Benefit for Sara Easto

Sara Milanowski Easto's Woodstock Benefit

Celebrate the life of Sara

I'll be donating some works for the auction to benefit Sara Easto, a friend of Kevin's since high school.  I don't have a lot in the way of money to offer, but I do have a lot in the way of art.  I've selected a variety of pieces.  I do not know if they plan to sell individually or as a collection.

If anyone is interested in buying, please attend the fundraiser held on Leap Day this year.  The attire is hippie, so wear some bell bottoms, tie dye and love!  I won't be in attendance, as much as I'd love to be.  Kevin's friend Terry will be performing.

My items are a selection of art prints and originals and a layered vinyl decal design.

Miscellaneous Juxtaposition contribution

Look for my art and designs.  I do not know if they will be available as a collection or separated individually or part of other baskets.

Ripple Sketches Artist Trading Cards, Set of 3/6.

These were previously designed for an oil spill fundraiser several years ago.  The fundraiser has since closed.  They are packaged to be sold together as a set.  It was originally a set of 6, sold at $10 each.  Only 3 sold for the fundraiser.  These art Artist Trading Cards sized 2 ½" x 3½" on canvas paper with mixed media.

Star Stuff Artist Trading Cards, set of 4.

These are mixed media, trying a fun technique on printed cardstock from DCWV.

Das Faerie Gotik, Deathly Hallows & She is Made of Stars, ATC prints.

These are mostly limited edition prints in various styles and print finishes.  They were all printed via iprintfromhome.com  I do not sell my fan art, the Harry Potter digital painting is only available as an ATC sized print and only given away.

Dragon Cat 3 Layer Decal 3".

This item is not available for sale.  Designed for my line of acrylic keychains, this vinyl was cut as a test run.  It is not for sale separately.

(wip image, bottom left design)

Art Print Bookmarks, set of 4.

Featuring "Murder of Crows", "Das Faerie Gotik", "Smoky Room", and "Insomniac's Dream".  Laminated prints, some of which are also embossed.

Feathers & Lace 5"x7" Mixed Media Original - Matted.

This was painted after a model on deviantART - MariaAmanda

Please contribute or attend the benefit.  There is also a 50/50 raffle and other auctions, and the benefit dinner.  See event for details.

Sara Easto's Benefit

Faebruary Love and Silhouette Font Creator (Business Edition Update 4.2)

My loves!

#Faebruary Loves

Hooray, got a review of my first planner sticker set! ★★★★★ Woohoo! That's very encouraging, I'm new to this and don't have the whole planner thing all down yet.  But I think I have a unique style to offer to the planner community and hope they love what I have.  I'm going for a niche section of the planner community.  The gothic planner!  There are a few other dedicated goth planner designers out there, but the community could use one more.  My style is more arty goth than true goth.  As I will go with whatever shall inspire me.

This set was inspired by a February birthday gift for Vanessa.  The pink and peach with grey is from painted papers I designed to decorate her gift box.  She makes such lovely gift boxes, I had to return the favor.  And #Faebruary I wanted to hop on the artist challenge with a few of my faeries.  Not certain what the March tag will be, but they are always fun to follow.  There are usually a few different art challenges going on every month.  I try to always participate in the #Inktober ones, and once started my own #junecalligraphy challenge on deviantART with a few friends.

"Faebruary Freak" Sticker Kit - on Sale March 1st!

 February is ending so this monthly kit shall be going on sale.  It is undated, so will still be good for next year.  When the listing expires, I may relist again in January.

March Releases

Coming soon - "Late Winter's Lament" 

No release date as of yet on my next kit.  I'm almost finished designing, but admittedly, got sidetracked.  First, I wanted to make new art for the deco stickers, so made a set of watercolor ATCs.  Now, deciding what to do with the originals.  I am thinking I will include as March freebies for all shipped purchases.  There are only 8, so limited available.  After they are gone, I may make prints available in my Etsy store.

ATC Stickers and originals - "Spiders in My Hair"

Love is in the Air - Pt. 3

Speaking of prints.  iprintfromhome.com is doing their annual "Love is in the Air" promotion.  I didn't enter the art contest this time.  But they have s promotion for their loyal customers with a referral program called "Thank You Dollars".  Via their new customer promotion, all new accounts get $10 credit, and for everyone I refer, I get $12 "Thank You Dollars" in my account.  "Thank You Dollars" go towards restocking my print inventory.  I am very small business and cannot afford to stock my 'shelves' without this.

Please consider using this company for your fine art prints as well as excellent everyday photo printing.  They have great customer service and excellent quality with fair prices.  It is a family owned business that cares about their customers, especially artists and photographers and supports their work.

