SHEsaysWITHaSMILE.blogspot.com

Mixed Media Artists tricks, tips & paint-overs by (me!) ~topps

 see what happen.. i blogged about decorating paper bags, then i just had to..

this darling paper bag came from my mom's cookie exchange party  -and they are long gone now, but it held the best snickerdoodle cookies i have ever! tasted and so, "thank you!" valerie

and it is a pretty cute bag as is; with the polka dots pre-printed, but for a mixed media artist

-and it is one of the many things that separate us from other types of artists, but for a mixed media artist

anything can become a canvas for our creative experiments

i can do a quick comparison:   if you imagine an oil painting of a beautiful landscape  -can't you already see it?  it is on a traditional painters canvas, it was most likely painted while it was positioned on an easel; the medium is exclusively oil paints, with perhaps a variety of brushes used, and colors blended, yes.. but

for a mixed media artist!  this can be a canvas, that can be a canvas..   you can have your canvas in your lap, on the floor, leaning against a dresser, back seat of a car..    pretty much you will start creating wherever space allows   -but i can't remember a time in my own creative life, ever sitting in a chair, in front of an easel with a brush and paints

oh! how i admire!  love, appreciate, oil paintings, watercolor,   -of course!

but i do admit to feeling 'luckier'

because i think our finest painters of oil, watercolors  -their objective is a specific result; a specific look -to match exactly, a real life object or setting, or even when the goal is abstract,  i imagine, it is the result that brings the highest gratification

for the mixed media artist, it is the process! the experimenting!  the taking a mistake and incorporating it, including it, vs. erasing it..   [example write above]

for the mixed media artist, everything is a delightful curiosity  -beads! fabric! paint!  chalk!  what if i put it on wood?  glass?  direct on a wall?  along the cars bumper..   on my jean jacket?   hey, can i use a sharpie and stencil on my shoes? everything is a potential canvas, and everything is potential material to use

it is the excitement of using a new tool or even creating a new tool [vs. using a tool to accomplish a goal]

my knees went weak the first time i saw someone use a clear ink stamp, stamp on paper, sprinkle some special powder, take a heat gun..  and

magic! write before your very eyes   -what do you call this?!  i must do this today!   and that started a several week embossing craze..

even when my husband and i were sheet-rocking our garage, he brought out this tool i had never seen or had any exposure to before, 

?

a small yellow container of ? with a narrow spout..  and this small metal object, looked a little bit like a measuring tape, but larger

then he poured from the container into the measuring tape looking thing..

pulled a long  -long-  blue dusted string out of the measuring tape looking thing

stretched it from here to there

lifted up the blue dusted string, taut, released it from his finger grip.. let it go!

and 

"i must have one of these!"   /you do, it's ours.. we are using it write now..

and my mind raced with how exciting and fun, and how much faster it would be to create a hop scotch game on any school yard for recess for example

please, do not deny our children the exciting process!   on the playground school yard at my elementary school, the hop scotch was pre-painted; the circle around the tether ball pre-painted; the lines for the hand ball court; pre-painted

anyway, i had no idea what i would use this awesome tool for, i only know that, drawing a straight line  -a long one, without a ruler, or which exceeds a ruler..   no easy task!

you can take this pourable strait-line chalk, pair it with the strait-line chalk line reel  -stretch it some ?# feet, lift it up, let it snap down..

you've got yourself a perfectly straight line  -with chalk, you can just dust away..

that is a huge bonus.  it most cases you need the straight line as a guide,  but you dont need a permanently painted straight line you can't get rid of   -write

unless, of course, you are a mixed media artist

in this case, the same way pollock let that drip paint at will, 

my imagination filled with..  what if we use paint instead of chalk?  what if we want it permanent? what if we just use this color, and stretch it this length, snap, painted-straight-line, change colors, change directions, snap..  a new color and another straight line..   stand over here, change colors, change the length..   let it go!   

and if the paint splatters; so be it!  -keep going..

and i think it would look really intriguing, it sure does in my imagination, but it is the process!  actually using the tool, the paints, moving your body from here to there to make the different straight lines heading in different directions

all of this to say  -i'm grateful to be a mixed media artist; i love discovering new creative tools; or creative ways to use any tools

i'm respect the color wheel, yes..  but i just like to blindly choose a color, and blindly choose another color and see how they look next to each other.. 

i love texture

i love mixing the medias; layering a stencil over something freehand; placing a random patch of fabric on a formal canvas; using stickers, drawings, paint, chalk, fabric, a variety of adhesives, beads of many sizes all on the same canvas

and then contrasting that with a piece of mixed media art which is plain and simple to the eye.

i answer only to my own aesthetic value; an intuitive response that either likes the result or doesn't; an intuitive voice which influences whether i will add more..  stop..  start over..  wait a couple days, etc.

but it is most definitely a joy to use as many different types of tools, materials, canvases as i can

and, to have fun.   to always be cross-training creatively speaking..

***

reminder here:  at vintage hills elementary school, where i donated an entire room's worth of paper, stickers, scissors, glues, pens..   the overstock of everything i acquired during my Mag Time Frame days.. lots of scrapbook materials

and the children were given the choice (for the 1st time ever to my knowledge); to play outside during recess, OR go inside the art room and creative whatever they wanted, with, whatever they wanted from what was made available

they flocked to the room where there was the opportunity to create.  i want to additionally point out, that i did not create 'prototypes' of any kind, no templates where i then offered instructions on how to make this or that..

everything was free form; everything was their own original work; their own experiments and ideas

they loved it!  and i loved it too!

*****

now, what i'm inspired to do, is create a digital image of what it could possibly look like, if there was a strait-line tool which allowed you to use paint; change colors..  have fun

back in a few..

 *****

a mixed media artist will see canvases and creative tools in almost every store; not just 'arts n crafts' stores.   -roam a home depot..  a furniture store..   a grocery store..    the dollar store is one of my personal favorites!

and now, i'm going to close here by sharing something i learned about myself, that might be helpful to creative others

the thing that got me into trouble earlier on is that 

well, you know that saying, "my eyes were bigger than my stomach"   it is a popular saying which refers to when someone is looking at food, loading up their plate for dinner or any meal really, 

when they are looking at it.. taking in the aroma, delighting in the selections, pre-imagining the flavors and textures..  they load up their plate with portions far surpassing what they can actually eat

or, i'm sorry, 

they load up their plates with portions far surpassing how much they should eat   -many people still eat it all but pay a high price for indulging

same thing applies..   when you are mixed media artist, and everything you see is a potential canvas, and you are inspired to experiment with as many tools, materials as possible

it is very easy to accidentally drown in potential canvases, surround yourself with tools and materials you'll never actually use, 

and you can easily end up with canvases and supplies which far surpass the time and energy required to utilize them.

you do need to surround yourself with inspiration of course! without drowning..

so, i've self-imposed some rules and regulations for my studio 213

namely, no new canvases until i've decorated the 200 canvases i currently have in waiting  [dozens of empty gum containers; dozens of empty journal books; dozens of paper books to repurpose; dozens of wine bottles and bottles in general; dozens of wood shapes; dozens of frames...]

and it becomes part of the motivation to create..  let me do something with all of this, so i can shop for NEW canvases to decorate..

i see no creative droughts or floods for 2023; just limitless sunshine and blue skies; 

some welcome april showers, some gorgeous paper flowers..

in Jesus name   amen. 

posted by SANDRA HARRISON KAY @ 12:18 PM