almost there
In process pic…new spirit girl soon to take her first breath.
spray inks : collage : stamps : acrylics : charcoal pencil
Entries Tagged as 'mixed media'
Today…
i am ensconced in the studio
creating :: purging
finishing :: listening
dancing :: loving
faces…
they are reflections of our experience, emotions and character – so says artist Beth Billups.
i totally agree. which is why i choose to paint them. women’s faces in particular intrigue me.
in her you can see and feel the strength, the tenacity, the resilience, the commitment, the glow, the empathetic listener, the dreamer, the seeker, the soother, the mother, the survivor. i love all these things and more about who we are as women.
“Untapped Possibilities”
i was, however, so very scared of painting eyes because, you see, the eyes express everything, if you look close enough. and my first attempts were…..ehhh…..
poor thing looks beyond scared
i tried a couple more times and then decided, instead of painting them open, i chose to show the spiritual side of women (my spirit girls) with eyes closed, almost in a meditative state, and loved how they were turning out.
but at some point i knew that i would have to venture down that path. i’ve made a few more attempts recently and, with a little more practice, who knows…..my girls will either be life long soul searchers (eyes closed) or expressive seekers (eyes wide open).
and the story continues…
toodles all,
G
me : here : now
~ original sold...prints available on etsy ~
i’ve been trying to think of reasons why i am drawn to mixed media and painting in particular and, after some thought, this is what came to mind (plus a sprinkling of recent paintings)…
~ i feel at home with this medium…..i feel so comfortable and connected with acrylic paints and the papers i work with
~ i like that the result of any session in my studio is almost immediate gratification….whether 10 minutes or 2 hrs
~ i feel that my true self is being expressed…….especially thru my spirit girl paintings
~ i get to play AND get messy (i mean that literally…..all in the guise of work…ha!
toodles all,
G
a painting
rummaging thru the studio {trying in vain to find something else of course} i came across a painting i’d done earlier this year.
i propped it up for a few days then, as it seemed to be calling to me again, i took a paintbrush to it, tweaking it here and there. I didn’t start over, it just seemed to be needing something more.
i remembered afterwards that i’d made a video of it so here goes. for some reason, at the end. it just stops. i have no clue why or if there’s more. i’ll have to dig thru more of my files to see where the other part is. until then…enjoy watching my process.
embedded by Embedded Video
vimeo Direkt
toodles,
G
my cReaTiVe moJo
i need to reveal something….for the last year or so i’ve been struggling to create with fabric.
from what i understand, after much coaxing on my part for her to come back out, my art quilt muse decided to take an indefinite break (of course she didn’t let me know this before she just up and left!).
so earlier this year, instead of looking at all my fabrics and feeling the guilts for not creating with them or fondling them so lovingly (yes you all know bout that….i’m not the only one who’s had a long time love affair with her fabs), i rearranged my studio and put all the fabrics AND my beloved bernina away.
SHOCK! HORROR!
yes i really did.
and the relief was palatable. immediate. freeing.
my hands were still itching to create so i began playing with paper
and painting
and discovering
where she (this muse who definitely has a mind of her own!) needed to go next in her creativity.
for the last few months, altho i was keeping to myself, i still went into the studio to play.
i know it’s early days yet for this new work but i’m having fun.
the days of avoiding my studio and the constant search for my creative mojo seem to be over.
here’s a peek at where my inspiration has been taking me
don’t where this is all leading but ideas have been stirring
and this girl is excited!
wish me luck.
toodles all,
G
p.s. i usually upload videos to youtube but have decided to try out vimeo (check out my other vids here).
btw…am looking for some feedback. if you create videos and use one of these 2 video services over the other, drop me an email let me know why you prefer the one you use.
What frustrates you and what can’t you live without that it provides? Thanks for you help!
pandora playtime reveal…
yesterday i told you about all the fun the pandoras had playing together. as promised here’s some of the prints i made.
the night before we met i cut out some pics of birds, butterflies and circles (my creative symbols) to use as resists.
I must have printed about 15 sheets of paper from the gelatin plate, some with just 2 passes and others reprinting 3 and 4 times (ahem…only 1 of those really came out usable).
the prints below are my favs. can’t wait to use in projects.
this print in olives and blues used the stone shaped paper and chunky bird i cut out previously, as well as a cypress branch we snuck a branch from. the things that looks like eggs in the branches (oh so cool!) are my finger tips from pressing the cypress leaves into the painted gelatin plate.
