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Saturday, September 3, 2011

Crusade No. 55




Michelle Ward has done it again!  This month's crusade is crazy-fun.  Before you even read this you should just click on over to her site to see the challenge and her gorgeous work.  Aren't you totally inspired?  Don't you just want to play along?

(Okay, if you can't tear yourself away from my riveting blog long enough to check that out, here's the scoop:  paint a background with 2-3 colors, paint a stamp with the same 2-3 colors.  watch the way parts of the stamped image "disappear" when matching colors align.)

I decided I would simultaneously work on my new index-card-a-day challenge while working on the crusade.  (because you KNOW I couldn't give up ICAD, so I've signed up to play along in September).  Unlike my summer index cards, I'm going to follow Tammy's prompts in September because I think they might challenge me and keep me out of a style rut.  The color theme of the month is red - a color I rarely use, so right off the bat I'm stretching.  The topic theme is "paths" and the style theme is "curves".

So to start my crusade I lined up a bunch of index cards and worked with red and turquoise paint.

I got out my favorite swirly, curvy rubber stamp and applied the paint.  Interesting, but I'm not sure I like these.

I tried it with 3 colors by adding some black:


Wild, but kind of ugly too....
Let's switch pallets and try red and orange.  
In addition to the swirly stamp I'll use some big foam stamps I found on clearance and never use.


Better, but not enough contrast. 
 Let's add some black, and let's spray the background with water first to make it more splotchy....


Now let's stamp with red/orange/black


Cool! I'm loving these.
And I haven't tried stencils yet....



The results are interesting.


I even managed to pull an interesting mono print from the circle stencil before I lifted it off the background:


Time to switch pallets again.  When I use red at all, I use it with black and grey.  
These turned out to be my favorite of the whole bunch.


Instead of using my red craft paint on those I used my red Liquitex Basics.  I like the way it's kind of shiny and semi transparent.  

Now....which of these will I choose for my index card today?  Surprisingly I went for one of the garish red/turquoise/black ones.  Since the topic theme for September  is "paths" I was picturing a path with a sign that says "This Way" - and that immediately made me think of the hilarious little bit from Dan Zane's version of the song "Side by Side" in which Dan and Father Goose get lost in the woods on the way to a party and fireflies come along to light up the way, and he introduced the most excellent word "bashment".  (If you have children born in the last decade you might know what I'm talking about.  Otherwise you'll have to take my word for it because I can't find any youtube clip of the song)



STILL reading this?  Turn off your computer right now and run to your paint supply and play along with this month's crusade.  If you don't paint (and I surely don't understand why you wouldn't) please follow the fireflies to the bashment.  I hope they remembered to bring the snacks.




17 comments:

  1. great post, lots of color , i am not doing the icad this month, I am taking a bit of a break, and trying to make big art

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  2. What a well filled post, lots of eye candy and great painting inspiration. My favorite is the red-and-black patterns, they are so cool! And I also like the final ICAD, nice one! :-)

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  3. Looks like you are following the fireflies every day. Great eerimentations, fab results. xox Corrine

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  4. These are all beautiful! I love the way you keep adding and they become better and better :)

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  5. Karen - love this post! It's fun to see your entire process stepped out here - with the different palettes and backgrounds, then with the applied designs with stamps and stencils. I love that you kept at it - trying more than one combination of colors. I'm partial to ones with black - they make a really strong statement. All of them are terrific! Well done girl! I feel your enthusiasm. Thanks for sharing with the team!!

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  6. HAAA!! This Cracks Me Up!
    I love all these photos, and the process to get where you got when you got there after working to get there! I think your 'garish' choice was fabulous. I am really trying hard to use lots of contrasting colors more, and I'm loving that in others' work, too. The monoprint is neat-o !

    Like your index card a day project!

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  7. Thanks Karen for the inspiration this morning. You did a great job showcasing the proccess, not just the product. I like that you shared what you think didn't work as well as your "likes". I'm going to tear myself away from your blog and check out the challenge and maybe try to participate this month. Beautiful work.

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  8. OK, was going to chat but gotta go, thanks for reminding me, computer off, paints out :)

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  9. Great photos of your process. I like the same ones that you do the best. I'll be playing in this crusade before too long. GOod for you doing card a day. Rosemary

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  10. You're so inspiring! Now I've gotta try it.
    And thanks for your sweet comment on My Blog.

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  11. These are all great! I especially like your color choices: red and turquoise-so nice, and the red/black/gray are awesome too! Thanks for the inspiration, I'm off to paint now.

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  12. I like the red black and turquoise ones. And I love the leaves at the end and the monoprint from the circle stencil. Where did you get that cool stencil?

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  13. Thank you for showing us your progression; mine was somewhat similar - a few trials with varying results. Love the red and grey ones and that swirly pattern.

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  14. Great post, loved reading it all and seeing it all, though bashment(?) never heard of it.

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  15. Really like the circle stencil with orange, red and black, but they are all interesting. Thanks for sharing all your play with us.

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  16. Love both the stencils and the cards. Interesting, how you didn't like the first one you tried. I loved it, although I didn't like my first attempt, either. It's interesting how we judge ourselves so quickly!

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  17. I really love your results in this challenge, especially the red, black and grey and the red, black and turquoise. Love the leafy stencil too. Thanks for sharing.

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