Easter week was a delight...

... as always.

While studio play was sparse, t I managed to get some pen and ink work done on some of the cool colour prints from last week's play.  Any year now, I may get to rip and tear the papers into collages.

It seems I went a wee bit overboard on the house-wrap-stencil circles, so I'll need to get really creative with them to ensure the repetition doesn't bore you all into deep, snoring sleep.  

I managed to get another two embroidery thread baskets done so none of the grandchildren would feel slighted over the holiday.

And we had a great time out with the youngest grandchild and his parents at the Kootenay Meadows Spring Turnout.   If you like to see joyous animals, this is an event to remember!  If you're in the area, it's a must-see.

Jer, Rochelle, Owen, and Grandpa John may look cold, but we all had the warmest hearts imaginable to see those cows so delighted.  From Easter-bunny hopping to playfights, full-out racing and many more shenignans, it's a joy-filled day!

Hope your Easter was just as happy as those cows!  💗💖🩷

I did tell you...

 ...that I got started on the cool colours for collage last week, and, of course, had a blast.  Using Manganese Blue Hue and Hansa Yellow along with black and white, I managed some 35 sheets of paper.  This time I created them mostly with gel printing.  While they're not all complete (by a long shot), some of them are here.  

Years of playing with colour means that I'm no longer wildly surprised at the range of hues associated with just two colours.

I'm liking the glow created around the Tyvek circle masks on the one below.

The wash pull on the gel plate is so soft, isn't it?

The addition of the miniscule amount of black on this print really changes the Hansa yellow.

Stamping on a black card was great fun.

Someone is more-than-slightly circle obsessed!

This was a mistake I couldn't duplicate if I tried, due to Murphy's Oil soap on the gel plate that wasn't cleaned completely off. 

And I'm still loving the self-levelling gel method...it's so organic.

Oh, and I finished that project with embroidery thread and GAC400 I showed you last week, as I created an Easter egg basket for the upcoming weekend.  GAC400 is a Golden medium one can add to fabric to stiffen it.  Do you think that grandkids would believe the Easter Bunny lives in a multi-coloured bird-like habitat?  I'm thinking they'd go for it!

Happy week to you, and may your Easter weekend be filled with the joy of spring, the deliciousness of good chocolate,  the magic of make-believe and the dance of the Easter Bunny.

Learning curve indeed...

 ...is the name of the game.

Before I finished the first nine collages, I was quite happy with one of them.  Testing a new-to-me technique, though, had me wanting to tear my hair out. I can see that adding the 'stencil on tissue paper' is a technique that will take a ton of practice.  It may be that I'll go back to my tried and true asemic writing and learn that one next lifetime. 🤣

I did enjoy the last three of the warm colour collages coming to life, though.

And now I'm in the midst of the cool colour paper-making.  I'll show you some results of those next week.  In the meantime, I've got another bee in my bonnet and I'm getting prepped for spring!

Hope your week has been fabulous - I'm heading off to see what you've been up to!!  

Learning new techniques...

...and creating with new papers is always fun.  

I'm in the midst of using some small part of those papers I showed you last week as I work my way through Catherine Rains' Collage Kickstart. Here were the rules (aka guidelines):

• Use three of your papers in each of six 3" x 3" mini collages
• Use a light, medium and dark in each collage
• Ensure papers are different sizes
• Create high-contrast
• Finish with a fourth paper of same-type molding paste on tissue

Well, it was definitely a learning curve for me.  I'm adverse to working in any kind of a box, the method of securing the papers was new to me, and I'm not overly fond of grids.  So rules are made to be broken, right?  

I created nine collages, all of which are yet to be completed with the tissue paper/molding paste layer (and that may morph into something different to tie them together given the labour intensive method of the tissue).  I used 3 1/2 x 3 1/2" squares, and found it next to impossible to work with only three papers in those ones where the papers were somewhat humdrum.  

At any rate, here are the not-yet-final works using Hansa Yellow, Pyrrol Red and Black:

And even though I've already created nine smallish ones, there's a stack of papers waiting to be used in the same colour theme.  

I am, however, chomping at the bit to get to the cool colours, so these are likely going to have to wait a while.  

In the meantime, have a great week and enjoy your creative play!