Warm & comforting

Mixed Media on cardboard. 12"x12"

Gesso, acrylic paint, Prismacolor pencils blended with Gamsol, inks, pencil.

Inspired by Kal Barteski's Tiny Art series.

Inside the artist's studio

So. This is where the magic happens. My living room/studio. It's small and I have way too much stuff for it but I've gotten used to it in the past 5 (closer to 6) years.

Now. I've already talked about my belief in signs and messages from the Universe. And this summer, I received a message in the form of a new-to-me blog. She calls herself the Mermaid and lives in a cottage near a beach. She teaches "fat, messy journal" classes to young girls in her home during summer. And the way she writes... it got me thinking...

I could do this. I could teach "fat, messy journal" classes of my own during summer. Yes, my apartment is small but with a bit of de-cluttering and reorganizing, I really think I could make my living room kid-friendly. All through this year I've been taking small steps to de-clutter my life. And I've been experimenting with new art techniques. I've also been reading about organization more (and seeing Violette's posts on this subject and the progress she's making with this is very inspiring.) I already have access to kids so that won't be an issue when it's time to get started. I even have 2 girls in mind to "test drive" this new project. Thoughts and ideas are swirming in my mind day and night (making it hard to fall asleep but that's a whole different post that I won't bore you with!)

Ever since I was a kid, I've wanted to be an artist and to teach kids (without actually being a school teacher.) So I think, no, I KNOW that this is one of those dreams that can and WILL actually come true! I'm very excited about this and will do everything in my power to make it happen. And I'll keep you all updated on my progress.

On a different note...

Yesterday, I was at my parents' house to take care of the dogs for a few hours and decided to make 2 cards (I hate the term "greeting card" but that's what they are, not ATCs.) They are both very similar: same colours, same stamps. The differences are: this one has 4 birds while the other has 2 AND this card has punched flowers with a bit of Gold Liquid Pearl while the other has Turquoise Sticklers on all the leaves of the tree. They both came out great. The other card is for an ATCSforALL member who lost family members last week. The one you see here is for a 5 year old girl, Ellie Bouchard, who is going through chemo because of a brain tumor. If you want to brighten this little girl's day, go to her website to find the address where you can mail her a card or anything else that you think she might like.

Before I go, I also wanted to share with you this video (found through iHanna's blog.) It makes me happy and I could watch it over and over.

Getting your name out there

This Mixed media Owl ATC has been published in Art Trader. Page 33.

You too can get published. Just submit your artwork. You never know!

Today, I went to the movies with Anik. We went to see Sex and the City because we're both fans of the series. It was fun. Too bad she couldn't go out for coffee after. Maybe another time.

Yesterday, I was very productive. I started and completed 4 cards for a swap (they're ready to mail.) I also worked on some cards for a round robin and other cards for another swap. I'm really having fun with these swaps.

Alright, that's all for now. Go check out that zine. There's a lot of interesting art in there.

Printmaking

One of the swaps I joined recently on ATCSforALL is called Printmaking ATCs. The idea is that everyone who participates must make their own rubber stamp or make other types of prints (monoprinting, Screen-printing, etc.) I decided to make my own rubber stamp by carving into a block of Speedball carving block. I liked it so much, I carved a couple of erasers too!

I know I don't post as often as I used to but I prefer to concentrate on creating right now. And enjoying life. Besides, whenever I spend too much time on the internet, I start thinking about all the things I _should_ be doing and then get depressed because I don't do them. No more! I have plans to go to the movies with my coworker/friend soon and this summer we're going to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts to see the exhibit about Yves St-Laurent (who just passed away a few days ago, I might add.) Haute Couture to drool over... well not over but close to... I'll keep you updated on that!

Of creatures (which are mostly of the bird variety) and other things

So I notice that some symbols keep coming back in my art. Of course, we're aware of the heart symbol which has already been discussed in a previous post but lately, I've also seen a variety of birds appear here in there in both my art AND my dreams. Anyone know what dreaming of birds mean? In the past weeks, I've had dreams of hawks (but friendly ones), owls and crows. In two dreams, the bird landed on my left arm. Strange. Anyway, I've decided to focus some pieces on those birds which explains the second art card you see here at the top and this painting below.

Now. About this painting. I've really been inspired by Kal Barteski's recent paintings (I've told you about them already) and thought I'd have my own take on this idea. I had all those old books of children stories which were missing a lot of pages (library books that were going to be thrown out.) So I decided to paint on the pages individually. Some have really nice illustrations on them so I might try to use those for something else but the pages with only text will be used in this fashion. They measure about 9" x 12". I started with a layer of gesso which had been mixed with some pink paint for another project (which is below) and had some left over. The tree came out of nowhere and wanted to be painted purple. So I did (more like lavender if you ask me.) Then the little bird appeared and wanted a swirly sun so I gave it to him. And before I knew it, he had me writing this little bit right in the middle of the painting! (It says: he just knew that one day he would fly to the sun.) This little guy really had a mind of his own. And now he wants siblings and friends to play with so I guess I'll have to do more paintings. This was a big change for me: painting on something other than canvas and out of my journals. So, tell me what you think of it. Would you pay for something like this? Would others? It would be so wonderful to actually make money from my art, you know what I mean? Others are doing it. Why not me?

This is my latest art journal page. This journal is almost full. Three more pages and I'm done with it. Yikes! Whatever will I do next? Well, I guess I'll just have to use one of my many other journals patiently waiting on my bookshelf in my bedroom. Maybe go smaller? I don't know. I have another big spiral journal that I could use but do I want to work this size again? So many questions tonight!

Anyway, like most of my journal pages and art cards lately, this one has lots of layers. And I just noticed that I didn't use oil pastels on this one which is surprising. I guess I didn't want the "dirty" or "muddy" look it would bring to the page. This one almost looks clean to me. The drawings are supposed to represent my cat Diesel and myself. My auto-portrait is ok but Diesel is much darker in real life. She's a big furry purring ball of colours all mixed in together. I also did this page as a response to iHanna's prompt to use hearts in our journal. So here's to you Hanna!

This weekend I'll show you another small painting and something I received in the mail.

Of hearts and art

Back when I was a teenager, I hated Valentine's day because I always ended up spending it alone and all my friends had boyfriends to go to the movies with. Even in my twenties, I wasn't really fond of that "holiday." I started warming up to it when I started working with kids. That was when I realized it wasn't only about "true love" but about friendship and "all around" love. But this year, with the OWOH event, I've had my best Valentine's Day to date! (PS I learned yesterday that I won a 5th giveaway! Awesome!) And inspired by iHanna, I rediscovered the powerful symbol that is "heart." It has shown up in my art journals, on my Daily Art Cards, in ATCs. I've even sent out valentine cards (ATCs) to friends that I met online! A first for me! At work, I celebrated by wearing pink and red. Made this little red heart brooch out of glittered felt. The necklace I received a few years ago from a kid where I worked. I opted for my favourite pink t-shirt (made in Canada from organic cotton!) I love what is written on it (loosely translated: The Black Sheep - Life is colourful even when you're stubborn enough to think it's only black and white.) Cool, huh?

Anyway, I'm sure the heart symbol will keep popping up in my art. You've been warned! (And to think that a few years ago I wouldn't have been caught dead wearing pink or drawing hearts... Believe it or not, I used to be goth... quite a change, huh?)

If you look closely, you can see one of my paintings in the background of that first photo. It was done in 2004 and measures 20" x 24". It contains two of my favourite things: a crow and tim-burton-esque mountains! One day I'll have it framed and hanging properly. Right now, it is resting on a sort of display molding my father made for me back when I was still living at home.

Looking at that painting, I feel a greater need to have a decent studio space where I can create bigger pieces. Seriously, my living room seems to be shrinking! And it doesn't help that Diesel, though I love her dearly, gets into every open drawer, box, bag and onto every available surface (top of desk, top of table whether full or not, chair, table-top easel... you get my drift.) So until I get my studio, I'm focusing more on small artworks. Like my Daily Art Cards, paper spool collages (I'll have 4 new ones to show you once I get them photographed properly), ATCs, art journals, etc... After seeing Kal's latest creations, I've been inspired to do small paintings that I will one day be able to sell at a reasonable price. Some are started but nothing finished yet. So stay tuned!

And on that note, I say to you goodnight. And think good thoughts! The Universe is listening! (I asked for more money and I keep working extra hours every week so that's good!)

Synchronicity

Remember when I was saying that I've taken the No Stuff challenge? I'm really struggling right now. My favourite online shop just got some new goodies and I am SO tempted to treat myself. Maybe I will... just a little bit... I'll keep thinking about it until the weekend.

I've been noticing a lot of synchronicity (or synCROWnicity as Pam puts it!) lately. I've been having a lot of strange dreams and I'm sure there's a message somewhere in there. Recurring themes and images. One word that's been coming back for the past couple of days is Renaissance. As in rebirth (and once it was as the historical period.) It was even in one of my dreams. I remember that it was written on a black board in a classroom (I've been dreaming a lot about being back in school lately.) It said "entre deux renaissances" which basically translates to "between two rebirths." Hmm. Interesting. In my quest to living a greener life, I've had the idea to make my own net bags for fruits and veggies instead of using those flimsy plastic bags they have at the grocery store. A few days after I had that thought, JoyceAnn was talking about the same thing on her blog. Little things. Big things. Lots of synchronicity. I'm loving it.

