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Thursday, December 22, 2011

Gloria J Zucaro's Christmas Card "Already!?"

20"H x 16"W on Utrecht Linen Panel
$100.00 Unframed   S&H to your ZIP


   I painted Santa from life in a portrait class.  His real name(don't tell the kids!) is Rich.  He is tall and thin and has a wonderful smile.  Santa was wearing his Santa hat but had a green or blue flannel shirt on in November, when this was painted.  As some of you might know, when you paint a human from life, the sitting is about 3 hours long with 5 minute breaks every 20 minutes.  Well, when you are sitting and staring at something across the room on the wall for three hours, you are not going to be holding a smile!  I also exaggerated the creases and lines.  I love the way it seems that Santa is already tired when he thinks about all that needs to be done before Christmas Eve. We all know that feeling.  I had this painting made into postcards for Christmas and had "Already!?" printed down along the bottom.  I wish all my friends at Paint Party Friday, and at The Daily Paintworks and Contemporary Fine Art International a Merry Christmas.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Gloria J Zucaro's "Fall Fearless Cont."

I feel God is with me every day.  All I have to do to make contact is say "Thank you, Lord!"  I often feel disasters have been averted and little miracles occur when I almost trip and fall, or a fender bender is avoided, or the pan that I forgot I was cooking in did not catch on fire when I got absorbed with something else, because of a little nudge of awareness!  I also feel the closeness to God when driving through beautiful landscapes, or looking out my window at a chipmunk(yes, I do love them!). Or watching my grandsons' face when playing, or asking me a question.
After adding the gesso in my last post to make the church window stencil, and letting it dry, I decided to highlight different raised areas with glitter paint in gold, one of the prompt colors.  I just rubbed it on with my finger.  As you can see it really highlighted Jessica Sporn's new stencil "Medieval Leaves" the most.  Since the Church Windows were not showing up very much, I outlined various areas in Black Micron pen.  I still think that needs more, so I might continue to work on that later today.  I also stenciled on some black doves.  I should have done that before all the raised areas, as the stencil couldn't make contact with the paper.  Learning lots about the process!  Thank you, too to our other hostess on Fall Fearless and FlyCarolyn Dube

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Gloria J Zucaro's ATCs, Journal Page,Tangle Coaster"

Today I have been working on three different projects.  My journal page, my next set of Artist Trading Cards and some experimental stone coasters that I am going to cover with some of my tangled designs.  First is my journal page for Fall Fearless and Fly and Test Driving Jessica Sporn's stencil "Medieval Leaves"

The #6 prompts from Fall Fearless & Fly follow...

Headline Prompt:  Divided by God:  What does "God" mean to you?  How do you access"God" or the divine or the sacred in your life?  
Color Prompt: Metallics - gold, silver, copper, bronze, or all of them!  
Quote Prompt: "This is my simple religion.  There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy.  Our own brain, our own heart, is our temple; the philosophy is kindness."  The Dalai Lama

    

My journal page had a drape of gold metallic paint across it left from a  pool of paint from another project.  I covered it with a wash of Silks Olive Green after journaling some of my thoughts about the headline prompt with my Micron pen across the top of the page.  I must not have let the pen dry sufficiently because the wash of green erased some of my journaling.  Then I decided to follow some of the instructions from my class with Dion Dior on various mediums you can mix with Silks paints.  When the Olive Green was dry(I waited two days)I used heavy gel medium to make a design using my new stencil "Medieval Leaves" that I won on the Jessica Sporn Designs site.   I left that to dry for two days, also.  Tonight I used another stencil that I just received from Stencil Girl that is a Church window.  Appropriate to the theme, I think!  Here is the journal page so far.



Above is after journaling, a wash of green, and the "Medieval Leaves" stencil created by Jessica Sporn, stenciled with heavy gel medium.  Below is with the addition of the gessoed stencil of the Church windows.  Funny how different light can change the colors!  The top photo is the beautiful color.

