Happy Halloween and Found Art Tues 10-30-07

Well today is spook day! Our family loves this holiday. I am letting my three children skip their dance classes tonight after school to do the candy thing. My 14 year old still so gets into it. And of course my 12 year old twins are right there with her. Our fall colors are at their peak right now and the weather is just warm enough for the children to be comfortable.

My offering this week is a card that I made about two years ago. I cheated a little on this one because of time constraints. Anyway I submitted this little card for a contest and won a prize. Naturally I saved it. But now it will be left for someone to find. The skeleton is actually stamped into candle soot. That definitely sets the mood. And the rest of the background is just a variety of inks and stamps. Enjoy your tick or treat day!

K

Don't Drink 10-26-07

My daughter Kaitlyn, a freshman in high school, had an assignment to desgin a T shirt with a message revolving around not using drugs, alcohol, or tobacco. So we thought abut doing a collage and gathering some text/letters from magazines, using alcohol as the main focus. My Kaitie is somehow always behind the eight ball. She gets so much homework plus she dances 4 nights a week and weekends. It was no big surprise that I wound up doing the magazine search and the art. Kaitie helped me position the pieces for collage. She does not get much enjoyment from doing art, which is a shame. I hope some day she appreciates her Mom's style.

I did a larger monoprint this time around and the method I used was described in the Collage Techniques book by Leland and Williams (see entry below). I hope she gets an A on this :)))))

k

Found Art Tuesday: Line 10-23-07

I just purchased another technique book called Collage Techniques. You would think that I had them all by now..Ha not quite! This one is by Nita Leland and Virginia Williams, http://www.amazon.ca/Creative-Collage-Techniques-Nita-Leland/dp/digital-features/1581800983. It has been around for a while, published in I believe 1994. I can't believe I did not have this one in my library! I have been playing with the acrylics book (Acrylic Revolution) purchased just recently and I decided to combine some techniques from this book with what I already have been doing.

This work was an experiment in monoprinting. I used both watercolor paints and acrylics to make the background print. And added cut out forms for mountains. All else is hand drawn using oil pastels markers and acrylics. The piece is called TIMBERLINE. OK so I could not think of anything more profound. I used 140 lb watercolor paper as the substrate. Now I can get a bit more ambitious with the next little project. I plan on monoprinting a background for a project my daughter has at school. This one has to be done by Friday so I will have another example up of monoprinting. I think I will use acrylics this time around.. There will be no need to "fix" the background so it won't smear when I ad polymer medium for collage items.

K

Found Art Tuesday: 10-16-07 SEED

I am finally back in the saddle. This past week two really wonderful events happened, Rosa returned to her blog with a new found art theme: seed. And I will be have a gallery show at the Raue Center for the Performing Arts http://www.rauecenter.org/ in May of 2008.

I simply can't believe that my work was accepted. I found myself reflecting on the fact that I am no different than many of you...I have self doubts...Am I good enough, why would anyone like my art, oh sure, it does give me pleasure and that is what counts right? And then I went to the Raue on this past Saturday and saw the work of two local artists. The work blew me away. Check out the websites of Nancy Reid http://www.nancyreid.com/ and Johanna Gullick http://www.johannagullick.com/. How can I even hang my work in the same gallery? These are award winning artists, professional artists. Then I found myself questioning the Raue's criteria for selection. I just keep shaking my head... I know my husband is very proud of me.... I guess I should be thrilled. At least I am back in the studio. So I have some work to do, goals to make, and dreams to achieve. This is a big one for me. The Raus is one of the few fine galleries in McHenry County. I am still in shock!

Now for the found art theme. I created a little abstract design and collage focused around the seed of life. Hence the title.."Seed of Life." Life is so precious...we are all stars. To make the decision to have children should not be taken lightly, it is a privilege. This work is done on one of my favorite substrates- a drink coaster, this one from a Chili's restaurant. I used tissues, acrylics, inks, and some doodling by yours truly.

I am so happy to resume my cyber space friendship with Rosa..although I may not participate as much as I like in the project, I know it is there for me when I need a quick release. Rosa...thank God for you!

