Who remembers being fascinated with Grandma’s button collection that she stored in old cookie and candy tins? I certainly do! I could spend hours as a child sorting through the vintage round treasures. Who needed toys when you could sort through a button tin?? As an adult, I have amassed an insane amount of buttons and still enjoy spending hours sorting them[…]
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I’ve been working hard these past few months to get ready for my first solo exhibit since moving to Florida. One of the pieces that I have finished for the show is named Coral Reef Currents. Once again my primary focus for this piece was movement and flow, as depicted here in the ocean currents around a coral reef. Coral Reef Currents is a mixed[…]
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In my last blog post I talked about how I have been working on teaching myself to create depth and dimension in my artwork. I have also been working on using shapes and their spatial relationships with each other to create movement and flow. “White Egret” is a piece that I finished last November. The colors are basic; primarily blue for the water[…]
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I am pretty much a self-taught artist. I create based on instinct. I took art classes in high school and college, but it was not my major field of study. And I never really practiced my art day after day, year after year. So I did not experience the growth other artists do when they are younger. I’ve always been passionate about[…]
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I finished a piece this week that is not my best. It has flaws. It is imperfect in so many ways. The piece is a tissue collage sunflower. I started it nearly a year ago while we were still living in Raleigh, but planning our move to Bradenton and having the new house built. I wanted a new piece of[…]
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It’s been almost 7 months since my husband and I said goodbye to North Carolina and moved to Bradenton, Florida. As an artist, it meant leaving the comfort zone of a beloved art organization where I not only worked as a staff member, but where I was also able to teach my reuse art technique and exhibit my art on a[…]
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Today I completed a mixed media piece that I started last week. Beach Sunset is a 12″x12″ mixed media piece featuring tissue paper collage. I collect a wide variety of porous papers to incorporate into tissue collage. The most obvious paper to salvage is used gift tissue. But I also collect used coffee filters, crepe papers, sewing pattern tissue and[…]
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I recently finished this mixed media piece titled Night Runner Hibiscus. Once again, the piece features a combination of tissue collage and fabric mosaic. Night Runner Hibiscus measures 12″x12″ and is available for sale. I made some progress figuring out how to lay down tissue collage backgrounds for these floral fabric mosaics. The key is layering. I began with color[…]
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In the past, I collected a lot of stuff, mostly because I could see a creative potential for it. “I can’t get rid of that – it has… potential!” But now I crave clean and minimal living spaces.
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I took a break from tissue papers and fabric scraps this week to work with another favorite material that I collect – buttons!
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One of my earliest creative memories was making holiday ornaments with my mom and my sisters…
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I finished up the series of 4 fabric mosaic fish this week. This is the first set of artwork that I have completed since moving down to Bradenton and making the commitment to myself to be a full time artist. I’m figuring out what that means – pursuing art full time. It’s going to take discipline. It is so easy[…]
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