Mixed Media Artist

Last Monday, I shared a tutorial for crocheting a wave stitch scarf .  Also, there were other links to tutorials that I posted on  Beading Arts : Part one Part two Part three If you enjoy crochet as either a mainstay or sideline of your artistic diet, please visit my Crochet Pinterest board for more projects, links to stitch tutorials, and inspiration!

Ribbon of Blood + Broken Hearts Cyndi Lavin, 2018 Like everyone else, I cried the day that seventeen lovely people were murdered at the Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.  That is was Valentine's Day only made it worse.  Instead of celebrating young love, we mourned the loss. I don't tend to make a lot of political statements, and I'm not usually one to attend protests or rallies.  I have nothing against these things, they are just not my mode of being.  Instead, I vote.  I pray.  I make art.  I donate money where I think it will help.  The piece above, Ribbon of Blood + Broken Hearts , came from my sorrow following that ugly day. It's taken me two months to post it here, because I wanted to be able to share the materials and the process with you, but at the time it was just too raw. 1. I decided to use the pour and tilt method of liquid acrylic pouring.   Gesso  your masonite boards ...

Particle Shower Do-Si-Dos Cyndi Lavin, 2018 Originals and prints for sale Last month, I mounted some of my paintings and got them ready for sale.  In my stumbling-around way, I eventually landed on FineArtAmerica , and decided that would be my new gallery home.  Right now I have a selection of pieces from my physics series available, and I am planning on adding more pieces: trees, geometrics, more from physics, and other abstracts.  If there is a particular piece that you'd like to have, please just message me at beadingarts at gmail dot com, and I will be happy to upload it there for you. Prints are available in quite a few sizes, from 5.5x8 inches to around 3x4 feet!  And they start at only $20 for the three smallest sizes. 

I've been playing around with alcohol inks lately.  I love the bright, over-the-top saturated colors, but I don't love the price.  Looking around online, I found several suggestions for making your own, but some of them neglected to take into account the differences in pigment vs dye in the markers, and the difference in the effectiveness of 91% rubbing alcohol vs regular 70%. Sun Drenched Icicles Cyndi Lavin, 2018 I have gotten much much better results with dye-based markers.  Most (not all) permanent markers are dye-based.  Here's an article you can read if you want to know about the chemical difference, and which markers are which. So what do you do?  Just pull off the point of the pen and put it in a small glass jar.  I used those tiny little jars that you get jelly in at Christmas time!  Pry apart of cut off the end of the pen and slide out the plastic covered reservoir from the center.  I recommend gloves!  It doesn'...

My Dr Who Scarf Cyndi Lavin, 2018 My deepest appreciation to Cori Dodds , who designed the scarf that I first saw using the wave stitch.  She got the wave stitch  from MyPicot.com, home of gazillions of stitches that I now want to try!  Scroll down to the bottom of this post for easy instructions for my version of the wave stitch. If you are a beginner crocheter, I would suggestion that you go to MyPicot and follow the instructions there for doing the stitch.  I am abbreviating everything here, because teaching crochet is just not my strong suit.  I also changed the stitch slightly from the original, to better suit the way I work.  This one only looks complicated though, I promise you! Wave Stitch - lengthwise Wave Stitch Instructions The basic pattern is 16 stitches in each repeat, plus 3 at the end to finish.  So if you want to make my Dr Who scarf with the pattern running crosswise, you'll start with a chain of 35 (+ 1 stitch...

I love looking at art quilt books, magazines, and gazing at online examples!  It didn't take long before I decided I had to have an  Art quilts board on Pinterest to collect up all the beautiful and inspirational images I was finding.  But before too long, some tutorials started creeping in, and in the interest of being able to find them again, I started a separate board... ...which I cleverly named simply  Quilting tutorials !  Please visit them both :-)

Anti-Doesn't Matter Cyndi Lavin, 2017 Original and prints for sale There's a special way that I mount acrylic paintings when they're painted on paper and have interesting raw edges I want to show off rather than hide.  Framing is time-consuming because of the number of times you have to let things dry, so I like to frame many pieces at the same time.  I bought Dick Blick's super-value cradled wood panels .  I can get packages of 5 panels, 9x12", 3/4" thick for around $25 each pack.  The additional materials I needed are as follows: Flat surface with a drop cloth or paper Ruler and pencil Small paper cups Waxed or parchment paper  Foam roller or brush Brayer 1" paint brush Carbon black acrylic paint Krylon acrylic spray Gloss medium Gloss varnish Matte varnish (or Satin, if you prefer) 1. Paint the sides and the edges of the clean wood panel with black acrylic paint.  Allow to dry completely.  Use your ruler and pencil to ma...

I have loved handwork ever since I was a little girl, and I've found that Pinterest is a never-ending source of inspiration.  Almost as soon as I started collecting embroidery ideas, inspiration, and tutorials in my Hand embroidery board, I realized that I needed a separate board for Crazy quilt ideas.  Of course there's a lot of overlap, but it still suits me to keep two different boards.  You're welcome to visit and pin what you like to boards of your own!