So far this week, I've really been watching what I eat. Not counting calories or anything like that but I make sure to eat enough from all food groups and especially fruits and veggies. I'm doing really well. Also, today was my fourth day in a row that I've been walking, and not just the walk back and forth to work. At least 10 minutes each day. I'm feeling good. I'm enjoying it. Life is beautiful.

Before I go, I want to direct you to Lisa Vollrath's upcoming countdown. And today's image is last night's Art Card. Made with Stampin Up! papers and Amercian Crafts rub-ons. Using up that stuff I have on hand.

Chasing away the worries

It's always the same story. I think I can finally breathe a little easier, save up some money or pay off the credit card and then something else comes up... I try not to think about it, not to let the worrying thoughts enter my brain, my heart... but it's not easy. I'm not asking to be a multi-millionaire... I just want to have enough money to pay my bills, pay off my credit card, buy a house (doesn't have to be a big one) where I can have a studio/work room and have enough left over for a little trip once in a while. Is that so much to ask? *sigh* It'll happen... one day... I just have to have faith...

I didn't have anything new to show you so I looked through my pictures of last year. These pictures are of a little book I made last summer. I had all these triangle-shaped pieces leftover from another project and decided to make a book out of them. The title is "Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice" so everything inside has to do with little girls. I used things I had on hand: stickers, rub-ons, printed images, scraps of ribbon, flowers, etc. It's no major work of art but it's cute and it was a good way to use up things I already had and which might have never been used otherwise.

I'm off to do my Daily Art Card... Goodnight!

Paper spool collages

As promised in my previous post, here is some art. These are my latest paper spool collages. As always I used ArtChixStudio products to do them. All buttons are from my personal stash. I need to get more buttons, preferably vintage ones. Maybe I'll raid my mom's stash!

Some of these beauties will be going in the mail soon with ATCs (but I'm not seeing when or where!)

To make these, I prefer paper spools to plastic ones. I sand them a bit to get the sheen off and then I dirty them up with my trusty Van Dyke Brown ink.

After that is done, I tear a piece of text (these are from pages of an Italian encyclopedia) which I also dirty up with the ink. I wrap the paper around the middle of the spool and glue it in place (the ends are on the back.) Next step is to wrap a bit of embroidery floss or waxed tread (whatever I have on hand really) and secure the ends on the back with either a glue dot or a bit of clear liquid glue such as Glossy Accents. When that is done (and the glue is dry) it's time to look through the images I have. I use mostly images from the Mini Chix Collage or Mini Mix Collage. This, to me, is the hardest part: deciding which images to use and then which embellishments to add.

All for of these have German Paper Borders but I don't always use them. Sometimes I add a flower or a little piece of glitter. I always add a button and I try to find the one that best suits the collage. I like to thread a bit of embroidery floss through the buttons for that used/reused/vintage look. The final touch is adding a lengths of twine that has been inked a bit so it matches the whole collage. And of course, I sign on the back.



I really enjoy making these little works of art and I hope that my step by step explanation helps some (or all) of you to create your own. It's not always easy working on such a small canvas but the result is oh so worth it. Don't you think? If you have any questions about these or anything else I make, feel free to ask in the comment section or email me.


My new glasses have been ordered and should arrive next week. They are similar to the ones I had but then again, it was the first pair I really really loved!

Snow day is over. I shoveled my car out of the close-to-two-feet snow dump. And while shoveling and sweating and looking as awful as anyone can in these conditions, the landlord from across the street from me was flirting with me and actually asked me for my phone number. It was just too weird. And he's not my type so I said, "Sorry, I don't think so" in the most polite tone I could muster. Hopefully that's the end of that! And on that note, I bid you Goodnight!

ATCs

One week left before the holidays. I still have some shopping to do but will definitely manage to finish before next weekend.

Friday night was the Christmas Crop with CeeCee. It was just the two of us and we had a great time. We never see the hours go by and always seem to have something to talk about. I had decided to bring all my ArtChixStudio supplies and to get some mini paper spools collages done and other stuff. These are 3 ATCs that I did and decided to use a Christmas theme. Looking through all my supplies and showing what I had to CeeCee, I felt renewed interest and decided to keep working with those things for the holidays. I did do a few spool collages which still need the finishing touch and then they'll be in the mail for some friends.

