I recently completed a 6-week collage workshop series at the Albany Art Room.
I wanted to share some of my student works with you as I felt they really took off with the techniques I offered. For the larger pieces, we began with the blank canvas and I shared how to prep the canvas, add their collage images first and then build up with textural layers with paint, tissue papers, household items, stencils, molding paste, etc.
The smaller pieces, shown here, were done on 6 x 6 hard board and the focus of the lesson was paint overs. Take a gray-scaled print out of an image and then giving it a more "painterly" look with acrylics, pastels, etc.
I am so proud of the students and their enthusiasm showed in their pieces. Each piece was individualized that reflected personal meaning for them. I love sharing art with others and the joy of teaching comes in the eyes of the students that I have.
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday celebration with family and friends. I wish you a safe, joyful and artful weekend!
Coming Tuesday, Dec. 1st; my first Guest Artist spot on my Blog. Each month I will be featuring a guest artist here. There will be questions and answers and photos of the artists' works. :)
Thinking of all of you! Love, Marilyn xxoo
I had some creative energy to spend today and this is what I love about art journaling. I know it's something I can always turn to.
This is a picture of a page I did, in my journal. It started out with a mask of a "glam" as I call it. I love choosing images from a glamour magazine as they offer great poses. The mask got a bit out of control, so I ended up "dressing" her up with some toile tissue paper and some really beautiful crepe paper that I ordered from Paper Whimsy.
This page's background began with Aqua Color crayons and gesso. I added some stamping, foils, text paper inclusions and more. The sides were distressed with graphite and Nevr Dull.
I'm happy I took some art time, today, as starting tomorrow will be some of the food prep work for Thanksgiving and other errands in preparation for the holiday.
Have a healthy and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Coming soon..............more student works.
Much love always - Marilyn xxoo
I do enjoy creating little things; as I've realized that so much can be jam-packed on tiny surfaces. Fun!
These are pictures of a couple of little projects I worked on for exchanges. One picture is of 3 house-themed ATC's. If you click on the picture, it will give you a larger view and see those tiny flowers in two of the ATC's? Those are dimensional and a product called Flower Soft. A friend, of mine, steered me to these and they're amazing. They come in different colors. This particular line is called Heather. I use an acrylic medium to adhere them. They are kind of spongy and really add a realistic touch. The second picture is holiday ornaments I created using optical lenses.
I hope you've all had a nice weekend; it is the beginning of a holiday week and I want to take the time, here, to extend my wishes, to all of you, that you find peace, comfort, and joy from the traditions of your holidays!!
Personally, I have lots of things to be thankful for, in my life, and one of them is the connections I have made with all of you! Thank you for your visits, lovely comments and your friendships! You are all treasures!
Love and peace to all! Marilyn xxoo
I am finally getting to my art journal. In a previous post I shared the cover of it and accompanied the photo with a resolution, of sorts, that I would work on a page every day! Well; that has gone by the wayside-lol! Maybe this is why I don't make New Year's resolutions; too much pressure and I don't really stick to any of them - I just can't as life happens right? :)
What inspired me to get to working on a page, in the journal, is I happened to pick up an issue of a Somerset Studio publication called Art Journaling. It is the Autumn 2009 edition. I think it's a pretty cool publication.
In this issue, I was inspired by an article written by Dina Wakley.
Dina's article addressed her use of silhouettes as an inclusion in her art journaling. I fell in love with this! Pretty much what it is, is finding interesting images in magazines, from ephemera, personal photos,rubber stamps, etc. The key is finding an image that offers an interesting pose for a silhouette. Cut out the figure and use it as a mask in your art! Brilliant! You can spray over with acrylics or inks - anything goes and when you lift the figure up, you have created a wonderful silhouette from which to work with. I love writing messages within the figure with Pitt pens, adding some color and pencil marks with graphite - kind of take this technique and make it your own. I think what I need to get is a repositional adhesive spray or get a respositional Xyron cartridge for use with this technique - hmmmmmmmmmmm. Another art supply! Oh well - what's one more :)
The picture, here, is of my first attempt at a silhouette inclusion in my page. It is from an old sheet music piece I had and I printed the page and then cut out this figure. I loved how she appears to be opening up the umbrella.
I also added some stenciling with this page, stamping with household textural pieces, adding stamped quotes, etc. What a fun exercise.
This may call for a future art exchange idea with ATC's! What do you think????
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend ahead; be safe and happy!
Love to all - Marilyn xxoo
I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends in my life. I never had a lot of friends, growing up; reasons for that I guess but looking back, I don't think it was meant to be at that time.
When I really think about this; friends are really gifts because we choose them and they choose us! That is the beauty of it!
