This chapter of “The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women” asked us to identify who influenced us early in our life. I immediately knew that my sister, Kathy, had been one of the most influential people when I was young. I think I had a predisposition to all types of arts and crafts but I remember being in awe of her when she left for college, majoring in art. I often wondered if it I interpreted her changing majors to Occupational Therapy as a subliminal message that a career choice should be “practical”. In every book I’ve read about creativity, the question always comes up as to those instances in your life where you were discouraged from following your dream of being an artist. I never felt that anyone said “you can’t make a living being an artist”, but when it came time for me to go to college, my interest in business and computers prevailed. So fast forward twenty years, I’ve experienced the corporate world and am now a stay-at-home mom with two boys (who are growing up much too fast) and I am recreating my life to include my need to be creative. I only wish I could share my experiences and my creative passions with Kathy, but unfortunately she died from cancer over seven years ago.
In the last two years, I have been actively seeking out other creative individuals, some who I consider as guides in the journey and others who are traveling companions (I have found this a bit ironic since it feels like just yesterday I was giving my nephew grief for his “networking” mindset). Having these people in my life has been such a blessing. They have instrumental in identifying my dreams and giving me the confidence to go after them (and if you are reading this, then you are one of those people and I THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart).
And now….on to the Crusade part of my post…
In keeping with Michelle’s play on traditional new year’s resolutions, she titled GPP Crusade #28 as “Portion Control”. I didn’t use my shape from Crusade 27 but I did use the technique in a couple of recent projects. The challenge was to use partial images or shapes to add visual interest. The first canvas, my angel project, uses only a partial image for the focal point and also incorporates part of the angel stamp I carved. I also made a combination mask/stencil of a pair of wings. I used part of it by dry brushing over the mask and also glazing inside the stencil. My original image transfer of the angel head was much more distressed but it was a little “too partial” for my tastes and I ended up doing a second image transfer. My second canvas, with the buddha, includes partial stencilling of the words “purposeful life”. Both of these canvases were made for a challenge that my friend DebMarie and I do every two weeks. We have been meeting for breakfast every two weeks since school started for our kids. Although we always seem to be on a creative high afterwards (don’t you just love talking to people who get you ), we decided that we would also pick a challenge so that we could each see how the other interprets it. Week one was the color red and week two was to incorporate a map (the base of my buddha piece is a japanese map). Don’t forget, if you click on the image, it will bring up a bigger size in a lightbox so you can get a better look at it.
Well, that’s all for now but hopefully I will soon be showing you a piece I’m making for a charity auction AND since it is for a public radio station it had to include some type of vinyl record…have I piqued your interest?
It may have been a month since I last posted, but I used some of the time to do an entry for Michelle Ward’s Green Pepper Press Crusade #27 (actually got it done over two weeks before the deadline…WooHoo!). Don’t you just love Michelle’s title for this challenge…SHAPE UP! Although I have my own personal fitness resolution, I was glad to find out that her challenge was to pick a shape and study the various ways the shapes could be incorporated into our art and make some new tools to make our shape of choice.
I will admit that I thought about what shape I wanted to use for several days before finally decided to go with a chevron shape. What is a chevron, you may ask? It is that shape you see on the sleeves of military uniforms that indicate the rank…a “V” shape (although it is upside down on a uniform).
I started by cutting three different sizes of chevron as stencils from chipboard, being careful so that I could use the shape I removed as a mask. I also cut a small chevron out of craft foam that I could use as a stamp (I decided to put the “stamp” on some EZ Mount so that I could use the stamp with my acrylic blocks). I played with my new tools on a journal page, using gesso to stencil some of the shapes and mask others. I created not only solid shapes but also outlines which I plan to explore more. But I think my favorite part was using the chevron stamp to make a herringbone pattern, which is on the right side of the page on the dark teal area. I see more “chevron play” in my future.
I’ve posted entries in the past for Michelle Ward’s Green Pepper Press Street Team Crusades. Well, she has challenged people again to stretch their wings open their hearts with a “Pay it Forward Challenge”. She challenged people to make a gratitute gesture (think of something you can do for someone that ‘pays forward’ a kindness done to you). Seeing Michelle’s challenge prompted me to finish something I had decided to do almost a year ago. Last fall I bought the book “Living the Creative Life” by Rice Freeman-Zachery and was immediately enamored with the insight that all the artists provided (not to mention all the great eye-candy to inspire one’s own creativity). I hadn’t even finished the first chapter when I found myself constantly thinking of two childhood friends who encouraged my creative dreams. Although I still am in touch with them, for the past several years we have succumbed to only an annual christmas card for communication. Even though I had no idea if either of these women have continued on their own creative journey, I felt it necessary to buy each of them a copy of the book. My initial intention was to mail the book as soon as I got it (I think it was in October of 2007) but life got in the way. Then I was going to try to get it out to them for Christmas but again life got in the way. I don’t know how many times I looked at those books (and the padded envelopes that at some point I put with them) but they just never found their way into the mail system. When I read Michelle’s challenge earlier this month, I knew the time had come. Within a week, I had notes written to my dear friends Mary and Cathy and had entrusted them to the US postal service. I only hope that they find the book as inspiring as I have.
I know I haven’t been doing the Crusades for that long, but I have to say that this has been my FAVORITE! Stamp carving is ADDICTING. I carved three new stamps for Crusade No. 18. Two of them resemble an ironwork fence and the last one was kind of a spur of the moment carving of a pair of eyes. I have a lot of stamps that have eyes but for some reason, I felt the need for a pair that was bigger. The designs for the ironwork style stamps were from a book on architectural clip art. I carved them so they could be lined up for a continues design of any length. The larger of the two is about 6 inches wide. The basic design for the eyes was traced from a piece of artwork I have by Christina Lazar-Schuler. The eyes of the woman in the piece I have have such a haunting quality that I thought they would be perfect for a stamp.
I traced them on tissue paper and then transfered the pencil to the stamp surface. To get a lighter feel to the shadow and iris of the eyes, I used one of my Stampbord tools that is used to create cross-hatching on Stampbord. It worked well to make that section of the stamp less solid. These two art journal pages show the stamps I created. The one page includes a bunch of stamped images (birds and flowers) using See Ds Stamps by Sugarloaf. My carved stamp is the fence in the foreground. The other art journal page features both the eyes stamp and the other ironwork stamp (which was stampe in silver Brilliance ink and then embossed using Broken China Distressed Embossing Powder by Ranger Ink.
Next month’s challenge is going to be making stencils. I am getting geared up for that. I actually made a stencil a couple of months ago and still have yet to use it so I know this will give me the kick in the butt I need to finish that project.
Tags: carving, Christine Lazar-Schuler, Michelle Ward, Ranger Ink, See Ds, Stampbord
Again, I’m sneaking my blog entry in under the wire for Michelle’s challenge. The sad thing is, I actually had my art journal box done for almost two weeks. Although I haven’t posted my picture until now, I think I can finally say that I am an art journaler. I have tried starting art journals off and on over the past two years but never did more than a couple of pages. Well, I’m proud to say that this morning I did my sixth consective daily art page since I put together this box. But even more exciting for me has been that each page is a result of my thoughts while I have been riding my exercise bike (that means I’ve spent 30 minutes biking everyday for the past six days — YEAH! pardon me while I pat myself on the back).
I took the box out for its first “travel experience” yesterday. My friend Kay and I took a road trip to Green Bay to check out a business, The Assemblage Studio, I discovered web surfing last year. The photo of my art journal box was actually taken “on location” at The Assemblage Studio. Since I didn’t have time to finish my page after biking, I took the box so I could finish it there. I need to do a little raving now about The Assemblage Studio. What I loved about this business was the concept of having an amazing variety of items to purchase for altered art projects plus the ability to work there (so we could pick out the perfect pieces as we worked). Teresa Ann Gifford, the owner and altered artist extraordinaire, was so incredibly nice. Since the road trip was only planned less than a day before we went, we didn’t think to call ahead to see about the work space or anything. But Teresa welcomed us with open arms and shared not only her wonderful space but a wealth of information.
If you ever find yourself in the Green Bay area (technically the business is in DePere), definitely plan a stop at her business or sign up for some of the amazing classes she offers. You will not be disappointed. I’ll sign off with pictures of a couple of my favorite art journal pages.
This chapter of “The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women” asked us to identify who influenced us early in our life. I immediately knew that my sister, Kathy, had been one of the most influential people when I was young. I think I had a predisposition to all types of arts and crafts but I remember being in awe of her when she left for college, majoring in art. I often wondered if it I interpreted her changing majors to Occupational Therapy as a subliminal message that a career choice should be “practical”. In every book I’ve read about creativity, the question always comes up as to those instances in your life where you were discouraged from following your dream of being an artist. I never felt that anyone said “you can’t make a living being an artist”, but when it came time for me to go to college, my interest in business and computers prevailed. So fast forward twenty years, I’ve experienced the corporate world and am now a stay-at-home mom with two boys (who are growing up much too fast) and I am recreating my life to include my need to be creative. I only wish I could share my experiences and my creative passions with Kathy, but unfortunately she died from cancer over seven years ago.
), we decided that we would also pick a challenge so that we could each see how the other interprets it. Week one was the color red and week two was to incorporate a map (the base of my buddha piece is a japanese map). Don’t forget, if you click on the image, it will bring up a bigger size in a lightbox so you can get a better look at it.
Don’t you just love Michelle’s title for this challenge…SHAPE UP! Although I have my own personal fitness resolution, I was glad to find out that her challenge was to pick a shape and study the various ways the shapes could be incorporated into our art and make some new tools to make our shape of choice. 
I played with my new tools on a journal page, using gesso to stencil some of the shapes and mask others. I created not only solid shapes but also outlines which I plan to explore more. But I think my favorite part was using the chevron stamp to make a herringbone pattern, which is on the right side of the page on the dark teal area. I see more “chevron play” in my future. 
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