The studio awaits me once again. I have a work in progress that I should post soon. It is about half done. It is a fairy from my Sleeping Beauty series (now of 3 paintings). She is one of the many faeries from the ballet Sleeping Beauty. Although she is not wearing a tutu nor pointe shoes, she is very real to me. I promise to share her soon.

k

Found Art 9-11-07- Small

I am glad to be working on this found art piece today. It has taken my mind off this grim anniversary. I remember being at the computer on this day in 2001 when I saw a "news" flash on AOL. I went down to my TV set and watched in horror...live footage of the second plane hitting the second tower. My brain became numb and then I received a call from from my husband saying that they were told to go home. My husband, at that time, worked in the Sears Tower. It was thought to be a target as well. There was mass hysteria in the city. I did not relax until Marc walked in the back door. That was a very long and sad day......

My piece is entitled "Autumn Herald." It is a reminder how one "small" leaf begins this season each year in northern Illinois. Our leaves are just beginning to turn. And soon the environment here will be awash with color and swirling leaves. I love Autumn..the crisp air, the harvest moons, the clear skies, the colors, the apples to pick.... I love it all.

So let me explain this mixed media piece. I have this book, "Acrylic Revolution." I decided that since I am not very artistically motivated right now that I would use the found art themes to practice a few of the basic techniques in the book (found here http://www.amazon.com/Acrylic-Revolution-Techniques-Working-Versatile/dp/1581808046 .) My found art pieces are generally pretty small and I like the idea of experimenting in this venue, much less threatening. This work was done on a piece of gesso prepared cardboard. I used a dry brush to create the background effect. I laid down some interesting stamped images which barely peek through the brush strokes and then collaged a single small leaf. The swirls were drawn with a Stabilo white pencil. I really liked the way the color and movement in the background really gave the work its "feel." Fun... I use dry brush painting now and again but never thought of doing an entire background from the "technique." Can't wait to try something else.

k

Found art Tuesday: 9-4-07 Changes

Last week I did not feel like doing much of anything. I was plagued again by cluster headaches. On and off all week I just need to shut my eyes. I think the strain of getting back into the school year combined with the headaches and the labor day holiday did me in. I am also waiting to hear from the Raue Center in Crystal Lake IL.
http://www.rauecenter.org/,
hoping that I will have a gallery show this year with them. I submitted the application in mid August. Strangely though, I just have not been motivated to do art....

This weeks offering is a piece I call "inevitable." Our theme was Changes. I did a quick acrylic painting of trees to illustrate the seasons. As I though about this piece I realized that I am in the Autumn of my life and it will be inevitable that I will one day soon be in the Winter. Sigh..... Anyway this is a mixed media piece using acrylics and inks on water color paper.

I guess I never mentioned the show that I had in late July...Gallery in the Garden. That was a rough day with no sales. I watched as my worked slowly began to "warp" under glass. The humidity in the garden was incredible. There was a canopy of trees and ferns and all sorts of foliage, much like a rain forest! All the moisture from the previous days rain was held in that garden. At any rate, nothing sold. Items that were selling were jewelry and smaller hand made crafts. Not to many paintings sold. I guess I was pretty OK with that. But I probably will not enter again. The day was so stressful because of the high humidity, and the running around I did to see my children perform in their summer recital. Live and Learn. I can't do it all.

k

Found Art Tuesday: Favorite 8-21-07

This is the week before school begins at our home. We are running around, finding that perfect back pack, note books, getting hair done, dentist appointments...well those of you with school age children know the routine. There is something soothing and comforting about this annual activity. My children are so excited to start back, mostly because of their friends. While summer has been refreshing, the new school year heralds in Autumn. Which brings me to this weeks topic...Favorite. Autumn is my favorite season and I included a little drawing in this weeks offering.

