and the winner is…

before i start, i wanted to mention that for the rest of the year, anyone who purchases my crackled window tutorial will get two free digital collage sheets… all in the spirit of the holidays and having more to work with.  if you’ve already purchased the tutorial and didn’t get the collage sheets, send me an email and i shall send whichever two you desire.

i had visions of grandeur for this post as i’ve been sick with the flu and not blogged lately, but having said ailment, i spent much more time on my arse than making progress on anything art-related.  so, you’ll have things to look at next time.

and without further ado, the winner of the accordion book, art tutorial, collage sheets and embellishment give-away is (says the husby), ms. katie! i removed names so he did NOT base his pick upon his utter adoration for this lovely lady but rather a legitimate handful of chuckles (i mean who wouldn’t laugh at a teletubby with a dildo!?).  he also said “the one about the party should at least get a digital collage sheet” so kerin, let me know which you want — great idea he had!    it feels awkward to me that husby ironically picked the only two people he’s met, so i say that jonee gets a digital collage sheet too because i laughed really hard when i read the comment.

for the holidays and because web design work is sickeningly slow (i’m now officially feeling this recession bullshit), i’m going to be making things i don’t typically make due to lack of time: frameable greeting cards and christmas/solstice ornaments… like green and red skulls, and such.    stay tuned.

p.s. kerin, that card has RESIN CLAY on it. 

happy halloween/samhain + give-away

i’ve been working for weeks on thoroughly cleaning and organizing my studio and have an ever-growing pile of fun things i will probably never use.  i was going to post them on my etsy, but then i thought “oh, i can give them away!”.  so, today will be my first of several little give-aways on my blog over the next several months.

these are just random embellishment images i had, not what i'd send

first up, a 4.25″ x 5.75″ blank black accordion book still in its packaging, 8 custom quarter-page collage sheets based upon your favorite few on my site, and a couple embellishments (beads, buttons, fiber, etc.).  in the spirit of halloween and goodies, i will also toss in a free download of my crackle tutorial, mentioned in this post.  please note that this book was a gift to me and i never opened it or know how it’s constructed or anything. 

all you have to do to enter is comment, and if you feel like it, share your favorite, funniest, scariest, weirdest, grossest, most supernatural, or “whatever”  hallowe’en/samhain story (or whatever you celebrate on this date).  i will have my husband be the judge if there are stories so as not to have to feel the pressure of choice, and if no stories, i’ll randomly chose via random.org.  the winner will be announced next weekend and the parcel shipped.

happy hallowe’en!  happy samhain!!  i hope you all have a great and safe night tonight.

i’m pregnant, and other fetus tales

nah, not really.  did you get at least a little excited though?  i don’t even think i’m actually able to breed anymore anyway.  however, this girl who i completed today obviously is!

as if that’s not detailed enough, here’s a little more for you…

(can you tell that i LOVE crackle?  is it getting old yet??  should i lay off it for awhile?)

i actually made a little frame for her too, covered in beeswax, carved and jabbed and stabbed and sliced… then did that alicia-wax-thang that i do.  i only burned myself twice, both totally mildly (AND did a little something for my pulp redux book while the wax was still hot (i lie — i did the book piece first)).

i just bought a really, really nice new camera.  that’s what the dude at the shop said.  you know what?  it sucks so bad that i had to SCAN this framed piece.  i’m so annoyed.  i’ve never had anything but a nikon before this stupid camera (that has a name that starts with a C) and i wish i didn’t allow him to talk me into this one.  but i digress.

there is even the sweetest little easel stand for this piece (or i can add a hook to the back — i’m handy like that).

