You have my Heart

Recently, I joined a challenge to create mixed media hearts.  I decided to use cereal boxes as my base.  I cut 4 x 4 hearts from the box sides and then used gesso on the colored side of the box paper.  This did three things, it covered the cereal box color, it gave me a base paint would stick to, and it gave the hearts a little bit of texture.  This was a good start.  Next, I used paint to create the first layer of color.  After that, the technique on each heart changed.

The Abundant Blessings heart was started with a coating of modeling paste over the gesso layer.  This was painted with a coat of harvest gold acrylic paint then stamped with French script.  The edges were highlighted with gold paint.  The flowers were pre-made from a package.











The flower on the Forever heart was made with modeling paste and a stencil.  It was coated with off white acrylic paint and highlighted with distress ink.  The background was created using book pages over a thick gesso.  This was coated with acrylic paints and metallic ink.

For the Golden Flight Dragonfly, the dragon fly was created using a stencil and modeling paste.  Lots of additional colors were added and the dragonfly was painted using gold acrylic paint.











The unfinished heart with no words was created with a very thick layer of gesso to give it texture.  The next layer is acrylic paint in wine and red tones applied using a paper towel dipped in both colors.  The next layer is silver acrylic applied using a dry brush.  Lastly, the edges were dotted with black ink.  The flower on this one is hand made.  I used a punch with a ruffle edge and cut 5 pieces.  One piece was a dotted black and white paper.  The others were off white card stock that was stamped with French script.  I punch a hole in all layers and put them together with a black brad.  I then cut into the shapes and created "petals" and used a scissor edge to curl the petals.  The flower was attached using the brad through the heart itself.  This heart isn't finished because the words for it have not come to mind.

Finally, the last heart was made using the same template with an additional 2 layers.  The first layer was the card board heart.  The second was a layer of aluminum foil.  The third was a layer of scrapbook paper.  I carefully cut through top 2 layers and folded them back.  That's where the fun started.  I painted, stamped, inked...  When I was done, it still looked a little plain so I added a wrapped edge of tissue paper then coated the whole edge thing with one more coat of white paint.  The word is made of chipboard letters covered with paper and edged with blue ink.  Finally, it was all attached together with handmade springs.  I made the springs using thick jewelry wire.  

 

Watercolor ATCs

These are a few examples of watercolor ATCs I've completed.

Oregon Coast

Autumn Leaves

Inspired by a painting I saw in a gallery...

Collage using magazine scraps



I recycle several magazines each month.  One of the ATC swaps I signed up for was using magazine scraps to make cards.  These are a few examples of the results.

I am an artist

I read an article a few months ago by an artist who recently published a book.  She said that when she first heard herself say that she was an artist it felt weird.  She said that in the past she might have said she did art or she might say she was an artist but then she would feel like she had to explain or to justify herself.  But one day someone asked her what she did and she said, "I am an artist."  Then she stopped talking.  She just let it hang in the air.

This got me thinking.  I love to do art but I had never actually said that I was an artist.  Artists draw or paint wonderful pictures.  They create beautiful things that people want to look at or even buy.  I didn't sell things or have people even ask that I give them things I made.  Heck, I think my own family even tossed the birthday cards that I so lovingly made for them.  I couldn't be an artist.  If I said that I was an artist, it opened me up to criticism and ridicule. People would expect masterpieces or at least something worthy of hanging on the wall. 

But then I thought...what if I am?  I am a scrapbooker and card maker.  I make pretty pages and cards from paper.  I use rubber stamps and markers.  I've even painted a background using acrylics.  I collage and make origami.  What if the things I create, whether anyone would buy them or not, whether or not anyone would proudly display them, just what if those things are art??  Could it be that I am an artist and just didn't know it?

So I decided to try it on for size.  I went to the bookstore and bought a book about art journals and another on mixed media.  I searched online for art tutorials.  I took an online class from a mixed media artist.  I did art.  I still kept comparing it to all those other people and knew that I did art but the words wouldn't come out of my mouth.  I couldn't say that I was an artist.  It just didn't fit.

Then, just by accident, I found a wonderful online community of artists that said they didn't judge.  They didn't compare.  The goal was to do your best work and then to be brave enough to give it to other people.  The only thing that almost made me not join them was that someone wrote in a post that they didn't want any art submitted that was too "scrapbooky."  That was where I came from.  It was my creative product.  But, I decided it was time to jump in or forget it.  I wanted to be an artist.  I wanted to create beautiful things.  So I joined and began creating art. 

Here we sit a little over 4 months later and I love to do art.  Am I an artist?  Yes, perhaps I am.  I wrote it on paper.  I wrote it in the title of this blog post.  I even started working on a mixed media hand that clearly states that "I am an artist."  Do I believe it?  Maybe.  Am I getting used to the idea? Definitely.  Like the artist in the article I read, I am going to say it and let it hang out there.  When she said it, it hung for a few seconds then the conversation continued with the people around her being curious abut her art.  They didn't doubt that she was an artist.  They didn't judge her for saying she was an artist.  They didn't ask if she was famous or if she sold masterpieces.  They were just interested.  She said that she is an artist and she believed it about herself.  She even published a book about creating art but she would be an artist even if she hadn't.

Because I believe you get better at the things you practice, my goal has been to create something everyday.  A whole lot of creating and learning has happened since that fateful day 4 months ago.  Is my art all good?  No, that I can honestly say, but much of it is quite nice.  With that long, drawn out introduction to my artistic endeavors, I bring you my art.  I promise not to share all of it but I will share some of it. 

I am an artist.  Thanks for taking a look.