Entries Tagged as: collage
Home of the Brave
July 12th, 2008, Comments (8)
Above is a work in progress, another in the series of "Subway Stories" pieces. This one happens to be a commissioned piece. Commissioned pieces always take longer than I expect that they will and I think this is partly out of fear. I'm afraid the buyer will be disappointed. Once I get started and do the piece, I always feel better and so far the folks who have purchased commissioned pieces from me have been happy. Yet, the same fear pops up each time, albeit less and less each time. This time wasn't too bad. But getting over the hump of fear was my small act of bravery for the day, as I've quietly started doing Jessie's Be Brave project. My brave act of the day is mentioning that I'm doing it here (because in sharing that I am in fact doing it, makes it quite clear to myself that I'm really doing it!)
Last year when Jessie started the Be Brave project, I was in the midst of wedding planning craziness (I got married in the same month that it started) and felt like it was too much to take on, but I really and truly admired what Jessie and others who joined her were doing and I could readily see the benefits of doing something brave each day. In the past year, I've had this in my mind, trying to do at least one small act, no matter how minuscule, that scared me. Doing this gave me such a great feeling of accomplishment. The idea also fit in well with my word for the year, "now," as in the time is now, there's only now, do it now.
This month, when I saw Olivia re-visiting the project it re-sparked my interest and then when I saw Jessie re-newing her commitment to it, I decided that the time is now! Jessie is going to start later in the month, which I considered doing, but she also encourages any one interested, to make their own rules and make it work for them. So for me, this project will be my reminder to push my boundaries and perceived limitations, to be brave and bold. I give myself permission to make my daily act as small as I'd like or as big as I'd like. And I may take some days off of thinking about it (maybe weekends?) I will talk about my brave acts where I feel it's appropriate and some I will keep to myself. I'm shooting for a month (I started on the 10th) and then I'll decide where I want to go from there.
I've had some really fun synchronicities over the past few days and other things to share, but the porch is calling me and so it's time to kick my feet up with a good book which just happens to be titled, Synchronicity by Carl Jung. Have a wonderfully creative weekend!
p.s. Did you know Project Runway starts up again next week?? Yay!
Collaging a Mystery
July 7th, 2008, Comments (13)
I think mixing it up with projects for pure pleasure is so important. So when I read about the 6x6 collage exchange on flickr, I decided to join in. I ended up pairing up with Shelley who was in a class with me at Artfest! The idea of the exchange is that you put together a packet of collage materials, ship it off to your partner, and then you make six 6"x6" collages with the materials you receive. You can check out what other folks have done with the challenge here. Above is "Cutting Line," the first of the collages I did with the materials that Shelley sent me. In this one I used two black and white photos, a strip of flim, and a piece of a dress pattern. It had a dark feeling to it which made me want to tell a story, a sort of murder mystery in images.
Although, I didn't flush out the story and I kind of let it come together intuitively, I sensed that it was a story about a model/actress who came to Hollywood to make it big. She does well, travels the world, and has quite a following, including an obsessed photographer/killer. Spooky!
Putting together these images, reminded me of something I used to love to do as a kid, write mysteries. I remember sitting inside on hot summer days and writing out spooky stories until I spooked myself. With the neighborhood kids, I used to also write plays, make up games, and make videos of mysteries that were a take off on the movie, Clue. I'd kind of forgotten about this interest until discussions with Julia brought up my love of Nancy Drew books as a kid.
Above is a detail of one of the 6 collages, "Her Dress was from Paris" and a detail of another piece, it was in the stars, is below.
It was fun cropping out some details and making some mini collage images out of them. And I enjoyed imagining this spooky story through images instead of words. You can check out all the final images and detail shots in my flickr photostream. Perhaps you'll see a different story in them! One more detail pic below from blindfolded.
