Friday - Weekly Wrap Up

Around this time in the moon's cycle, I find myself needing to organize, clean and so on. But also I find it's time to focus on new things to work on both personally and artistically.

Today, at the end of this week, I've discovered I have a long way to go with opening the second Etsy shop I had planned on opening before the end of the month. It's not going to happen by then and I know that's okay. It's okay to give myself more time. If I have to, I can wait until next year. And I might have to. Again, it's okay. Until then, I'll continue to wash and bag the dish pieces. Goodness knows I have enough to do that for quite some time.

 

Something else could come along that's not yet known. I'm open and willing to see what will happen, if it should.

I've found a good chunk of old cards that I'm now putting collage on. I also made a box to hold them as I make them. This is ideal, sitting close and ready to hold a finished card. Nice!

 

I'm not sure if I'll add holes to the top for hanging of these 4-1/4 x 6 inch cards or leave them as they are. Both sides have been altered. So far I only have 2 made but I'm loving the collage on the box shown in the last photo on the left.

I've been meditating a lot lately on what's next in this artistic adventure. I do so many different forms of art, every morning after meditating I say: what are we doing today?! It's exciting to find out each and every day. And sometimes I do nothing but rest and enjoy the day without art. It happens when I'm not sure where I want to continue and/or start with something. I need to allow myself to sit for a bit. It's one of the things I do when I take a break each month from all things social media related. I find I can focus a little better on new things when I don't scroll for endless minutes (hours) looking at stuff and things on my phone. I enjoy the break.

Here's a nice view as I see it each morning when I put questions out into the Universe:

An example of only some of the tools I use on any given day to create.

Pretty nifty, huh. Yeah, I think so too. 😂

And, of course, there's always something to sort or organize and this week was the week to do beads and Millefiori.

 

This is only some of them (gonna need another box) but I love the colors represented here. It makes me smile.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend; not too hot, not too rainy ... unless you like those things. Remember, take time to be creative!

Enjoy the journey.

Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com

 

 

Wednesday's Wishes

If I had a wish that I know would come true, I'd wish for help with all the different things I have to do as a "one woman show".

I'm not crazy about taking photos, get them uploaded on the computer/iPhone, editing, posting. I'd rather just do the art.

However, I know I'm very lucky to be able to do those things, at least to a certain degree, without difficulty. And so very grateful for that knowledge.

Right now, I'm uploading photos into Fine Art America of collage work and doodles. At this writing, only a few of each of those are available for purchase, but it's looking good so far!

Here's the first collage I've posted on this site that is also available through FAA on Pixels (they work together to do some of the printing things like mugs, for instance). It's a definite favorite of mine.

Dream

 

Click on the link under the photo to see the array of goodies you can purchase, as well as prints both framed and unframed. As usual I love the pillow covers, tote bags and mugs the best. They are so cool.

As far as wishes go, I also wish you have an enjoyable Wednesday and your week is going well. We are having a LOT of rain and cold weather here in these early days of June. It's a bit of a bummer to try to function when arthritis doesn't like either of those weather situations however, I'm determined (stubborn) enough to keep on going. It doesn't take a lot of muscles or much strength to make a collage, thank goodness.

Right now, that's where I'm headed ... to make a few collages! Yay!! 

 

Enjoy the journey.

Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com

 

My Collage Art

Well, as predicted, my collage art is starting to take over my room and my life!

A photo of the bin currently holding the collage art tags, canvas panels and wood pieces using my own collage papers.

 

Every day I put a little time aside to work on something. I write down a week's worth of "to do's" and each day I do what the list says. Monday, for example, is to work on a sticker book (I have two going at the moment) and so I eventually gather up what I need and spend an afternoon doing what I love.

Right now, I have added collage art, altering collage papers, making more collage fodder to the list. I'm busy and LOVING IT!

Don't forget I still mosaic as well, but not as often. I love that too. It makes a mosaic making day very special for me and I'm always happy with the time I spend making them. My hands, however, are 70 years old and it's harder to hold the tools for very long associated with making mosaics. There are some wonderful products out there for a hefty price (for me anyway) to help those with carpal tunnel and arthritis to continue making mosaics. My answer was to slow up on mosaic making and I found the world of collage and mixed media to be a great substitute.

I tried the layered collage technique in a book I use for practice and it came out really well. Keep in mind it's got a few layers of papers, paint and matte medium on it. Didn't even buckle a little! Yay!

This photo shows the top area or left side of the book with all these layers. The bottom page is the start of a layering process in paints mostly right now. Testing the paper to see if it'll buckle. So far, it has not.

I added a few cut outs and words to it. Really love this.

Here are a few others I've made over time and that are filling up the bin rather quickly!

 

Layered collage bottle with paint stain and an earring, top has twine wrapped around it.

Collage Sun in blues, whites and yellow. "Find Your Tribe".

An array of collage art on my beautiful blue table.

"Dream big, work hard, and never give up"

"Chase your dreams, not perfection"

"Create Magic"

"Gratitude"

"Embrace the Present"

Enjoy the journey.

Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com

100 Day Collage Challenge

I DID IT! All 100 days ... every single one of them ... woohoo!!

I'm sharing 12 photos here with small explanations below.

The leather book holds 80 collage squares. Book Two holds the rest.

Very first collage square. Yikes. What went wrong? I used matte medium on espresso coffee collage papers which made everything brown, including the sloppy stuff around the square.

Day 15. This is where I'm finding my groove and am now using a glue stick for the most part. Ripped bit of a paper towel used to clean my paint brush, some ink pad stamping, a doodle and circles in metallic acrylic on top.

Day 30. Asemic Writing on tissue paper wins this one.

Day 44. Nothing new now except pure joy being able to use my own collage papers.

Day 55. Love the color combo here plus the added fun of a piece of watercolor art I made.

Day 64. Some mornings I wasn't feeling well (our family shared COVID around this time) but forged ahead anyway. Illness shows here and that'll always be the reminder of COVID for me. Ripped papers, doodle and a piece of paper that had coffee on it plus a wet piece of tissue paper that also had coffee on it - once dried, I ripped off pieces and glued them on top of the collage.

Day 71. Another watercolor bit here and a doodle too. Mostly what's shown here are pulls from the Gelli plate that were used quite a bit.

Day 78. I don't know where my head was but the color combo doesn't work here; reminder that I did them for 5 days each which means each day I heard myself say "oh yuck!".

Day 83. This is about the time I started using junk mail for Gelli plates and just painting with a brush as well. Kinda amazing that recycling can be done so often in my art. This makes me very happy.

Day 87. Computer paper "O" in black paint cut out and glued down. Cool.

Day 93. This was about the time I felt I had a handle on composition and color.

Day 100. As if to help me remember, the black blocked looking paper in the center was quite tempermental (paint peeled off in reaction to glue on my gloved fingers) but there's a great piece of glue resist painted paper up on the left hand side. Then a piece of waxed deli paper was drawn on and cut into a circle shape. The glue was also tempermental so it didn't do a perfect circle. That's okay ... nothing is perfect but it's still pretty!

 

Here are the panels and wood piece I did after each 5 days using the collage papers. I know I shared this before, but it's worth another look.

 

I still have pages to fill in book two. If I counted right, about 8 more blank pages to fill up.

NOTE: When this is posted, it'll be 5 more blank pages.

And so ... I'll continue filling the book until it's completely full. 👍

 

Enjoy the journey.

Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

https://artbyearthmothermosaics.com