(see — photo is grainy.  jerks!)

i’m putting this girl — i call her my wednesday gal for the moment since i made her today (wednesday!) — up for sale on my site tomorrow in the alicia-section.  i also have tuesday’s chica that will be going up (omg, there is a uterus in that one — do i need therapy?  or maybe i SHOULD try to have another offspring thing?  maybe and nah.)  i’m tired of camera wrestling so i’ll deal with it in the morning.  then i can finish my thursday girl.  she has no visible organs of any sort.  just a hand… but that’s not an organ.  trying to do a piece a day since i have no work and… well, you know.

oh wait, here was a part-way-through photo i took of uterus lady on tuesday.  it’s done now and looks better, but peek anyway if you dare:

new things on the altered bits site and stuff to laugh at

boy have i been a busy little bee lately!  getting ready for a few shows and adding things to the altered bits site over the next two or three days.  i’ll have four new collage sheets (witches, bones, darker-themed-alicia-type stuff, as well as some naked ladies and such).  apothecary bottles, mico-beads, petree dishes, microscope slides with covers, etc.  all coming soon just a little too late for halloween.  whoops!

i added three new photoshop textures, or backgrounds — whatever you could want to use them for on the free art page as well:

and last but not least, i’ve added a new tutorial for my “crackled window effect” on the art tutorials page.  eventually there will be heaps of free and paid tutorials in both PDF and video format but it’ll take awhile to get them all up.  some will be from me, and some from our fellow amazing arty friends so stay tuned.

you know those times when you put yourself fully into making something for someone and it ends up being a big ol’ flop!?  well that seems to be my week.  first, i was working on this sweet piece for my wonderful friend lisa jurist at mudhound primitives and decided to add a top coat of varnish.  i have no idea where i got the image i used but i’d saved it for a long time and it felt soooo right to put it in her piece.  about 20 seconds after i brush on the top coat, the image started to bubble, then sloughed off the canvas board!  it was a total nightmare.  i don’t think there is any way to fix that, so i shall start again.  what a jackass i am!

so the very next day, i tried to make something for someone else.  total mono-chromatic flop.  here, just go ahead and laugh at me, i don’t mind (little hanging ACEO, the flapping flop of an attempt at something sweet):

to make up for it, i started something else for said friend and i felt it was just fine.  set it down to dry, tossed my paint-covered baby wipe to the side and went on my merry little way (to watch dexter!).  omg.  so baby wipe landed on the piece and i could pretend i meant for this to happen but look at all of the black ickiness.  i’m sad.  so what?  send a sweet friend two crap pieces and an IOU?  lol.  i crack myself up sometimes.  i wish there were lots and lots more hours in the day!  or that i didn’t have to cut my art time to work (took a month off — bad, bad timing for that one!!).

i did, however, start one and finish another piece that i just so happen to like (both!), so at least i have a 50-50 thing going on this week.  will post those later.

off to read emails for the first time in 3 or 4 days, woots!  happy creating, friends. 

—-

P.S. Bunches of us have been particpating in The Art Exchange.  If you don’t know what it is, here is the gist: you get an email from one of the players, you send a piece of art of sorts to the person in the #1 slot in the email, you move the #2 person up and replace them with yourself in the #2 spot.  Sooo… you end up sending out ONE piece of art, and you forward the email to six people.  In turn, you get THIRTY SIX pieces of art in return.  A couple of the people I’ve sent this too are having difficulties finding players that aren’t too busy.  If you’d like to play, post here or email me so I can get you in touch with someone to get you involved.  It’s soooo fun!

pulp redux: an international altered book collaboration

most of the other gals have already posted about this on their blogs so i’m slacking and behind… and you may very well have already checked out our joint blog: pulp redux (i really have to update my thread!).  for those of you who don’t know, i am ever so happy to share that i’m doing a fantastically fun international altered book collaboration with five amazingly talented ladies.  er, four now, actually.  one had to step out of the picture, sadly, due to a family emergency.  i have the amazing privilege of playing with debrina (if you know me, you know her!), kim, lisa j. and lisa s. (in alphabetical order — you know me!)  our sixth pages will be completed by a guest artist who will not be part of the big collaboration.

some of the girls are starting with pre-existing books or albums of various sorts (which was very cool and smart!) but i opted to make my book from scratch (i seem to like to over-commit myself and get in a bit deeper than necessary sometimes).

my cover is not done as i’m waiting for a parcel of black patina, but here are some sneaky peeks.  for now, i’m leaving the book unbound so that i can accommodate it’s anticipated girth upon its return to me late next year.

i have opted to bind the pages with fig twigs and fabric.  each of the sticks contain two sets of pages that open up as a book typically does, but fold down on the inside to make for additional arty playground space.

