Gloria J Zucaro's "Self-Portrait inspired By Jean Michel Basquiat"

Today I am posting the first of what will be five paintings or mixed media projects led by five more of the 25 artists in Creative Jumpstart 2016.  Our artist to be inspired by is Jean Michel Basquiat.  When I first took a look at his work I actually felt myself pull back.  I felt it was full of anger.  But then as I looked more closely I understood better the individual pieces of his work that I might be able to work with. Our first instructor for this artist is Birgit Koopsen. Here is my final page.  There is an example of his work below as well as the steps to my piece.

Below is one of his works.

So as our instructor for this first day of Basquiat did, so did I!  First find a portrait of yourself, then trace it onto your surface.  From there I added a stencil, Dylusions paint, Sharpie marker and scripto pen work to imitate a Basquiat.  Some steps are below, with the final page.

Stencil from Stencil Girl by Jessica Sporn, "Borders".

I hope you are enjoying viewing these projects as much as I am enjoying making them.  It is so important to step out of your comfort zone.  See you soon!  Leave a comment if you are so inclined.

Gloria

Gloria J Zucaro's "The Tree,The House & Me"

Another busy and productive week to share with my friends at Paint Party Friday.  Today I finished my entry for the Trees Exhibit sponsored by the Artists Association of Elk Grove and the Elk Grove Village Library.  The exhibit runs from March 9, 2013 until April 27, 2013.  There will be an opening reception to meet the artists and enjoy an evening of art and fine food.  I will let you know the reception date as soon as it is announced.  My original oil painting is on a 30"H by 15"W stretched canvas.  I have titled it "The Tree, The House  & Me".

Next I am happy to show off the newly released book by Lynn Cohen.  Lynn spent a year at her favorite lunch spot drawing the people she saw there enjoying lunch with their friends, and relaxing at Tacos Jalisco run by the Ubillus family .  The Ubillus' have become quite the celebrities!  Congratulations, Lynn, on your first publication.  I am really enjoying looking at all your art work and reading the captions.

The Front Cover

In the Middle

Next is my first day of 10 minutes( per day) work on my journal for "30 Days in your journal".  I am enjoying seeing all the possibilities that Julie Fei-Fan Balzer has to offer.  I just started last night, so will do my next 10 minute project later tonight.  I started by using a journal page covered with paint from my Gelli Plate and stencils made by Jessica Sporn.  I added the date and time, and picked my title for this page, and did a little journaling off in one corner.

The next two pictures are of two Artists Trading Cards I made while at our January meeting last Saturday.  The Theme was fabric.  I had made a dozen fabric cards beforehand, but we always do some while at the meeting.  I didn't get a very good picture of the first one, which was fabric and lettering applied with fusible web.  Then I highlighted with Gel pens and sewed on a sequin and bead.

I had time left over so made this ATC tangled for a general trade.  My new friend, Cathy, an experienced ATC card maker traded with me for one of her lovely cards.

I also joined a group of artists who will be creating for Jessica Brogans "Inspirational Card Deck Swap: February 2013" which you can read about and possible join by going here.

Have a creative week, and be sure to stop by Paint Party Friday to see what everyone has been doing this week.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Gelli's & Card #4"

The last Gelli project with Carolyn Dube's Gelli Plate Party is using stamps to make patterns or provide resists.  What fun this was to do!  I actually did some stamping, some stenciling  and some really wet splashy looks.  Below the Gelli Plate prints is another Thank You card.

Below is Jessica Sporns Starry Night stencil from Stencil Girl

A little sketch for my latest "Thank You" card to my friends in Texas who sent me a beautiful fresh wreath covered with pine-cones and berries and a big satin bow.  I still have it hanging on my front gate at the entrance to my courtyard of my townhouse.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Wistful Snowman"

Hello Paint Party Friday friends.  Well the big day is almost here and I will be taking some time off for my Christmas preparations and celebrations.  I have a cute palette knife snowman today.  He is in oil on a 10"H x 8"W stretched canvas.  He is wistful because he thought we were going to get a really nice snow of 6" for the Christmas week.  But alas we only got about 1/2" and all the rain froze instead!   I know I should be happy, but when you live in Chicago, snow is welcomed for the holidays(by most) and ice is much more treacherous.  I really got a lot of art done this week and posted on the 17th all about working on some Artist Trading Cards, my journal page for Fall Fearless & Fly, and my new stencils from Stencil Girl some designed by Jessica Sporn  and making my tangled designs into coasters for gifts for friends.  Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and wonderful holidays for everyone.

 

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 Fly, Carolyn Dube

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!"

Gloria J Zucaro's "First Day Of Gelli"

Today is the first day of Carolyn Dube's Gelli Plate celebration.  I really had fun today.  In fact I didn't realize how much time was passing and finally went to a room with a clock to find it was 12:45 AM!  I think I started painting around 7:30.  Anyway, I did 10 papers, but some I painted/stenciled(with Jessica Sporn's stencils) on both sides.  With one of my journal pages I used the gelli layers to make my Fall Fearless & Fly page #7.  The hostess for that link is Marcia Beckett.  The prompts for the 7th Fall Fearless & Fly page are  

"Headline Prompt:  Future Imperfect: What is different about your life now than what you once expected it to be?  How is the way it turned out perfect or imperfect.  If your future turns out differently than you imagined in the first prompt, could it still be perfect?

Color Prompt: Yellow
Quote Prompt: "Existence really is an imperfect tense that never becomes a present."  Friedrich Nietsche"

I thought I would always be married and when I was a young mother I envisioned myself as a grandmother sitting on my front porch in a rocking chair passing out homemade cookies to all the children as they were on their way home from school!  LOL!  Sorry, no rocking chair, no homemade cookies most days, and no front porch!  I think you have to go with the flow of life and accept and embrace the surprises that become your opportunities.  PS.-when I was very young I thought it would be so much fun to travel like a hobo in a boxcar across the country!  ME, the person who has never even desired to go camping in a tent!

Gelli result using Jessica's Star Stencil

Using a stencil with several border designs

A combination of Jessica's stencils and some of my leftover Cricut papers.