Therapy Session

I’m the featured artist this week over at Creative Therapy, a great blog that gives weekly prompts, or catalysts, to get us creating art about the things in our lives that are important to us. I rarely make artwork based on a prompt but I find those that are offered on this site to be thought provoking and quite unique. Click here to see how I responded to the following prompt:

"create art about a time when something that then seemed small happened but then it ended up changing your life"

I often find that seemingly small experiences can have big impact, but life changing? Not usually. But in the case of the moment in time that is represented by this art piece, absolutely!

Q and A on Everyday

Are you familiar with Everyday Artist Studio? Today they are featuring an interview with me about DisCo - the Disintegration Collaboration.

Jenn Mason is the mastermind behind this site and has created an amazing, one-stop hub of creativity. She features video interviews and tutorials, art book reviews, classes, a list of artist retreats, a blog, descriptions of and tutorials for art tools, a list and review of must-visit art shops across the country, and so much more.

Stop by today and visit often.



Thank you Jenn for this opportunity and for introducing DisCo to a whole new audience.

Expiration Date

Roughcast 4
Roughcast 6

These pieces are the last two remaining from the Roughcast Series. Click to enlarge. They are available for purchase in my Etsy shop. RC4 will be on sale in Etsy until May 29, while the listing for RC6 will expire on June 5. After that, they will not be relisted. Can anybody offer them a good home?

And for more texture...click on my Inspiration Station icon in the sidebar!

Triple Crown

The time has come...

















Please come into The Altered Page...








And take a seat...

















I know you all have been waiting...










And waiting...












To find out who will take home the prize...




When I decided to have the giveaway, at first I thought there would be 1 winner to better represent 100,000 posts...














But as I was creating the post, I thought there was a lot to celebrate and I decided to have 2 lucky winners...






After seeing how many people left comments, I decided just today that there should be 3 winners.














And after reading all your comments...



My head was spinning...














I thank you from the bottom of my heart...
















For all your generous feedback...

But, enough waiting...


Time to announce the winners...







The giveaway goes to...

Jane Farr from A Place to Flourish

Erin Perry from Altered by the Sea

Ginny Gaskill from Ginny's Chaos

Thanks again to everybody who participated. Keep visiting so I can have another giveaway soon!!

Zine That

If you have been following my blog for a while, you know about The Pulse. This is an ongoing, online project that focuses on the art blogging community. There have been three editions of The Pulse to date. Two have been artist surveys and one was a project called "Playing Favorites" where the participating artists shared a picture of their favorite artwork that they have made and a story to go along with it. Links to all the posts from The Pulse can be found on my sidebar.


Last year I created a print zine to showcase the latest artist survey. The first printing sold out and I just decided to print additional copies. It is available for purchase in my Etsy Shop. The zine is coil bound and 144 pages (72 back and front). It is old school and quite basic. Except for both sides of the front and back covers, there is no artwork. Only questions and answers. And links to the pictures on my blog for each question. Each copy is $10.00 plus shipping.


94 artists answered 7 questions in the zine, only 6 of which were posted online. Here is a glimpse of what you will find in the zine...

In a few words or a few sentences, how would you describe your artistic style?
In a word…Unruly…It is happening when I am connected to the art…It’s where I am not second guessing myself, where I just know what element to use… it just flows…It’s breaking rules I didn’t even know were rules…I know I am in the zone when someone enters my studio and says hi and it makes me jump out of my skin. Angela Cartwright

SHOW us one photograph of the object or objects that you collect and TELL us how your collection(s) came to be and/or what they mean to you. Feel free to include any anecdote about how you might have found/bought any of your treasures.
Well I am a collector of many things: ledgers, seed pods, pine cones, cashmere sweaters, rusty bottle caps... but it is my rock collection that speaks to me most deeply - stripeys, river rocks, herkimer diamonds, tumbled beach stones, hollow holy stones, moldevite, blue opal... the list is endless - but my favorites are those I find regularly at the beach and on various adventures - the stripeys, the heart shaped stones and the river rocks. Here is a little story: one of my earliest memories is being a little girl of about 8 in Lodgepole NE - I would walk out to the water tower a long walk far behind our house and sit down in the sun, find a smooth sun warmed stone and rub it on my upper lip relishing in the sensual warmth and smoothness of that rock - tuck it into my pocket and bring it home. Click here to see more of this collection. Elizabeth Bunsen - Eb

