Posted tagged ‘vintage bathing beauties’

An Art Garland of Sea Scallops

November 19, 2013

Garland.Day.At.BeachGarland.Sea.Frolic Garland.Sea.Star Garland.Shell.Chaise Garland.Swim.In.FlowersGarland.Mermaid.Silhouette

I created these scallop-shaped collages for an ARTchix Studio swap at the end of summer—all with a sea theme, and splashes of mixed media goodies:  vintage bathing beauty images and laser wood cuts (from ARTchix), plus tropical umbrella-paper & stamped cupcake-liner toppers, colorful blue/green background papers, tissue paper, watercolor crayons, and even snippets of paper doily “scallops” painted with gelato sticks and fortified with layers of Mod Podge® to make them more durable.  The art-scallops string together with ribbons and festive ties into one see-worthy garland 🙂 … oceans of fun!

And deep oceans of thanks to the amazing Helga Strauss Stevens, owner/creator of ARTchix for inspiring so much creative joy, not only with this theme and so many others over the years, but also as a pioneer in supplying vintage & contemporary mixed media images, custom-made embellishments, and ephemera and cool stuff of all kinds when she started ARTchix 12 years ago.  She’s the one who started me on my collage journey, and I am heartily grateful, and ever in awe of her talents, generosity, kindnesses, and fun-loving spirit. Brava, Helga, Brava!!

p.s. … and here are the lovely, beautifully-detailed, whimsical, and smile-inducing scalloped artworks I received in the swap … waves of thanks to all the artists who made these and the extra bonus goodies in the packages too … thank you!

sea scallop collage by Michelle McLean of artfulembellishments.com

sea scallop collage by Michelle McLean of artfulembellishments.com

sea scallop collage by Lisa Robinson
sea scallop collage by Lisa Robinson

sea scallop collage by Naomi Walsh

sea scallop collage by Naomi Walsh

sea scallop collage by Ronetta Bantly

sea scallop collage by Ronetta Bantly

sea scallop collage by Julo Twombley

sea scallop collage by Julo Twombley

 

Bahama Blue Bathing Beauties

May 30, 2011

The color BLUE dazzles in The Bahamas. Countless variegated shades of aqua, cyan, cerulean, azure, sky, royal, indigo, and sapphire surround us in the shifting seas and are celebrated in all kinds of art—including these artist trading card collages I created for the blue-themed ARTchix challenge.

 

I loved making these vintage Bathing Beauty mixed media collages. The backgrounds came from photos of tropical-water-hued fabric prints in my fashion wardrobe, photographed and printed onto paper, then layered with some retro-fun ARTchix Studio images and historic postcard text.

I love splashing into waves of blue and frollicking in art.

Tra-la.

 


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