Class is in Session

My full workshop schedule can be seen here and is always available by clicking the [WORKSHOPS] link just below my blog header. 

NEWS AND UPDATES

Book cover (in progress) I made this past weekend as part of my demo in Folded Foto Folio, my workshop at Little Bird Creation Studio in NYC. I will also be teaching this class later this year at Collage in Portland, OR (May 9th) and at Create Mixed Media retreat in Somerset, NJ (July 20th).

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My Mixed Media Memoire workshop on 3/23-3/24 at The Queen's Ink in Savage, Maryland has sold out. A second weekend has been added for this two-day course on 4/20-4/21. Registration is now open.

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I will also be teaching Folded Foto Folio at Beautiful Impressions in Westbrook, Connecticut on 6/15. Registration is now open.

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I am bringing Mixed Media Memoire to NYC for a two-day, weekend workshop at The Ink Pad on 6/29-6/30. Please note that this is a change from the originally posted date. Registration is now open.

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Save the Date: I will be returning to The Ink Pad in NYC on 9/29 for a soon-to-be-announced workshop.

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Art is You...Stamford. The workshops have now been posted for Art is You, to be held on 10/10-10/13 in Stamford, Connecticut. I will be teaching 3 workshops: 52 Card Pickup, Memory Box, and Painted Grid Silhouette (a new workshop being held for the first time).

Hope to see some of you there!

Tell All: Chapter 4

 

Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.

Style File, Techniques & Tools, Master Class, It's Still Life, and Playing Favorites were the first five projects posted and links to all these posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The final project from The Pulse #5, Tell All, continues now...

Participants were asked: what is the one thing that you know now that you would have liked to have known when you first started to create art? 

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I've always created art, but I wish I'd known that it could be "what I do" for a living much, much earlier. It was my hobby for a long time before I ever considered it could be my "job." Pam Carriker

I wish I had had the confidence to believe that there is no "right" or "wrong" and the most important thing is expressing oneself in a mindful and meaningful way. Bonnie Clark

Don't let others discourage your ideas and dreams - be your own cheerleader. Jane Royal

You should create art for yourself first. William J. Charlebois

I wish I would have understood better that it's all just a process and a progression. Tari Goerlitz

Mistakes = the most interesting art. Maude May

I would have loved to know that the greatest pleasure in creating something is the act itself, and not what happens when someone else views it. Chris Miser

That one lifetime would not be long enough to learn all the things I would need to know. Jeanie Thorn

I wish I had made books from the very beginning because things slip away from you. I think the bad old beginning things have value and I never kept any of those. Anne Bagby

To never throw something away. Debbie Price-Ewen

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Next Tell All will be posted on Sunday, February 3rd

Art Blog Directory

There have been a lot of changes to our online worlds since I began blogging in 2007. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and so many other sites have taken off. The one thing that all these platforms have in common is speed. Posting is quicker and the posts are shorter. This is a double edged sword. While I love connecting with you all on my Facebook Page and Twitter Account, the format of these sites limits the depth of content in my posts. While maintaining my blog takes an extraordinary amount of time, for me it is worth it. Blogging allows me to share my art and my heart in a way that truly reflects who I am as well as my creative approach.

Over the last year or so, I have noticed that many of my old blogging pals no longer post. I have also read many blog posts that talk about missing "the good old days", where the art blog community was truly connected and when people took the time to leave comments and, in doing so, have a genuine conversation.

To that end, I have created an Art Blog Directory. Think of this as your phone book (remember those?) to source out creative bloggers. A home page to begin you search for inspiration on a Sunday morning alongside your cup of coffee. But be prepared to stay awhile as there are already more than 400 blogs listed!

The link to the directory can always be found in the [ART BLOG DIRECTORY] tab just below my blog header and also on my sidebar. Want to help spread the word? Feel free to capture the Art Blog Directory Icon and add it to your own site with this link.

Don't see your own blog listed? Email me at shap97@gmail.com with your name/blog link and I will add you to the directory. Want your name removed? Just let me know. And when you visit the blogs and see something you like, leave a comment. Let's get the conversation started!

Random Squares

Stencil Girl Products has just released a new line of stencils designed by Jessica Sporn. To celebrate the release, Jessica has invited a group of artists to take her stencils on a "test drive."

It started in December and continues through June 2013. Once or twice a month we will show you how we have used her stencils and you are invited to play along too. Today is my day and I got to play with Random Squares.

Make a pit stop today at Jessica's blog, where you can read more about the project and today's postings, as well as be part of a stencil giveaway. You can also stop by and see Kristin Dudish, Corrine Gilman, Carolyn Dube, and Diana Trout, each of whom also took Random Squares out for a test drive. 

I used the Random Squares stencil to create a fun background for a loose page that I will bind together with other pages to create a playful journal in a bit of a unique size for me. 

Yes, Virginia, ideas can run out...

In 2010 a series of survey questions were posted on my blog as a means of ‘taking the pulse’ of the online art community. More than 40 questions were posed and the results of the survey were presented as sidebars in my book The Pulse of Mixed Media: Secrets and Passions of 100 Artists Revealed. The survey tapped into a range of issues, both practical and psychological, related to being an artist today.

In Pulse Points, my newest series continuing here today on Create Mixed Media, select survey questions from the book were presented to several different groups of artists working in mixed media and beyond. 

Today's rockstar panel includes: Lisa Engelbrecht, Sue Pelletier, Veronica Funk, Jen Worden, and Claudia Roulier.  

Today's questions and original survey results from The Pulse of Mixed Media:

Have you ever experienced an artist block (and if so, how have you dealt with it)?

Yes…81%

No...19%

Do you worry about running out of ideas?

Not an issue at all…58%

Sometimes crosses my mind…32%

It is a constant fear…10%

And a taste of what our panel members had to say:

Lisa Engelbrecht: "Doubts will come in when this happens - I'm not really an artist, am I?" 

Sue Pelletier: "I have experienced artist block, usually when I am creating something for someone other than myself." 

Veronica Funk: "I felt absolute exhaustion with how difficult it could be to heed to the desires of the art world." 

Jen Worden: "I am here to tell you, unfortunately, that you can run out of ideas." 

Claudia Roulier: "Usually my problem isn't having too few ideas but trying to find the very best one." 

Head on over to Create Mixed Media to hear much more of what the panel has to say about these issues. You can also read the first four posts in the series if you missed them. And if you would like, please share your own experiences in the comment sections here or at CMM.

Tell All: Chapter 3

 

Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.

Style File, Techniques & Tools, Master Class, It's Still Life, and Playing Favorites were the first five projects posted and links to all these posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The final project from The Pulse #5, Tell All, continues now...

Participants were asked: what is the one thing that you know now that you would have liked to have known when you first started to create art? 

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Color Management. It took me a long time to get my paint colors under control. I had a much easier time with composition as it came more naturally to me for some reason. But I have studied color for years and wasted goodness knows how much paint because of my lack of knowledge. Mary Beth Shaw

How to oil paint. I feel that I spent many years doing mixed media when I could have been beginning to learn oil painting. I was searching for something in the art world, and didn't know it was oils I was looking for. Laura A. Pace

That I'm Red/Green color "challenged". I have to have my spouse help me with color choices, because although I can see the various values, I don't see the true colors. Dave Dube

How to use the computer (which at that time was the size of a refrigerator, used punch cards, could only plot points, and had no color). Dorothy Simpson Krause

All about inks and ink pads and colour fastness - which pen/ink is good for what. I still haven't discovered one that will write over Caran d'Ache Neocolour IIs. Keron Lee

I would have loved to have had a good working knowledge of tools, mediums and materials in the beginning. Art by Canace

All about transfers. There are so many ways to use them and there are so many techniques to create different feelings and moods. They can be as clear as you want or dreamy and not quite perfect. Darlene AkA HugGeR Wilkinson

Carry a camera everywhere to take quick inspirational shots. Eileen Bellomo

Composition. When I first started making art, I had no idea how to stick collage fodder onto a page without making a mess. It was all haphazard with no direction or focus. Bleubeard and Elizabeth

How to paint, how to draw. Unfortunately I did not have the benefit of any formal art training so acquiring the skills to do much of this has been a slow process. I thank heaven for my camera and computer though. They help me "see" things that I could not paint or draw nearly as well otherwise. Marie Otero

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Next Tell All with be posted on Sunday, January 27th

Link Love

As part of my (slow and subtle) blog update, I am creating a (very long) list of links to (creativity-related) blogs. While you may already be on that list, if you want to be sure to be included, please email your name and blog link to me at shap97@gmail.com. I will post an update once the links are live.

Tell All: Chapter 2

Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.

Style File, Techniques & Tools, Master Class, It's Still Life, and Playing Favorites were the first five projects posted and links to all these posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The final project from The Pulse #5, Tell All, continues now...

Participants were asked: what is the one thing that you know now that you would have liked to have known when you first started to create art? 