i will do two rows of stitching on the pages between the fabric (which will later be stained, of course), then sew/embroider the sticks a little more steadily into place, then wrapping the sticks with whatever i feel like wrapping them with when the time comes.

the cover is covered with handmade black banana leaf paper, and a 3d piece will sit atop it that’s made of two layers of foam core, the top layer covered in copper sheeting, etc.  the hole in the middle will be filled with little mysterious curiosities, such as bugs, bones and mini wax-topped bottles.  big surprise, eh?  photos of that will come later because currently, the copper is super bright teal and green due to the two day vinegar bath it received and i’d like it to be way more dark (hopefully dick blick sends my black pantina soon!).

i have lined the inside of the covers with red velvet because that felt only right with the title/theme.  oh, which i forgot to tell you.  whoops.  it’s:

The Museum of Forgotten Things

in the back of the book will be a pocket (will sew it on in the end) that will contain a note from each of the participating artists, and perhaps (hopefully!) some sort of trinket or embellishment sewn onto the pocket.

for my second page (first page will be shared later), i have concocted a crazy story about a lady who, in her old age, seemed to have been forgotten as had pieces of her past.  i’m not going to give all of that away right now, but this little bundle will fit within a pocket i fashioned like a secret stash of peronal belongings.

i wrote her obituary (which was no small task as i researched geography, fonts used in that era, surnames and origins, first names and origins, modes of transport, professions of the era, etc. and created a whole story.  i’m not a writer so it bit me in the arse part way through.  this is the back view of the bundle though:

i even wrote two diary pages from this lady, essentially confessing to something she did several years previous that no one had known she had done.  yes, the peacock feather ties into the story.

luckily, i had TWO photos of the same mystery lady so was able to include a second photo of her in the bundle to further tell her story.

all of this will be tied together, as displayed above, and will fit into this pocket i’ve started:

the pocket front, of course, will be embellished with more “bits” from her story, but i didn’t finish it yesterday as i had hoped to.

instead, i created a piece of art for a friend.  i sure hope he likes it!

now i should go clean house so i can later finish my pocket and post it all on the pulp redux blog!

ada lovelace: the enchantress of numbers

this is the story as i believe it to be…

Born as Augusta Ada Byron and later named the Countess of Lovelace through marriage, Ada the was the daughter of a brief marriage between the Romantic poet Lord Byron and Anne Isabelle Milbanke, who separated from Byron just a month after Ada was born. Four months later, Byron left England and never returned. Ada never met her father and was raised by her mother, Lady Byron.

Lady Byron wished her daughter to be unlike her poetical father, and she saw to it that Ada received tutoring in mathematics, science and music, as disciplines to counter “poetic tendencies”. Ada’s complex mind became apparent as early as the age of 13 when she produced the design for a flying machine. It was mathematics that gave her life its wings and she submersed herself it in fully.

In the early nineteenth century there were no “professional” scientists and the participation of noblewomen in intellectual pursuits was not widely encouraged. One of the gentlemanly scientists of the era was to become Ada’s lifelong friend. Charles Babbage, professor of mathematics at Cambridge, was known as the inventor of the Difference Engine, an elaborate calculating machine that operated by the method of finite differences. Ada met Babbage in 1833, when she was just 17, and they began a voluminous correspondence on topics of primarily mathematics and logic.

Babbage had made plans in 1834 for a new kind of calculating machine (despite the Difference Engine not being finished), called the Analytical Engine and enlisted Ada’s assistance. Ada called herself his Analyst (& “Metaphysician”). She understood the plans for the device as well as Babbage but was better at articulating its promise so took notes on it for him. She rightly saw it as what we would call a general-purpose computer today.  Her notes on the Analytical Engine mentioned anticipation of future developments, including computer generated music but was scoffed at as “no such machine could possibly exist.”

Ada died of ovarian cancer in 1852, at the age of 36, and was buried beside the father she never knew. Her contributions to science were resurrected only recently, and biographies attest to the fascination of Babbage’s “Enchantress of Numbers,” Ada Lovelace, who she is now referred to as.

(proof of my adoration of math, science, a fancy-dressed ladies who share my passion for the aforementioned subjects.)

this is my piece for the artcenter gallery’s holiday show: shrines and reliquaries. opening reception will be friday, november thirteenth from 5:30 to 8, and exhibit will remain until december 24th… just in case you were interested.

