The Painted Cottage

Doshi at Whitaker

I just found out that one of my pieces has been juried into a show through the DOSHI Gallery at Susquehanna Art Museum in Harrisburg, PA. The show theme is "Emotions" and I entered a piece called "KABOOM" The show opens at the Whitaker Center on April 2 thru June 11, 2010.

"KABOOM" 24" x 24" Mixed Media Collage on Canvas

KABOOM was truly a breakout piece for me. My work has been fairly neutral in color up to this point and while working on this piece color began to emerge. Orange of all colors! This was one of those struggling pieces that took weeks to complete and went through multiple layers of change until I felt it was saying something worthwhile.

What I discovered later when it was finished is that this piece represented a new shift in my creativity. All the stress and struggle in my head over this piece and the lack of substantial color in all my previous pieces seemed to explode on this canvas. And the explosion has rocked me from the core. The work that followed this piece were full of color and I felt freer than I had in months.

Color can really affect out thinking. I experienced that with the creation of this piece. I am looking forward to seeing more "Emotion" from other artists participating in this exhibit. The links for Whitaker Center and The Susquehanna Art Museum are listed below.

Leave a comment if you have had a similar experience with a "breakout" piece of artwork or a "revelation" of change in your own creativity. I am really curious about other artists experiences with this.

http://www.whitakercenter.org/

http://www.squart.org

Kathleen and Taylor

I really just have to share this! My daughter Kathleen and her good friend Taylor have been working so hard lately, practicing, learning new songs, they spend hours at the piano in our living room working on their collection of songs. They have performed at Union Street Blues several times and at an American Cancer Fund Raiser Coffee House several weeks ago. Their friend Lindsey is in the background turning pages...a very important job!

 

 

 

You can see more Union Street Blues videos at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqvGkl5AK3Y

Floral Collage

This is a quickie Floral Collage that I whipped up last week to donate to the Women's Club of Middletown for their Annual Fashion Show Luncheon. The collage was sold at the silent auction table.

I love doing these quickies. You start with the vase and add greens and then some colored papers and start building just like you would be arranging flowers in a real vase.

The brightest papers should go on last with some highlighted areas here and there to show the light hitting the arrangement.

The orange dots are actually pieces of printed tissue paper from the dollar store. And the white dots are from...well lets just say there was a fight with a three hole punch one day...and guess who lost.

I also added some sprinkles of poppy seed over a patch of medium to look like dried baby's breath in the arrangement.

This is a fun project to do with all the scraps leftover from larger projects. No...I never throw any paper away...every little piece gets saved into a baggie for these types of projects.

I matted this floral with leftover matting from another project and framed it in a lovely gold frame that I picked up at the Thrift Shop for one dollar. Not bad for a  donation. 

Winter Collage Class

So we finished up the Winter Session of Collage at Art Association of Harrisburg. It was a great group...we had twelve people in this class. The weather only caused us to miss one night and we made that up by adding an extra class onto the end of the session. Very creative bunch and lots of wonderful collages. Here is a sampling of class photos and some of their collages:

Lynn, Lilia, and Jill

John

Meryl

Jill Freeman's grid design.

Lynn Kennedy Putt's strata design.

 

Tina Berrier's strata design.

 

 Martha Carlton's grid design.

Next Collage Class at AAH begins April 13. For More information: http://elainebradysmith.com/Information.html
 
 

 

Collageart.org

Holy Cow I am so excited!!!! I just got an email from Jonathan Talbot!!!!! Yes...that Jonathan Talbot!!!! He linked my website on Http://www.collageart.org

I have been trying for years to get a link on this site!!!! This is HUGE for me!!!!

My name is now on the same page as Kurt Schwitters and Cecil Touchon! Two of my all time favorite collage artists!!!

This girl is jumping up and down doing the happy dance!!!!

And if you haven't joined yet...check out http://www.theartsmap.com This is another site started by Jonathan Talbot for artists all over the globe. Very cool!!

Okay....off to float through the day!!! Smile!!!

Finding Inspiration

"You can't wait for inspiration.

You have to go after it with a club"

Jack London

This has always been a favorite quote of mine and I have jotted it down in more than one journal in my time. I have found that as an artist I have to constantly be on the prowl for ideas and inspiration. Sitting around day dreaming and waiting for that inspiration to come is just not realistic. Being "in the mood" is also a big myth and often an excuse for not doing anything. You have to have to be persistent in your ways of searching for new ideas.

Some of the ways I like to find inspiration:

• Read, Read, and Read some more...I am constantly reading about art, artists, techniques, marketing...just about anything I can get my hands on. I am constantly browsing Amazon.com for art books...and hitting that One-Click button to buy. One hint though...I always check out the resellers on Amazon first because they often have new and/or used books available at a cheaper price.
• Google Search for similar art...many ideas come from looking at other artist's work and I am by no means suggesting that you copy other people's art but simply check out their style, techniques, materials they use and the way they use them, look at their compositions, color choices, etc. One of my favorite sources to find other Collage artists is Collageart.org...a site dedicated to hundreds of links to collage artists all over the globe.
• Search Youtube.com for artist who have posted "how-to" videos. There are many. This is free. And you can learn a lot of new techniques from browsing the multitude of videos on this site. Teesha Moore has some great tutorials on how she approaches making a journal and filling it with her inspiring collage art. Click her for her Youtube page. 
• Keep a Journal of Ideas. Keep one journal or many journals strategically placed around the house. I keep one by the sofa so when my husband insists on controlling the remote...I whip out my journal and doodle or write down ideas that I have been thinking about. I always keep a small journal in my purse so when I am out and about I always have it with me when an idea hits me and I can jot it down immediately. Later when I have put that idea to use in my art and I no longer need that particular page in my journal, I collage over the page and make it into an art page. When the journal is completely filled with either still good ideas or all art pages, I start a new one.
• Take Classes or Find an Art Group to hang out with and discuss your favorite topics of art related subjects. Being with like minded people is one of the best sources of inspiration I can recommend. Networking with a group of people is fun and you will be surprised at how much you learn just by listening to what others have to say. I currently teach a collage class and I swear that I end up learning as much from my students as I give to them. It is a wonderful give and take of ideas.
• Subscribe to Network Blogs on Facebook or RSS Feeds to your favorite inspirational blog writers. I have several that I read daily. Zen Habits is one that I like and always find something to take away and think about. In fact this very post has been inspired by the blog page that I have linked you to on Zen Habits. The Illuminated Mind is another favorite of mine. Jonathan has wisdom beyond his years and he has a way of making me look at life and art in ways that I had not previously thought of.

These are just a few of the ways I enjoy finding my own inspiration. It never stops.  To be an artist...living, breathing and needing art is a daily necessity to me! And feeding that living, breathing need is necessary for growth as an artist and as a person.