greenpepperpressblog

check mates

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X and O were my partners in crime for a while.  Of course x and o would eventually take you to tic-tac-toe, right?  Then onto checkerboard…..the scale made me think of the chess punch, and soon I was channeling new ideas which required new tools.  Here's the visual story:

MWnewideas 

MWnewtools 

MWchessstencils  

MWchessmasks  

MWchesstest  

MWchessstencilssmall  

Oh, let me take a moment to recognize that this is my 300th post.  When I noticed I had just hit 100 on the Street Team blog I checked the count over here and it was at 299.  Wow!  Dear readers, this platform, my blog, helps me define who I am – and it cleared the path to meet you.  What's that saying?  It's out on the limb where you gather the fruit.  I ventured out and you served the fruit.  Thank you.

MW300  

Back to chess…..like WAY BACK.  Making these new tools was like revisting old friends.  For nearly ten years I have incorporated chess pieces in my work.  Here's some of the visual history: 

MWchessarchive1 

MWchessarchive2  

MWchessarchive3

MWchessarchive4 

MWchessarchive5 

MWchessarchive6 

MW HIMchess

Comments

28 responses to “check mates”

  1. Judy N Avatar
    Judy N

    Michelle,
    First of all, AWESOME art!!!
    Secondly, where did you find that chess punch? I am so obsessed with chess pieces…I need to get one of those!
    I recognize alot of the stamps you used, I own alot of them. I collect them wherever I find them. Also love the cabinet with the chess pieces…never thought to do anything like that.
    And HIM playing chess…OMG!!! I was just saying I was going through Ville withdrawl and here you post a picture. You made my night!!
    I just put away some work I was doing on a diamond shape study and now you have me all inspired again. How am I going to go to bed now!?!
    Until later,
    Judy

    Reply
  2. Maj Carita Avatar
    Maj Carita

    300 inspiring posts! WOW – Congratulation!
    It was fun to see the evolution of your chess pieces!

    Reply
  3. kim mailhot Avatar
    kim mailhot

    Michelle Ward is like the Queen in Chess – she can go anywhere she wants to go and do it with Regal style ! Happy 300 !

    Reply
  4. hedwig Avatar
    hedwig

    Hi Michelle,
    WOW 300 posts…. CONGRATS to you girl!! And i love what you did with the chess pieces, also great to see your work evolve: it’s you definitely, but than different. Mmm, does that make sense? And do i see a new color schedule in pink and yellow? (Strange i am into pink, yellow and purple since a few weeks, before my colors where naturals like ochre, sepia and grey. It suddenly hit me that it was a little bit boring)
    Hugs,
    Hedwig

    Reply
  5. Carrie Avatar
    Carrie

    Congrats on hitting 300! I love your chess pieces. In fact, I used to fiddle around with designs featuring chess queens and the queen of spades from any old card deck I could get my hands on — much inspired by the album Queen II. SUCH a great album. Really feeds well into the chess motif.
    Oh and I love pics of HIM playing chess. 🙂

    Reply
  6. Sarah Avatar
    Sarah

    blog milestones everywhere!!!
    congrats on hitting the grand old age of 300 Michelle 🙂 and every post has been a great one.
    Love to see how your “chess art” has evolved – it is all stunning – I can’t believe that Stampers Anon diamond border style stamp of yours is so old – I still use it very regularly. You never go out of style, girl 🙂
    I don’t think I can put a photo into a comment, or I would show you, but way way back, when I first fell head over heels in lust with a certain young hockey player – it wasn’t the hot bod sexy Kes photos that did it, or the ones of him out there on the ice plying his trade, it was one of him on a plane, with his specs on (that he is usually WAY to vain to wear in public!), playing chess on his laptop. I have always required my men to have at least a couple of brain cells 🙂 There’s something about hot geeks…. 🙂
    Maybe after seeing that HIM pic I will start seeing young Ville in a different light 😀

    Reply
  7. forcryeye Avatar
    forcryeye

    AAAAAAAAAH! Congrats on 300 (great movie too), and it is lovely to see our men in your post. What you don’t see is me sitting to the right of Ville….ha ha…dream on…

    Reply
  8. inge Bekaert Avatar
    inge Bekaert

    Congratulations for your 300 posts ! I’m not in for so long, but I enjoyed reading your blog as soon as I discovered it ( a bit more than 1 year ago)
    I’m not into chess, my sons are… I think it’s too much “science” for me…
    The chess pieces do make great shapes !
    The stamps you created years ago àre new to me… but I hadn’t discover the stampington magazines in 2001 yet… I’m just stamping for 4 years, so I have some things to catch up !
    I do like your drawings of the stamps !
    “Cute friends you have” I thought when I saw the photo… and then I discovered Ville…:)
    greets
    Inge

    Reply
  9. Linda Warlyn Avatar
    Linda Warlyn

    Congratulations, Michelle, on hitting the big 300! The artwork is just STUNNING!! I so remember when those articles appeared in Somerset, who could forget? You never cease to amaze. xoxo

    Reply
  10. tina Avatar
    tina

    Congrats Michelle!!!! Way to go GF….Can’t wait to read the next 300. HA!!
    Love the chess pieces especially the journal stuff..Wink.
    Love to play chess too. You really should learn. The game of geniuses.

    Reply
  11. Stephanie Avatar
    Stephanie

    Happy 300! The chess imagery is wonderful – as always! Stephanie

    Reply
  12. Pat from Chicago Avatar
    Pat from Chicago

    Dear Michelle,
    I remember those Somerset Studio pages–they made me decide I wanted to be Michelle Ward–or at least be as good as she was/is. I love chess images. How talented you are to be able to make such wonderful stencils–I can never get the lines smooth. It’s good to see your art again.

