The Week as Art.

I'm thrilled to have my mixed media work featured on Create Mixed Media this week. Thanks so much for this opportunity Tonia, Major gratitude here.

Here are the final pieces each representing a day of this week.

 Each piece was assembled, photographed and then disassembled.

I used an assortment of materials. Original background papers, magazine pages, tracing paper, photo transfer.

 Ephemera, stones, original painting on canvas and cut up scraps, acrylic paints, gesso, and markers.

It would've been easy to superimpose numbers onto images of paintings that I had already completed,

but I wanted to challenge myself, have some fun and come up with something new. I created seven little temporary assemblages.

Whether you are accomplished or just starting on your artistic journey Create Mixed media has something to offer you.

Have a great week.

Create Mixed Media

I received some wonderful news yesterday. Next month I'll have seven of my mixed media paintings featured on Create Mixed Media. I have been asked to do "the week in art" and I am both thrilled and honored. I was introduced to this site through this post on The Altered Page. If you haven't checked out the site yet you're in for a treat as it's chock full of inspiration and information. If it has anything at all to do with mixed media you will find it at Create Mixed Media.

I'm off to the studio now to dig out my supplies and get creative. This is the part that I enjoy the most. Just playing with the art supplies and letting them take over. It's a very intuitive process for me. I know I'll have to remind myself to stop and photograph my process to share with you in a future post.

Inspire Me.

There's one thing I know for sure about the first few weeks of a brand new year. I need inspiration. January in Canada, at least here in Toronto, can be quite harsh. Cold and gray with little to no sunshine. I need color to pick me up.

That's when I turn to my mood board for a little color and inspiration jolt. I've written about my mood board here and here. This time I did things a little differently and I didn't even take my mood board off the wall for a re-do. I turned to my file of tear outs from my magazine stash. Yes, I'm a magazine junkie and I have piles of them. Every now and then I do have to thin out my collection but before I put them in my recycling bin, I tear out every page that might inspire me someday and put them in a file folder.

Today when I needed a little color pick me up, I went to my file and took out a hand full of sheets and started to lay them out on the floor. This is a quick and easy way to get some instant eye candy and for me at least is just about as good as a hit of caffeine. Instant mood overhaul.

I did a few different layouts with different sheets and came up with one the really appealed to me. And when I was done I just gathered up the sheets and put them right back in the folder. Ready for the next time I need a little bit of color inspiration. How about you? What's inspiring you these days??

Recyle, Re-use, Make Art

The cats are going crazy as they usually do when I bring home something exciting. I popped out this morning to meet an artist friend-my sister, for coffee. Eva's website and blog are under construction, but you can see a few examples of her work and a bio here. She's also part of Art Interiors roster of artists. It's great to get together with her weekly and chat about all things art. We bounce ideas off each other, motivate and inspire each other and yes sometimes just bitch about stuff. I stopped by her studio after and received a great big pile of papers. Beautiful natural Japanese papers, tissue, printed and plain, textured paper, and a delightful pile of ephemera that she no longer has use for. A collage artists dream and much needed here for the new series of paintings that I've been working on for this show. And I'm sure I'll be up a few nights working on hand made collaged cards that I'll be selling here. Thanks again Eva. I'm now full of ideas to get some new work started. So now I'm off to sort them by color. Actually, today was the perfect day to receive a beautiful pile of recycled paper that I'll be reusing in some art. Happy Earth Day!

p.s. I took my own Starbucks travel mug with me today and will be taking it with me from now on.

Collage Fun

I listed this happy little gecko in my shop yesterday. It is pure collage and was pure fun to make. I cut the gecko out of watercolor paper that I painted, embellished him with gold foil diamonds, and glued him onto a background of oriental and painted watercolor paper. A few punched out dots and two pieces of gold thread complete his home. Click here to purchase. Collage has to be one of the easiest and most fun ways to make a piece of art, journal page, or gift card. It's really playing with papers. Cutting, arranging, gluing. It's something most of us did in preschool or we enjoy with our children today. Collage can be a very "green" activity as you can re-use papers from everywhere. This year I'm challenging myself to make all my Christmas gift tags "collaged" from re-used paper sources.

Not much else to say this morning except to remind all of you that commenting for my holiday giveaway ends this Saturday at midnight. Leave your comment on my post "A Holiday Giveaway for You" and you have a chance to win "Snow Day" one of my original mixed media paintings. I'll announce the winner on Monday December 1st. Hmmmmm, how fast is this year flying by??

Conference Call

TGIF!! It's been a very busy week here in my studio. I've been finishing up many paintings. As well as working on a few submissions (more on that later), new landscape paintings for an upcoming show, new items for my shop, and finishing up the multitude of new mixed media paintings that I showed you awhile back. The above painting is "Conference Call" It is 12 x12 mixed media on panel. I'm really excited about this painting as I've incorporated some of my digital photography along with collage and acrylic paints.

Today will be just a half day of painting as later this afternoon I'm off to check out a couple of galleries downtown. It's also my 21st wedding anniversary today and I'll be having a wonderful evening out with my husband Egils to celebrate.

What a Mess!!

Today was spent getting down and dirty and playing in the studio. I got out a huge assortment of paints and mediums and brushes and rollers and spent the morning painting backgrounds. This is the most fun. I'm not worried about coming up with finished pieces today, just playing with paints and textures. Sometimes you just have to let your inner child out to play.
I really like how my red brayer stands out in this photo. I kept my colors fairly neutral today. Warm beiges, light gray some bronze and a little touch of lime green.
Here are some finished pieces. I've already collaged some of my own photos onto the paper. I'll be working on these backgrounds later adding some other elements, drawing, some more collage perhaps. I find working on mixed media pieces so freeing. I guess I never really outgrew my love for cutting and pasting!
My papers and supplies are spread out all over the studio floor. That's their cue. Nami came to help.
So did Iggy. Have a great weekend everyone!

More Mixed Media and Giveaway news!

Here's another mixed media painting that I finished recently. "Urban Trees" 12x12. This one was really fun to work on. I textured the surface with acrylic molding paste first and then added a small square of Japanese paper that has leaves embedded in it. I painted, and stamped and glazed and painted some more. When I work on my mixed media pieces, the studio becomes a great big mess. I work on many pieces at a time so there are papers and scraps all over. I find it really enjoyable especially when the finished paintings start appearing out of the chaos. I'm not sure where this piece will end up yet. Perhaps in my online shop.

It's almost that time!!! What a great way to end a wonderful summer. I'm having a giveaway!! Back in my blogpost titiled "A Little R&R" I mentioned that you can have a chance to win one of 3 original paintings. The first giveaway will be in the first week of September. I'll post a photo of my painting and just by leaving me a comment, You'll have a chance to win it. So stay tuned!!!

New Mixed Media Paintings in My Etsy Shop.

I've added new mixed media paintings to my Etsy shop. This one's titled "Serenity" and is 8"x10". I've used painting, stenciling and collage techniques to create this one of a kind illustration. The three ginkgo leaves are hand cut from 140 lb. cold pressed watercolor paper, which I've painted in soothing warm tones. Check out all the items in my shop here and remember, original art always makes a great gift!!

The rest of my week will be spent getting caught up from all that I've missed while away, re organizing my studio-which is basically cleaning up, and working on new small mixed media paintings that will be available through my Etsy. It's hard to believe, but the holiday shopping season is quickly approaching and I want to be ready for it this year. My online shop will be well stocked with affordable, original art all lovingly made by me. Get ready for it, I've already seen some Christmas decorations on store shelves!!!