January 5th and 6th #CJS 2020 Projects

Hello Paint Party Artists...

January 5th on Creative Jumpstart 2020(CJS 2020) was taught by Tina Walker whose Super Power is "Making Mini Books". I had to watch it several times to figure it out! She was a very good instructor but I needed to rewatch to get all the steps in!
It was really fun to do. This is my original version. The book is 2.75" tall by 2.50" wide.
Click on images to enlarge.

The Front

Side View From Above

A View of Two Inside Pages

January 6th with Nathalie Kalbachs' Creative Jump Start 2020(CJS2020) was led by Iris Fritschi-Cussens. Her SUPER POWER is called "Into the Shadow". It is about journaling and really expressing how you are feeling, using your journal as you would a diary for your eyes only! I loved all the layering in the background.

The first two pages done in my new gifted sketchbook from my friend Polly D.!  

Thank you, Polly!

My Day 3 Project with CJS 2020

Our January third video instructor was Jane Lafazio. 
Jane feels that one of her SUPER POWERS is "Drawing Jewelry".
She drew an exoctic necklace and painted it in watercolor .

My project for January third is done from a magazine layout of a collection of turquoise bracelets.  

Done in my Sketchbook Project sketchbook.

I am looking forward to my next Creative Jump Start 2020 project. 

My Project for January 2, CJS2020 with Marieka Blokland

Here is my project with Mareika . It is done in my Sketchbook for the  Sketchbook Project, based in Brooklyn NY  Only a few more pages before it needs to be sent in, digitized and then can be seen on-line all over the world.  

Then I will start using the fantastic sketchbook my friend Polly sent to me for Christmas.  She always finds the most wonderful art gifts for me!

Marieka's SUPER POWER theme is "Raw and Quirky"!
Here is my original version inspired by her example.

"She Cut Off My Dress!"

To see more detail, just click on the image.

See you soon with Day 3!

Limited Palette

Good Morning!  I am all fixed up with two new knees(and in 2014, two new shoulders!).  I should be good to go for quite awhile now.

I haven't posted for many months. But wanted to show you one photo of my backyard after our Halloween snow yesterday.
I also have a mixed media painting that I finished recently called "Just Passing Through."

Happy Paint Party Friday!

"Limited Palette"

"Just Passing Through"

Have a great day!

Gloria 

Gloria J Zucaro's "UnderPear"

First of all "Happy 6th Anniversary/Birthday" to Eva & Kristins' PAINT PARTY FRIDAY site that gives many artists a place to show their artwork each week.
I always enjoy and get inspired by what my artist friends from around the world are doing. Not only do they share their artwork, but many show photos from their area of the world, offer advice on supplies and techniques and viewpoints on various topics of world interest.

A couple of weeks ago I showed you the beginnings of a mixed media project.  I got it finished this week.  I finished the background with various stencils, stamps, Neocolor Crayons, Marks All pencil, Posca Pens, collage and acrylic paint.  Now the decision was between covering most of the background and allowing it to show through in one area, or leaving the background mostly exposed and covering an area to give the eye a resting place.  Since I had tried the first option previously I decided to leave most of the background showing this time.

Here is the finished project.  The original WIP is below it.  I am calling this "UnderPear" a play on Underwear!

Here is the WIP photo shown two weeks ago

Have a wonderful week of celebration Kristin and Eva and thanks for another year of Paint Party Friday!

I would love to hear your comments.

~gloria

Gloria J Zucaro's "CJS 2017 with Mary Beth Shaw"

Yesterday was great to watch the ease with which Mary Beth Shaw the originator of "Stencil Girl" the stencil business was able to complete a two page journal spread.  She used a lot of stencils, of course, and Ranger Dylusion Crayons.  I had another brand of crayons and they did not work well for this project so I had(had to!) order the Ranger brand with some of the gift card money I received for Christmas!  

The quotation or saying for my piece is "A book is like a garden carried in a pocket"-Chinese Proverb.  My journal spread had an Asian theme.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Fifth Project with Jimmy Leslie"

Today's video was about all the different ways to use our acrylic mediums and paints.  Jimmy Leslie also suggested using supplies that are lying around the house and yard for applying our mediums or for adding 3-D elements to our collage work.  So I used the mediums I had to do to my two pieces.  I tried making skins with my acrylic paints plus Airbrush Flow Medium.  It takes practice!  How to spread the paint on a surface, how thick if you want transparency, and how to remove it in more than a zillion small pieces when it dries!  I had thought to make fairly large pieces so that I could cut it into strips to weave together, thereby changing the colors.  For example, Jimmy showed a hanging piece that had the three primaries of red, yellow, blue.  When they were woven together the yellow and blue made green, etc. But alas!  My paint was applied to thinly, and totally shredded when I tried to remove it from the palette.  I decided to glue it onto a clear plastic card cover.  I did overlap some shreds and for at night when there is not window light behind it, I added some opaque paint in drips, and dashes here and there.

