Stop Being Perfect - Art Journal Page

Thanks so much for all your supportive comments yesterday. It was very scary for me to put out my own art for the world to see. This project is really energizing my creativity and helping me use my supplies in new ways.

click on the picture to see it up close

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One thing I'm absolutely crazy about right now is the 11x14 sketchbooks from Utrecht. B and I both bought one over the weekend and I can't say enough good things about the quality of the paper and it's such a charming size to work in - I'm better with big than itty-bitty. Plus at $12.99 you really can't go wrong.

Some of you might recognize these wise words from Tyler Durden. I wonder if I'm not going to end up with a whole series of Fight Club related art journal pages. LOL. Remember this one?

There's a lot of fun texture and techniques on this page, not surprisingly, I used coarse modeling paste. I just can't get enough of the stuff. This time though, I didn't color it. 

And here's my girl. I'm working towards a more abstract look and feel this is moving in the right direction.

Tip: When I'm finished an art journal page and I've added a lot to it like this one, I Mod Podge it to the next page. It really improves the stability of the book.

Doing My Own Thing: Faces

Until this weekend, to the best of my knowledge, I've never tried to draw a face other then happy faces like this :-) or smiles on stick people. I'm pretty solidly in the 'can't draw' camp and decided that it wasn't a boundary I planned to push.

But then I started feeling really antsy that so much of my mixed media work is incredibly derivative of other artists and crafters. I don't want to be that girl who makes great She Art "Christy Tomlinson style"... I want to be the girl who makes great art, Nicole Maki style.

I adore Christy, Cathy, Alisa, Pam, Dina... and I learn best by mimicking others; but after a time of learning you (or in this case, I) need to take those new skills and apply them to your own work.  Otherwise, what's the point?

Volumes have been written on the difference between art and craft and I think, for me, with crafts we're thrilled if our project comes out looking *exactly* like Donna Downey's, Teesha Moore's or Julie Balzer's (oh my gosh, I wish!!!). But with art, I don't think it's a success until your sources of inspiration are so buried that all the viewer can see in it is you.

And so, it's time to step outside my comfort-zone, push the envelope a bit and apparently throw around a lot of cliches and start making my own art, not someone else's.

I hope that won't drive you all away in droves, but if it does, I'll have to accept that too.

Here are some pages from my sketchbook this weekend. I'm trying to find a starting place en route to my own style, and figuring out the proportions of a face seemed like a good place to begin.

I know, it's pretty damn primitive and my kid can draw better... but I'm trying.

I really wanted to lean on my favorite materials like punchinella and book paper but I thought I should keep it simple and add in the fun stuff that I love as I get my bearings.

And here are some "characters" I was working on. Very rough and crazy looking but I see the faintest hint of a style merging

And I've been at this long enough to know that whatever art I end up calling my own, it'll be brightly colored, a little edgy, with a lot of text, some Mexican folk art and pin-ups. 

CupCards {to go} Holiday Kit

The Cupcards {to go} Holiday Kit, Sugar Plum, is for sale and you're going to love the awesome range of papers and goodies in it. I had such a blast playing with  it all.

One of the things I liked most was the red card bases and envelopes. They feel so festive.

If you want to get a jump on your holiday card making this kit is just what you need :-)

You can check out the design team gallery HERE.

Handmade Mixed-Media Apron

I needed an apron for SPARK and I wanted to make one that expressed my creative side as well as it kept my clothes clean. The internet is awash with apron tutorials so I went with the simplest concept - cut a rectangle, fold in half, cut out curve at top for arm holes, add ties and hem.  Easy peasy. If you want me to step out how I did it, just ask. I can always use another apron.

(don't mind the weird bend at my right hip under my hand, it was squished in the closet and the canvas really holds strange shapes)

This was so fun and the apron came together quickly. My favorite part is that I always fold my aprons up under my bust and tie them in an A-line style. So I did that with this one, pinned the heck out of it and then sewed it with darts (ish) so I don't have to fold it all the time. Love!

Then I brushed the front with gesso and as I added more gesso I spritzed in color mists starting with teal at the top and transitioning to yellow at the bottom. 

Once dry, I stamped flowers along the bottom and script all over the top and then sewed on all sorts of spare bits of ribbon and flowers from my stash.

 

Then I added two layers of ruffles, the white (bottom) layer was colored rainbow with mists and the yellow ruffle was embellished a bit with script stamping.

And here it is in action:

She Decided to Leap

As you can well imagine, one of my favorite classes at SPARK was the She Art class by Christy Tomlinson. Since I've taken a lot of classes from her already, I didn't exactly follow along. I just made my own girl with the supplies provided. 

My eldest is a very literal person and he commented that the sentiment was a poor choice because girls don't usually do a lot of leaping in a fancy dress and boots. As the discussion went on we decided that literal "she" statements just wouldn't work. For example,

" She was missing her face"

ROFLMBO

It was great having a nice deep canvas to work on. I'm too cheap so I usually collage on MDF, but then you don't get the gorgeous sides.

Butterfies and Friendship Card

This is a card I made with the Fall CupCards {to go} kit. 

The butterflies were especially fun, you just make a roll out of a strip of fabric, placing the ends at the very back, and then tie it tightly in the center with ribbon. Then fluff out each wing and secure with glue dots. The ribbon provides both the body and the antennae when you cut the ends on a thin diagonal.

Reverse Applique Amy Tan Style

Hello friends!

Here's another project from my creative get away weekend.

I decided to attend SPARK the event when I heard Amy Tan was teaching. She's the coolest. I first heard of her way back when in Glamour (?) magazine when Cindy Crawford was seen leaving a gym wearing one of her hand embroidered tank tops.

Ever since, I've always noticed her work and have been a huge fan of hers. So imagine my excitement when she came out with a line for American Crafts, Amy Tangerine.

Now I can be cool too *grin*

This is what I made in her class. I decided my girls didn't need a big image across them so I added my star to the hip. I really like the placement.

Ever try to take a picture of your own hip? It's odd to say the least. My boys were all otherwise engaged so I winged it. You can get the gist, right?

Reverse applique is a really relaxing craft. I will definitely be doing it more in the future.

Anyhow... I love Amy Tan! I totally dorked out with excitement when I stood near her on the first day and I did more then a little gushing when we actually spoke. It certainly was a highlight.