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

This week I'm working on SO MANY THINGS!

More to come in upcoming posts, but in the meantime, I thought I would take this opportunity to show you a new idea that I've listed on etsy.

I have a LOVELY vintage, baby blue typewriter that is probably one of the five things I'd grab if there was ever a fire in my house. No, really.

Here she is in all her glory:

Isn't she beautiful?

Back to etsy.

When I first started creating mixed media art, I was always on the lookout for cool fonts. I LOVE text in art and especially when there are unique fonts.

Let's face it: typewriter fonts are everywhere. You can use Courier in your MS Office documents, and you can download others from font websites.

But do your fonts have random ink splatters that add to their appeal?

Do your fonts actually imprint into the page because of the impact of the typewriter keys?

Didn't think so.

Starting this week, I'm offering up my typewriter for you to use. Well, sorta.

These two etsy listings will give you up to 30 words or up to 100 words delivered to your door. That's right, shipping is included in these listings.

So go ahead! Send me something to type out for you.

Make your art AWESOME with REAL typewritten words.

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 Two

In yesterday's blog post, I showed you the first of a pair of paintings that I finished this week.

After experimenting with other techniques for a few weeks, it feels good to come back to what I know and love. These paintings are very indicative of my own style.

Don't forget to scroll down to yesterday's post to see the other picture in this pair. Both are now available in my etsy shop.

And look to the very bottom of this post - I'm looking for some guidance from you, my friends, on whether or not to share these techniques with you.

This piece is inspired by a child's yearning to explore and learn.
Manifesting at its best, since we're planning to have kids in the near future.

This photo shows the texture of the piece, sides and all. 

I have a vintage typewriter that I used for the letters.
I love the way that the ink goes onto the page (the messy  letter "e" for instance.)

So after showing you these two pictures, my question to you is, are you interested in learning how to make these textured backgrounds in your own work? Leave me a comment or send me an email. If there is some interest, I'll put together a video to show you how I build pieces like these.

Your comments are always so greatly loved and appreciated.

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. 

I LOVE Texture!

I think that one of the things that drew me to Mixed Media in the beginning was the texture. It's hard for me NOT to touch something that has a texture. Maybe I'm a touchy-feely kind of person, but when I see an artpiece that has raised areas or patterns, I immediately feel the need to run my fingers along it.

I went though one of the free fashion magazines that come to my house with the mail and found a bazillion textures. Think about it - fashion magazines have so many different fabrics on their models, creative backgrounds in their photo shoots, jewelry and wallpaper advertisements. In fact, I am currently of the opinion that fashion magazines are a GREAT source for textural inspiration.

Case in point, today's journal page. I went through a magazine and cut out a bunch of squares of some textures that I was drawn to. Then I pasted them onto a background of teal acrylic and stamped "I love textures" around them.

I wish they were 3D! Still, they serve as great inspiration for upcoming art! :)