Sound of Music...Rain Drops on Roses.. was all I could hear in my mind when Rosa posted the theme. I was not sure how to depict that song because I have a lot of favorites. So I took a subset of favorites to include in the work. I had this scrap piece of canvas and used that as the base for the piece. I used collage elements as well as my own drawing. There are a few stamped images as well. Mixed media would be a good way to classify the work. So I have my two favorite years, my favorite season, and my favorite holiday. The canvas was washed with gesso and then tissue paper (dress pattern) was adhered on top. Colored washed were use to achieve the look.

Now I am off to a high school orientation. Kaitie is a freshman. Where has the time gone?

k

Found Art Tuesday: 8-14-07 Portable

Portable...Rosa had me on this one. The only thing that I could dream up was my hair dryer. I tried, I really did. Rosa did such a fantastic drawing last week that I decided to give drawing a try again. I sort of illustrated my hair dryer I guess. This is a pencil and pen drawing. I also used a little white acrylic paint and a touch of oil pastel on the lips of the figure. Obviously not my best but I have not done a pen and pencil drawing in years. Probably 30 years to be more precise. It was fun and different. I am going to get this drawing thing down if it kills me! If I can use more of my drawings as transfers or direct in collages, I might not have to worry as much about that nasty old copyright issue, something I really do my best to respect! And so another week has past and more found art is left in the world.

DId you see the Granola poets tagged response? It is a good one, I promise!

k

Found Art Tuesday: 8/7/07-Candy

This is just a silly piece for me. My immediate thought when Rosa posted the topic of candy was Eye Candy... So I decided to list some current favorite eye candy sites...ones that I really enjoy each week, if not day. The rest just sort of fell into place. The work is acrylics and oil pastels on water color paper and the candy is really good! The title is none other than Eye Candy.

The sites I listed, one of which is mine, are really like a shot in the arm for me. I enjoy reading other artists thought processes. One site , Misty Mawn's- http://www.mistymawn.typepad.com/, always gives so much to reflect upon. She is just a wonderful artist and an incredible writer. . I will find myself smiling or saddened, happy or nodding in agreement with her reflections on moments from her life. I hope you will visit her blog. It inspires me to be a better artist and person.

Rosa's site offers a look into her thought processes as she creates a piece. When she was completing a piece called Maria, I felt I was peering into her studio weekly, to see the progress on the work. I love that sort of intimacy and Rosa does that really well. Her link is on my side bar as is Claudine Hellmuth's.

Claudine has been a favorite collage artist of mine like for the past 5 years. I have learned so many techniques from her books and DVD's. She is an excellent teacher and has a wonderful sense of humor. Her style is really unique and has a signature that many mixed media artists just can't miss.

I included Pacha's blog as a found artist. Her work is really fun and I enjoy reading her many comments on each work http://pacha-foundart.blogspot.com/index.html.

Laura Lein-Svencnver http://lauralein-svencner.com/ is an excellent collage artist with many awards to her name. Her work flows, direct and to the point. Her style is a little reminiscent of J. Talbot and Kurt Schwitters, both of whom I adore as artists. I love to look through her work often...it opens up feelings and emotions from deep within me. She is also the former president of the Midwest Collage Society, of which I am a member. I wish I loved just a little closer to where the meetings take place. I would love to experience her joy of collage.

I mentioned my own site mainly because it is my therapy and my record of who I was and am.

k

PS- This scan did not work really well because the candy is "popped-up" from the actual work with foam double sided tape. So it is really hard to read the websites. That is why I listed them in my text.

Burl has found his Forever Home

We are thrilled to welcome Burl to our pack. After much discussion, my husband and I decided on which monthly expenses we could cut back on. Look into those eyes, the eyes of an earth angel for sure. Now we just have to cross the T's and dot the I's, pay a fee and it will be official. Burl has settled in and even with his healing leg, he is doing stairs like a champ. To see his mug shot on Greyhounds only click here: http://greyhoundsonly.com/frameset.html. Scroll down till you find his picture.

K

Unconditional Love

I was sitting on my sofa today thinking of how privileged I have been these last 14 plus years. My children are growing up so quickly. They are making decisions on their own, fixing some of their own meals, making/packing lunches for school, and are beginning to test their wings. I have two preteens and one teen. There are days when they look at me like I am from another planet, days that I feel resentment, days that I feel like I am taken for granted, and days when I am beaming with pride. There are so many ups and downs. I don't hear "I love you," as often as I would like. There are times when I just shake my head and wonder how I have raised my children. But for the companionship of my animals, I am not sure if I could get through the up coming high school years.

