Gallery
Featured Artist: Kelly Snelling
 

About Kelly
	Introduction Thoreau said the world is but a canvas to the imagination. I am lucky these days in that I do not work outside my home. I walk out into the canvas and paint pictures with my mind all day. Since my most frequent companions are ages six and three, I now have a purpose for living in a world of dreams realized. We spend many afternoons finding dragons in the clouds, hula dancers in new pinecones, and fairies absolutely everywhere. I am originally from Kentucky but have lived in Southern California for many years. My Southern upbringing gave me a love of nature, story-telling, and old traditions. My life in California has given me fantastic art up close, be it graffiti or Van Gogh. It’s all blended to give me my own unique outlook on art in particular and the world in general. I discovered Art Chix Studio in May of 2005 and joined the Yahoo group. I met so many lovely artists there who have offered me tremendous support and friendship. I feel so fortunate to have found this wonderful place. When it comes to art, I enjoy the process more than the finished piece. I thrive on taking an idea and turning it into something tactile. I treasure the feeling of creating when I am completely in the moment, the rest of the world falls away and time is cast aside. A large portion of the work I do is conceptual and saturated in symbolism. It is a way of setting the loudness inside my head free. I am mostly self-taught and rely on my instincts and intuitiveness. After all, no one can tell from looking at a caterpillar that it will turn into a butterfly. When I am not painting or making paper, I can be found with my family. I enjoy trading tales with my imaginative husband, throwing a Frisbee on the beach with my dog, wearing my birthday crown and dancing wildly with my sons, baking cupcakes, or attempting to sit still long enough to discuss a new book with friends. Life is short. Live it loudly.		Kelly's Top 5 ARTchix Products 1. All the Heishis 2. Loveliness Collage Sheet 3. Mystery Transparency Sheet 4. Black Swan Wings 5. All German Scrap Borders
			Kelly's Website www.picturetrail.com/ kellysnelling

Click images to enlarge

Artwork #1
	Title Little Princess ARTchix Products Fold Over Gold Leaves Papillon Collage Sheet Parisian Sewing Kit Collage Sheet Little Darlings Collage Sheet Lil’ Pix Collage Sheet
	Instructions 1. This piece is 9” x 12” on 150 lb. watercolor paper. I started by painting a layer of gesso on the front and back of the base. Let it dry. Then I loosely painted on a layer of Golden’s Titan Buff mixed with Azurite Hue (a blue color). I monoprinted across the base with Portrait Pink, White, and Azurite Hue blending and layering the colors. 2. Using gel medium transfers, I applied old sheet music and some small flowers from the Lil’ Pix Collage Sheet. Along the bottom I adhered two large strips of text from an old book then painted on a glaze of Titan Buff. 3. Using paint instead of an ink pad, I stamped on more layers of texture with a large background stamp of script and a medium stamp in a floral architectural woodcut. I used a baby wipe to remove some of the stamped images as I went along blending the colors with the background. For this I used the Azurite Hue and White. 4. For the focal point I chose a girl from the Little Darlings Collage Sheet. I increased her size on a laser copier and created a skirt from a page of an old dictionary. I joined the skirt to the image with a strip of Silver Star Borders then colored the skirt and her ribbon using Golden acrylics and Caran D’ache crayons. I also added paint to her face, arm, hair, and flowers. Then I cut her a crown from the Parisian Sewing Kit Collage Sheet, marking the edges with a metallic gold pen and adding gold Diamond Dots to finish it. 5. I made the large flowers out of torn bits of vintage sheet music, images from the Parisian Sewing Kit (which I also painted and drew on with Caran D’ache), and bingo dots. 6. I added five butterflies from the Papillon Collage Sheet. Each got bits of paint and crayon as well as silver Stickles glitter glue to bring out their colors. I also drew on their antennae rather than attempting to cut them out. 7. Next, I used a crackle paint stamp in two series:  once with white acrylic paint and then with Pthalo Green (yellow shade) acrylic paint (very thinned down as it is bright). I went slightly over the girl’s skirt and the big flowers and across the top and bottom of the piece. 8. Lastly, I used Caran D’ache to add a trail of colors from the butterflies, blending them with my fingers. And I sprayed the piece with a matte fixative to protect it.
