Hands and Heart: New Mixed Media Doll Class!!!

Take a look at this new Fabulous workshop offered at Hands and Heart!  It combines Mixed media with Sewing!  I think these dolls are so cute and I hope to someday actually make one!  Take a look for yourself  HERE.  You can also click on the Hands and Heart  link on the left sidebar to find out more about the great community and workshops offered there!

Shades of Grey Art Journaling Techniques in a Strathmore Bristol.wmv

Pursuing Mixed Media Portraits in Your Art Journal

Faux Acrylic Resist Tutorial: Quick and Easy Technique for Fabulous Backgrounds!

Use this simple technique to create fabulous backgrounds for your Art Journal, Altered Book Spread or even Paintings.  I haven't tried it yet, but I love the look and know I will be using this idea very soon!

Visual Journalism 101 Techniques with Pam Carriker

What an awesome video! I love Pam Carriker's soft colors and style. She makes beautiful art journal pages and shares her techniques in this tutorial. This is one of the best tutorials I've come across so far! Hope you like it, and happy journaling!

Giant Leap For Me!

Today I took a huge step towards reaching one of my many art goals. I entered two paintings into a juried art show!!! First time ever! I'm thinking they probably won't be selected, but the main thing is, I've taken the plunge! I'll keep trying, no matter what happens! This isn't my best work, but most of my work is in altered books and journals. I'm trying to put more on actual canvas now. Well...Here they are

Art, Heart & Healing - A FREE online Art Course for Everyone! - Info

I've admired this artist since I began my journey into art last January. She's now offering this course for free, so come join me and sign up! I'm so excited about it! I've watched week one (most of the videos) and I think I'll be able to come up with something by this weekend. I'll post here and also on Willowing's site as well. I hope you can join me in this adventure so generously offered by a wonderful artist!

Oh yeah, you can also download the video's and pdf's so you can work at your own pace and refer back to the videos anytime you want!

She Speaks my Language: Great Video!

This is the best video I've come across in a long time. It will speak to every creative person who takes the time to view it! If you love ARt PLEASE watch this! It's SOOOOO inspiring!

Art Journaling an easy way to play with art everyday...

My family and I just returned from a 10 day annual vacation hunting deer in Eastern Washington.  We are basically camping for that entire time and living out of a tent.  No electricity, no running water, no showers!  I wasn't sure I could  haul art supplies along and get anything accomplished...But I wasn't going to go that long without being able to play with my art supplies!  So I packed up one shopping bag with everything under the sun, colored pencils, a few paints, some scrapbooking paper, modge podge, paint brushes, markers, stamps and ink pads and a few art journals I work in.  Here are pictures of various pages that I worked on in various stages of completion.

Foil Art Technique

This is a project I have been working on using some of the techniques that Gary Reef demonstrates on his Ning group Lovin Mixed Media.  This guy is SO TALENTED!  I didn't know it at the time, but he is the artist, whose Transparency Transfer tutorial I posted earlier in the year.  He is so generous with sharing his expertise!  I'm a new member to his group and so happy to be at Lovin Mixed Media!

I learned a lot from this project and had a lot of fun with it.  I'm working on another too, which I'll post when finished.  I still want to add something to this one, but I'm not sure what.  I'm thinking some words where the mouth should be...something about silence maybe?  Suggestions?

Finding Balance Between Life and Art....

I wish I had the answer to finding balance between everyday life and art.  It seems that for me, it's either All or None!  When I find the time to start an art project, everything else fades away and I want to do nothing else (including responsibilities).  So I find it hard to start something, knowing what I know about myself.  If I could just get my house in order, my art supplies organized, meals planned, shopping done, laundry done, dogs exercised etcetera...

Here's What I've Been Up to this Week

My favorite

I finally got the chance to try out the dryer sheet art cloth project yesterday and I really like most of the results.  I'm going to try and freeform sew on them and see how they hold up.  I made these just as an experiment to see what projects they might be good for.  If you're interested in trying the dryer sheet project here is the tutorial.

I also started a small painting, kind of abstract and not really anything I've painted before.  I'm stuck with it though, I don't like the way it looks or the composition of it.  Any suggestions?

Held up against a window

Lying flat on table

Hmmm...How to Proceed?

And the School Year Begins....Big Sigh!

My two girls started school today.  I have a 3rd grader and a 6th grader.  I was so relieved that both girls, once we got to school, were excited about the day and there were no tears.  My youngest has an anxiety disorder, so every year we have had such a hard time getting her to school, especially the first week and after extended breaks.  She was very brave this morning, not even a quiver of the chin and lower lip!  She came home excited about her day and again...I'm so relieved!

