Saturday, August 22, 2009

An easy technique

I recently completed some new designs for fall. The colors were chosen by Jean at Grasshopper 510 in Chicago.


For this design, "Rose," I used a different technique than I normally do, and I thought I would share it here. It's super easy.



I wanted to give the background some texture and depth, instead of just looking flat. Also, I was getting tired of mixing colors and thought I would try layering them for a change.

Above you see the kind of texture that I ended up with. So here's how I did it:
First I painted the record with two coats of medium magenta (Golden brand), which is a good opaque color but not the pink I needed, and let it dry.

I took some permanent magenta (Winsor & Newton brand), which is pretty transparent, and mixed it with some water until it was fairly thin but not watery.

Then I quickly brushed this over the top of my painted magenta record. A bigger brush could have gotten the job done even faster, I suppose.

Working quickly while the paint was still wet (and watch out because it dries really quickly!), I dabbed at it with a crumpled-up paper towel which was very lightly moistened. (Sorry, my photos didn't come out so great.)

Dab all over the record with quick stabbing motions until you've achieved the kind of texture you want. But work quickly because the paint could start peeling off as it dries, and/or your paper towel could start sticking to the paint and leaving little bits of fuzz on the surface - yuck!

And that's that. Pretty basic, I know. But it gives the background some depth and makes it look a little more interesting, I think.
Anyway, once that has dried I proceeded to paint my mandala design and then transform the record into a bowl, as you see here:





You can find more of my bowls here.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Dartgun at the Twilight - Saturday, August 15

Punch and pie!

Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 9:00pm
Twilight Cafe & Bar, 1420 SE Powell Blvd., PDX

Dartgun
- with Christine on bass (that's me! I'm excited to wield an axe again!), Melodie on drums and Suzie Q as a lone Vignette - our strangest lineup ever! Chad is camping, Emie quit (wah!), and we still don't have a freaking drummer!

COOTIE PLATOON will save the day.

With help from much-loved psychos the Hickmans!

The flyer says Advisory is playing but we're not really sure about that...

The Twilight is a cool rockabilly old-style diner so come hang out with us, have your beers and get up and dance for God's sake! Yeah SE Portland. See you on Saturday night!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

The Bowls of Summer


I've posted photos of some of these bowls already, in my color mixing tutorials, but I wanted to show off a few more pictures. Since I just finished up some new designs for fall, I am eager to show them off but wanted to get these up first. Enjoy!






















You can find these bowls in my Etsy shop.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Tangereen's 15th birthday


Our daughter Tangereen Velveteen turned 15 on Sunday! We drove downtown. We went to Powell's. She got a Calculus textbook.


We went to Sushi Land. Chuck and Tangereen are crazy about sushi. I'm not too crazy about it, and I feel self-conscious because I have never bothered to learn how to use chopsticks. Isn't that stupid? I'm sure my friend Phoebe, who is currently in Seoul, would have something to say about that! Well, sorry. I've just gone through life using a fork. However, Sushi Land was fun anyway. I like how the dishes go around on a conveyor belt and you can select whatever you want. I guess Tangereen had a chopstick epiphany that day, but it slipped past me. I tried to grab things that looked like acceptable finger food. Chuck said not to worry. "This is Portland," he said.


Here we are on the MAX. We rode it and the Portland Streetcar to the cinemas on the very top floor of Pioneer Place. We saw the new Harry Potter movie! It was great. I loved it.


When we got home we had some delightful cupcakes topped with huge thick roses made of pure sweet frosting. Tangereen got the orange one.

I mean, these were huge cupcakes. None of us could finish ours.




(Tangereen got some on her nose.)

I got her that Rolling Stones shirt in New York!


I can't believe my baby girl is 15! Happy birthday, Tangereen!

Seattle road trip & gig

Here are some of my selected favorite photos from our trip to Seattle on July 18, where we played a show at a punk rock dive called the Bit Saloon. Check out the band, listen to our tunes and see more photos at http://myspace.com/dartgun or http://myspace.com/andthevignettes.