Cat's Eye

This eye appeared on the page and looked like an interesting place to start. A regular moon didn't look right but adding the crescent moon gave the eye an eyebrow, further enhancing the effect. Here's looking at you!

Ode to Easter Island

Do you see it? The cliff on the left looks like one of the moai - the monumental statues on Easter Island. This was a happy accident when the pages were pulled apart. I even have a mirror image for another piece of art. He is staring up at the moon - maybe dreaming of - what?

FRACTURED

Still working with the Small Worlds theme. This one is a bit larger at 8" x 10" and is my first use of independent layering elements. Can you tell I am having a really good time with this?

AS THE WORLDS TURN

Two more additions to my growing collection of collage worlds. Half the fun is finding a starting point and watching the scenery build from there. Usually there is one area of a paper that suggests something - a moon, horizon, neat sky features, landscape, seascape - and that is my starting point. Both of these were pretty much complete as a whole and didn't really need much to complete the scene.

TO TREE OR NOT TO TREE

This is another one of my small world creations. After I assembled the pieces and took the first photo it was just a bit bland - lots of color and pattern but no real focus. I added a much larger moon and decided to go with the tree theme since I had used the trees stamp and add just one large tree top to bottom, front and center. It is almost as if you are approaching this large tree and looking out onto the landscape - at least that is what I hope is happening!

Meet Calliope

This is another Storyteller and her name is Calliope. She reminds me of the circus - colorful, happy and busy! She is my first glass creation that combines mixed media elements - silk, fibers, wire & bead. Surely you can here the circus music playing and the promise of wonderful surprises that await!

Rough Crossing

Another collage of altered papers, embossing, gold leaf.

Journey to Another World

This is another piece from one my classes at Artful Gatherings. This is a small world collage with altered papers, embossed stamping, gold leaf & inks.

Story Teller

This is my first Story Teller creation. There are so many elements to her. There is an old watercolor batik painting that I ripped up for the robe, sari waste was hand dyed for the shawl. There are paper beads on the shawl ends made by another art friend. The face is paper clay made from a mold. All kinds of embellishments and techniques inspired from a workshop. What do you think?

The Hot Mess

Traveling to a convention didn't seem to be in the cards this year so I am taking some online classes. Stretching into new ideas about art was top of the list when it came time to choose classes. This is scary territory - it is soooo much easier to do safe & happy! But stepping outside that safe & happy space can lead to some real art growth sometimes. And I have really stepped off into the unknown!! One of my classes is called Small Worlds and consists of creating very small landscapes with torn and altered papers. These photos are what I have so far and were created with old National Geographic magazines and CitraSolv. I have seen this technique used by numerous artists but was never brave enough to give it a try. Not anymore! I think I over saturated this batch a bit. They are drying now and some have some lovely passages of color but I need just a bit more movement. Stay tuned to see what comes next! If you are interested in checking out the class go to http://www.artfulgatheringevents.com. I am taking Small Worlds by Lyn Belisle. Session two has just started and there is still time to sign up!