided to pursue the second crusade and try to rescue some of these prints by any means possible.
In some cases, I channeled Picasso et comp:

 Other pages became background for doodles and journal pages:

Some of the better second generation prints:

In retrospect, I should have probably stick to one type of paper. There were too many variables in the process, sometimes the color used for printing ended up being too light for the page I was printing on and the design was not visible. I also had trouble with the paint - it dried extremely fast. I tried spraying alcohol and pulling a second print - sometimes it worked well. I should have taken more pictures like this - the printing plate. It could be used as a background - either printed or digital.

The winners in this process I think are these:

I sprayed  them with alcohol and wiped some of the color off. I like the aged, graffiti kind of look.

All in all, it was a fun crusade, but I came somewhat short of what I was hoping to achieve.

Buhaaahaaaa .....snow!

Yes, it is snowing! Today ...

This is Canada after all, right?

Run wild

This is the last page in the paper bag journal.

I used acrylics, paper napkins, stamping, a label from a bottle of port and words from a magazine.

I will miss this pages in this journal. The only thing I liked less is that because of the wrinkles of the paper, sometimes it was hard to glue stuff on the pages. I cannot make another journal like this because the grocery stores do not cary paper bags anymore. A while back, the major supermarket chains here started charging 5c per plastic bag. At the same time, they eliminated the paper bags. Farewell!

Happy Birthday!

Here, I dry brushed black acrylic and then I sprayed through a piece of lace. I chose the focal image on the left for its lines and the monochromatic palette. I also found four roman faces - coins to be exact. I just liked them, so here they are. On the left, I used a postcard. It is one of those postcards that one can find for free in various places nowadays - used as advertisements. I gave her a body and glued a transparency image on her dress. I burned the edges of the image so that it does not lie flat on the paper. It is hard to see in the photo, but under the transparency I glued a small ballerina charm. And on postcard in the upper left corner I glued a sticker that says "Happy Birthday!"

28

I was bored one evening and I decided to try another profil painting. Here, I used a scrap of watercolor paper and I glued bits of paper from my leftover box. I tried to place them in a grid pattern, but I am not a big fan of straight lines and squares. It was more like tear, brush glue, slap somewhere on the paper. Then I brushed some gesso and wiped it out. I drew the face using some of the lines in the background as a guide. Coloured with crayons and zinc white. And voila ...

Duo de choc

This is another spread from the paper bag journal. I finished it around Easter.

I scanned the right page because the image at the top is not clear in the photo. Here it is:

 I wiped the palette knife on this page and all of a sudden I saw "it" - the Bunny. The image above it fell from a pile of stuff I had on my table. I tried to use mostly leftovers, I have 2 boxes full of the tiniest bits of scraps. I am afraid I will become a pack rat...

The focal image on the left page comes from an advertisement for an exhibit I believe. The whole page was a black-and-white trompe l'oeil and I used parts of it in different places. Here, I used only the silhoutte on the sofa. The words "just happened" as well ...

Anyone can run 20 miles. It's the next six that count.

So said Barry Magee. You have no idea how to true that is... And on the road to the next six there are a number of very long training runs, such as the one I was supposed to do today - 32 km.

I woke up late and did not have time to check the weather. This is probably the worst mistake one can make over here. So here I am in the wee hours of the day ready to start my run ...wearing only a long sleeve tech tshirt and no jacket at 2C with a strong, chilling wind.... Luckily, two of my running buddies had mercy of my soul and lended me another tshirt and a sweatshirt. I could have easily end up with hypothermia, instead I only lost my voice. As I write this, I sip my "medicine" - milk blended with jalapeno pepper. It boosts the immune system and has lots of vit C.

I finished my 32 km, then went for breakfast. Two of my running buddies celebrated their breakfast today and we all gathered for post-run breakfast and schmoozing. One of the Bday boys is an electrician and a mountain biker, he won a national competition last year. Not sure which one, I am not too familiar with mountain biking. He works 6 to 2, then he trains. Lucky him. He knew what to do in life to have maximum control over how he wants to live his life. Kudos to him. I wish I could say the same about me. All I know is htat if I could start over, I would not study engineering even if they payed me. But that's another sad story ...

Here I am enjoying my breakfast when somebody points out that I did not run 32 km, but only 30. Darn ... All of a sudden, I am not feeling that great anymore, the last six miles start haunting me. But I have six more weeks to go before the race.

New addiction

Today I went to return a pair of Nike Lunarglide (wrong size) and as I was strolling through the mall, I noticed these:

They were sitting pretty in a bowl on David's Teas counter, beckoning. I must find out!

They are actually pu'erh tea bonbons, too cute to pass, so I bought some. As I waited to pay, somebody bought a cuppa of Read my lips. I follow suit. The tea was rather sweet and soft, I liked it. Then, I made the mistake to ask more info about desert teas. A cornucopia of scents started flowing from different boxes brought for me to try. I expressed my regret that the store does not offer the possibility of buying a mix of flavors in smaller quatities (the minimum quantity is 50 gr.). I was wrong as it turned out. I could buy four different kinds of tea - 25 gr. of each. Here are the winners, including the two pu'erh teas:

Let me introduce you to: Forver Nuts, Tiramisu, Creme caramel and Super chocolate.

They all demanded equal attention once I got home, so I ended up drinking six mugs of tea. That's about,oh, three litres of tea...It counts as hydration for the 32 km run I have to do tomorrow.

I also wondered if I could not make my own signature tea at home. And lo and behold, here it is:

That is red roiboos, lavander, cinamon, peppercorns and cardamon.

I also wondered how does one end up earn a living as a tea sampler. I suppose one must have an humongous amount of luck ...not something that could happen to someone like me...As for me, I have to prepare for tomorrow's run now.

Have a plan

Or another dissapointing week. I was off last week and I hoped to tie all the loose ends, such as blog updates, painting, reading and so forth. At the end of the week, 95% failure. No real surprise here as each one of these activities requires hours of commitment. I always assumed that it will be as easy as pie to have everything under control, after all I juggle so many things at once. What I forgot is that I need some kind of planning, otherwise things get out of control fas and this is exactly what happened.

Saturday was a record day - 27C here. It was a gorgeous day, but it made for a tough 25km. There is a price to pay for everything after all, isn't there? After runs like this, all I can do is veg out for the rest of the day at least. It's a good opportunity to watch a movie, in this case The Hurt Locker. I did not like it. I had higher expectations, for all the fuss around it.

Luckily this first staycation test was not too long. Next time, I will make sure I know what the plan is ahead of time and stick to it. I am sure staycations can be fun, but the "clear and present danger" of things getting out hand has to be factored into the equation.

Blind contour drawing

This is a fun exercise. It loosens the drawing "muscles" and it helps let go of expectations about the end result. After all, when one draws without looking, one cannot be expected to "produce" likeness, right?

This is one attempt at blind contour drawing of, you guessed maybe, myself! After all, Frida Kahlo said “I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.”

 The backgound is a failed attempt at transfering a magazine image. I did not glue it properly and I did not wait for the matte medium to dry, so the paper peeled off and "produced" a bunch of figurines behind the focal point. Even to the right I "see" a group of people. Sometimes it seems I am a gypsy reading coffee grounds...

Self portraits

Last lesson in Misty's course was about self portraits...hmm. No surprise here - my portraits do not ressemble to the original. I don't mind, except when I attempt self portraits. The results are unpredictable to say the least. I drew one and tossed it to the garbage. Then, I used photocopies and altered them, at least in this case I do not have any expectations that it will ressemble me! Collage, stabilo, titanium white, Shiva painsticks, caran d'ache watercolor pastels.