My LIFE as an ARTIST

Since the girls came along, almost 5 years ago, I have set my passion to create aside. I have turned to crafty things such as scrapbooking to keep me satisfied but overall something has been missing inside me. I dove into my studio classes at Youngstown State University where I was finishing up my masters degree. I finally found my outlet and had my first show this past summer. The title of my show was reflections...

Reflections “Anything that you have, you can lose; anything you are attached to, you can be separated from; anything you love can be taken away from you. Yet, if you really have nothing to lose, you have nothing” Dr. Richard Kalish Loss is a universal experience; it can manifest itself in small intimate ways or on a global scale. Loss can be an opening for growth and renewal or it can have a shattering life altering effect. The occurrence of losing something can have a devastating influence, given the chance that you may never get what was lost back. We all have experienced loss on one level or another and have felt its impact. Through my show, Reflections, I share my memories and emotions of my personal loss, and its impact on me. However, all art is interpretative, and my work is open to numerous interpretations by all who view and spend time with it. I hope to raise questions that relate to all of us and evoke a myriad of feelings in those who view it.

Tea Party Themed Birthday Party

Its been well over a year since I have posted a new blog. Thanks to a new friend, I am motivated to start blogging again. I think I will take you back almost a year to my daughters 4th birthday. She wanted her first friends party! Since most of her friends were girls we decided on a Tea Party. I was so excited and got pretty into it.

I love to shop for vintage and discounted items. My first challenge were the actual tea sets. How in the world can I give a bunch of three and four year olds glass tea cups? So I started to search and I came across adorable plastic vintage tea cups. I found mine at a local second hand store. I payed $60 for a huge set of 26 tea cups, random saucers and some plates. You can find them for sale on ebay. Just search trumpet ware

We played pin the lid on the teapot. I just drew out a teapot and traced the lid over and over.I let my daughter paint each tea lid however she liked. If you aren't advanced in painting you can just do solid colors of tempera paint without the shading. Just outline after in sharpie marker. All of the table cloths were found on clearance. I liked that they were mix and match. Using the small tables I was able to cut them in half and layer them. The more stuff on the tables,the better! Clutter is perfect for a tea party. You can find most of this stuff at a local party store. I made sure that I served real tea. Its a TEA Party!I just found a good tasting decaf to serve. For lunch I made small sandwiches appropriate for kids. Peanut butter and Jelly, Cheese, Tuna Salad and Chicken Salad.

Paper Towel Roll Trees

OK this is a super CRAFTY project but I have a 1 year old and a 3 years old who always want to "Art". So when Im caught off guard I" have to use things around the house. Heres what you will need.

paper towel or toilet paper roll
tempera paint
scissors
Hot glue gun (I used elmers because I didnt have a hot glue gun here)
thin carboard (cereal box would be perfect)
magazine or construction paper (if you want to add flowers or fruit to your tree)

Have your kids choose a color of paint for the trunk (paper towl roll cut in half) Its ok if they dont pick brown, let them be creative! Then they paint the roll.

As those are drying have your children paint the top of the tree on the thin cardboard. My kids are little so I had them just pick a color for the top of the tree and paint an area. Try to avoid drawing an outline for them to paint in. This limits the childs expression through paint and controls the natural shapes they will create with the brush.

Riley wanted to make pink flowers for her tree. She searched through a magazine for the right color pink. She then practiced her cutting skills but cutting out shapes and sticking them in the wet paint.

Depending on how thick they apply the paint it may take awhile to dry. You can speed up the drying process with a hair dryer. I let mine sit over night.

I was afraid that the trees would be top heavy and my 1 year old, Alex wouldnt be able to balance them. I found bottle caps that fit into the bottom and glued them in to provide weight on the bottom. If you dont have any bottle caps that fit, try adding a few layers of hot glue to the inside bottom of the tube.

Use the shape created in their painting to cut the tree top. If your child is old enough to cut the cardboard they can do this part themself.

Cut two notches across from eachother in the tube and insert the tree top in. Secure with hot glue

Once our trees were done Riley wanted to play "Forrest" So she got out her animals and princess castle. Alex jumped right in! Its amazing how something so little can spark such great imaginative play.

Adult Visual Journal

If you find yourself using all of your creative energy on your childrens art and crafts, its time you use it to create something for yourself. Here is a great art piece for the busy woman and mom. A visual journal can be anything you want it to be. It can be specific, following a theme throughout (ex. Summer 2012 vacations) or it can be totally random like mine, creating whatever inspires me at that specific moment.

What I like is that I can let it sit for months without doing a page and pick right back up when I finally get the time. One page can take me as little as five minutes or as long as two hours depending on how detailed I want to get. Heres what you need to get started.

Old hard back book

Gesso (can be purchased in any art supply store)
exacto knife
paint brush
rubber cement
Any found art supplies, paper clippings, photographs, memorabilia, etc

Step 1: Prepare your book
Begin by removing some of the pages from your book. I took out 4 sections of 10-15 pages. scatter these sections so theres not a huge hole in one spot. Use an exacto knife to cut close to the binding, then tear.

I wanted to reduce the amount of pages in my book and make my pages thicker. I used rubber cement to glue the pages together into sections of 10-15 pages. Im not a perfectionist by any means so some of my pages were thicker than others.You can be exact, counting out the pages, or random like me. It all depends on your preference.

After all of the pages are sectioned, prime the entire book, including the cover using gesso. I usually gesso each page as I go, leaving some pages unfinished. This is only because Im too anxious to spend the time priming the whole book at once.

The cool thing about Gesso is that you can create texture with it. Make swirls or even write messages for your back ground.

Once your page is dry you can start your creative release! this part is up to you.

I used art education as my theme on this page. I incorperated collage, drawing, painting and text.
*I like to let the text from the original book show through some areas. It adds a nice layer to the page.

Adding flaps and tearing pages adds aesthetics to your book, creating visual interest.

Heres another page...

I applied gesso to my cover and sprayed it with back spray paint. Collage, stamp and paint was then added.

Release any artistic pressures you may feel and just let yourself use your thoughts, emotions and ideas to create something visual.