Next is a photo of the stone tiles that I first gessoed to seal, then painted black to make a framed edge around my Zentangle Squares.  I am going to try Modge Podge and Matte Medium to see which seems to work best for adhering the paper to the tiles.  I am hoping the black paint won't show through the Zentangles and the glues won't discolor them.  An experiment!  I may have to either repaint the centers of the tiles white, or completely seal the paper tangles before adhering them.

The next project I am working on is January's ATCs.  Our theme for January is fabric.  I bought a 1/2 yard packet of 5 different colors of fabric.  First I prepared the backs of the cards.  They had already been glued to a map and one side gessoed from last month.  I painted stripes of Silks in green, yellow, rose and orange on the cards which had been sprayed with water and then sprayed on some aqua colored ink and some fuschia colored ink.  I let it dry for two days.  Tonight I lined up the edges of the fabrics and applied a thick coat of Polymer Medium.  Again I noticed that when I use mediums they seem to pull color out.  So I went back over each edge with my brush, cleaning my brush on a paper towel before doing the next color of fabric.  The plan is to let the polymer dry, then coat the other side.  When that is dry, I am going to use a silicon sheet and my iron to seal/melt it all together like you would for paper collage.  If that doesn't work, I have some of that new clear fusible interfacing to hold all the fabrics together.  Hum, I wonder if I can use it to attach it to the cards, or whether I need to stitch it on???  Anyone?  HELP!

 View of one section of back after paint & ink

Below is the fabric that I am gluing together.  I hope this works! 

Well, "that's all folks!"


Thursday, December 15, 2011

Gloria J Zucaro's "Cactus Christmas"

6.5"H x 7.5"W Original Oil on Linen Sheet Canvas.
SOLD

I don't think these cacti would be still blooming, but they certainly show off a Christmas color palette!
This is my entry for Paint Party Friday this week.  
Have a good week, remember to take time to smell the Christmas cookies baking!



Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Gloria J Zucaro's "Season's Greetings"

This is one of my two holiday cards for 2011.  I painted this one in watercolor and had Seasons Greetings printed on the front when I had it made into postcards at Office Max. 

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Gloria J Zucaro's "Loop-D-Loop"

Laura Harms the hostess with the most-est over at I am the diva has introduced us this week to Margaret Bremner, also a Certified Zentangle Teacher.  Margaret gave us an example of one of her loop tangles and a link to it's introduction on her website in October.   
My example of an exterior looped tangle is below.  I drew it on a 5"H x 7"W greeting card.
Be sure to visit the Diva's site for more creative and colorful designs. 
Click on image to enlarge.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Gloria J Zucaro's "Making Lemonade".

8"H x  8"W  Original Oil on Canvas
$105. Framed   S&H to your ZIP
To Purchase, email me at gloria@gloriajzucaro.com



Here are some more of my 5 lbs. of lemons from Costco!  I am almost done with them, gradually using them for other things besides a cup of tea.  They have been good sports about lining up for me to paint them.  This is this weeks entry into Paint Party Friday.  Happy PPF!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Gloria J Zucaro's "Merry Christmas ATC's"

Tonight I am sharing my first set of Christmas ATC's for a trade party on Saturday.  I had a lot of fun making these cards.  I used advice from Mary C Nasser's blog post on Oct. 09 when she gave her steps for making her deck of cards for the Inspiration Card Swap hosted by Jessica Brogan.  Starting out with a deck of cards, I glued them to a map.  Then sanded the front of the cards & gessoed & painted the fronts red with Silks Acrylic Glaze and the backs green with the same paint.  I then stenciled the green backs with a second green and outlined the stencils with either red or gold pen.  On the front red side I placed vintage looking stickers or some stocking stickers.  I added torn tissue paper that I had mixed up with gloss medium.  Then coating the tissue with a dark rose Silk paint.  The entire surface was covered with medium and sprinkled with gold beads onto the raised tissue areas.  I stamped on the Doves & Merry Christmas  and added the dimensional snow flakes or Christmas Trees.  The only thing left to do is to add my name and blog information to the back.  I only made a dozen Christmas ATCs, so will use the other cards that are glued to the map and already gessoed for next months trade.   I plan on sending a couple of the cards to blog friends who have been so helpful and generous to me and am looking forward to finding out what our prompt will be for January.  

