Nesting/Resting

I've had a bit of a hiatus from the blog, from a busy life and from most anything else.

It all started with a studio/house cleanup/clean out.
I tend to pull everything out, go through it and put back what I am keeping (which was 50% of what I took out).
I also have piles (bags) for donating, boxes for selling and bags of trash.
Lots of paper trash...what in the hell was I going to do with all the paper I was hoarding I mean storing?


Anyway, right in the middle of the project, I got sick.
Sinus infection, bronchitis, fever, aches, blah, blah, blah.
Snot a funny thing, I'll tell you.

I am managing to get a little done everyday, little by little.
And I am so excited by the results!
Simplify, simplify - that is what I looking to do.

In looking back over this year, I've been able to see what I've been doing.
It wasn't too obvious while I was doing it but now that I am looking back on it, I can see what was really going on.
Isn't life just that way?
The power of hindsight.

I have spent a lot of this year resting.
Thinking.
And trying to figure out what I want to do.

What do I mean by "what I want to do"?

I spent years at home, making things, creating art.
I didn't really read a lot of blogs or magazines.

I just did what called to me.

The past 2 or 3 years I've read blogs, magazines and took a couple of online workshops.
As I was cleaning out my studio, I could see that I had created several pieces of other peoples art.
Not mine.
Oh, my hand was in it but some of the images were not mine at all.
(in my own defense, I did not claim that it was my "original" art but inspired by someone else)

But that distressed me.
I do not want to lose my own voice and I feel that the past few months have been very good for me.

The resting, thinking and looking inward.
I think that I will be better equipped to raise my voice this coming year.

Now on to something that I'd like to share.

 I feel so blessed to have a piece of art in Lesley Riley's newest book "Quotes Illustrated"!

This is such a cool book, especially if you love quotes (and art work).
It's full of one of a kind art work that was created just for the quote that it illustrates.

My quote was by Karl Barth.

"Grace must find expression in life, otherwise it is not grace."

I used plaster embedded gauze, joint compound, acrylic paint and glazes to create a canvas with a niche. In the niche is a piece of driftwood shaped like a wing.

Seriously, it looks just like a wing. It is one of the most beautiful pieces of driftwood that I have ever found.

I'll explain why I created what I did in response to the above quote.

I felt that the layers of plaster and joint compound were representing the layers that our lives have- the many relationships, the heartaches, the trials that are required for grace to develop in our life.
I scratched marks into the plaster much as living our lives leaves marks on us.
The beauty (or horror) of each mark shows the layer below it.

The wing shaped driftwood could represent that promise of freedom that grace would offer us.

Grab a copy for yourself so you can see all of the creative artwork inside.
Maybe you will also find a quote that sparks your creativity as it did mine.

Happy Holidays!

Views From The Garden

This is a re-posting from the Sketchbook Challenge blog.


Here in the southeastern United States, the temperatures are rising as is the humidity.
I love gardening and have always had small flower gardens in my yard. But lately, between back injuries and other aches and pains, I haven't spent much time in the garden doing anything except admiring my husband and his handiwork with weeding and mulching.

I have been drawing, messing with plaster and making books.
And a little natural dyeing/eco printing.

Here's one piece that I created using a piece of MDF board as my substrate. The tree stem is a loose interpretation of a dogwood tree in the neighbors yard.

I will be adding a quote or something in the open area (darker pink) later. I'm waiting for the piece to indicate what it needs to say.

I layered plaster and joint compound on the substrate.
After allowing that to dry completely, I carved the drawing into the surface.
I used watercolor paint and acrylic glazes to add layers of color.
I think that I sealed it with soft gel or maybe a spray finish.

It's a wonderful practice to sit and really pay attention to the beauty around you.
And documenting that in a sketchbook or on a piece of artwork is a fitting tribute to all that Mother Nature brings to us.

Inspiration Comes in Many Forms

I have just finished an art project that was created specifically for donation to a very worthy cause.
Check out the "Kick Off Your Heels" fundraiser that Sue Bleiweiss and Jamie Fingal started.
I can't wait to see the shoes that were created just for this!

I tend to work on a couple of things at a time and did during the time that I was working on the art shoes for the fundraiser.
Here's a peek at one of the plaster/joint compound pieces that I made.

I love the way that the surface accepts the paint differently
based on how much sanding I do or what resists I use.

I really am enjoying playing around with this medium.

This is what started it all.

