TOO MUCH FUN!

I went to the office supply store today and found the Tyvek Envelopes.  The only ones they had were slightly larger than what was recommended in the video, but it works just fine.  You have to make some slight adjustments in the numbers he mentions, but that was easy even for me and I am very math challenged.  So, this is the front of the envelope which is 10 x 13 inches.  I made the first wallet without painting it just to see how it works.  Then I made a second wallet and painted the area he shows in the video.  That one was alright but I wanted to try stamping and painting with an ink drawing (be sure the ink is permanent so it won't run and bleed when you paint over it), so I made a third one.  I decided to paint the entire front of the envelope instead of just half (as in the video)  Now that it is put together, I see that the bottom half should be facing the other direction because it gets folded up and looks upside down in the finished wallet.  So, if you use a pattern or image that has a definite direction, keep that in mind.

 

I will also place the image better, knowing the final outcome.  Here the heads get slightly cut off on the bottom and the middle head winds up in the fold.  Better to have just two heads, one on either side of the center line.  

Once you get the hang of it, the actual  folding, cutting and taping goes fairly quickly.  

This was so much fun to do.  The box has 50 envelopes, enough to share with friends or make little gifts.  I think I shall make some up and sell them in the Gallery.  Tyvek is a wonderful surface.  You can stamp on it, draw with ink, use colored pencil lines, paint with watercolor or acrylic, collage some tissue paper on part of it and glue down with 50/50 matt medium and water mixture.  If you make one or more, be sure and send me a photo.  I would love to see what you come up with.

My final challenge is to figure out how to safely manage the cutting part with younger children.  Maybe I will send them home with instructions and a link to the video and their parents can supervise.

EXCITING NEW IDEAS FOR TYVEK!

Those of you who are regular followers know that : 1. love to paint on Tyvek and 2. I am always looking for ways to recycle failed paintings.


I also have been invited to give a short demo and art lesson during the California Watercolor National Exhibit this summer. The morning session will be young kids and the afternoon session will be adults (many who are not artists, I think)


Tonight I was looking at Nancy Standlee's blog and found new ideas for Tyek. By following the links on here blog, I found this video on how to make a wallet from a Tyvek envelope. I didn't know they sold these envelopes unprinted at the office supply store! I can't wait to try it. This will be my art project for the CWA art lesson. How fun is this going to be? Thanks, Nancy, for all the inspiration. Be sure and check out her blog at http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com/ She has shared a wonderful workshop she attended recently with wonderful slide shows.

ADDING TO THE SERIES!

Traveling really puts a crimp in my painting time!  I started this last night but didn't get any collage or paint on it.  I purchased some printed tissue while in the card store.   Now I need to make more gesso stamped papers.  I do like the combination.  

NEUTRALIZED!

This is an image from a distorted photograph.  I plan to start doing drawings from drawings instead of going back to the original image each time.  I need to start with a fairly accurate drawing.  This one is too   exaggerated for the first drawing.  I kept the colors limited to 3, all of them very neutralized.  Value and texture dominate along with line.  

MORE LIKE A PAINTED DRAWING!

I had a lot of fun making the stamp that I used for the tissue collage paper.  The ink lines are stronger on this piece.  I think I want to use more color instead of black for the drawing part.  Each painting suggests another variation.  

GETTING SOMEWHERE!

This is another drawing on photo paper, adding watercolor, collage with tissue paper, add more line, white gesso and more paint and little more collage.  This looks more like the combination of line, color, texture, realism and mystery that I am striving for.  Onward!!

NOT SO MUCH!

I like the drawing I did of this image much more than this painting.  I wasn't really into painting today.  Interesting how it shows up in the work.  Well, they all can't be winners.  I do like how two of these colors look very textural on this paper.  There's always tomorrow.