Playing Favorites: mixed media too

Kathy McCreedy
http://kathymccreedy.typepad.com/

One of my favorite collages...it's a green collage I made w/painted tyvek and vintage papers, metallic threads, buttons, beads, punched hearts, etc. It was published in Cloth, Paper, Scissors. It was a real change from the work I'd done before... it was the first time I'd put a collage together with thread and my sewing machine. I liked the grid effect and the colors, but I wasn't too happy about the fact that I just could not seem to get it straight... the tyvek buckled a bit as I sewed things to it, so in the end it looked somewhat crooked in places, and that really bugs me! The texture is wonderful, the colors are intense, and I really like the grid effect (I'm just so incredibly drawn to things laid out that way).
__________________________________________________

Mary Buek
http://marybuekart.blogspot.com/



This is a collage that kind of happened by accident. I like the randomness of the collage elements and colors.








This one is a painting with primary colors that just makes me happy to look at.






This a collage that came together randomly, and then I embellished it. I like the randomness of it. I feel like it's one of the best pieces I've done.





__________________________________________________

Sarah Fishburn
http://ragtagsf.blogspot.com/

I AM THE GIRL WHO'S FOR
This was made for a self-portrait journal project. In the majority of others I did throughout, I used actual photographic images of myself, regardless of how I finally altered them. I was particularly happy with this one because it's an abstract rendering; at the same time a highly definitive and exact portrait. I really like to mix up size and perspective and felt this was successful in that. It's also bright and cheerful, a positive take on a troubling theme.


Ain't Misbehavin'
This piece was very cool to make! Usually I stick to paper, occasionally canvas, but this one I actually did on a cool piece of wood with rusted metal fixtures. So, it's a replica gate which I graffitied, and 'set' in an empty lot filled with weeds and wildflowers. Then I printed a transparency with the image of little Miss Behavin' and nailed it onto the wood. It's colorful and tactile, a great combo of details and elements. I think there's a certain sense of "when she was good, she was very, very good, and when she was bad", WATCH OUT. Sum's up a good deal. . .
__________________________________________________

&rew
http://urbanpaperarts.blogspot.com


Tasty Textures - taught by Gail Russakov - from magazine pages (Elmer's glue used for texture & Rub n Buff to remove printing ink), white textured wallpaper (painted with acrylics), and embossed papers




__________________________________________________

Marion Bockelmann
http://bockel24.blogspot.com/

For a canvas, I´d chose "Paula", another personal one. I´ve had Rilke´s words on my wall when I was a teenager and have often been asked why - it seems that they didn´t speak to others as they did for me. So when I started with canvas works these words and their context came to my mind immediately. Rilke had written his words about finding love and letting go after his friend, the German painter Paula Becker-Modersohn, had died. I don´t like most of her paintings (but love her self portraits), but I have been touched by her biography, her letters and diary - that´s what I have in common with Rilke who loved the person, not the painter Paula. My canvas shows different shades of Paula´s life: her independent life as an artist in Paris, and her husband Otto Modersohn. The house in the background isn´t her own but that of the painter Heinrich Vogeler, another interesting artist in Worpswede - the circle of friends including Paula and her husband as well as Rilke and his wife Clara, Paula´s friend, met a his home frequently. Paula was torn between her life as an artist and her wish to be a wife and mother. She seems to ask YOU what you think about her decision against art; she decided to return to her husband, she became pregnant and died soon after her daughter´s birth.
__________________________________________________

Cory Celaya
http://artwithmoxie.com
http://art-with-moxie.blogspot.com
http://createwithmoxie.blogspot.com

I chose these two paintings because one has personal meaning and the other was healing for two people.


I teach an Art For Healing workshop that has allowed me to create many process that I share with my students. One of my favorite is to start painting in almost total darkness. This allows us to use paints and tools that maybe we would not choose were we able to see them. Being right handed, I use my left hand to find the edges of the watercolor paper,as not to waste too much time and paint painting the table.

Once the light are turned on, we do not correct what we might see as mistakes, we dry the piece, and continue the process in the light. Personal images may be discovered that we may choose to embrace or obscure. In the end, the painting may heal or merely tell a personal story.



__________________________________________________

Sarah Urquhart
urquhart@ioa.com

These are my current favorites for a couple of reasons; they came together really easily, I had been thinking about how we are forgetting about nature and the human need for and connection to it, the way we have forgotten our histories, both personal and collective; the elements presented themselves (jumping out of the clutter of my worktable), the cold connection techniques seemed appropriate; and I love the simplicity of the boxes. I don't usually hang my art in my home but for now these are on the wall.
__________________________________________________

Max Ackerson
http://maxackerson.blogspot.com
**Max is our youngest participant...14 years old**

Monster Transformation
This video is my favorite animation I've done so far. I made it using Macromedia Flash 8. Its my favorite because of all the stages, steps, shapes, and colors. It took about 3 and a half hours to create 5 seconds of animation because I had to create all the shapes and I also had to redraw eveything for each frame. I'm very happy the way it turned out. Click the link to see the video on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhRGUxrKqHQ