Bringing Power To Your Life

“Travel brings power and love back into your life.” – Rumi

TRAVEL: To go from one place to another, as on a trip; journey.

From the time I was a child the word “travel” was the genesis of my wanderlust. I couldn’t walk past a travel agency without stopping to look into their store window. Gazing at posters showing incredible scenes of cities that seemed so far away only fed my desire to travel.  I wanted to learn about the lives of the people depicted in those posters. I wanted to see for myself the towns and cities that looked so enticing even when viewed through a plate-glass window. I wanted to put pins in a map of all the places visited.  I knew I was destined to live a nomadic life.

And I have been lucky. I have visited almost all of the places that sparked my interest. And I found when traveling my journey enriched not only my physical but my spiritual life as well.  And this is why I am in love with the beautifully crafted Artistcellar Labyrinth series. Let me tell you about the journey I wandered in creating this collage.

Starting with my Strathmore Journal, I covered a page with Dye-Na-Flow Midnight Blue fabric paint using a 1” foam poly brush. While still wet, I splashed on Dye-Na-Flow Magenta followed by dripping rubbing alcohol into the wet die. As the page dried a soft floral pattern emerged.

Although I liked the effect, I wanted to see how the dye would react on Mineral Paper. But this time I drizzled on a bit of rubber cement before coating the paper.  The beauty of Mineral Paper didn’t disappoint! I liked the way the resist seemed to flow with the dye one enhancing the other. Although the technique was the same, I now had two distinct looks. Where my journal paper produced a soft velvet effect, the mineral paper was watery and wonderful. Looking at the backgrounds, I couldn’t decide. Which one should I use in the final work?  As the saying goes “You can never have too much of a good thing”, so opted to use both.

In my last collage I featured the Chartres stencil. This time I knew Crete was the one to use and stenciled directly on to the page in my Journal beginning with Viva Decor Inka Gold. I liked the effect I got the last time I used this product and polished it when dry with a soft cloth. It then became a wonderful base for shades of Silver, Gold, and Rose Red acrylics. The final element added was a vintage map.

Just working with the Labyrinths allowed me to recall so many memories of my travels. I believe travel empowers you to wander with purpose and explore the passions that drive you. Travel does more than include the physical movement from one place to another. Travel also resurrects the desire to explore within and find love and serenity in just being present.

MATERIALS USED

PLAID FOLKART METALLIC ACRYLICS: Rose

REEVES ACRYLICS: Silver, Gold, Rose Red

DYE-NA-FLO: Turquoise, Midnight Blue, Magenta, Sun Yellow

VIVA INKA GOLD GLOSS PAINT

NATURAL SPONGE

SOFT CLOTH

1” FOAM POLY BRUSH

RUBBING ALCOHOL

RUBBER CEMENT

MINERAL PAPER

STRATHMORE Mixed-Media Visual Journal 300 Series- 5.5″ x 8.5″

LABYRINTH SERIES STENCILS FROM ARTISTCELLAR

DIGITAL IMAGES – Purchased & Created

All On Board the Train!

Wouldn’t you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express
Wouldn’t you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express
They’re taking me to Marrakesh
All on board the train, all on board the train
All on board – Graham Nash

We are in a cycle of dark dreary days filled with rain and humidity. Not the most advantageous to inspire creativity on these late Spring days. I needed an escape!  I wanted the sun! I wanted warmth! I wanted exotic locations! With a bit of imagination and the best tools at my disposal I magically escaped the monotonous and travelled into a world of colour and exploration.

Opening the box from Artistcellar that arrived at my door was like grabbing my passport and getting on board to an exciting journey! Included with the supplies was the CHRIS COZEN – PLAYFUL PODS SERIES stencils. As with all the Artistcellar stencils, they are made to last and perform perfectly with a variety of media. Clean up is quick and easy, leaving the stencil in like-new condition. Lately I have heard a lot about the use of Rubber Cement. It seems to be the “go to” everyone is discussing…from Google+ Communities to Workshop details that land in my Inbox.

I selected the Bodacious Pods stencil from the series. They reminded me so much of Moroccan pouffes…the lovely Ottoman footstools that take lounging to the pinnacle of relaxation.  In my collection is an exquisite image of Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee’s “Leila”, which I purchased on a Digital Collage Sheet. The woman, painted in the Oriental style, at last found a home.

My idea was to give the art a rough, almost sun worn finish similar to the buildings I photographed in Marrakesh. I chose a heavy watercolour paper for the substrate.  I dabbed the rubber cement through the stencil with my fingers…varying the amount from thick to thin, hoping this application would produce a mottled effect when covered with paint.

