Art journal cover

Hey there- I've been wanting to decorate the cover of my Moleskin for a while now, and today I did it (in five minute snippets, of course). I was watching youtube tutorials and found this one here which inspired my own cover transformation. And I love that I finally got to use the image of the man with the umbrella who has been patiently waiting for the perfect project.

Play time- fabric art journal page

Why is it that I always seems to have to remind myself to just play? Could it be because I have an overwhelming fear of failure? That I worry that everything has to be perfect, and I rarely just create with the goal to just enjoy the process? If I just spent as much time actually making some thing, any thing, instead of ruminating about it, I could wallpaper my walls and upholster my furniture with my art. Well, in that light, I am putting up a page I made almost two years ago. One, because I am hard-headed and have to remind myself to play, and two, because besides cutting out paper with my new Sissix (whee!) and Tim Holtz dies, I really haven't actually made anything. So here ya go. The page contains two clear pockets that I sewed on to hold a couple of ATC's I made with stamps from Lost Coast. The Three Muses blog is having an ODD COUPLE challenge this week! Check out everybody's work- so cool.

Top Hat Derby Hop

Kecia, over at Lemoncholy's Studio is hosting this awesome blog hop! I've never done one before and I just found out about it today, so I am posting about an altered cupie doll I did for my first Art-Is-You event. The theme was Taking Tea with Alice so I decided to transform my cupie into an 'Alice at the Masked Ball'. (funny story about the cupie- she just showed up in my mailbox with absolutely no explanation-I just figured that she had to be from my new art friends. Suze Weinberg's traveled around the world with her, although she never did quite got dressed, but that's another story) Anyhoooo, when I saw this top hat challenge, I thought she would fit right in. I'm actually quite jealous of her since I've been scouring etsy late at night looking for a top hat of my own. Oh, and the hair is needle felted wool a la Marie Antoinette. Thank you Kecia for hosting- it was so much fun!

Thinking of spring

I made this collage with a picture of Sloane sitting in our front yard in the spring sunshine. She is wearing the dress I wore as a baby. As the days insist on ending abruptly before we even sit down at the dinner table, I am finding that my seasonal depression is kicking in. Sooooo, I wanted to post this as a reminder of what is to come.

Art every several days? COFFEE!!!!

I just finished this painting this morning. I love my morning coffee!

Art every day - back of journal cover

In an attempt to be more consistent in my creating and posting, I am plowing away at my 'to do' pile o' art projects. Here's the back cover of the journal that I started in Traci Bautista's class.

Today's haul- old hardware

I just had to post about my loot that I brought home today from the flea market. Oh, the possibilities. You should have seen me pawing through the bucket of rusty hardware- pure bliss. I am posting a close up of some of my favorites.

Finally- finished journal cover from Traci Bautista's class

In trying to create every day, I've been working on some half completed projects. This is the journal cover that I just finished. I took the class in APRIL at Art Opera. And so it goes. Traci Bautista was a wonderful instructor, she works quickly and intuitively, which I liked very much. I think I will pull all of my half finished pieces together and take a picture. Quick, someone please request a piece for a swap or an auction so I will be forced to actually finish something else.

Tim Burton-esque house

Hi there- I wanted to show my piece I made for the Little Baby Face Foundation auction. I had in mind a sculpture at first, but after imagining myself navigating two trains, two subways and a bunch of new yorkers with said sculpture in hand, i ditched that idea. Instead I went for a shadow box which I could pack. (of course, I could have shipped it, but that would mean completing it in time to ship and NOT working on it until the last possible moment, which is of course what I did) Anyway, I had in mind a slightly skewed Tim Burton inspired house backed by a sunset. There's a story behind that particular image, based on Disney's 'The Rescuers', but more on that another time. I have to say that I really love the result. I've never made a shadow box, and hardly anything in 3d, and I really enjoyed making this. And the ladies (and gentlemen) at Art-is were so supportive and encouraging- it makes me feel good that it got several bids and made some moola for the Foundation. Ooh, and Suze Weinberg even had it on her blog.

Back from Art-is-You

Wow, what a whirlwind- weeks of planning, packing and making (a piece for the auction- I'll talk about that in another post) and now it's over. I took a class from Laurie Meseroll on Saturday on folk art painting and came up with this. I absolutely love it, but the most validating thing was when I showed it to my baby cakes and she said 'Wow!' (which is good since it's going in her room)

'Wicked' ATC's

Well, I made about twenty atc's for a group project -the theme being 'Wicked', as in the musical. They were made using image transfers- gel and tape. I had never tried that before and it was funnnnn! One of my favorites was the gel- I used Golden gel medium- semi gloss- and layed down about four coats over a toner based image, letting each one dry in between and then dunked the whole thing in water and rubbed the paper off. That was the fun part. Just keep going until all of the paper is gone and voila- a perfect image transfer.

Another tin swap

This is an altered tin that I just swapped out. I think it looks cute in person but when I look at it here, not so much. The beach bathers kind of look like they're floating around on top of the tin. Maybe on their own private island? But the inside came out really cute!

