Entries from: March 2012
Through Rose Colored Glasses
March 30th, 2012, Comments (22)
I'm thrilled to share that I have 5 pieces, including Lady Fall (seen in the invite above). in the upcoming show, Through Rose Colored Glasses, at The Gallery 9 in Culver City, California! The show opens on April 14th and runs through May 29th, so if you're in the area, do check it out!
Creative Every Day Theme for April: Language
March 27th, 2012, Comments (10)
At the end of each month I will announce the totally optional theme for the following month. For the month of April 2012, the theme will be Language.
As always, this month's theme for the Creative Every Day Challenge is totally optional. Use it if it inspires you, continue being creative every day in your own way if it doesn't, or do something in between. You can sign up for the 2012 Creative Every Day Challenge anytime. More info can be found here and the sign-up page is here.
I'll be posting about the theme throughout the month on the blog to help keep you inspired. You can use the posts here for jumping off points or interpret the theme in your own creative way. If you need some suggestions, here are a few ideas to get you started. You could:
- *Include writing in your native tongue or a foreign language in your work.
- *Let the origins of a word inspire you.
- *Write a poem and speak it out loud.
- *Use pages of a book in a mixed media piece.
- *Write a children's story.
- *Express an idea in the language you imagine an object (chair, tree, cloud) would speak if it could.
- *Try expressing yourself through the language of movement.
- *Let what you wear tell a story today.
How to use the CED themes:
If you're feeling creatively stuck or blocked at any point during the month, use the theme as a source of inspiration to get you moving. Feel free to focus on the theme in your creative activities for the entire month or as much as you'd like.
Using the theme is entirely optional for CED participants. Use it if it inspires you, ignore it if it doesn't. I'll be sharing posts throughout the month around the theme (among other things) to get you thinking about how to incorporate it into your life. I'd love to hear how you use the theme in your creative world.
And have fun with it!
Art is a language, an instrument of knowledge, an instrument of communication. ~Jean Dubuffet
Creative Every Day Check-In: March 26 – April 1
March 26th, 2012, Comments (19)
This weekly check-in post is a place for Creative Every Day Challenge participants to share their creative activities.
Join in the Challenge: You can now sign-up for the 2012 Challenge here!
Ways to share: Once you've signed up, you can leave a comment on this post and/or use the "Mr. Linky" widget below to link to a blog post(s) about your creative activities during the days of 3/26/12 - 4/1/12.
The widget below is an optional method of sharing your creativity that makes it easier for others to check out what you're up to. You can use it to link to a blog post (or posts) or flickr image during the week listed. Or if you have a bunch of posts and don't want to link to all of them, you can link to your main blog page once. Do it in a way that makes sense and is fun for you! If you're unsure about how to use the widget, check out the "How to use the Mr. Linky widget" section on the Creative Every Day Challenge page. (If you're reading this in a RSS reader or email subscription, you will not see the "Mr. Linky widget", so click on over to the blog to use it.) If the Mr. Linky widget is missing from this blog post, it's probably a problem with their server and it will come back as soon as it's fixed. You can always leave your link in the comments.
You can also take advantage of the great CED flickr group to post your images and see what others are up to. If you're on Twitter, you can use the hashtag #CED2012!
Theme: The (totally optional) theme for March is mixed-media which you can read more about here.
Happy Creating!
Collage is like a hall of mirrors. Every direction you look, you see something different and visually stimulating. ~Nita Leland
Dark Night
March 23rd, 2012, Comments (19)
Snuck in some art during yesterday and today's nap times and came up with this creation, "Dark Night." Going with the mixed-media theme, I used acrylic paints on watercolor paper to start, and later went into it with white and black inks. I had intended to do something different, but as often happens, once I get started, I see some shape in the paint and have to go with it!
Creative Every Day Check-In: March 19 – 25
March 19th, 2012, Comments (26)
This weekly check-in post is a place for Creative Every Day Challenge participants to share their creative activities.
Join in the Challenge: You can now sign-up for the 2012 Challenge here!
Ways to share: Once you've signed up, you can leave a comment on this post and/or use the "Mr. Linky" widget below to link to a blog post(s) about your creative activities during the days of 3/19/12 - 3/25/12.
The widget below is an optional method of sharing your creativity that makes it easier for others to check out what you're up to. You can use it to link to a blog post (or posts) or flickr image during the week listed. Or if you have a bunch of posts and don't want to link to all of them, you can link to your main blog page once. Do it in a way that makes sense and is fun for you! If you're unsure about how to use the widget, check out the "How to use the Mr. Linky widget" section on the Creative Every Day Challenge page. (If you're reading this in a RSS reader or email subscription, you will not see the "Mr. Linky widget", so click on over to the blog to use it.) If the Mr. Linky widget is missing from this blog post, it's probably a problem with their server and it will come back as soon as it's fixed. You can always leave your link in the comments.
You can also take advantage of the great CED flickr group to post your images and see what others are up to. If you're on Twitter, you can use the hashtag #CED2012!
