Share the Link Love

Tammy from Daisy Yellow has been hosting an ongoing project called Share the Link Love. The brief: post a list of 5 links on any (or every) Friday to your favorite blogs or blog posts. I love this idea, especially because lately the trend has been less and less focus on blogs with more and more focus on other social media sites. And if your curious about this issue, please read my post from March 2013 about this shift -- along with the conversation it inspired in the 40-plus comments that resulted.

1. Mixed Media May: For the second year in a row, Cindy Jones Lantier has herself "shared the love" through her project called Mixed Media May. She interviews and spotlights a different mixed media artist nearly everyday throughout the month. Head on over and read all about it here.

2. Four Corners Design: I have had a chance to meet Amy Duncan twice, most recently in one of my workshops on Whidbey Island in Washington. She is as nice as she is creative. She has an incredible eye for design and her blog is filled to the brim with creative vignettes of her art, her home, and other visual gems.

3. Lost Coast Post: When I think of Michelle (Reuss) Remy's blog, I think of color, wit, whimsy, humor, and creativity. Not only does she share her clever journal pages and other artwork, she shares her process via tips, tutorials, and ideas.

4. Bicocacolors: This is the blog I go to anytime I need a visual fix of inspiration. Elena Nuez continues to post picture after picture of pure bliss. I say who needs Flickr, Tumblr, or Pinterest when you have Biocacolors? Check out her sidebar for a listing of many of her themed visual posts. Just a few of my many favorites include cachivaches, color, and papel.

5. Art Propelled: I imagine that Robyn Gordon's blog is already familiar to every one of my readers but I am including it here because after all these years, her posts still blow me away. She is not only a spectacular artist but she is an incredible curator, presenting post after post based on an unending stream of creative themes showcasing the art of others. She is all about sharing the link love!

At My Pad...

For any of you who happen to be in the New York City area in June:

Join me at The Ink Pad on Wednesday June 5 when I will be holding a free demo of Spellbinders new Media Mixage line from 1:30 - 6:30. No need to register -- just show up!

Then later in June I will be back at The Ink Pad for a two-day workshop on June 29 & June 30 when I will be teaching Mixed Media Memoire. Call the shop at 212-463-9876 to register.

key to my heART

Many times my artwork is inspired by a single object or a specific supply. Today's piece was inspired by both. I happened upon a stash of my vintage keys and thought today was the day to use one.

As it often happens, when I placed my choice of key down on my studio table it found itself right next to some rectangles that were "fall-offs" from my most recent Spellbinder's project: The Golden Owl (see the tutorial here). The rectangles were born when I die cut windows out of my hand painted paper to frame the six tintypes.

The key and the rectangles came together and in an instant, I knew what I wanted to make.

I started by choosing three rectangular bezels from the Spellbinders Media Mixage line. I cut an additional rectangle from the same hand painted paper I had used on The Golden Owl to match the larger rectangular bezel.

I then chose a texture plate and ran it through my Grand Calibur to deeply emboss the small rectangles.

Using a sponge, I rubbed two colors of dye ink over the raised surface to add color, dimension and depth. My choice of colors...Morocco and Olive Grove.

I glued them into the bezels. I glued my key into the larger bezel but not before I die cut a small circle in  a contrasting red to make the vignette pop a bit more. 

I also added letter stickers to both the smaller of the two bezels to spell the words 'The Key'.

I added the tips from a number of brads to cover the hole from the jump rings on several sides of the bezels.

I took my board, which measures 5" x 7", and painted the edges of the surface with Burnt Umber Light and Iridescent Bronze acrylic paint.

I cut some designed paper with a die from the Grand Labels series, chosen both because its size matched the board but also because the curves echoed the curves of the corners of both the board and the bezels.

I inked the edges of both the board and the new die cut and then adhered them together.

I gathered some goods from my mixed media stash, which included some fabric scraps, a metal piece cut to size with snippers, and a piece of a vintage book cover cut to size with a guillotine cutter.

I painted the surface of the piece of book cover with acrylic paint and added dye ink to its edges. Then I added more letter stickers to the surface.

I played around with the fabric until I found just the right places to add it.