Memories and Other Business
June 4th, 2008, Comments (7)
Tonight I'm staying at my mom's and watching my youngest brother. It was weird driving back through the town I grew up in (my parents live in different, but close by towns now.) It sent me through a fast wave of memories: playing in that playground, first dates, the bar in next town, the woods that I trekked through so many times that I knew them like a second language. It was a weird sense of nostalgia along with a feeling of having moved on. Back at the house, little brother showed off his drumming skills, which I could hear quite well from the basement, where he played, to the kitchen where I cooked up some dinner.
Last night I had a friend over for dinner and wine and we sat out on the porch with the hubster and chatted about weddings (mine, eight months ago now and I'm just getting around to picking the pictures for our album) and hers coming up in two months, old roommates, family, and life in general. It was lovely, but by the end of the night I was completely spent. This week is turning out to be fairly busy, one thing after another, and an exciting getaway weekend to visit a couple gal pals coming up. Life is good.
I forgot to bring my camera out here with me, so for now I've shared a picture of "Memory Cycles", which is on sale for the month of June. You can buy the original or prints right here. And while you're there, sign up for the newsletter and you'll be eligible to win a free print every month!
While I'm on the subject of business, I've started to delve into The Boss of You (great so far) and it has me thinking a lot about the direction of my art which is feeling a bit all over the place and unfocused at the moment. Or rather, it's not my art that is this way, but me. Doing the exercises in the book, and writing out my vision has been helpful, but I'm a bit unsure about where to direct my energies. So the book has me thinking and lots of questions are bubbling up: Should I focus my energy on one area? Do I need a niche? What would it be? Along with all this, I'm still working on the book on creativity that I began during the winter. It's been changing form slightly which has me writing a lot and re-thinking, but I've not yet developed how I want it to come together. It's progressing though.
Tomorrow I drop off some work at Oak in Boston and I'm very excited to see this new space. I've felt oddly nervous about dropping off my artwork there. Actually, whenever I drop off my work somewhere, I have this feeling of wanting to drop it and run for the hills. Need to take a breath and get past my introverted ways for things like this. Goodness, this is part of the reason I love blogging. Such a great thing for all the introverts of the world. But I really do need to find some way of networking/socializing with other creative types that feels good for me. Some kind of small support group for other women business owners would be fabulous. That might be a fabulous way to get some focus. I'll put the intention to find this group out there and see what comes.
Update: Forgot to mention, the authors of The Boss of You have a blog. And today they provided a link to the Trans-Canadian Etsy Team blog where they're hosting a giveaway of the book (for residents of Canada and the U.S. only.) Sweet deal!
Re-Thinking Success
May 30th, 2008, Comments (17)
It's all too easy to focus on the rejections in life and forget the successes. Why is that? Are we afraid of being considered a show off, too big for our britches, self-absorbed, annoyingly happy? It's funny the ways our egos will bring us down by saying things like: the higher you go the harder you'll fall, who do you think you are? It Reminds me of this wonderful quote:
Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate,
but that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God within
us.
It is not just in some; it is in everyone.
And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give
other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
-Marianne Williamson
I do think it's important to share when we're struggling sometimes, if only to release it and move on, I think it's equally important to share when we're soaring. In the past, I might have felt jealous when I read about the success of others, but I've learned along the way, that there truly is enough success out there for everyone. So here are my thoughts about re-thinking success. I'd love to hear yours!
How to Re-Think Success:
Define it: What does success mean? It's different for everyone and so it's important to define it for yourself. Keep a list of successes small and large that you want to attain in your life and check back on them periodically to see where you're at. Most importantly, when you do check something off that list, celebrate it! I know that I forget to do this quite often. I'll brush one success off as no big thing, automatically thinking on the next thing I haven't accomplished yet. But it's important to revel in your successes, no matter how small.
Re-Focus: At the end of the day, instead of focusing on what you didn't do, focus on what you did accomplish. Write it down! There's something oddly satisfying about writing your "already done" list. Instead of knocking yourself down for the things you didn't check off your to-do list and feeling crappy about it (and yourself), you can instead feel great about what you did do. It's so much easier to continue forward when you're focusing on your accomplishments. Beating yourself up, tends to lead to a vicious cycle of feeling bad, procrastinating, and then feeling worse. Don't go there. Feel great about what you do and keep growing!
