Even the Leaves Dance

It really does seem as though everything I've been doing in the last couple of years is somehow synthesizing in my art right now. These pieces are truly mixed media--this one has collage, paint, pencil, pastels, watercolos, and colored pencils--and is totally intuitive in that I start by writing a phrase (either from my head or from some of my found poetry) and then just start putting paint and collage materials together--No plan or pre-sketching. I'm including more of my own drawings, and adding not only physical texture (torn and braille paper) but also drawn texture with some zentangle-inspired patterns...

Feels like things are really coming together...

An Interesting Effect with Paint

I brayered some acrylic over the collaged papers, and before it was completely dry I used an eyedropper to write with white India ink across the page. The paint (I believe it is Behr Wall paint) kind of swam up to the surface of the ink. I like the effect--almost marbled looking.

Page isn't done, but thought I'd share!

Lovely Colors, Lovely Grunge!

Another grungy piece--the head is a transfer and the text reads

give your saddest face
to another
take off your mask
leaving nothing

Love these two pages! They are in my 3 by 5 Strathmore Visual Journal--I dribbled watered down paint, glued down braille pages, gessoed with clear gesso, dribbled more paint, put some marks down with distress ink, sprayed it with water, then went over the whole thing with matte medium, then did a solvent transfer.

Even the paint at the edges from other pages doesn't bother me. Just like how this looks...

Had Fun With This--

Another grungy mixed media collage. I glued, ripped, reglued, sanded, dripped/pooled paint, used glazes, and rubber stamped (not necessarily in that order!)

More from "Act Natural" at the Land of Lost Luggage

Two kinds of transfers on this one--a gel medium transfer (the music) and an acetone transfer. Love the grid lines from when I laid this over the side of one of those mesh cube things and sanded! Then glazed over it and the glaze sunk into the raw paper...

And the paper at the top is from spray painting stencils that I cut myself!

Taking a Class

I've started an online class with the wonderful Julie Prichard from The Land of Lost Luggage. I've worked through the first six lessons and I'll share pictures of my efforts here.

This is the first piece I did with Lesson 1. If you visit here regularly, you'll know I love collage. The 'new' part here was that after I tore the loose pieces away, I re-glued some of them down in new places. Love it! 

The best part of taking a class, I think, is that it forces me to try something a little different. This class is entitled "Act Natural" and the color palette is very muted. I love bright colors, but this pushes me in a slightly different direction.

A Find...

I've been browsing Abebooks for the past few months, looking for falling-apart, pre-1922 books that I can use in my art. It's a great way to buy used books--I've had lots of success purchasing out-of-print books for my dad at very reasonable prices.I'm especially interested in dictionaries since I'm kind of a 'word person,' and 19th century dictionaries are fun to read, coming as they did before the advent of the truly modern dictionary. Many of them use a form of the word they are defining in the definition (and that's a big no-no, as we all remember from sixth grade vocabulary tests!)

A couple of months ago, while browsing, I found a German Lexicon that was published in 1751! It had been damaged in a fire at some point, but the man who had it was actually using it as a reference book. He'd found an undamaged copy, and was about to chuck this one into the recycling bin, but decided someone else might want it. I got it for a dollar plus the cost of shipping!

It's not in great shape (obviously, since it's TWO HUNDRED FIFTY years old). Some of the sections are loose and the cover boards are plain boards with no leather or cloth covering them.  The paper is amazing; more like fabric than paper, actually. The pages are foxed, and a bookworm drilled through a section of it at some point, as you can see below. But its age and condition are part of what make it so fascinating and lovely.

