My sister hosted an art party at her house last weekend and very sweetly asked if I wanted to invite Jen and Anna to join us. I think Jen was happy for once to not be on the hosting side as she has been creatively planning pARTy's for years.
I had a lot of trouble describing this project to the gals, and am still at a loss of words, so I think I'll just blog it with the visuals.
Here is the canvas my sister made last year that was the inspiration behind the theme to this party. I've loved this piece since she first made it. And I love how my eye always catches something new to look at.
The project involves using photos, ephemera, wrapping paper, magazines, etc. and using a square paper punch, we each cut out enough squares to randomly (or not) cover an entire canvas. Using the paper punch as a viewfinder and moving it around the paper we were able to crop the pictures in ways that were pleasing to us. Once we had enough squares we glued them down on the canvas then covered the entire piece with one or two applications of a gel medium to give it a polished look.
Here's the busy work table
I love how we all came to this project in such a different way. Deb chose to go with a well thought out placement of her squares. I love how the border frames the rest of the canvas.
Anna came to the project with several beautiful watercolor postcard prints of photos she took of her garden in all four seasons.
I love all the softness of the colors.
Kelly not only brought some interestng papers with her, but I love that she used darling photo booth pictures of her daughters in her mosaic.
Jen went with a color theme, mixing solids and german text.
I love the muted tones of this one.
And mine...
I had so much fun with this. I was trying to use just one magazine for all of my images, but in the end I was still short about twenty squares. What I love about working these kinds of projects with friends is they know just when and where to step in. My sister found some piano sheet music of our mother's when she was a little girl, which I happily added. Then Jen said...wait, I've got the perfect paper and handed me some Marimekko print she got from Kajsa. Can you spot the Marimekko?
My sister also made boxes, which I think are quite cute.
It was a perfect night...I really enjoyed the company of all these talented women and the most satisfying part is going home with a piece of artwork ready to hang on the wall. Thanks gals! I had so much fun with you all.