Our group is hosted by Kimberly Butts who is an avid follower of ATCS FOR ALL and helps organize & attends their convention.  Kimberley's special cards are made of sheet metal in which she presses a design, or her wonderful felted birds.

This is my Paint Party Friday entry for this week.  Please go to the party and visit some of the many artist's sites to see what they have been creating this week.


Monday, December 5, 2011

Gloria J Zucaro's "All Boxed Up"

6"H x 6"W Oil on Panel
$95. Framed   S&H to your ZIP
To Purchase,email me at gloria@gloriajzucaro.com



This is the December challenge for Ria Hills, Shoot and Paint.  It was fun packaging up my painting! Visit Ria's blog. 

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Gloria J Zucaro's "Journal Page 5, All of Them Make me Laugh!"

The latest ideas flowing in from "Fall Fearless and Fly" are about people who you admire, colors you love and people or things that make you laugh.  I copied the prompts below from Artists in Blogland site.  Hosted by the team of Jessica Sporn & Carolyn Dube

Headline Prompt:  Lifelong Fan:  What or who have you consistently valued or looked up to in your life?  What lessons have you learned from people you admire?
Color Prompt:  Your favorite color now or from childhood or both!
Quote Prompt: "Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator; but among those whom I love, I can:  all of them make me laugh."  W.H.Auden

This weeks guest host is Marcia Beckett who did a wonderful journal page to share with us.

Well, it is hard to look up to  young children and small animals when they are smaller than you are!  But they are the ones I love the best.  They are pure, and in awe of all the wonderful things in the world, they are closer to their "real" selves, not "tamed' yet.  They show all their emotions easily, and love fully.  All of them make me laugh or bring a smile to my face.  I love all the birds, squirrels, rabbits, and chipmunks and smile when  I see them cavorting outside my windows.

This is the full page view.  I used Silks Acrylic Glaze paints, patterned tissue paper, Elmer's Glue, Twinkling H20's, glitter glue, cutouts from catalogues, a bird stamp, white gel marker, black Sakura ink pen.  Below I show the dimensional views with sparkly glitter from the right and left sides.
 
 From the right
From the left

Gloria J Zucaro's "Bead Stack"


This week Laura, the hostess with the mostest at "I Am The Diva" asked us to join her in making beads tangles to represent the organization known as "Beads of Courage".  As Laura says "Beads of Courage" is a wonderful charity that helps a child with a chronic illness or condition to tell their story of courage and strength as they take their medical journey. Every single bead represents something your child has done - a test, a poke or needle, a procedure, a doctor's appointment, therapy, special accomplishments, an xray, use of oxygen, mobility issues, etc.  It's incredible to see what your child has been through in a very tangible way."  I have done a bead stack on a 7"h x 5"W watercolor cardstock.  Inside the beads are various tangles.

To see better detail in the design, click on the image.
$6.00 with Envelope.  S&H  $2.00
Be sure to visit Laura's site to see what other artists have done with this challenge.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Good Will Towards All"

7"H x 5"W Original Ink Drawing with Acrylic Silks Glaze
$6.00 starting bid on Daily Paintworks auction site.
Click on image to enlarge.

