WEIRD- GRUNGE-ART

It’s officially a snow day and to me that means play. 
The other day I made a new facebook profile picture in photoshop, I wanted to play in PS a little more so I decided to teach myself a new technique by way of a tutorial.

- think WEIRD – think GRUNGE, think ART! Is what the Holga camera effect tutorial  tells you, you then take a pin sharp photo and funk it up.

I started with this photo. A 1912 rail road bridge that was converted to a pedestrian walkway near down town Salem. Next photo is after the tutorial.

 

I know many people who have the application on their I-phones or in photoshop to get the Holga effect. It’s very popular right now and I think over used but hey give me a band wagon and I'll jump on.
It took me forever to add all the layers and learn each step. I did learn a few tricks that I can apply to other projects but not sure if it’s worth the time.

This is the new profile picture. Last year I did a post on pop art portraits I used that method here. It's not exactly what I want but was fun to do....then I tried this. 

 I like how the hair looks but not the color on the face. I think with more time I could cut and soften the lines. I use Photoshop 6 only about $70, well worth all the things you can do with it. 

 Snow on the curly filbert a few hours ago.

 After photoshop a few minutes ago.

 This summer fountain is frozen and attracted me because of the jagged lines of the fern and the round line of the fountain.

Do you know the saying “Give someone enough rope and she’ll hang herself ” well…

I think it is the beginning of a story I’ll tell my grand children about the winter fairie's hiding in the garden.

The ferns looked so nice coated in snow the contrast against the dark soil was striking.

 
I will use this last one as a background for future work. Fun snow day!

This is riveting

Learn how to make an easy rivet.

 I put a tutorial "Tips to Try" on the Portland Art Collective blog, see how easy it is, follow the link.

Whoop’s look at Oliver, how did that cute baby grandson of a certain artist slip in here?

 This piece was ment for a necklace.  As you can see I also riveted the tin type to the tape. It's hard to stop after you start attaching items.

Little Tins

I have been collecting small tins for several years mostly because I just like them. I used a few as hats on my little story people and now I’m playing around with them as jewelry. I have paid $5.00 for a few of them but the majority were only 1 or 2 dollars.

This poor little fellow is a bit of a hypochondriac.

He should be safe with his menthol hat and band-aid body.

It's fun when you have a collection to choose from.

This first necklace was made with one of my favorite tins that use to hold 200 English gramophone needles. The old leather watch now has a tin type of a young boy instead of a crystal and the chain is made up from a mix of vintage necklace chains.

This one is an old tobacco tin and the domino's are vintage Drueke bakelite. As you can see they have the most wonderful warm color to them. I attached the domino's to the tin and the chain with the eye part of a hook & eye. The chain is plain black and small, you don't have to be overly bold to wear this one.

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Junking and PAC

Above art work by Paula McNamee- click here to visit our blog.

Once a month The Portland Art Collective gets together to share their art, plan events and enjoy the company of like minded friends. After the meeting we cross the road to The Lucky Lab for pizza and to visit a bit more, you might think by this time I would be ready to go home…not yet…

Four more hours of junking is about to take place.

Steph and Dayna my partners in crime and I can't wait to get into the first shop. Only it was a senior citizen discount bread shop. And it was closed. We then ask an old man outside if we could just look in the window still not knowing it was a bread shop. I can just imagine what he thought of us, three grown women begging to get a peek at day old bread. This picture is of the girls after we discover our mistake. The junk store was a few yards away.

Back on the road we traveled so far the mountain elk could be seen.

However the location of our destination cannot be revealed we were all sworn to secrecy in order to obtain the address. I can tell you it was a strange and yet wonderful place. Here are some of the images we saw.  

                                        

I came home with these nice little tins.

Lesson learned today beware of bread shops disguised as second hand stores, have a great weekend.

                                     

Time for hearts

I made a streamer of hearts with the intention of cutting one heart off at a time and giving it to someone from now until Valentine’s Day. The one rule I made for myself was, that I must tell that person something I admire about them. I would like to give one to someone I don’t know, but I’m not sure how that will work yet, only 6 days to figure it out. I have 11 hearts on my streamer with one that is a bit more special than the others that’s for Norm. I will let you know how it turns out.
The other streamers are for some friends in my journal group. I will ask them if they would like to do the same with theirs. It would make good journal fodder at any rate.

I made a very short tutorial on making a valentine paper cut card and put it on the Portland Art Collective blog take a peek.

Kennedy Creek Pottery - part 2

In the last post I said we had good food, I should elaborate just a bit. Friday night Maggie made a beautiful chicken salad and beside it sat an apple crisp Dave put together along with a loaf of homemade wheat bread. The next day a crock pot sat on the counter teasing our taste buds with a delicious pot roast and Sunday morning Suzanne made tasty French toast and on the side I had more apple crisp. Memories get cemented in when you involve all the senses.

This was a photo at Dave's wheel, all the clay clippings.

Out in the studio I got to make a whimsical and wonderful bird house. The pattern is a Kennedy Creek original with texture and many surprise elements. This bird house is for my garden and will attract someone next year. Maggie generously will take it though the rest of the process for me then I will show you the finished piece sometime in the future. If you are like me and have to own one you can order it here take a peek.

We also made little houses tall and small. It all started with a magical tool called an extruder. In goes the clay and with a pull of a lever a hollow tube of clay comes out. We cut it to length and were shown how to roof it. Maggie and I made some towers that are cut to hold a small tea light. I made my house the same way. I love candles and can hardly wait to see it flicker to life.

 Maggie shows us how to get started.

 She is holding the hollow tube. Can you tell this is NOT a candid shot, sorry girls.

 We are all working hard. I had to photoshop myself in - I get the good smile hee hee-.
My little house candle holder below will be a nice dark blue with a natural roof and door, the bird will be black.

 Spud took Maggie and I for a walk to the creek at the bottom of his property.

 This tree exemplifies perseverance. It was cut down a very long time ago, you can still see the spring board notches and yet out of the top of the stump grows four or five new trees. And the color of moss and lichen are outstanding.

 Spud accidentally rolled this little Salamander, Maggie set him right and in a safe place.

 We worked the rest of the day and into the early evening, we were so excited about everything we had learned we just couldn't stop.

 Some of Debi's house's

A shot of our fun tipsy village. After they are finished and the glazes are fired they will look altogether different. It will be a little while but I will show you the results latter.