Live it: You know that expression, "Fake it til you make it"? There is something to it. Acting as if you've already attained your goals is a powerful way to move into them. This falls into the "Law of Attraction" category I suppose. I haven't read "The Secret", but I've read about the topic of attraction in other places, like Martha Beck's Steering by Starlight and I've had my own experiences of it along the way. My feelings about it are a little hard to put words to, but what I have grasped is that when you can imagine that feeling you'd have if whatever goal or success you want has come true and then live in that frame of mind, wonderful things can happen. When you act from a place of love and success, success comes to you. When you act from a place of lack and desperation, that's what comes.
Celebrate it: It's wonderful to not only celebrate your own success, but also the success of others. When your friends have success, join them in celebrating. The good mojo and inspiration will soak into your skin and light you up. My friend Jessie is rocking and rolling with her new business and I'm so thrilled for her. And as a side benefit, her success gets me so excited about my own work!
Do it: There's something quite powerful about doing what you love. It shows. It inspires other people. Just by doing it, whatever it is, you are a success. There's a wonderful sense of accomplishment and self-respect that comes from working on those projects big and small that make you glow with joy. Celebrate that joy. Celebrate the success that you are. Let your own light shine.
In the interest of sharing success, one of my greatest joys is hearing from someone who has felt some sort of connection to my art. That happened yesterday when I sold a print of Betwixt and Between (above) from my etsy store and I got a super sweet message from the buyer about how she'd found my art and what it meant to her. What a wonderful treat that is. (And a good reminder to let sellers of art or other goods know why you purchased their products. It means a lot!)
Stretch Yo-Self!
May 24th, 2008, Comments (7)
I worked on the Penelope's Web painting some more tonight, but it's not done quite yet. While waiting for parts to dry, I felt like doing something else. I was inspired by Jen Worden's "Stretch Yourself" Challenge which I've wanted to play along with, but never got around to doing before now. Jen recently changed the challenge from a weekly challenge to a monthly one. For the month of May (which isn't over yet, so give it a shot!), the challenge is to create a triptych using some kind of tape, some object from your junk drawer, and a word.
I used 3 postcards (each 3.5"x5.5") as the base and then used paper collage, ink, marker, paint on top of that. I chose two items (a fake coin and sailboat charm) and wrote the word "Risk" on the center card. I didn't do too much planning and let it kind of flow out. I didn't choose the word until after the collage came together as it seemed to fit. Plus it was the word I related to my dream lynx, so it seemed especially appropriate.
The hubster is out of town on business, so I had an evening to spread out with my art supplies and watch Harry Potter. hehe. The cats and I had a blast. What can I say, that's my idea of a perfect night. Simple pleasures.
The synchronicities have continued today which has been very cool. At the crack of dawn, I'll be up to welcome a delivery of some new furniture and then I think I'll be going directly back to sleep. Well, since I do need to get up early, I should definitely be hitting the hay about now. Sweet dreams. I hope your weekend is a wonderfully creative one!
One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. -Andre Gide
Art & Inspiration
May 21st, 2008, Comments (11)
Here's some of the art I've been working away on the last couple days. Penelope's Web (above, still in progress) is coming along nicely. It's a bit hard to see here, but the ocean has maps collaged into it and there are objects in the sea (a boat and an octopus). The latest bit of painting has been done on the easel, which is different because it seems like I've been painting everything on a table lately. Much of this piece was done on a table, but I got the feeling like the easel would be helpful and put it to use. Having organized my stuff a little better has also allowed access to my easel which is often covered with artwork. I would love to have one of those wooden racks for stacking larger canvases as there's only so much wall space I have to work with and things tend to get damaged when propped against the wall.
