Cards!

I'm a couple days past my self-imposed deadline for posting at least every two weeks, so naturally, I have a couple things to talk about! Above you can see the latest card I made for my mom. Her birthday was at the end of January, and I very much enjoyed making this card. It started when a fabric scrap and 2 paper scraps found themselves lying near each other on my desk. The two paper scraps kind of looked like an L and an O. What better thing to think about on someone's birthday than love? And so a card was born. My mom is one of my hugest fans, and on a recent visit to her house, I noticed that she'd hung up "a selection" of cards I've made her in the past. It was really cool to revisit all the ideas I've had over the years and see how my art has developed. Thanks, Mom, for your support of me and my art. :)


I mentioned the birth of young Bronwyn in my last post and well, of course I had to make her a card. This is in the form of the postcards I posted in January, 5x7 inches, with a mix of paper, ribbon, fabric, a tag frame, and a few brads. I thought to myself, A few years down the line, what would I most like to see in my baby book if I was a little kid? Bright colors and lots of fun things to touch.


Finally, the time has come for the "6 Degrees of HLM International Card Swap!" Last year in February I organized this swap, and everyone had such fun that I decided it should be an annual thing. Above is a selection of the cards from last year, for your inspiration. (Click on the picture to get a closer view.) Here's how it works:

1. After I collect names of those who would like to participate, I will let all participants know a number of cards to make. I expect it to be between 5 and 15.

2. A deadline will be set for when the cards will need to be completed, for example around 4-6 weeks from now.

3. Then you make (if ten people participate, for example) 10 cards exactly the same (or with minor differences) by that deadline and send them all to me in the mail, with 10 envelopes. There are no limits to what you can do. Use fabric, paper, the computer, photos, buttons, beads, stitching, glitter, anything that inspires you. Just make sure that the finished card will fit inside an envelope that can be mailed in the post.

4. I do the logistics: sorting them so that each person gets one of each of the other people's cards, totaling the number of cards you sent in. Then I send them back to you in a bunch!

5. Cost would be small: however much you spend on making the set number of cards (if I use all brand new high quality paper bought from the scrapbook store, I total about $6-8 for 15 cards), plus cost of postage to and from Fort Collins. Your investment will yield as many cards as you make, all for you to use whenever you want to send someone you love a card.

If you would like to participate, please email me or post a comment below by next Monday, March 2.

If you know someone else who might love this, feel free to let them know! If they respond to me, we'll count them in. If our number of participants starts getting too high, I'll adjust the rules a little and keep you informed. (I know that making even 15 cards is a lot of work--any more isn't very fun!)

Thanks for visiting today and happy arting!

Self Portrait 3

The concept of a self portrait is interesting to me because on one hand, sometimes it could be viewed as egotistical, while on the other hand, the "self" is a great thing to experiment with in almost every way, especially artistically. How do I see myself and what are the various ways I can represent that in art? Perhaps because there are so many sides to me, it is easier to accept a portrait of me that is not an exact likeness, but still in some way it represents me. I struggle more with this when I'm trying to capture the image of something more static, like a pear or something. But so far, the three portraits I've posted here on my blog have been a joy to create.


This painting was very intentionally modeled after another artist's work. About a year ago I came across the art of Kelly Rae Roberts, and I loved it so much that I have a pin-up of one of her pieces in my "real job" office! Recently and to my surprise, I found that Amb has Kelly Rae's blog linked to her own and one day, a random click led me to discovering all that Kelly Rae has to offer. Please do visit her site for yourself by clicking here. I'm not alone in the fact that I like the way that Kelly Rae does faces, and I love her collaging and simple messages. So I decided to copy her style in this self portrait.

The process encompassed many thoughts and feelings. There are many layers in this piece, even if just paint on top of paint, which demanded that I be patient and let dry before continuing on. I wasn't sure it was going to turn out like I wanted it to for about the first hour, but as I added layer after layer, it became what I'd hoped for, and then even more! I noticed things in Kelly Rae's work that pushed me in my own. I saw things I never even thought about before and then tried it out, like eyelids, black vs. colored eyes, suggesting a nose without actually defining it, and not putting ears on the either side of my face. Shadowing in color in strategic places added so much depth to the piece. I am so grateful for Prismacolor pencils!! My dad gave me my first set when I was in 5th grade and I haven't been without them since.

The most fun part was having a face (that I was satisfied with) staring out at me from a totally white background, and finding a way to fill in that white space and embellish it to make it my own. Instead of painting a background or cutting the image out and gluing it onto something else, I cut out various papers I had in my stash to fit around the image. Through this I decided the piece would have uneven edges. I also liked that to fill all the space and just use scraps, I had to use five different papers. A little red fabric filled in gaps, and some embellishing final touches helped to pull the paper designs together. It was such a fun afternoon of art for me!

Here's to good health, experimenting with new styles, people who inspire, and to Bronwyn Francis, who was born on February 6th in California to my dear Jennifer and Greg. There's nothing like new life to make you feel happy and full of hope.

Commentary

I am home sick this week and have been unable to muster energy enough to get into my art room to make art. That's pretty sad if you ask me. However, this does give me a chance to comment on a couple of things I've recently come across on the internet that I want to share with you.

First, you may have noticed the lovely turquoise badge I've added to my blog on the right. It comes from Donna Downey's website, and she has launched a Campaign for Creativity. There is nothing more to being a part of the campaign than believing in her simple message: "Live a life inspired and dream with possibility!", being creative yourself, and encouraging creativity. It is such a simple idea, yet so many (myself included), despite how nice her message sounds, fail or have failed in the past to live it. We allow ourselves to be distracted by our busy lives and responsibilities, "don't have time" to make art or be creative in our own ways, and worst of all, we let our inner-voices critcize us much too often. In fact, my dad recently stated to me that the reason he has not spent more time with his art and probably will not again in his life is due to his own self-criticism of his work. I feel that this is a great shame, for he is quite an artistically talented man, but who of us artists hasn't been there??? It has been thoughts like that which have kept me from believing in myself up until now. I would very much like to encourage anyone who reads this to reflect on how this campain could affect you. How can you be more inspired to create? How can you encourage creativity? What have you not allowed yourself to dream of? And, thank you to everyone who has already participated in this campaign without even knowing it, by encouraging me and my creativity!

Another thing I came across today is something you MUST see. I am so touched. A woman named Amy Krause Rosenthal made a short video about 17 things she has made. It is quite simple, but whimsical and endearing. Click here to see it on YouTube. It's worth the 2-3 minutes it takes to watch. Even more worth it, however, is the follow up video about making an 18th thing with others. Talk about community-building and love for fellow man and faith in humanity! And, it is very creative. Click here to see the wonderfully named "Beckoning of Lovely" (about 7 minutes long). It has inspired Amy and her colleagues to make yet another film of lovely things by any random person in the world. Sadly, I missed the submission deadline (January 20). But is it wonderful to read more about the project at its website: thebeckoningoflovely.wordpress.com, and I can't wait to see the final film!!

Please, even if you don't consider yourself "creative," know that you are but in your own way, and do something with it today. Find your inspiration and let yourself dream.

Masquerade!

Phantom fans, can you just hear the singing??

Paul's annual work party had a theme of Masquerade Ball, and so I took that as a challenge and made our masks! WHAT FUN! I had a project like this about three years ago when I put on a Friday-night activity program that had a Phantom theme. We had a mask-making station and I of course had to make prototypes to give people ideas. But because these two were specifically for us, I felt they were much more personalized. Paul wanted a nose and for his to be dark red. I had some fabric lying around that I knew would be wonderful to use for mine. The base of each is cereal box-like cardboard.

For mine, I used the wonderful fusing I mentioned in my last post to fuse the fabric seamlessly to the cardboard. Then there was enough fusing on the edges of the fabric that I could just fold over the edges and iron down. If you'd like to see a photo of the back before I covered it up with black paper, just let me know. I knew it had to have feathers. And the sequins are part of the fabric.


For Paul's, I used red paint as a base, then with a dry brush and lots of pressure, painted four more layers on the eyes (but just three layers on the nose) in this order: black, copper, red, black. In person you can see the luster of the copper come through better than you can in this photo. I painted the underside black and attached it with black elastic.


The funniest thing was when Paul pulled his mask off his eyes and rested it on his forehead: the silhouette made him look like a nail. If you'd like to see photos of us with our masks, email me or leave a comment below and I'll send them your way.

Positively Postcards

Happy New Year to you! Already I have started pushing my artistic self this year. For Christmas my step-mom sent me a lovely book, Positively Postcards by Bonnie Sabel & Louis-Philippe O'Donnell. Essentially, another take on the mini quilt! I love the idea because it is such a small canvas, yet you can do so much! And to integrate my style, I've collaged not just with fabric, but also with paper, stickers, ribbons, and animal charms! The perfect marriage of paper and fabric. Each is 5"x7".

1. Giraffe


2. Frog


3. Elephant


It wasn't until near the end of making the second one that I realized I was developing a number of themes. Each postcard started with the same base fabric, but on the second I didn't consciously place the red squares, the flowers, and the postal details, and at some point it just dawned on me that both charms I planned to use were animals. So the third card was much more purposeful: again the red square, the post decal, the flower ribbon, and an extra button I had lying around--the elephant!

Each one has a different backing, as I experimented to find what I would like best. The first has a thick layer of fusible web (like what you might make a fabric box out of), and is covered on the other side with white muslin. For the second, I used double sided tape to attach a piece of white card stock to the fabric. The third one determined my favorite: I have discovered fusing! (Where have I been all these years?) Essentially a paper-thin layer of glue that you first iron on to one thing and then to the other. It is a dream come true. So I used fused postcard number three to another piece of cardstock. Very secure and no air bubbles.

Thanks go to Nancy(!) for inspiring this project, and I completed it on Jan. 2, so dedicate my art-making that day to Grace on her birthday.