Entries Tagged as: mixed-media
Fall Landscape
November 2nd, 2010, Comments (21)
Here's my art for day 2 of Art Every Day Month. I had already started the base collage (you can see what it looked like here.) I stared at the collage for a while this morning and began to see a landscape when I turned it on its side. So, I used acrylic to bring out the treescape I saw. Feels very fall to me! It's about 14"x10" on paper.
Fall Collage
October 22nd, 2010, Comments (10)
I've collaged together some rice paper prints of leaves and stamps that I made while in Judy Wise's class at Squam. Rice paper collages so beautifully! I plan to work with this image more, painting and/or drawing on top of it once it's dry. It definitely feels like fall and fits right in with the earth theme.
By the way, make sure the top on giant containers of gel medium are closed before you carry them around. Yikes! What a mess! Thankfully, I couldn't help but laugh, scrape up what I could salvage and clean up the rest.
Two quick things:
1. Today, I have a video up at SPRING, all about creativity, cycles and the beautiful community of Art Every Day Month. If you haven't checked out SPRING, please do. It's full of inspiration and this month the focus is all about creativity!
2. Art Every Day Month is right around the corner. It's a low pressure challenge that draws a great group of creatives every year. Your daily art could be jewelry, knitting, cooking, collage, drawing, anything else you can dream up or a great mix of lots of creative activities. I'll write more about it in the coming week, but you can read all about the process here and sign-up here.
And if you want to join in, but would like a little extra support, inspiration, and daily prompts to keep you going, you can sign up for the Art Every Day Month Survival Guide here.
Traveling with Uncertainty
October 7th, 2010, Comments (15)
I did this piece recently to submit for one of Patti Digh's latest books. It was inspired by an essay she'd written about dealing with uncertainty and stepping bravely into the unknown, something I find quite difficult in some ways and quite exhilarating in others. Just now, this piece makes me think of the daring decision I made at the age of 15 to be an exchange student and live with a family in Madrid for a month. What a scary and mind-opening experience it was! It certainly took a leap of faith to do, but I have no regrets about it.
And then thinking about the earth theme, I'm curious about the places you've traveled to, whether that be to a new part of town or an exotic location. What brave steps did you take to go somewhere new and what effect did it have on you? What kind of art might that inspire in you?
By the way, I received Patti Digh's Creative is a Verb in the mail and it's beautiful! Chock full of gorgeous art and inspiring words. Patti is amazing. I've got a piece in the book as well, it's this piece and it's on page x. I love that's it's opposite this quote: "Don't apologize for who you are or the art you create" - C.J. Rider
p.s. I'm working on the Art Every Day Month sign-up page and hope to have it ready to go shortly!
p.p.s. The piece above, "The Unknown," is 11"x14" with collage and acrylic on wood.
Playing with Fire
August 20th, 2010, Comments (14)
With the fire theme in mind, I had the inspiration to play with some red yarn on paper. I really didn't have a plan in mind, just wanted to play. I used some matte medium to hold the swirls and curls in place. After it dried, I thought I saw a few different images in it, which I brought out in paint until this tree emerged. Fun!
I enjoyed doing it although, I did not like the way the yarn felt on my fingers when coated in matte medium. Ick!
Hope you all have a magnificent weekend!
Fire and Water
August 12th, 2010, Comments (14)
I'm a total water person. I'm soothed by the sounds of water, blue is my favorite color, and my sign is Cancer (a water sign), so it's an interesting challenge to focus on fire this month. As I was working on the piece above, a play between reds and blues, I received my weekly horoscope email from Rob Brezsny, which reads:
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Here's a thought from the Cancerian
philosopher Gaston Bachelard: "He who listens to the singing of the
stream cannot be expected to understand the one who hears the singing
of the flame: They do not speak the same language." While I mostly agree
with that poetic formulation, I think you're about to be a temporary
exception to the rule. Normally you are acutely attuned to the singing of
the stream; your skill at reading its nuances are supreme among the
zodiac. But I expect that in the coming days, you will not only have the
power to appreciate the song of the fire; you'll even be able to empathize
with and understand people who are entranced by the song of the fire.
How perfect is that?
When I read the horoscope, there was just blue below and red above. After reading it, I drew in the tree which intertwines the two. Are you resistant to firey natures? How do you bridge the gap?
Can’t start a fire without a Spark…
August 3rd, 2010, Comments (17)
I woke up with that line in my head, part of a Bruce Springsteen song. How true! And what a fitting way to start the month of Fire, talking about what sparks our imagination, what fires us up creatively, the ways small and large that we move from idea to creation.
Just the way that I woke up with this song in my head is a good example of where my ideas come from. The hypnagogic state, that fuzzy land between sleep and being awake, where the mind is more open and ideas often come fast and furious. I love to keep some paper and pens on my nightstand so that I can jot them down while half asleep, because sometimes I will remember the ideas and other times, they slip away as I'm waking up.
Bits of song, dream images, short phrases, little bits of shadow, and memory will often be the spark behind an idea that leads to a creation. A spark is just the starting point. It won't always develop the way it first began, just like a fire won't always spread the way you expect. I like that bit of surprise that happens as an idea transitions from spark to form. But it's also just interesting to see where ideas come from. Sometimes the most unexpected places, like the shape of a leaf or the color combination on a billboard. And sometimes ideas seem to come out of nowhere.
Where do your sparks of inspiration come from?
Pay special attention this month, catch them as they come like the girl in "Catching Stars" above, and see which sparks become full fires!
Tree of Life
July 20th, 2010, Comments (16)
Here's what the layers painting became, a tree of life, drawn with ink over the layers of paint.
Last night the hubster and I watched an installment of Through the Wormhole, a program on the Science Channel, narrated by Morgan Freeman. The program was all about how life began on earth and it was fascinating. Life is truly miraculous. In the program, they talked about the tree of life and how all living things on earth are connected. After awhile, it all starts to blow your mind!
Intuition amongst the Trees
May 11th, 2010, Comments (22)
One of my favorite places to connect with myself and my intuition is in Nature. I love going through walks through the woods, perusing local neighborhoods and sitting near bodies of water. Sometimes just by myself, sometimes with an ipod, sometimes with a sketchbook to write or draw in, and sometimes with a camera. Oh, and trees, which I love to draw and paint, strike me as great growing souls with their own personalities. I love being amongst the trees when I need to get in touch with that still, small voice inside.
I was thinking about all this as I finished up this tree swing painting yesterday. Makes me want to get on a swing sometime very soon.
Where do you go to connect to your intuition? Do you have a favorite spot? Could you make some time to go there this month?
Tapping into Your Intuition through Art
May 5th, 2010, Comments (16)
One of my favorite ways to tap into my intuition is through making art. There's something about the fact that it's non-verbal for me, which helps me to get in tune with the part of me that speaks in dream-like imagery and is more in touch with what's going on under the surface. When I'm creating in this way, I feel better able to go with the flow, to listen to and trust my inner guidance.
When I led the "Art from the Heart" workshop at wishstudio's wish*full Virtual art retreat last weekend, I taught tools that required letting go of control. Yikes! I have a little bit of control-freak in me at times, so letting go can be difficult. But I think that's another part of why creating intuitively is simultaneously scary and exciting. And when I'm able to let go, that's when the images flow out, the choices seem to make themselves, and I can create from a deeper well within.
It makes me think of the lantern and lighthouse imagery I've used a lot, as I think these images are great metaphors for intuition. There's a light within each of us, always ready and willing to guide you, if you can tap into it.
Ways to tap into your Intuition while you create:
Get into your body: Ground yourself through meditation, movement, or simply a few deep breaths. Getting into your body helps you get out of your head and into a mode where you can make choices guided by your intuition.
Be Willing to Be Wrong: I think it's easy to doubt yourself when you first try creating from your intuition, so take the pressure off by being willing to be wrong, to make mistakes, to do it badly. Let go of expectation and let yourself play freely. It's a lot easier to be in a state of flow when you're not worried about doing it perfectly.
Don't Stop to Think: I like to move quickly when creating intuitively. I act on instinct before my talky-talky brain can get involved and cause me to doubt myself. Don't let your thinking brain get in on the action, at least not in the beginning. Give yourself some time to create without thought. After some time creating, you can step back and think about things. But having some time to create without judgment is a great thing!
Be Willing Not to Know: Often when I create intuitively, I have no idea where a piece is going. An image may start to appear and it may make no sense at all, logically. It can be a wild ride, not knowing where a piece is going (so much like life, yes?), but when I can let go and allow the story to unfold, interesting images come from it. Later on, while looking at these images, I find that they nearly always have messages for me about what's going on with me.
Step Back: After some time creating, I need to step away from the piece. Sometimes I put it across the room and stare at it for awhile. Other times, I put it across the room and work on other things, occasionally glancing up. Getting a little distance can often help you find what the next step is. Or it may let you know it's complete.
How do you let your intuition guide you as you create?
p.s. The image above is titled, Lighthouse. Prints are available here.
Whale Dreams
April 30th, 2010, Comments (11)
My latest painting is called, "Whale Dreams" and somehow it feels just right for the transition into May's Creative Every Day Challenge theme of Intuition. I think it's because whales come up quite a bit in art that I do intuitively. I finished up this painting on the day of the full moon and although it wasn't originally going to have a moon in it, as it came to life, it definitely wanted a moon.
I hope you all have a beautifully creative weekend! I'm planning to enjoy the wish*full art retreat at wishstudio, where I'm leading a workshop, the gorgeous weather, and getting my toes painted with my bff.
If you're looking for more sensory inspiration before the month of Senses comes to an end, check out this post from last Spring about an Intuitive Painting class where I was led through an exercise using my sense of smell. Very cool.
And also be sure to put on your dancing shoes for Jamie's annual Shyne Like a Star Virtual Dance Party tomorrow!
