I'm on the front page!

Somehow I ended up in the "Artist Spotlight" on atcsforall.com even though I'm brand spanking new. I don't know how long it will be up so click here soon or you might miss it.

Look for this picture:

May Family Arts Festival

I had five pieces chosen to be hung for a family arts festival this May in downtown Springfield. Oddly enough, the Cultural Council didn't give participating artists a whole lot of details about what this festival is really going to be like. What I do know is this: there's going to be a festival taking place the weekend of May 17th-18th. It coincides with the big annual pancake breakfast. I'm not sure what the rationale for that is--maybe because lots of people will already be lured downtown with the promise of free pancakes. And pancakes and art are both yummy. Anyway, pieces will be hung May 1st throughout the downtown area. There will be opportunities for sales and also to be part of ongoing exhibits in partnership with downtown businesses. There's going to be a reception May 17th as well as two artist workshops on grant writing and growing your business. Both I expect to be very helpful.

Apparently there's going to be a few more art festivals throughout the summer and fall. I will keep you posted. Hopefully I will be able to show more work for those. I'm not sure where exactly my work is going to be hung, but I will keep you posted on that as well. This will be my first "official" public showing as an artist. Very exciting!

The following works were selected:

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:

Testing, Testing

I've been wanting to start a blog for a while now. I'm pretty much an addict when it comes to reading other artists' blogs. As I venture further on in my own journey as an artist, I find myself wanting more and more to document and share that process. I am not sure at this point how this blog will shape up; I will probably change it around a lot in the beginning.

Lately I have been feeling incredibly stuck in regards to my creativity. I haven't been painting or collaging or even journaling much. I've done a bit more journaling in the past few weeks, but it still feels like I am pulling teeth to get anything creative out of myself. I am typically much more prolific in summer and fall. Everything comes easy to me then. I barely have to think about paintings in the summer--ideas are plentiful and executing them seems easy. But then things start slowing down during the fall and once winter hits--forget it.

I'd like to learn more about how to create during the difficult times as well. When times are slow and the ideas aren't as easy. I am thinking if I want to become more of a professional artist, spending half the year creatively dormant just isn't going to cut it. Perhaps I will learn that it is just part of my natural pattern of creativity--I don't know. Maybe I will focus more on other aspects of being an artist during that half of the year. But I would like to learn to be at least somewhat creative during this time. Maybe slow down but not come to a complete stop.

My most favorite piece of art I have done lately is for an altered book round robin that I am a part of right now. I was assigned the cover by the owner of the book and this is what I came up with: