Details for Accidental Mermaid and Her Un-Armed Beauty

My videos aren’t meant to instruct as much as they are meant to share, entertain, inspire, and encourage.  I have listed some of them under the label of how-to only because YouTube doesn’t provide me the proper label like "Art" for example.

But, since part of my goals are to share information and to inspire others toward their own creative endeavors, I will do my best to share with you what I understand myself to be doing in the following videos, as requested.



Accidental Mermaid

1- leaf imprints (instructions on this can be found under the tutorial/tips label on the right side)
2- carbon paper used with plastic embossing thingies (that's the technical term) those machines use  *you don't need a machine to use 'em ;)  YAY!!
3- Golden Matte Medium (to protect the carbon layer)
4- spray bottle with water and food color
5- regular ballpoint pen
6- gesso (which turns recently used pen ink purple)
7- Apple Barrel acrylic craft paint in Apricot
8- DecoArt Dazzling Metallics Elegant Finish in Moss Pearl
9- more pen was probably added when I wasn't filming to darken shadows and outlines



Her Un-Armed Beauty (if you can't view this video - hop over to my YouTube channel and watch the other one listed that isn't blocked)

*this video was done longer ago, so the details for me are more fuzzy*

1- charcoal stick
2- gesso
3- pencil
4- acrylic blue probably using a moist brush
5- DecoArt Dazzling Metallics Elegant Finish in Moss Pearl
6- acrylic purple (maybe with a moist brush or dry brushed on, I'm not sure, either will give you a lovely effect though)
7- colored pencil
8- FolkArt acrylic paint in Parchment
9- more moss pearl paint, acrylic rose, acrylic purple, more parchment, more purple
10- gesso
11- stamp using stamp ink pressed onto page, then water brushed on stamp and stamped on page for a wetter, less crisp image
12- pencil
13- gesso
14- pen
15- gesso rolled on
16- more pencil
17- more gesso
*backs of photos:  masking tape, gesso, 2 acrylic purples*
18- clock stencil used with black acrylic paint and gesso

Any further questions, please leave a comment here and I'll do my best to answer.

Now, go do some art journalling - it's ever so much fun!

~magick~
Meliss

Ps:  As always, I send my gratitude out into the Universe for all the love and light that You reflect in my direction.  squeezies

featured film short: Accidental Mermaid

I called it Accidental Mermaid because I didn't know who she was until almost the end when I suddenly said to myself, "that mark i made in the hair earlier looks like a tail....especially with the diamond pattern which looks a lot like scales....she looks like a Mermaid."

And so she is The "Accidental Mermaid".

The music came together toward the end of production when I said, "Doesn't Kevin MacLeod have a Mermaid song???"  and he did.....gave the thing a whole different feeling.  Before that I was using something completely different and very 'Dan-O' because Dan-O did it.  Good for something else, most certainly I have some ideas already who to pair it with.  ;)  The Dan-O song added some pep and an island feel behind the snow.  Apparently it's possible to do that.  :) who knew?

anyways, I really like it and I hope it transports you somewhere really, Really Lovely.

~magick~

Meliss

How I got the leaf impressions on the Love makes dogs happy page

I boiled them in Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda and water until they got all soft and smooshy.  Then I carefully pulled some out and laid them flat on my journal page and closed the book, squashing down on the top with my hands.  And wah-lah, when I opened it up, there was a colorful, ghostly picture of a leaf that once was.

These were green leaves I used too btw, but perhaps because it was late in the season a reddish color came out of them.  ??  As soon as the trees get leaves this year, I'm gonna experiment with the spring leaves.  What color do you think they'll leave (ha)?  This one was altered by the watercolor I used.

Try all different kinds of leaves, all different kinds of paper.  Use your art journal or just press it between two sheets.  Use the same leaf multiple times.

Originally I was making leaf skeletons - you boil them in the same stuff and then carefully remove the flesh with a brush in clean water until it 'leaves' just the skeletal structure.  I think there's a link about that on my pinterest board under Art Journalling.  Only certain leaves work for this.

But for the impressions, I think they all worked.  I even got some bamboo leaves from my artist friend, Addison.

~Happy experimenting~
Meliss

Ps:  Ever make scrambled eggs for a raccoon?  Today, I did.  I went outside to feed the birds and heard a noise under the steps I just came from and saw a terrified raccoon.

Poor baby.  I'm glad they get scared and hide their faces thinking we can't see them anymore because I had to walk up those steps it was hiding right under to get back inside to call Deb Raccoon, as we call her, and ask her what to do.  She said it's probably just disoriented from hibernating and to make it a scrambled egg trail back to the woods.  I did.  I'm still waiting to see what happens.  It looks drunk the poor thing.  Deb Raccoon will take care of it if it needs help.  Thank you God for people like Deb Raccoon who care enough to help wild animals and people like me who are surrounded by them.  :)  It's hour 4 of raccoon watch........

i'm working & listening to this :)

hey chickie, i got your message but i don't remember your name (I am so bad with names).