How do you get your creative groove?
I sustain the fantasy. That life is good, that people are always kind, that I can accomplish anything I want. I believe it and then I do it, whatever I choose to do. I think you cannot create easily or well unless you are living right and by that I mean your work must be infused with love and compassion and you must be good to the people who need you. If your head isn't clear your work will not sing. Judy Wise

If you could work in one medium or format that you haven't yet tried, tell us what it would be and why.
Ooh, tough question. I've tried various mediums and am still in love with acrylic paints and paper. I'd love to possibly explore fabric more-combining fabric and paper, but sewing machines scare me (chalk it up to a bad experience when I was young and took a class on how to sew Cabbage Patch Doll clothes...yup.). I love the work of Lenore Tawney-her fabric installations were amazing. I'd love to have the space to explore more large scale paper arts/mixed media work, but that will have to wait for now. Kelly Kilmer

At least for today, your can't-live-without blog or website is...
Amazon....not too sexy, but I’d hook it up and drip new books intravenously if I could. Lisa Hoffman

Where does the magic happen? Tell us about the studio, room, corner, desk, table, floor, or wall where you make art and show us one photograph which somehow captures your creative space or a work in progress.
The magic usually happens while I am out and about....a coffeeshop, a bookstore, a picnic table in a park, a hotel room. While I have a fabulous art studio, I find that getting out of familiar surroundings can be the catalyst to really get into the groove. So I have a journal bag with all the pens I could ever want and lug it around everywhere. My studio is on the 2nd floor and I have 2 windows that look out onto the woods. Teesha Moore

At this time, the seventh and final question is available only within the print zine. However, in preparation for the next edition of The Pulse, look for all the answers to the last question to be posted on my blog sometime soon.

To purchase, go right to my Etsy shop or click the Pulse Zine icon on my sidebar to come back to this post at a later date.

Glimpses into my Self

One more. Just one more. My first posting on just one more collaboration that I have been involved in. Think raw. Think grunge. Think personal. Think real. Think self...contained. Viv and Steph and I have created our own structures and each of us has completed one go round, working on another artist's project.

Glimpse of my work in Steph's piece - click to see the detail:



Glimpse of my piece -- before the first mailing & waiting to be worked on:



I am now waiting to receive Viv's piece for my first go round.

Click here to see the beginning of Steph's piece and here to see a glimpse of her work in Viv's project. And click here for a peek into Viv's work in my project. And stay tuned for more...

I am also thoroughly enjoying my ongoing collaboration with Bridgette and Jen. I am currently working on a spread in my own book Contexture. Here is a glimpse of my pages in progress...which is symbolic of how I think of myself...a work in progress.



Thanks to everybody who has commented on my previous post thereby signing up for a chance to be one of the two winners of my giveaway. Your feedback and generous thoughts truly mean so much to me. If you haven't commented on the previous post, you can still do so until the end of the day on Sunday May 24 to have a chance to win.



And don't forget to visit my Inspiration Station. Click on the icon on my sidebar to be instantly transported to what is inspiring me in the moment.

You Can Count on Me!

In astronomy, 100,000 metres is the altitude at which the Federation Aeronautique Internationale defines spaceflight to begin. Appropriate because I am flying high right now! The Altered Page will soon reach 100,000 visitors. That number boggles my mind (detail of artwork by Jean-Michel Basquiat)...


...but also warms my heart (found heart embedded in sidewalk in Santa Fe)!


I began this blog back in August 2007 with the hope that it would become...and I quote from my very first post..."one more element of my mixed media artwork. Much like the paper, gesso, acrylics, and other components of each piece, I believe the conversation that I am hopeful that this blog will generate will become an integral ingredient to the creative mix." Well today I can honestly say that my expectations have not only been met but far exceeded!


I want to extend a tremendous thank you to all my visitors, to those who have sent comments & emails, and thereby joined the conversation, to all the artists who have taken part in the collaborations I have initiated, and to the art blogging community in general. As a result of this experience, I have developed truly significant relationships and feel as though I have grown as an artist -- both technically and in terms of my identity.

