Gloria J Zucaro's "CJS 2017 Project with Rachel Greig"

Today we had Rachel Greig as our CJS 2017 project leader. Rachel made a two part journal spread combining ink stamping, stenciling, collage, stitching and embellishments. My journal pages are below.  This week is also about quotes inspiring us.

My quote is "Be a rainbow in someone else's cloud."
I would love it if you could leave a comment.  Thank you~Gloria

Gloria J Zucaro's "Some Finished , Some WIP"

My friend"Giggles" told me that the PPF link was not working, so I reinstalled it.  I hope now that you can find me!  Thanks so much for looking.

Except for putting my Permission To Play journal pages together with ribbon, I believe I am finished with the free workshop offered by Carolyn Dube. It was such fun and inspiring to see all the pages in other artists' books, too.  My pages are a little "sticky" so I am considering tips from other artists about sealing them for non-tacky finishes. Hairsprayclear gesso and wax???!

This week I also did some work on a portrait that I had previously drawn and based in with burnt sienna oil paint. It is from my class with Linda Vice at Mainstreet Art Centre in Lake Zurich, IL. 

Then I added some stained glass-like elements to my abstract "snow" painting.

I hope all of you who celebrated Thanksgiving had a lovely day and delicious food!

I am linking this belatedly to Paint Party Friday and my Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest pages.

https://society6.com/society?show=1

Gloria J Zucaro's "Many Thanks"

A strange thing happened.  I went on my trip and really enjoyed the respite from all the online challenges I had been doing for over a year.  When I returned in early April, I found that when I started looking at the challenges again each week, I felt a strong resistance to doing them.  True, I have had family and other life issues lately,but definitely my first real artist block.  So I am starting back slowly with odds and ends of projects.  Here is a small 6 x 6 cotton canvas panel I learned how to texturize last weekend.  First we added a very thick almost paste-like matte medium and then while it was wet we layered papers, eyelet lace, bottle caps, corrugated cardboard, torn paper pieces, buttons, pieces of different artificial flowers and string.  They were all coated with the medium as well.  We used a heat gun to dry the surface.  Then we completely covered the entire surface of each piece with white gesso.  Dried it, then sprayed the surface with two colors of spray inks.  After that was dry, we dry-brushed on black acrylic and highlighted the edges of things with the gesso.  We did that two-step process a couple of times until we were satisfied with the depth it created.  Then we glued on the rhinestones.  It was fun and easy and could be applied to larger art pieces.  The class was held at Stamp, Scrap 'N More in Mundelein,Il.

Then I was really pleased to get a wonderful journal as a gift from Judy Shea who is a wonderful multimedia artist at http://thekeytomyart.wordpress.com.  My name was a random pick from her comment list.  Here is the gorgeous journal.  I love the gilded edges and all the beads and colors.  Oh, and Judy also makes her own button shapes and other pieces to add to your journal pages and covers.  She sent those along as an extra special surprise.

Thank you so much, Judy!  I am a happy camper!

Next, a big "Thank You" to my daughter for the time she spent before Easter to buy these kits from Ebay and for putting them all together for my Easter hostess/Moms gift.  They are so beautiful!  When my children were young, we would go to a craft store in East Dundee, Illinois called Lee Ward's to buy these kits to make holiday ornaments together.  So these hold great memories, too.  I still have them on my mantel.  Thank you, Lucy! :>)

I am posting this to Paint Party Friday, as I have missed a whole month or more!

Gloria J Zucaro's "Journal Page 4"

Today I am posting my fourth journal page entry for Fall Fearless and Fly.  Here are the prompts for this challenge...

Headline Prompt:  Security:  What makes you feel safe and secure?  What rattles your sense of security?  Where do you go for comfort and refuge?

Color Prompt:  Cool colors (blues, greens, violets, etc.) 

Quote Prompt: You can't make a place for yourself in the sun if you keep taking refuge under the family tree.  Helen Keller

My page uses prompts one and two.  My security is rattled by fear of not having enough money.  I was married for many years, then divorced about 15 years ago.  As a  young girl of the 40's & 50's, I did not work when I got married, but was fortunate enough to be able to stay home and take care of my three children.  When I divorced I received a trust which was totally invested in the stock market.  Needless to say that comes with a great amount of insecurity and through the various recessions, has not grown at all, the principal being eaten into! What does money mean to me?  It means choices.  That has always been my life motto, freedom of choice.  

I try to remember that God has always taken care of me.  I feel closest to God when I am out in nature, represented by the leaf below.

Gloria J Zucaro's "Gelli Backs"

Tonight a quick post showing the backs of the pages that I made last night.  I often sprayed water on the Gelli plate to get more paint loose.  So some of the papers got soaked and tore.  But that is not a problem because they can be used as parts added to embellish a different journal page.