PS. going to the beach for a few days.  See you soon!

many thanks, beautiful gifts and adventures

still no new glasses but art and soul portland was fantastically fun despite only being able to half-see the beauty of it all.  i was blessed with the opportunity to hang out with kerin and charley, which was much fun indeed!  additionally, i was able to meet many people i had previously only known through blogs and ning groups, and new people i hadn’t met before.  i procured soooo many new treasures and wish i had photographed them before intermixing them into my pre-established treasure trove of art goodies so i could share.

i was very kind to myself and purchased a gift for the art-needy side of alicia… a piece entitled “mind’s eye” by michael demeng.  it was a pleasure to meet him and to see his amazing piece, lilith, in person.

i am a horrible photographer and this piece is much more alluring in person. you know my adoration of hearts!  love this man.

backing up a bit, i have been so busy and side-tracked lately that i have not had the opportunity to publically thank the amazing, talented and beautiful lisa jurist (whom i love and adore!) of mudhound primatives. she has bestowed upon me the most amazing piece of art!  miraculously, she has included my very favorite edgar alan poe quote in it, which she of course had no way of knowing (or did she?).  look at this amazing masterpiece (and again, please forgive my horrible photography skills):

both lisa’s piece and michael’s are just above my monitor on the wall so i can adore them with constant ease.  thank you so much, lisa!  this piece is so amazing and beautiful and i am so very honored to own a piece of your magnificent art!  i am still working on my piece for her, and feel horrible for not getting my arse more in gear sooner.

speaking of gifts, and kerin for that matter, holy crap!  look what that talented beauty made for me:

you can purchase one on their etsy shop (when they get it back up), though not with a 13 because that is MINE.   you can also sign up for their under my wing workshop here to learn how to make TWO winged journals complete with a fabulous bird!  she is so sweet to have made this for me.  all i did was create some banner ads and advertising “junk” for her mixed media art ning.

my boys seem to have jumped onto the “gifting alicia/wifel/mama” bandwagon too.  how sweet is this!

husby burned a heart-shaped hole into this leaf while at work the other day and had it sitting on my desk when i got home with a pretty bouquet of hand-picked flowers:

my little boy is the sweetest little thing too.  he likes to collect things from nature for me.  check out the neatest stash from that cute little monster:

i love those poky ball thingies.  why can’t i remember what they are called?!!  and the moss, and lichen, and crow feathers and leaves… he’s so sweet. 

—_+++***+++***+++***+++_—

whoops.  this was saved as a draft and never published due to yet another big scare from aforementioned “little boy”.  i got a call from his school with a lady on the other end saying “we need you to get down here right away.  your little guy has hurt his neck on the playground and apparently can’t move.  i’m going out there now to see if it’s a 911 emergency.”  she had no idea at that point what had happened but i thought of him falling head first off the play structure and being paralyzed.  thank goddess i was wrong!  he was fine later, as he was able to walk to the office to wait for me.  we haven’t heard back about his xray but there doesn’t appear to be a fracture, but rather lots of sore muscles and a potential rotated vertebrae.  he fell down while playing dodge ball and some other kid tripped over him, landing on his wee neck!  so it’s been a crazy few days around here… again.  they gave us another dvd with his bones on it but i can’t find it right now so i’ll post them later.  that boy is accident prone and expensive!  but he’s okay and that is the biggest blessing of all.

new artist interview x 2 and what i’ve been up to

a few of you know that i broke my glasses in half a week and a day ago. i can’t really read without them and as such haven’t been blogging/reading much lately and it caused me to delay posting the newest interview on the altered bits site.  let me tell you though… it was SO worth the wait because these two rock!!

introducing joanne archer and simon loach!  i’m sure most of you are already aware of this dynamic duo but you’ll get to know them even better when you read the interview.  PLEASE NOTE: the love page is no more.  everything is now under “guest artists“.  see the visual (click the tag) on the main page:

simon is a tremendous photographer with mad photoshop skills.  his photography is gorgeous and i for one will be purchasing prints.  make sure you visit his website too in order to see many more wonderful pieces of work (or “stuff” — read the interview).