Last night I made some Christmas cards for my mother using some stamps we had bought a couple of months ago. I made two cards using new techniques I had seen and wanted to try. They turned out very well and I'll post pictures another time (if I remember to scan or photograph them!)

I decided to do some cleaning and sorting today. It's snowing and very windy outside so it's a good day to stay in. For the first time in maybe a year, I can actually see the top of my computer desk! I had some frames laying around with nothing in them (gifts from kids at school last year) so I decided to print some photos (they turned out better on cardstock than on photo paper... odd...) and now I have pretty pictures of my beautiful cat in pretty frames on my desk!

Well, I'm off to do more cleaning. If you haven't done so yet, please click on the Free Donations - Make a difference link in my link's list. It costs nothing other than a few minutes of your time and you can make a difference in the world. Or visit The Hunger Site and sites affiliated with it to help others.

Time flies and a sneak peek

Wow, time really flies by. In two weeks, it'll already be the holidays. So that means 10 days of work and then I'm off for 2 weeks! In the past years I started counting the days a month or so before Christmas. But this year, I'm having so much fun at my job and creating and I've been so busy with Nanowrimo that I haven't stopped to think about it. I can hardly believe the holidays are so close!

Talking about creating... This is a sneak peek of a painting I'm working on. I can't show much or say much about it right now. I haven't painted on a canvas since at least summer and I gotta say, it feels good! I think I'm going to do more paintings during the holidays as well as work in my art journals.

Back in October, my brother had given me, for my birthday, a gift card from my favourite art supply store. I hadn't had a chance to use it since so today I decided to treat myself to a few new goodies. I found some small alphabet rubber stamps that were exactly what I was looking for for my journals. I also bought some real crayons (you know, Crayola wax crayons... I love the smell!), some new pens and white acrylic ink (everyone's talking about it on Samantha Kira's mailing list so I thought I'd get in on the action!) Found some cute rubber stamps (a kit of flowers, leaves, stems and vases... ) As if I really needed all of it. But you know what? I've been doing SO good with food lately that I decided to reward myself and that was just what I needed.

On that note, I bid you good evening/good night and hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.

Preview

A sneak peek at a card I made with my collage/mixed media techniques. I attached a piece of printed vellum on top of it so as not to get the oil pastels from the card on the envelop and on the hands of the recipient.

Yesterday, I didn't write. Again. Today, I managed to write 2000 words so far. I still need about 1200 to be at today's goal. I'm finding it increasingly hard to continue with my story. I still don't know where it's going. It's a little bit frustrating. And so far, I haven't found the perfect music to write to. I'm not ready to give up though. I'll keep writing even if my story doesn't make sense and sucks. I keep telling myself that it's not the story that matters but the fact that I am writing it. Yeah, try telling THAT to my characters! :-P

10k and still going strong

Yes! I crossed the 10 000 words mark tonight! It feels amazing! My story isn't going anywhere but I don't care! I'm still typing and exploring. Ideas keep popping up and I'm taking notes. I now know that one of my characters, which I thought would be there until the end, must die but fortunately it's natural causes.

I received this colourful card and magnet from Violette yesterday. Thank you so much! I love them. (Note to self: I have to find better ways to take pictures of artwork and gifts and I have to learn how to use my new camera.)

I'm feeling much better than yesterday. My stomach isn't making as much noise as it did the past few days. My head doesn't hurt anymore and I have less sinus pressure. Hooray for that! I hope everyone had a nice day and that my Nano buddies are doing great! Keep at it girls! Together, we can make it to the finish line!

My new mug

Two weeks ago, mom and I went to paint another piece of ceramic. This time, I decided to go for a huge mug (for cafe au lait) and painted it with fun colours. Mom painted a cute little piggy bank. She picked up the finished pieces this week and I was able to finally use my mug this morning. What great timing! Making a huge mug of cafe au lait while getting started on my novel!

That's right! NaNoWriMo has started. I stayed up late last night so I could get started at 12:01 precisely. And I did start then.

So far, I wrote 1941 words which is pretty good for my first day. I might continue tonight after watching CSI and Grey's Anatomy. I'm telling the story from the point of view of a bird. And so far, it's about a girl named Miss T (or Misty but I wanted her name to count for at least two words!) She understands the language of animals and insects. Plenty of possibilities can arise from that! I'm excited. I'm tired but pumped at the same time.

Now I should eat lunch before going to work. It's a ped day (no classes, just daycare program) and I'm working a bit more hours. I was supposed to work 12:55 to 5:30 but I was asked if I could come in this morning from 8:00 to 9:00 which I did (AND I'm getting paid an extra 15 minutes because I agreed to do it!) I swear to everything holy, I am loving LOVING my job at this school. So different from the last one. So much better. And Anik and I get along so well working together. It's wonderful.