This is my entry into Jenn's challenge this week at The Artist Playroom.  We were to use the word "Galaxy" for our prompt.  I thought I would do a design for a Christmas card.  The Star that the shepherds followed, the triangular pieces of the church foundation, the triangular tree, to me symbolize our higher power, God, and the Trinity.  The stars reaching out to all mankind.  The painting is on greeting card watercolor paper and comes with an envelope.  Inside are the words "Good  Will Towards All".  I wanted to emphasize each of the words "Good" and "Will".  See below.  I attached the wording with matte medium and a wash and then spritzed it with some very 
fine glitter mist.  I put a little black edge around both photos in Elements, so that the white cardstock would show up better against the blog page.



Gloria J Zucaro's "Hallow's String"

5"H x 7"W Ink and Watercolor Design on Watercolor Greeting Card
SOLD

This is my Diva Challenge for the week which is "Tangle Patterns "String # 001"
I used my string to make a Halloween card.  Have fun looking at all the other tangles on "I am The Diva"

Gloria J Zucaro's "Multi-Media Journal Page One"

Today I am showing you my first ever attempt at making a mixed media journal page for entry into "Fall Fearless and Fly".  I really had fun using ink, watercolor Silks Acrylic Glaze, Twinkling H2o's and colored pencil & paper, matte medium.etc!  My theme, one of three suggested was "Inventing the Future" 5, 10 and 15 years down the life road.
Check out the Fearless sight to see what other artists have done.
Click on images for larger photos and more detail.
Slanted to see more of the shimmer
 
Straight on to see the words more clearly.

Gloria J Zucaro's "By the Sea"


Original Ink Drawing with watercolor on 5"H x 7"W watercolor greeting card.
Comes with envelope.
SOLD
Click on image to enlarge

This painting is based on the challenge for the month of June on the "Shoot and Paint" website. http://shootandpaint.blogspot.com/    Ria Hills and Pamela White Murphy are the hosts for the site which offers all artists the chance to express their own style by painting Ria's and Pamela's photograph.  Come join us!  And Happy Paint Party Friday Also!
http://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/

Gloria J Zucaro's "Looking from the Hilltop, Langley on Whidbey Island"

2.5"H x 3.5"W Original Ink Drawing with Watercolor pencil
For auction on DPW starting at $1.00 plus S&H.
SOLD

Today's post is my entry for this weeks Daily Paintworks challenge which is to do a mini-painting the size of an Artist Trading Card, which is 2.5"H x 3.5"W.  The challenge prompt was given by David Lloyd.   I have used an official Zentangle ATC but will use it as an ACEO..  I drew the design in fine line permanent marker, then used my Derwent Inktense Watercolor Pencils to color the design, then my white Micron at the end.  In a couple of spots my water and sky got too much water, so when they dried I had to borrow a couple of my friend Judy's pastels to get the colors back to what I wanted.  I was using a "NIJI" small waterbrush, but maybe I overfilled it because too much water was coming out.  I used my #12 flat shader to do most of the wet brush technique over the pencil.  The photo I used for inspiration is from my March trip to Whidbey Island in the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington state.  Parts of the town of Langley have steep hills.  But they are great for picture taking.  The mountains across the waters of Saratoga Passage are the Cascades and Mt. Baker.  In my photo there are many telephone wires which I eliminated from my painting.


Gloria J Zucaro's "Worry Bird"

3.5" Square Original Design In Watercolor and Ink
SOLD

The Daily Paintworks Challenge this week was offered by Jo Mackenzie with the prompt of "emotion".  I can definitely relate to the fact that however old your children are, you never cease to worry about them, right from the time of their cracking out of their shells and coming into this world!

Gloria J Zucaro's "Hail Olympia"

Original ink and Prismacolor Art Sticks on 3.5" square official Zentangle watercolor paper tile.
$3.00 plus shipping to your Zip.

This post and artwork is my entry for this weeks I Am The Diva http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/
Challenge #79.  Today's challenge is brought to you by  Rho Densmore, CZT who is taking over the challenge while Laura and her family are in Philadelphia for a medical conference.
The challenge is to use the Olympic Rings as the string for your tangle, and is based on the original concept for the Olympics "Citius, Altius, Fortius" or  “Swifter, Higher, Stronger…the motto for the current Olympic Games proposed by Pierre de Coubertin to the International Olympic Committee in 1894.