The rubber cement dried relatively quickly, even for impatient me. As an impulse buy, I recently purchased  pearlescent watercolours. I go weak in the knees for anything with a shimmer, and the selection of colours looked scrumptious. I covered the paper with a wash. I chose all the gorgeous Bohemian colours available on my pallet: Hot Pink, Vermilion Orange, Cyan Blue, Turquoise and Bright Violet! I blended the colours using a tool new to me… The SAKURA KOI WATERBRUSH. If you haven’t tried it you must! The brush is made of flexible nylon fibers that are fed with water from a refillable reservoir. When I was finished blending, the paper was once again set out to dry.

With my fingers and an eraser I removed the rubber cement. The result was as I had hoped…patchy, worn, sun-kissed, with a dazzling shimmer…just as I remember my travels in Morocco.  It would be the perfect home for Leila. I scanned the altered paper and revised the image of the woman. I wanted to keep as much of the paper without further alteration, so I only added Graham Nash’s lyrics…the inspiration for the piece…surrounding her.

Art, I am sure you will agree, can take us to the places as far and as wide as our imagination. With the proper tools at our fingertips we can re-experience the wonders of travels past. Or we can dream of places we’ve yet to see. Either way, won’t you join me? All on board the train, all on board the train!

MATERIALS USED

• ELMER’S RUBBER CEMENT
• CHRIS COZEN – PLAYFUL PODS SERIES – Bodacious Pods
• SIMPLY SIMMONS ONE STROKE BRUSH
• SAKURA KOI WATERBRUSH
• ROYAL LANGNICKEL & ARTIST’S LOFT FUNDAMENTALS PEARLESCENT WATERCOLOURS
• HEAVY WATERCOLOUR PAPER
• DIGITAL IMAGE- Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee’s Leila (1892)

What Will You Be When You Grow Up?

When was the last time you let your nocturnal imagination drift, allowing it to go anywhere it pleased? As a child, the night and the Moon enchanted me. Looking out of my bedroom window in Brooklyn, the sounds of the day segued into a hushed, almost reverent, atmosphere conducive to thinking, to dreaming.

And times like this I wondered where my life would take me. I knew the path I wanted to follow…but would it happen? My parents encouraged me to always listen to my heart and to find the best in any situation. Their New York values of  tolerance, generosity, and having an open mind always willing to learn, set me on the right course.

The Lunagirl Moonbeam challenge for January is to design using images from her lovely collection of Babies & Children. Although I’m not especially maternal, I drew from the memories of my childhood for the challenge.

The final image is a digital collage. It was easy for me to pick a photo to work with. I loved the way the two girls looked, as if they were sharing a secret. I added images of famous actresses to their skirts and a Verdi libretto to the bodice. What young girl doesn’t want to be an actress when she grows up? I couldn’t resist adding a benevolent face smiling down at the girls from the Moon.

Childhood can be a magical time of wonder. But it doesn’t have to end there. Each day is another chance to capture the effervescence of discovery. What will you be when you grow up?

Dream With Wild Abandon!

Outgrow Your Shoes – Digital Collage

If you allowed yourself…just once…to dream with wild abandon…where would your dreams take you? Would you be on a wistful journey, meandering through experiences at your own cadence? Or would you rather give up all control and fly unrestrained towards a destination that only Fate can dictate?

The latest Lunagirl Moonbeam Design Team Challenge centered on “Shoes”.  The challenge is shared with Vicki Romaine’s challenge Blog, The Cheerful Stamp Pad.

Thinking about shoes brought me to one of my favourite sayings by Japanese writer and poet, Ryunosuke Satoro: “Let Your Dreams Outgrow the Shoes of Your Expectations”. Lunagirl’s images are inspiring as always. I chose a shoe and began my work.

Travel is my sanctuary and the act of my putting on my shoes was always the prelude to a great adventure. I never knew what to expect, but I wandered, ever hopeful that I would experience something different and wonderful.

By allowing my dreams to outgrow my shoes my life, and art, grew in directions I never thought possible. I wouldn’t trade those experiences, the great and the not so wonderful, for anything!

So, fellow Artists and Dreamers…the call to outgrow your shoes is beckoning you. Will you take the dare?

We Are Who They Were…

WE ARE WHO THEY WERE

Life has an interesting way of weaving the stories of our ancestors into the fabric of who we have become.

