Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all from Raylee & Simonne!!

five by five, small works exhibition december 2014.

 In 2012 I  sent 2 mixed media art works to Seth Apter thealteredpage.blogspot.com to participate in this collaborative project.

 Now they are a part of this exhibition.

these two art pieces are my contributions to the "Five by Five Small Works Exhibition" at the Empty Spaces Project in Connecticut.

There are more than 100 art works from 65 artists  - now available to see & purchase online http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/p/five-by-five.html

(raylee).

Summer Is Here!

 some favourite flowers......hydrangea......

 a spiky sweet smelling flower of mother-in-laws-tongue.....

 white hibiscus, grown from a cutting......

 an oldy but always have geraniums in my garden.

 & now for a bit of magic......my hard working husband transformed this ugly overgrown corner of our backyard, with a bit of help from me.....

 cleared all the weeds, levelled the ground....started the fence.....

 rocks for the bottom of the fence & garden edges.....

 put in new  steps up to the existing deck....

 built a new bar table from scrap timber.....

when all the construction work was done i planted the garden.
i think my husband could change from sales to landscaping.
(raylee).

Sharing the Blues

a recently completed collage/mixed media on canvas.....

 now hanging in the one restful space in my art room.

a bit of cleaning happening on my desk.
(raylee).

Paint & Paper Chair Makeover

 my brother gave me this second hand office chair more than twenty years ago. i am not sure how old it is. it's still going strong, i use it every day at my messy desk.
 when he gave it to me it had a grey vinyl seat & brown varnished back & legs. i gave it a makeover many years ago, but it needed another.
 above is how it looks now.......much bluer,  lighter & summery.
 below:  the back of the chair before i removed the old orange  suede seat covering, then some sanding, a few coats of paint, used wrapping paper from my grandson, an image from a newspaper & a decoupage paper image of a mermaid painting was all it needed for a new look.

 the back in progress....

 & the front......i cut some fish from the wrapping paper & glued them over the sides of the mermaid image.

 old style image on the back......& older still on the front.

 i stitched a new seat cover from an  old pair of  denim jeans courtesy of Simonne, & the blue spots on this piece of new fabric matched the blue of the denim & the fish paper.

i am always amazed at how paint & (paper) can make such a difference.
(raylee).

Red Roses - Collage & Acrylic on Canvas

 starting at the end...... red roses painted with acrylic & a palette knife over old painted book pages......& the beginning.........painted book pages glued onto  a 24"x24" canvas with gel medium, ( when i paint with acrylic paint i like to wipe the excess paint from my brush onto old book pages or note books to use in  future collage paintings).....

....some paint  & splatter & drip layers .......

 the original inspiration......red  roses in a glass coffee jar......

 adding acrylic with a palette knife, leaving bits of the first layer of the book page images showing through the paint....

.....a lot of trial & error with the composition of the roses & getting a shape to resemble a rose without too much detail.

(raylee).

More scraps and bits

I have been building a scrap book...

this "notebook" magazine I kept because it helped inspire us to start this blog...

it's a solid magazine, holding together well...

and the cover was ripped off...

 so I'm now going through all those scraps of paper...

that I've collected over the years...

pleasing images or ideas and instructions for projects...

and gluing them all into one place...

the interesting stories are kept...

gluing only happens on the advertisements...

 then I sorted this old wooden box...

it held a jumble of sewing bits...

ribbons, zips, needles, etc...

the 3 litre milk bottles fitted just nicely...

so I trimmed them to fit inside...

ta da...no more tangled mess...

Makeover, Almost New Again......

hello all , nice to see you here.

 spring has sprung , birds are singing, flowers blooming, sun shining & the sky is blue, i do love a blue sky. thought i would share this kerbside find with you. the after photo.

the chair was a bit sad looking but was only missing the back rest.

gave it a scrub with soapy water, some pretty tropical fabric ( a great find from the op shop, brand new fabric)

 & a lick of paint did the trick!

  i painted the canvas  seat  & made a tie on cushion. 

 the before photo.

 finished it with a new back rest.

now a nice cuppa tea!
(raylee).

Celebrate Studio Table: uncensored, unedited, & mostly unkempt

 yep, that describes my creative work space!
an invitation from Seth Apter to show everyone our "untidy" work table.

 the first  three photos are of my inside table where things just accumulate until i get to putting them away where they are supposed to be.

& these are of my outside art table & some storage areas, taken on different days just to show you it's messy most of the time.
"smokey" the cat thinks the art table is his......sometimes we just share the space.
this is another great idea of Seth Apter, have a look at his blog thealteredpage.blogspot.com.au for more.
(raylee).