Above is the latest on the encaustic piece (Little Boy Blue, 6"x6"), I started in the weekend workshop. I used some oil paint stick over the lines I'd carved to make the silhouette a little more clear. After wiping away the excess, I think it did the trick. I had other ideas in mind, but I'm liking the simplicity, so I think I'll be leaving it as is.
I love making art.
Some inspiration linkage for you:
- Marisa of Creative Thursday has done it again with another fabulous podcast about art & money. So much great information and told in such a supportive way, it's sure to inspire you!
- Floating tea cups (in her pool!!) from the lovely Andrea.
- A beautiful pendant from Amanda of Hidden Art.
Penelope in Progress and Crafty Goodness
May 7th, 2008, Comments (12)
Today I felt really good. I got some exercise in, got some random tasks accomplished, did a little painting, and a little soul searching. The weather was fabulous too! This is a painting I'm working on. I think it's 20"x20". I started out by doing a couple magazine transfers with Golden's soft gel gloss. The transfers never come out perfect, but I kinda like that. I've never put a face image on a painting like this, but I liked the length in her neck, so I'm going to paint over the image to some degree to keep the shape, but make it my own. I've been experimenting with mixing paint with the gloss medium as well which has been fun. It makes the drying time longer, which is sometimes frustrating for me because I like to work fast. But I also like the glazes and thickness you can get.
With the bigger canvases, it takes me longer to finish a piece (duh!) 
, so I figured you might like to see a work in progress. The colors made me think of summer and Greece and as the piece developed, the woman became Penelope, the title became, "Penelope's Web." Now, things could change. The direction of a painting often changes mid-stream. I like to give it the opportunity to do that. But usually when the name of a piece pops into my head that's what it will be. We'll see.
I'm spending the next two nights at my old job to make a little extra money. I was a nanny for this family for 6 years and the younger child is graduating from high school next month. Crazy! When I first met her she was only ten. Eek! Anyways, it's great to see her, much more fun when I don't have to be here every day, and my main job is simply to be here as an adult presence. That's easy enough.
Yesterday, wrapping up the baby gift, I did a little crafty recycling project to get it ready to go. I used an old paper grocery bag and cut it up to make one big flat piece of craft paper. On the non printed side I used two different sizes of swirl stamps to decorate it. Then I wrapped up the gift in the printed paper, taped it up with some purty printed packing tape, and bingo-bango, a fun package ready to go to Colorado.
It reminded me of covering my school books with paper bags in high school. Man, I used to doodle all over those things! I read somewhere that some people don't buy wrapping paper, but just use craft paper that they decorate themselves. If you've got paper bags at home that just might be the way to go. I'm sure you could make something far prettier than what I created above. Hehe. Check out how great blueprint pages can look as wrapping paper!!
Time to wind down for sleeping. Night, night.
Lady of the Lake
May 2nd, 2008, Comments (18)
So this is the painting I've been working on the last couple days. I believe it's done although I still need to paint the sides. I'm so happy with it though! It came straight from my intuition as I collaged, did transfers and painted. One thing led to another. The face came in because an image of birds I had transferred onto the canvas (using soft gel gloss medium) was in the shape of a face. I loved the idea of a face made up of birds, so I went with that. As the painting progressed, I noticed that a bit of gel had taken the shape of a feather on the woman's arm, so I drew that in.
I love how her face was just there, wanting to be pulled out. I drew in two other birds at the end that matched the type of birds in her face. And from the beginning, I've been calling her "Lady of the Lake," so that will be her name. She's 18"x18" on gallery wrapped canvas with acrylic and collaged papers (that mostly got covered up.) As for what it means and where it was coming from, I'm not sure yet. These things bubble up from my subconscious. I do know that birds are messengers for me. But I like to also leave things open for others to interpret and find their own meaning there.