When I talk about privilege, it is about sharing my life with my animal companions, now being Mandy and Tigger. I have never felt resentment, or being taken for granted. Their kind, knowing eyes, seem to lead me to be a better person. Their is so much to learn from our animals, of that I am sure. Our animal companions offer an unconditional love every hour of every day. I can't believe how lucky I am to be a part of that.

This past week, we took in another greyhound as a foster. His name is Burl and he looks just like a polished piece of burl oak. He sort of chose us as a family when we visited the greyhound kennels for a mini reunion with other adopted greys. His racing history is very interesting. Burl raced 34 races (in Iowa) as a two year old and won (came in first) 21 times. He was raced hard because he was a winner. And then, like with many greys, he broke his rear right hock. It was a bad repair. In other words, the Doctor had a difficult time putting it back together. For other greys with injuries in this area, they typically recover in a couple of months time and use their legs normally. Burl may never have full use of this leg again. But for all he has been through, he has not complained and for a young three year old, he has the wisdom of one much older. He is so kind and gentle, allowing me to massage his sore leg and rub neem oil into his callouses and balding areas of his body. He is greytful for the love and understanding. I can feel that depth of emotion every time I stroke him. He makes sure to give each member of my family kisses and nuzzles for no apparent reason. But I know that he wants a family of his own, he wants us and this is his way of letting us know that he has chosen us. I believe my first greyt, Grizzly, send him to us because he knows that we will give him what he needs and because Burl has much to teach us about love, humility, patience, and perseverance.

We return our Burl on Sunday. I so want to adopt him but my husband but I know it will be a hardship for the family. Another mouth to feed plus medical bills make it a hard decision. Tigger, our 5 yr old, has some problems that just began as well. I had him to the vet this week to try to determine if he is having a sort of seizure and if indeed a seizure, then what is causing it. This just happened and it makes our decision even harder. My heart says one thing, but my brain says another. My husband and I will make that decision before we talk to Burl's foster Mom number 1, Linda. She returns from vacation tonight.

To know the love of a dog is something I believe every one should experience. To care for and nurture dogs that no one wants because they are not perfect is a definite calling. I hope I can do right by this beautiful animal.

K

Found Art Tuesday: 7-31-07 CIRCLE

The found art topic this week was circle. Actually that was the topic last week but some of us were too busy reading the final Harry Potter book. I took this fun picture of my daughter Claire at her field day (one of the last days of school). They had games and snow cones and all that fun stuff. So here she is in a big plastic bubble, thus the title Bubble Girl. I had no particular idea for the theme so just went with the shape.

Right after I started the Harry Potter book I purchased this great new acrylic book entitled "Acrylic Revolution. You can see reviews and stuff here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1581808046/bookstorenow99-20. It is filled with techniques and good information on the physical and chemical properties of acrylics. Since I use this medium a lot, I thought the book would be a good addition to my library. It was. It is funny though because in my mixed media adventures, I had been using a lot of the techniques in the book already. Now I have rediscovered some of them and will try to incorporate them in new works. Here in this found art piece I am using a crayon resist with ordinary kids crayons (any brand will do) or you can use oil pastels or wax pencils. So my circled themed work evolved. It is done on a piece of cardboard, 5 x5 inches in size. The photo was copied and then transferred to the gesso prepared cardboard. Crayons were used to draw circles and then color washes were over layed, fun and simple.

Below you will find my Tagged entry.

K

TAGGED by Rosa

Well this is a first for me! Rosa tagged me yesterday. The way that this works is to reveal 8 things about yourself that new friends and Internet contacts may not know about you. So I hope these will tell a little about myself.

1. I am a huge greyhound aficionado. I currently have two with perhaps one more to be added to the pack. One look in the eyes of this noble breed sent me to the deep end. I will always have greyts in my life from now on.

