Butterfly Art Magnet Gift Sets - in my ArtFire Studio Soon!

This little set of two butterfly art magnets have a real steampunk/zetti feel to them. They are much more interesting than the scans can show.

I'll be listing them in my ArtFire studio soon.

http://artfire.com/users/JoannaBanana

Zentangle Art on Recycled CD

Here's another fun Zentangle-inspired project I did recently.

I took a discarded CD and tangled on it, then added a recycled jewelry piece in the center and finally put a large, flat magnet on the back.

It was a bit tricky doodling on the CD as the surface is very slick but I really like how it turned out, considering it was an experiment. I'm thinking that I will do more of these, perhaps as ornaments or a hanging mobile art piece ...???

Just think. No surface is safe now from zentangling madness!!

Mooka Madness

I am addicted to Zentangles! Okay, now I've said it, the recovery can begin. Or, do I want recovery to begin ... hmmmm. Nah, it's way too much fun to give up.

As all of you who've tried zentangling know, it is SO much fun and highly addictive. I have been experimenting with zentangling for quite a while now and never get tired of it. The possibilities are truly endless.

Zentangling came to me at a time when I was just starting to get my "art mojo" back after a difficult time in my life of about two years where I was not even interested in creating art. As one whose soul gets kinda squirmy if too many days in a row go by without creating, this was, indeed, a dark time. But I always knew my mojo would return when it was appropriate for it to do so, and zentangling was there right around the time I was gettin' back into the swing of things.

I immediately recognized the myriad possibilities Zentangles would add to my collage art. It really inspired me to re-visit my love for all collage-y things of the zetti world. I could see marrying zetti and zentangle (in fact I coined a new phrase "zettangle" to describe this union) for a cool new look.

One thing though, with all the doodling I've been doing, I had been avoiding shading my work. Weird, huh? I don't know if it's just that I like my work to be very bold (which I do) or that I had some idea I couldn't master shading. A daft idea, I know, but we all have our little pauses for a lack of self confidence now and then.

Anyway, last night I doodled this piece while watching an old movie with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift. I forced myself to do a bit of shading on it, even though I thought it looked perfectly acceptable in my usual bold, black and white style. Wonder of wonders, the world did not end with a bit of shading thrown in and the piece turned out okay after all. It might even inspire me to be so bold as to do more shading in the future or re-visit existing tangles and shade 'em. You'll probably hardly be able to see the shading, it's so subtle, but I promise, it's there.

I was also trying out two newer tangles "Zedbra" and "Mooka" and I love them both.

Enough ramblings. I hope you enjoy this little doodle.

Gift Magnet Sets in my Etsy Store

I just listed this little set of three inspirational magnets in my Etsy store today. I've had a number of requests to re-issue, if possible, some of my vintage inspirational magnets that I created some years ago now.So, I dusted off the cobwebs on the ol' hard drive and found these little treasures.

When I look at them now, all these years later, I can see why they are still so popular with my customers. I love the beautiful vintage images and I am still proud of the care I took in finding just the right quote to go with each special image.

At the time, I had no idea how hugely receptive my customers would be to these mini works of art. I can't even tell you how many buyers wrote to thank me for the impact a simple little magnet had on their loved ones in times of need. Now that is what makes doing this all worthwhile!

New Listings In My Etsy Store

I've been having lots of fun lately destashing my studio supply of art materials. I can't believe how much stuff I have accumulated and how quickly. Especially considering we downsized our home considerably last summer when we moved. Oh well, this artsy thing is a curse, you know. Once people know you recycle stuff into art, they are forever giving you things to re-use. That's great, but it doesn't help keep the art supplies level down to a dull roar!

This greeting card was made with a limited edition print of one of my original collages and then I took a bunch of stickers, doodads and embellishments (given to me by a friend who was just going to throw them out, if you can imagine), to make a whole new original card. I love doing this! It really breathes new life into already existing work and I love being able to offer my customers affordable versions of what originally would have been a more pricey piece of art.

You'll see more of these little goodies in the coming weeks and months. I'm just having too much fun re-creating to stop!

New Art Tags / Bookmarks

I've been having so much fun lately getting back into making art tags/bookmarks. Those of you who knew me in the old days of Ebay Art (and ZNE) know that I did a ton of these and I was so lucky to have a real demand for them from altered book artists/journalists who wanted to incorporate these little goodies into their own artwork.

Anyway, this bunch of five were done completely with recycled materials. I started out with some old bookmark/tag blanks that had been lying around forever and did a really rough paint treatment on them. Then I created centerpieces using all kinds of vintage images, scans of my own original collage art and other found items. It was great fun seening the juxtaposition of the rough paint treatment against the funky and crazy stickers and doodads that came from a friend who hoped I would recycle them rather than she throwing them out. Lastly, it was great to use up some of my huge stash of recycled funky fibers to top off the tag/bookmark.

These will be listed as gift items in my ArtFire.com Studio and my Etsy Store.

Aaarr Matey!

For something completely different than my usual collage subjects, I've been working on developing some skull and crossbones images to use in a wearable art project I've been wanting to do for some time.

These are scans of two of the base images I created using bristol board cutouts (from the kiddies' section at Michaels). I took my acrylic paints and basically dry-brushed the surface of the bristol board to get the rustic, weatherbeaten look I was after. I think they turned out quite well, IMHO.

The next step will be to transfer the images to muslin, which can then be affixed to whatever piece of clothing I decide upon. I'll share more photos when I get to this stage. Stay tuned, ye scurvy dogs!!!