It was nice to work a little bigger again. It's been a while it seems. I've felt somewhat limited by my space, but since I've moved some things out and re-organized a bit, things have felt more conducive to working a little larger. Plus, I got a whole pile of canvases real cheap from an artist who was moving to France and unloading their studio. I really wanted the ikea flat file unit, but the canvases were a fantastic bonus and now I'm very glad to have them.
It got so chilly here this week! After a week of summer-like weather, it's a bit of a shock even though we knew that those warm temps couldn't last. Time for some tea with honey, me thinks.
p.s. Have you seen Christine Mason Miller's new book, Ordinary Sparkling Moments? You can get a sneak peek here (go to the book link at the top of the page) and pre-order it on her website. From what I've seen, it looks simply gorgeous. There are only going to be 200 copies made, so you might just want to reserve your copy straight away. Her book will be debuted at Squam Arts Workshops (which I'm so bummed I can't be at...stupid weddings!)
p.p.s. (or is it p.s.s?, I can't remember.) Thanks so much for the well wishes. I'm feeling much better today. Much less clogged and no dizziness to speak of. Hopefully it was a one time thing.
Harumph!
May 1st, 2008, Comments (6)
This is Scragli (Scrag-lee with the accent on the lee), who the hubster and I named on our trip to Greece a few years ago. This picture cracked us up so much, that he's forever honored in a black and white pic on our living room wall. Scragli was an incredibly picky cat who had no interest in the cat food that we brought to the kitties living around the hubster's family's home. He would only eat people food that the hubster's uncle would serve to him (can't say that I blame him there.) He had the funniest meow. You can probably imagine what it sounded like just from looking at him...much like a cranky old man would sound like if he was a cat.
I was definitely feeling a bit like Scragli this morning. I felt dizzy again last night (nowhere near as sick as before, but still yucky) and then my laptop died on me. I have to take it in again (the second time in the last couple months) to get fixed and I'm afraid this time I'll have to start over. Fortunately, I've backed up most of my files except for the most recent stuff in the last week. But geez louise, how annoying!
The hubster started something with our cat Sasha who loves to complain. She has the whiniest meow you'll ever hear. He started telling her that when she meowed he was going to roll her over. So when she howled in complaint, he would softly push her onto her back and rub her belly. It was pretty funny. Earlier in the week, the hubster was feeling very cranky over some meetings he had to go to and I suggested that he needed to get rolled over. Hehe. Well, this morning, I could have used some rolling over.
The crankiness is passing and I'm working on a pretty painting that I'm enjoying thoroughly. Lots of layers, transfers and glossy glazes. I completely let this one come from my intuition which can be scary to do on a larger canvas (it's 18"x18"), but it's coming along nicely so far. I'll share some pics soon along with some doodles from my sketchbook.
And now I'm off to pick up my art from the coffeehouse show and then take my computer to the doctor. Things are looking up. Sadie just brought me her Space Ghost toy in her mouth and the sun is out. Looking forward to a sunny drive. I've got paint and glue on my hands. Life is good.
Blooming
April 18th, 2008, Comments (13)
Art journal pages. Another scribbled intuitive drawing and a collage with some writing on it that says, "everything outside is blooming. i want to bloom too." Speaking of blooming...here are those lovely ranunculus flowers I mentioned yesterday.
I worked on a small encaustic painting today. It was so gorgeous out that I brought my encaustic tools out onto the porch and put this together with wax, tissue paper, and textured paper for the two crows on a 6"x6" panel. It was inspired by a photo I took while at Artfest.
I started using an old iron with the encaustics and like it much better than the hot air gun. Tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day and I plan to take advantage.
I hope you all have a wonderfully creative weekend!
If you needs some inspiration, check out what these Creative Every Day participants have been up to!
- Hanna has been making some beautiful stencils, one of them was one of the coolest happy accidents I've seen in awhile!
- Valerie has made a gorgeous box out of coasters.
- Cris has a lovely painting in progress of sheep in a field.
- Mrs. Pivec has a stunning mixed-media piece that sings spring.
And there's so much more to see. Go take a gander at what people are up to!