Art Opera- swap

Well, it's been many weeks since I last posted and even longer since I've got back from Art Opera, so thought I would get back into the swing of things by putting up some pictures. If you want to see a lot more pictures of the event, check out Suze Weinberg's blog and go back to April (I think she starts sharing pictures on April 7th). Anyway, I had a great time- I took two classes, one from Traci Bautista and one from Ann Denise Anderson. Traci's class, but today I just wanted to put up pictures of the altered altoid tin that I made for a swap. I wanted to keep with the Under the Sea theme so I decided to do a seahorse tin. I used an antique brass stamping of a seahorse and a starfish charm to made molds. Then I used the molds with some pearl polymer clay and applied the molded pieces to the sanded tin. I filled in the blanks with some more clay and then went to town trying out different glazing ideas. I think that I ended up mixing a Distress Ink reinker with some Golden acrylic paint and then finished the whole think off with a clear finish and glitter. I really, really had fun making this as it was so much different than anything that I have ever made before. The second picture is of a little booklet I made for my swap partner so that she could put in pictures of the event as a momento.

Poetry journal! Artistic Mothers Group

Well, here it is, a month since I last posted. Of course, I wouldn't be me if I didn't feel guilty. Although, this time I don't feel that bad since I was dealing mainly with a family emergency that required much of my time and energy. I won't get into it on this blog, but let me just say that this past month has been very difficult. I did, however, find time for art, and I even took a small art journaling workshop that I will have to write about later, because tonight's post is all about my Poetry Journal. I've written before about the online group that I've joined through Trudy Callan's blog , the Artistic Mother's group. We are completing a series of projects in the book and posting about them on our blogs. Of course, I am finding myself very much behind now, but it's all about the journey (or passage, should I decide to be oh so clever). The book is written by Shona Cole, and I can definitely say that having Trudy host this group is a blessing because it is giving me the impetus to actually do the projects and not just look at the pictures. So, here it is, my Poetry Journal. I used a picture of me at two years, with my brother, probably about 6 months old here. I'm not really sure why I picked this picture, but it brings back all sorts of emotions, as my brother and I are not close. The color of the photo was altered in photoshop and printed on Fabriano Artistico paper that was first treated with the new Golden Digital medium in clear over a watercolored background. I colored in my dress with Caran d'Ache Neocolor 11 crayons. So, even though I'm feeling a little trepidatious about actually writing in the journal, I loved making it!

Background papers- Artistic Mothers Group

I just got finished making my backround papers for week one of The Artistic Mothers Group hosted by Trudy Callan. I'm so glad that I joined this group because I never would have pushed myself to paint these papers if it weren't for the fact that I committed myself to finishing the weekly projects in the book. The last time I painted anything besides a wall, was probably when I took an oil painting class. I liked the class, but it was frustrating for me because I was trying to make a realistic painting and I couldn't get the paint to do what I wanted it to do. These papers, on the other hand, were so much fun to paint and stamp because I was just playing. The papers I used were cardstock and grocery bags- I loved seing the transformation from humble brown paper to decorated art paper. I can see myself making a lot more of these in the future.

Starting early

Aidan wanted to make a green screen to film videos in front of and of course Sloane wanted to help. So, I found some old sweats for her first official 'painting clothes' and let her at it. She had a blast.

The Artistic Mother

I recently read about a new book, The Artistic Mother by Shona Cole. And then, of course, I had to search out her blog, (hmmm, the title of her blog is similar to mine, how cool is that?)which led me to a online group on Trudy Callan's blog. This is one of the reasons I'm so in love with blogs and wanted to start one - the information is priceless.

The timing couldn't be more perfect for me to join this group of women with similar goals. Here I am, floundering around in the blogosphere, trying to reinvigorate my love of art, or rather trying to squash down the feeling that if I don't make perfect art, then it is not worth making. On my own, I have been challenging myself to make a little art every day, by participating in swaps and starting an art journal, but this is going to be even better because I will be part of a group of women who are trying to do the same thing together. For me, knowing that other people are keeping tabs and rooting each other on is a big motivator. So, I look forward to getting my book, which Amazon very graciously emailed to tell me is already on its way, and going on a new adventure. Please join me.

Another 'wicked' card

Here's the card that was sent on its merry way today. I actully was pushing so hard on my colored pencil trying to add swirls that I pushed through layers of paint and gesso to reveal the playing card beneath. Well, since the playing card was red and white, it didn't exactly go with my color scheme. I dyed some Viva paper towel with green and yellow Caran d'ache Neocolor II crayons and then smooshed them over the hole with a glue soaked brush. As a final touch I dry brushed on a little Lumiere paint. I really how the card looks scanned as opposed to photographed.

You never know where you are going to find inspiration

When my friend asked me if I would like to go with her to the 'Please Touch Museum' in Philadelphia, I thought it would be fun for the kids, but little did I know what was waiting in store for me. When we got there, I noticed that they had some unusual assemblage sculptures, notably a large scale replica of the Statue of Liberty's torch hand and an elephant. Hmmmmm. I wasn't expecting this, but cool. Then, towards the end of our visit, we visited an exhibit that was unlike anything else in the museum. I rounded the corner on the downward ramp and discovered that we were going down the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland. Imagine my surprise as I saw Alice tumbling down. The exhibit was set up like a maze, with beautiful artwork based on the original illustrations around every corner. It literally took my breath away. My very favorite parts were the Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum display, which has the two of them pictured with a miniature theater, my new obsession; and a statue of the rabbit. Gorgeous. I hope you are as inspired as I was.