Squirrel...a family term for distraction

My family has a term for attention deficit that we got while playing with our dogs. Dogs live in the moment and no matter what they're doing, if a squirrel enters their domain...it's all about the squirrel. So it's a playful term we use whenever we get distracted.

I was up in my studio trying to come up with a piece for the latest GOE challenge. I had everything that I needed in front of me and somehow I had a squirrel moment & ended up with this piece. It had nothing...NOTHING...in it that I was supposed to use for the challenge.

This piece is called All Cocked UP. It was a little dark but the rooster is crowing so I guess he's got his timing all mixed up...as roosters sometimes do when they're young.

There's Beauty in Rust

Spoiler alert...the current, quarterly GOE challenge is a picture of a rusty grate. Not just any grate, it has to be something with this particular grate. It's in a golf course in Mexico & it's surrounded by grass. 

 Isn't it beautiful....I thought so but I just didn't know how to do it and make my piece interesting. I've actually been pondering it for 2 months & still nothing was coming. So I did some more intense study on the internet & decided that I was going to schedule Saturday for my encaustic bench. Now here's the spoiler part...those who don't want to see it until the reveal...don't look...all of those who would like to see it...check it out on the read more.

Art Cloth Gift Boxes

 

 

 

These gift boxes were made using a pattern that was in a Quilting Arts issue. I can't remember which one as it was at least a year ago. I've made them in the past but this time I decided that I would make them with my art cloth technique...that's developed throughout my posts. It's was also a technique from QA. It's nothing like the original article but I've come to really love it and consider my rendition as my own. The technique that is, not the pattern.

I start off with canvas that I paint with gesso on both sides. This stops the canvas from fraying on the edges. I then lay cheese cloth over the canvas & adhere with either watered down PVA or a gel medium. Both work well. Then I add some added texture with molding paste and once dry,  I paint with a metalic and use my oil pastels for enhancing the raised portions. Then the whole thing is covered with a gloss gel medium. The resulting cloth is actually very leather like. It's very pliable, yet sturdy. I've really come to love it. I actually didn't have to stitch anything on these little boxes.