Artwork #2
	Title She Tried to Hold onto Her Youth ARTchix Products Loveliness Collage Sheet Royal Post Faux Postage Transparent Whimsical Wings
	Instructions 1. This is one of those pieces of mine that looks pretty weird on the surface but holds particular meaning to me. It also includes some photographs that I have taken in the piece. It begins on a 9”x 12” sheet of 150 lb watercolor paper. I painted the front and back with gesso and let it dry. Next, I adhered some old text to the upper right corner. I took a laser copy of one of my black and white photos of a barn among some trees and adhered it over most of the base. 2. I used Golden fluid acrylics in Titan Buff over the text then Transparent Yellow Oxide with glazing medium over the entire piece. As this dried, I added other layers of paint in Jenkins Green, Payne’s Grey, and Transparent Red Oxide also working the edges with black Caran D’ache Neocolor II crayons. 3. I cut some wavy points from an old French label and adhered them across the text. I painted them with Transparent Yellow Oxide, Payne’s Grey, and then added more Caran D’ache to finish. 4. I made three copies of my photo of a lotus and cut them into squares to fit across the bottom of the piece. I painted a wash of Transparent Yellow Oxide, letting it dry before adding a second layer of Transparent Red Oxide. I then went around it with Payne’s Gray, gold Lumiere, and black Caran D’ache. I ran a heavy line of black Caran D’ache along the border between the lotus and the rest of the piece. 5. I adhered an image of a hand, which I had painted with a glaze of Raw Umber. 6. Next, I added the body of a woman from the Loveliness Collage Sheet, which I had enlarged on a laser copier. I cut around her hands and placed an egg under them. I gave her a flamingo head, wings from the Whimsical Wings Sheet, and a crown from the Royal Post Faux Postage Sheet, which also was enlarged. I went over her body with a glaze of Yellow Oxide. I added color to all of her elements with Caran D’ache. 7. Lastly, I took the bottle of Raw Umber glaze and ran thick streams along the top so it dripped down the piece. Be sure to give this several days in a safe place to dry.
Artwork #3
	Title The Swan Song of Paris ARTchix Products In the Garden Transparency Sheet Loveliness Collage Sheet Black Swan Wings Paris Post Faux Postage
	Instructions 1. This is an assemblage, which pretty much means a bunch of stuff assembled together to make something else. Start with the body of a clean Altoid tin. Using fluid Golden acrylics in Titan Buff, Transparent Yellow Oxide, Transparent Red Iron Oxide, and Quinacridone Nickle Azo Gold build up layers of paints to create an aged look. I also used a craft brand of acrylic in turquoise sparingly here and there to highlight the main elements in the assemblage. I left the lid joints on my tin. But, if they bother you, you can remove them with a Dremel. 2. I used four black swan wings on this piece. First, I completely covered the face of them in Titan Buff. Let it dry or use a heat gun (but not too close!). Then I used the same paints as on the tin, letting each color dry before adding another. 3. I added a little bit of silver glitter glue to the inside upper right corner and spread it about. And, I wrote the number 5 with Quincrinidone Crimson acrylic paint and a tiny brush. 4. Using a toothpick, I painted little squiggles around the inside base using Titan Buff. I gave each one a red dot with the Quincrinidone Crimson once dry. And lastly I washed over them with a mixture of glazing medium and Transparent Yellow Oxide to take them back a little. I don’t worry about these being “perfect” or uniform. I am very free-wheeling when it comes to this sort of thing. Just have fun and make organic shapes that appeal to you. I also used a toothpick and two shades of blue to go around the outside edge of the tin. 5. Next, I added an egg from the In the Garden Transparency Sheet which I placed over an image of the Eiffel Tower from the Paris Post Faux Postage sheet. I also added two smaller egg transparencies. 6. I tore some phrases that had personal meaning to me out of an old book, painted them with Nickle Azo gold and adhered them into the tin with a glue stick. 7. Using an awl, I gently punched two holes in the roof of the tin. I threaded copper wire through the holes and into my swan. It already had holes drilled into the base. I tied it off in the back and created a loop for hanging the piece with the ends. I also punched two holes into the bottom and in a similar manner wired on the vintage piece of costume jewelry. 8. I enlarged an image from the Loveliness collage sheet on a laser copier, adhered it to watercolor paper using gel medium and added a phrase from an old book across her chest. Then, I made little cardboard rectangles to support her so that she is floating up against the inner edge of the tin. I adhered these with gel medium. 9. A great flea market was this tiny ivory hand. I used a pale blue wash around the cuff and adhered it with gel medium. 10. I adhered a bunch of bound peacock feathers to the backside of the tin then added the swan wings as well. 11. The hardest part of all this was dealing with the very delicate wooden branch and the pine cones. I wrapped copper wire around the stem for support and beauty. I added iridescent beads randomly as I went along. I added extra pine cones to the right-hand side with E6000 and the copper wire. Lastly, I used E6000 to adhere it to the tin.
