My Own Story

My exhibition of collaborative work made with Roxanne Evans Stout opens in less than 2 weeks  at Illahe Studios and Gallery in Ashland, Oregon. We will both be there for the opening reception on Friday, May 3rd and hope you can join us.

The show is entitled "The Story Within" and centers around 12 mixed media paintings that Roxanne and I both worked on, shipping them all back and forth from Oregon to NYC. In addition, we each tell our own story with additional works that we created on our own.

I started with eight 4 x 4 cradled wood panels and created layered backgrounds...

Each panel was completed with the addition of mixed media so that I could tell my own story...

As Is

Shoreline

Fenced In

Covered With Clouds

Site Unseen

Unfolding Corners

Ancient Aura

Counting Wheels

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Sending congratulations to Hue Plus Me, winner of my recent giveaway for a signed copy of Julie Prichard and Chris Cozen's new book Acrylic Solutions: Exploring Mixed Media Layer by Layer.

A True Story

Last week I was inspired to create some Face Books, handmade mini books with an artful face(s) on the cover. Today I made one more book but my inspiration can be found on the inside rather than the outside of the book: tabs.

One of my favorite "book looks" is when things spill over the edges of the cover. Todays "spillage" is courtesy of Donna Salazar and her Creative Page Tabs from Spellbinders.

I started with one of the mini books from my stash. Made of hand painted, watercolor paper, it measures about 3.75 x 3 inches and uses the pamphlet stitch.

First thing I did was cut out a series of tags using the Creative Page Tabs dies and Ephemera Paper from the Media Mixage line.

I cut out some other images from the Ephemera Paper set to use for my cover.

I also made some shaped die cuts to create layers for the cover, using both decorative paper and hand painted paper.

Wanting to add more interest to the book, I used some stickers from 7 Gypsies to add words to both the tabs and the cover. I also added a bit of shading and line using both a pen and a marker. In the end, I had "A True Story"

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Supply List

Spellbinders Paper Art Supplies:

GC-001 Spellbinders^TM Grand Caibur® Machine

S5-052 Spellbinders^TM Shapeabilities® Creative Page Tabs

MD1-001 Spellbinders^TM Media Mixage Ovals One

S4-201 Spellbinders^TM Nestabilities® Deckled Rectangles Small

MP1-002 Spellbinders^TM Media Mixage Ephemera Paper Two

Cross Promotional Partners: 7 Gypsies Stickers

Other: watercolor paper, decorative paper, gesso, acrylic paint, acrylic medium, paint brush, rub ons, pen, marker, adhesive, waxed linen thread, sewing needle, scissor, awl

Acrylic Solutions - giveaway

There is a new book in town: Acrylic Solutions: Exploring Mixed Media Layer by Layer by Chris Cozen and Julie Prichard. This is a book that every artist who either uses or wants to use acrylics should own. And it won't be for your book shelves because this book is likely to actually be used. 

There are a lot of books available these days to choose from but my sense is that this one will become a classic. It contains easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions so that you not only learn about product and technique...but you can quickly apply the material to your own artistic practice. 

Of the many tutorials, my favorites include mixing and working with glazes, creating a good foundation, using mediums to create texture, using transparent images, and developing complexity (which itself is 26 pages).

Both Julie and Chris each take you through the process of creating their own artwork, following along step-by-step as they introduce new materials and techniques. Happily, this book is hard back and spiral bound so it can lay open flat when you are referring to it. It includes beautiful images throughout of artwork from both of these talented artists. While beginners will easily be able to follow the instructions, this book would also truly benefit the more seasoned artist as well. I am also pleased to have been a contributor to this book, with one of my own paintings included in a small gallery section at the end of the book:

Vector

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I asked Julie and Chris to share with my readers some thoughts about this book:

Julie: "When we were approached to write this book, I declined. In the few days that passed my initial protest, I began to realize how important I felt it was to produce a "workbook" that others would be able to carry with them and refer to again and again. I am thrilled that Acrylic Solutions is THAT kind of book. We are hearing how much people like the book and how they are completing the exercises and learning...and that makes everything worthwhile to me."

Chris: "I've been a teacher for many years, not always of art. But the constant across my life as a teacher has been to give sound content, clear instruction, and to inspire innovative thinking and action in others. Moving past what we know about something into unknown territory is scary, but it is necessary for us to grow. That place between the known and unknown is where the most stuff happens.  If I can help someone walk across that space then I have met my personal goal. Acrylic Solutions is just one part making that happen."

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Julie and Chris have generously provided me with a copy of the book to offer as a giveaway on my blog. And the winner will also receive a surprise from Chris (read this to see what the amazing surprise is!). To be eligible to win, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post by end of day Thursday 4/18 and make sure that I have your email address. I will announce the winner on both my blog and my FB page. Good luck!!

The Story Within

In every painting there is a story within, needing to be told and waiting to be discovered. 

In this group of paintings, Oregon artist Roxanne Evans Stout and New York artist Seth Apter collaborate to tell their story.

From a distance you will see beautiful abstract paintings... deep and mysterious... but on closer inspection layers, textures and colors will unfold, pulling you closer for examination. 

Part encaustic, part acrylic and part plaster, these paintings are a unique blend of the artists themselves.

Each of these twelve paintings has traveled back and forth across the United States for the last year. 

One artist would begin and the other would finish until "the story within" was revealed. 

The story unique to each artist is also told side-by-side in an intimate grouping of of individual work.

Join Roxanne and myself on May 3rd at Illahe Studios and Gallery in Ashland, Oregon where we will be celebrating the opening of our collaborative exhibition from 5-8pm. We each worked on the surfaces of the same 12 (10x10 or 12x12) cradled panels so that our artwork is blended in a truly collaborative process. In addition, I will be showing 8 and Roxanne will be showing 7 different artworks that we each created on our own. We are both so very excited for this show and hope that all our friends out there who are near Ashland will be able to attend.

Face Books

With all the talk about social media these days, I decided to shift focus to a different type of Facebook: books with faces on them! 

To start, I grabbed a bunch of mini books that I always have on hand. These are all handmade by me using watercolor paper painted with gesso, acrylic paint and acrylic glaze. They are simply bound with a pamphlet stitch, which you can read more about in an earlier post.

I sourced my faces for the covers from Spellbinders Ephemera Papers Two, part of their new Media Mixage line. This is a 36 pages book filled with the coolest images to use in art.

I chose four images of faces to match with my four books and die cut them into different shapes.

I created a series of frames and shapes with both hand painted paper and black cardstock by using Spellbinders Deckled Rectangles dies...

and Spellbinders Standard Circles dies.

Then the fun part began. I dug into my selection of rub ons to create some background elements and then layered my faces and my die cuts until I was happy with the cover designs. Now I have my very own Facebooks...

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Supply List

Spellbinders Paper Art Supplies:

GC-001 Spellbinders^TM Grand Caibur® Machine

S4-114 Spellbinders^TM Nestabilities® Standard Circles Large

S4-201 Spellbinders^TM Nestabilities® Deckled Rectangles Small

MP1-002 Spellbinders^TM Media Mixage Ephemera Paper Two

Other: watercolor paper, cardstock, gesso, acrylic paint, acrylic medium, paint brush, rub ons, adhesive, waxed linen thread, sewing needle, scissor, awl