Now, if only the Universe could send me that wonderful, loving man I asked for! :-D

Oh yeah! I'm getting a Nikon D40x tomorrow! My brother bought a better model and is selling me this one for less. Woohoo! (One more answer from the Universe!)

Works In Progress

This is a page in my spiral journal that I started last night. I had a dream the night before about a small girl who falls in love with a giant half-human/half-robot. I love the way my drawing came out. What I've done so far on the page is Gesso, make a masking tape border all around, add a piece of scrapbook paper, paint, gesso some more, gold ink (from an ink pad), smudge oil pastels, colour the drawing with gel pens, watercolour pencils and a leafing pen and finally white acrylic paint on top of the oil pastels so I can doodle and journal. I'm getting better at doing layers.








This is the third (and final) mixed media painting in my Citrus serie. I already did Lemon and Lime and this is going to be Orange. It still needs a lot of work.

Tonight I'm taking a Christmas Card class at Catherine's with mom. Can't wait!

Self Portrait

I'm an artist who likes to experiment with different techniques and different medium. I do acrylic painting, watercolour, mixed media. I collage and make assemblage. I dwell in scrapbooking and cardmaking. I write. I sing. I'll do pretty much anything as long as it's creative and artistic in some way. I love textures and colours and smells. I always smell my paints when I open the tubes or pots or what-have-you. And I always touch and smell my papers. I love to run a brand new paintbrush on the back of my hand and on my neck. Some people say I'm crazy, weird, eccentric. I say THANK YOU! and so be it!

I like art, artists, painting, cats, crows, squirrels, animals in general, playing guitar, creating, dreaming, day-dreaming, wearing colourful clothes, Halloween, making my own things, movies, music, writing, nature, paint on my face, paint on my hands, apple-picking, petting my cat, playing, reading, singing, sleeping, talking to animals, the smell of flowers, the smell of food, walking by the lake, watching sappy love movies and bad teenage dramas, working (told you i'm crazy!) and so much more!!!

Of Mermaids and Halloween

Finally, I can show the mermaids I made for the swap on Violette's message board. These were sent to Sioux. The first one is an altered playing card doll. The picture didn't come out well but I can tell you there's glitter on her tail!








The second one is a paper spool collage. Of course, I used an image from ArtChixStudio on it.

The third one is a little watercolour painting with glitter added on the tail.





I've been wanting to do little banners like these and last night (seeing as I couldn't fall asleep even though I had to wake up earlier than usual this morning) seemed as good a time as any to start. I've been very inspired by all the Halloween art I've seen out there in blogland and in magazines so that's the theme I used. So the black and white one was done last night with finishing touches added this morning. The purple one I started this morning and finished this afternoon. The beauty of working small shifts in the day (lunchtime and after-school) is that it gives me time to create stuff and then walk away for a few hours before going back to it and seeing it in a different light (literally!)

Paper spool collages and Xmas cards

The cards are actually 5x7 and the spools about 1x1. Enjoy!

A quicky

We picked up our ceramics tonight. The ice cream bowl, at the top is mine. The inside is a purple sun/octopus/spider on a yellow background. The outside is purple polka dots on apple green. The rim is blue.




The cereal bowl is my mom's. She painted the inside yellow and orange with a flower in the middle. The outside has 3 orange flowers on a blue background. The rim is green as is the outline of the flower inside the bowl.

We'll probably go for more. We love the results. Have a nice weekend!

A happier post...

Finally, my electronic woes are over. Everything is fixed or should be momentarily. I've been busy accompanying mom to appointments and going to feed my aunt's cats and bird. In fact, we're going to care for the poor little creatures again tomorrow. My aunt comes back Saturday night. She's been away all week. Unfortunately, it's not an easy task for us to go feed her cats since she's at the other end completely of Montreal and we usually get traffic in between. Fun.

Anyway, I created these little treasures this week. The inspiration came from something by Lisa Guerin in the Somerset Studio Nov/Dec 2006 issue. I have so many of these little paper spools and love working in such a small size.

The first one was my first attempt. The image and text are from a used book I had. You can see I put a piece of twine through the hole so I can use it as decoration or a tag.








All others have images from ArtChix, the text is from an old french dictionnary and everything else is from my goodie drawers. I have tons of stuff and am trying to use as much of it before buying even more!









These might eventually be used as brooches or decorations to hang on a tree (and not necessarily a christmas one at that!)









These are really fun to make. If anyone wants to try this and can't find the paper spools, contact me and I can send a few via mail.

Enjoy!