Adventures with Golf Leaf

Gold leaf is my new favorite art supply...

For those of you who have never even touched gold leaf, let me explain. Gold leaf is the most difficult medium (can I call it an art medium?) I have ever worked with. It sticks to everything, it is very fine, and easily tears, crumples, or simply blows away (if it is a windy day and the windows are open...which it was and they were). But the best part, it is SHINY! You are basically working with little flecks of gold which is a little frustrating but very beautiful and when used correctly creates the most amazing visual effect.

After hours of application, with little old me hunched over my yellow table trying desperately to figure out the best and most successful techniques in applying this tricky yet FABULOUS medium, I have a satisfactory painting that I am actually pretty happy and excited about.



Haystack Rock
September 2009










This moonscape had been stuck in my head for ages! Over the summer the boyfriend and I spent a few weekends at Cannon Beach along the Oregon coast and let me tell you, Oregon beaches are absolutely beautiful!!

At Cannon Beach we would often spend the evening around a bonfire along the beach, watching the flickering shadows of other beach goers under the starlight. Every evening the moon would set along the horizon almost exactly like this. The silhouette of Haystack Rock in the background. The painting itself was always a little too dark for me to capture, but with the gold leaf I think it looks perfect. With the glimmering moon and stars overhead and the sand and ocean waves at your feet. Makes me wish I still had a real summer vacation to spend at the beach...enjoy!

*Note: if using gold leaf, do not leave your window open on a windy day. If you do, make sure there is a video camera present and ready...hilarity will ensue...

Shellac Project: Trial 2

Since I purchased a rather large bottle of shellac for my coaster project (better safe than sorry) I had a good half a bottle left over to experiment with other projects. Woo hoo!

For a while I have been experimenting with mixed media, trying to incorporate photos and tissue paper with different glue, different colors, trial with paints (only acrylic), as well as glitter (I'm a girl, I can't help but love it) and most recently, gold leaf (still figuring out those particulars, my next post will most likely be more in-depth if gold leaf is something you are interested in).

I have been using plywood as my base and so far I enjoy working in this mixed media style, although I can't say that it is very successful, at least visually speaking.
This particular project I was so very excited about, the photo of the St. John's Bridge in Portland, OR was just a really neat angle and overall (in my head) I thought it would turn out interesting, at the very least. I had been having trouble getting my somewhat paper mache-like art to lay flat on the plywood. Sadly, in this case, both the tissue paper and the photo I tried to heavily glue onto the plywood bubbled in the middle leaving air pockets along the photo.

In reaction to this bubbling (and my new found love of shellac) my genius idea was to simply cover the entire surface with the remainder of my shellac. I thought perhaps the weight of the shellac would push the air bubbles out of the photo to create a nice smooth glossy surface. As you may be able to tell in the photo...that is not what happened.

Note to self - shellac will not make your surface flat and smooth. If you want a flat and smooth surface you have to make sure it is that way before applying shellac, otherwise you get a very stiff bubble and plywood that you cannot re-use...

Shellac Project: Trial 1

So, as a gift for my boyfriend for our anniversary I thought it would be fun to make him something that we could both use around the house (this is in addition to our joint present to each other - which turned out to be skydiving! But that's another story...). My great plan was to make coasters. And since he has great plans of traveling to foreign lands I thought it would be fun to make MAP coasters. Now the concept seemed easy enough to me. Buy wood, cut out maps, glue maps to wood, then shellac to my hearts content! I have never used shellac before so this was an entirely new concept to me.


I had two different maps to choose from, the first was Europe:



The second was Central and South America:


Overall I think they turned out fine and they were a lot of fun to make (shellac is pretty awesome stuff to work with).

*Note for all potential shellac-ers out there...you need to elevate your shellacking surface so that when you pour the shellac it easily drips off the sides, thus coating your entire surface. With these coasters I made the mistake of simply placing them on popsicle sticks, which made the separation of the final product and said popsicle stick very...entertaining...

Recent Photos

Photo taken from a recent hiking trip in the Salem, OR area...

I love this photo and have been trying to recreate it in charcol, but I just can't get it right!

I don't have the courage to share my drawings quite yet...so instead I thought I would share the photo here for your benefit.




Here is a lovely photo of a barely blooming yellow rose that I managed to snap earlier this summer while at the Portland Rose Garden



I love yellow roses, they always remind me of my Grandma Love who will forever hold a special place in my heart . . .

WELCOME!

Welcome to my official blog!

In this space I hope to:
-show my current art dabbling
-link to my etsy account so any of you could potentially purchase my artistic creations
-have continued ramblings about the art world in Portland (or the apparent lack there of)
-show off my many cooking creations (and perhaps share the fables and foils of food as an outlet for art)
-and just generally sharing tips, art, and my own personal opinion.

Hopefully you will enjoy it! Feel free to message me, or comment on any of my postings. I love constructive criticism and would appreciate feedback (especially on my art)!