Another fun way to explore language in your art is through telling stories. I was on the Subway a few years back, when I had an idea. I was watching the people in passing Subway cars thinking how each person I saw had their own story, how each person had a dialogue running through their heads. And all these simultaneous stories were just whooshing by each other at fast speeds all day long. I wanted to capture that in art and so the Subway Stories series was born.

In the background, I'd collage subway maps and train station times along with bits of phone book pages. Over that I would paint a subway scene. And then in each figure I would write a bit of their story through the dialogue I imagined was running through their heads.

How do you tell stories through your art?

:::

Art above is Green Line, Park Street, and St. Mary's, all named after Boston T stops.
 

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!

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.

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!

At the end of each month I will announce the totally optional theme for the following month. For the month of March 2012, the theme will be Mixed-Media.

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.  I'm thinking of mixed-media in terms of the style of art, but also in the broadest sense of mixing medias. Get creative with that! If you need some suggestions, here are a few ideas to get you started. You could:

• *Create art in a mixed-media style.
• *Write words with condiments across a plate and serve dinner on it.
• *Create a design with a mix of items from nature and art supplies.
• *Film yourself at work and share it.
• *Put on a piece of exciting music and draw the way the music makes you feel.
• *Create a collage of items found around your house (junk mail, screws, keys, bits of yarn.)
• *Start with a collage base, paint on top of that, then draw and write on top of that.
• *If you've never tried it before, express yourself in the pages of an art journal.

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!

Paint with whatever material you please – with pipes, postage stamps, postcards or playing cards, painted paper, or newspapers. ~Guillaume Apollinaire

p.s. The art above is adapted from my piece, Geese Flying Over, available here.

I had a lot of fun making a little Valentine for the hubster with Miss Annabelle. I traced her hand and doodled some hearts on tracing paper. And she added her own touches with some dots and lines. So sweet! Later I took the tracing paper, taped it over some colored paper and wrote in a Valentine's Day message. Writing it out in chunky pastels, I unintentionally made it look like Annabelle wrote the message herself. haha! He loved it.

This week, I've been working in bits in pieces on a larger piece that's been a work-in-progress for a long time. And it still is! It's been more challenging to work on larger pieces because I don't have big chunks of time right now, but it's coming along. I had the original idea back when Annabelle was a newborn. Up late at night, I had the image pop into my head of a woman nursing in the middle of the forest, surrounded by night animals and trees. In the summer, I started the collage background. During Art Every Day Month, I dove into it. And then I set it aside for a while. I'd love to finish it up during this month of Night! We'll see if I can wrap it up. I don't want to rush it either, but it's getting closer!

I started this piece at the Intuitive Ink workshop I taught last weekend at the wish studio (so fun!) Today, I went back into it and saw a woman with stars in her hair and began to draw that out. Annabelle saw me drawing and wanted to take a closer look.

And here's a snapshot of the workshop in action. I'm going to be teaching something else at the wish studio, so if you're in the area, stay tuned And if you're not in the area, I am creating an online version of the workshop to release sometime this Spring!

Have you chosen a word for the year? Something to focus on? I'm not much of a resolution person, but I do like choosing a word to focus on. It's been one of my practices for the last few years. One year, I chose the word Leap, another year was Commit, last year was Metamorphosis. Each year, I make some kind of art to go along with my word and hang it where I can see, where it can serve as a reminder as the months pass by.

This year, I pondered for a long time before choosing the word Love. I want to remember to love all the little and big moments throughout the year, to infuse all I do with love, to send love out to those I meet, and to put love into what I do. And I want to also remember to love myself because this being a new mommy thing is hard work!

Do you have a word for the year or some other ritual for beginning a new year?

