Time

I have time on my mind these days. With about 100 items on my to do list, I'm feeling a little pressured for time. In our youth, time doesn't matter to us. The days seem endless. At least that's how it was for me. Now there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to get it all done.

I've been reading this book. In it, there's a section titled "Don't Let Time Manage You, Manage it". The author goes on to say "Time has meaning only when it holds experiences that expand life's meaning for us. It seems to drag on or fly by according to what it holds. Once we grasp this, we begin to master the role it plays in our lives, creating time the way we want it and when we want it".

"Distressed Elements-Time"  My pages in Seth Apter's Altered Book.

I think I'll take the time to remove a few items from my to do list, relax a little and enjoy the weekend. Whatever you you have planned for this weekend, have a great one!

Figment, Flight and Fancy.

Supria Karmakar and myself at Supria's opening at Arts on King.

Pages created by Supria in my book Gifts From the Sea, part of the Inner Works collaborative.

This past Saturday I had the wonderful pleasure of finally meeting in person Supria Karmakar. Supria is a fabulous, very talented encaustic artist, and a beautiful soul. We've been online friends for a few years and I participated in a mixed media altered book round robin, which was Supria's creation.

Supria's show, titled Figment, Flight and Fancy opened last week at Arts on King in Toronto and is a must see. Encaustic painting involves using hot wax and pigment applied to a surface. Supria adds mixed media elements to create paintings that are highly textured, vibrant and translucent. Her work is layers upon layers of beautiful imagery that must be seen in person. Although it looks great on screen, a computer monitor really does not do her work justice. In looking closely at one of Supria's paintings elements appear to be floating in the luxurious colors and textures and the work has that wonderful smell of the wax-it all adds to the experience. You can see paintings from the show and more of Supria's encaustics on her blog and website. Figment, Flight and Fancy runs until April 30, 2011.

Texture in Mixed Media and Altered Books.

It's hard to believe that a whole year has passed since the altered book collaboration with Inner Works was completed. Working with Supria, Veronica, Roxanne, Seth, and Jill was a highpoint for me and has left me with a new love and appreciation for mixed media art.

Although most of my painting is done on stretched canvas, lately I've been adding more and more texture and including other mixed media techniques along with my painting.

It's all about texture these days and I've been adding it to my canvases with tissue paper and acrylic medium, acrylic modeling paste, magazine pages and natural papers, and even some unexpected items such as rocks, shells, feathers and bones. I'll be unveiling these new works shortly so stay tuned!

Meeting the other artists (virtually) involved with Inner Works was such a wonderful learning experience and I'm happy to say I still follow their blogs and keep in touch. Seth's blog, The Altered Page is a must read daily for me as it is a huge resource of anything and everything mixed media, and Seth's art speaks to my soul.

Revisit the Inner Works blog and you can see the transformation of the books and the different stages and takes on the themes by each of the artists involved.

Summer Reading.

On the wall in the children's department at Indigo in the Eaton Centre.

A great selection of 60's themed books.

My magazine picks for today.

There is no better place to visit than your local bookstore. I can spend a good chunk of time enjoying a latte and looking through the books and magazines anytime, but especially in a heat wave like we're experiencing in Toronto and on the east coast. This morning I braved the already hot and muggy temperatures and walked to the Indigo in the Eaton Centre to spend some time and pick up a few magazines. When E was little we spent lots of time in our local Mable's Fables and later at Indigo. A perfect place to keep kids busy with the play tables and story time. When we go to the U.S. our trip is not complete until I visit Barnes and Noble. Friend and blogger extrordinaire Gabriela Delworth shared some exciting news about a project she has going with Barnes and Noble here.

Today I controlled myself and only picked up 3 magazines. Two artsy ones and one for a little light summer reading. I must admit I'm not a big reader of books these days. I sometimes feel guilty allowing myself the time it takes to read through a book when my time is so limited, I feel I should be working or something. This summer will be different though as I've picked out a few books that I'll allow myself to finish. They are Almost French by Sarah Turnbull, The Yellow House by Martin Gayford, and The Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain. So how about you? What's on your list for must read books this summer? Please feel free to share your picks us.

Just so you know, I have no affiliation with any books or booksellers mentioned in my post. :-)

Weekend Round-up, Mixed Media Monday.

Hi. I hope your weekend was enjoyable. I did a little bit of everything. Shopping, cleaning, chores, painting, and a little relaxing too. I even managed to get in a little baking. I don't bake very much in the summer but when the temperature cools I like to bake some treats now and then. So far this fall I've made 2 plum tarts an apple pie and some pumpkin muffins from a recipe I found over on Heather's blog. Yum!! They were a big hit here. Sometime this week I'll try my hand at making date squares.

