next stage ACEOs

Please dear internet gods, let these smaller files upload easily and look pretty!
Anyway, now that I'm looking more carefully at my sets of cards it seems I am working better in the landscape versus the portrait format. In other words, I am favoring the horizontal. Also please note the hesitancy with which i am approaching incorporating text.

stage two ACEOs

I have been working on my little paintings pretty steadily, one by one. Some are coming together more easily than others, but i am determined to see them all to a dignified finish. I've been trying to upload new images of my progress, but it has been a slow and frustrating process.

stage one ACEOs

Here is a first look at my first try in this tiny format (2.5 x 3.5). I'm trying to work on many at once so as to not be too precious about them. This is only the first stage, and I will be adding and fine-tuning each one. It is surprising how much I'm getting back into painting again. Of course my bachelor's degree is in drawing/painting, yet I'd gotten away from the sheer fun that comes with smearing and layering paint.

antoinette flowering verso

This simple combination is one of my favorites. It combines two of my latest obsessions: Marie Antoinette and N.A.S.A.

multimedia reverse

Here are the other versos for my small scale canvases. for my forgotten russian I used a reproduction of an original engraving of a village in siberia. For fleur/papillon I chose a beautiful mushroom botanical.

ahh, post-holiday energy redirection

Family holidays are fascinating. each year's celebrations are unique yet oddly the same. our events are always boisterous, whether there are 10 guests or 50. And i am blessed with a family that feels comfortable letting it all hang out, which is a comfort.

As far as my crafting goes, i received some much needed feedback from my mother and aunt. I also obtained some collage commissions from both of these wonderful mentors for holiday gifts, which is so exciting. It will be a challenge to come up with mixed media pieces that reflect the recipient's taste without being too literal and void of mystery.

After returning home from our family feast i had time to decoupage images on the back of my tiny 5x7's. here is the back of my slavic queen.

slavic queen

This piece went through a lot of changes, as you can see here. I had to cover the Faberge egg in the right corner, which was sad, but necessary.

forgotten russian royal

I love the use of both Russian and Asian imagery in this piece.

fleur /papillon

The larger image is of the completed collage, while the small one is the beginning stages. it is interesting to see the choices that were made from start to finish.

antoinette flowering

here are some images of four small collages i have been working on for the past two weeks. never satisfied with leaving well enough alone, these paired pictures in the next 4 posts will document the process of embellishing through covering up. the first pair is inspired by a famous painting of marie antoinette:

Insitu starts a blog....

Today I began this blog out of a kind of frustration at not selling anything in my Etsy shop. Being new to the internet game, I feel I must be missing something important, presumably some feedback and contacts. Also, I feel misunderstood, so what better way to rectify the situation than to blog my head off, and blog some more.