If you're looking for another way to dive into a new year, I highly recommend Goddess Leonie's 2012 workbook!

one of my favorite things about looking ahead to the beginning of a new year is cracking open a brand new planner! over the years i have tried every digital and paper planner on the planet (i've even tried creating my own planner from scratch) searching for just the right layout and tool. it seemed that whenever i love the pretty cover or the size, the interior pages weren't laid out quite right. either the design was too structured with not enough to play and dream, or the design is just too simple and did not allow for room to compartmentalize all the different areas of my life.

a couple of years ago, i found and fell in love with Planner Pad, and this baby changed my organizational life! it's funnel-down format is perfect for creative projects from idea to implementation, with lots of room to personalize it to fit the structure of your life. go check it out! seriously.

the one thing this planner does not have is a pretty cover. so i wanted to devise a fun and easy way to make it look like Me, and this simple makeover is what i came up with. really you can use this for any planner or journal you want to redesign. it works like magic! you will need: your planner 1 sheet of plain white sticker paper decorative scissors your favorite collaging supplies a glue stick regualar scissors your favorite matte or gloss medium (optional: a corner round punch) the steps are so simple! first, trim the sticker paper to fit 1/4 of an inch within the size of your planner cover. to decorate the left margin i trimmed off another 1/2 inch with decorative scissors (or trim to whatever size you need to cover the ugly writing or whatever is on the cover of your planner). next i used a corner rounder to round the two right side corners just for a better fit and cleaner look.

once your background paper is ready, you can collage away on top of it! use magazine clippings, postcards, vintage paper, or whatever else you have handy to make the cover really reflect you! you could even decorate your cover to reflect the word you chose for your word of the year! have fun with it, and be sure to use plenty of glue! i used little bits from lots of goodies sent to me by wishstudio friends finally add a coat or two of finishing medium and let it dry. you may need to add a new coat once or twice throughout the year if things start to peel.

when your cover is all done, all you have to do is peel the backing off the sticker paper and adhere it to the front of your planner like one giant personalized sticker! voilla! so fun and easy. i love having the perfect planner and a beautiful cover. stay tuned to the wishstudio where i will post my new 2012 planner!

my planner from 2011

::::

mindy tsonas is the creative director and hostess of the Wishstudio Co-op, an online and local creativity studio in the Boston area. she is a lifestyle designer, a heart-centered artist and a mother of two boys. a dreamy visionary and contemporary bohemian, she loves to craft unique ideas that bring people together and inspire them to embrace the very best in themselves and in one another. with passion and creativity, she believes in your stories and the everyday magic of how life and love connect us all.

white art journal page, 9x12" cardboard, gesso, fluid acrylics, neocolors, collage

I'm honored to guest post on Creative Every Day! Leah's CED and AEDM are creative anchors for me each year, and I so appreciate all of the energy that Leah puts into these challenges.

The idea behind this loose art journal page is to give the feel of waiting for the bus on a cold, cloudy winter afternoon in Pennsylvania. At the time, I worked as an auditor in a costume of charcoal grey suits, silk scarves tied just so, small gold hoop earrings and a gold brooch. A brown leather briefcase overflowing with audit papers and red + blue pencils and flowcharting stencils. Standing on slushy, sludgy sidewalks with nothing to do but watch the world go by. Before cell phones and angry birds, before twitter, before the ipod. Before I created art. Before I was entranced by a camera lens. Waiting to hop on the over-heated bus, to loosen my scarf and tap my feet in the slushy puddles on the floor. Looking out at department store windows with Christmas displays of miniature trains. It was all so real, so gritty, my normal.

waiting for the bus
white ear muffs
charcoal suit
cloudy streets
silver buildings
store windows
reflect cars
whizzing by
and my bus
trudges up
and the
slushy puddles
under my boots

{you can find me at daisy yellow}

{I'm Tammy Garcia, mom of two; a self-taught artist and photographer living in Texas. I paint in acrylics and watercolors, art journal, make stitched journals and draw mandalas, You'll find quirky inspiration at Daisy Yellow, including Art Journaling 101, Creative Experiments, Kick-Start Journal Prompts and a fiesta of other creative fun.}