Gloria J Zucaro's "A-Pear-Rent-Lee"

Original Ink Drawing with Watercolor
5"H x 7"W Greeting cardstock, with envelope
May be used in 5 x 7 frame or mat to use in 8 x 10 frame.
Click on photo to see more detail
SOLD

This is my weekly entry into The Artist's Playroom hosted by Jennifer Mclean. http://www.justaddwatersilly.com/search/label/APR  Be sure to check in there and see what the other artists have done.  Our assignment, any type or style or media showing pears.  

Gloria J Zucaro's "Horse in Brush"

3.5" Square Ink Drawing with Watercolor on official Zentangle watercolor paper tile.
SOLD
This may be framed, see tab above.
Click on photo to see more detail.
The colors are off white, pale rose and pale blue/green

I had been yearning to do a horse, so I did!  Although this is not really a tangle design, I think that horses like to eat those thistles that can take over a field, so that is what gave me the idea for this design.  This is my weekly entry to Paint Party Friday hosted by Kristin and Eva.  Go on over and see what everyone else has been up to.  http://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/

Gloria J Zucaro's "Blind String Project"

3.5" Square Original Design on Official Zentangle Watercolor Paper Tile
$4.00 starting bid on Daily Paintworks auctions.

This is my entry into Laura's "Blind-Sighted" challenge. Laura is the host for the I am the Diva site that has a weekly challenge for Zentangling. The idea is to close your eyes and then draw your "string" or  lines around and across your drawing surface.  Then do your design work following these disorderly strings!  This was a lot of fun because I had extra little spaces that I ordinarily would not have had if I had planned my areas with eyes open. Laura just returned from a trip to Victoria BC.  She has lots of pictures so a great place to go sightseeing through her photos.  Also don't forget to see all the other blind string tangles that have been created by all the participating artists.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Color My World"

OOPS!  If looking for Diva Challenge check further down the linky list, I put the wrong link!



4"H x 6"L Greeting Card done with Luminarte's Silks and Twinkling H20s, 
which are both luminescent acrylics.
$4.00 starting bid on Daily Paintworks auction
darker version- click to enlarge to see the glimmer!
Lighter Version
Although I am still very much "coldey" and have to go to the Doc in the A.M. because of fevers, I wanted to get something in to Jenn's Artist Playroom this week.  Jenn's prompt was paint something in your favorite color.  Well, picking one would be impossible!  I find I usually use an array of colors from the warm side of the color wheel and a few from the cooler side.  I tend not to like earth tones or very muted colors.  I am most happy with orange, yellows, roses, aqua, lime green, and emerald green. I also love sparkles!  I just got new paints listed above and they are a wonderful pigment filled with mica.  The originator of these fabulous paints is Leslie Ohnstad and the paints can be found here, LuminArte.  The picture doesn't do the card justice as far as the richness and sheen of the paint.  You can see it better in the darker version but the lighter version is more true to the brightness.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Auraknotics!"

3.5" Square Official Zentangle Watercolor Tile with ink design.
$3.50 plus shipping to your Zip.
Click on the photo to see more detail
Framing options in tab on menu bar.

This weeks tangle from Laura at  http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/  is based on a new Zentangle design released by Maria and Rick in their Zentangle newsletter last week.  They had a contest to ask fellow tanglers to name the new design.  The main design features are lines that create an aura but never cross over the lines made before they are drawn. Those patterns are called "Aura" and Hollibough".  The contest winner for the name of this new tangle which combines the previous two is Mattie Arnold for the name "Auraknot".  To see how to do the" step-out" to make this new pattern you can go to see Jeanee Kero's, CZT instructions.  http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs023/1101168872594/archive/1110423131079.html

