Last night, I attended the ARTMA gala with another artist friend.  We have been donating our art to this fund-raising event for many years.   ​ARTMA is a unique, funky, and fabulous biennial auction of art.  The proceeds support the non-profit Morgan Adams Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life and survival rates of children, teens, and young adults diagnosed with cancer.

ARTMA attracted more than 300 donating artists and more than 1,000 art-buying patrons.  I donated one of my Rolodex Art Books to this event and was gratified seeing it had several people bidding for it.  It was the first time I have exhibited my book so it will be interesting to see what it finally sold for.  

​This organization really knowd how to treat artists.  Besides providing 2 complimentary tickets to the event, they also send an email after the event to all of the artists, telling us who bought our art and how much it sold for.  I was happy to see how my book was presented and seeing other artwork presented in a gallery format.  All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday night.

Still working on my gel plate and made this book this week. Inside are watercolor paper pages full with gel prints.

I absolutely love the texture I can get from printing with acrylics on the gel plate.  I never know what the rusult will be but if I don't like it, I am also learning how to work ith the paper to get something I DO like.  Such a fun way to spent my time in my studio.
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I've always wanted to make prints but didn't want to ivest in a printing press.  Also, being precise is not exactly my strength.

I have tried many substrates to "etch" marks into a plate but recently, found one I really liked. — Tetra Pak.  This is packaging material that is commonly found in grocery stores.  I found it by looking at the bottom of the chicken broth container I had in my fridge.  But I think you can also find it containing other fluids like milk, cream, etc.  

After rinsing out the container, I cut it into pieces (easy!) and used this as my "plate".  You can draw directly on the Tetra Pak or use tracing paper to transfer a design.  Then you use a sharp tool (I used an awl) to "etch" the lines onto the plate.  I used Speedball paints to fill in the indentations, wiped off all the ink from the plate and then printed onto a piece of paper using a brayer.  The image on the left is the print and the image on the right is the plate.  

I'm going to make a few of these so I can experiment with adding color to the image with watercolor or acrylic.  Should keep me busy for a couple of days!

Every year, The Book Arts Group in Boulder CO hosts an Ephemera Exchange.  I participated in this exchange last year and it was really fun so I did it again this year.

I bound together blank playing cards with some paper tape into an accordion book format and then went to town, painting, stamping, stenciling, and scribbling on all the pages.  I then closed the book with a belly band.

The group asks that you make 30 of the same thing and mail it by the end of January.  In March, I will recieve a complete set from the participating artists.  Can't wait to see everyone's creativity starting  2024 in a good way!