A blog dedicated to peddling the ware of crafter Joey Aspen. Who is finally getting serious about making beautiful and interesting things and distributing them to the WORLD!!
This week I was feeling a little cocky. My last painting took me no time at all and I was very impressed with myself. When I started my painting on Saturday, only got the background done. This morning I still had the self assurance to believe I could finish everything today...
Well I was wrong!
At about 4pm I began to panic...there was no way I could finish by tonight. While whining to my girlfriend about how bad I procrastinate and begging her to come up with an alternative for me she suggested that I come and take some photos of her. What a LIFE SAVER!!
Here is what we came up with...
The photo above is my favourite
I played a lot with the filters on a free soft ware called GIMP
It's like Photoshop only it's FREE!! Which is great for a cheap gal like me.
I'd like to say that I've learned my lesson. That I'll never leave my painting until the last minute ever again, but c'mon! It's me we're talking about here!
A friend of mine is an antique dealer and quite often he finds old photographs while dumpster diving. I was at his house once, after he found a huge stash of pictures and went home sullen. As someone who enjoys...no wait, LOVES taking photos and saves even the bad shots, I was crushed to come to the realization that someday my beloved snaps are going to be some distant family members trash.
Not long after that visit I stopped developing my photos. I got myself a digital photo frame and when ever I come across old pictures on the ground at a flea market, anywhere I take as many as I can. They must have been important to someone at some point.
I love making beautiful things from these pics so that maybe someone new can appreciate someone long gone...wow this is all sounding really hokey, but truthful it makes me really sad.
So on to this weeks painting and how I think I found my niche...
I'm constantly hunting on flickr for new sources of inspiration, whether it's for my vintage fabric paintings or vintage nudes and portraits. This week's painting is inspired by a photograph I found when I did a search for men of the 60's. The pic was titled "My Dad 1968". I fell in love with the photo as soon as I saw it and I love colourizing old black and white snaps.
I am pretty sure this is my thing...
I'm pretty sure this is a good way of giving new life to an old picture...
I'm interested in seeing your old photos, if you want to share send them to me
I wish that I had done something more substantial to commemorate this most monumental occasion...hahaha
Instead I did some catching up.
I made some jewellery...
Some vintage button rings, (my favourite)
And because so many beautiful ladies have been wearing bright yellow this summer and also because I am totally digging it...some yellow rings.
I also finished the painting from last week. If you can't see the changes, just take a peek HERE you will notice the changes I swear. I'm so happy with it now...pretty sure it's my favourite to date!
And if that's not enough I completed one of the quilt squares from week 19
Oh...plus I took this wicked picture of my little man.
We were at Port Burwell Beach today. The water was freezing!