Artwork #4
	Title Tour de France ARTchix Products Lil’ Luv Collage Sheet Gold Embellishments German Scrap
	Instructions 1. I took a bit of an old map and adhered it across the center of a 4”x 4” stretched canvas with gel medium. 2. I scanned a rose from the Lil’ Luv Collage Sheet, enlarged it slightly, and copied and pasted it in a line. I printed it out and trimmed it neatly. 3. Across the top of the canvas I adhered a piece of textured rice paper to the upper corners and a piece of old text in the center with gel medium. 4. I painted over the map and top portions of the canvas with a wash of Golden’s Transparent Red Oxide and Transparent Yellow Oxide (dry between colors). I worked in some Jenkin’s Green and Payne’s Grey along the bottom. Lastly, I applied a thin wash of Titan Buff to the center of the map. 5. I adhered the roses to the top of the canvas with gel medium. It is fine to let them wrap over the edges of the canvas. I used a wash of Titan Buff and Yellow Oxide in various places over the roses and a daub here and there of the Red Oxide to age them. I also used the sharp end of my scissors to scratch into them very lightly. 6. Then I added the little bicyclist from the Ones Collage Sheet. I used Titan Buff on her lace bib and some Payne’s Gray on her wheels. I also gave her entire form a very thin wash of Yellow Oxide. 7. Next, I cut a flower from the Gold Embellishments German Scrap in half, sanded it, and then ran over it with a charcoal pencil. I added it to her head with gel medium. 8. Lastly, I broke off a piece of an old folding wooden ruler. I sanded it and hit it with some of the same paints and colored pencils before adhering it to the canvas with gel medium. I finished the piece by painting the outside edges of the canvas with a deep golden yellow to compliment the ruler.

Artwork #5
	Title The Parsimonious Cormorant ARTchix Products Gold Medieval Borders Brass Heishi Small Brass Wings In the Garden Transparency Sheet This Place Transparency Sheet Lil’ Pix Collage Sheet
	Instructions 1. Start with an 8” x 10” canvas. I keep a ready supply of my own painted papers in 12” x 12” for backgrounds. That’s what I used on this piece. It is a sheet of unwaxed deli wrap painted over with a wash of acrylic paint then stamped with several large stamps dipped in gesso and more paints. I also drew on the background paper with Caran D’ache Neocolor II crayons. These are one of my very favorite art supplies. I will frequently spend an entire afternoon doing nothing but making these background papers. That way when I want to make an altered book or canvas, half the work is already done. As I knew I was going to use a large, rather dark transparency on this piece, I cut out a rectangle slightly off-center in the middle of the background paper first so the image would be more visible. I adhered the paper to the canvas with Golden’s soft gel medium. 2. In the white space of the canvas (where I cut out the paper) I doodled with yellow, blue, and red Caran D’ache crayons. Then I adhered a transparency I had made of a vintage ambrotype (a thin negative image on glass which was less expensive to produce than daguerreotypes) using gel medium along the edges. Over this I adhered an enlarged image from the Extreme Hats Collage Sheet. I spent a good amount of time working on this image with colored pencils, distressing inks, and Caran D’ache Neocolor II crayons before adhering it. I also added a rose to her décolletage from the Lil’ Pix Collage Sheet. I went over it with distressing inks to help blend it to the colors of the main image. Lastly, I added some large pieces of mica over her face and chest. Just to the side of her face and behind her head, I added an egg from the In the Garden Transparency Sheet which I had printed out on paper and colored. Over it I added a window from the This Place Transparency Sheet. 3. At the top of the main image I added a large crown that I had cut from another of my background papers. I topped each crown point with a brass heishi that I had painted with a wash of rose paint. 4. I adhered a strip of Silver Star German scrap onto a strip of Gold Medieval German scrap. I ran a bit of gold paint down the silver scrap and a bit of pink down the gold scrap. 5. I added a large beaded heart, small brass wings, vintage bird images, mesh ribbon, seed beads, and a small transparency with gel medium. 6. Lastly, I drew and wrote randomly across the piece with Caran D’ache crayons.