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Art is not about fame nor fortune; it is dedication, exploration, work and the "what if" factor. We have an innate ability to give amazing amounts of joy to others through our creations. That is the artist's duty.  Anne M. Huskey-Lockard

There are no mistakes. That was revelatory. Wish I'd come to that realization earlier. Once I embraced the concept, I felt freer in my expression. Some of my most creative work is done as a result of my not trying to control the outcome. Arabella Grayson

Relax...and enjoy the process. The process is more important than the product. I still remember a life drawing class I took at the beginning where the instructor belittled my method of sketching during "warm-ups". It took me forever to get over this! Even now I have to remind myself that my best work happens when I relax and have fun! David Hayes

There are two and they apply to the novice and the experienced artist: take risks with your work and before you take criticism to heart, consider the source and motivation behind it. Barbara Kleinhans

The more you know, the more there is to learn. Now that I've lived enough years to experience this first hand, I feel just a little embarrassed about some of my early masterpieces. Martha Marshall

To play more and not compare my art to that of other, more experienced artists. Nelda Ream

It is okay to explore ideas without needing everything to be a complete success - "mistakes" can lead to really great solutions. To work with confidence. It shows in my final work. And to make the art I want to make, not what someone else wants... Terry Rafferty

That you can do it, that you should do it, and that the more you do it, the better you feel! Lani Gerity

I wish I had known that nobody gets it right all the time. Some pieces never get "finished", and sometimes the work takes you to completely unexpected and uncomfortable places. Kesha Bruce

That art must be created for one's self rather than for anyone else. If it satisfies or speaks to you, it is bound to appeal to someone else as well, while the inverse - I think - is not true. Sally Turlington

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Next Tell All with be posted on Sunday, January 20th

Number 6

COMING SOON

open call for sixth online edition

stay tuned...

Spellbinders Explore Beyond: Sneak Peek & Giveaway Day 6

Spellbinders Explore Beyond: Sneak Peek and Giveaway Day 6!

 

As a member of the blog team for Spellbinders, my birthday seems to come at least several times a year. At least that is what it felt like a few months back when I received a package in the mail, filled with the new product releases from Spellbinders. What artist wouldn’t want their biggest problem to be the decision of which of these amazing supplies and tools to chose to explore first? Needles to say, I have been a very happy camper.

As I looked through all these new dies, texture plates, and other tempting products, one particular item had my name written all over it – the new die template Cogs. Oh yeah. I knew these would be the ones I would use first. But wait. What is this?!?! Spellbinders is launching a new line of mixed media products called Media Mixáge! I’d been given the new Grate Works Three texture plate! And what?? Sheets of aluminum metal?!?! It just kept getting better and better.

Having chosen my main components I took a deep breath and entered mixed media heaven. When I finally came up for air, as if by magic, this appeared:

I had so much fun making this piece and want you to join me in exploring beyond. If you are a mixed media artist, this project will be great for you to see how you can integrate dies and embossing in your work. And if you are a card maker or scrapbooker, you will learn how to use found objects and hardware in your projects.

Supply List

Spellbinders Paper Art Supplies:

GC-001 Spellbinders Grand Caibur® Machine

S4-386 Cogs Spellbinders Nestabilities

MT1-005 Spellbinders Media Mixage Texture Plates Grate Works Three

MM1-004 Spellbinders Aluminum Metal

S4-116 Standard Circles Small Spellbinders Nestabilities ®

S4-302 Crown Circles Spellbinders Nestabilities ®

F-013 Spellbinders Premium Craft Foils

Preferred Promotional Partners: Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko StazOn Solvent Ink Pad, Tsukineko Versamark Stamp Pad, Imagine Crafts Inkblushers sponge

Other: 8”x10” Cradled Wood Panel, black gesso, clear stamp, acrylic block, embossing powder, scissors, heat gun, PVA adhesive glue, cardstock, brads, assorted hardware, found objects.

Start by covering the front surface and sides of the wood panel with black gesso.

Chose a clear stamp with an abstract/splatter design and place on an acrylic block.  Press into a watermark, embossing stamp pad and randomly stamp the design over the front of the panel. Pour the embossing powder over the panel until it covers entire surface. Tap off extra embossing powder. Heat surface until embossing powder melts.

Gather small, flat metal found objects, brads, and additional supplies sourced from the hardware store and from your own collection of found objects: assorted sizes of rubber, plastic, and metal washers (cup, fender, flat, serrated, star lock, etc). Chose the objects based on size and color. For the purposes of this project, hardware was limited to shades of silver, black and gray.

Gather materials to cut and/or emboss in the Grand Caibur® Machine. Use the Texture Plates Grate Works Three and emboss sheets of both the black cardstock and the silver Craft Foil. Using the scissors, trim the excess around the embossed sheets. Using the craft sponges, rub the surface of some of the embossed foil sheets to dull some of the shine and add a distressed finished.

