Gloria J Zucaro's "See More"

Here are the next eight in the Theme ATC's "Glasses".

Gloria J Zucaro's "Distorted Faces ATC's"

 I missed my Artist Trading Card meeting in February.  It was themed "Distorted Faces".  I wasn't quite sure what to do with that... but drew some this morning in case people still have some of theirs to trade next Saturday.  These are 3.5"H x 2.5"W on watercolor paper.  All Original Designs in Ink and Watercolor.  Stamps, Sticker, Glitter Glue, and cut-out from candy wrapper.
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Distorted face #1

Distorted Face #2

Distorted Face #3

Gloria J Zucaro's "Getting Ready"

Today I started the preparation for the Inspirational Card Deck Swap 2013.   I had not realized until I emailed Jessica Brogan, the hostess for this swap, that the quotes each artist puts on the cards actually have to be "inspirational".  I had collected some quotes by famous actors and actresses, and had gotten some photos of several of them to use on my cards.  But I went through and eliminated the quotes that weren't actually inspirational...only very funny!  I can use those quotes and photos for making other ATC cards on my own. I took some pages out of one of the paper selections by Melody Ross that I bought on sale and glued the cards onto various pages.  I had put glue on the pages first as I got to each page, so attached a few 2.5 x 3.5 extra cardboard pieces where I had already put the book binders adhesive.  I had done this with a wet wash brush, so the paper got too wet and ripped off some of the design when I picked it up to move to another place to dry.  But I am not worried it will add interest as I add another layer.  When I cut the cards apart, they will each have a different back. I plan on putting some Silks Acrylic Glaze  over these papers anyway and also my name and blog information, too.

I also did my journaling for the limited 10 minutes for "30 days in your journal" by Julie Fei Fan Balzer.  I must say that for the last two days I have not had the supplies that Julie has, which she said is perfectly okay and that I could substitute with what I have.  I did not have a transfer screen to do a screen printing effect, so I just used regular stencils and stamps. Some with my initials in a very scroll-y alphabet.  I did not have a "frame" so cut one out of my Steampunk book from Dover Press. Today's video showed her adding a photo of herself and circling it with watercolor crayons.  Again, I had no photo of myself so added puzzle pieces, some glitter and used my Derwent Inktense Watercolor Pencils to get a similar effect.

The last thing I did was paint a page in my smaller journal black.  I am going to do the 8th and last Fall Fearless & Fly journal page.  The colors for it are black with bright colors.  I will be using my "Hot Shots" neon paints over the black.  Have a good evening!

Card backing papers below.

My 3 days of journaling below.  New page tomorrow!

Gloria J Zucaro's "All in a Days Work"

For My Gelli Plate Papers, Scroll to middle of this post

Yesterday I got quite a bit of artwork done.  I copaled a painting which will be in an exhibit the end of the month in the Robert T. Wright Gallery in Grayslake, Illinois.  Copal is a preliminary finish you put on an oil painting before it it has dried enough to put a final varnish on.  You rub it on in circles with a lint free cloth, making sure all areas are covered but don't have puddles.

Then I put the first coat of paint on a frame for that painting.  It is a floater frame, so all the front surface of the painting will show, and not be covered by 1/4 edge being covered all around by a traditional frame.  I am considering put a pewter dry brush over the black.  What do you think of that?  
I stuck the painting in the frame so you could see how a floater frame looks.

Next I worked on my Gelli Plate with two colors of paint at once for Carolyn Dubes' Gelli Plate Paint Party.  I really like the way they look with a mix of different Silks Acrylic Glaze paints by Luminarte. I didn't have anymore plain white paper, so used some pale yellow cardstock.

Last night I spent several hours beading my second set of fabric cards for my January ATC meeting. I beaded around the bird shapes and then glued them to the lattice background.  I also finished up my first set of ATCs which had glitter and pearl accent on the fronts and Martha Stewart Iridescent Tinsel Glitter around my name plate on the backs.  I will put a clear glitter glue around the edge of the applied birds sections, I think, and fill in some of the blank background between the lattice fabric strips with paint.

Martha Stewart