Mixed Media Artist

I enjoy working with black and white printouts of various photos that I've taken, using parts of them as graphic elements for other projects.  Recently I decided to work through several different methods of creating digital line art versions of a photo in order to be able to look at the results side by side.  There is no one method of creating a digital black and white drawing that will be perfect for every situation.  In fact, I found that as I moved forward with several future quilt projects, I had to try applying each of the methods in turn until I found which one would work best in each case, highlighting the particular details that were important to me.  In a couple of weeks, I'll be showing you one of those art quilt projects. Here is the original shot that I used for the experiments below. 1. Smart blur method Duplicate Filter > Smart blur, edge only Invert if needed Flatten and create a 0 layer Delete all white pixels Add a stroke if ne...

  Beading Arts Here's a great way to stretch out your more expensive beads to get greater impact! Eileen - The Artful Crafter Eileen has been at sea with creativity while making mementos of the trip of a lifetime.   Feel Patriotic Cherie is obsessed with the stars and stripes this week.   Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

  The Card Album How to make a MOM tattoo style Mother's Day Card. About Family Crafts Play along with the current Make-It-Over craft challenge! Submit your shrink plastic crafts or links!   Carmi's Art/Life World A styrofome head must be made into an auction worthy art peice....Carmi's results are now online.   Crafty Princess Diaries Tammy is catching up on listening to podcasts and explains why she decided not to start one herself, even though she'd like to see more craft related ones available.   Eileen - The Artful Crafter The Artful Crafter shares free clip art sources to publicize neighborhood fun.   Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery How to make a recycled leather and plastic Steampunk gear cuff.   Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

These shots are from the The Museo Vetrario (Glass Museum).  This smallish museum is definitely worth the trip for glass and/or bead lovers! I can't completely remember now why I didn't take any pictures inside the museum, but I'm pretty sure it was because they didn't allow it.  Too bad, because it was wonderful.  After feasting my eyes on gorgeous glass and ancient beads all day, I felt ready to start making Murano glass bead purchases, fairly certain that I would now know how to spot quality and avoid buying cheap tourist imports by mistake.  Here are some of the beads that I got: Some things to look for: thick, high quality foil, glorious saturated colors, small holes with no bead release residue (except on beads with exposed foiling), and loose - not strung.  Copyright 2012 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronic...

Liberty Ornament Pat Krauchune lives in the next town over from mine, in a house that features a Statue of Liberty out front!  And more statues all through the inside.  You might even say that Pat has created a museum to Lady Liberty, and not surprisingly, she often shows up in Pat's work too. We met via email, and I was so glad to make her acquaintance.  You will be too, as you take a look at the wonderful pieces she makes from polymer clay and metal pieces!  Pat doesn't sell her work (yet!), but enjoys making gifts for family and friends.  Visit her blog, Art4Liberty to see more of her work and to read about her other interests. Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Murano is quieter and slower paced than Venice Yes, the tower is leaning.  No, it probably won't fall over. We started our visit with a glass factory tour, of course.  Since we chose the factory at random, we felt pretty fortunate to have found a master glass maker who liked to show off.  Maybe they all do...I don't know for sure! Here is a short video that I shot, followed by some wonderful still shots that Dani took: Copyright 2012 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact. Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Back in March I posted a review of Shelly Stokes's book Rubbing Plate Roundup , and ever since then I've found myself looking for new ways to use these tools.  Rubbing plates, or texture plates can be used in so many different ways and along with many different media.  The following tutorial is not a technique from Shelly's book, but I felt I should still acknowledge the inspiration that I received from reading it. Materials and Tools Watercolor paper Extra heavy gloss gel (I use Golden's) Rubbing plates Walnut inks Pearl Ex powders 1. Smear Extra Heavy Gloss Gel all over a piece of watercolor paper. 2. Before it has a chance to dry, use a texture or rubbing plate to pull up interesting patterns in the surface. 3. Spray the surface of the gel with various shades of walnut inks (I used eucalyptus and terra cotta).  You don't have to wait for the gel to dry first.  4. Allow to dry.  Apply Pearl Ex powders in various areas of the desig...

  Growing a Patch of Glass Mushrooms Cherie adds to her painted glass mushroom collection. Mo(o)re Whimsies An unusual paperweight made using Amazing Mold Putty and Resin . Beading Arts Beadng Arts celebrates "Wire Month" all throughout May! Grab your pliers and come join us!   Eileen - The Artful Crafter The Artful Crafter shares free clip art sources to publicize neighborhood fun.   Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

I just looked through your digital work and was wondering what type of color printer do you use? Lyn Hi Lyn, I have a relatively inexpensive Hewlett Packard DeskJet ...but I usually don't actually print things out.  If I'm working with purely digital images in a collage, I tend to layer them all digitally and have them printed out by ezprints.com or someone else like that if I actually want a hard copy.  When I'm working with both physical and digital images, I'm more likely to take them both into the digital realm by scanning the physical pieces instead of the other way round, printing out the digital ones. I do have some collages that I have made that use printouts of my images and patterns, especially ones that contain image transfers , but honestly, if you're interested in doing a lot of printing out, I would probably recommend researching a more up-to-date and archival printer than mine! Cyndi Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage...

  Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery How to decorate a sombrero for Cinco De Mayo. Aileen's Musings Aileen offers you a free printable label and shares the recipe for some tasty grapefruit curd.     Carmi's Art/Life World Carmi reviews her first class at a Toronto sewing school.   Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world This week at Craftside there are tutorials on how to chiffonade leafy greens, sew a dart-in apron tie, make a retro kitty disco ball and patch wallpaper perfectly. Crafty Princess Diaries Tammy is planning to fill her summer vacation with crafts and writing.   Eileen - The Artful Crafter Eileen has been at sea with creativity while making mementos of the trip of a lifetime.   Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

I love the story of Mark, the young man who deserted Paul and Barnabas on one of their missionary journeys in the first century. Afterward, Paul could not be convinced to give him another try, but Barnabas took him under his wing and encouraged him to try again. Mark eventually went on to write the Gospel of Mark, which is basically the story of Jesus as seen through the eyes of Peter. He and Paul were reconciled, and Paul ended up thinking very highly of him. I love stories of second chances! Although Mark died in Egypt, the Christian community in Venice brought his body back there for burial. The symbol of St Mark, the winged lion is all over Venice. We visited St Mark’s square multiple times, and went to the Basilica and the Doge’s palace there. Fabulous artwork! Bell tower St Mark's Basilica Copyright 2012 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed elect...

Create Your Style Art Quilting Design Contest Deadline: 06/01/12       Altered Couture Deadline: 06/15/12       Art Doll Quarterly Deadline: 06/15/12       Strands Deadline: 06/23/12        What's Your Signature Color reader challenge Deadline: 06/25/12       Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Interior courtyard The Doge was the traditional ruler of Venice. There were many many Doges over the years, and the Palace, right in St Mark’s Square, houses one of the best art collections in the city. As is usual in “museums” of this type, you can take pictures in many areas as long as you don’t use a flash, but the best stuff is either in very dim rooms or is off limits for photography at all. Hercules, beating on the hydra Amazing gold-leafed ceilings I bought a postcard of my very favorite piece. After gazing at painting after painting where everyone looked serene to the point of being brain-dead, I turned the corner and came upon my favorite by Giovanni Bellini. Many claim that he was one of the first to put real emotion in his religious subjects’ faces. Seeing this one in person made me cry.  I can just feel the pain of Christ’s mother and of the apostle John. The Death of Christ, 1472 We left the doors closed, even though we were curi...

Last week, I showed you most of the steps for how I constructed the top of this little black felt quilt .  Today, we'll finish it up.  Just so you know...step 15 is tedious and you should probably get a couple of audiobooks to listen to while you stitch! 13. Carefully snip the top and bottom of each multi-colored shape to expose a strip of pink fabric all the way around it.  Stitch each stack down through all layers by adding a small bead to each corner. 14. Here's what the bottom will look like, or some such similar pattern! 15. Using two strands of embroidery floss, blanket stitch each stack to the felt top. 16. Again using two strands of embroidery floss, blanket stitch another equally sized piece of black felt to the back of the piece.     Copyright 2012 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provi...

  Eileen - The Artful Crafter How to create cute clay pot garden bells for your yard. Still Life and Strong Women Cherie shares some new paintings.   Beading Arts "Spring Fever" month on Beading Arts is still in full swing as some readers share stories of pieces inspired by their own travels! Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

  Eileen - The Artful Crafter How to create a cheery no-sew spring scene wall hanging. Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery How to make a pair of lace-up the back socks from a standard pair.   About Family Crafts The current make-it-over craft challenge is all about making footprint crafts! You can submit your ideas to be published or submit a link to a footprint craft!   Carmi's Art/Life World A week in Paris results in some pretty fun photography on Carmi's blog.   Crafty Princess Diaries When your princess's or prince's throat needs just a little something to keep it warm, this fast scarf project might be just what you need.   Technorati Tags: mixed media , collage , assemblage , digital art , photography , altered books , art journals

Venice has a series of squares or piazzes that are connected by long narrow alley-ways. These alleys can either be stone or water, and when you are a stranger to the region, you’re never quite sure which will greet you as you round each corner. Or whether there will even be a corner to go ’round! Several times we made our way down a long alley, only to find that it dead-ended. I’m sure you think we were idiots to have this happen more than once, but you honestly cannot tell if the “street” turns or not until you get to the end. Almost every buildable square inch of the city has been built, and that leaves the “streets” as a complete jumble. The guide book suggested just starting to wander and not worrying about where you were going…you really can’t get too lost. And it’s true! You’ll eventually stumble upon another piazza, and then you can find where you are on a map. Yes, this building really is as crooked as it looks. That’s what happens when everything is build on to...