Mixed Media Series: In the Woods

Tall Man with a Short Man

(as always, click on the pics to see a larger picture - that way you can check out the details and texture)

Here's the text:

As soon as I got Pam Carriker's Art at the Speed of Life in the mail I tore through it while walking around the house gathering my supplies. It's wildly inspiring and she breaks down projects (with a few minor exceptions) to a level that I can play along.

My experience with art books is that they usually say, "Draw this oval. Now add features to make a photo-realistic face." You won't find anything like that in this wonderful book... although you do need to draw trees for the project I did... which is scary... but I managed :-)

Dancing in the Woods

Laugh if you will, but my teens and tween agree with me that this is one of the most romantic stories ever:

If you're at all into mixed media and have ever scratched your head wondering, how'd they do that? this is the book for you.

Plus there's also a lot of great practical stuff about juggling art and life as well as how art is great therapy. Going off my meds this week was bearable because the small steps in these projects kept me moving around and outside my head (My head is a bad place right now. All it does is scream all day long PAIN!!!PAIN!!!PAIN!!!)

Sorry to go on and on... my poor husband has barely heard a sentence from me that hasn't started with, "Pam Carriker says you should..."

This is my larger piece. The kids call her "BIG BABY" but the real title of the piece is, 

Fairy Child in the Woods

Here's her quote:

This is the bit I'm most proud of. The photo copy of the child was a big white smooosh with a head and a hand sticking out. I used glaze and water-soluble pencils/crayons to add all that grey dimension to her dress and legs. She looks way more real with the pleats, creases, shadows and such. I don't think I've been as excited about a craft project in years! I employed the same technique, with less success on the dancers gowns to try to make sense of the washed out poufs and full skirts. 

And here's how they're going to look up on our wall... probably *grin* You just never know around here.

The projects I made are designed by Brandie Butcher-Isley and found on page 37. If you visit Brandie's blog right now you'll see a very similar piece as the most recent post. She's SO cool!

I promise to post a lot of tips and tricks next week. Right now I'm just excited to share them with you.

I'm linking up to a couple of challenges:

Inspiration Avenue: Faded

(when I saw those photocopies I thought *Ding! ding! ding! You just found your faded project)

Crazy 4 Challenges: Hearts

(It's been so long since I played with them. Fun!)

Quirky Crafts: Recycled Romance

(I think that the dancers are very romantic and the number of things I recycled on them is boundless. To name a few: junk mail, calendar, book pages, a bill, corrugated cardboard, and the board it's assembled onto is a leftover piece from an abandoned art project my youngest was doing a year or so ago.)

Design Dollies: Romance Inspired Art

(Again, I thought the shoe story is pretty darn romantic. It drove the piece: Dancing in the Woods)

All the photos I used were from Graphics Fairy. It's an amazing source for copyright free images.

Linky Parties:

Graphics Fairy: Brag Monday

Tatertots and Jello: Weekend Wrap-Up