Somerset Digital Studio publication

One of my Steampunk collages (from the Steampunk Mega-collection of clipart, available at DigiScrapStation) has been published in the spring 2011 Somerset Digital Studio.  This is my second publication at SDS and I really enjoy working with its editor, Jana Holstein -- she's a doll!  I'm adding a sidebar link to the magazine.

An "Old" Movie Treasure, Just Discovered

This movie has a PG rating, but it's hard to imagine how there could be a movie any closer to a G rating than this one. It has a strong message of marriage-affirmation, and its second-strongest theme is the importance of friendship. There is one character who has previously been living an immoral lifestyle, but this is only alluded to; and this movie does what all my favorite movies do -- it shows character growth; thru the course of the film, this character comes to understand the emptiness of her past life as well as the inevitable unhappiness it brings. The ending is happy, and the scenery is gorgeous. The movie is Enchanted April; you may find it at your local library, as I did, or via Red Box, et al.


  

To Learn More about this Book, See Upper Left Sidebar

This altered pear is featured in the book Exploring the Latest Trends in Mixed Media, Vol. II, edited by Cindy Powell and Sherre Hulbert.

Altered Art

A lapel pin made with 2 altered puzzle pieces and other embellishments.

I altered puzzle pieces to embellish these necklace pendants.

Necklace pendants that I made by altering puzzle pieces.

This is a lapel pin that started life as a dangle earring from the dollar store.  Its embellishment, likewise, had an earlier life ... as a puzzle piece.

This altered pear was created using an artificial plastic pear from the dollar store.

This piece contains a clay mask I made using a dollar-store candle-holder as my mold; the frame is from the dollar store, too.

I altered this wooden box using my own original clipart, assorted embellishments and a "dressform" that came from a dollar-store purchase of doll clothes for my granddaughter.  It was sold at the 2010 juried Monmouth Festival of the Arts.

Here, I altered dollar-store pears and mounted them in a shadowbox frame.

Vintage Ephemera for Sale

I've said for a long time that I would do this "someday" -- and the day has come. I have to make room for finished pieces of my artwork, and that means letting go of my collected pieces of vintage ephemera. These are original cabinet cards, snapshots, greeting cards, ad cards, documents, etc. None of the ephemera is a reproduction except for the pre-1923 magazine pages, most of which feature ads, images and text.

For $20, you'll get 60 pieces of vintage ephemera.  This price includes postage within the USA.  Add $10 for international.

You can make the purchase via Pay Pal, using the "Buy Now" button below.
Thanks,
Cecilia

samples of ephemera for sale

To purchase, see above.


Click on image to enlarge.

samples of ephemera for sale

To purchase, see above.

Click on image to enlarge.

Hands on Digital: Where Digital Meets Mixed Media!

Steampunk, my newly released digital hybrid kit, is available at Digi Scrap Station via this link:  http://tinyurl.com/yersqt4.  While on that web page, you'll see other digital hybrid kits by other members of the digital hybrids' designers group.  All of these digital downloads are designed to be used in creating hands-on mixed media artwork.  The projects range from altered cigar boxes to spice jar labels, with new kits-for-projects being added daily.

FOR SALE: Vintage Picture Postcards

Sample of the Vintage Picture Postcards (Please click each image to enlarge it.)

These vintage postcards are in good to excellent condition. Some have cancelled vintage postal stamps and messages written on the address side. I'm offering them at 10 for $10.00, which includes postage for USA.  (For International, add $10.)  Please click the "Buy Now" Pay Pal button below.
Thanks,
Cecilia

FOR SALE: tintypes

Tintype samples. (Please click on image to enlarge.)

I'm offering assorted tintypes, all in good condition, at 3 for $10.00, which includes postage for USA; for international, add $10. These tintypes vary in size from 1" X 1.5" to 2.5" X 3.5" -- most are of this larger size. Please click on the Buy Now Pay Pal button below.
Thanks,
Cecilia

FOR SALE: The Family Circle magazine Aug. 14, 1936

Back Cover

(Click on each image to enlarge.)

This 24-page magazine contains articles and ads rich with vintage charm. It's in good condition, with the expected yellowing and slight crumbling along the edges of some pages. I'm offering it for $10.00, which includes postage for USA; for international, add $10. Please click on the Pay Pal "Buy Now" button below. Thanks,
Cecilia

Monthly Digital Collage ATC Challenges...

...at Kjoistudios starting April 1.  Get all the info here:  http://handsondigital.blogspsot.com/

My First Publication in Somerset Digital Studio Magazine

A month's passed since my last post, because we've been having windows and doors replaced in the house, garage and back porch. (We still have a back porch, instead of a deck. Here in this suburban development, my husband and I live in a small "island" -- with our neighbors on the right and on the left, we comprise a three-houses-in-a-row unit wherein live couples over 60. All around us are under-60's -- who have decks. We over-60's have screened-in back porches. It's a generations thing!)
Yesterday I received my free copy of Somerset Digital Studio (Autumn 2009 issue.) Page 108 shows my digital art entitled Heart in Hand.
I'm reading Passing Strange, a fascinating true story and a real eye-opener. Has anyone else read it?

Eyebrow Raising

(This was originally posted several months ago and is being re-posted as part of the Buried Treasure Collaboration, to be shared July 23, 2009. The photo on the left is my original photo of God's cloud-art at Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook National Park, New Jersey. On the right is my digital collage Heart in Hand II. Click to enlarge.)