  

Examples of skins using either Credit card, knife or brayer to apply to palette paper.

On the window, you can see through the lighter colors

Flat on the table to see how it will look at night on the window

For my other part of this project, I painted over an old painting with 2 coats of Black Gesso.  Then I used my Flexible Modeling Paste to Stencil some large snowflakes along the top edge.  I added a Stencil of a bird using Ceramic Stucco and a dried twig.  I used Heavy Gel Medium to cement down the twig.  Then I had to let everything dry.  Next I added some Handmade collage paper along the bottom edge.  I used SILKS paints to color the stucco on the bird and splattered with white Fluid Acrylic paint.  I wondered about adding more, or changing the bird to look more like a Cardinal, but decided I liked it as it is.

Now on to the next CJS 2017 Project!

Gloria J Zucaro's "Day Three Of CJS 2017 with Glyn Macey"

The third day of Creative Jumpstart 2017 was with Glyn Macey.  Glyn talked about how cropping your paintings/pages can improve their composition.  He also talked about using simple tools you have around the house for mark making and how different looks can be achieved when you mix your colors by scumbling, glazing and direct mixing.  In my project below I applied two coats of black gesso over an old painting done on an 8"H x 10"W board.  Then I picked out handmade papers, mostly Gelli prints and applied them over the gesso.  I made circles of the three primaries, red, yellow, blue and tried the three methods of paint application.  Then it was just adding dots, drips and scratches through the surface until I felt I liked the results.
Have a great day, stay warm!
                          Gloria

Gloria J Zucaro's "Going Up"

Good Morning!  It has been forever since I have posted.  I got overwhelmed by family changes, construction, illness and death.  In other words..."LIFE!"  All is more sane now, so I have posted to the site called Paint My Photo where you can find all sorts of free photographs to use in your artwork.
I used one of the photographers photos for my abstract acrylic collage piece called "Going Up?"  I was thinking of old time elevators where an attendant was the one in control of the workings of the elevator in fancy hotels and residences.
I will be posting to Paint Party Friday, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest.   I took Joan Fullerton workshop last weekend and assembled my piece during her class.  What fun! Have a wonderful week,
                                                                 Gloria

140 lb. watercolor paper, acrylic high flo paint,stencils,gesso,Gelli plate papers, old text, photo transfer of suspension bridge(https://pmp-art.com/nicola-b/gallery/115775/humber-bridge)

Gloria J Zucaro's "A Week With Jean Mikel Basquiat"

Hello there.  This week with Creative Jumpstart 2016 was inspired by Jean Mikel Basquiat.  I am posting to Paint Party Friday.  Thank you Eva and Kristin for hosting. I had instructive videos again this week and will show you the resulting projects below.  If you want to see the steps for each one, you can go back to my posts each day this past week.

with Birgit Koopsen

with Tori Weyers

Ideas from Paula Phillips and Diana Trout

with Jodi Ohl

Have a great week everyone.  Please leave a comment if you are so inclined.

Gloria

Gloria J Zucaro's "The Chicken Has Flown the Coop!"

Hello,
Tonight I am posting a little info about the painting I did for The Traveling Chicken.  I had a lot of fun making up the story to go with the painting.  You can read all about it at The Traveling Chicken Blog.

"And They All Admired Her Spots"

I used watercolor paper and acrylic paints. 

The painting is 5.75" x 11.75"

Linking to Paint Party Friday

Have a wonderful weekend,

Gloria

Gloria J Zucaro's "The Traveling Chicken", "Enzo's gift" & Sunny Meadow"

I am posting to Paint Party Friday.  Also to Pinterest. 

This past week I finished an oil painting, called "Sunny Meadow"

8' x 10" on stretched canvas

If you are interested in purchasing contact me by email

gloria@gloriajzucaro.com

My grandson Enzo wanted me to paint Pikachu for him and send it in the mail, even though he lives 20 minutes away.  He is 7 years old so I complied!  I made up a story about it.  I painted the figure in acrylics and used a pigma pen to make the "Magic Web".  There is no such thing from that company, but I told him if you wore it you would be invisible, if you threw it on the ground it made an escape tunnel, if you threw it out in front of you it acted like a flying carpet and you could escape that way, too!  He said "Really?!"  I said "No, that is just from my imagination!"  "Oh."

