Another Great Week to Look Back On

Last week my grandson graduated high school. I watched from home through YouTube and do not regret it. I didn't miss sitting on hard bleachers in the heat. This is a snapshot taken from the video (a bit washed out, sorry).

 

And of course there was art made! The most exciting piece is coming from the Purple Palace. I started a mosaic vase!

I haven't gotten it completely organized in the Purple Palace yet but there's enough room to work on a mosaic at the table. Yay!

It's been a while since I've done a mosaic and I really missed it. I'm taking my time with this piece, maybe only working on it once a week for a few reasons. One, I enjoy the process and want to honor that feeling. Two, I'm out of grout and it'll take at least a month or two before I can get some! And three, in between I can still organize a little bit and continue to find the organizational skills needed (not my strong suit - I'm more prone to making a mess than cleaning it up) to get this area utilized at it's peak.

At the art table, there was a flurry of activity and yes, messes were made!

My homemade paint sprays: on the left, acrylic paint and water in a spray bottle and shimmer sprays using liquid watercolor and mica powders on the right.

The test papers came out perfectly! They shimmer and shine!!

I used some of the sprayed papers on these pages above. Since this is usually a layer I cover with either paint or some collage papers, I'm going to study it for a bit but I'm thinking I'll collage around the shapes. The colors here are just so awesome. I'm not sure I want to cover them completely.

I have 18 working art journals at the moment. Some are handmade, some are spiral bound, some are old books repurposed. All are used!

The grid work page for this week was using collage and paint plus some favorite word stickers.

Sticker book. The idea was to find all 4 letter words and glue them on a page. 

A new 100 day collage journal has a few pages in it. This time I'm mark-making and embellishing each square. There are marks I love to make and some I'm not sure of. This is a great place to find out which I prefer to use.

The collage journal was pulled out last week. I used stencils I like of a dove for the collage, inks (both spray and pads) and a funky pattern behind it. The orange is from the shimmer spray. And of course there's words and a little doodle.

 

Saturday night around 3AM I finished this up. I was awake and figured, why not? It takes a few days to do these because I put a layer down then paint, then another layer, then mark-making.

So those are the highlights for last week. If you want to see almost daily photos, join me on Instagram

 

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey

 

At the Art Table

These days, I'm doodling less but I'm loving my watercolor paints! Of course making painted papers with acrylics is also a large part of the week, even though I have a lot of painted papers for collage already to go and use, I enjoy creating the fodder just as much. I'm learning it's okay to enjoy the creative process just as much as enjoying using them in my collage art.

A few days ago I finally got myself some new fine liners, so I'll be doodling again as well as mark-making and am looking forward to it. I've missed them!

As usual, there's always something on the table. And by the time I write this, I'll have reached 100 days in the collage a day journey. I studied the book briefly, flipping through from day 1. Actually the collages I made are fairly uniform in the way I approached them: a few different colored papers and either cut or ripped to fit the small square almost always adding an embellishment of some sort at the end.

95-98

 I'd like to do another 100 days because now it feels like a habit I'd like to continue. It's possible I'll just start a new art book but maybe using a different approach or more papers per square or maybe make shapes within the squares.

The many journals I have are continuing to grow and I grab one each day and do at least one thing in them. I'm learning the more I do this, the better I am getting at my favorite art forms. It's true, practice makes progress.

Creating a grid work journal has helped me study composition

An old book turned into an art journal helps me learn negative space and I like it!

Making a book using brown paper packaging, junk mail, painted papers, book pages helps me play freely in any way I choose. Here, this particular page's background is actually from the brayer roller and paint brushes. It's so pretty.

Cover page of the brown paper packaging journal and a favorite Emerson quote.

Creating watercolor cairns - love doing these and try making at least 3 each week.

The Hardibacker boards (made of concrete on one side) are getting used for paint practice and I'm diggin' the results so far!

Playing with watercolor, acrylics and ink like a kid creates the funky looking designs that I am drawn toward (literally).

Doing one of my favorite techniques on this page: layering of painted papers, watered down paint then sanding it off a bit and adding more paint, stencil and some vessel shapes turns the page into a grungy look.

This page started out with a black background, I added magazine clippings in green but the yellow paint just created more yellow wiping out the green and so, I went with it - adding more yellow, gold, black, white and grey.

Another page in the brown packaging art book. This has small scraps of painted and embellished papers along with some affirmations. Feels very zen.

I still make cards - side A

Side B (love these circles!!)

Painted papers using stencils and an old credit card on the left, watercolor doodles on the right

On the left is an egg carton bottom, on the right a few layers of hand made masks both on the Gelli plate

Left side is a few stencils and leftover paint on medical exam paper, center is a rub off of another paper, on the right is the same egg carton paper shown above.

Putting stencils under medical exam paper and rubbing paint on it creates these interesting designs. Can't wait to use them!

Some of the stencils used to create the papers above.

 

 

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey

Everything Has It's Season

That statement is especially true for me at this moment in time. Due to some physical snafu, my progress on the Purple Palace has taken a back seat. Until I discover what and why, there can be no pushing or pulling, climbing or furniture building. Everything requires strength and patience. I have neither.

However, there doesn't seem to be much strength to pick up a pen, paint brush or some other mark-making tool at my art table. And so, that's where I've been. I know I share, daily, my fun art projects or things of interest to me relating to my little art corner of the world. But it's good to share it here as well, just in case someone comes across this blog and finds it interesting enough to read more.

Here's some things I've worked on over the past week. Even on week's when I don't feel entirely inspired, I discover something to do which then sparks the inspiration and the rest is what is seen here. This isn't all of it, but most of it!

May's entry in the sticker book

Random doodle using paint markers

A new art journal has been christened

Making vessels over doodles practicing negative space in white

Hinata - "Peanut Butter Time" in collage, watercolor and acrylics

The favorite Gelli Plate tool (hand made flowers on an empty paper roll) was used this week.

Still working on the collage a day project - very close to the 100 day mark!

Cover of the new journal

Watercolor Cairns using ink, stamps and Oracle Cards for inspiration

Neurographica Journal got a new entry (most done while waiting in the doctor's office) that sort of got away from me however the gnome in a mushroom house in a tree vibe is still there.

King Night inspired by Eulalia Mejia aka Happy Chinchilla who shared this lesson through the Mastering Mixed Media EXPO 2026. Made using cardboard and acrylics. I love him so much I think I would like to make him in an art journal, maybe collage or paint or both!

 

The grid journal using watercolor and spraying Isopropyl alcohol randomly created sky art. Cool!

My reward for waiting so long at the doctor's office. Two nice big rolls of medical exam paper that will get used mostly on the Gelli plate but also for mark-making. Gifted by a sympathetic nurse's assistant. Never be afraid to ask the question: what do you do with it if you don't use it?!

Negative space in black. I didn't get the centering quite right with this page so I added a page from an old calendar that seemed to fit with the overall vibe I was looking for.

Now that a new week is upon me, I'd like to first wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day! Please be safe and smart out there. It's a little weird outside these days.

Secondly, it's a whole new week of creating for me at the art table while I navigate physical healing, always an important goal.

Until next time ...

 

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey

Fun at the Art Table

I've done the entire 2 week EXPO I've mentioned a few times finishing on May 14th. I have to say there's a lot of fun ideas going around in my brain to try and see what happens. The motto: What If? is always at the forefront when you are a mixed media artist, no matter what your medium favorite is. What if I try this? What if I mix this with this?

Right at this moment my table and the cart next to it is piled high with papers and projects to do. Some I started but as usual I have to put my own spin on them (which is encouraged) and have found a few things really are fun and playful and will be repeated often. And I've only just begun!

If I take one week to work on one lesson I've learned I will have about 40 weeks of art to experiment with and experience. How fun is that?!

I was working in the Neurographica Art Journal and decided to try what I learned from Angela Murray through the EXPO. Photo 2 shows the playful designs drawn over the neurographica. I really, really love this and it's so much fun to do.

 

On Taco Tuesday this past week, I made a taco with collage papers. Wow did I enjoy doing that! This was not from a class or lesson but something that was in my head for about a month and once I started getting detailed looking painted papers from the Gelli plate, I knew it was time to give it a try. I've seen an improvement with my collage making over the past year and I'm sure there's more to do and hone in on as I continue this artful journey. I really love this taco!

One of the lessons was to create an origami box adding circles and a bird to it in 3D. This blew my mind because I already make art boxes but never tried doing a 3D one or made one with origami, so I had to give it a go. This lesson was taught by Carrie Smith who has perfected this technique. I have to keep at it to get better with these and try using the small boxes I have waiting for art for the next one.

 

I finished the last pages of my Paint and Doodles Art Journal with a homage to my Dad. His favorite things are in here and I'm happy with it. It's time to start a new journal for this practice because it was very freeing to grab everything and paint over it, or add bits as an embellishment, etc. I call this page: "The Cool Cat".

 

My weekly grid journal got some watercolor again this week. I want to add to this with a little collage so now that it's dry, I can do that. Love these colors! Here's a photo of the page sitting in the early morning sunlight.

One of the sessions from the EXPO was called Layer Cakes. Oh boy this was fun but I haven't really gotten it done quite the same as the lesson just yet. I hand drew some cakes with candles and painted a few in acrylics but like the watercolor ones a little better. And I didn't collage them, as Jennifer Wilkin Penick has in her examples but I doodled on them and like them just as much. I do think making bigger ones is not something I'll do but I might eventually have paper big enough to do them larger. I tend to stick to 5 x 7 spiral booklets for my art. However, I really kinda dig the wonky drawings of mine and so I might just continue to make these cakes for future cards and journal pages and maybe add small bits of painted papers here and there to them. What if?

 

All-in-all, I had a wonderful time with so many creative, talented artists who shared their art for free for 14 days. Amazing! Now ... onto more fun at the art table!

Till next time ...

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey