Therapy

I don't know whether or not you've guessed this, but making collaged note cards is therapeutic for me. Whether I'm using it as a studio warm up or specifically spending an entire studio session making note cards, I find that I can truly escape into the right side of my brain and put these together without thinking. I rummage through all my scraps and start assembling by color and shape. And then, of course, comes lots of glitter! You know I love glitter.

And I use these cards, too. For birthdays, anniversaries, thank you's, condolences. And I also include a free note card with every Etsy purchase! ;)

Although I make them available for purchase at my art shows for $5.00 a piece, they are not available online. Sorry.

Cat Eye Marbles

"Cat Eye Marble Collage Gift Box"
click here for more information and to purchase

I used to love to play marbles on the playground as a kid. To me the marbles were like so many jewels and the transparent glass ones, as opposed to the opaque, were my favorites. Cat eyes, snake eyes, clearies... you remember. So, I couldn't resist when I ran across these cat eye marble cabochons and I felt a gift box was the perfect place to use them.

You might want to check out my Treasury List on Etsy for other beautiful cat eye marble creations!

Girlfriend Art

My dear friend, Deb, from Charleston, SC (ok, really Mt Pleasant) came to visit with me for a week on her way north to visit family. We always have the best time whenever we get together. One of the activities I planned during her visit was to spend a day in my studio creating what I call "girlfriend art" which served as fun, creative time together and gave us each a souvenir of our time together. 

Step one was to make traditional paper dolls. We used  pages from an old  book which I had purchased when we were antiquing together in Savannah, GA earlier this year.

As you can see, we each created our own patterns. Mine is the one above, hers is the one below. I wish it had occurred to me at the time to trade one of our dolls with each other, but alas, that idea didn't come to me until just now!

Next we colored our supports. We used 8x10 canvas boards and covered them with various colored tissue paper in warm tones that we ripped and glued with soft gel matte medium. This one is mine.

This support is Deb's. You can see that although we are each creating the same thing, they are  already very different from one another's.

In order to tame down the background a little, we applied light colored pieces of lace paper scraps over top of the tissue paper. This one is mine.

And this one is Deb's.

Next we glued on our paper dolls. I had wanted mine to hold hands, but accidentally placed them too far to one side. When I tried to move them, one moved easily, but the other one was too stuck in place and I couldn't easily move it without leaving a ton of newsprint behind. Therefore, I decided to have them jointly carry a basket between them.

Of course, you can see that Deb placed hers perfectly so there were no issues. She's really a much more patient creator than I am.

Then came the fun part. Fashion design! I got lucky with the asymmetric dress on the left. The paper had already been cut in the shape of an angel fish which I had decided not to use and it ended up back in the scrap box. I love the edgy dress design that it created. The dress on the right I designed by placing a piece of tracing paper over the doll and drawing a pattern to fit it. Then I used the pattern to cut out a piece of paper to make the final dress. I chose to make faces on my dolls, too, because I had rediscovered some "googly" eyes left over from a previous project and I couldn't resist using them. 

Deb chose to make these adorable retro styled clothing for her dolls. She decided to make their  hair from paper which needed to be applied at this stage and she also chose to go without faces, which I think is cool. After the medium was dry we sealed the pieces with one coat each of first gloss acrylic varnish and then acrylic varnish in matte. Lascaux, of course. You know I swear by it!

Then finally the finishing touches. I used fabric paint for the dolls' hair as well as to outline their bodies and some of their clothing and the basket. I used glitter glue to outline the rest.

Deb used the same materials for her finishing details plus a bead for a barrette for the doll on the left and a tiny little rhinestone for the pendant on the doll on the right. After we were finished, we sat back and examined our creations. Not only were they a lot of fun to make, we discovered that they were somewhat autobiographical as well. Our choices in making them told us something about ourselves and we had fun talking about that.

The girlfriends in real life. Me on the left and Deb on the right!

Jacobean Flowers

"Jacobean Flowers" - 7.5x8.75 - Mixed Media Collage
Available on  Etsy  

Yes, I know. More whimsy. I'm not sure what's bringing this on, but I'm rolling with it. 

When I was a teenager, back in the 70's, I really got into doing needlework. I'd buy kits and make pictures, doorstops, etc. I was really drawn to patterns that were referred to as "Jacobean" as I loved the fantasy-like flowers depicted in them. I got pretty good at crewel work and became a master at French and bullion knots as well as the more pedestrian satin and chain stitches. 

Wanting to create designs of my own, my mother made a muslin smock-top for me that I stitched on as the mood struck. I also had a short, short pair of cut off denims that I also stitched on and practically wore as a uniform for more than one summer. 

Long story short, the flowers I've created in this piece remind me of those needle craft days. The background layer of paper is actually a piece of paper that I made one summer. You can almost always identify paper that I've made because it has glitter in it!

Return of the Blue Heron

"Return of the Blue Heron" - 9x12 - Mixed Media Collage

Never say never! You only end up looking like a fool.

After making what seemed like a thousand blue heron collages in the past I swore I'd never create one again. But guess what? I just did. I just can't deny their popularity in this area, and I admit that I like them, too. So, what can I say?

Crabs

"Crabs" - 8x8 - Mixed Media Collage
Click Here to Purchase on Etsy

It was time for another crab image. After all...

More Scrap Collages

You know very well that I love making abstract collages from my paper scraps. They come in handy in so many ways later on. They're good for backgrounds, they're good for subject matter, they're just fun! And making them is akin to therapy. I just let my mind wander and subconsciously focus on color. I've made these two this week to use in two different art pieces which are currently under construction.

Broken Black-Eyed Susan

"Broken Black-Eyed Susan" 6x6 Mixed Media Collage $90 + $10 Shipping

available on Etsy

I am thrilled beyond reason to have discovered that you can apply acrylic varnish over oil pastels. It makes no scientific sense to me why this should be so, but it works! I LOVE painting with oil pastels and to know that I can incorporate them in my collages without having to protect them under glass is like discovering the New World for me!

In addition to the oil pastels in the flower and the usual art papers, you'll also notice some iridescent fibers scattered over the image. Remember "The Mustachioed Button"? These are the trimmings left over when I trimmed the button's mustache. They are the iridescent fibers I found in the bait and tackle shop. (Evidently fish are just as entranced by the whole "Ooo shiny" thing as I am.)

So now you understand why I'm excited about this piece. Plus... Black-eyed Susan is also the state flower of Maryland. Even though I live in Delaware, I guess in a way, I'll always think of Maryland as home.

Lotus Pond

"Lotus Pond" - 6x6 - Mixed Media Collage - $90 + $10 shipping

available on Etsy

Years ago, while in Newark, Delaware, I was shopping in this fabulous little clothing boutique of locally manufactured designs, when I ran across the cutest, hand-crafted ceramic buttons. They were each one of a kind and I purchased a hand full of them. Every once in awhile, they find their way out of one of my numerous drawers of tchotchkes and into my artwork. That's where the "flower" has come from in this piece. 

Also, for the first time, I'm creating an option for the immediate purchase of this piece if anyone should so desire.

Orange Note Card With Green Butterfly

Another Note Card

By now some of you probably suspect that I make note cards as another excuse for using glitter glue. You're probably right. ;)