Showing posts with label altered art. Show all posts

Picture a day~ 4-23-14

Today's picture~

Visit my shop for my artwork and rubber stamps. PinkFlamingo61

Picture a day~ April 22, 2014

Stop by my shop to see more of my art. www.Pinkflamingo61.etsy.com

New rubber stamp today!

One of my new stamps just came out today!!!! You can find it here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/187089912/whimsical-cyclops-rubber-stamp-by-mary

Halloween charm bracelet clay devil altered art charms

Halloween jewelry. Zombie jewelry. Charm bracelet. New and vintage parts. Measures 8 inches ingredients: several pumpkin charms, all different skulls, vintage rhinestone button (square in the middle) vintage beads in black and orange word charms:spirit, ghost hunter, solstice, trick or treat enamel #31 tag handmade clay face, child with devil costume two altered art charms, handmade skull, skeleton key witch's pot pirate spider rip tomb stone vintage rhinestones large vintage faux pearl red apple black gemstone beads Toggle closure

Meet the Artist Article - March 2013, Scrapbooking.com Mary Vogel Lozinak

Thursday, March 7, 2013 Meet the Artist: Mary Vogel Lozinak By: Judi Kauffman, Photos courtesy of Mary Vogel Lozinak

Mary Vogel Lozinak lived near Philadelphia till 6th grade, moved to Wisconsin, and returned for her last year of high school. She's lived in Pennsylvania ever since. Mary has always been an artist. She began drawing on her bedroom walls when she was three. Her mother - a portrait artist and briefly, a professional opera singer - let her continue for as long as she wanted. Mary turned to paper when she was in fifth grade, her surface of choice from then on.

Mary was offered a scholarship to study art in college, but turned it down. After marrying and having a daughter, she put painting and drawing aside for ten years, spending time on crafts but not art work. She realized that something was missing, and when she finally returned to art she never let it go again - she draws or paints every day. She drew her way through the long hours of waiting when her husband was gravely ill, and drew and painted her way through his miraculous recovery. It has always been art that has saved her during rough times. And it is a joy she now shares with her grandson, the older of two grandchildren she is helping to raise.

Mary mentioned that she always worked in black and white, even as a child. Her mother often asked why she didn't "draw something pretty." When Mary finally realized that life should be different and was treated for depression, things took a dramatic turn. "All of a sudden I began to see bright colors," she said. She learned that studies show clinical depression keeps people from perceiving bright colors; that everything looked dull to her because of the way her brain was wired. She was fascinated by the change, remarking that the sky was suddenly vibrant blue for the first time, that grass was bright green. Mary has had a store on Etsy from the time it started and sold her work on eBay before that. These days, she is involved in the arts full-time, and then some! She teaches the children's classes at an art center, as well as the Ladies' Night Out events (the women bring beverages and art supplies); she teaches whatever they want to learn - everything from jewelry making and polymer clay to portrait painting. She's known as "the fun teacher"! She gets her commissions and work as an illustrator through Facebook and her five Etsy stores. In fact, Wayne Gartley, owner of Viva LasVegastamps, found her through Facebook. After posting some drawings she'd made while waiting in a long line at the bank, he commented that they would make great rubber stamps. Other Facebook friends said that if they were stamps, they'd buy them. The rest is history. Her unique and quirky stamps are now available to all, and they're marvelous.

Mary said, "I work all the time. I do it because I have to - these things are in my head and they have to come out. At any given time I have at LEAST ten years worth of ideas; I just need more hours in the day. I'm like a child myself. I just have fun." She turned introspective for a moment and added, "I want to tell everyone: Don't be afraid to be making art. You need to do it every day. If something doesn't turn out, tear it into pieces and use it in your mixed media or throw it away. Don't be afraid of wasting a piece of paper."

Mary's mixed media work started with the things she couldn't throw away. "I hoard art supplies and pretty things." Her house is neat and clean and organized, everything sorted and separated by color. "I'm not a shopper, and I have to know where everything is," she said. "I do art every day and most of the day, which means I have to be the fastest housekeeper there ever was." Mary bought herself a sewing machine and started to make art quilts without any instruction. That's where a lot of her fabric scraps wind up! In addition to her husband, an electrical contractor, and the two grandchildren, Mary shares her days with a big golden doodle named Oatie Toolbox. She calls him a "nanny dog" because he lets her know when one of the grandchildren needs her! A rescue dog who was going to become an assistance dog, he "washed out of the program because he was a barker." Perhaps his training paid off even if he didn't get his official credentials. The younger grandson was premature and the dog helps with his physical therapy, using his nose to roll the baby over when he was smaller and helping with balance and stability now that he's starting to walk.

Mary's typical day starts at 6. She makes breakfast, the children nap while she draws. The older grandson works on art projects for at least an hour a day, his willing grandmother drawing whatever he requests. Some of those doodles end up becoming stamps! You can tell from the stamps that animals are a shared interest. But Mary's fondness for "little weird things" began long ago when she was making ceramic animals. All of them wore clothes. Those sculptures led to the drawings, which led to the stamps... Though her husband can be skeptical about the strange art work his wife produces, he's supportive and extremely proud of her, excited to see her turn her talents into a lucrative career.

