What A Week It Was!

What a great art week I had. I could moan about the things that weren't so great about it, like the personal struggle I have when it comes to making origami, accordion files and now add flip-books to the list. But I did them all, although I haven't done an accordion one this past week. I still had a great week.

Origami Box lesson by Karen Elaine

 

Struggled here with paper and brain working along side hands. Origami is hard for me. My daughter said: "the next class you take should be an origami one.". I'll watch YouTube videos for that one because I get frustrated easily with it. But I get there. I wrote some encouraging words on the back of some doodled hearts I made and added a favorite Emerson quote to the inside of the box. It now sits next to the other art boxes happily settled in with them.

Moving on to the flip book. Lots of cool papers were added to this one and my little red-headed fairy has perfect wings. While I'm happy with the end result, there was a lot to it I couldn't figure out at first, even with very good instructions by Connie Fong. Not all the pages are shown below but I've shared quite a few. Another book will be made but there's no rush. I do love making paper dolls!

Last week after doing the above, I did the next project below offered by Lori Siebert. Maximalist Mixed Media Birds. Oh my how much fun am I having this month?!?!!! Below is one completed birds. Altogether I think I cut out 25 and am slowly getting the wings made. Once assembled I'll share them, so look for that next week. I put a magnet on this guy and it's on my fridge. 

One of the things I really do love is making motherboards. How surprised was I to realize I was doing that all along but not exactly in the way shared by these creatives. That's probably the best part of being involved in these classes is seeing something I've done for years and spinning it a little further, adding something to the process or just sharing a completely different way to look at things.

After making the pears I shared last week, I did a nice group of some shapes I like to make using motherboards.

These will go into journals and cards or wall art. I'll be making more!

Because I love making the boards so much, I've started grabbing the magazine pieces I've cut out, patterns and illustrations from books and magazines as well as my own doodles and I'm building boards. Some just look scrambled with no real theme to them but I have learned, with a few good shapes like those above, I can get some amazing fodder.

They look like patchwork quilts, don't they? These are pieces of scraps glued to old store receipts and then glued to junk mail. Right now I'm just doing this part every day at some point, taking my stash of "what have you's" and gluing them all down. But eventually I'll start cutting out shapes for use in collage.

When I've gathered up a lot of roasted almonds from my mixed nuts I love to snack on, I make Almond Butter. It's so easy and I don't cough when I eat this stuff like I do when I try to eat the nuts by themselves! This is 3 cups of roasted almonds. It's delicious!

 I played with some new die cuts too. I had them for almost a week before I got the machine out to play. That's like a new record in patience for me! 🤣

Love the dragonflies so much. Actually I love the leaves as well. The dragonflies were very difficult to clean because of all the holes in them but I have to admit the colors I used (old roll off brayer painted papers) make a great design with them. The leaves were done using a gel plate pull that I did a few times using different masks. Love them as well and will be making more soon!

Collage A Day Journal pages are below. This journal does have 7 days made as I write this but I like to show the pages when the squares are completely filled in. And so, here are 6 for last week. Numbers 229-234.
 

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

In the Zone

While there wasn't a whole lot of time to do my usual fun things like paint some papers, doodle, work in journals and create cards/tags, I was very busy in my little, perfect, art world. I was in the zone!

I signed up for a free set of classes that ran simultaneously with the month long Fodder Challenge. The free classes have finished and I found a few new artists to admire on Instagram and want to try a few watercolor techniques when I am a little more relaxed and ready to try a new something or other with that paint.

Right now I am truly immersed in creating fodder for the journals and cards I will eventually get back to next month when all classes are over and I get to stretch a bit with what I'm learning now. Because of my Glaucoma eyes, I have to rest them a bit sooner than I'd like in order to do any art at all and so watching videos can be a bit difficult however I'm getting through them and then taking my time creating what I've learned.

I was going to wait to share all I had done at the end of the month but I am now sharing on Instagram (tagging the creatives that teach and run the classes) as well as Facebook on occasion, so I figured I might as well share it here too. Besides I haven't done my normal week of journaling and so on, so it's a good time to share what I have been doing.

Everything I've done and learned so far will be made often, using as much as I make, I know. This is the most fun I've had in a long time! All links within the photos are for Instagram and will take you to the pages of each teacher. The school and the person I learned these from are: Fodder School and Wendy Solganik (also known as @willa.wanders) these too are for Instagram. If you don't use Instagram but are curious about these folks, please do a Google search and you'll find their info. 

Groovy Pears taught by Francine Dunigan

Paper Gems taught by Karen Elaine

Paper Dolls taught by Connie Fong

 

Karen Elaine also shared how to make an origami box to use some of the Paper Gems with. And Connie Fong shared a truly fun flip book to use with a few of the dolls. I haven't made either of those yet but will share when I have!

221-224 Collage A Day Journal

225-228 Collage A Day Journal

We lost power for a full 24+ hours right after I learned how to make the Paper Gems (something I have done in the past but not exactly in this way; it's like revisiting an old friend!) and so when the sun was shining, I sat outside on our deck for longer than I should have getting quite cold but enjoyed making these little circles very much. Unfortunately my paint pens froze and some never thawed out or haven't yet. I'm adding them to my list on Amazon but will wait until more are totally used up before I order new ones. I can't get a new back though and the pain after the electric came back on was excruciating and slowed me down. No, it didn't stop me.

It's the New Moon which means it's down time for me at the moment. I like to reflect and plan and maybe organize a bit for the next wave of activity which will be happening soon. Meanwhile, I really hope you find something that ignites a spark in you and will give you great joy. I can tell you, from my own experience (especially right now) that there is no better gift than that in life.

Find the Joy and Enjoy The Journey.

 

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Soup Weather is Upon Us! Yay!!

My daughter and I are making beef barley soup (more like a stew) as I write this today. I don't usually make my blogs about food but I've got to say the aroma wafting through the house is amazing at the moment and I'm very happy. My kids are both great cooks and I would like to thank my Dad for that. The younger one sat at his side all the time to watch what he did and she duplicated much when she was old enough to cook on her own, while the other decided eating it was much more interesting. Until she got older and became a master at creating homemade soups. Yum. This particular recipe was inspired by our Great Aunt Ella, who made this a favorite for my girls and I when we lived next door to each other. Smelling it cook all day and then enjoying a bowl once ready was a nice family memory for us. Although it doesn't really taste like her soup (we added red wine to ours, something she would never have done), it is absolutely delicious.

 Here it is without the barley in it which got added a little bit after this photo was taken. Mmm-mmm. 😋

Now, onto the art part, something I do best.

I started taking the month-long fodder challenge and the watched the first class. I haven't completed the project and cannot show it until it's finished, so be on the lookout for that. I might actually wait until the end of the month and share all I did. I'm not positive I'll do everything offered but I do love watching and taking notes and getting inspired!

I did do a little embroidery. I love it so far. I think I'm going to play with wildflowers next but that'll take some time. This is a good piece of practice fabric to use. It's an old dust cover for a chair. Those were used in our house because we always had chairs that required them. After I cut out the rips and the wear and tear from a lot of them, I have a good amount of fabric to play with for embroidery practice.

I've been cutting up papers, adding embellishments on them, making them small cards or pieces that can be added to cards at some point. I'm actually making more collage fodder, which is fine by me. I was fussy for a few days until I realized I could draw botanical patterns or use a lot of the flower stencils I have and create some great looking pieces to go in my journals. It's all for me and my art practice, so it doesn't matter how much or little I have; as long as I have what I need to keep being creative, it's all good!

Painting papers leaves some beautiful marks on my paper towels and Sidekick journal. Love these rich looking colors!!

Watercolor and isopropyl alcohol created the below. I've done this technique for years and really love the unpredictable way it all comes out. You never know when you spray or blot alcohol on the paint what you'll get.