My referral link: iprintfromhome.com new customer sign up

Silhouette Font Creator

I fixed the hideous "H"

And here is how else I got sidetracked. Silhouette Studio Business Edition had an update which included Silhouette Font Creator!  I had to try it out.  So, you might be seeing some fancy font action from me!  A chance to practice my calligraphy.  May make it easier for me to design a monogram font as well.

Mini Art Coin Book

The sheet of 9"x12" is folded in half lengthwise.

Minibook I've made to put Artist Trading Coins in.  Made from one sheet of 9"x12" Mixed Media paper from Strathmore.  Folded into 8 even sections and cut down the middle so pages can fold out as a "Zine".  Learned how to do this from a penpal tutorial on YouTube to make mini zines.

Tutorial by Jordan Clark on YouTube. I recommend her channel for art journal, planners and penpal DIYs.

I went ahead and folded and cut my paper before printing on the GelPress plates. I did this so I could frame everything for the small page format. It works just as well to fold and cut afterwards. The paint colors are Dina Wakley Heavy Body in Elephant, Ocean, Fuschia, Lemon and Blushing, as well as Pebeo High Viscocity Studio in Carmin Napthol and Naples Yellow Hue. I used Pentel Fude Brush Pen and Pen+Gear white gel pen to add in doodled designs. The white gel pen separates the black pen from the background. I used the same stencil from the bg to add the dimensional paints. The stencil is my own design, cut into vinyl backing material. It still needs adjustment, but worked well enough for a reusable stencil. I allowed to dry for a few hours, but a heat gun should speed up that step. Not certain if it will crack or bubble under heat. The dimensional paint from Art Anthology seems to be highly flexible. I really enjoyed working with it.

Once folded and glued into place, I measured out some chipboard for the cover, then gel printed an old cardstock from my stash.  Measured out a section to make the cover.  I mitered the corners with enough edge to cover the chipboard. I left a ¼" gap between the front and back chipboards to have a spine for the signature to rest in. I did not glue the signature spine to the backing, only adhered the front and back papers to the cover. Finally, I glued on some kitchen twine for the closure.

This was an impromptu project after buying a destash pack from artist Sally Lynn MacDonald of GelPress.  I received several tubes of Dina Wakley paints, 2 Pebeo High Viscocity tubes and 2 Art Anthology dimensional paints.  These were all really fun to play with.

I'll either be printing some coins from my collection, or making some from the extra paper.  I gel printed on the front and back, not certain which side I like the best.  Still deciding how to attach them into the book, I have several photo corners and wondering if I can make it work with round pieces.  If it works, they will be removable, so they can be double sided.

I ran some scrap strips that I gel printed through my Xyron sticker maker, which I can use to add some embellishment to the coins. I'll be posting a follow up with the finished project.

Inktoberfest

It's October, but for artists, we might know it as Inktober.  A 31 day art challenge where we strive to create new inked art every day for the entire month of October.

I'll be joining the challenge this year.  You can follow along on my Patreon, Facebook event or on Pinterest.  I've been preparing all week for this month long undertaking.  I have papers cut to size and an art journal being prepped for the arting to begin.  Here's a sneak peek onto my art table....

Papers cut to size, and an art journal being gesso'd for arting.

So many, many pens.  They've all been checked and ink is flowing!

Metallic and white gel pens for dark paper.

Let's do this!

Be sure to check out many great artists participating this year!  Facebook ---> #Inktober

Follow Gillian's board Inktober 2015 on Pinterest.

Infusions and Muses

I've had to quit drinking coffee.  It hurts my stomach, like many other things I love to ingest.  But tea helps.  I've been buying different teas almost every week.  I bought blueberry the other week and the tea bags were so pretty.  They would turn this vivid pinkish red color and they smell so good.  So I decided to save a few tea bags and make some Artist Trading Cards that have been colored with tea.  A few blueberry and a peppermint tea, right after I brewed myself a cup I put the bags on the paper.  With unexpected results.  The paper has blue instead of pink.  The tea is red, the bags turn red, the paper turned blue.  The peppermint has a lovely green shade.  I do like how they look together.

Well, I brewed up another blueberry and saturated the paper in very hot water with the tea bags.  It's all waiting to dry.  I took some process shots.  I haven't decided what I'll draw on them yet.  I might collage them a bit.  See if I can salvage the bags themselves to work in contrast with the bgs.  I'll definitely be scanning up the resulting texture before I art them all up to share on my Patreon.

Colors are a bit off due to my lighting, just couldn't get the white balance better.
The bags are red, but the stain is blue and the peppermint is green.

I'm thinking for my Patreon model I'll be doing funded creations as free public access and the Patrons will get bonus rewards of other stuff that didn't need to be funded.

I think I might art them with pretty illustrations.  I recently joined this gothy art group, Between Heaven and Hell (closed group), that shares all sorts of inspiring images.  Pretty girls with a dark aesthetic.  I'll have to decide after they're dry.  Maybe sketch up some ideas.