Shameless Last Minute Promo: Get Painted!

It occurs to me that Halloween is only days away and I could be painting people!

If you want to do a painting party, book it now. I am only doing one or two.

Here is CeCe with a painted necklace. The jewel in the center is adhered to the skin and stayed on a long time. The design is a root necklace. Blood droplets are enhanced with red acrylic stones. She stopped people in their tracks. She frightened at least one. We weren't even trying!

I can paint one or ten, with a 4 hour block. Contact me through Facebook for details. I can do pretty, spooky or pretty spooky. My blacklight paint is awesome.

I use professional paints, both water based and temporary tattoo body paints. I don't do logos or cartoons and will help you interpret your idea, at my discretion. These are one-of-a-kind designs from out of my head.

Consider:

painted on masks - so much more comfortable - with "jewels" or metallic paint

lacy white patterns - glow bright blue under a black light

the undead - glowing ghoul faces and hands, skeletal or decaying

bruised and battered - look beat up good, act scrappy

florals - freaky vines or pretty flowers

old and in the way - caution - you may resemble an older relative - very scary

in stitches - laugh all you want, it won't hurt - farmer's tan encouraged

mod - which once meant modern, but now means retro - think peace sign

jewelry - necklaces, bracelets, anklets

tattoo - a heart, saucy mermaid, fairy, names on scrolls

bald and beautiful - nothing says freaky like a face on the back of a head

Wishing you a safe and happy Halloween!

Introducing: YUPO

YUPO is a polypropylene sheet that looks and acts like paper, but uses no trees and is 100% recyclable. I think it is awesome. It is used in the printing and packaging industry. Artists discovered it as an excellent surface for watercolor techniques.

I have worked with YUPO for about 6 hours total. I have only just begun to experiment. This thin, sturdy, waterproof material is ideal for miniature cutting, because it enables me to cut accurately. It is so smooth. It's like buttah....

The tiny keys above are cut with my Klic-n-Kut electronic cutter and painted with alcohol inks. The alcohol inks by Adirondack are permanent, unless you put them in contact with alcohol or a similar solvent. What is amazing is a build-up of bronze-colored ink on each side of the key makes it look like a real key to scale. I add just a touch of blue or slate so it doesn't look too new. I accidentally sat on a couple, and they snapped back into shape. I am in love. I should note that items I bent that were untreated creased and stayed that way.

Yupo and alcohol inks are used here in a wash. I did use alcohol, sparingly, to remove pigment as well as thin it. See how the lips are built up and lifted of color. The hue is brighter each time it is applied. However, as in all watercolor brush techniques, there is the possibility of saturating and pooling the color beneath. It is a sweet dance of which I allowed the underlying surface to lead. The result is a loose style of color layering.

I am getting requests for miniature items for cards and encouragement to try dollhouse and doll scale items. Scale can be a fun exploration. Notice how the tiniest model distorted. I don't know why. Buckles are fun to use on dolls, cards, packages, and ribbons. The key is a blank. What a difference from the first photo!

Had I corrected this photo, you would see the brilliance of color on the butterfly wings. The color is magenta and violet. The satin-y look is from a pearl version of the ink. The dots are pearl and the veins are done by dragging a brush from one end of the wing to the other. That's it. The ink and the surface do the rest. Again, I am using a loose style and unconcerned about symmetry. Sometimes the ink built up gets sticky. I matted it down with glitter. Of course I did.