Boxed In

"The ending of a painting is a very delicate time, because if the painting is left unfinished, enthusiasm and intuition will decrease for the following painting, and the momentum and the sense of adventure will dramatically fade away..."  Michele Cassou, Kids Play

This statement rang true to me for I was experiencing it when I read what Michele had to say in her book on Igniting Children's Creativity, Kids Play.  If you follow my blog you know I've been in a battle with my latest canvas.  For me it was the perfect storm, a colour palette that I don't work in and a boxie, geometric design that I don't enjoy working with.  Long story short, I finally took it one step too far and there was no way back but to break out and change it up completely.  I couldn't do anything about the design but I could change out the colour palette and did as this picture shows.  This was just the beginning, (macro shot shows a little) it's come a long way since and I am no longer fighting the canvas, I'm going to be able to 'finish.'  I'll use the fist colour palette on a piece that is open and free flowing in the future.

"when a painting is well completed, a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction arises and with it the inspiration for the next painting."  Michele Cassou, Kids Play


There is a huge difference between setting a piece aside, knowing you need to let it simmer until you figure out the next step and knowing you are completely hung up, blocked and you're ready to quit.  The latter leaves you stuck just as Michele writes.  I was certainly there and knew it.

It makes me wonder how many other things we abandoned, or given up on,  that leave us mired, stuck, unable to move on?  There's something to be said for doing your all to make it work, or work it out before we walk away and not have it's entrails following us for the rest of our days.

You never stop learning about yourself when you work creatively.  I realize that geometers leave me feeling so boxed in and hampered a throw back to my inner resistance to being hemmed in by expectations, restrictions and short comings.  Amazing what your art reveals about you and to you.

Review Friday- Paint Anyone?

Thought I would share with you one of my favourite acrylic paint and medium manufacturing companies, Nova Color.  Golden fluid and heavy bodied make up the majority of my paints but Nova Color has some amazing choices and when it comes to mediums I use theirs almost exclusively.  When you see their prices you will understand why, not to mention that they preform extremely well.

I first heard about this little company through Kelly Kilmer, when I first began Art Journaling a few years back.  Unlike Kelly, I use their paints full strength for my work unless glazing.  Oh and don't overlook some of their funky 'Fluorescent' paints.  I just got their Fluorescent Blue (transparent) and oh my gosh it is a new favourite, it's such a light yummy blue and blends so beautifully over other colours.  Also love their 'F' pink and can see I will be adding more of the fluorescents to my stash.  Their Quinacridone Violet (transparent), Alizarin Crimson Hue, Transparent Red Oxide, Antique Copper are among those I use constantly.  I have a colour sample page (upon request) in which they have actually painted a small amount of each colour onto the sheet so you really get a feel for what you are ordering.  Don't overlook their Iridescence, Metallics and Interference Peal lines either.

When it comes to mediums, as I said I buy almost everything from them and have not been disappointed.  Their Gessoes are dreamily creamy and thick, varnishes, gels, texture pastes, coarse lava, all of them are excellent and you cannot beat their prices.

Something that is not listed on the website but is available are plastic jars & bottles in various sizes.  I buy 4oz Squeeze Bottles with tops to pour their paints in for easy use, for .60 cents each, they also have 8 oz size for .85 cents. If you need to go big because you buy paint by the Quart or Gallon  they have lidded jars and pails to fit your needs.   When ordering I request these bottles using their 'special instructions' section when checking out and they add it to my order.  Check out their Q& A for a listing of their various products and other helpful comparisons and tips.

I don't know about you but I love it when I find a great product or in this case an entire line of them, and want others to know about it too.  Happy shopping!

B-Days and Canvases

My daughter Olivia turned 31 today!  My baby has grown up into a young woman I greatly admire, she's my hero in so many ways :-)

The only thing she asked for is her chocolate, extra crunch & fudge ice cream cake.  My girl has a major chocolate addition!




After a celebration meal and cake, Olivia tried to get some photos of the completed Rhapsody painting and the one I'm currently working on.  But we had lost the light and will have to try for another time.

This is the canvas I've been working on these past two weeks.  What I'm showing you is a very poor representation of the actual colours, blue grey, purples and silver.

Do you ever create something that you are just not drawn to?  I don't know what it is about this particular canvas that has me feeling so blah, but it is certainly the least favourite that I've done to date.  I don't know if I should just stop and call it done or keep nattering away at it.  Is it possible to have colours that you may love in life, but hate working with on canvas?  Darned if I know, it's a curiosity...

