Right On Target...

Nothing like another gallery deadline to get me in the spirit — and get me moving — to finish a piece of art! But this time I was right on target!

My goal was to finish up with my "deer" little project... to be entitled Wounded. I found her a home in the most amazing vintage drawer.

I papered the inside with a printed brown bag I received with the purchase of some antique bits and bobs awhile back. It was a good match with the shading of the wood and I wouldn't have to age it with paint or stain. Sweet!

The drawer was long and skinny... ideal for the arrow I wanted to add, aimed right at my poor little deer. I wanted the sub-theme to be that... she always felt like the target of their hurtful words. I couldn't find a vintage arrow at the flea market, so I did a little searching and found this amazing blog post on how to make my own. I aged mine to look old, and I was on my way to driving the point home.

I burnt a saying into the sides of the piece (I must admit that I LOVE that burnt wood smell). Then I added a little paper target to my deer and placed her in just the right position in the box... okay, I'm fibbing. The deer only fit in one way, and at that angle because of the position of the antlers. But who would know, right? This was the perfect box to use for this piece... and I was going to make it fit, dammit!

As with many of my pieces, this mixed media assemblage was an accident. It wasn't planned. It just kind of made itself. I wholeheartedly believe that the things that need to come up... well, they just come up. I made the deer on a whim... just playing around with face structure and torsos using paper clay. When I was finished it looked like a deer. When it was painted, it looked sad and wounded.

The Shakespearean reference to slings and arrows always reminded me of how all the cruel things other children said to me throughout my youth really stuck in my heart and caused me great pain. I paired these elements together to create this piece. And I have to confess... it's my new favorite.

I know that in my art making, part of it is to get out my own personal emotions... even if they are based in hurt and pain. But in my art sharing, my goal is to show that there is beauty in sadness. And that it's okay to feel these feelings. It was the sadness that caused us to be the beautiful creatures we are today.

On My Worktable...

Well, no matter what I do, my worktable keeps ending up like this! I've tried to clean it up. In fact, right after this, I put every single tube and jar of paint — as well as my palettes, paper towels and brushes — away in their appropriate cabinets and drawers!! And in 10 minutes... it looks like this all over again!

I guess all that means is I'm really excited about these new circus sideshow-inspired art dolls I've been working on lately. Too excited to clean up after every color change. I mean... the eyes alone were a combination of 14 different colors... Sheesh!

But they're all coming along nicely, now that most of the painting is done. Dressing them up is the fun part....

And well... that's a whole other mess!

Wounded...

For a long time now, I've been creating works that are... well... kind of sweet and pretty and colorful (a.k.a. pink!). And I think it's time to work on some pieces that relate more to the sad and difficult emotions I've been experiencing of late. They need to come out and manifest themselves into wonderful pieces of art too!

This piece I'm working on now is called Wounded. She's kind of a statement about how I felt growing up as a child. Having moved around a lot, I was always the target of bullies and mean girls in the new neighborhood. It left me feeling kind of wounded.... even to this day. I'm going to paint a target on her belly to drive home that point, and make some kind of woodsy assemblage to put her in. She's still sad, but happy to have made it through the forest.... almost unscathed.

Gettin' Twisted...

Well... work on my Twisted assemblage is moving right along... and a little better than I had anticipated. That's always a pleasant phenomenon! I decided to go with Jesus as my "I" and I think I'm going to paint the letters ivory to match him.

I built a shelf out of a cardboard box, because I wanted the letters to be far forward, and not toward the back... in the shadows. Glued it in using my favorite multi-media glue.... DAP Tub & Tile Caulking! Wanna know why I love it so? Because caulking is made to fluctuate with temperature and humidity changes... just like the tiles in your bathroom. And so it doesn't get too hard and crack off. That's my little tip for today. Back to the assemblage...

I papered the entire inside of the drawer — and over the new shelf — with vintage book pages. For this piece I used pages from The Diary Of Anne Frank. But I don't really pick titles that are pertinent to the assemblage... I actually pick based on how aged the pages look, and how supple they are. These were perfect!

I also tried something different with this piece. Usually, I age the pages with some hue of brown acrylic paint... but these pages were rather delicate and the drawer had some ridges in it. I didn't want to be treating them so harshly as to rub on paint and wipe it back off. So I thought I would try using wood stain... and OMG!! Can I just tell you... that I may never go back to acrylics for aging vintage book pages again!

I got to work on Giselle over the weekend... added some volume to her skirt, distressed her like she'd been around for decades, and hooked her up to her new station all twisted and such. But I'll save that for the next update. Until then my twisted little mixed-media followers... Bwwahhahaahaa!

Thoughtful Thursdays: Can't Complain!

Okay... well, let me set the record straight... I really can complain... 

...but I wont!

You see... it's been hot as heck this week here in New Jersey. And that's actually typical for this time of year. We get a few weeks every Summer where you kind of have to hide inside... in an air conditioned room... and not move around too much.

But after the 9 insane snowstorms, and otherwise chilly weather that we had this Winter... I promised myself I wouldn't complain when it got too hot!

And so... I'm going to take inspiration from my little Tillie snowman here... and I'm going to put on a big giant smile... and deal! Wait one moment, while I pretend I'm made of snow...

Brrrrr! Hey... it worked!

So, how's the weather in your area?

Oh, Where... Oh, Where... Has My Paperclay Gone?

 ...oh, where... oh, where... can it be? As you may know, I've been working on my mixed media assemblages for the past two weeks and using my favorite Creative Paperclay to make some of the components. Of course being someone who waits until the last minute to see if she has everything... I realized I was out of Paperclay.

So imagine my surprise when I got to Michaels and couldn't find any! I panicked and asked a sales associate if they had any in the back. She picked up a package of something called Clay Mache and told me that it was the Paperclay... only a special private label for Michaels brand. Now this confused me because the packages were different sizes, their country of origin was different, their instructions were different, and they even felt different when I squished them (yes, I do squeeze the Charmin!).

So I just had to call the people at Creative Paperclay and ask them what was up. As I suspected, the Clay Mache is not the same as Creative Paperclay. And after using them both, I can tell you... it's not even a close substitute. So I'm telling you now...  there is still Creative Paperclay left in many of the Michaels stores... and if you see it... snatch it up! You may not find it there in the future.

But Michelle! Say it ain't so! What can I do to make sure Michaels Craft Stores
continues to carry my all-time favorite Creative Paperclay?

Well, I'm so glad you asked! Here are a few things you can do:

• You can contact Michaels Customer Service via e-mail and let them know you don't want Creative Paperclay to go! Michaels really does respect what their customers think!

• You can give Michaels Customer Service a call at 1-800-642-4235, and let them know you'd hate to have to shop elsewhere for your one and only Creative Paperclay!  :o( 

• Go to your local Michaels store and let them know that you really need to be able to get Creative Paperclay there. They're pretty good at passing on customer's comments to the big guys up at Headquarters.

So, let's turn up the volume and create some noise folks. What do we want? We want our Paperclay! Where do we want it? We want it at Michaels!

If you take any action... I'd love to hear about it in the comments! And thanks for helping me (and I'm sure a lot of other Creative Paperclay fans) to try and keep this conveniently at our local Michaels Craft Stores!