She was, You were "impressed" and it tickled my heart and made me realize how amazing it was that those two characters showed up in that mirrored leaf impression (in regards to the film short Love makes dogs happy).  Really magickal.  I had created the impression with leaf soup.  i wish I had footage of what that is, but I don't - next time i make leaf soup, when there are leaves to do it with, i'll show you.  (*coming up next week i'll explain how I made the leaf impression.) 

anyways, I'm rambling.  The leaf imprints were there for weeks before I saw that cool guy (who reminds me of the little boy from  the cartoon movie "We're Back") and his beautiful Girl-Dog named Sprite, I guess, cause He's most certainly The Wanderer, but then again, maybe she's the wanderer.....???  So one day I picked up the book and flipped through it and just saw them there clearly.  That's the day I did the page. 

What she said, you said, made me realize that I Am talented, but i don't attribute seeing them to my talent.  I attribute it to my magick and my beliefs and me paying attention and my hours spent practicing my art.  I watched the video with new eyes and appreciated and loved it all over again.  :)  ~gratitude for your door opening~

I think it's also attributed to a book I got for Christmas 2012 - "Drawing and Painting Imaginary Animals" by Carla Sonheim.  Her book mostly taught me that whatever I see, I should draw.  I should allow the animal being to BE who it is and to look the way it looks.  EVEN if that shape is TECHNICALLY incorrect.  There are many things that are 'incorrect' about what I've done.  The main two that try to bother me are that patch on the bottom of his jacket and how the black doesn't line up correctly AND two, and even more technically wrong, is that dog's leg!  technically, it 'SHOULD' line up with that 'bib' line where her fur is lighter in the front.  I'll probably get a thumbs down from some a-hole for it - LOL!  Back to my point, Carla Sonheim taught me that it's okay!  Let her leg be technically wrong because it is still visually pleasant.  She's pretty.  I wanted her leg to look long and lean.  hey maybe she's got boobs.  my dog had one  ;)  mind you it was a tumor, the poor girl, but still she had a nicely rounded chest on one side.  I gave her light colored circular eyebrows like my doggy, Samba had.

i'm rambing.  see, this is why i don't post much.  i have art journalling to dive into and i gotta pull myself out of this lovely internet pool.  ;)

that's some of my thoughts over the last few hours since I woke up. 

It's a misty, MISTY day.  here's a pic out my window.

thanks for your appreciation of my life's work.  i am grateful to be part of your positive experience on our wondrous Earth.  hey, do yourself a favor and notice some magick today...okay?  don't you love rhyming?

~magick~
Meliss

ps:  hugs back K

Distorted and Recorded

I like that people demand videos from me.
Ha!
I take it as a total compliment.
They like them so much,
they want more.
Hey,
what can I say?
I’m tickled,
but not in the way that hurts.
I could allow myself to become overwhelmed because believe it or not,
I live a full and busy life with a hubby and a house and a clowder of cats and a body I have to take care of or it’ll rot out from under me apparently.
;)

But today, while working on what I think is going to be my next film short,
I had this experience.....
Years ago, 
I had this thing with
but
her
flies.
Butterflies.
She can’t walk,
but her flies.
Don’t know.
Caught my fancy while I was working and rang a bell for me.

Now, go 88 mph and get to today, air cold cause it’s a chilly November day.
While working,
I’m listening to a song by Natalie Imbruglia
on her white lilies island cd #11
and she is singing slowly
what sounds like

But Her Flies.

I heard her say it,
while filming
and remembered,
while filming,
when I said it.
And to whom I said it.
And then I reflected on how far away from those moments I am
and how much my artistic vision has grown
and how through diligent work,
I can do things now that I couldn't do then.
Wouldn't even have a clue then how to.
:)

I am doing something right now that I had NO CLUE I’d be doing then.
I had little to no idea that I’d be working on a film short I am publishing online as part of my celebration of my 41st Birthday.
No clue of that.
I was probably too busy being sad.
Because I wasn’t here.
Or because I was alone.
But now I am here.
And still alone.
And I now appreciate every thing that past me contributed to us arriving here in this space in time.
Because now is really really kool.

Now, the only thing is do I want to see it all as coincidence?
But
Her
Flies.

Or am I choosing some form of magick?

Oh, easy peasy!!
Magick is so much more fun than coincidence.
Coincidence gets blown off.
Magick blows you away.
I like being spiritually blown away.
But I hate it when my hair goes in my face......

~magick~
Meliss

Ps:  Natalie also just said "You pulled me out of the past and landed me in today, Hurricane."  Interesting idea, eh?  makes me think:  Winds can be rough or they can be light.....the one I sent you is Light....and full of Wonder-Full wishes for you and for me.