You can find and contact Mary through her Etsy store: PinkFlamingo61.etsy.com or at Facebook where her open page is PinkFlamingo61. Note: If you're wondering about the "Pink Flamingo" moniker, it came from a childhood prank. Mary's mom was a master gardener with formal gardens. Mary sneaked in and put a flamingo into the garden on a day that it was going to be open for visitors. After that, people gave Mary pink flamingos as gifts and at one point she had hundreds in her yard!

To find the products featured in this article, check with your local scrapbook retailer. Browse our Premier Retail Stores for coupons to a store near you. Judi Kauffman, Photos courtesy of Mary Vogel Lozinak You can buy stamps by following this link to my shop: http://www.pinkflamingo61.etsy.com Or you can find them in my daughter's shop here: http://www.pinkflamingo61.artfire.com

Work in progress. Collage, drawing.

This is a work in progress. A few weeks ago while on vacation, I was sitting in the harbor on a ship in NYC, we were waiting to leave and I saw the most amazing image looking out of the window at the bar, I took out my camera, took a few pictures and then saw I had a camera with NO CARD!! I'd left it home-so much for packing an hour before I leave on vacation. The city was outside of the window and overlaid on it in the glass reflection were the people on the upper deck playing chess with enormous pieces. The people looked like they were on top of the buildings with other people climbing the stairs, which you couldn't see, but it placed them in and around the buildings at different heights. The people were the size of the buildings, like huge giants amongst the towering buildings of New York. It was such a great image I wanted to keep it to take home and do a painting-when I have time-haha. So….without a camera I had to do a quick sketch so I could remember it. I did a sketch-y pic so I can figure it out. I want to do this on a big sheet of paper, this is just a sketch to see how I want it to look. So much for having my camera with me all the time! I wish I were more organized like normal people. I was probably packing the camera and thought of something else and got sidetracked when I was packing. It's okay though, this will just make me use my brain a bit more in figuring it out. The second picture is more of the same idea. Can't figure out yet how I want it to go.

The Masked Man rubber stamps

The Masked Man
This is a laser etched rubber stamp made in the USA. Our rubber stamps come unmounted. This stamp is about 3" tall

Steampunk art stamp elephant and bird zentangle Original design Mary Vogel Lozinak

Zen Elephant

Steampunk art stamp elephant and bird zentangle Original design Mary Vogel Lozinak

New rubber stamps are out steampunk art stamps

Wind Me Up!

This is a laser etched rubber stamp made in the USA. Our rubber stamps come unmounted.

This stamp is about 3" tall

The White Rabbit

Vintage military star, sterling silver and fresh water pearl drops, African turquoise, vintage silver drop below measure pendant. Toy rabbit that has been enameled and heat cured.

Mary Vogel Lozinak April 21 at 12:56pm

http://www.pinkflamingo61.etsy.com

http://www.pinksupply.etsy.com

http://www.pinksewingroom.etsy.com

http://www.pinkflamingo61.artfire.com

Work with a large piece of heavy paper, I used water color paper because I had it but you should use anything that's heavy because it will warp a lot otherwise. Even a piece of poster paper from the dollar store works.

I sketched the bird with pencil then went around it and drew shapes for the color, like a circle on the head and circles for the different outlines of color.

I got a couple of old Country Living Magazines, doesn't matter what you use, junk mail works!

I tore the paper, you can cut it but I like the random edges of the paper. Practice ripping by holding the paper in your left hand and tear toward your body with your right hand, then do one with tearing away from your body You'll notice that one way gives you a white edge and the other way gives you color to the edge. Then you can decide which edge you want to show, sometimes the white edge works and others the color is better when you're filling an area of solid color.

I went through the magazines and pulled out all the pages with color on them and made some haphazard stacks on the table around me.

I used rubber cement to do this BUT the smell gives me a headache and it's messy, plus the finished product may be tacky-it took over a month for this to loose the tacky before I could frame it. The best is Elmer's glue poured in a bucket and use a disposable foam brush. Brush some on the paper, attach your pieces, then with the brush put a thin layer of glue over each paper, making sure it's all covered. You can use the brush to push out any wrinkles too. If you get wrinkles while it's drying just run your finger over to push them out. If you get an air pocket that won't push out, pierce it with a pin and push it down. I used pieces that were about 1 to 2 inches diameter because this is a huge piece-it's a full sheet of paper and I wanted to do it in a day.

Fashion magazines have great colors!! Cheaper paper works better because you can really smooth it out.

If your hands get really gunked up wash them, it's worth the time because you aren't spending half of the day removing stuck paper from yourself.

Remember if you want something to pop to put your lightest color next to your darkest color- like around an eye make sure you use a bright white and you can put some tiny cuts of black,blues,purples or deep browns right up against the white. Some things you may want to outline too. Put your picture on the floor and walk away from it often to see if you're getting the color variations and toning that you want. You can't see it if you're on top of it for a long time.

When you're done let it dry completely. Then take a brush and coat the entire picture with a thin layer of white glue. This will protect it and pick up any loose edges you may have missed. Don't hang it in direct sunlight as the sun will bleach your reds right out of the picture. Magazine ink isn't colorfast.

Have fun!! If you have any questions, just hollar! Send me a picture of your finished piece. I love to see what other people are working on.

xoxox Mary