Entries Tagged as: mixed-media
Winter Guest Post by Tammy Garcia
December 27th, 2011, Comments (2)
"I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again."
Lewis Carroll
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.}
Day 8 – Collecting Starfish
November 8th, 2011, Comments (20)
I started this piece early in the day, letting paint run together on a wet page. Then I let it sit out, looking at it occasionally while entertaining the baby during the day. After I put her to bed, I went into it with white pen, purple marker and a little more paint. The image that came surprised me, but I'm liking it. I think it was inspired by the miniature starfish in our fish tank that seem to multiply over night.
Day One: Night Mother, Work-In-Progress
November 1st, 2011, Comments (41)
For day one, I had my husband helping me out a bit during the day and was able to spend a little extra time painting. How nice! I had already completed the collage background for this piece, but I'm SO happy to have started painting the image I've had in my head since Annabelle was about a month old.
It has to do with the strange time that is the middle of the night when you're up constantly, nursing a newborn baby. It's like this whole other world. Kind of lonely, but kind of sacred.
I've still got more to do on this piece, but I really like the way it's going so far! I know that many days this month, all I'll be able to do is part of a piece, but as long as I'm creating every day, I'll be happy with that.
I hope everyone has had a beautiful start to Art Every Day Month! And even if you haven't, keep at it. It's a long month and every day is a new beginning.
The Spirit That Moves Me
October 7th, 2011, Comments (14)
I've been working for a while now on a piece for Kristen's blog, "The Spirit That Moves Me." It took a bit longer than I may have wanted, mainly because I don't have many long stretches for art with Annabelle's (lack of) sleep schedule. But in the end, I told Kristen, that it happened just the way it was meant to because when I was able to work on it, I felt like I tapped into something deeper, some bit of magic and intuition that brought it all together. I love when those moments happen in art-making! The process is a lot like Kristen's blog name actually. How fitting!
Those are the moments you can't plan for, you can only provide the opportunity by showing up and going with the flow. Creating art for someone else is always tricky, partly because the way I work includes a lot of going with the flow, something you can't really describe ahead of time. It's hard to know exactly what the end result will be. Fortunately, Kristen was very patient with the time it took, the way I worked, and happily she is pleased with the result. Hoorah!
It seemed appropriate to share it during this month of autumn because there is an Fall feel to it, maybe something about the color. I do love the colors of fall.
p.s. If you haven't already, be sure to sign up for Goddess Leonie's (totally free!) World's Biggest Summit! There are so many inspiring speakers! My video about living the Creative Every Day life was posted yesterday (day 6), but you can view it anytime once you've signed up.
Family History in Your Art
September 8th, 2011, Comments (7)
This month's theme called to mind some of the pieces I've done relating to my own family history. While working intuitively and learning about encaustic art, I created a piece called "Memory Tree." It related to my family tree and my grandmother who at the time was suffering from Alzheimer's. She has since passed away.
I later created other memory trees in encaustic. I loved the medium, but didn't love the fumes (they gave me a headache), so I had to stop.
Family history, stories, memories, loss, and joys can be such a powerful place to draw from in your creations. What sort of family history could you pull from for your own creations?
p.s. My mother and sister are walking to raise funds for Alzheimer's research this fall in memory of my grandmother. If you feel called to, you can help support the cause here. Thank you!
Work in Progress with Red
August 24th, 2011, Comments (2)
I got started on a mixed media piece yesterday, sneaking in some art time after my little girl fell asleep. She's not sleeping through the night yet, but she's sleeping a good chunk (usually 3-5 hours, once it was 7.5!) for the first part of the night, which if I'm not exhausted, gives me a bit of time to create. I'll take it!
This is just a piece of the collage, which will be a background for the painting that will soon be going down on top of it. It's made up of handmade paper, bits of rice paper I'd stamped with leaves, stamps, or stencils, old book pages, and blueprints. The splashes of red fit oh so nicely into the red theme. Ah, it felt so good to play with collage again!
Painting with Blue
July 13th, 2011, Comments (17)
Last week, I got a chance to do a little painting during one of A's naps. You can see her video monitor hanging out with my paints above. I didn't have a chance to get started on the painting I sketched out, but I did have time to create this small painting, a gift for someone that is now on it's way!
I didn't take a picture of it, because it's hard to capture in a photo, but I covered the end product with Golden's glass bead gel, which when dry, makes a sparkly surface that you can see through. Very fun!
Anyone else been painting with blues?
We Are All Made of Stars
January 12th, 2011, Comments (46)
I was just full of images today relating to the Cosmos theme and I'm glad I was able to get one of them out. I was thinking of Carl Sagan's quote about us all being made of "star stuff" and also singing Moby's song in my head as I painted it.
Of course, since I've got my baby on my mind, this worked it's way into the piece too, with a pregnant figure and a spiral of stars at the belly. Oh, I love that spiral!
This piece is about 5"x10" with acrylic and ink on canvas paper.
Night Dance
January 3rd, 2011, Comments (15)
If you're looking for this week's check-in, I posted it a little early, on Saturday, because I thought it would be nice to have a check-in begin at the start of the year. After this week, the check-ins will return to Mondays.
I'm loving the excitement and enthusiasm around the Creative Every Day Challenge this year (you can sign up anytime!) Keep on sharing, encouraging each other, and creating freely. It's going to be a great year!
With the piece to the right, I started playing intuitively with a piece of 6"x12" canvas paper that I wet, then dripped magenta and blank ink onto it, letting it spread and move on the page. As I worked, I thought about the cosmos theme and it felt like I was creating a mini milky way.
I let that dry and then came back to it later. I saw a figure dancing, so I brought that out with a bit of acrylic paint. I put on a podcast about prenatal dance while I painted, so that was great background for this pink dancer!
Red at Night
November 28th, 2010, Comments (32)
For day 28 of Art Every Day Month, I was back in my studio and feeling like playing. I worked with fluid acrylics on wet watercolor paper, sprinkled on some salt, and then let it dry. I looked for an image in it after, and then painted and drew in the figure, moon, and stars. It's about 7"x9."
