What is an Artist?

I need to get a few things off my chest.

Last weekend I was at a health retreat, and while I was there I built and filled up an art journal. I showed a lot of it to you yesterday.

While I was working away and listening to the presentation that were going on around me, I felt others watching my work and looking at what I was creating. This happens often when I create in public and I like it.

Over the course of the weekend, a couple of people came up to me and complimented me on my work.

I was of course thrilled to receive compliments, and endeared by their thoughts, but some of their words upset me greatly.

One woman said "oh, I'm a scrapbooker too!"

A scrapbooker.

The word itself makes me shudder.

When I think of scrapbooking, this is what I envision:

a carefully planned, neatly displayed collection of precisely cut items that are highlighted with precut lettering and adorned with stick-on embellishments.

I don't mean to offend the scrapbookers of the world. I can definitely respect the ability to choose like elements and place them carefully together to create a cohesive presentation.

I, however, despise the craft of scrapbooking. I don't believe that it is art. I can concede that it is a type of craft, but I see it as being far from the realm of art.  

To be called a scrapbooker is like reading the latest novel almost to the end and then realising that the last chapter has been torn out. Or like spending all day cooking an elaborate meal for your spouse and having them arrive home after stopping at a drive-thru for dinner.

It's not ME. It's anticlimactic and maddening. What I create is so different. I got my back up right away and

became defensive and borderline snotty.

I love my art. Mixed media can include scrapbooking supplies, but includes so much more. paint, gesso, inks, fabrics, threads, ephemera and pretty much any other medium that I can get my hands on at a given moment.

The complete lack of consciousness and depth of self that I achieve when I am in my work - This is what I love about mixed media.

I would LOVE to hear your reaction to this post, and your thoughts on the two different types of creation.

Also, if you care to have a friendly "discussion," about the "art" of scrapbooking, please feel free to email me! I love to engage in banter and I may be ignorant to something that you know very thoroughly!

My Shelving Unit - In the Works...

Remember this Duracell display box?

Here it is with a coat of primer...

And here it is today!

Looking good, right??

I'm not sure that I like the brown ink spatters under the tissue paper. I'm secretly hoping that they will disappear as the tissue paper dries and becomes more opaque. 

A close-up of an edge/corner. I did a paint/ink wash over the edges to make them stand out...

And here are my accomplices: light blue tissue paper, Adirondack Spray Ink in Espresso, dollar store white glue, dollar store acrylic paint. 

It's really gaining shape and definitely taking on a personality of its own. 

I think that it will be used for displaying a collection of little toys that I have...

Coming Up = Upcoming

There are some big things in the works, my lovelies. I will soon have an AWESOME creative offering for you.

I'm working on it right now and hope to have it ready for you before the end of the week.

I'm trying to come up with a catchy name and gathering the last few items for a giveaway!!

If I miss a day of blogging in the meantime, please forgive me.

This new prize - I promise you - will be worth it!

Shhhhhhh....

This is a mixed media piece that I've made as a gift for my brother-in-law for this birthday this month. He collects great contemporary art, and I think this piece will really appeal to him.

It might just be my favourite piece of all time.

I LOVE how the colours look together and how the film adds to it. I also love using these little square canvasses on top of other canvases to give a painting a different dimension.

What do you think?

The cutting is from a book that I've used in the past. I love its descriptive detail, and the part about the vacuum cleaner just seems so random. 

Again with the texture. I love how it gives this piece depth. 



Doesn't This Look Juicy?!

Just came across this online workshop from Joanne Sharpe.

There are a million and one online workshops out there from artists.

I rarely take them and hardly ever promote them.

But this one looks REALLY awesome...

Are you taking it? I think I'd be more inclined to take it if I knew that some of you were taking it too. Then we could compare notes and chat about it (informally).

Let me know :)

NEW INFO (updated March 8 at 3:30 PST):

*online class goes live April 9, 2012*


*25 alphabets in

*25 video lessons with

*25 printable reference pdfs

*FOREVER ACCESS CLASS*

*5 weeks April 9-May 11, 2012

$35

New Journals! I've Been BUSY! :)

Hello lovelies!

If YOU want to get into art journalling or if you're just looking for a new place to be creative in words or in art, then check out my new journals in my etsy shop.

I've made 12 journals using different paper cut into different sizes. They're bound together with a metal coil binding and sandwiched between two pieces of ultra heavy chipboard.

These journals are a dream, my lovelies - and I can be honest with you since I'm a journal-a-holic. I have at least 10 unopened journals that are ready to be filled. But sometimes I want something a little more awesome.