Theme: The (totally optional) theme for March is mixed-media which you can read more about here.
Happy Creating!
I work with things left over from other things. ~Julian Schnabel
Mixed Media Tools
March 16th, 2012, Comments (18)
i get asked a lot about what tools I use to create my mixed media work, so I figured with the theme this month, now was a good time to share!
For paper, I turn to my collections of paper and also use scraps from my own work. The paper I've collected has cropped up over time. I've used old book pages, maps, architectural drawings, old photos, handmade papers, stamps, dress patterns, and other bits and pieces. I've picked up things from friends, from thrift shops, and flea markets. Something like a big architectural plan of a house can last a long time if I'm just using little bits of it at at a time! Rice paper or other handmade paper that I've drawn, written, stamped or printed on is also a great collage medium.
For the base, I've experimented with lots of different surfaces and right now, my favorite things to collage on are thick watercolor paper or wooden panels.
For glue, I like to use golden gel medium. I usually apply it with a plastic painting knife, which helps me to spread the glue out and then flatten the paper as I work. I also end up using my fingers to spread and smooth quite a bit.
For paint, I tend to use a lot of Golden fluid paints because they're a little thinner and allow the collage bits to show through (if I want them too!)
I love working with ink on top of collage as well (make sure the paint is very dry!) I tend to use micron pens or uniball signo white gel pens.
So tell me, what are your favorite mixed-media tools?
:::
Pieces above are: Dreaming of the Seven Sisters, Memory Cycles, and Silver Line.
Creative Every Day March 12 – 18
March 12th, 2012, Comments (26)
This weekly check-in post is a place for Creative Every Day Challenge participants to share their creative activities.
Join in the Challenge: You can now sign-up for the 2012 Challenge here!
Ways to share: Once you've signed up, you can leave a comment on this post and/or use the "Mr. Linky" widget below to link to a blog post(s) about your creative activities during the days of 3/12/12 - 3/18/12.
The widget below is an optional method of sharing your creativity that makes it easier for others to check out what you're up to. You can use it to link to a blog post (or posts) or flickr image during the week listed. Or if you have a bunch of posts and don't want to link to all of them, you can link to your main blog page once. Do it in a way that makes sense and is fun for you! If you're unsure about how to use the widget, check out the "How to use the Mr. Linky widget" section on the Creative Every Day Challenge page. (If you're reading this in a RSS reader or email subscription, you will not see the "Mr. Linky widget", so click on over to the blog to use it.) If the Mr. Linky widget is missing from this blog post, it's probably a problem with their server and it will come back as soon as it's fixed. You can always leave your link in the comments.
You can also take advantage of the great CED flickr group to post your images and see what others are up to. If you're on Twitter, you can use the hashtag #CED2012!
Theme: The (totally optional) theme for February is Night, which you can read more about here. The March theme will be up on Tuesday!
Happy Creating!
I love the printmaking aspect of using resists and transferring shapes with things such as manipulated cloth and threads, leaves, plastics, mosses, etc. ~Susan Prahl
Bird Hearts
March 7th, 2012, Comments (5)
One of my favorite ways to work in mixed-media lately is with paint and ink. I think it's partly the immediacy of it. Acrylic paint and ink dry fairly quickly and the ink part is not messy, too things that have become more important to me with a baby at home.
Speaking of making art with a baby at home, I recently did a guest post about how I fit in time to make art during my first year as a mom, which you can read here. It's part of a series about motherhood and creativity, with lots of great posts, so check it out!
Creative Every Day Check-In: March 5 – 11
March 5th, 2012, Comments (32)
This weekly check-in post is a place for Creative Every Day Challenge participants to share their creative activities.
Join in the Challenge: You can now sign-up for the 2012 Challenge here!
Ways to share: Once you've signed up, you can leave a comment on this post and/or use the "Mr. Linky" widget below to link to a blog post(s) about your creative activities during the days of 3/5/12 - 3/11/12.
The widget below is an optional method of sharing your creativity that makes it easier for others to check out what you're up to. You can use it to link to a blog post (or posts) or flickr image during the week listed. Or if you have a bunch of posts and don't want to link to all of them, you can link to your main blog page once. Do it in a way that makes sense and is fun for you! If you're unsure about how to use the widget, check out the "How to use the Mr. Linky widget" section on the Creative Every Day Challenge page. (If you're reading this in a RSS reader or email subscription, you will not see the "Mr. Linky widget", so click on over to the blog to use it.) If the Mr. Linky widget is missing from this blog post, it's probably a problem with their server and it will come back as soon as it's fixed. You can always leave your link in the comments.
You can also take advantage of the great CED flickr group to post your images and see what others are up to. If you're on Twitter, you can use the hashtag #CED2012!
Theme: The (totally optional) theme for February is Night, which you can read more about here. The March theme will be up on Tuesday!
Happy Creating!
I use all sorts of things to work with: old brooms, old sweaters, and all kinds of peculiar tools and materials... I paint to excite myself, and make something for myself. ~Francis Bacon
