I'm in a Book!

Ok, so again--too long between blog posts.

BUT, maybe when you hear my exciting news you will forgive me. :)

Most of you will probably know that I had two art journal pages selected to be in the book "1000 Artist Journal Pages" by Dawn DeVries Sokol who did a marvelous job designing the book and putting everything together. And for those of you who didn't know I was going to be in a book, well--now you do.

I waited WAY too long to order my copy. I don't really know why because I was so super excited to see myself in print finally. The book has been out for a few weeks now, I think, and I only recieved my copy last week.

Anyway, the book is GORGEOUS inside and out. There is so much beautiful art in one place it's unbelievable. I am very honored to be a part of it.





I made the pics extra big so you can be sure and see my name in my first publication.

In other exciting news--I received my very first commission for a painting today!!!! I'm like all legit and stuff now.

I Finally Got Inspired!

It only took a few months! I am finally creating again. Partially it is getting closer to the time of year when I am most active creatively. Partially I think I was not just uninspired, but depressed. I'm feeling a bit better mentally, which has been helping with my creative output. I have new paintings, new journal pages, and lots of new little projects going on. I joined a web site called atcsforall.com. You can join swaps to trade homemade art with other artists. I've started making artist trading cards and chunky book pages for a few swaps I joined there. My etsy shop is finally up and running. So, lots of exciting things going on.

Some of my favorite images of what I have been doing lately (you can see more photos on my flickr page):


A page from my journal. I've been really obsessed with mermaids lately, and this is my favorite.


A journal page with a paper doll in a pocket. Isn't she cute? I spent an entire afternoon creating her and then my rabbit ate a piece of her crown!


A mixed media painting on canvas. I collaged magazine pages, phone book pages, and tissue paper, then painted over it all with acrylics. It's available in my etsy shop.


A mixed media painting on art board. Also available in my etsy shop.

I recently hosted a post card exchange. My theme was, you guessed it, mermaids! I used a combination of collage, acrylic and watercolor paints, and altered magazine photos. Here are a few of my favorites:







And finally, my favorite artist trading card I made for a swap called "Whimsey Girls Cupcakes and Crowns" on atcsforall.com:



There's actually a lot more where this came from! I am going to try and update the blog more regularly with pictures of my artwork and not let as much time go by between posts. It feels really good to be creating again. Hopefully I can keep it up.

Some new journal pages...

I've been looking at lots of art lately, trying to get inspired. It's a catch 22 because I do get really inspired looking at other mixed media and journal artists--but then there's always the danger of comparison. I start feeling page envy and feeling like my stuff isn't as good. Which I guess every artist probably goes through. I also sometimes feel like my style isn't as cohesive as I would like it to be right now.

With that being said, I did create two pages in the past week or so that I really like. They are a little bit more free and messy than what I have been doing for the past couple months. The pictures aren't the greatest--we have had very little sunlight lately which makes taking nice pics difficult. Every day is dark and grey. But you should get the idea: