Follow me on Twitter RSS FEED

week 11 - the nature of magic - mixed media collage art

Posted in By raen1111 0 comments



Well, it is week 11 at my "make something ANYTHING every weekend challenge" and it is time to make some changes :)

 Of course!

 It is summer and I am focusing my energy on my extravagant garage/craigslist/ebay sale ~ plus getting ready for 2 vacations and planning for lots of time in Nebraska to hang out with my parents.

 So, my "make something" challenge is shifting for the summer.  I am going to be focusing all my creative energy on expanding my previous challenge and creating some art collections.  Then for the fall I will be moving forward full force with selling my art work ~ via Etsy or local art shows or possibly in a store setting.

 For awhile there will be less focus on trying new techniques or projects and more focus on expanding my current art collections so I can move into my next phase of exploring art, creativity, happiness and joyful living.






 To begin this adventure I returned to my most true form of artistic expression, the mixed-media collage:

 The process:

 1.  Using a thrift store canvas, I cover it with a vintage Canadian maps:



2 .   Then I take some antique white paint and begin to age the surface of the map:









3.  Then, I used a splatter paint technique with watered down burnt umber acrylic paint and an old toothbrush.  Followed up by painting several thin white layers in the lower right hand corner where I will be transferring an antique picture and a quote:



4.  I then added a hand-cut vellum cicada with hand-painted wings. Added a moon to the bottom part of the image and antiqued the map using Restore Walnut finish ~ 

 "She's mad, but she's magic.  There's no lie in her fire."

 And so the new adventure begins.

 See you all next time at the Cicada Moon Workshop ~ in the meantime, embrace your moments, have fun, smile, dance, be grateful and make your art!

week 10 ~ friends and family edition of make something ANYTHING every weekend challenge

Posted in , , , , , By raen1111 0 comments



Well, I am just running a week behind in publishing last weekend's edition of "make something ANYTHING every weekend challenge" :)

 It is summer here at the Cicada Moon Workshop, Ella has finished school and I am done in a just week's time!!

 YAY!

 Last weekend was our 10th weekend here at the workshop and we hosted some friends (which are for many intents and purposes my family) to make some art around our dining room table.

 Kicking it off with some retro tunes:





1.  Let's gather around the table, covered in brown paper and brimming with all the things we will need ~ water colors, brushes, acrylics, modge podge, glitter, canvases (some new, some purchased at the thrift store):






2.  We get started with a little inspiration, we used Pinterest, ideas from a girls trip we took over spring break, and just playing around by sketching out our ideas:








3.   Mallory used paper plates to plan out her design then did this great ombre effect for her background:





4.  T and Maddie, mixing paints:






5.   Maddie and Mallory, getting the their creative juices flowing:




6.  T refers to Pinterest as she begins creating her original water color designs for her pieces of "bird" art :)




7.  T will be using these bird patterns, to help create her piece of artwork:




8.   Jackie, as she works on the hand-lettering for her quote art:




9.  The very best way to set your table, with friends and paint and art :)




10.   Peeking over Jackie's shoulder:




11.  Mallory's creative process:




12.  Close-up of Jackie's quote art as she get's close to the finishing touches:





13.  T's water color designs, she will cut them out in the shape of birds:




14.  Close-up of Maddie exploring a splatter technique with her quote art:




15.  Ella cutting out her shadow figures ~ she is still working on this piece so no finished project to share :)






16.  Jackie's very cool navy blue/black canvas for her quote art:




17.  T putting the finishing touches on her mixed media collage art ~ black Sharpie legs, beaks, eyes and outlines for her bird friends:




18.  Maddie's love birds:




19.  Art drying on the outside table:




20.  T's finished art piece (ah, I love little birds :)




21.  Jackie's mixed media quote art (ah, I love butterflies and pretty words :)



22.  T's art on her wall at home:




23.  Thank you to my dear friends for making this edition of "make something ANYTHING every weekend challenge" so much fun :)

Love my psychs!!




Go out into the world ~ make, create, laugh, sing, cry, jump, be the artist you know you are ~ see you soon here in the workshop, and we will make something!

Week 9 ~ the nature of hope or bringing the outdoors in

Posted in , , , , , , By raen1111 0 comments





Spring always fills me with hope, no matter what else life is bringing ~ I can take it, as long as the trees are green and there are herbs in the garden.





Yesterday, as Ella was finishing up a visit with a friend, I went for a walk.  I was in a business centered part of town, walking on the cracked and tired sidewalks of busy streets.  At one point, I had to brush aside the leaves of a happily growing oak.  The leaves were huge, as big as my hand and so very green.  And when I touched them I could feel their fragility, their "newness".  And I was just struck ~ a few weeks ago, these leaves weren't here.  

 They are so brand new, whispered into being by sun and rain, by mother nature herself.

That very tree, lay bare ~ just a few short weeks ago.  But did that mean that those leaves didn't exist?  

 No, they were there but invisible.  And that is the very core of hope.  It is always there, often invisible to the eye.  Just as the leaf existed in the DNA of the tree, its shape and color and function defined, created and ready to be executed against sky and bark.  So is our hope, always inside of us.  Tattoed into our cellular memory, beating within our hearts and cascading from our gray matter.

 Those seeds of hope, invisible to others, begin to shape our reality and then one sunny morning we awake and find that our lives are blooming with our dreams coming true.  Our dreams are our truth, laying dormant, waiting for sun and rain to make their form seen. 

 Hope is always ours, regardless of what reality looks like.  If we are brave enough to move towards hope, to let go of the things that hold us back and embrace our dreams, anything (indeed everything) becomes possible.

 I am grateful for courageous trees that embrace with grace their dormant period, knowing that on the other side of the grey an explosion of beauty will spill into the world.

 I am grateful for courageous people who embrace with grace their dormant period ~ who are willing to let all of the old go, in exchange for the quiet white of the wait.

Be naive, dance in hope, know that you can make the moment beautiful ~ see what is already there, even if it hasn't taken its shape.

 And with these thoughts in my mind, I embarked a quick creative project.  The weekend was busy ~ 11 hours on the road and most of the weekend was spent away not leaving much time for my "make something ANYTHING every weekend challenge".  I am so awestruck by the hope and beauty of the outdoors that it is fitting to dedicate this weekend to bringing the beauty and hope of spring into my home.

 I love creating little storyscapes in the house, and have one table dedicated to these shifting stories.  It looks different from month to month.  And this month I am honoring the outdoors, bringing into the house some of my favorite elements from the outside.  Bird nests picked up on windy-day walks; butterfly wings found in the garden; eggs and egg shells from all variety of birds; shells from our last ocean adventure; roses fresh from the garden; antler sheds from my dad's stomping grounds in Nebraska; plus my version of mother nature, one of my very favorite "Marys" :)

 Here is how the story unfolds:

1.  Let's start with roses from the garden.  These rose bushes and the purple salvia were put in right after we moved to Lawrence, as part of my Mother's Day.  I tucked the delicate blooms into some science beakers:



2.  Now for one of my favorites, my ostrich egg:



3.  Adding in the antler sheds from my dad and some nests I have found on my walks:








4.  In with the super hashed, super rusty little scale.  Tipping with egg shells and a sea shell from last summer's ocean adventure:
  






5.  Time for Mary to make her entrance ~ this is one of my all time favorites - a vintage, Italian-made chalk Mary and Child statue - worn from its time spent out of doors.  She is so pretty:









6.  Add some boxes ~ one is a vintage tool box and the other is an antique sewing kit because boxes of any sort are the perfect place to store mischief or hope ;)







7.  Calling in the octopus and some rusty found objects:







8.  And now, we are done ~ exploring the nature of hope and bringing the outdoors in ~


Go out into the world, carry your hope lightly inside you heart and trust enough to let it unfold into the world.

Live your dreams, dance in the rain, laugh with the ones you love!

Make, create, dream, bake, garden, pray, wish, be happy out there in the world! 

 I will be here, waiting for you and at the Cicada Moon Workshop.



Week 8 - the nature of beauty

Posted in , , , , By raen1111 0 comments



Spring fills me to overflowing with gratitude & energy, and a creeping certainty that I must suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder!  Oh well, guess that means I need to retire to a sunny spot (with an ocean ~ even better).

 An eventful week, Ella's culminating Spring Show with WMS Chorale.  Wow!  Those kids can sing AND dance.