The current Lunagirl Moonbeams challenge is “Mother”. The Images sent to work with were beautiful as always. I chose the Mother and daughter engrossed in music and instrument playing.

Seeing the two sitting together got me thinking about the conversation they could be sharing. Perhaps the melody was its inspiration.

Many times a piece of music reminds me of someone in my life…be it my parents, or other relatives and friends. The notes of the song draw me in, and once again I am transported to a particular place and time. Could the Mother and Daughter not only be sharing memories, but making new ones of their own?

The collage is a digital work. The principal image is from the Lunagirl Collection. The surrounding images are from a variety of sources.

In the end, we are who are ancestors were. We learn from their triumphs and tragedies. We continue the story of their lives through our own. We can find the nurturing feelings we seek not only in the women in our lives but also in those who care to encourage us to be the best we can be.

Happy Mother’s Day to you all…and to all those who support our authentic selves.

Who Are You Behind The Layers?

Why She Is Fascinating

As women, and especially as women artists, our lives are wrapped in layers. For me, it is layers of paper, fabric, inks, and words that make up my life. And when I am dancing or creating a collage, the layers unwrap slowly to allow me to express a part of who I am.

As a member of the Lunagirl Moonbeam Design Team, I feel as if I have stepped into a Garden of Image Delights. There are so many wonderful pieces of Art in the catalogue that it is sometimes so hard to choose just one.

But this time, it was different. Our challenge is “Fascinating Faces”. When Lunagirl sent the selection from which we were to make our choice…it was simple for me. There she was…Jaroslava…Alphonse Mucha’s daughter. Her gaze, her pose…it was faultless.

I admit it..I have great affection for the work of Alphonse Mucha. Everything about his style, his colours, his composition in my eyes are flawless. The painting of Jaroslava is no exception. She often sat for her father and is in many of his works. In this painting, the incredibly tied scarf is thought to represent her Slav ancestry…a topic Mucha extensively explored.

Looking at the scarf made me think of my ancestry and my life within the Arts. How often have we wrapped ourselves in scarves made of image and words? Jaroslava’s intense gaze calls the viewer to meet her eyes, and go beyond..to see who she is beyond the layers.

And that to me is what makes women fascinating.

The collage is digital using the image from the Lunagirl Moonbeam collection. I am a lover of scarves.Words twist and turn following the folds of the fabric. The background is a piece of scarf material from my collection.

And isn’t part of the fascination persevering to see through the layers?

 

The Magic of A Letter…

Open At Once – Collage

There is something about a handwritten letter that warms the heart. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike emails and texts. They have their place as an efficient, and quick, means to communicate. But letters…sigh…they speak in a magical language all their own. The choice of paper, the envelope, the stamp and any other embellishment the writer wishes to affix says just as much about them as the words they choose to add to paper.

Today is “National Send A Handwritten Letter Day”. Celebrated on January 17th it is the birthday our first Postmaster General of the United States, Benjamin Franklin.

Again…synchronicity at play…I am a Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team member. Our current challenge is Postcards and Letters. What could be a more perfect way to celebrate Handwritten Letter Day!

I recently entered into a paper swap and received a huge envelope full of beautiful postcards, paper and ephemera of all sorts from Germany. In the package was a brochure from the Sir Hubert von Herkomer’s, Herkomer Museum in Landsberg am Lech in Bavaria. The tower of the Mutterturm was incredible and very romantic. I knew I wanted to add this image to the tag I was working on.

But which Lunagirl image to choose? I loved them all, but finally settled on a woman pensively holding a letter in her hand. What could she be contemplating? Was there a story unfolding as I gathered up my art supplies? I let my Muse guide me.

The old saying, “No news is good news” kept coming back to me. Inspired by Handwritten Letter Day, I thought..isn’t a letter the best news of all…a little bit of magic in your hand?

The substrate for the tag is illustration board. I covered the background with Distress Ink, fluid and metallic acrylics. In addition to the lovely Lunagirl image, I added the Muttertrum, fabric, Junk Mail, wax infused and art paper, telephone book paper and other ephemera from my collection. I rubber stamped the saying on to a vintage envelope from the 1920’s. Stenciling completed the tag. In honour of today…off went the tag for a “magical” tag swap.

I hope you are all enjoying “National Send A Handwritten Letter Day” as much as I am. You still have a few hours left. Why not touch someones heart in a magical way by saying “hello” with a letter?

What Brings Spice To Your Life?

Spice of Life. Collage. Pay It Forward

Some time ago I signed up to participate in the “Pay It Forward” exchange. The idea is to produce a small work of art and exchange it with another participant.