My morning didn't start off well though, I got a speeding ticket after leaving the school, I was distracted worrying about how the kids would do and didn't notice the speed limit sign change from 35 to 25.  I got a whopping $150 ticket!  Grrrr....grumble, grumble...my husband is NOT going to be happy with me!  Oh well, lesson learned, I should have been paying more attention I guess!

Dryer Sheet Roses: a Tutorial from Katie's Rose Cottage Blog

Thank you Lori from Katie's Rose Cottage Blog for allowing me to link to her awesome tutorial.  Still on my search for different ways to use dryer sheets in your mixed media art, I came across this amazing tutorial on making dryer sheet roses! I just love the vintage look of these and can imagine some great uses, not only in my art, but as gifts too! You could also use dye's, inks, fluid acrylics, misters etc...to add your own sparkle and color to the flowers.  What a beautiful way to recycle those plentiful used dryer sheets!  Thanks again Lori, I know I'll be busy making some of my own!

Using dryer sheets in your mixed media art.

I've been thinking about ways I can use/re-use household items in my mixed media art.  A few days ago I googled the topic and found this wonderful tutorial on making your own "art cloths" using used dryer sheets. The artist's name is Judy Shea and her blog keytomyart  (love the clever name) has some great, detailed tutorials with step by step instructions.  Click on this Dryer Sheet link to see Judy's great tutorial on how to make beautiful cloth that can be used in your mixed media art, in collage, or even as stand alone art.  The possibilities are endless!  What about you? Do you use dryer sheets or other recyclable materials in your art? I would love to hear your ideas if your willing to share them!

Image Transfer Technique using Transparency Film

I transferred this over from my previous blog at wordpress. I can't wait to try this technique. I found a whole package of inkjet transparencies at the local Goodwill (thrift store) yesterday. I've been wanting to get some, but they were too expensive at the office supply store. I only paid 99 cents for an unopened package of 50! What a treat! I will post whatever it is I come up with when I'm finished experimenting. I'm totally inspired!

Isn't it Funny how we Tend to Create our own Stress...

I spent the last several days stressing over the fact that I had invited an old high school friend of mine to come for a visit.  I'm not the best hostess and worry about what guests will think about our less than perfect house etc...What should I serve, How will I keep everyone entertained, What if everyone get's bored...the list goes on and on. How silly of me!  I shouldn't have wasted time and energy on worrying, because everything went smoothly and we all had a great time, kids included.  I got to thinking...maybe I need to approach all aspects of my life with a "playful" attitude, maybe some of the best moments/memories are created that way?  If I don't worry about the outcome of a particular thing, be it artwork, an entire day, an impression I want to make, sports performance, whatever....will I end up being more satisfied with my life?
I guess the saying "Don't sweat the small stuff." and "Everything is small stuff", makes sense!  Don't worry, be happy!

Messes of Intentional Creativity: Experimenting for the Fun of it by Chris Dunmire

In my last post I talked about learning how to let go of the end result and just play with your art supplies, have no plans etcetera...After I wrote the post I went in search of more info on this topic and found this article linked here: Messes of Intentional Creativity: Experimenting for the Fun of it by Chris Dunmire Not only is this a great article, the entire site is full of wonderful articles on creativity. When you have time, check it out!

The Art of Letting Go...

Often the results of my artwork look different from what I originally intended and have been even better than what I imagined. The key for me has been to let go of my attachment to how it should be, and to be open to how it could be. It's given me freedom to be creative, more flexible and less stress! So I encourage you to just play with no end result in mind, you will be truly amazed at what you will come up with!  In my experience, my best work is produced this way!

Here is an example of what I created while playing! It is one of my favorites!

Beginning Again...Goals for the Year

Of course like many of you my fellow artists, my dream is to sell my art to at least support my passion, to possibly have my art in a gallery someday, and to maybe someday even be featured in a magazine!  So my goals for this year (in no particular order) are:

1 Move from art journaling to canvas
2 Build up a collection of original art
3 Get my art displayed in a local restaurant
4 Participate in an Art Walk of some sort
5 Be brave and open an Etsy Store online!
6 Become more familiar with Photoshop Elements and my Wacom Tablet!
7 Organize my art space so it's more user friendly!!!

If I can accomplish even a few of these I will be so happy!

Is anyone else at this stage in your journey?

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you'll land among the stars! ~Les Brown

Getting Back to Art....Finally!

I broke may wrist in several places in May of this year playing soccer, had surgery and am just now recovered enough to where I can use my right hand again!  I'm still doing hand therapy and working on range of motion, but have a setback because I've now developed tendonitis....Urgh! The frustrations of getting older!  But the good news is I can use my hand well enough to paint with again!

My Left Handed Cast Art

Nasty Scar!

Here are a few of the things I've managed to create this summer! Now if I could just get my Art "space" organized I might actually be able to get something accomplished once the kids are in school!