When we keep our eyes open, we find that God sprinkles our paths with unexpected art materials...anywhere!

Several years ago, when I worked at TJH (The Job from Hell), I took a short daily walk as a mental health break. This walk took me past an alley behind a few shops, where shop owners used to leave discarded packing materials for the trash collectors. One day I saw a piece of packaging material, a honeycomb of brown heavyweight paper, mangled and weathered -- and I snatched it up before the "real" trash collectors could get there! Finally I'm using it in a piece of art and so far I'm happy with the way it's progressing.

This may be an embarrassing story for her, so I won't name my girlfriend; but one day she and I stopped at a curbside pile of discards outside the home of someone who had just recently cleaned house, probably in preparation for a move. Yes -- we actually went thru the mountain of trash. I got some lovely lace that had once been living room drapery, a million old CDs and a pile of composition books that anonymous schoolchildren had used for written exercises. I'm sure the neighbors were peeking out their windows, scratching their heads...especially since we were toting our newly found "treasures" to the trunk of my girlfriend's car, a shiny classy Lexus!

Photo opportunities await us, too, when we have eyes trained to notice them. We artists see things others don't. A few days ago I went to a playground in a local park and took close-up, angled photos of the playground equipment along with shadows it cast. The results are abstracts that will be used in several ways in my digital art. Nearby, toddlers played on the younger kids' equipment, while their parents sat on benches and looked at me from under squiggled eyebrows. I went about my business with a contented smile, happily paying them no mind.

This approach to others' eyebrow maneuvers is, for me, an acquired skill. I've grown a thicker skin since the day, a few years ago, when I went on a chartered bus trip to the Bronx Botantical Gardens with the ladies' group from church. I'll never forget my excitement, on that trip, when on a guided greenhouse tour, I noticed an exotic tree with a wild tangle of dreadlock-like roots, sprawling at the base of the tree. I knelt down and took a stream of close-ups, fascinated by the patterns and texture spread out before me. Done taking pictures, I got back up to my feet, turned -- and came face-to-face with a circle of women taking me in, all of them with a mile's distance between their lower lips and their eyebrows.

Like other artists, I see treasure in trash piles and, in a tangle of roots, a background for digital art or a custom-made Photoshop grunge brush. At a playground, I see a dancefloor for a fairy still waiting to be born on my Photoshop work-page.

A warm hug to my fellow artists,
Cecilia

new artwork posted on website

I'm an Associate Member of a local artists' guild, and have finally gotten around to posting ten of my artworks on their website. Here is the address:

http://www.guildofcreativeart.org/Artists%20Main%20Page/Artists%20Galleries/SwattonCelilia/index.html

While at the guild's website, you may also enjoy checking out this Exhibiting Artist: Jean Hutter. She is the artist I want to be "when I grow up!" I'm in awe of her work, and I wish more of it were shown on this website.

Cecilia

underwater scene greeting cards

Here are 4 greeting cards I made to sell through a local giftshop. Making cards of this kind was a relaxing break -- they're quick, easy and fun. You can click on any image to enlarge it.

Cecilia

monoprinting underwater backgrounds

This photo sequence shows how I made the monoprints that I used in creating the underwater-scene greeting cards. I also used a monoprint of this kind in creating a large piece of art for Crafters Cafe, which can be seen at http://crafterscafe.com/store/index.php?main_page=page&id=29&chapter=50

My first step was to smear paint blobs onto a matrix, which in this case was a sheet of glass. Second, I placed my substrate (the glossy cardstock to be printed) face-down onto the matrix and gave it a slight twist. Then I pulled it up; the third photo shows the matrix and substrate side-by-side. The last photo shows a close-up of one of my prints.

This technique is lots of fun; every pull yields a surprise. And it's a perfect activity to share with young children out of school for the summer!

Cecilia

Art Show Opening -- the Afterglow

Yesterday my good friend Mary Ann and I had our opening for a joint art show we titled Texture Mania -- because we both celebrate texture in our art-making.

Mary Ann's display covers two walls, and my art takes the other two. It was a huge job preparing all the artwork, as well as a lot of portfolio pieces; but we felt it well worthwhile yesterday, when the large display room (at a local cultural center) filled with family, friends and strangers-to-become friends who came in response to the PR I had spread around for weeks in advance.

The refreshments were fantastic -- I think I've attended weddings that offered less food and drink! The refreshments were supplied by Mary Ann and the wife of the Pennsylvania photographer who shared our opening since his photos were newly hung in the cultural center's smaller display room.

That's our division of labor -- refreshments are always handled by Mary Ann (former Earth Mother and current competition for Martha Stewart as Queen of All Things Homey); and PR is always handled by moi; since, before Artist Cecilia was born, Writer Cecilia spent years writing for one of the two major Detroit-area newspapers, when I was still a Michigander. Before and after those years, my short stories, articles and poetry were published in a wide range of magazines and other periodicals. With that background -- and considering the fact that I step into my own kitchen as seldom as legally possible -- naturally the job of PR is mine.

The photos I took of our show aren't the best, but I've posted them at the top of this entry, to add some imagery to my words. You can click on each photo to enlarge the image.

The first three photos of artwork are my art, and the following five are Mary Ann's. Her African-themed art-quilts were made to honor the beaders of Bead for Life, a non-profit organization that helps impoverished Ugandan women and children. Mary Ann incorporated some of the Bead for Life beads on her quilts; I incorporated them in some of my mixed-media pieces.

Cecilia