As I was looking through my box of ephemera, I found a line of type I had cut out of a book. It listed spices..cinnamon, pepper, sesame, anise… In the same envelope was a reproduction of  a painting of a woman. Languorously reclining amid a bed of roses, she wistfully smiled. As the year drew to a close, I could imagine being her presence surrounded with a heady scent of roses and the piquant quality of spices in the air from her Holiday cooking.

And it made me think…what is the Spice of Life? Is it variety as the popular saying suggests? Or is it something deeper, more personal and divine? Is it what makes each one of us unique and brings passion to everything we do? Is “spice” just another name for the magical quality we strive for in our work as artists?

The substrate for the postcard is illustration board. I covered both sides of the card with gesso. I sponged the background with a selection of metallic acrylic paint. The woman, the line of type, a wax infused doily, tea bag paper, painted gauze, art and vintage papers complete the card. And off it went to its destination in Washington State.

As the New Year begins we all have a chance to build a new recipe for ourselves. What will spice up your life in 2015?

What Does Your Art Say About You?

The Can-Can – ATC

I love France. I love the French. The country and their people intrigued me from the time I was a child. I guess you could say I was born a Francophile.

Before I learned to read, my Mom and I would walk to the Brooklyn Public Library six days a week. And there in the children’s section, was my treasure trove. I would run to the books with the opening lines that set my imagination free… “In an old house in Paris, that was covered with vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines… the smallest one was Madeline.” How I adored Ludwig Bemelmans’ Madeline series!

And that was just the beginning. I dreamed of France…of seeing for myself the beautiful streets described in Bemelmans’ books. I wanted to experience the art, the culture, the sights, the smells, the food of that wonderful country.

All those feeling came rushing back to me when looking through my collection of ATCs. I found my homage to the dance I performed  at our “Christmas Around the World” school play. Ah…The Can-Can! At last! The play that year was my chance to experience Art Nouveau Paris and The Moulin Rouge. Visions of Lautrec danced in my mind!

It was years later when living in England that I made my pilgrimage France. With that first trip my feet were finally planted in the country of my childhood dreams. And everything was even better than I had hoped. The French could be “difficult”, I was warned, especially in Paris. I had also heard that about my home city, New York. I knew it wasn’t true about New York…could it be the same for the City of Light?

With my extremely basic hold on their lyrical language, I ventured into the streets of Paris. I found a small bistro off the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and did my best to order an omelette without the sausage. The waiter was patient and wonderfully helpful. And he responded to me in his equally basic English. What arrived at my table, honestly, was the greatest meal of my life. Imagine my surprise when the waiter said if I didn’t like it the chef could make me something else!

This exchange set the tone of my first trip and for all the ones after. Regardless of national origin, we are all the same…sharing the same hopes, dreams, and desires. The French say it perfectly…joie de vivre…a philosophy of life.

I used a standard manila ATC card for the substrate . Text from travel brochures, and dictionary pages were added.  I found a vintage image of the dancers and finished the card with rubber stamped images and acrylic paint.

As artists we have the unique opportunity to bridge the gap we sometimes feel when taking a journey to somewhere new. Everyone, everywhere, wants to be treated with respect. We all want to feel that we do matter. Our work says more about us than words can ever convey. What does your work say about you?

What is Essential to You?

Hans Richter’s  Dada XYZ 1948

As a creative person, what is essential to you?  “XYZ”, an Artist Trading Card call from the Carlisle Arts Learning Center in Carlisle, PA. had me thinking. My Muse was on hiatus. I felt stranded when I opened my book on the Dada Movement, and received inspiration from Hugo Ball’s Sound Poems.

It was what I needed to kick-start me into action. So it felt natural to explore the world of Dada through the eyes of other members. And what could be more appropriate than to read Hans Richter’s “Dada XYZ”.  The piece opens with “I never understood Hugo Ball very well.”

I photocopied the photo of Hans Richter and attached it to illustration board. The text in the background is Richter’s thoughts written in 1948. It is published in Robert Motherwell’s anthology of Dada writings, The Dada Painters and Poets. I finished the card with sponged metallic acrylic paint. At the end of the exhibit this card will also be traded.

Inspired by the Dadaists, not understanding is the essential quality I look for in Art and in Life. Not understanding keeps me thinking…keeps me investigating…keeps my lines to my Muse open. And when I do finally understand, even if not fully, it can lead me to some very interesting, unexpected and inspiring places.

My question to you is…what is Essential to You?