Artists Against Hunger 9

Well, Artists Against Hunger has come and gone again.  I was only able to be there Friday evening because of work.  It was a fair turnout despite the extremely cold temperatures.  I unfortunately did not make any sales but that just means that all the cool things I made for my "Functional Facelifts" project are available for purchase at my website.

Adaptation

I've pretty much finished up my pink project and am finally ready to share the progression.

It started with the remains of an old college installation project:

After a layer of mod podge and gesso:

A thin color wash:

Fabric paint and poetry:

 Rose petals and rendering:

Colored pencil rendering and more fabric paint:

Oil paint layer and more fabric paint:

Rings and things:

Storm clouds arrive:

Fill in rings:

 Dress shirt and vinyl layers:

Butterfly beads, and buttons:

And finally, words:

This, the completed project will be on display and available for sale at the Paint the Night Pink Art Exhibition later in October.

Todotodotodotodotodo

I've been meaning to make a to-do list of projects I'd like to tackle during my 6 day vacation from work that starts Friday.  I have sort of a long complicated love/hate relationship with paper lists that I won't get into right so I've decided to make this one on my blog.


1.  Yarn Storage Revamp Project:  Right now, I store my massive yarn stock in old plastic milk crates I got back in my Wicker Park JJs days.  I'm looking to use those crates for other various projects so I need a new alternative.  After combing Pinterest for ideas that could work for my specific needs, I found one picture from a fellow blogger that inspired my revamp project:

 

Pic courtesy of YarnBombLove

The blog doesn't say how the storage is made so I've done some creative problem solving which will be economical and free!  My little brother manages a fast food restaurant and has access to plenty of 5 gallon pickle buckets.  I found that a good scrubbing with my Norwex cleaning paste takes the gross smell out of the buckets.  I plan on sawing the rim of each bucket off just below the hinge part that holds the handle so that it's flat outside all around.  Plus shortening the bucket brings it closer to the actual size of a yarn skein.  It looks to me like this blogger used something like large pieces of pvc pipe and brackets to mount them.  I like the idea of my tubes having bottoms so that I can potentially take them down and transport them upright.  I also think that I'm going to bolt the tubes into rows of 3 and will likely hang them from the ceiling rather than the wall.  I will probably hang them in some sort of pattern, calculated in some way.  I'd thank this blogger for the great inspiration and look forward to posting pics of my successful completion of my Yarn Storage Revamp Project.

2.  Milk Crate Bench Seat:  3 of my (17) milk crates have already been reserved for this project for Sky's room.  Another project that I cruised from Pinterest which will of course have all of my flare.  I'm not easily finding the source of this pic but the link to the pin is here.  My crates are a variety of colors so I want to prime them white for this project and possibly do a bright coordinating color to match with the rest of Sky's room.  I already have a piece of the pink gingham from the window treatments measured, cut and pinned to size for the cushion.  I either need to stuff it with white stuffing or cut a lining for it because the gingham has an embroidered flower pattern with holes.  I'll probably attach it with a ribbon or strips of the leftover gingham.  I'm going to bolt the 3 crates together.  I already have baskets to fit in the crates that match other basket storage in her room.  The successful completion of this project will mark a near completion point on Skylar's bedroom decor.  I've been excited about this project for quite awhile and I'm looking forward to it.

3.  Milk Crate Plant Stand:  This project may not happen over my vacation time, but a girl can dream can't she?  I saw someone posted a pic of a shelving unit made from 5 milk crates in a sort of W shape on their edges.  I'm not really set on any particular pattern yet, I just want an economical layout that will allow plant life to flourish on my little deck.  I have to complete my yarn storage revamp before the crates will be free for me to play around with layouts.  For the time being, I don't really feel the need to prime or spray paint the crates I'm using for the outdoor shelving but eventually I'd like to do them right.  I plan on just bolting them together into the best suited pattern and putting them to use right away.  We'll see if this happens...

4.  Family Picture wall:  I have a wall that I've designated for my family pictures in frames but I have yet to put any of them up because I need to get my wall shelves from DJ's place.  Once the wall shelves are up I'll have space for all the table top frames and can determine where to put the wall frames.  This is one of the last move-in details (though more seem to pop up daily) that I want to get taken care of.  This has to happen...

5.  Outdoor family name sign (for Aaron and Terri):  I plan on spending some time at my folks house while I'm sawing buckets for the yarn project so I figured it would be a great time to cut down a piece of wood for a project I meant to do months ago for my older brother's family.  I did one last Christmas for my little brother's family.  His just had our last name in simple font burned into a long narrow piece of walnut.  I had some nautical hooks I painted to look aged and my dad helped me attach them along the bottom of the sign.  I covered the rest of the board with sand and seashells from a family vacation years ago.  For the new design I plan on a more fancy or Gothic style font and a softer wood that will burn more easily.  I don't have hooks for this one but I still plan on using the same sand and seashells.  That will be extra special for them since it was the family trip with their beach side wedding proposal.  For the most part, I just want to get a jump start into this project.  Just having the surface in my possession will help me start moving forward with it.

6.  Sky hooks:  Another project to just get a jump on since I'll be sawing it up with my dad.  I want a cloud shaped piece of wood to mount the wooden letter SKY hooks that I got earlier this year on mega clearance at work.  I just want to paint the cloud and the letter hooks, mount the hooks on the cloud and then mount the cloud on an over-the-door hanger for Skylar's bedroom door.  I don't think the total project will take long once I have the cloud shape but it's not a major priority on the to do list.

And a few little 'tweeners:

*work on my Pink Project: I'm several layers deep already and looking forward to slowly building it up

*work on Aaron's pirate ship tattoo drawing: He wants to get the tat done in early September so I want to finish it up before the vaca is over.

*make baby hats:  it's never too early to get a jump start on my inventory for winter craft shows.  I've made a few hats over the past week or so up to the point of assembly.

That's it, I think.  Ready? Set?

Gooooooooooo!

Pinking...

So on Monday when I gathered my belongings from my parents house, I must confess that I purged some old artwork into the dumpster at my apartment.  It was a necessary purge that resulted in a springboard into my piece for the Paint the Night Pink Exhibition.

 The artwork included in the purge:
Peace Garden
Coffee Cup
Antler
Hell's Organ
The insides of Self Portrait Installation (the cupboard itself will be turned into an artwork storage closet, but it was too heavy to take out by myself the other day)
And finally, I took apart the Backend of Forever Installation saving only the cradled board it was assembled on.

That cradled board, sans the hounds tooth coat is now the surface for my Pink Project.  The coat left a really excellent pattern that I'm going to use as the background for a mixed media collage.  I put a coat of mod podge over the remnants of the fibers last night to keep them from fraying or flaking off when I paint and collage over the top.  Here's how it looks so far:

I'm not sure where it will end up but I've got some pretty good ideas...

Think Pink.

I've been working up a major sweat today moving some stuff from my folks house over to my apartment and unpacking.  I got a TON accomplished!
Projects included:
set up the microwave stand, utensil holder, and temporary spice storage, move up the towel bar in the bathroom, set up my desk area in the living room, unpack various art supplies and find appropriate storage for them all, hang some art, generally clean and organize pretty much everything.

And now I'm exhausted.

But I've been brainstorming ideas for the upcoming "Paint the Night Pink" Art Show.  Last year I showed new collage work related to my mom's experience with breast cancer.  I'm a little stumped so far, but I'm feeling more inspired after hanging these today.  I don't have much time, so I'd better get to it.

A Journey: Part 1

A Journey: Part 2

A Journey: Part 3