Some of the journals may include:
- graphing paper
- overhead acetate
- regular white printer paper
- Artists' papers from Strathmore
- accounting entry paper
- coloured paper
- cardstock in many colours
- book pages (for this set of 12 I used "The Secret Garden")
- maps
- scrapbooking paper


These books are specially designed to be added to. Specifically, they are about 3/4 full of paper in terms of what the coil binding will allow. This means that you can add your own items to the pages and not stress the binding. For example, you can add your own cards, photos, or other bits of papers to the existing pages. The book will still lay flat when closed instead of splaying open (as seen in one of the photos).

So check out these samples of some of the spreads you'll find in the journals and drool away. Then hop on over to the listing on etsy to find out how you can treat yourself to one.

The covers are plain black - ready for you to customize!

  

 The journals are about 3/4 full of paper in terms of what the coil binding will allow.
This means that you can add your own items to the pages and not stress the binding.

Hiding

ahhhh mixed media.

Isn't it lovely?

I just love going through my bins of ephemera and collected objects in hopes of finding the perfect combination of items to create a piece of art.

In this case, I am creating a piece of art to swap with a student in one of the clubs that I sponsor at school. The club is a Manga club, and while I'm not passionate about Manga, the girls in the club are very funky and love making art in their own sketchbooks.

One of the girls shared her latest works with me, and I asked if she'd like to swap art with me. I explained to her about how each artist has their own style that makes their art unique, and that to swap art with another artist would mean bringing something different into her realm. 

(I also didn't want her to think that I was going to create a Manga character for her!)

With this student in mind, I created this piece.

 I thought a lot about how it must feel to be a unique entity,
an artist in a school over almost 2000 other teenagers who tend to dress alike, do their hair in the same style, and speak the same way. 

Sometimes hiding is a much better deal. 

I used two canvasses for this piece. The small one has been glued to the large one, beside which sits a small square glass mirror. These two layers, the puzzle piece, the mirror, and the paper-doll dress (without the doll) are all very symbolic of the feelings that I sense from some of the teens in my classes.

I think that teens are much worse off today than when I was in high school with the constant stimulation of technology and more-abundant-than-ever presence of enticing and influential advertising. I could go into more detail, but I think I'll save these thoughts for another day.

In the meantime, what do you think of this piece?

Your comments are loved and deeply valued. Thanks for taking the time to look at my art. 

Textured Backgrounds - Part One

I've been working on some small pieces, playing around with textured backgrounds.

Lately I've been experimenting with different styles and techniques of art, but I always come back to my roots.

These types of textured backgrounds are where I started with art. I love their depths, and with a coat of glossy spray varnish, they are gallery-worthy in my mind.


I've made a set of two pieces. Today I'll show you one; tomorrow will showcase the second one.

It's now available in my etsy shop.

This is the first time that I've used ink as paint (for the tree branches).
"Plant a seed and grow roots" refers to my monkey's and my desire to have a baby.  

A little blurry, but you can see the edges of the work in this photo and a lot of the texture.  

I used a spray ink to get this effect over my textured background. 

This shot is my favourite. I feel that it really shows the textures and the quality of the piece. 

Book Love

One book in particular, actually.

I've had my heart set on this book since I saw it last week at our Art Club meeting. It's a book all about different ways of visual journeys, maps, geographies, goals, plans - anything, really!

The title is Personal Geographies - Explorations in Mixed Media Mapmaking

The author is Jill K. Berry - aka my new idol.

The artwork in the book is truly fantastic and I've just this weekend received a copy of my own to pour over and dig into.

I took a quick shot of the book when it was passed around at the meeting.
I sense a full book review in the coming weeks since I was unable to stop myself from ordering it on Amazon!

One page in particular caught my interest.
My good friend Violette loooooooves crows, and she would definitely fall in love with this art exercise...

Current Barnes & Noble coupons might be available for Personal Geographies - Explorations in Mixed Media Mapmaking.

Paying it Forward, Part Two

Here are some of my finished works from what I started on the weekend.

Hop on back to Monday's post to see what these pieces are all about :)

I'm hoping that I can send these without having to spend an arm and a leg. The larger ones are 8x10 stretched canvases.

I didn't do much to this one after the initial stages. I thought that it was quite lovely as it was.
I particularly like the mixed colours behind the brown stencil.  

I love red, aqua and brown together, and this piece is inspired by that colour combination.
I think that after studying Teesha Moore's style in January,
I have realized how much depth a border can add to a piece of art. 

I am constantly reminding myself to take a breath and slow down. This piece is an ode to that mantra.
Again, the black dry-brushed border gives the piece the depth that I was looking to achieve.

This and the next one are inspired by a stamp that a friend of mine had at a recent art club meeting. I did use the stamp on these pieces, but it did't work very well on my backgrounds. I went over where I thought the shapes would be. 

Perhaps one of my favourites, I touched this up with some white highlights
and did a light black dry-brush around the border.

Paying it Forward

Today I began to make some headway on my pieces for Pay it Forward 2012.

I have 5 people on my list, and so I decided to make little pieces of art for them. Some of the pieces are a bit large - I'll have to figure out how to send them without paying a fortune in postage.

Other wise, this has been a fun experience so far. I love making art for other people.

Since I really don't know the recipients at all, I am creating freely without trying to customize my work.

Here is a sneak peek from day two. Tomorrow I should be able to make the finishing touches.

Here is a shot of all six pieces (I'm going to keep my favourite for myself.) Can you tell that I just bought a new stencil? :)

What to Do?

My friend and fellow blogger Cheryl Ford gave me this Duracell Battery display box.

I looked at it and imagined there could be many different uses for it.

What do you think I should do with it? All suggestions welcomed! :)

WIWO Wednesday - It's What I'm Working On

Today I'm getting together some envelopes and postage stamps to send out the two prizes from last week's Mixed Media Giveaway.

This giveaway was so much fun, I want to do one every week! ( If only I could afford it!  )

Thanks to all who entered - there were over forty entries once all of the Facebook "likes," blog shares, and comments were counted up.

I REALLY enjoyed reading about your mixed media habits. It's amazing how one genre of art can be so diverse! I love it!

If you haven't had a chance to be inspired by the mixed media combinations of some fellow artists, hop on over to last Monday's post to see what their comments say.

In the meantime,

THE WINNERS FROM LAST WEEK'S MIXED MEDIA GIVEAWAY ARE


Grand Prize:        Cheryl F. (WA)
Runner-Up:         Angie N. (VA)

YAY! Congratulations!

Postcards Are Rolling In!

Are you getting some great postcards? I can't beLIEVE some of the art that I'm getting.

In honour of Valentine's Day, I'm sharing some "link love" with all of you.

I've taken some photos of my favourites so far... have a look.

This card is from Carlene Taylor Simmons.
I was so tickled to get this because of the texture that she has created using fabric and her sewing machine along with the paper and paint...
I LOVE your work, Carlene!

This one is from the talented Pippa Gore. Have you checked out Pippa's blog?
She updates it about three times a day - you wouldn't believe how much art this woman makes.
She is truly an inspiration!

This is another card that really blew me away. It's from Pam Parker in Australia.
Get this: the leaves on her tree are made from APPLE STICKERS! Cute and clever.
Pam is just starting out her journey into mixed media and I'd say she's doing a splendid job!

Mark Montano has to be my number one idol in so many ways. I love what he pulls together.
He is like the MacGyver of Art, craft, and DIY.
Who else would put Mary, skulls, butterflies and glitter all in the same place?

I've never seen my name look so beautiful. I dream about being able to write in such a pretty way.
This is how Mark Montano addressed his (butterfly) envelope to me. 

WIWO Wednesday - It's What I'm Working On

Today I want to show you the finishing touches that I put on my postcards for the International Mixed Media Postcard Swap.

They went in the mail on Friday of last week... you may already have one in your mailbox! :)

My materials:
- watercolour paper
- watercolour paints
- tissue paper and acrylic medium for texture in the background
- magazine clippings for the hearts
- fabric for the flowers
- alphabet stamps and black Stazon ink
- sewing machine stitching for the embellishments and border
- black Micron marker for doodles

I also printed out a cute vintage postcard back to fasten onto the backs of my cards. You can see it in the picture here:

Here is a close-up of the stamping, stitching and magazine heart. I doodled around the heart with a black Micron marker. 

Although all of the cards are different, each one has the same elements and follows the same theme of finding "bliss"

How did your postcards turn out?
Post a link to your postcards in the comments of this blog post so that we can see them! :)

Did You Know...?

Did you know that I am doing my first EVER giveaway?

That's right - the first ever Musings On Realities Mixed Media Giveaway is ON!

And there are TWO prizes!

All you need to do to enter is hop on over to yesterday's post and read about the prizes and rules! Follow the directions there and enter as many as three times!

Simple, right? :)

See you there!

The Grand Prize

The Runner-up Prize