I've been cutting out my little doodles as I find them. Actually some of the below in the first photo are fairly new to be added to the small storage container for future use in my flower journal. I've used a lot of the doodles that I made last year, adding them to the flower journal, so I have room now to add more. Yay!

This photo below is of the remnants of a piece of paper I use as a protector for the page or table when I use alcohol ink markers. I usually end up doodling on them at some point, sometimes to see if the pens work or just mindlessly draw something. When it's fairly colorful, I cut some shapes out and use the rest for cards or the layered technique in collage that I like to do, shown in the second photo below.

 

Days 215-220 in the collage a day journal.

 

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey

 

Gearing Up

I'm doing a lot of this and that's; and have a lot of photos to share this week.

I did try my hand at acrylics in the paint journal. I took an old magazine ad and traced it. It's not bad but I will never understand why I use the colors I do. It's never a good choice but it's my choice.

I think the ad was for NyQuil. I did NOT do this guy justice at first! Look at the colors!! Yuck.

Final decisions were to lighten the face (looks much better), and to stop hyper focusing on his hand and just cut it out from my print out and use it here. The face isn't bad ... I haven't drawn a face in over a year so even though it's been traced, it's a win in my book.

I'm making collage fodder or working through stages with the things I've been making. For instance, the scrap paper on old receipts project that never ends. As I decide what to do with some of them, I might take what I have and add sticker phrases to them and maybe use my fancy scissors and cut them. Then they go back in a box as I try to decide where to place them. On a card? In a journal? As I make a decision, I continue to add scraps to paper. It has become a ritual, like everything else I do, to sit and add some painted papers, magazine scraps, etc to something.

 

This past week I spent time inking stickers that had a lot of white around the designs. These came from my cousin and I think she got them at Temu. In any case, after doing an entire day of inking around edges, some I felt just needed a grungier look to them and I put ink across the whole sticker making them grey in color. I like that. These shiny stickers aren't a favorite and every time I use them, I wish I hadn't added them before cutting out the white parts or doing something to them before use. Spending a rainy day inking all these stickers was exactly what I needed. I have two more containers I could do but might leave them until the next wave of low energy arrives. These don't take much to do.

 

I've got embroidery on my mind and although my fingers really don't like to do much, I am going to practice the stitches on an old cloth I have. I cut all the lace and stitching done on all the hankies I had belonging to my relatives. Lace is a fun thing to add to journals or sew on a card or tag. Many were filled with spots of blood or rust. While I don't mind rust, I couldn't tell which was which, so I tossed those all out.

I started a new collage a day book this week. I'm happy I've continued with it. The last square in the 2nd book was finished on my birthday and the start of the Autumnal Equinox. Woohoo!

 

Days 209-215 in the collage a day journal. I really enjoy doing these each morning!

I also finished my mosaic vase! I finally grouted it over the weekend. It's so pretty.

I'm practicing a little bit for the classes I'll be taking soon. I bought myself a month of classes through the Fodder School called the Challenge as a birthday gift to myself. I am going to have a great time watching others create in mixed media, take notes and do a bit of playing. I also have another class I signed up for, in addition to this one, so October will be very busy! Yay!

 

I finished up the tags I started a while ago, adding ribbon and/or jute to them as well as inking them around the edges. I have so many more to do. I like grabbing a box and deciding I'll do at least one thing inside that needs my attention. Then move onto another. Some of these tags are very small and will get stapled together and added to pockets in journals, I believe.

Right now I'm feeling the need to do some painted papers although I have so many. I don't use them as they are, so maybe doing some embellishments on them will help me figure out how to use them. And some, as I look at them and crinkle up my nose, will get painted over completely quite possibly. And I'm okay with that.

 

 As I did a lot of inking, I grabbed a piece of paper and used it to catch the extra ink. Little did I know when I finished that I'd have a work of art in its own right! Check this out!

Looks good enough to frame, doesn't it?

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey