Around the World Artsy Blog Hop

A couple of weeks ago, Denise in Australia invited participation in an 'Around the World Artsy Blog Hop,' about our creativity ... & I decided to play along .... then was off at the coast on a camping trip, and .... and ... time to write!! 

These are the 4 questions:
1. How does my creative process work?
2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
3. What am I working on now?
4. Why do I create what I do?

1. How does my creative process work? 

"Presence" Mama Lois & She Who Watches

I've always thought of myself as 'Artsy-crafty' .... my mom Lois knit, crocheted, & took craft classes including basket weaving. She always had a great eye for colour, & I followed her lead, taking 4-H sewing, & drafting some of my own patterns, learning various arts & She also mentions  and creativity are ... I took art in HS, and a live drawing class in college, and 'always' sketched & did crafts in fits & spurts. I garden & keep garden note books, ... 
I made dolls & paper dolls, I took up spinning ....
I dance (from Ballet to Square Dance!) &  sketched kids at the ballet studio during my daughter's class, now sketch my grandkids ...Jewelry making, pine needle baskets, I tend to accumulate supplies, which tend to be beautiful all on their own! Over the last decade, I've taken classes from local artists - beeswax collage, slab pottery, & played with Soul Collage...

My mother-in law Dorothy Fender (now 98!) loved having a full collection of various art materials, & in the 70s & 80s, would often 'share' with me - when we were 'into' embroidery, she bought us EACH a full set of DMC embroidery cotton (!) later, Prismacolor coloured pencils.... she has some lovely pastel paintings she did in her earlier years, at this point, she no longer creates, but still appreciates what I bring over to show her!  

In February, I took a 'Muse Encounter' workshop with my friend artist Elisabeth Friese-Mick, who has been studying "Intentional Creativity"with Shiloh Sophia McCloud, so painting has taken the forefont!  Chocolate is an important part of the process, keeping the Muse happy while we paint! In later Spring & Summer, I've taken on-line & virtual courses with Shiloh & with another of her students, artist Flora Aube.
When I go to an art fair, or into a gallery, I often think "I could do that!"  So my creative process is stimulated by other artists, by nature, by imagination.

I'm lucky (or unlucky!) to have an Art Supply right in town, so when I want to try new materials, they're very handy! If I'm inspired, I may begin painting in the evening, with a candle lit & some music on, & paint into the wee hours! I often have a couple of pieces going .... & revisit older canvases, as the muse whispers. 
I'm a Virgo, so love tiny things - have done water-colors on 1 1/2" squares of paper!! & have made wee rugs for doll houses, so it's been a bit of a surprise to find myself working on canvases that are 2' x 3'!!

Yarrow Rose, Healer

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I love reality & fantasy .... my faces tend to be 'sweet' & people seem to find my paintings uplifting (which I strive for!) .... 
I find myself loving being part of the Intentional Creativity movement, putting intention into the canvas, writing words, saying a little prayer, before applying paint .... As a Reiki Master, I have had a number of artists study with me over the years, who also seek to infuse their art with healing & inspiration.   
Flames, eyes that speak volumes, loving kindness  spirals, art as healing icons .... 
Several of my pieces seem to 'ask' to be part of a story , that may be next! 

 3. What am I working on now? 

Zander helping Journal

I just began a little canvas (square: 13") and an art journal that has words, collage, drawing/painting. Last weekend my daughter's family & I joined a number of folks from our church for a camp out at the coast, & my youngest grandkids (3 & 3 1/2) LOVED helping paste & draw Grammie's art journal (& mom & dad were grateful for keeping them happily occupied for awhile!)
 

Green lady

4. Why do I create what I do?
Gosh! Doesn't everyone who is creative 'have to' create in some fashion or another?!! I think it's the nature of the beast ... As Denise says "When I’m creating I’m in a different world where time does not exist." YES!! She also mentions art as a good way for processing emotions beyond words ... I find that true as well. Art, any art, is therapeutic! 

If others enjoy my offerings as well, all the better!!

Blessings to all who visit & find inspiration in these words!

I'm linking to Paint Party Friday, & to that Artsy Blog Hop!!

Encaustic Wax

Mmmmm - got a box of 'pretty colours' today - a set of encaustic wax 'crayons'
Last year when I took the beeswax collage class, Diane mentioned encaustics (& had us do a bit of drawing, if we wanted, with regular crayons to get the idea) . . . . so today I stopped by Merri Artist & picked up a box of colours. There are also little pots of wax mixed with medium - but while handy, those are more expensive - & I tend to pick up art supplies (what, you too??) & then not necessarily USE said supplies.


Here's a video with some examples - & take a look at this lovely "Gold Dragon" by Martina Loos I want to do things like this!!
I've watched several of the videos, & it looks like a lot of fun. I have a tiny iron that I used for the beeswax collage, & a little iron that I got when I was making Christmas presents. It doesn't get super hot - so it may be just right for Encaustics - or it may be too cool.

The white 'mountain' peeks are made by painting wax on the iron, then drawing it up - same with the sky & green at the bottom. Martina uses tools to remove wax, & a smaller heated 'clip' to draw with wax . . . hope to have some goodies to show off soon!

heART Card - the creation

Here's a brief tutorial on beeswax collage - feel free to ask questions!

I found a 'butter warmer' at Bi-Mart, it's perfect for warming a small amount of wax. The tea light lasted for all twenty valentines. For a larger project, I'd use a double boiler or crock pot, but for a small job, this worked well.

I propped the brush against my knife rack, to keep it upright. I used a piece of cardboard as my surface for placing the elements & ironing them.











The base is a watercolour paper circle, covered with a 'donut' cut from a pretty red & gold print napkin. Next comes a doily.










Each step includes painting the surface with melted beeswax, then heating that with the blow dryer (which seems to work fine) & Ironing that layer down.






This is repeated for each layer.







I covered the center of the doilies with a layer of pink tissue paper.






Next is a heart cut from a napkin scrap. I covered this with a layer of plain red tissue.







I printed hearts on red tissue, using gold acrylic paint on a stamp I'd cut into a heart shaped eraser. & last - a shimmer of gold powdered pigment, to outline each heart! Viola - heART Art :)







The valentines remind me of the ones my mom would help me make, using construction paper & doilys. Before deciding on the stamp, I'd thought of running a banner with a word (like a candy hart) across each heART, but I like the gold stamp!

Last Friday, I picked up a two pound block of beeswax from a local beekeeper - so I'm well set for salve & collage :)

Waxing Poetic!

The 'Waxing Poetic' Class was great fun! The teacher Diana is the Children's Librarians at our local Public Library - & does the blog :)
She's also done SoulCollage, & said she'd been thinking of doing more, so that was fun! There were 5 other students, & a great flow to the class.

Basic tools are: fairly lightweight paper (tissue paper is great!), a small crock pot or electric frying pan to melt the wax (a combo of white & 'normal tan' beeswax - NO PARAFFIN!), inexpensive brushes (~ 1" wide), & either a blower that's used to strip paint (Darn, I forget what she called it! - that one gets very hot, looks like a hairdryer) or an embossing blower; & a quilting iron (I have one of these mini irons already :)

We made 3 collages, using several materials for backing - a medium weight card stock, artist's canvas on cardboard, canvas on wood, & a pressed board. The lighter weight boards buckle a bit, so you need to take that into account when you choose what to 'play' on!

We began with the card, & basic technique of painting some wax on the background, heating it with the blower (not long, & keeping it moving), then applying a piece of tissue. You could put a bit of wax on top, & then either 'blow' or iron. Ditto, ditto, ditto!!

Darker colours first, in most cases, tho you can also do some 'framing' with dark colours at the end. Old patterns are a lovely option (the curved lines on the upper L of the 'Egyptian' piece are from a pattern!). This was done on the canvas, & black & white Egyptian figures are from the 'goodies' I received in Ophelia's Give Away. the black circles on white (& in the lower L of 'Egypt') are painted in black ink on white tissue. We also did some transfers, using acetone & RECENT xerox pictures, transferring the image to white tissue paper.

My 4 year old Grand daughter 'claimed' the picture with the Girl on the Moon - my Full Moon in Cancer Dream board! It's her birthday Sunday, so I'm letting her have it :) The moon image is also from Ophelia.
The blue wavy circles were a print I did in class (from a stamp Diana brought). Stamping was done with acrylic paint on tissue paper from an art store. She had some lovely bits of paper to choose from! Old printed paper napkins are fun - the word in the lower L of 'Full Moon' are the top layer from a napkin! The gold is on white tissue; the white disappears into the wax!

I brought along some 8x5" matt board to use for a SoulCollage piece; so after doing my 3 'class pieces,' made a card. The statue was from a magazine, the black circle from that sheet of white with painted circles, the coins from blue tissue printed with coins, on a background of painted tissue & handmade paper, with another piece of gold on white tissue.

Gatekeeper: I am the one who stands watch at the gate, who monitors the flow, who welcomes abundance & grace. I am the one who watches, who listens, who waits.

Other techniques we played with - incising a design or line into several layers of wax, & colouring in the groove with oil pastels (you can wipe off the excess), using the iron to melt a BIT of crayon (she had the 64 colour box!) One gal embedded a feather she'd brought, & that turned out well. Diana often mounts the wax pieces on white board in a frame - no need for glass! The wax will scratch, but is a fairly permanent, & old, way to preserve images! I plan to do more :)

ephemera & Beeswax collage

Today the 'goodies' from Ophelia's give away came in the mail! Little odds & ends, with sparkles of colour & pattern, fun things for altered journals, collage, etc. There are a few pieces of music - I never quite 'dare' to cut up the music I have; tho I've considered playing with some copies; these will be perfect!
Saturday I'm enrolled in a beeswax collage workshop at the local Artists co-op studio & gallery, Currents. Here's the blurb:

Waxing Poetic: A Beeswax Collage Workshop
Diana Anderson, Instructor

"Learn to make a multilayered collage using wax, color and paper. Build layer upon layer of wax and paper to create a translucent collage. There will be demonstrations on incising, wax transfers and embedding into the wax. Supplies to bring: Xerox copies of a few favorite images sized under 5”x 5”, apron or old shirt and a few pieces of your favorite papers. Some paper will be available."

I've seen some of these, & they're lovely. The beeswax gives the images a patina & depth that you don't see in ordinary collage. I've been gathering 'bits & pieces' - some from Ophelia, paper from the exchange & some scrapbook paper, a few of those 'favorite images.' This should be fun! & always nice to explore a new technique.

With my daughter getting married in a few weeks, we need to make little baskets for tht flower girls, & a ring pillow. Dresses are picked out, other items are being assembled; the space booked, & the harpist (me :)