At this point, I filled the bezels with Ice Resin.

Once the Resin was dry and the clear fluid had domed, I was able to put the piece together. And in the end, the key to my heART was done!

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Supply List

Spellbinders Paper Art Supplies:

GC-001 Spellbinders^TM Grand Calibur® Machine

MB1-008 - Spellbinders^TM Media Mixage® Rectangles Two Bezels

MD1-003 - Spellbinders^TM Media Mixage® Rectangles Two Dies

MD1-007 - Spellbinders^TM Media Mixage® Circles One Dies

LF-246 - Spellbinders^TM Grand Nestabilities® Grand Labels Eleven Dies

Preferred Promotional Partners: Tsukineko Momento dye ink pad, Tsukineko StazOn solvent ink pad, Imagine Crafts Inkblushers sponge

Cross Promotional Partners: Ice Resin®, BoBunny Press paper, 7 Gypsies® stickers

Other: wood panel, watercolor paper, vintage book cover, pan pastels, acrylic paint, paint brush, found metal, brads, fabric scraps, rub on letters, adhesive, guillotine cutter, scissors

I Want My MTV

For those of you old enough (I include myself in that group) to not only remember the time when MTV actually played music videos but to have been there to see the first video ('Video Killed the Radio Star' by the Buggles), this post is dedicated especially to you!

I find it ironic that MTV was one of the first media outlets to highlight quick cuts in video editing, which seem to me to be the precursor to the shortening and shortening of social media posts (e.g. Twitter).  Ironic because now social media videos themselves (e.g., YouTube and Vimeo) are being shortened (e.g., Vine - which btw is very cool if you have not checked it out yet).

But I digress. These thoughts are just the preamble to the real point of this post: sharing a few videos for your entertainment and some creative inspiration.

Many of you have heard me talk about Patricia Larsen, my good friend who was the original catalyst for me entering into the world of art. Here is a short, one-minute video of her in action, creating one of her ethereal abstracts...

Patricia Larsen from Luis Valdizon on Vimeo.

This is a video that I originally posted in 2008. I am bringing it back because it still makes me smile. Ignore the fact that it is a commercial for a product and just enjoy. And to answer your inevitable question -- these are real and not digital!

And finally a video from Roxanne Evans Stout. I had the pleasure of spending some time with her on my recent visit to Oregon and we spent a full day in her garden (you know, the one from the title of her blog River Garden Studio) making art. She introduced me to encaustic painting and was a wonderfully creative and patient teacher. She created this video as the evidence :-)

Garden Encaustics from Roxanne Evans Stout on Vimeo.

The Story Continues

Earlier this month I traveled to Ashland, Oregon to attend the opening of The Story Within, an art exhibition of work created by both myself and Roxanne Evans Stout at Illahe Studios and Gallery.  Working with Roxanne has been a special experience, especially because we worked collaboratively on 12 pieces within the show. We mailed panels back and forth between New York City and Oregon and in doing so, created each piece jointly. We also exhibited our own work as well as a series of handmade artists books that we had collaborated on in previous years. You can see some of my own work in this previous post.

I wish you all could have been there with us to celebrate the opening. But the next best thing is a picture. So as promised, some scenes from The Story Within...

Illahe Studios and Gallery in Ashland, OR

Elan Chardin (who also exhibited with us), Roxanne and I

The opening on First Friday in Ashland

Four of our twelve collaborative pieces

Where it all began: our first two collaborative books from 2008

Some of our later collaborative artist books

If you have 2 minutes and 53 seconds, you can take a tour with me of the opening...

Cross the Line

I chose to become a member of the Spellbinders Blog Team as I share with them a similar desire to explore beyond and remove the arbitrary divisions that exist among creative groups. I am a firm believer in inclusivity and feel lucky to have the opportunity to spread that word.

Wednesdays on my blog are typically saved for posting blog tutorials that show how I integrate products from Spellbinders, which are traditionally associated with card makers and scrapbookers, into my own mixed media style. Today though, I am posting the first in a series of personal stories from other people who have explored beyond, crossed a line, and broken the boundaries. Perhaps these stories will inspire you to do the same!