    Reply
  13. heather bradley Avatar
    heather bradley

    your process is amazing! thank you for sharing it…you are such a continual inspiration, even though i don’t come anywhere near to thinking/creating like you do *sigh* xo

    Reply
  14. Kim Cataldo Avatar
    Kim Cataldo

    Congratulations on 300 posts!! You’re on the top of my must read blogs. You always manage to inspire me. Now I want to dig out my old Somerset Studios (I have them all from the beginning of time) and dig out the chess stamps and set that I bought from you! Ahhh – thanks so much for the fresh outlook and for 300 inspiring posts! All the best, Kim

    Reply
  15. Tina Wright Avatar
    Tina Wright

    Woman! you amaze me!! congrats on 300 posts!

    Reply
  16. Sam Marshall Avatar
    Sam Marshall

    Congratulations! Love your wonderful art!!!

    Reply
  17. Chris Avatar
    Chris

    Oh, Michelle, those new images are so fantastic! I know what *I’m* going to be doing this weekend. And of course, the ones I’ve seen and the older ones I didn’t get to see are so yummy, too, and I’m really glad you included them. Congrats on the 300th! It’s great to mark these milestones, isn’t it? I just reached 200, and it just *felt* different… But what a great idea to represent your milestone with dots. See how you are? ALWAYS giving inspiration! I’m so glad I found your blog, almost two years ago…

    Reply
  18. Chris Avatar
    Chris

    came back to look more during lunch.
    call 911; must have all these images.
    I have been thinking about Alice In Wonderland (my favorite book) all morning, and now that I’m back looking at your post, I realize why. Isn’t it interesting how something you see can make you carry on an internal monologue with yourself, and you can’t remember why you’re thinking it? Now I realize!

    Reply
  19. inge Bekaert Avatar
    inge Bekaert

    Hello Michelle,
    I wanted to send you an email with a photo of two “special” chessmates at my house… Don’t know why but it couldn’t be delivered at your regular mailadress…:(
    As I really wanted to show you this picture, I just made a blogpost about it on my website….
    ( http://www.web.me.com/pinkepinke)
    greetings
    Inge

    Reply
  20. cindi Avatar
    cindi

    michelle ~ i do adore your 3 friends playing chess…*giggles hysterically*
    other than that…i do love the chess theme…
    and 300 posts! wow…how awesome…*applauds* ; D

    Reply
  21. inge Bekaert Avatar
    inge Bekaert

    Michelle,
    I tried to reply on your mail, but I have problems again ! It says “undelivered mail returned to sender ” 🙁
    first your problems with my comments, now me with your mail… grrr… technology !
    This was my mail :
    Hello Michelle,
    Thank you for the birthdaywishes ! Do’nt be sorry about being later, I often have the same problem…
    About the problems with the comments : could you check out the following
    * are you visiting me at web.mac.com or web.me.com ? The first is my old adress, the second the current one ( I didn’t change it but Mac… grrr… they caused me a lot of problems and I want to stay faithfull to them, but they may not bother me much more…)
    So please, bookmark me as : web.me.com/pinkepinke
    Normally comments should work on this site ( they really don’t work on the old one)
    Second : did you click on “voeg opmerking toe” ( = the same as “add comment”), but you commented before, so I guess you know this…
    If this doesn’t work, 🙁 🙁 🙁
    You know how nice it is to know who passed by…
    I’m busy making stamps with imagepac : I started with photos of real American crows ( photos my friend Dorien took this summer in LA). I hope they turn out OK… just a few more stamps for halloweenprojects 🙂
    greets
    Inge

    Reply
  22. carlene Avatar
    carlene

    Congrats on your 300th post! And thanx for revisiting some of your past work, very fun to see it again, thanx for sharing!

    Reply
  23. rivergardenstudio Avatar
    rivergardenstudio

    This is a wonderful post. I love all the intricate and diverse chess pieces. I will have to go back for another look! Roxanne

    Reply
  24. iHanna Avatar
    iHanna

    Love the journal spreads, I don’t understnad how you do such cool stenceling with so many colors?! very cool indeed.
    just saw this and thought I’d tell you since xxoo’s are your thing too:
    http://www.chroniclebooks.com/index/main,book-info/store,books/products_id,7684/title,XOXO-Hugs-and-Kisses-Postcard-Book/

    Reply
  25. Cath Avatar
    Cath

    I can’t play chess to save myself, but once owned a really lovely carved pewter set just cos it looked good LOL
    That final photo of your friends playing chess made me laugh – such gorgeous friends you have!
    Isn’t it interesting to look back and see how long you have played round with chess ideas, and how your work has evolved…

    Reply
  26. susan w Avatar
    susan w

    How wonderful! How true your work is; returning to themes but with different eyes and an adjusted palette yet always true. The visual texture and painterly overlays on the painted journal page make me want to touch them. lovelylovelylovely

    Reply
  27. Kathryn - Collage Diva Avatar
    Kathryn – Collage Diva

    300 posts! Yowza! Thank you for sharing your creative experiments and adventures.
    I love the chess theme. My ex and I taught my son how to play when he was just a little one. We started with what we called “The Pawn Wars.” This is where we had only pawns and the king. Once my son (I think he was 5 at the time) got the idea of the movement and capture for the pawn we added another piece until he learned how all of the pieces moved. My ex and I had taken a cheap plastic chess set and we painted the pieces. I wonder if he still has the set? I would love to photograph it. My pieces were very details. Shane’s were awesome, he was the black set and were very dark and fun.
    Your artwork is amazing and INSPIRING!
    xoxo k

    Reply
  28. Gina Avatar
    Gina

    I just hit 300 today, too but nothing near as cool and artful as this! Those roses and chess pieces made my day! Wishing you another 300 just as artful and interesting!

    Reply

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