Sherre has always loved creative pursuits. Her love of the arts include painting, quilting, photography, embroidery, journaling, digital art, and jewelry-making. She has tried almost every form of craft at some point or another. Working on a Heritage scrapbook led her to submit a page to Somerset Studio. The page was published and this led Sherre to explore the world of mixed media and altered art.  Sherre has also been published in Somerset Studio's Gallery IV and some independent zines.

She is a design team member for Layers of Color Rubber Stamp Company, and has also been on the ZNE design team. Sherre entered the Sonoma County Harvest Fair Art Show the past two years (a juried art show), and won awards both years for mixed media art pieces. She created the Magazine Scrunchy technique, which has been highlighted in the Techniques Junkie newsletter.

What excites her most right now are her book endeavors. With co-authors Cindy Powell, Elizabeth Dawson, and Lesley Venable, they published the first volume of Exploring the Latest Trends in Mixed Media Art last fall. She is currently working on Volume 2, which has an emphasis on recycled materials. As part of the Latest Trends team, they also produce a monthly newsletter that has projects, book reviews and other informative articles.

Sherre runs the Yahoo art groups Arttechniques and Arttechniquestatcs. She also helps moderate The Latest Trends in Mixed Media Arts group. Through these different groups, Sherre has conducted several online workshops, including one on Color Principles.

For personal style, Sherre loves all things vintage. It is something she has always loved and still feels led to create.

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A - R - T  Triptych
By: Sherre Hulbert, Guest Artistic Guide 

This Triptych project is taken from Volume 1 of the book, Exploring the Latest Trends in Mixed Media Art, written by Cindy Powell, Elizabeth Dawson, Sherre Hulbert, and Lesley Venable. I made this project inspired by an Ann Baldwin workshop I took at Ann's home studio. I bought the letters in Utah on a trip to visit Cindy, and this project incorporated them beautifully.

Supplies:
Stamps:
Assorted rubber stamps
Inks:
Black Printer's ink (Speedball)
StazOn Black and Brown ink pads (Tsukineko)
Paints & Other Mediums:
Gesso (Golden)
Fluid acrylic paints: (Golden)
     Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide
     Quinacridone Crimson
     Jenkins Green
     Titan Buff
     Payne's Gray
Pearlescent acrylic paints: (Lumiere)
     Halo Blue-gold
     Galactic Blue
     Green
Metallic acrylic paints (unknown)
Fluid Matte Medium (Golden)
Regular Matte Gel Medium (Golden)
Varnish or Gloss Gel medium
Fixative spray (Krylon)
Copyright-free images (I used images from an old art textbook)
Other:
3 cradled Masonite boards
Paper towels
Printer's block
Palette knife
Chipboard letters
Molding paste
Sea sponge or rectangular Scrub Foam brush
E6000 glue (Eclectic Products, Inc.)
Brayer

Directions:

1. Coat all three boards with fluid matte medium.
2. Apply images in a pleasing design, laying out the letters for the best placement. Remove the letters and apply the images with regular gel medium using a brayer to smooth out any wrinkles. Coat the top of the images with gel medium as well. Set aside to dry.



3. Using rubber stamps, add designs randomly to the boards using both black and brown permanent inks. Apply stamping to the images, also, to unify the design.
4. Begin applying color to the front and sides of the boards. I began using Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide in three places on each board. Using colors in uneven numbers makes for harmonious color arrangements.
5. Add Quinacridone Crimson, Lumiere Halo Blue-gold, Galactic Blue and green paints. Use a paper towel to help soften the paint edges and to blend the colors. Let dry.
6. Apply Titan Buff to the edges of the images that you want to soften. I also added more color since the boards absorb some color. You can add a glaze of the Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide to unify the colors. Let dry. Glazes take a bit longer to dry. (Make the glaze by mixing the paint with some of the Fluid Matte Medium.)
7. Using black printer's ink, apply a thin coat of ink to the printer's block. If you don't have a block, use some freezer paper (shiny side). Note: You can substitute a heavy-bodied black acrylic paint for this step.
8. Using the same rubber stamps as before, pat them into the printer's ink and apply to your boards in a random fashion. Be sure to not have too much ink on your stamp!  Clean your stamp with water and an old tooth brush when finished. I stamped a checkerboard design stamp on the sides of the boards.
9. Apply some Gold acrylic metallic heavy-body acrylic paint using the sea sponge or the scrub brush. Don't forget the sides!
10. Spray the boards on the front and sides with fixative spray. This is an IMPORTANT step - printer's ink can run otherwise. Let dry.
11. Spray a gloss varnish for a finishing touch.

Letters:

1. Apply two coats of gesso to each of the letters on the front and the side edges.
2. Apply molding paste to the fronts using a palette knife. Let dry thoroughly.
3. Paint 2 coats of Carbon Black acrylic paint to the letters - fronts and sides.Let dry.



4. Add a bit of gold paint with a dry brush to the peaks of the molding paste. Let dry.
5. Glue the letters to the boards using a strong glue (I use E600o).

Optional finishing touches:  You can apply some hot foil to the letter and even a bit to the boards using small craft iron and hot foil papers in assorted metallic colors.

Change it Up!  This idea can be used with a lot of different themes. You can spell out a baby's or child's name, using colors to match their rooms and images that reflect their likes.