More Background Papers & ATC's

I have made even MORE background papers and ATC's, artist trading cards. It's so much fun and so addicting. I could do this part of the workshop, Week One, from The Artistic Mother by Shona Cole forever. It's great preparation for the poetry journals in Week Two as well as larger collage projects. The more practice the better. Right? This time the children joined me. Kids are just amazing. They are so free to create. In their minds there are no boundaries. We really enjoyed doing this together. We did the ATC's on my birthday. As you will see, they are budding artists.

Here's my new set of background papers. Some different and lighter colors. The red is my favorite. I went crazy with the stamping. I didn't worry about how the stamps looked or placement. I just let loose and stamped almost all over the pages with various stamps and ink colors. I used Staz On permanent ink pads. They come in many different colors. I also rubbed a different oil pastel color along each edge. I didn't try to match the colors. I just grabbed a different color each time. Very random. It didn't really matter if they looked good or not; they're going to be torn up anyway. You can make a lot of papers very quickly this way.

Here are my 16 year old daughter Kimberly of What to Wear's papers.

Here is another paper Kimberly did. This one she is framing for her room.

Here are the papers of my 9 year old daughter Emily of Super Stitches.

And these are my 7 year old son Martin's papers.

And here are all of our beautiful papers torn to bits as we work on our ATC's. Did you stop breathing? How could we do that to our beautiful papers?  Right? But one must do what one must do. These papers are fulfilling their destiny. They were not meant to be works of art in and of themselves. They were meant to be a part of something bigger. And joining together with other materials, they can be even greater than they ever could have been on their own. Something really beautiful and meaningful, a true masterpiece. And the same goes with our lives. We can do so much more when we join our giftings with those of others' and work together. And we can be used to encourage and lift others up along the way. We were not meant to stay independent and isolated. We were meant to make a difference and an investment in the lives of others. We all have so much to offer. And that's what this group, The Artistic Mother's Art Group, is all about. Isn't it.

Now for the ATC's:

I made two more cards and another ATC.

Here is my ATC.

And here are my cards. On one of the cards, I pasted the hearts on upside down. Oops. And it could have been such a nice card. It had so much potential. Oh well. That's all right. That's why we practice. We learn from our mistakes. I'll make sure to pay better attention next time. Won't I?

Here is Kimberly's ATC.

Here are Emily's ATC's. She did six! She plans to do a whole deck of playing cards. She's going to collage the backside because she still wants to be able to play with the cards. Practical art. Isn't she clever? Which of Emily's is your favorite? I would love to know. Do tell.

And here is Martin's ATC.

Aren't they all so sweet? This was such fun. I highly recommend having an art day as part of your or your children's birthday celebration. 

And then after all of that hard work, we went for a nice stroll around the neighborhood as the sun was starting to go down, waved down the ice cream truck, then went inside to have apple pie and cheese cake. What a great ending to a great day. You couldn't ask for a better birthday, just hanging out and enjoying time with the ones you love.  

And now I must start working on my poetry journal using what's left of my background papers. Wish me luck. I'll show you what I come up with tomorrow or the next day. See you then. Happy creating. Trudy

Mini-Collage Practice as a Warmup for Poetry Journal

Here are my versions of practicing doing mini-collages as a warmup before doing the poetry journal, Week Two's project in The Artistic Mother workshop. Shona of An Artful Life and author of The Artistic Mother has done a post about this with a tutorial. I really suggest you take a look at it because she goes into detail breaking it down into steps showing how to make and use a view finder in order to help you make the proper combinations. It's a very easy method and can be used on many projects.

I used my background papers from Week One to make these. The first two were made by tearing and cutting up strips of my papers and glueing them onto a playing card. The last photo is a greeting card. The same process was used. The papers were glued onto some card stock that was folded in half to make a card instead of onto a playing card.

Introducing the New Collage Directory

I am so excited to share with you that there is a brand new art directory out there, and it is picking up steam fast. It is a one-stop shop for folks who create any kind of collage art including paper, paint, fibers, jewelry, sewing, photography, paint and so on. The directory also includes other artists' mediums as well.

It is a great place to discover new artists and for others to find you. If you mix your medias, work in layers, are blogging about your artistic life, then please join in the fun and get your blog listed today so that everyone can enjoy your creations. And check out some brand-new-to-you blogs while you're there. New ones are being adding daily; so check back often. Don't forget to post the collage button in the sidebar of your blog to spread the awesome news. See you there.

A Collage of Leaves

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."
- George Eliot

Wild and Crazy Collages

These are the collages I made in the two-day collage workshop I attended. For the most part, I guess you can say that they are abstract collages and the viewer can read into them what he or she wishes. You may want to see if anything stands out to you. What do you see, an angel, a tree, a bunny rabbit, anything? Do any of these pieces speak to you in any way? Do you sense a meaning or message coming through? They may speak different things to different people. I did kind of have a theme and/or meaning in mind in the triptych, but I am leaving it up to the viewer to see if it speaks to them in any way. Do you notice a dominant element within the three panels? Does it flow from one piece to another? Does your eye travel throughout the pieces, taking you from one to the other?

In each collage, see if can recognize the dominant element. It can be a dominant color, shape, or materials being used. Now don't fret if you don't pick up on any "hidden shapes" or "pictures" or meaning because like I said, it is abstract. Many people will only see a bunch of colors and shapes here and there, and that's okay. There doesn't have to be a meaning. Some people see something in other's work; some never notice anything at all. But is it pleasing to the eye? Is there something you like about it? Because to be honest with you, with all of the collages I did here, with the exception of the triptych, there was no plan of design or hidden meaning when I made them. I made decisions on where to place the pieces of torn paper and other materials as I went along.

Now go easy on me because these are the first collages I've ever made. I learned a lot in those two days, and I have many ideas floating around in my head that I want to try. There are several things that I will do differently the next time around. Sorry about that last picture, but I just couldn't get it to turn the right way. I'm still trying to figure out these silly little computers. They have a mind of their own.

The first collage is my personal favorite. Okay. Now don't be shy. Do you have a favorite? Can you tell what materials I used in these collages? Please tell me what they are. Remember. I blog for comments. If you click on the photos, you can see a close-up view.

In my next post, I'll share with you some of the paintings and collages that were done by the others members of the workshop. And post after that, I will give you a tutorial of how I sandwiched the cord and leaves between rice paper.






The three panels of collages below are a triptych.

Painted Papers for Collage

I recently had the great privilege and honor of attending a two-day mixed media collage workshop with a wonderful artist and friend Mary Wilbanks. I love her method of collage. It is one that she developed herself. Her technique is very different from anything I have seen.

In a nutshell, she paints different colors and shapes with acrylic with no specific design in mind on heavy weight watercolor paper or canvas. After it dries. Then she puts a layer of torn painted papers papers from newspaper, paper bags, basically any kind of papers, still with no design in mind. She uses matte medium to get the papers to adhere. After that dries, she then tears off whatever will come up. She then sands the whole thing with sand paper to make texture. She comes in and paints the whole thing again. Lets it dry. At this point she starts thinking about design as she puts on yet another layer of torn papers and other interesting materials, like cheese cloth, for instance. She may continue this way or stop if she likes what she sees. Her work is incredible.

Below you will see pictures of some of the papers I painted in preparation for this workshop. I also gathered other materials, postage stamps, old letters, photos, bits of string, foil, corrugated cardboard, sandpaper, and so forth. You get the idea, anything!

It was a really fun day because I did this with my children. I set up two 5-foot tables and one 6-foot table and laid down drop cloths, and we spent the whole day painting together. Every technique I did, they did as well. In preparation for our painting day before painted, we watched a dvd together to learn the different techniques that we tried. It is called Water Media Collage Workshop by Carrie Burns Brown, NWS, put out by Creative Catalyst Productions. I highly recommend it. She is an excellent artist and teacher.

In my next post, I will be showing you the collages that I made in the workshop. Then in another post I will show you some tutorials I put together on how to do some of the papers that we did, one being sandwiching the string in between either rice paper or art tissue paper. Then in yet another post I will share with you photos of art work that other students at the workshop created. Their work is incredible. They have been artists for quite sometime. Some are with the Conroe Art League and some with the Art League of Houston.

In the photos you will that I sandwiched cotton cording between rice paper, leaves between rice paper. I painted on newspaper and brown paper bags, cheese cloth, sandpaper, light bulb cartons, shredded paper, tissue paper. I mixed coffee grounds in with paint and spread on paper for texture. I made texture by dribbling gesso and then painted over that. Just so many different things. I enjoyed every minute of it.

One thing to keep in mind when you are looking at these painted papers is that only bits and pieces are used. You just tear off a piece to use in a collage. That's why I have many different colors on a paper so that I have a variety of colors available to me when I am creating a collage.


Here is Mary's bio:


"Biography

Mary has received over 40 awards in National Shows. She is a signature Member of the National Watercolor Society and the Watercolor USA Honor Society. Her work is acrylic with Mixed Media on canvas and on paper. It can be seen at Envision Gallery in Taos, N.M. Paintings can be seen in several publications: The Best of Watercolor Two and Three; best of Watercolor Painting Texture; and Collage Techniques by Gerald Brommer.; and The Treasures of Arizona; "The Gift" appears on the cover of Random House publication Art and Healing.

Mary taught painting for 4 years at the Phoenix Art Museum, and for 3 years at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, and at the Juvenile Justice System in Houston and has juried local and national exhibits. For the past 12 years she has taught workshops In Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico. Canada, and the U.S. Currently she teaches 2 workshops a year at her studio, and at the Watercolor Art Society Houston.


Resume´

Who's Who of American Women 2009

Selected Solo Exhibits

Envision Gallery El Prado (Taos) N.M. 2005
Goldesberry Gallery, Houston 2004, 2003, 2002
The Jung Center, Houston 2001
The Preusser Gallery, Taos, N.M. 2000, 1999
Cynthia Woody Gallery , Scottsdale, Az, 1998
Art League of Houston. 1994

Selected Museum Exhibits

Albuquerque N.M. Museum Society of Layerists in Multi-Media 25th Anniversary Show, Exploring Multiple Dimensions 2007
Springfield Art Museum , Mo. Watercolor USA Honor Society 2006,1997, 1995, 1994,1991
TWS Mc Nay Art Museum, San Antonio 1997
Northern Arizona Art Museum Invitational Contemporary Art 1993


Memberships
Signature Memberships: National Watercolor Society; Watercolor USA Honor Society: National Society of Artists in Casein and Acrylic; Watercolor Art Society Houston: Society of Layerists in Multimedia; Art League of Houston, Texas Watercolor Society."



















PARTING SHOT:

Look at these designs! Have you ever thought to build with dice? Kids are so creative. Their minds are so freed up to think and not bogged down with the cares of life. Oh to be a child again.