I've had the book for a long time (almost a year) but only picked it back up several months ago.
Of course I do the same thing that I always do...read through it, start a project thinking that I will go by the instructions in the book for a couple of projects only to find myself veering off after the first step or two.
But that is a good thing too - I create my own work most of the time. It's way too easy to create artwork that really isn't your own if you never jump off of the page in a book, or put down a workshop instruction booklet...

I keep thinking of ways that I can use this medium. I've got a book cover (or two) on my work table as well as several small mixed media canvas panels going.
I've started another 3D piece as well as the triptych that I am continuing to look at during all of this.

Looking.

Thinking.

Allowing the art itself to speak to me.

It's sometimes difficult for me to quiet all of the "other" chatter in my head and just listen.

So I spend a lot of time just looking and thinking.

And Listening.

Are you listening to your inner voice? Or are you trying to wrestling control away from your intuition?
(you will beef up the wrong muscles if you do this)

You gotta flex YOUR creative muscle!

Combined Natural Surfaces

(this is being posted to the Sketchbook Challenge blog today also!)

One of the things that I love about hiking is that you have time to look at the world around you.
Really look.
We tend to miss so many of the little things because we are so focused on the big ones, thus losing out on a myriad of visual pleasures.
I have a folder on my computer that holds hundreds of photos that I have taken while hiking, kayaking or camping. The vast majority of the photos are not sweeping landscape shots but macro shots of tiny mushrooms, lush emerald moss or grains of sand that are clustered onto a dried creek bed.
Kind of like this -

A tiny little world growing on top of a moss covered rock

Long hair moss among the short

Looks like acres of emerald moss but it's really on a six inch rock

Alien growth stretches from a skinny limb

Love, love the textured tree trunks of my favorite
forest by the river

Be sure to enlarge this one

Dry creek bed

Not necessarily a natural surface but certainly
has been altered by natural forces

The peeling paint is a perfect surface to try out
some crackle paint

I wanted to create a panel for a triptych that I am working on based on the combined attributes of these natural surfaces.
Even though it isn't a drawing or sketching, I thought that you all might be interested in it just the same.

It is a combination of plaster, joint compound, molding paste, acrylic paint and crackle paste.
Oh, not to mention the fabric that is underneath all of that - vintage lace, canvas, tulle and organza.

6" x 8 1/2"

All of those crevices in the surface look
just like the rocks, compacted soil and tree trunks in the
photos above

I love the way that the fibers work their way up
to the top after sanding the surface

Lovely, unexpected surprises

I added crackle paste after I took most of the
photos above. I may go back and add more.

I hope that you've enjoyed the trip through my "natural surface" photo album.
And the beginnings of a new piece of art work - a triptych that will be based on one of the sweetest spots in Nature that I know of.

Art Journal Pages

I have been making art journal pages. I begin with regular sheets of 8 1/2" x 11" pieces of heavier weight paper (I'll post specifics later...can't remember it now).
Then I do collage work. The ones I am going to show
today are all made of vintage paper.
All shades of white, yellow and tan. The page above shows my basic layout.
Pretty simple, very haphazard...some paper here,
some paper there.
Actually I do follow a very rough outline. I usually try to do things in three's.
Just to even things out a little. If I have time later (haha, who am I kidding...
if I can TAKE the time later) I'll do a post of step by step. If you really want to know, email me.
Or leave a comment. If I get enough, I'll post it.
Anyway (don't you hate it when I carry on conversations with myself like that?!)
then I add a watered down layer of white gesso.
Then a few washes of color glaze (acrylic paint watered down or mixed with polymer medium/matt medium) (whatever is close by).
Then I begin adding some stamped elements, whether that's rubber stamps
or actual household items that I use to stamp with.
It could be a section of bubble wrap, an old medicine bottle top, drawer liner...
Then I add more glaze, maybe some more gesso...
I might drip paint on the whole thing, or use my hand to tap it from the brush...
I use regular stencils to add some texture with modeling paste -
or my new favorite , a big ole bucket of joint compound that my husband gave me.
You know, to his credit, he doesn't think I'm that strange AT ALL
when I get so excited over
JOINT COMPOUND.
Gotta love a man that lets his wife have his joint compound, right?
Oh, back to the step by step...
I use sand paper to scruff things up a bit...
I use white gesso (or titanium white) to tone things down a bit...
and I love to use Ranger Distress Inks to age things a bit.
I'll add some finished pages (ones without the writing on them anyway)
for your viewing pleasure.
I suppose that you've noticed by now that
my "usual" practice of making the journal pages
is a little of this, a little of that.
The secret is the Layering of all of it.
And letting each layer dry between times.
Or use a heat gun/hair dryer to dry it with.
Practice and experiment.
That is the true secret.