Wanderlust week 3 - Vision board portrait

So many things I liked about this art journal lesson:

1. It's more or less a vision board for 2020, first one I've ever done, maybe because I was more ready than ever before since I actually have specific plans thanks to the moon manifestations I've been working on.

2. I like to include self portraits ( the greats did it, why can't I? lol) but I've never even thought about doing a profile, so this is my first.

3. I like firsts, don't you?

Links to supplies I used in case you like them:

Rubbermoon stamps, collage elements 

Some of the art elements came from a Cheap Joes catalog  

It may be a little time consuming and a little fussy for some but the effort of cutting out my pages just looks SO much better and yes, it's a little bit of pain that brings me joy in the long run, kinda like diet and exercise, lol

And a little peek into my "beautiful" mind, ( behavior or personality is outside social norms (very similar to the cliché of the socially awkward nerd )because I'm recording as much as possible to see if and what happens. As it stands right now, color me impressed with following the moon phases, doing the work as evidenced on the paper on my desk. It's a huge sheet that I can record everything on it and really map out what's relating to each other.

Collage Girl #10

Getting a little bored with faces...there, I admitted it.

I'm in trouble, and I'm not even ½ way through! 

Yikes!

I grabbed a whole bunch of painted paper, some from my mono prints and some from paint run-offs papers to create her.

I also re-visited a previous page, and now I am unsure...did I ruin it?

Here it is in its original state which I loved.

And then I added words...late at night...I knew better but...I did it anyway.

So, should I have stopped? ugh

the answer is yes, I know it is...banging head on desk...

Art gives you a story to tell...

Well, what can I say except that this has become a favorite technique of mine. Collaging with both strips of mono printed papers and old stash

 ( in this case, rub on letters ) and then using my ColourArte Twinkling H20's shimmering watercolors ( China Black ) to cover the entire page.

Grunge and Aging

This time I did not cover the entire page in a coat of decoupage so there are some areas where the Twinks absorbed into the paper and some areas where the Twinks stayed on top of the paper. Love the combined effects of aging and grunge.

Oops are OK

I did have one little oops where the clear sticker was not secured to the page so a little bit of the black watercolor ran under it and you can't see the last "L" in the word "tell" very well.

Perfectly Imperfect

Because some of the stickers were old they didn't completely come off the sheet perfectly and it looks freaking awesome...lol...couldn't have managed that distressed look on my own probably...well, not without some thought and planning. 

Happy accidents 

As an added bonus I discovered that the rub on sticker letters actually acted as a resist to the watercolors, I was afraid that the black watercolor would cover them up but it was a happy accident to discover how they almost pop off the page.

So currently, this is one of my favorite art journal pages...

until the next one, lol

Would you pay to be judged?

It's that time of year again where I give away money to be judged. 

::the sound of silence, crickets chirping::

It's a scary thing, entering a juried show...I feel like shouting: "Hey judges, here is my heart art, please like it"...then whispering "and can I have my money back if you reject it?" OK, so I know it's non-refundable, but hey, it's my blog and I'll make absurd wishes if I want to. 

BUT, I rarely do juried shows except for this one because it supports The Arts Council of Henderson County which benefit from the entry fee. 

So there, I am a contributing member to the arts.

This is one of my pieces I will be entering, it took me a year to finish it...not because it was that difficult but because it's a little  a LOT tedious. I had to be "in the mood" to sit down and tear thousand of little tiny strips of paper from magazines that I had to sort by colors. LOTS of sorting and LOTS of tearing.

 Did I mention how tedious this process is?

Even the sides of the canvas are covered in strips of magazine pages. I use text on the sides. I do that so they ( the people looking at my art and ya know those judges busy judging my art ) know it's from magazines, not just cardstock which would be a heck of a lot easier to work with. A LOT easier.

I also try and do some feathering in each one of my pieces for the birds. This is done by cutting out the tiny feathers with tiny scissors and then attaching them with tweezers. I will note that my work doesn't go unappreciated, the other 2 bird collages sold...so yay me!.. it is worth doing, but I am in no way cranking them out. One a year seems to be my pace.

I used 3 types of magazines for this piece:

Outdoor Photographer (for the greens, grays, and browns)

Sundance (for all the pastel and red colors)

Birds and Blooms (for the text for the upper ½ of the canvas)

Yes, I hoard magazines for certain colors.

Will they understand that when I die and they come remove me from my place, that my hoarding was done for the sake of my art?

Wish me luck...on both accounts!

Tangled Mountains

I admit I am not much for the art of Zen tangling, it just hurts my hand, I guess I grip my pen too tightly but it's uncomfortable to say the least. However I was asked to do it for our blog hop and if you want to join in and go through the designer's blogs you might win a Petite set of plates from Gel Press™. I am entering my mixed media piece in 

ColourArte's Monthly challenge to use warm colors.

I did try out something new on my plate, ColourArte's Silks, and Gelatos...

Yummy prints!

Just shut up Sandee

I can remember the first time I had a story printed about me in the local newspaper and being so excited and then totally dismayed at the picture they posted of me, or the time they wrote another newspaper story about me and thinking...seriously, that is a little exaggerated! My feelings for being put in print have diminished over time because now, my first thoughts are...

what are they going to do to it? 

Now, don't get me wrong, I still have kept every article, every story ever written because it is exciting, it is an ego boost to have you memorialized in print.

But it just makes me wary nowadays.

My latest publication is a feature article written about me and about the upcoming Artists Studio Expo show coming up on July 25th in the Bold Life magazine. If you would like to read the article then you can go here. 

Now I am NOT trying to be sour grapes and all, and I AM appreciate of being featured in the magazine but sometimes I just say "huh?" when I see what they do, in this case it's the picture they put up on the page next to the article. If you go read the article you will see that the picture below doesn't correspond as well to the article as the one I sent to them, which was Night Watch...sigh...oh well, as one of my fellow artist from the Art MoB pointed out to me, any publicity is good publicity.

If you want to see the "how to" behind the Laced in Copper canvas, feel free to check out the Helmar blog post... as it has nothing to do with the article..smh

***update 7 - 19 - 15 ***
( Guess I cannot complain too much because since I published this post, this canvas has sold )

Laced in Copper- $175.00 12x24" mixed media canvas - acrylic, hand stitching, metallic floss, beads with acrylic skins

This is the one that I sent in to the magazine for them to publish with the article, which correlates to the questions that they asked me :) Although they didn't use it in the printed magazine they at least used it in the online piece!

12x36 "Night Watch" Mixed Media Magazine Collage canvas $225.00

I am always amazed that they write anything about me, so I need to just shut up, huh?

Anyway, check back on Sunday to see how the show turned out!