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Rachel Whetzel

"Hello. My name is Rachel Whetzel. I'm thrilled to be coming to you as a guest here on The Altered Page. I'm 37 years old, and mom to three boys, ages 19, 13 and 9. We recently moved to the country and I have discovered that I was MADE to be a country girl. I dabble in a million things. One of these things has been scrapbooking. I have been a scrapbooker since I was about 21 years old. Recently, I have drifted toward art journaling. Now I float between the two...because now I believe they are one in the same. This is the story of my journey.

I started out as a pretty traditional scrapbooker.

In 2006, Emily Falconbridge started an art journaling project called deck of ME. The idea was to create an art journal page on a playing card each week for a year. I was instantly hooked. I loved the idea of using images like I would on a scrapbook page but using them in new ways.

I found my subject matter and the things I wanted to do in my scrapbooking changing. I hated being limited by the "rules" of scrapbooking. Why did scrapbook pages have to be happy? What about scrapbooking memories of things I didn't have pictures for? I felt constricted by the limitations the art journaling and scrapbooking worlds put on what was and wasn't allowed. I didn't see any reason for the two to be separated. Before I knew it I was spending more and more time creating things that I wanted to, and worrying less and less about what rules I might be breaking.

I now see how those lines that scrapbookers and art journal artists draw between themselves are only imaginary. They are only self imposed. The two actually live in the same space. They are interchangeable and NOT exclusive of each other. Still when Seth asked me if I scrapbooked, I hesitated - even though I long ago decided that what I do IS scrapbooking. Silly of me, I know. Yet I did. Even after all this time. The reaction is the reason for my sharing here with you.

I want to encourage you. Whether you are a scrapbooker or an art journaler. Step to the other side of the line you see drawn. Join the dark side. Be a rule breaker. Try making your art journal a bit more scrappy. Try scrapbooking with a touch of paint or a touch of angst...whatever the line is that you face. Step over it! Don't hesitate."

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Thanks Rachel for sharing your thoughts and experiences. If you want to learn more about Rachel and see more of her artwork, you can visit her at her website or blog.

And the winner is...

Sending out congratulations to...

Sherri from Like Words Together who is the winner of the Playful Pods Series of stencils from Artistcellar and created by Chris Cozen.

and...

Nan G from Froggy Designs who is the winner of both Chris Cozen's DVD Acrylic Painting: Color, Texture, Value as well as Chris' new book, written with Julie Prichard, Acrylic Solutions: Exploring Mixed Media Layer by Layer.

My four pieces created with Chris' Playful Pods stencils are now available for purchase in my Etsy shop.

Pods 1

Pods 2

Pods 3

Pods 4

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Stay tuned for another giveaway later this week on The Altered Page

Chris Cozen: Double Giveaway

Chris Cozen Stencils Blog Hop

Thrilled to be kicking off the blog hop celebrating the release of the newest line of Signature Series stencils from Artistcellar: Playful Pods from artist and author Chris Cozen. 

This four-stencil set includes designs based on the coolest pods I have ever seen. 

Excited to explore these new stencils, I decided to use all four stencils in four different pieces. I felt so inspired by the designs in these signature stencils that I chose to use materials that are anything but signature for me: pan pastels and watercolor paint. The color palette reflects the beauty of spring.

To celebrate the release of Chris' stencils, I am sponsoring a giveaway. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post, including your email address, to be eligible to win one, four-stencil set as pictured above. Comment by end of day on May 18th, at which time I will chose the winner randomly.

But wait. There is more. North Light Books and F+W Media are also providing copies of Chris' new book written with Julie Prichard Acrylic Soultions: Exploring Mixed Media Layer by Layer AND a copy of Chris' workshop DVD Acrylic Painting: Color, Texture and Value. So a second person will be chosen at random to win both the book and DVD.

I am just one of the many stops on this blog hop, each of which will be having their own giveaway. I hope you are able to take the time to visit everybody!

5/12 Artistcellar
5/13 You Are Here

5/14 Mary Beth Shaw 

5/15 Maryjo McGraw

5/16 Jane LaFazio

5/17 Pam Carriker 

5/18 Jeanette House

5/19 Chris Cozen