Continuing from last week I've spent most of today working in mixed media on Jill's book. It's part of Inner Works, an altered book round robin that I've been involved with since the beginning of this year. Here's a sneak peek at a few of the pages. I think I'm just about done just a few more things to add. I'll be receiving my book soon and will share the wonderful work that's been added by Seth, Jill, Roxanne, Veronica, and Supria.

I've also enjoyed exploring Caterina's blog (new to me) La Dolce Vita. Her mixed media work is fabulous, the bird songs are very soothing-and the cats love it!

An Artist's Life.

Downtown Acrylic on Canvas 18x18

Oh my, I've certainly been neglecting this little blog of mine this week. It's just been one thing after another and I haven't been able to get to it. I've been in the studio painting. Forcing myself to get to the easel and start new paintings. Perhaps it's with the change in season but working at home has been tough this week. I keep finding things that seem more urgent than painting. Laundry, cleaning, organizing, purging old magazines etc. Things that get done anyway but seem more important now. I guess I'm starting to "comfy" up the place for colder days on the way.

I have 4 new landscapes on the go and have just started some new "urban" landscapes. Above is Downtown, finished earlier this summer. Have been working on new "smalls" as well. Updated my Etsy shop with 6x6 landscapes. You can also see smaller landscapes here at Artstream Gallery and Studios. The to do list keeps getting longer. Many projects on the go at once. I'll also be working on my last book in the Inner Works round robin altered book project.

It's going to be a beautiful weekend here in TO. Sunny and cool. Perfect weather to go and check out the Queen West Art Crawl. I've got friends exhibiting. And I might even get into some baking. I've been wanting to try a recipe (I'm not the best baker!) for a plum tart. What are your plans for the weekend?

Mixed Media Fun-Distressed Elements

Here is a sneak peek at three of my pages in Seth Apter's book for the Inner Works altered book collaborative. The theme here is distressed elements, so I've been using papers that I've faux finished and distressed myself. I've also included some ephemera and old found objects that I've been collecting for awhile. I have one more book in the rotation after this is done and then our Inner Works altered book round robin collaborative will be all finished. Please check out the Inner Works blog here as well as the other very talented artists in our group. Supria, Seth, Jill, Veronica, and Roxanne.

A Blast from the Past

Me/Boy George-Halloween 1983

Moi with my BFF

Friends 80's Style

Want a good laugh? Check out these photos I pulled from the vault today. I'm in the midst of working on Veronica's book titled "Testament of Friendship" for our altered book collaborative. I immediately went for a trip down memory lane. The early 80's were a great time for me as I was in my 20's, had plenty of friends, was attending art college, and working part time in retail-selling records. As far as I was concerned, I was an artist and working in the music industry! LOL Days were spent in class and at the store, back at the apartment I shared with my best friend, and out most nights dancing at some club. Who needed sleep? Many years later my friends have all moved away. Some have families and some haven't changed much. I'll be using some of the photos that I found today in my mixed media pages in Veronica's book and I'll be remembering the good ol' days. Oh to be young and foolish again. If you'd like to learn more about our round robin altered book collaborative and meet the other artists involved in our group, please visit our blog Inner Works.

Mixed Media Pages

I've really enjoyed working in Roxanne's book "Earth Tones", just one of the books in our Inner Works altered book collaboration. I interpreted this theme as the four elements. Earth, air, fire and water, and have given you just a sneak peak of the finished pages of earth and air here. You can see my fire and water pages over at our group blog. Have a look. This theme was very special to me and I really enjoyed working in a multitude of mixed media. There's just something very satisfying in being up to my elbows in paper, paint, gel medium and other assorted goodness.

It Finally Arrived!!

My first book in our altered book collaborative finally arrived in the post yesterday. It seems like I've been waiting so long for it to arrive, but it's really been just over a week. As I carefully removed Roxanne's book "Earth Tones" I found a beautiful card enclosed as well. Just for me. Thanks so much for this Roxanne. I'll be framing this and displaying it in my studio. Now on to some planning and finally getting to work on the delicate pages waiting for me. Check out Roxanne's blog, River Garden Studio to see more of her fabulous artwork.

Inner Works

I've been fascinated with altered books for quite sometime but have never actually made one. Until now. I'm part of an altered book round robin collaborative. The group has five other artists as well as myself. They are

Seth- The Altered Page
Veronica Funk
Supria Karmakar-Encaustic Musings
Roxanne Evans Stout-River Garden Studio
Rita Vindedzis
Jill Zaheer

Supria is the creator of this collaborative and has created a blog for our group. At Inner Works we can post photos and discuss how we are all doing. I'm really very excited about this project as this is my first altered book and also the first time I'm doing a group project. I think it's going to be a great experience. I've already chosen a book to work with and will post a photo and a short description of my theme in the next couple of days.