Using an assortment of plain or embossed cardstock and Craft Foil and sheets of Aluminum Metal, cut out assorted shapes in all sizes using the Cogs, Standard Circles, and Crown Circles dies.

Create “gear sandwiches” by stacking the die cuts, flat found objects, and hardware. Insert brads into the spaces of the uppermost part of the sandwich. Once designed, glue the stacks together.

Lay out the sheets of embossed cardstock and Craft Foils, the “gear sandwiches”, and the assorted found objects on the wood panel. Be sure to stack the “sandwiches” for added dimension and let the embossed sheets overhang the edges. Attach with adhesive once the design has been selected.

After using the Texture Plates Grate Works Three as a small part of this project, I realized that there are so many more ways to incorporate this product into my mixed media art. For starters, I decided to make a set of mixed media frames...

 This frame holds an original collage...

and this frame highlights an original photo from my trip to Italy.

I am also excited to use the circles that I cut out to create the frames in a future project. 

Supply List

Spellbinders Paper Art Supplies:

GC-001 Spellbinders Grand Caibur® Machine

MT1-005 Spellbinders Media Mixage Texture Plates Grate Works Three

S4-384 Exquisite Spellbinders Nestabilities ®

S4-116 Standard Circles Small Spellbinders Nestabilities ®

S5-048 Sprightly Sprockets Spellbinders Shapeabilities ®

Preferred Promotional Partners:

Other: cardstock, book board, copper sheeting, patina solution, black gesso, acrylic paint, decorative paper, original photograph, dry transfer, PVA adhesive glue, scissors.

GIVEAWAY

You are of course more than welcome to leave a comment to this post but in order to be eligible for the giveaway from my blog, you must click the link below and follow the directions there before January 9, 3am EST...

For Giveaway Entry, click HERE.

For official giveaway rules, click HERE.

I am just one of many artists participating in this sneak peek. To see more amazing creations and for another chance to win, make sure to check out the work of Susan Lenart Kazmer who is also posting her sneak peek today.

Questions? ContestQuestions@Spellbinders.us  No entries will be accepted at this email address.

Tell All: Chapter 1

Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.

Style File, Techniques & Tools, Master Class, It's Still Life, and Playing Favorites were the first five projects posted and links to all these posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The final project from The Pulse #5, Tell All, starts now...

Participants were asked: what is the one thing that you know now that you would have liked to have known when you first started to create art? 

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It's all about the journey. Make. Create. Don't worry or over think. Make art for you and your own sake. Kelly Kilmer

That art would become as natural a part of my life as breathing. That it would dip its touch into everything I do. And that exploring art would make me so happy. Angela Cartwright

That we are naturally all artists and that I don't have to go to school or conform to others' ideas or expectations. In other words, I wish I'd had more courage. That's why as a teacher I always try to instill that. Judy Wise

It truly is about process and that being exposed to the incredible range of talent, styles and possibilities can be as overwhelming as it is inspiring. Patti Edmon

No matter how many paths distract you, or whether anyone tries to sway you in the future, you will always make art. Julie Schackson

Craftmanship will come if you keep at it; get your ideas as best as you can with the abilities you have right now. Diana Trout

There are no rules in art. Follow you own instincts and do what makes you feel good. Roseann Cazares

There will be dry spells and times of creative block and these will pass. Terry Garrett

Not every page or piece has to be a masterpiece. They'll make more paper...just go for it. You don't learn if you don't play. Dina Wakley

That I have my own voice. I don't need to have my paintings look like any "popular" artists in order to be successful as an artist. Julie Prichard

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Next Tell All with be posted on Sunday, January 13th

2013 Workshop Update

My updated workshop schedule for 2013 can be seen by clicking here or on the WORKSHOPS tab below my blog header. Pictures and descriptions of all the workshops, as well as links to register, are available there.

Included in this update is...

My next workshop - Folded Foto Folio - being held at the Little Bird Creations Studio in NYC on January 27th. You must join the Little Bird Creations Studio Meetup site for more information and to register. 

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Three workshops at Collage in Portland, Oregon. Registration is now officially open!

Folded Foto Folio: May 9, 2013

A Box of Dreams: May 10, 2013

52 Card Pickup: May 11, 2013

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Join me not just for a workshop...but for an experience. I will be attending and teaching at Art Unraveled for the first time in 2013. Their website is now live.

For Your Eyes Only: July 30, 2013

Mixed Media Dossier: July 31, 2013

Text Tiles: August 1, 2013