S E R E N D I P I T Y ….gottta love her hanging around.
yummy….yummy, oh so delightfully delectable is bubbly wrap (thank you Marc Chavannes and Al Fielding for inventing it before i knew i would love it so). alison had large and small sizes available to use so i just went to town all around.
this print got a bit lost and convoluted over time. i really liked the 1st print….the 2nd overprint was okay (no pic- duh!). so what does one do when something is just okay…they try to improve it
….and sometimes they fail. oh well. it’ll be used for something somewhere down the line and will fit the bill perfectly! maybe a quote under the butterfly and call that george.
from the print before i was left with the ghost plate and decided to smoosh my hand in there and see what i get. the girl likes this one which means in order to have this one i had to go thru the trials of the above pic. not bad for a morning’s work.
here’s the chunky bird again and i loved it in this print. looks like the bird is gathering the string to make her nest. (best make copies of these prints real quick so i have them around for future projects cause i’m wanting to use this now….yum!)
how scrump-dee -lee o-tious is this one? towards the end i was trying all sorts of resits in in printing but, don’t care what you say…this one’s is a keeper.
leftovers. nuff said.
toodles all,
A New Discovery!
got a call from a friend a few days ago who told me that one of my fav mixed media artist just opened up a small shop in my hometown.
WHAT! …in my small town?
no way!
yes way. so, of course, what’s a girl to do but go online to google her whereabouts AND……i found her.
…her new shop is RIGHT around the corner. who the heck knew and and how way flipping cool is that?
and who, you ask, is this mysterious artist? it’s Donna Downey , a wonderful mixed media artist who is bubbly and funky and fun! her work has been featured in a whole host of magazines, she’s been scrapbooking 4-eva (!) and is the host of the upcoming Inspired!, an annual mixed media workshop retreat held in my neck of the woods, concord, nc.
so i popped into the store last week and met her way cool hubby bill. as i’m perusing and looking around (something you gotta do yourself…soon!), in walks miss donna herself, who proceeds to say hello to everyone in the shop with a hug.
You gotta love a girl that likes to spread the love with hugs…right?
anyway i looked in every nook and cranny of the store, checking hi and lo, chatting with other visitors (even chatted the IT guy setting something or other up) while gathering my loot….yes, i bought stuff! donna’s shop is well lit, her displays are so delicious that showcase a fantastic selection of mixed media supplies and the classroom set-up is to die for. check it out for yourself in person or here.
So this girl is excited beyond belief…..a place just down the road that has all the “stuff” i need to play. how way cool is that!!!!
Manifestation
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Here’s a short blurb from Christine Kane newsletter:
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“Clarity trumps practicality. When someone is clear, and they take action from that place of clarity \’96 then practicality has no choice but to move aside and let manifestation occur.”
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Love it!
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ART BREAK:
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My first foray into watercolour. The pic above shows a small piece (2.5 x 3) painted on 140 lb watercolour paper. I made it to grace the front wrap-around cover of a new journal I designed.
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A while back I bought myself a Winsor & Newton halfpan 12-set compact on sale thinking it was enough to start with but not enough expenditure if I found I didn’t like it.
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Uh oh……I LIKE IT!
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Took the watercolour paints out a few weeks ago looking for something different for my journals and this is what I came up with. Yummy!
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Still experimenting with other paintings. I just love the mixed media aspect of these journals. It’s held in place on a piece of my hand dyed fabric with metal brads and staggered stitching.
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The Swap Zine is done!
It’s HERE! Yippee!
My first zine is finished and on it’s way for the zine swap. Soon I will be swimming in zines…well..maybe only 10 of them but a happy day that will be. I’ll probably maul the mailman as he drives by.
I have followed Alma Stoller’s blog for about a year now and she kept talking bout this “zine” thing. This past July she put a call out to all zine-sters, new and old and I decided to just jump right in. How hard can it be…right? (famous last words indeed).
Let me go back and do wiki def for you. A zine (pronounced zeen) is a small self-published booklet. It’s an opportunity for the maker to explore a topic, express feelings, encourage, share, educate and, especially, connect with others.
So off I went to create. It took a while for me to come up with my topic but, in the end, I kept coming back to the same thing.
I call it “the Inner Eye”, that something deep inside of us that helps us bring forth our art.
So my zine is a little inspiration to propell you along your art-y way.
One of the things we were to include in the zine is an interview. Only problem was….I couldn’t choose just one person.
That when the idea for a series of interviews took hold. I 
asked a few of my quilt artist friends to answer a few questions and included some answers from each of them.
I chose to call them “Inner-views” (remember the name of my zine—”The Inner Eye”), because these words are the innermost thoughts and perspectives about how each artist soul manifest itself through her art and throughout her life. 
Each page is created separately using the cut and paste method, then photocopied to make the 10 zines. 
To paint the covers, I spritzed water on poster boards and then washed in two of my fav colours….red and golden yellow to create the 2-colour cover.
Included in each zine are bits of inspiration, articles, projects, exercises, the “inner-views” (of course) and a bag of yummy extra bits.
This zine was a labour (NO KIDDING!) of love. I so enjoyed writing the articles and designing the layout for each page. I made a few extra of them to put in my etsy shop so YOU too can have one to enjoy as well. When I get my parcel of zine goodyness, I’ll post the pics of them.
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See ya next time “In the Hayloft”,