 

The Traveling Chick and her friends came for a short visit this weekend. Ms. Chick had lots of photos from previous travels. Two of the most interesting were Moscow and Alaska. Alaska was a bit harrowing because she ran across a wolf and could really relate to Little Red Riding Hood. Moscow was beautiful and very cultural. Many buildings are painted with pastel colors so as to alleviate the dreariness of the long cold winters. We could use some of that here in NE Illinois.

You can see previous paintings of Ms. Chick on her FaceBook page and on her very own blog.

The Chick Gang

The Moscow Trip

Beware of wolves in...well, in wolves clothing!

Ms. Chick and friends will be traveling on to Pennsylvania tomorrow. We had a relaxing visit and I took several pictures for painting this coming week.  If you are interested in signing up for a chance visit with Ms. Chick go to the blog site linked above.

Have a good week,

Gloria

Gloria J Zucaro's "Some Catching Up"

I have been tending to other life matters aside from my art, so haven't posted in a couple of weeks or visited other's blogs either.  I had a little time today so thought I would show you some tangles and swap gifts received from other artists and some collage done a couple of weeks ago.

I did this drawing in February on a greeting card.

This was done about two weeks ago 

This Card was drawn yesterday.  

All of these cards were drawn from prompts suggested by Laura Harms at http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/  The one above uses two different but similar patterns called Flux Maria and Flux Rick.  Maria and Rick are the originators of the Zentangle  craze.

I was intrigued by this shadow all away across my yard and driveway in front of the house this morning.  It first came to my attention when two Robins were hopping along and then for some reason began to fight!  I guess they are territorial!  Notice how different the shadow shape is from the actual tree shape.  It (the shadow)makes the tree base much thinner and the limbs closest to me much larger.

This is a wonderful March Swap I received from Lisa Crail all the way from Australia.  She not only sent me these two paintings done with some collaged papers in back of the portrait but the painted and charcoal drawing of a bird, and a decorated envelope and small ink drawing of a figure.  See Lisa's Facebook page at, Lisa Crail-Painting From the Heart. These swaps were through Community Thrive.

Many of you may have seen my collage work on Facebook.  I really enjoyed a workshop led by Karen Sako a couple of weekends ago.  

We got 4 pieces accomplished.

They are below with a little explanation of the process.

Three birds from the same reference, different size and shape of paper. Then a house/landscape collage from a reference. All from Karen Sako's most fun Mixed Media Workshop. 

Number three Bird-just let loose! Different shape and feather arrangement!

Bird #2- stencils,ink,clear gesso, collaged paper, paint and pastel. — at Mainstreet Art Center, Lake Zurich, IL.

Number one Bird. More Traditional, drawing,stencil,paper prepared from magazine page, clear gesso, paint, pastel.

Hopperesque! Paper handmade sky, paper house, paper shadow on house, paper foreground. Painted smaller shadows and sheets on the line. Marker outlines, and dog.

Well, that's it, Folks!

I am posting today, early for Paint Party Friday, and somewhat late for I Am The Diva!

Have a Good Week,

Gloria

Gloria J Zucaro's "Four Mediums"

Today I am posting a pastel, titled"Texas Meadow".  It is from a photo shared with me by my friend Jeanne Dale.  It may need some minor touches.  But I think it is  pretty much saying what I wanted to say.  I love the viewpoint. and the barbed wire.

12" x 9" Pastel on LaCarte Sanded Paper

Next is a watercolor.  The watercolor was one of my efforts in the Frank Francese workshop at Mainstreet Art Center.

"Homestead"   16" x 20" on 300 LB Wallis

   

The oil, "Siberia in May",  is from a photograph I took out of the window of the Trans-Siberian Railway on a trip from Moscow to Vladivostok in 2004 with my mother. 

 "Siberia in May"  14" x 11" Oil on Canvas

  

Such a beautiful and interesting country Russia!  The Western areas are European, then as we traveled across Siberia we entered the more Asian areas.  We ended in the very cultural city of Vladivostok.

Lastly is an acrylic still life I am doing in Sharron Boxenbaum's class.  It is not finished, as I would like to emphasize more light on the left, change the handle that fights with the edge, make the background more interesting and change the edgework on the top of the bowl.

"Fluted"  Acrylic on Canvas

16" x 12".

I am linking to "Paint Party Friday", Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Gloria J Zucaro's "The Latest Endeavors"

Today's' post includes more of my tree series as well as two collage paintings done with Karen Sako in her mini-workshop.  On two consecutive Saturdays our group had a lot of fun making our own papers and then using Karen's references to each come up with a completely different design with a variety of mediums to seal and glaze, and using acrylic paints, inks, and pastels with various tools to add texture.

Number 23

Number 24

Number 25

First Collage with Karen Sako

Second Collage with Karen Sako

Already framed as you can see! :>)

I am linking with Paint Party Friday , The Artist Playroom, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.