Tuesday, September 11, 2012

fortune cookie wisdom, plastering canvas and snow patrol

it's time to start on the second annual humble hand drawn fortune cookie wisdom calendar!  kind of a mouthful, yes?  i like the sort of pretentious unpretentiousness of the name that describes the style of the calendar so well. i made one last year (the first annual) and it was so much fun i decided to make it an annual thing. 

here's a few months from last years calendar

realistically i should have started this a month ago but i'm going to work my butt off to get it done quickly.  here's my inspiration.




so, when you open your fortune cookie, do you eat it or is it all about the fortune inside?  is it bad luck not to eat it?  and no, my chinese food take out place doesn't know my order by heart.  not yet anyway.





oh the joys of pixlr.  guys, i'm sure you all know about this awesome photo editing site, but i've just found it again and am actually teaching myself how to use it!  don't laugh, it's hard for a woman who used to do graphic design with a rapidograph, a waxer, an x-acto blade and a compugraphic typesetter.  we were known as paste up artists, but me and my oldest friend called ourselves paste heads way back in the mid 80s.  it's actually very frustrating having an idea and knowing how to do it with my hands but not on a computer.  anyway, i'm so happy to have figured out how to do these collage thingies.  which color do you like for the lines - the black or lime green?  i need help!

what's in the collage thingies is something i've been wanting to try since doing the plaster work during our bathroom renovation.  i loved the texture of the walls after patching them up and thought it would be awesome on a canvas.  i started with a painted black canvas and spread a pre-mixed spackling compound all over it and then before it dried, wrote in it with an old ice pick.  it pulled up some of the plaster stuff and i did press down some of the really bumpy stuff but i think it's kind of interesting.  i'm letting it dry and we'll see how well it holds up and sticks to the canvas.


here's a little bit of the soundtrack to my day.  love to hear what yours was.









2 comments:

Unknown said...

I love snow patrol!! I also love the lovely new banner up top and your quote. The plaster thing is awesome... let us know if it turns out. The fortune cookie things is such a awesome idea too!

Looks like your pretty inspired which is wonderful... I need some of that to come my way!

Lisa said...

hey, i've been thinking about you, hoping you were doing ok. when i need inspiration snow patrol is what i listen to all the time. i was also so inspired by the work you're putting in the gallery soon. love it. thanks for stopping by and hope you're ok.