Marci Senders

Silly, Bunnies Aren't Yellow

This is the latest spread from the True Colors round robin I am working on. The owner of the book, Lore, was hoping for Bunnies. Well, she got chicks. Close enough, right? Silly, bunnies aren't yellow!

Also, better late than never...
The Textile Study Group of New York monthly lecture is tomorrow for those who haven't seen it on WhipUp. I can't wait...it's Cyrilla Mozenter who works with handmade paper and wool felt, creating 2-D and 3-D objects. Its on Wednesday, May 21st at 7 pm at Community Church of New York Unitarian Universalist 40 E. 35th St. betw. Park and Madison, New York City. Yeah paper crafts! If you come, say hello...I have red hair. And yes, I am their Publicity Director.

Wide Open Spaces

Some people travel far and WIDE to spread such a simple message.

This is for Illustration Friday. The topic is "Wide"... like my not so subtle hint. This is in my Moleskine. I wanted to keep it simple again this week, I am trying to get back to my more "artistic" roots. I started by simply drawing a truck but I couldn't stop myself from attacking my paper stash. I also think the movie Into the Wild has really gotten to me. Talk about wide open spaces...

Batteries Not Included

This is for Illustration Friday. The topic is "Electricity". This guy is plugged in...he is not going so far! I needed to take a break form bingo cards and bunnies. I even was planning on taking this week off but I couldn't get this image out of my head. It's just a simple drawing in my Moleskin, that I just don't work in enough. Awhile ago I had glued the old dress pattern down I think partly to use up scraps I would have thrown away and to also hide marker that had come through the other side. I like to preprep my sketch book, I am not one to work on a blank page.

Garden Dresses

This original collage was created for Illustration Friday. The topic was "Seed". The faces are actual seeds and the dresses are pieces of seed packaging. It was created on a vintage Bingo card with paint, paper and marker. I have been totally inspired by these for the last two weeks...this is my own bunny version.
It is for sale here.

Mixed Nuts Anyone?

Yeah, Mixed Nut Project! I was approached by Kirsty, I think it was the end of last year to participate in a project that she was fashioning. She said she was going to send out "to be determined" shapes, with "to be determined rules" with a "to be determined" due date. Maybe there was going to be a publisher involved and there maybe a show. She wasn't sure about the details but she wanted me to participate. I said "Sure!". I'm always game for a challenge and was very excited! (I'm such a sucker for group projects like this.) Then I saw the list of all the other people involved and I was absolutely honored that she included me. It's a really impressive list.
I can only talk about it and we were all asked to not show any pictures. The show opens the end of this week so if you are on that side of the planet, check it out. My piece sat on my windowsill for awhile. I had so many ideas at first but was extremely hesitant.  I was so overloaded with ideas, that I just froze. I had a deadline pending so I stuck to what I know and I kept it really simple and my reoccurring theme of princess fairy tale came into play. I have been told it is "very you" so I'll take their word for it. Hopefully it will be well received at the show!
What a great idea...what a great project!!!!

Wrinkles the Dog

This was created for "Illustration Friday". The topic was "Wrinkle". It is an original collage on vintage Bingo card. He just popped in to say "Woof!", which is hello in doggy language, in case you were wondering. The image was created with paper, marker and paint.
This is for sale here!

My True Color is Mellow Yellow

Front Cover

Back Cover

Opening Spread

Yellow Spread

Sign Out Spread

Here is my latest round-robin altered book project. I haven't participated in one for a while and doing a simple colored theme book sounded like fun and would get my paper-craft juices flowing. As mentioned before, I feel like I work better in other people's books then in my own. I sent this book out into the world to be worked on by 5 other people. There is a strangely shaped pop-up piece that I can't wait to see what everyone does with.  It took me a while to figure out how I wanted to send my book out. I didn't touch any of the other pages...I'll leave that to the artist, they can be whatever they want to it. It is actually two board books taped together so I can get enough spreads. There is a box that comes with the books that I still have and will have decorated before it comes back to me. The colored hearts on the cover are tape, I thought it was so cheesy and was perfect. I am expecting it to be nice and fat when I get it back.  I got the color yellow. Not my favorite color and I don't have much of it in my stash. I have been going through magazines and tearing out all the yellow pages so I don't have to go out and spend money. So far, I really like the effects I am getting. I am trying hard to be green and save green lately as well. I am sure  yellow will be my favorite color by the time I'm done with this project!

Primitive Pink Dino

This is for Illustration Friday. The topic is Primitive.  It's a dinosaur...on a Bingo card. Need I say more?
For sale here.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle...and Make Art

These images from an altered book tip-in swap have been sitting on my computer for a couple of weeks now. They should all be safe and sound in there new homes. The theme was "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" and the one rule was
to only use scraps. I went right towards my stash of grocery bags...I have quite a collection. This project gave me the perfect excuse to fuse plastic bags. Typically it is a technique used to make waterproof fabric. I wanted to see how I could use it as paper and I just thought layering the logos could make really cool designs After all the pages were cut, I then had the idea to  incorporate a more organic element so I made organic/flower shaped cutouts and sewed in scraps from old book pages. I thought is was a nice, sarcastic contrast to the plastic. I think I had intended to make a lot of just silly faces but somehow it turned out to become more of a statement. The embroidery felt important to me, I couldn't see the pieces being glued on.  I have pics the fronts and the backs here.

Self-Portrait Shrinky Dinks

So sorry that my photography has been awful lately but bad photo and all, I had to show this charm I made. Yes, it is a self-portrait and yes, it is an old-school Shrinky Dink.  I made 18 charms, just like this one, for an anniversary swap for one of the groups I am involved in. Notice all the party hats! I loved the idea of taking a children's product, and seeing what I could do with it as an adult. I am sure there will be much more experimenting with Shrinky Dinks in my future. See here for more inspiration. Here is the group...pre-shrinking.