 Worked in the yard (and have the sunburn and sore muscles to prove it) putting in my apple tree guild.

Learned that a special person, who touched my life in a deep and kind way is passing away.  Many years ago, when I was living in Belton and Ella was a baby, a group of women came together to start a farmer's market.  Denise and I were among those founding members.

Denise ran an herb shop in the historic down town area, she always served warm herbal tea and had small treats to share.  Her shop was an oasis.  Her conversation was a quiet, lovely place.  Every where she went, every moment she shared with others, she shared her beauty.  And she was by far, one of the most beautiful human beings I have ever known.

 It is a rare and singular joy to have known her.  Her humility, authenticity, kindness ~ unsurpassed.  Her imprint on those around her, profound.  It is rare to meet someone like her, and her legacy of kindness and gentleness ripples through all who met her.  There are those who posit themselves as teachers and healers.  But the true healers are those, who like Denise, love without judgement, and hold their power in graceful, quiet and humble ways.  She was a true healer.  She will reap everything she has sown, and she will rejoice in it.





Life is short, no matter how long we live.  With that knowledge in my heart, I create and make and dance and sing and love and eat and pray and grow green things; and encourage you, as you do the things that make your life worth living!





 This week in the workshop for our "make something ANYTHING every weekend challenge", I pulled out an old cabinet door Trey and I rescued from the curb.  Nothing like a little curb-side shopping to inspire the soul.

 I have been wanting to incorporate a design using vintage European maps and an image I inherited of my Grandma Marylyn, atop a mountain range, looking as if she owns the world.  I think of her always, and when I am in the garden, planting and praying over my garden I feel she is there, beside me.  I wish I could have taken her to the Alps.  I wish I could have taken her to see the world.  This project is my homage to her, to her life, to her dreams.

In the end, our dreams live on, our essence lives on, because we inspire love in others.

Come with me, we will travel to Europe.  We will drink coffee in a small cafe in Paris, and chat about what things we will do as the day progresses:

1.  Starting with something old, something thrown away:


2.  Okay, getting to work with some paint.  I started with a light coating of robin's egg blue paint and was very careful to not paint into the very cool, hashed part of this cabinet door.  I then painted in some burnt umber splotches, in a haphazard, happy kind of way:

3.  I then went over the drying burnt umber, in a custom mix I did that was made of ivory and burnt umber paint (heavier on the ivory):


4.  I then went over the entire piece in ivory, loosely and using a modified sponging type of motion with a large brush:



5.  Then I painted over the entire surface (other than the naturally bashes upper portion) with glue (this will cause the over-coat I put on next to "crackle"):



6.  I let the glue get a bit tacky then went over the glue painted surfaces with my ivory paint:

(you can already see the crackles forming, just 5 or so minutes after putting on the top coat)

I am very happy with how the under-paint peeks through :)

 7.  I wanted to age the entire piece, and used what we had on hand which was some dark walnut Restor-A-Finish.  I put a light coat over the entire piece, including the hashed part:







8.  Okay, now I am ready to break out the vintage maps.  Cut to fit and modge podge in to place:






9.  Now I antique the maps with some watered down burnt umber paint, I lightly apply it and it wipe it off with a clean cloth.  Then, I get my picture ready to transfer.  I scan this fantastic picture of my Grandma from 1957, then reverse the image.  I tape wax paper to a sheet of cardstock, then print my reversed image onto the wax paper:





10.  After the reversed image is printed onto the wax paper, I cut it away from the card stock it was tapped to and transfer onto the piece (you can tape the image into place with painter's tape, then transfer the image by gently rubbing with a plastic, rounded object like the cap of a Sharpie (not the sharpie tip, the capped end of the Sharpie :)



wax paper tapped to piece


after the transfer is complete, remove wax paper and voila!!

11.  And now we are done:



And I am so thankful for beautiful people like Denise and my Grandma, who are islands of peace in the choppy ocean of my life.  I know that truly good people exist, because I have met them.

 Peace be with you, and may you bring peace to others.

 Make, create, bake, laugh, walk, jump, garden, be happy until we meet again here in the Cicada Moon Workshop!
Design by: WPYAG
Blogger Template by Anshul | Funny Pictures.