Neutrino Dreams Cyndi Lavin, 2018 Original and prints for sale Here is my final piece in the most recent series!  I really had an awesome time painting these, and though I might think of another that I have to do in the future, for now I feel the series is complete.  This is my interpretation of a neutrino interaction that occurred in the Fermilab bubble chamber in 1976.  A neutrino is an elementary particle that only interacts with gravity and via the weak subatomic force. They have an infinitesimal mass and no electric charge.  As a doctoral candidate, my husband studied anti-neutrinos.  Why?  Why not?! Next week, I'm going to show you how I mount the ones that I want to actually hang.  The technique is useful for any acrylic on paper pieces that might have interesting raw edges you want to show off rather than hide. A tutorial for the  basic techniques  is at the link. Here is a complete list of all the pieces in this series...

I have so many tutorials and have found so many others online that focus on fabrics...printing, painting, manipulating, dyeing, bleaching, etc etc etc, that I put together a board called  Fabrics transformed  where all of them can live together.  I love being able to scroll through and see the picture of exactly what I'm looking for. In addition, I made another board of pure inspiration...  Fabric + fiber art

Just Passing Through Cyndi Lavin, 2018 Original and prints for sale This piece is my interpretation of an interesting event that was captured all the way back in 1964, where particles were detected in a bubble chamber as they were passing right through lead shielding.  That's kind of a mind-boggling thought. A tutorial for the basic techniques is at the link. Copyright 2018 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. The tutorial only may be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

Abstract paintings come in all varieties, from completely non-referential works to those that are abstracted from reality to those that are inspired by an emotional state or concept.  I love them all, and I don't tend to be too terribly snobbish about the labels.  I love looking at other people's work and I really really love reading their tutorials or viewing their tutorial videos on youtube. Awhile back, I began to assemble abstract paintings and tutorials on a pinterest board so that I could find them when I wanted them.  As it grows, I may begin to add sections, but for right now, it's one big glorious mess!

  Particle Shower Do-Si-Dos Cyndi Lavin, 2018 Original and prints for sale This image shows my interpretation of an electromagnetic particle shower. There are multiple electron-positron pairs created from the energy of a high-energy gamma ray photon that was produced by a neutrino collision.  So gather your partners and let's dance :-) A tutorial for the basic techniques is at the link.   Copyright 2018 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. The tutorial only may be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

I have a perfectly nice art studio.  I am very lucky to have it.  I have also taken over most all of the rooms in our house with one project or another, so of course I dream all the time about having a bigger studio.  A brighter, light-filled studio.  A studio with room for both the messy and the clean, the wet and the dry... Dream on!  And come visit some of my dreams on my Art Studios Pinterest board.   

Strang(er) in the Night Cyndi Lavin, 2017 Original and prints for sale This is my interpretation of a kaon-proton collision in a bubble chamber full of liquid hydrogen.  Kaons are distinguished from other particles by their strange quark or antiquark.  No, I didn't make this up :-) A tutorial for the basic techniques is at the link.    Copyright 2018 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. The tutorial only may be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

I have not given up on my love of painting trees, just because I've taken a side road into science, math, and particle physics!  If anything, my love of trees and nature has been intensified by looking into all the unseen crazy things that happen on a sub-atomic level every minute of every day.  If any of you are as enamored of trees as I am, you might enjoy looking through my pinterest board on Painting trees .  It contains lots of inspirational pieces as well as links to tutorials! Spring is coming, my friends...and Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

  (Really) Tiny Bubbles Cyndi Lavin, 2017 Gallery This image is based (really loosely) upon a photo of a particle stream passing through a bubble chamber of liquid hydrogen at CERN.   The chamber is filled with liquid hydrogen, which helps to detect the weakly ionized particles.  Whatever that means, it makes pretty cool designs, huh?  :-) A tutorial for the basic techniques is at the link.   Copyright 2018 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. The tutorial only may be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

Are you a fan of Valentine's Day or not?  I've always kind of felt that Valentine's Day was for people who were dating, and anniversaries were for us old married types.  But then the hopeless romantic in me rises up and screams, "No, no, no!!  Valentine's Day is for us too!!!" Ahem.  Sorry about that!  Visit my Valentine's Day pinterest board if you'd like lots of great suggestions for small, quick projects, cards, gifts, and home decor!

    Circuit-ous Cyndi Lavin, 2017 Gallery Electricity, magnetism,  and circuits are part of every basic physics book.  And while I was never particularly interested in the sciencey part of it myself, there were some pretty cool diagrams in my dear husband's text book.  The design looked even cooler (to me) when I stood it on its head... A tutorial for the basic techniques is at the link.    Copyright 2018 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. The tutorial only may be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

I've found myself obsessed with alcohol inks, even though I haven't done much with them.  Yet.  But what I *have* done is to gather lots of images that inspire me and tutorials that show me the ropes, and I'd like to share them with you!  Click on the board above, or on the link to Pinterest here, and browse away to your heart's desire :-)   Also, I'd like to remind you about this amazing book by Cathy Taylor on using alcohol inks .  My book review is at the link.