As a way to say thank you, I am having a giveaway. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post and you will be entered.

I will randomly draw two names from that list at the end of the day on Sunday May 24. (detail of mixed media artwork by Howardena Pindell)


Both winners will receive a package overflowing with...

Art magazines











Vintage papers











Art books











Art supplies











Art stuff!












*Of course these photos are just abstract expressions of what might be in the packages the winners receive. The actual contents will be even better!! So what are you waiting for? Leave a comment and throw your hat in the ring! And either check back late on May 24 to see if you have won or be sure your comment includes a way to reach you. Thanks again!

DisCo Inferno

Many thanks to everybody involved in DisCo - the DISintegration COllaboration. I am sending a big shout out to all the artists who joined this collaboration, all the people who have been following the project, and to everybody who has emailed me and/or left comments about the posts.


So far 84 participants have posted their "after" images. You can find them all on the sidebar of my blog under the "disintegration collaboration - after" icon. As more artists post, I will add a link to their site at the bottom of the list. So stay tuned for 39 more bundles!

And there is more. Stay tuned for the next part of the project. All artists have been asked to create an artwork using some or all of the disintegrated material from their bundles. Disintegration becomes integration. Destruction becomes renewal. On August 1 each participant will reveal their work of art on their blog. I cannot wait to see what each of these talented artists come up with!

I have decided to take a brief blogging break in the upcoming days. A time out to finish up this part of DisCo and to focus on actually creating some new art. I will be back soon...with highlights from the project, new posts, new art and photography, a restocked Etsy, and info about my next project...The Pulse IV. But, as I always say on these breaks, don't be surprised if posts pop up sooner rather than later.


A reminder to visit my Inspiration Station. Click the icon on my sidebar to be taken to the post, video, website, artwork, etc. that is inspiring me in the moment. So you know when it is updated, I will add the date next to the icon whenever I change the link. And I will be linking to different sources of inspiration during this brief blogging break. So continue to visit and try it out today to see some amazing and quite inspiring photographs.

I leave you with an image safari...scenes from the streets of New York. Click the images to enlarge.









See you soon!

DisCo - the big reveal

In January I decided to embark on a project that I had thought about for a long time. What would happen if I created an "art bundle" and placed it outside? What if nature were my partner in a collaboration?

I have always been fascinated by the impact of natural elements, of age, and of time, on materials and objects.

The rust of a washer found in the street.



















The yellowed and dog eared pages of a vintage book.













The faded and weathered look of an old, painted building.














The layers and paper fragments of an old billboard.



















The distressed look of metal left out in the elements.














So...I made a simple bundle using vintage dictionary pages, gesso, and string. No more and no less. Outside it went. With rain. In snow. Through hail. In sunshine. Under clouds. In the dark. I watched. I waited.





As I thought about the process of disintegration, I saw it not as destruction. Or decay. Or death. But as renewal. Change. And life.

And a funny thing happened. Just as my bundle was undergoing a rebirth and metamorphosis, so too did the project. My simple idea became a collaboration. And grew. The Disintegration Collaboration was born. And ended up being 123 artists strong! Bundles were everywhere. And suddenly, the thought of a rainy day did not seem so bad after all!!

As the months passed, it seemed that my bundle did not change at all. But when I see the before picture and compare it to the after image, I see that I was wrong. The changes are there.

Before:


After:


Details:




Beginning today, all participating artists are revealing their "afters" on their own blogs. The links to each artists' "before" bundles are on the sidebar of my blog under the "disintegration collaboration - before" link. At this point, to see their "after" pictures, click on the banner of their own blogs and this will take you to their most recent post. Depending on when you look, you may have to look at a few posts until you find their disintegration post.

As artists begin to post their bundles, I will also be adding their links to my sidebar under a new, "disintegration collaboration - after" link. That way, you will be able to go directly to either the "before" or the "after" shots. I will be adding links as I find them, so that it will be easier for you to keep track of which blog posts you have seen over the course of the weekend.

I hope you will all take the time to see both the amazing bundles created by this incredible group of artists, as well as the impact of nature and time on these bundles. And don't forget to leave some comments along the way!

Stay tuned for more posts about this project in the coming days!