to be or not to be {wooden cradles}

isn't this always the question?.... i had collaged on sewing pattern paper and had been moved to do something with orange and pink and i love the simplicity of these pieces.....however, part of me wants to keep working- paint more, glue more, do more.....so i have been letting these sit to fuller determine if i can just let them be.

here are all 5 cradles....

i like them all individually, up close and then when i see all of them like this above...makes me want to paint a ton more...heeeelp......to be or not to be? that is my question.

art journal {post}

sometimes it is the pursuit of destruction...and when i say that- i mean that i do not want anything that is perfectly glued, or painted neatly, or words written clearly. sometimes, don't you just want to see what happens when you have layered up your page and then scratch through with pencil, and pick and peel?

happy monday.

mixed media girl

have you seen Scott Bergey's art? just love his style; especially his girls. some of his work includes girls made from sample paint strips. his newest work can be found on his instagram. 

i just loved this idea and had to try one for myself. i had an art journal page that had some left over paint on it- so started from there scrapping gesso across the green underneath to help create my background.

then i worked the girl. i had an index strip from a commercial paint strip sample book that i had decided to use for my girl. i worked the hi-flow acrylics for her body and hair and followed up with a pencil to draw in "hands" and "legs."

happy thursday.

i had worked on these 12"x 36" canvas panels- painting and creating the background and then, had set them aside. i feel like a do a good job of creating the background and then get stuck on how to finish the painting. what is my focus? where am i going with this?!

i had set these aside like i said, and then, found Nicholas Wilton. his first video lesson covered design and was perfect timing for me.

with his videos he is covering topics that he has learned to be important after painting for 20 years. he is a professional artist and had narrowed the topics down to: design, value, color, risk, texture, and soul. his second video is value- if you are interested, you can click on the word to watch.

after listening to this video, i felt more confident on where i needed to head with this painting and feel more comfortable with the progress.

i need to finish the edges- that is the hint of white showing through the lime rectangle- as this is two panels painted as a pair and meant to be hung together.

tgif #founds

this page was inspired by the found objects i had been collecting. i was thinking one of the magazines had been looking for something with found objects, and now- i cannot remember where i saw that. (typical.....) anyone know?

all of the pieces on this journal page were found objects including that red round circle. the circle has a tyvec, plastic feel. i had just found the corn husk on a recent walk. lower on the husk has a grey, black (probably mold?) decomposition quality to it. i found the stick and picked the bark off of it. i liked the clean, smooth look and feel. and i love the extremely rusty washer. considering how to "wash" some of the rust onto my paper. does anyone know how to do that? i already tried water and it did not do a thing.

i love the composition with my found objects.

tgif.....

#rolodexart

had made several rolodex cards, but, yesterday deserved only the grumpy girl.....

here are the other rolodex cards i made. the image below is from my vintage sears catalog; and so darn cute. i used a portion of an old hanger paper from a launder mat.

i love her head poking up above the card. i did cut her out and add some re-enforcement on the back to support her so i wouldn't have to worry about her getting folded back.

for the re-enforcement i used a scrap of a bingo card. it was a nice weight without being too thick. i did add that wedge of bingo card across the transition between rolodex and her head.

for the one below- i actually cut out this card out of a vintage mailer card. it is hard to tell as then i proceeded to cover almost the whole thing....oh well. most of the papers are from the 1970's.

are you on instagram? i recently found ronniecay. so love her!! this drawing was inspired by one of her recent posts from her sketchbook.

i loved the microbeads on this one. can you tell i was into things sticking up above the cards?

monday #rolodexart #altered

power went out during the night last night. woke us up because our smoke detectors are hard wired into the house, so when we lost power, the smoke detector sounded...

thought i would be smart and set my phone alarm so we could still get up on time. tried to use my snooze on my phone....and apparently i don't know how that works, or was too sleepy when the alarm went off because i did not set the snooze and we got up late anyway.......

really?!.....monday.

vintage sewing pattern paper background. skirt is from a 1950's sears catalog. disgusted girl from spring fashion magazine. crown is a stamp.

she will go into the roll.

#artjournal #facefull

i purchased the journal as a package deal that came with two journals at Barnes and Noble. and if i am speaking honestly, these journals were probably meant for writing. notes, quotes, thoughts, dreams.....not for painting.

so using this for art has been somewhat challenging as the paper is thin. nice, actually very nice, but, thin, i paint wet and tend to be fairly abusive to any surface i am working on; so on more than one occasion, i ripped through the paper in this journal either with my pencil or simply by working my paint. sometimes working through unexpected and inherent problems can be interesting and add a twist to the work.

as i continued to work in this journal- i became wiser with collage placement and tended to use much more by the end of the journal. usual spots for my collage paper would be through the eyes or mouth. and i did like the neck area and sometimes used masking tape for the sides of the head.

these wise eyes know as they have seen the rest of this journal. my goal was to fill this entire journal with faces. i do have one more page to go; so hang in there with me...one more face and then this journal will be full.

happy thursday.

joy

i had purchased these cardboard letters to do at christmas, but, had run out of time (image that!). so they have been gesso'd and patiently waiting for further inspiration. i had been looking at social media and spotted the word in the background for something else and thought- why does it have to be christmas? anytime is a good time for anything that would bring joy.

i even made a short video on instagram while making these- check it out here. i have a few finishing points as am going to mount hangars on the back so i can hang the letters in my studio and trying to decide what to use to protect the letters- just my usual varnish or epoxy. do you have thoughts on this? leave me a message.

 i gotta say- doing the letters now with those colors, truly brings me joy.

cards {round 2 with mom}

tgif.

cards {collage}

this past weekend i went to my mom's studio and made cards with her and a friend. this was a bit off of my usual card making- i normally gesso and select my first color of acrylic paint.....this however was no gesso.

this was select your paper. now when i say paper- don't think this was a small conservative stack of collage papers; no, no (sorry mom)... this was a huge box full of papers- napkins, gelli- printed deli paper, painted paper scraps, painted yupo, Japanese paper, magazines and just plain cardstock.

happy wednesday.