I did the "Auraknot" design and wrapped a curving shape around and through it, and added a triangle shape through the curving shape.  Then I decided which areas to black out and which areas to add other designs to.  I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Gloria J Zucaro's " Seven Step Inkblot"


This is Step One in my challenge entry for The Artist's Playroom. http://www.justaddwatersilly.com/search/label/APR                                           
The challenge prompt this week from Jennifer Mclean is "INK".  
The first thing I thought of was inkblots.  
The second thing I thought of was that I don't have any ink that I could do an inkblot with. Then I realized my new Derwent Inktense Watercolor Pencils could be used like ink.  In my class on how to use them I learned I could make shavings from the pencil lead and then add water.  So I started with a piece of sketch paper and folded it in half the long way.  Then I put my inky orange on the paper, folded it and when I opened it, this is what I had.  My inkblot looks like a roasting chicken to me! SCROLL DOWN

This is Step Two
I added the color Fuchsia and folded it across the diagonal.
This inkblot looks like a bee sitting on an iris to me!
(I think he is missing his wings, but maybe they are just see-through!) SCROLL DOWN


I had forgotten to take a picture when I added the Blue, so here is Step 3 & 4  Blue and Poppy.  Now I kept rotating it to see what it brought to mind. I folded the paper on the opposite diagonal and across the short way for these two colors.

I couldn't figure out what it could be, so then I made it Black and White and rotated it a few times.    Then I saw it! Do you see it? SCROLL DOWN


Step 5
  
                                              An Indian Head with Arrows!  
Now that is all I can see!  SCROLL DOWN

Step 6!


Now for Step 7!  Some Micron pen enhancing!
Click on any photo to enlarge for more detail.
SEE THE INDIAN HEAD?  LOOK AT THE LEFT SIDE
The End!


Gloria J Zucaro's "On The Square"

3.5 " Square Ink Design on Watercolor Paper
$4.00 unframed starting bid on Daily Paintworks auction.  $1.50 S&H

This is my entry into the challenge offered by Laura on The Diva site.  We are starting on Tuesday this week instead of Monday because of the Labor Day holiday.  The featured tangle pattern is called "Copada" this was an original design made by Margaret Bremner. It is the one above that has the shapes inside a band that look like the cupola of a Russian or Greek building.  I have used three or four other tangles to compliment Margaret's' design.  To see the design Margaret drew with her pattern go to Enthusiastic Artist Blogspot.  And be sure to stop by the Diva site(link above) to see all the other artists use of "Copada"


Gloria J Zucaro's "A Nod To Heroes"

This week I have been sick with a bad cold, so only did The Diva Challenge you saw in my post on Tuesday, and these ATC cards for our monthly meeting theme of "Heroes". The first thing that came to mind as heroes were the men and women in our armed services. I also did a card of our first 13 colonies flag.  Those brave people got our county on its' path to greatness.  So here are my ATCs for the theme, in alphabetical order.  This is also my entry into Paint Party Friday . Be sure to check out all these links for the wonderful artwork from around the world.
They are all done in ink with Derwent Inktense Watercolor Pencil accents.
U. S. Air Force Artist Trading Card
2.5"H x 3.5"W

U. S. Army Artist Trading Card
2.5"H x 3.5"W

U. S Coast Guard Artist Trading Card
2.5"H x 3.5"W

U. S. Marines Artist Trading Card
2.5"H x 3.5"W

U. S. Navy Artist Trading Card
2.5"H x 3.5"W

"Thirteen" Artist Trading Card
2.5"H x 3.5"W

Gloria J Zucaro's "Tendrils"

3.5" Square Zentangle Watercolor Paper Tile
Original design in ink with #'s 01 and 03 Micron Pens.

The object of The Diva's challenge this week is to break free of the traditional square enclosed design tangle and spread out, stretch our wings, be free of the outer limits of our paper.  I enjoyed using some new designs that I had not tried before.  Check the link above to see all the creative ways to be set free!