joanne is amazing and i adore her and her art.  she creates wonderful dream boxes, assemblages and collages.  she is mostly drawn to using fabric, metal and paper, though you see an array of amazing found objects and mediums used in her work.  go read the interview, view the amazing art she has shared with us, then visit her blog to tell her that she is a kick-ass and tremendously talented artist.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

in other, totally unimportant and nowhere near as cool news, i’ve been working away on a few pieces and refurbishing my studio in my recent near-blindness.  (yeah, got delayed a week to get an eye appointment, and you know how they say “we’ll have your glasses in about an hour”.  they lie.  try TEN DAYS!  and i only got in this last sunday.  hmmph.)  really i’ve done more shopping than art, for a third desk, second bookcase, etc.  will be fabulous and even more organized in here soon. but i have worked on a bit.

peek at a shrine i’m working on:

a couple of gifts for a few people:

two different assemblages (peeks so small they almost don’t count):

i found my sad and lonely little brain boy box/clock that i never finished so think i shall work on him in the coming month as well.  he’s too cute not to want to play with!

and of course in my remodeling/rearranging/refurbishing i found a painting i forgot i’d started.  it’s about five feet wide and i’m not showing a peek of anything more than the bottom part of her dress (see, i said too much already!).  you’ll forget about it though by the time i post the final painting in a few years anyway.

you’re probably not reading anymore and that’s good — that probably means you’re reading joanne and simon’s interview. and if not, go there now!

lastly, please forgive me if you’ve emailed me within the last 8 or 10 days and i haven’t responded.  the lack of glasses thing is maddening.  i should have new ones in 8 or so more days and will catch up then, promise.

sin nombre y la isla de las muñecas… and other stuff

i have always been a huge fan of movies with or by gael garcía bernal or diego luna (y tu mamá también, motorcycle diaries, amores perros, dot the i, etc.). the other night, after the zine was finally published, i had the hugest desire to go rent a movie and chill with a beer or three.  i found one that had a cover that appealed to me so i handed it to the husby without looking at it beyond it’s pretty box. “i want this one.”  he flipped it over and laughed… “of course you do — ‘your man’ is in it”.  he’s a dork (and he’s not in it).  the movie was sin nombre and of course i knew i would adore it: twas produced by both bernal and luna.

i will just say that it was an amazing movie and you should see it if it looks at all appealing to you.  not sure how i missed it other than the fact that i never watch tv or movies or take even five minutes to relax, but it came out last year and has since won many awards (sundance film festival and edinburgh international film festival).  the cinematography was amazing, and the colors beautiful beyond words: grafiti, cemetery flowers, etc.  just beautiful.  much of the movie was filmed in chiapas, mexico, somewhere i have wished to visit for as long as i can remember, as well as honduras, another place i would love to go one day.

the whole thing got me thinking about planning a well-deserved vacation.  i felt like a kid in my brain “if i could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?”.  exactly fifty percent of that answer is in mexico: chiapas (i would volunteer for a year at schools for chiapas if i could — look at the amazing images under “photo galleries”) and la isla de las muñecas (the island of dolls).

most of you have probably already heard of isla de las muñecas but i’m slow and only first heard of it several months ago.  i will go there before i die.  here are a few photos:

it is located in xochimilco, mexico (will have to look into how far it is from chiapas).  you can read about it here.

it all reminds me of my last visit to mexico: cancún, isla mujeres, chichen itza, piste, tulum ruins, etc.).  the art: day of the dead shrines, sculpture, jewelry — bright amazing colors, the music, the food, the smells and amazing blue-green water… it was two of the best weeks of my life.  i had actually planned to go back for a six week backpacking ruin tour in the yucatan peninsula and south, but shablam, i found out i was pregnant right before i was going to book my flight (thankfully not after, i suppose).  for some reason it didn’t feel right going when i knew i had someone growing inside me to care for too.  weird, i know… should have gone.

this is my favorite non-colorful photo i took in mexico on the only day that it wasn’t sunny when i was last there (and it’s admitidly the only photo i have on my computer so shhh):

if you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?

genius!

dan at yudu is a genius, and fixed the issue with the zine. you now have my permission to go peek there (rate it if you have an account): Altered Bits Mixed Media Art Zine :: Black and White i owe him a batch of cookies or something.