Time and space...

Once again, the week got away from me - how can it be Friday already? Lots going on - we got the POD emptied and the garage partially straightened out on Sunday - the POD was picked up on Tuesday and it's nice to have it out of our front yard! I'm still trying to figure out how I want to set up my metal/soldering/stained glass work area in there. My studio is a big room but it is carpeted and quite full of all kinds of flammable supplies so I'm nervous about soldering in here. So, I'm taking over some of the garage space :)

I had a great time on Monday night, friends Ted and Jaime (owners of The Crafter's Workshop) came over for dinner & art play. We played with their templates and spray dyes/inks on giant sheets of watercolor paper. Well, actually, Ted and I painted and Jaime was our "sous artiste", washing stencils & keeping us organized. We made about eight great sheets of paper and it took three days for all of the ink to come off my hands (I can't work in gloves!).

On Wednesday I made a little quilt for a challenge from ArtQuilt magazine (Stampington & Co.) based on "what's in your car". It took me a while to figure out what to do but I like what I came up with. I may make a couple more over the weekend since I've got a couple more ideas cooking.
Then, Poof!, it became FRIDAY!

The book I've chosen for this week is Canvas Remix by Alisa Burke (North Light Books). The book covers techniques using canvas, paints and stamps to create interesting accessories like tote bags and pins. The work has a grafitti kind of feel to it.

At the beginning of the year I bought Claudine Hellmuth's incredible Studio line of paints but haven't had time to work with them. I thought this would be a good opportunity to combine my weekly book project and using the paints. One of the great things about Claudine's paints is the color mixing chart that can be downloaded from her site. From the fifteen colors in the collection, Claudine gives the combinations that give another fifty-one colors. The paints are creamy and the coverage is great.

I've painted several sticky-back canvas sheets (also a Claudine Hellmuth product) using all fifty-one colors and I'm waiting for them to dry before doing further surface effects (like stamping & mark making). I'll embellish the sheets tomorrow and will figure out what to make from them.

It's going to be a busy weekend, I've got a lot of things to get done in my studio - this comes first though! Come back tomorrow to see what I've come up with!