Don't get me wrong, I have a wonderful immediate family. My husband is a marvelous man, my son and daughter-in-law; well they are just amazing! But; I am venturing, to say, that we all might have one, or even two, family members that we wouldn't have chosen. I will leave it at that :)
So; the act of meeting someone who is not related, choosing to spend time with to share feelings, our lives, our interests and then realizing it's blossomed into a wonderful relationship! How special is that?
The picture, here, is of a very special gift I received from a remarkable woman who I have chosen to be my friend and she has chosen me to be hers! Her name is Peggy Beck and we arranged to have breakfast, together, this week and she presented me with this beautifully hand-knitted sweater for Sophia, who if you haven't heard or read, is my very first grand child who is due to greet this world on Dec. 12th! We are all very excited to meet her. My son and daughter-in-law are anxiously awaiting her birth.
I was so overwhelmed with Peggy's gift as I knew it was created with love and appreciation of our friendship. When I stopped to really reflect, on this, I know that knitting is not an easy art and I have tried it and I just couldn't do it. It takes time, patience, and talent. All of these words describe Peggy!
Thank you, Peggy, for this special gesture of friendship and I cannot wait to see the expression on my daughter-in-law's face when she sees this sweater in person!
When you all have time, please check out Peggy's Blog
Peggy created her Blog, not too long ago, and I think you'll find her art and words mesh beautifully together.
Thank you all, who support and follow my Blog, as I know you choose to do that and that's what makes it so meaningful to me. When I sit down, each morning, with my cup of joe and laptop, I choose to visit your Blogs and websites as I want to spend this time viewing your beautiful art, reading your words and thoughts that inspire me on a daily basis.
I wish you all a safe and happy day!
Much love - Marilyn xxoo
This is a different style, for me, but I found I really enjoyed working on this.
The picture, here, is a cover of a handmade journal I made. I've been working on it, as I can, and I finally finished it.
The covers are made of hard boards. The signatures are hot press 140 lb. watercolor paper.
This is the picture of the front cover and most of the papers you see, here, I made myself with acrylic mediums, paints and tissue paper. I created them with a nature theme in mind.
You will notice some stamping on some of the papers using Fred Mullett stamps. I love his stamps and haven't used them enough. I felt they were perfect for this project.
One of my favorite quotes is "gotta love the EVERYDAY". This is a Tim Holtz stamp and I used it on this cover to remind me of my goal with this journal :)
My goal is to create something, in this journal, every day. We'll see how far I get with that goal - lol! I'll keep you posted :)
Hope you are all well and enjoying your week. We are approaching another weekend and wishing you all a safe and joyous one!
Love to all - Marilyn xxoo
6 x 6
Mixed Media
This piece was part of my collage workshop at the Albany Art Room last Wednesday evening. I shared a background technique using text paper, acrylics, texture stamping, foils, etc. then collage.
But; the main thrust of the technique was using an image that has been printed out in gray scale, and then painting over to give the image a more "painterly" appearance.
I fell in love with this image of this boy and girl; I interpret their body language as they are at the end of their day of play and mischief. :) That little boy looks sassy, doesn't he?
At the very top of this piece is an old hinge that I picked up at a salvage warehouse, here in my area, during a "scavenger" trip with some friends.
I want to thank all who participated in my Blog giveaway and there surely will be more offerings in future.
Hope you are all having a good start to the week; I'm thinking of you and all be safe and stay well................Much love, Marilyn xxoo
My highly technical random selector (my husband) has chosen Jacky Williams as the winner of my Blog giveaway! (previous post).
Congratulations Jacky! Please email me with your mailing info and I will get your winnings out to you this week!
Woohoo!
Love to all; hope you had a joyful weekend!
Marilyn xxoo
This is a photo of a small mixed-media piece I worked on this week. It's approx. 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 and I call it Dreamer.
I hope you are all having a good week and also want to remind you that this Sunday, Nov. 8th is the deadline for participating in my Blog giveaway (previous post).
I'll be announcing the winner Monday morning :)
Love to all and have a safe and happy weekend ahead.
Much love - Marilyn xxoo 
As promised, I am offering a Blog Giveaway that is nature inspired :)
This is a photo of "some" of what I am offering as a giveaway. The book is entitled "Nature Inspired" and the author is Tracie Lyn Huskamp. It's a wonderful book filled with beautiful photos of her art, tips and techniques; all, of which, are nature inspired. The techniques include painting on muslin. Due to circumstances, here, I found myself with two of these books and decided one would make a great giveaway! :)
Accompanying this book are some handmade and decorative papers (some of which were made by me) all nature inspired. (this photo doesn't include all the papers that I'll be sending)
I also will be including two surprise nature-inspired rubber stamps (unmounted).
To enter the giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment, here, that you are interested in the giveaway pack or email me privately.
The deadline for submitting your comment with interest is: Sunday, November 8, 2009. I will announce the winner on Monday, November 9.
I hope you are all having a good weekend and had a safe and happy Halloween.
Much love - Marilyn xxoo