I'm Ba-a-ack

Things have been kind of hectic and discombobulated around here for the last six months or so, but I'm trying to get back in the swing of making (and selling) art.  I've posted some of my new metalwork in my etsy shop, along with some new paintings and some packages of vintage papers from 19th century books, and Katie reminded me that I need to start blogging again, as well as revamp my website... so there's lots to do (not to mention the two kids at home, the one kid in college, the hubby, and my 85-year-old dad, who lives with us now. Plus five dogs, six cats, six chickens, and the three horses that are boarding in our pasture. BUT NO GOATS!!! I knew there was a bright spot there somewhere! Some of my goat adventures are chronicled here and here and here and here)

Cold and cloudy here today. I finally dragged out the heater in the studio and it's happily heating right next to my legs. I never can get it what I would call warm in here during the winter, but it's a vast improvement over my old studio in the garage, so I can't complain.

Here's a picture of one of the jewelry pieces I've been making. I love that the image is from one of my collages!

Back to work--I haven't been out here as much as I'd like, so there's lots to choose from!

Journal 01-06

Journal 01-05

Image Selection and Placement

When creating a collage, where you place something is as important as what you're placing.

As an example, I'm going to share my morning's conundrum regarding placement of the words on today's collage for the day. In this first image, below, I've placed the words 'I thought you'd gone'. I have one more word cut out: 'away'. But I stopped here and thought, hmmm. Do I want this word or not? Then the question became 'and if I do want it, where should it go?'


For me, these three choices are significantly different from each other. Can you see the difference? Rather than an aesthetic difference, to me it seems a difference of tone, as well as message.

I still haven't decided where the word will go, by the way! Today, we're off to watch Joel's team play in a baseball tournament about 45 minutes away--one game today, two games tomorrow, and one game Sunday. Not too hot out, so I'm really looking forward to it.

A P.S.--After getting the chance to look at these three all together up on the blog, I realize there's a fourth choice: to place the word 'away' at the bottom, but lined up with the other words. That may be the best choice. (Just goes to show you how valuable a scanner and editing program can be--you can create virtual images of possibilities, compare them, and then choose! Ah, the joy of technology.) I was going to say I'll take some pix of Joel at baseball, but I'm not allowed to photograph him while he's playing, his rule. He says it bothers him. So no more technology for me, today! Have a great day.

Collage No. 28 and IF: Craving

He knew what he wanted, and he was off to find it.

Collage No. 27

Mixed media collage, 4" x 6" on 190 lb. watercolor paper

I'm going to have to make some type of schedule for myself--I need to treat coming out to the studio more like a job, otherwise I won't get anything done. Summer is contagious, and if I hang out with the kids too much, I'll catch it...

Actually Joel's hardly been here--school ended Friday, Saturday he played five games in a football passing tourney, Sunday he played a baseball doubleheader, and he's had both football and baseball practice every day. (Tonight at 6 p.m. he goes for his third practice of the day!)

Jenny's just cruising, enjoying herself, but Katie wants something to do--"What are the symptoms of cabin fever, Mom? Because I think I've got it!"

Some tutorials coming up--one on Photoshop, and one on Image Transfers--stay tuned!

Observations on Making Art and Collage No. 26

Something I've noticed since I began making one collage every day is that I've gotten caught up in the collage-making and haven't done any actual painting. Of course, this has been complicated by the fact that I've been laying laminate flooring, but now that everything's (pretty much) reorganized, I'm starting to paint again.

The good thing is that 'one collage every day' has helped me let go of the need for immediate perfection in every piece I create. I think it's vital that art-making remain a joyful activity, at least for me.

Mixed Media Art:--Unnamed

Mixed Media Collage--Using Original Photos

I finished this piece about 5 weeks ago and apparently never posted it. I've used collage and archival copies of original photos--that's our pasture and our old pony. I love the odd color combinations on this, and I loved continuing the tree using pen and ink. I tried to do something like this a couple of years ago, and was very dissatisfied with the result. I may have the knack of it now.

OCED Day No. 17

Did my collage, but got distracted and didn't post because I couldn't get to the computer--can you guess what I did?

Illustration Friday: Backwards

Estelle no longer needed to continually glance over her shoulder, looking backwards into the past that she feared would catch and engulf her; she finally felt she could look forward as she strode through life...

Estelle, Original mixed media painting by Karen Smithey on 8"x10" gallery stretched canvas