2. I have taken courses in animal communication and have found that I have helped some good friends through difficult times with their animals.

3. I have a MS in Food Microbiology and in my former life worked for Abbott Labs as a research scientist in the fermentation area.

4. I am a dance Mom. Well I don't dance but my children do. I take them to and from their venues and enjoy their performances (I go to 8 or 9 performances of their Nutcracker every year).

5. I enjoy nonfiction especially anything about George Washington. I think last year there were 4 or 5 new biographies about him and I read every one. He is my idol.

6. Oh here is one for you, I studied martial arts for about 5 years and earned a black belt in a form of Tai Kwon Do.

7. This should be no surprise to anyone but I am a pig. My art studio constantly looks like a tornado went through it. I thrive on chaos.

8. I studied 5 years of Spanish in high school (in AP Spanish) and two years in college. When we got to reading Don Quixote in old Spanish, I gave up on a Spanish minor and stuck to a minor in chemistry. Believe it or not, Chemistry was easier! But the Spanish came in so handy when I traveled through out Spain back in the early 90s.

OK there you have it. Not very exciting. I am thinking the things I picked to tell about myself tell just as much as the actual items.

I would love to tag the Granola Poet. He just fascinates me!

Back tomorrow with my found art.

k

Found Art Tuesday 7-17-07: JUMP

Killing two birds with one stone is often how I operate. This weeks found art project was no exception. The mini collage project for Claire's art class became my found art for this week. I demonstrated the project in stages and when I was finished, I had my found art piece. I wanted to accomplish several things with this project: 1. to introduce the kids to collage and mixed media,

2. to encourage the kids to have fun with this art form at any time,

3. to give them a small project that they can finish and actually use.

So altered coasters came to mind. I detailed the steps for them by demonstrating each phase. Gesso the coaster, add some paint and scribbles, overlay with a telephone book page, age that page by removing some of it with masking tape, paint the page, use a rubber stamp to stamp a letter of the alphabet, look through magazines or old books for something that begins with that letter, adhere that cut out image. I decided to use modge podge for the glue (recommendation of the kids art teacher) and it worked fine when I did it a home. The modge podge will seal the work and they can use it as a coaster if they want to. So here is my "J" coaster. The title is of course...JUMP. Simple but it accomplished several goals that I had for myself this Tuesday :)

The kids had a blast getting all messy. I promise to scan Claire's soon. I ran out of coasters nd she used a small piece of matte board. I love the colors she used.

k

Carabosse 7-16-07

In-between working on the little collage project for my daughter's art class, I finally finished a work for the Gallery in the Garden show, July 28th. I was so inspired by the Sleeping Beauty performance that my children were in in June, that I decided to create a couple of the characters from the ballet. Mind you, these are my interpretations. The dancers did not look like this :)

Carabosse is a mixture of excitement and danger. She can be beautiful and ugly and very wicked. This mixed media and collage is 11 by 14. I used acrylics, inks, found papers and objects, oil pastels, and markers. I actually drew the image of Carabosse on some old leather looking scrapbook paper, cut her out and then collaged her to the work. I added color to her face using my pastels and acrylic paints (the oil pastels are water soluble and mix nicely with the paint). I gave her some serious eye make-up (just like the dancer who became Carabosse on stage) and added a spider to her crown. Since Sleeping Beauty is a French fairy tale, I drew her dress on the page of a French text book. The birds were found images. The window was hand drawn, again on scrapbook paper and collaged to the work. The vines were either hand drawn or I used a rubber stamp for some of them. In the background I have a portion of the Sleeping Beauty program and a ticket from the performance. My kids fell in love with her. I told them if they had a 100 bucks that she was theirs. I am such a mean Mom!

Next work is a depiction of the song bird fairy or Fairy of the Song Birds. She is in progress and I hope to complete her by this weekend.

k

Mixed media project for Claire's Art Class

I decided to give my daughter Claire some art classes this summer. An art teacher from her school is giving 3 day workshops (June, July and August) for 3 hrs each of those days. Claire has been practicing her drawing skills and she has been introduced to oil paints. I am thinking she is a chip off the old block. I will have to scan some of her work and post it here one of these days. Claire is shown here in her Sunday Best.

Claire's teacher knows that I am a mixed media artist and she asked me to talk about the process to the class. I did one better and came up with a simple project for the kids to try. I am thinking that because I have to create some samples that will be shown next Tues, that I will do the found art project using the same materials. I've decided to get these youngsters started using a coaster as a substrate. And we will go from there.. It should be fun, especially because the process is so free.

More to follow as I make the samples.

k

Uninspired and Tired 7-10-07

Well today is found art day and I have just been so uninspired! I think the taxi driving is getting to me. I have a show coming up July 28th and I wanted to get at least 3-4 more paintings done. Guess what..I am still on the first! I just can't seem to finish it. It is all laid out and the work is progressing nicely...it is just that I feel drained. Maybe part of it is that I have been setting up a database for my artwork, sales, customers/patrons. I am using Access and so far most of my work has been coming up to speed on the software. I am not a relational database whiz but I can appreciate how useful it will be once I have it set up properly. I have also been playing around in Microsoft's Publisher. Cool program. This is the flyer I made for my upcoming show. I have finally arrived in the new century with this software!

Maybe next week for found art...

k

Found Art Tuesday: 7-2-07 BLUE

This past week was just "one" of those weeks. You know the kind...where all you want to do is scream.... Now that summer is in full swing, it seems that I have less time than during the school year. I spend most of the day in the car and when I am not transporting children to their dance camps, I am transporting children to other activities, walking dogs, or running ridiculous errands. So my found art piece reflects those feelings of stress.

The work is called Mood Indigo. I made it up of an old deco piece which I had scanned into my puter as archive material. I cut and collaged the elements that I wanted. Then I pulled out odds and ends on the table where I work. Those were added for good measure. Elements were added based on my level of frustration :( The smallish picture in the upper right hand corner is a picture of a lady weeping and the words: What bugs you? You can guess why I used the Screamer, and the mesh like material indicates entrapment. This was all done on a coaster from Chili's.

FOUND ART TUESDAY 6-26-07: PRESENT

A day late in posting but better late than never! Actually....all was completed last night but I was too darn tired to scan it. The theme this week was present. Once could interpret in a variety of creative ways...all of which escaped me. So I went with the straight forward and obvious...a present. I made a little origami box out of washi paper. Then I was going to do a gift certificate to starbucks or something like that but fate intervened. I tripped over a box lying on my studio floor, one of about a zillion, and spilled some lovely beads all over the place...again the obvious hit me in the face and I proceeded to string a simple stretchy bracelet using the beads that went all over. Needless to say, most of the beads are still on the floor but I managed to get rid of the ones that were in harms way. Not sure where this will go but I am thinking my childrens ballet studio. No doubt a child, girl child will find it :)

Found Art Tuesday 6-19-07: Father

A theme of Father naturally reminded me of my own father. Dad passed on in 1988. He was one heck of a guy. I swear all my "talent" and love of the arts came from him. He would encourage my painting by making sure I had the paints, canvas, paper etc... When I was small, I sat beside him helping him sculpt and paint. His paintings were oils, mine were paint by number. He would hang my paintings up beside his. I would always feel like a famous artist whenever he did that. When I began to draw a little, my Dad bought me these step by step books on how to draw faces, animals, birds, and horses. And when I painted my first wild life scene, my Dad framed it and hung it in a place of honor in our house. I was 17 when he hung up my first painting. Several more would follow. And then I went to college to become a scientist. So how do you measure a man like that. He gave me so much without spending much of anything. My love for the arts which includes fine arts and dance, opera, theatre, has remained with me all my life. And now as I have returned to art, I think he would nod in agreement that it is time, my time to shine. My found art piece this week is a long bookmark, mixed media and collage on watercolor paper.

"The Measure of a Man" is dedicated to my Dad. I love you Daddy and I miss you so much. Happy Fathers Day, although belated, to all Dads who have given so much to their families.

K