There's Change in the Air

Because I'll be concentrating on my health with a surgery or two in the coming months, I've decided to make an online change. Besides, it's getting closer to the cooler months when I'm busier with personal things and not much social media is done, often I stop writing in the blog but that might not happen this year.

I'll definitely be changing directions a bit with my social media presence. That is happening mostly due to the odd PM's wanting to purchase a practice page from an art book I shared or something that clearly says under the photo that it is for my own personal use. While it is flattering to be asked about a piece of art I've done, I know it's not from "real" people and therefore it's not gonna happen. Having to tell all these "people" the same thing over and over means no one reads the fun blurb that's at the top of my page or my blog OR they just see this one post randomly (thanks so much, FB). I'm not interested in that. I'm retired from selling and spending more time telling people no these days has become easier because I'm doing it more often. Getting tired with it all.

So let's be clear: I DO NOT DO COMMISSIONS, I DO NOT SELL MY PRACTICE PAGES IN MY ART JOURNALS, I DO NOT SELL ANYTHING ON ANY SITE. I ONLY DO ART FOR MY ENJOYMENT AND A FEW FAMILY/FRIENDS I'VE GIFTED TO.

That might help clarify it. 🤣 

However, by the end of August, I'll be deleting my Facebook art page and just keep my personal profile. That one is open to friends only and I won't be accepting many new friends, if any, at this time. I'm looking to simplify in order to spend time, while I can, with my art.

And so, if you want to continue to read my blog if you like it enough to want to read it each week, join it here and get it in an email; I believe that's still an option. I'll still share it on Instagram so if you use Insta, you can catch it there as well.

And now ... onto the fun things I did last week in between uncomfortable conversations with strangers. Sigh.

Voorhees in watercolor. Not bad but honestly my vote goes to the collage I did the week before using this same photo.

I finished up the Summer Creative Retreat which was wonderful. 68 classes in 6 days. Whew. I didn't watch them all but I definitely came away from it with respect for the show's creator and awesome artist, Peggy Dean. I want to thank her for hours of inspiration that is ahead of me using not only her teachings but those of many of the artists who shared their talents.

This is a fussy watercolor I did using an example from one of the classes. The day I painted it, I wasn't feeling well but was determined to do it and so ... forging ahead, I went for it. I'm not loving it but I really love those clouds and the reflections of them off of the water. So easy to do too. I know I'll do that again very soon. I want to attempt this photo reference again when I'm in a different frame of mind and see if I can find the love. If nothing else, I'll do what I can to make peace with it.

 

 Cutting up doodles to make a few art journal pages was so easy and relaxing. Not to mention FUN!

I had thought I'd paint around these or doodle more and/or different things here but as I glued them all down I saw beauty just as they are. Even a few smiley faces. :-)

157-160 in collage a day journal

161-164 in collage a day journal

I'm making envelope pockets from junk mail for my tags and cards to go into journals. I used a photo of my Mom when she was a little girl for one "window" and a fun Halloween one from my mom's siblings as newlyweds glued to the bottom of another. So cute!!

Grid work at least once a week gives me a chance to try new things. This past week I grabbed some ink stained papers in colors I love with sparkles too and some leftover doodles from the project I shared above. Kinda cool!

And STILL had a little bit of the doodle page left so I had to make a vase with some awesome leaves I printed from the Mastering Mixed Media EXPO.

Tried making cats using funky looking shapes. Tee-hee.

Nice totem pole!

Dialogue from "It's A Wonderful Life" with my Grandpop getting ready to lasso the moon. I don't remember which magazine I got the photo of the girl from but it seemed to fit here.

A dedicated page for my Dad who passed away in 2024 at 91 on August 8th. Normally I write in the journal before adding the stickers but I sat and stared at it for a really long time and knew it was okay to share it before I got some words written. I probably won't share what I write anyway but I will eventually be able to write something.

Taking some old photos I had on my computer from some unknown source (I think a few years ago??) for a project I never did and glued them down on watercolor paper. I am going to try my hand at embroidering around the people or maybe doing some cool embroidery right on each person somewhere. TBD

I had a few cut scrap papers sitting around and thought it would be fun to stamp, stencil and ink them up. I spent a good long time doing these because I enjoyed it so much! More below.

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey

August - A Difficult Month

While many find the promise of fall exciting as I used to around this time of year, now I see August as an emotional month. I promised myself this year I'd go lightly with my thoughts and emotions; accept them but not dwell on them. It's only the beginning of the month and there's a lot to get through. Hopefully by the end of it, I will have created a lot of art expressing how I felt to help me get through it.

For those not aware, I lost my Dad, Mom, Grandmother and most precious kitty all in August. Not the same year, thank goodness, and not in that order, but still a month filled with emotions. I have decided I'd focus on one thing each day in this month to honor them and I'll be starting that this week. I foresee a lot of butterflies in the making!

Tiger Swallowtail visiting our thistle. When I saw it I thought: "Say Hi to my Dad!"

 

Numbers 149-152 in the collage a day journal (another 4 are below)

I finished this up in all black and white. I do love this stencil!

I took a piece of junk mail (a small catalog) and cut it in half, glued the pages together and did collage on them. Eventually I cut them so they were large cards and put a binder ring at the top to hold them. These are a few of my favorite pages below.
 

Grid work last week was focused on quirky butterflies. Fun!

Numbers 153-156 in the collage a day journal

Taking mostly clothing tags and making cute cards and tags to be added to journal pages.

It started with beet juice. I swear it's true. I added my favorite watercolor ink sprays to it once dry. So beautifully grungy!

Medical exam paper soaked in beet juice and stamped with my handmade styrofoam stamps.

Look at the size of the paper I'm using for the eyes. It's just like the way I approach a mosaic. The smaller pieces gives me the best result. Finished collage shown below.

"Mister Pink Nose" - Voorhees in collage

The layering begins below in this art journal. This has glue resist, paint and pieces of papers so far. It won't look like this soon!

"Imperfectly Perfect" with watered down acrylics, stencils and ink.

"Create fearlessly: dream relentlessly" - continuation of page above.

I'm taking a free online art retreat that started on Saturday. Some of the classes I can't take because I don't have an iPad to use the Procreate app or it's in relation to sewing which I'm not really into but the watercolor and mixed media classes I'm enjoying quite a lot.

I'm still fighting with watercolor. Sometimes my art looks awesome, sometimes ... not so much.

I'll share next week, if I feel any art I've done will make the cut. Stay tuned!

 

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey

 

Coming to the Ending of the Retrograde

I think I am fairly aware of the planetary activity and try to keep even more aware during the retrogrades when they occur. This time, however, I took a chance and purchased a printer which is one of the nopes during a retrograde. Making large purchases, especially electronic in nature is risky. I'm glad I took the risk but there was one small glitch.

When I set up this beautiful Smart Tank from HP (and believe me, it truly is!) it came with a cord for attaching printer to outlet. Well ... for some odd reason the cord wouldn't fit properly and I tried flipping it, pushing it and so on. I might not have the strength I once had but I do believe it just wasn't going to fit. Thank goodness I saved the cord from the last printer, not an HP, because it slid in the spot with ease and the machine came to life immediately. Yay!

This brought me to my frenzy of printing things I've wanted for collage and personal use. Honestly it hasn't slowed down yet but I told myself to relax, I've got time. I'll share some of the photos I've printed here but I'll mention now, they will get ripped up and/or cut up to fit a collage or art journal. That is their purpose for me and I'm absolutely thrilled to be able to continue the weekly fun with art at the table.

Last week, I took a printout of the birth flowers I did in mosaic a few years ago for April and decided to give it a try in collage in an art journal. Daisy and Larkspur are the flowers. It was a little more challenging than I thought it would be but I do love how it turned out. I'll share the work-in-progress to the end result below. 

I did a little Gelli plate work last week and found taking older papers that were just ho-hum could still pop a little more with extra paint or mark making. One of my favorites that came out of that batch was a paper I had splotted inks on and then did some mark marking using leftover paint from the Gelli plate. It's entirely possible I will never be able to duplicate this but I definitely am going to try. I already used a piece of this in my daily journal collage practice.

 

A piece of the above paper was used on the top right side square. Isn't it cool?!

I also managed to do another Neurographic page and added some fun Posca paint doodles on it. I do love this technique. So much to enjoy!

 I played with glue resist.

Unfortunately I let the paint dry because I got called away as soon as I put it down on the page. It's cool looking anyway but not exactly what I had planned for it. After all, these journals are for learning and experimenting and I have managed both on these two pages. I love the colors!

Here's a WIP that I work on in the evenings. I'm spending a little time with new stencils and I do love this one especially apparently, since I've used it three times here on this page.

Here are just some of what I've printed with the new toy. The colors are so rich and lovely. It's been a very long time since I've had a good printer and I'm so happy to have one now.

 I'm going to be enjoying these prints in so many different ways, including trying another collage of Voorhees (shown above).

 

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey

 

I'm So Grateful

I've been spending time this week organizing a little bit since the muse is sleepy, when I realized exactly how much I have that was gifted to me, mostly from my wonderful cousin who feels more like a sister, Laura. Over the years many have sent or given me broken crockery and discarded microwave plates for my mosaics. Laura has too. But when I switched gears and decided to do more paper than glass, she found ways (and still does) to continue the creative flow going for me. I am so grateful for her support. Actually, she's more than a supporter. She's as close to a benefactor as you can get. Thank you, Laura.

Here's some of what I've done this week and some of the things Laura has sent me over the past year to keep the muse happy.

These are the last few pages for the collage a day journal. Numbers 137-144.

 

I played with turmeric and Isopropyl alcohol on watercolor paper putting it in the sun for a bit. Then sprinkled baking soda on it and washed it with a little water. This is the result. I don't know yet if I'll keep this sheet as it is or cut it up but it's hard to draw on feeling a little like sandpaper but definitely looks like suede or leather. I dig it!

 

A third side of mosaic vase is finished. Yay!

I did manage to work on art journals a little bit. Here's a few pages of one that I really love.

The collage art journal was pulled out. I used an edited photo I took and printed a long time ago (found it while I was looking through papers last week) of a piece of fruit which I can't determine is a pear or a lemon (lemon, I'm thinking) and did a collage on it. I'm sharing progress photos and a description below.

Here's a copy of the photo. It's been glued to the paper using gloss medium. I prefer matte medium but this is what I have more of and so I'm gratefully using it.

After getting this more or less finished, I didn't like the dark colors of the fruit but wanted to wait until it was dry to decide what to do.

Added a little watercolor pencil to define a few areas and knew the purple, as pretty as it is, wasn't right for this.

The best thing about using medical exam paper is how it melts into the paper. Here it adds to the color under it, making the shadowed area of the fruit a little less pronounced. I'm happy with it.

Other examples of fruit I've taken from photos to create into mosaics. I might do both in collage in the future.

The purple pear was for sale for years but it's still with me now and I'm okay with that. It looks great on my wall!

 

Here's a few and I mean really, only a few, things Laura has sent me. I didn't take photos of the many magazines or books she's sent but believe me, she has contributed with them as well. She even sent me the basket they are kept it. How lucky am I?!

 

Enjoy your week!

Cindy,  EarthMotherMosaics - Mixed Media Art

Instagram: @artbyearthmothermosaics 

Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Journey