Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue...

In my quest to find something to scratch my creative itches this year, that utilized much of the ephemera and mementos I've collected from flea markets over time, and that would bring more joy and lightheartedness into my daily making... I began creating these vintage-inspired mixed media collages. That's the something new.

This is where it all begins. Finally finding a landing place for all my papers, old photos, book pages, candy wrappers, scrapbook papers, antique ledgers, music books, tickets, maps and odd little scraps of stampings and such... well... That's the something old. Those things kind of set my soul on fire. If you saw my stash, you might laugh at the tiniest scraps of things that I am not able to part with. I'm not sure why, but the most miniscule piece of torn paper makes my heart beat just a little bit faster.

Being able to get into all the details and embellishing with paint, pencil, ribbons, buttons and other found objects... well... that just sets my brain on fire! I tweak and tweak and tweak and tweak each piece until it looks 'just right'. And what does that mean? When it has the perfect balance of color, visual weight, places for the eye to fall, and the story is clear... that's when I know I'm done.

When did my love affair of all thing collage-y begin? Probably back around the turn of the century! I first discovered a publication called Somerset Studio, that had within it's gorgeous, glossy pages, samples of artwork similar to what I wanted to create. They called it mixed media collage. And so my quest began. I traveled the country to gather and play with like-minded souls. I discovered new and exciting projects and techniques. I found talented and patient teachers and inspirational workshops. One of those masterful instructors was Lynn Whipple. Her whimsical and lighthearted approach to collage inspired me to keep going. And keep going I did!

Earlier this year, when my thoughts turned to adding more joy and lightheartedness into my daily creative practice, my thoughts returned to that special instructor of more than a decade ago. I found an online class she was teaching — aptly named The Joy of Collage — and signed up in a heartbeat, so I could brush up on my techniques and playfulness. And brush up (pun intended)... I did! That's the something borrowed.

I soon became obsessed with making mixed media magic. I could relax my brain and let my heart take over. It was a much needed break from the complex engineering of the sculpted art dolls I made throughout 2014. I started working on multiple collages at a time, all in different stages. I could play with paper, or paint, or stamping, or details, at my leisure with the freedom to choose whatever was calling me at the time. I started creating works in different themes and different colors (that's where the something blue comes in)... all while using Lynn's visual gauge of, "if it makes you laugh, then go with it".

Working in that way, I found that when I'm finished with a piece, I think, "Awww, I'm done already?" And so I'm on to the next one... to create more fun, more whimsy, more joy and more lightheartedness in my creative soul. Throughout this process the ideas keep coming, and I look forward to exploring these mixed media collages in 2015 and seeing where they take me!

Editors Note: Any time I take a class or workshop from a talented, established artist or instructor, I always ask their permission before I make any work utilizing their techniques public. It's good form and good karma.

It CAN Be All Unicorns & Rainbows!

Who says life can't be all unicorns and rainbows? Certainly not me! In fact, I love to perpetuate the idea of beautiful natural occurrences and mythical creatures... especially in a whimsical painting. For sure!

This piece actually started as a background created with watercolor crayons and pencils... making fun marks and scribbles in a free-form manner. A little bit of drawing and it looks like this. A little bit of water and it turns into that.

A little bit of paint and that turned into this... and then this turned into that...and then that turned into a unicorn. Wheeeeee!

I thought I'd give this piece a nice pastel theme and play up the rainbow and the Unicorn Girl. Can you tell I was channeling My Little Pony?

And although it seems simple in subject, it was the tiny little tweaks here and there that set my brain on fire. I absolutely loved going back in to add little details to create interest. I kept adding, changing and tweaking it until I was satisfied with the finished piece. The most exciting part is that now I know how to fix what I'm not liking... and I'm less afraid of messing up my painting. So, see.... miracles do happen!

A See of Color...

I recently started Micki Wilde's online class Paint Happy  and was inspired to create swatches of every single acrylic paint that I owned! In her first lesson she has an assignment where we create color palettes we like in our journals. Being the recovering perfectionist that I am, I really wanted to "see the colors all together" before committing them to paper.

I have.... umm... well... a LOT of paints! I even have them categorized by color. But still, when I'm painting, the ones in the drawers are out-of-sight-out-of-mind and the ones on my work table are... over crowded! So my idea solved two problems... Yay! I'll be able to see them all at-a-glance.

With my new swatches, I can create the perfect color combinations and play with subtle differences in certain colors until I get them just right! The top swatch is my favorite 70's junk jewelry combo... and right beneath it is the ultimate Sweet Tart palette!

Oh, and never fear, dear readers... I put the paint color and brand name on the back of every single swatch. Woot!

Heck, even the remnants from my project are juicy fodder for some other project... or they'd even make a great stencil!

I started a list in my journal of all the different places I can look for color palette ideas. The only problem is... that the possibilities are endless. Now where are my paint brushes? Wheeeeee!

A Real Treat...

Playing in my journal has become quite a habit lately... as have my visits to Dunkin Donuts. My favorite? One chocolate frosted donut and one chocolate glazed donut and if I'm in the mood, a coffee coolatta to top it all off. Mmmmmm. So when I decided on the color palette for this page, I wanted to pay homage to my favorite place to treat myself.

After laying down the pinks, oranges, browns and throwing in a little green for good measure, I added this cute little bear I quickly painted on an old dictionary page. Only problem was, no matter how I painted him into the page... I didn't like how it looked. I changed colors and highlighted various areas but I never got to liking him at all. I told myself I needed to sleep on it and just left it alone for the night.

And while laying in bed that night, I had an idea.... I'd turn him into a balloon! Yes, that was it! And so I let the page evolve around Mr. Balloon Bear and all was right with the world.

The whole page ended up being an actual Dunkin Donuts theme (I had originally just wanted the color palette!). But when the muse calls, I pick up and say, "hello!" Lots of serendipitous things happened along the way and I just went with it.

I figured if it was my fast food breakfast cravings that inspired my color palette, why not let the whole page be inspired by the actual craving. And I was right.... it was so good!

I Believe I Can Fly...

I've been having a blast playing in my new mixed-media journal. In fact, I think I've been having some creative breakthroughs of sorts. Or maybe breakdowns? No... I don't need therapy! It's the walls that are breaking down!

You see... I'm absolutely loving the not knowing part of this journal play. I'm really learning to embrace the mark-making thing.... just for the sake of making marks... in the moment... whatever I feel like... with no end result in mind! In fact, I'm finding that I work better on pages where i create the background first, rather than a character. I like being able to be free with an entire page rather than trying to work around something.

Dots. Raindrops. Circles. Swirls. Paper stuff. Scribbles. Words. Paint. Sometimes I don't even look at the page as a whole, I just look at the very spot I'm working on. My mind changes as I work more... and it's all okay! Add this. Cover that. Paint between. Just play!

And then, KAPOW! The whole piece just takes its own direction, finds it's own theme, and has a story to tell. And the neat thing is... it always relates to me, and yet it always manages to surprise me. Each page requires patience and perseverence. There are lots of times when I do not like certain areas of the page. But I make tiny little tweaks in-between stepping back and noticing. Okay, sometimes I make bit giant tweeks and say, uh-oh... what have I done. But it's all good. Really!

I've become so attuned to knowing what I like, what I don't like, and most importantly... why!! And now that I seem to have found my groove... I can dance on clouds and fly over rainbows!

Taking Time to Play...

If we think about the last time we actually played with paint and pencils and crayons and stamps — with no expectations and no judgements about our work — it was probably like... when we were 7 or so? I know for myself... I can't even remember what it was like to not make an icky face at my first attempt at anything!

Which is why I felt it was so absolutely necessary to take Mindy Lacefield's Play Journal workshop at the Art & Soul Retreat recently. She teaches... nay... preaches... living from your authentic childlike self and her fun and whimsical attitude is contagious!

Her work is so playful and visually stimulating in a witty, lighthearted way... that I just needed to be a part of that type of creation face-to-face...

That's why even though I've taken her classes online for almost a year now, I still felt compelled to learn with her in-person in a 2-day workshop. And I am so very happy that I did!

We started off with some warm-up exercises... drawing on deli paper with our non-dominant hand (we'd use that later in our journals). Once we crafted our journals (it was easy peasy!), we jumped right in to putting paint on paper, which is still always exciting and scary for me each time I do it!

Painting. Stamping. Mark-making. Drawing. Gluing. Lettering. These are things that just bring pure joy when there is no end result in mind. And it was fun! I gave myself permission to let go.

And it was so cool to watch my pages as they progressed. I ended up disassembling my journal because I wanted to add elements to multiple pages and my 7 year old self couldn't wait for them to dry (who am I kidding, that's the impatient me today!). I was so overcome with excitement and the desire to add more and more (and more!) that I found myself shoving lunch into my mouth faster than I could chew it... just so I could get back to the classroom more quickly. Come on! Hurry up! So you can have more fun!!

We had a fabulous group dynamic in our class and we all fed off of each other's energy. We journaled and shared stories, got a little teary-eyed, laughed a lot, shared some more, got ideas from each other and evolved as a group. At the end of day two we had a little show-and-tell. Everyone did such a great job and each person's creations were uniquely their own. It was a blast!

And after I returned home, the party didn't stop! I was obsessed with mark-making and doodling and painting and finding just the right piece of epemera to complete an empty space. I was kind of cracking myself up over cracking up. Is my therapist on call, I wondered?

But I finally came down a bit, off of the major adrenaline high I was on, and just enjoyed the whole process. I found that after Mindy's workshop, I was more free to make marks, really letting go of the fact that they might get covered up. I had more confidence that I could make those marks again if need be, or take the technique and use it as a new tool in another way on another page. And yes, I will be making like a gazillion more of these journals!

In fact, this mermaid is the result of what I created over that background above. I covered up a lot of marks and painting and drawing and little bits of ephemera. But I love this page oh so much. And I made sure to document it before I covered it. So anything I had, I'll know exactly how to re-create it again for another page.

To be honest,  I wasn't sure how much I'd learn from an in-person class from a teacher I had studied with online. But to my surprise, the person that signed up for that workshop and the person who came home from it ... well, they're two different people. And it's hard to find words that express what a wonderous time I had, and how much my art has changed as a result of it. I am over-the-moon excited every day knowing that all I had to do to move forward, was move backwards... and revisit my childhood self.

I'm so happy I remembered how to play. Makes life (and art) a lot more fun. Wheeeeeee!

Fast Food Frenzy!

I love fast food. I love coffee and donuts and cookies and chicken fingers and french fries and all kinds of yummy quick bites. Recently, I loved it so much, I created a bit of an imbalance in my gut... which forced me to make some temporary dietary changes to mend my little belly. But before doing so, I went on an all-out-fast-food-binge of ages. Like an alcoholic knowing they had to go into rehab, I devoured everything I could and enjoyed every single second of it. Okay, so maybe my McRib Sandwich came with a side of guilt, but it was still delicious!

As I ordered each of my offending foods, I couldn't help but notice the brightly colored graphics, supple paper bags and interesting text on some of the containers. So I started collecting them. They ended up in a mixed media collage and I have to say that it was worth every morsel!

The Starbucks Siren in the corner ended up as the inspiration for my girl's coffee cup... kind of like she's making an offering to the sinfully sweet mermaid of caffeine!

This adorably swirly sugar packet I've had in my arsenal for quite some time. It fit in with the green theme that was popping up in my piece... so I was happy to finally paste it onto a collage.

This sticker was actually from a package of chicken breasts — something a little more healthy as I began to change my diet — and it intrigued me and grossed me out all at once! Chicken. All Natural? Well, I certainly hope so!

The best part about the piece is that I didn't really plan for it to be a fast food collage per se, but that's how it ended up. A yellowy-blueish-pinky-beige theme evolved and it's one of my favorite so far. I look forward to using more fast food ephemera in future collages. As well as being able to eat more of it in the near future!

True Free Spirit...

I know... I know! I keep mentioning Mindy Lacefield and her online workshops that I've been taking. But that's because PLAY is my word for 2013, and they are just so darn fun, and...  I'm "trying on" lots of new styles in an effort to discover my own. Wheeee!

I had made a practice sketch in my notebook (before putting paint to canvas), but had decided to turn her into a wood burning instead! I love burning wood and it had been awhile. So I transferred my drawing to a wood panel and started my adventure!

Mmmmmm... can you smell the burning wood? Smells just like a campfire! I was totally in my element.

The flowers came about on their own, and the stars were made with a special attachment that came with my wood burning tool. A nice balanced composition was shaping up. Now for some color.

The magic really happened as I started to paint. She began to come alive! I took my time and made a point to enjoy the process, as my perfectionist side does not like to get paint on the wood burnt outlines! So I painted slowly and methodically, choosing colors carefully.

Did someone say pink and teal?

I wanted to add details and embellish the piece and torn vintage music sheets really fit that bill. I aged it a bit using Antique Linen and Tea Dye Distress Inks.

I also added a moon using the music paper, but the print really took away from the composition. So I painted a light wash of white over top to tone it down and that made it blend in much better. A pink ribbon bow on top of her head and she was complete! I love her so much and can't stop looking at her. Creating this piece really brought out my true free spirit! Hooray!