What a Haul!

When I went to the post office to pick up my contest winnings from Mary Beth Shaw, I was shocked at the size of the box.  I knew that she was sending me some items from her personal stash of ephemera and an autographed copy of her book as well as one of her stencils "just because."  I was not expecting the haul that awaited me inside that box!

Along with my personalized copy of her book, which I will treasure and use, was not one, not two but three of Mary Beth's unique stencils. (I've already used one of them to add effects to my current canvas remake.)  Well if that were not enough, the huge bag of ephemera put me right over the moon!  Vintage ledger pages, maps, artwork, wallpaper, game pieces, game score pads, tab tops, coupons, cocktail napkins, film strip and shorthand pages that took me straight back to high school!  Just seeing these items sparked all sorts of ideas, she truly is the queen of flea market finds.

Well my first layers of paint should be dry now so I'm off to see what needs layering in next, hope you are have a wonderfully creative week.  And if you haven't already do check out Mary Beth's website and book. You can read my review of her book here.

I wanted to share with you a little piece of wisdom from Doris McCarthy, a Canadian artist who savoured her life, she passed away last year at 100 years of age.  This is part of her Convocation Address at the University of Toronto in 2001, she was 91.

"This is the wonderful secret I want to share with you.  Life gets better and better with every year that passes.  Don't be afraid of old age.  It has the gifts that are even better than youth.  To earn those gifts, start now.  And I mean today, this minute.  Be aware of who you are, where you are, and why. Realize this moment.  Savour it.  Like every other moment in your life, past or future it is unique.   You are living now, always now!  Rejoice in it.  


Remember, it is loving your work that is important, not comfort, not security, not public acclaim, but happiness.  If every day you are aware of what you are doing and know that you have chosen it because you love it, that is a good life.  If you cannot love the path you have chosen, leave it and start again.  There is no disgrace in learning by experience.  But to merely endure your work for the sake of money or status, or peer pressure or for any other reason is to squander the most precious treasure of all, your very life."

Networking & Junked Art

I'm currently listening to a great conversation between Rice of Voodoo Cafe and Jen Cushman of Creative Mixed Media.  They are talking about using the social networking tools to promote yourself and your art.  Great conversation, with valuable information, do take the time to tune in.  Jen gives you get advice on using your blog, Facebook and Twitter to connect you to an artist community and as a marketing tool.  I know I've enjoyed the networking community with blogging and Facebook, but Twitter is a world I've not entered yet!

I've been working on a new piece all week, got it to several places of doneness, hung it up to get some perspective on it and would hate it each time.  How can a piece look so cool up close with all the wonderful marble like textures and colour then look so blah from across the room?  I'd take it down do some glazing, add more contrast, rehang and still blah.  Then I went one glaze colour too far and there just was no recovering.  Out came the gesso.  Although the colour is way off on these pictures, the real thing is just as horrid, or was, it's now sporting a fresh coat of pure white :-)  Ah the joys and frustrations of creating!

What I'm Reading

What I've been savouring is Mary Beth Shaw's new book, Flavor for Mixed Media. (In Canada, Amazon.ca) It seemed that it took forever for it to be released here in Canada, but it finally arrived last week.

After that first, flip through every page, randomly checking out various things, I got down to the serious consuming of it's contents.  It's not a meal that I'm rushing.  Mary Beth has woven a wonderful array of new ideas, tips and techniques that beg you to slow down and chew more slowly.  She introduces you to fellow artists, some I knew of, others are people I look forward to discovering more about. You get to understand their creative journey and all with a love for good food and mixed media.  I'll let Mary Beth explain the connection:
"Art and food: Two of life's most sensory pleasures...being an artist and a foodie--I have pondered the similarities between art and food and am utterly convinced the processes of creating art and cooking are very much the same."


Just as there are yummy recipes scattered throughout the book, so too there are some great mixed media creations that will leave you drooling and ready to try the ideas out for yourself.  She introduces you to a new texturing product called, Wood Icing and frankly I can't wait to try it out.  Saving my pennies for it and some of Mary Beth's unique stencils.  When I look at the array of jars on my shelf and consider how Wood Icing could replace a number of them, I get excited.

Back to the book.  Some of the things I most value are the working studio tips that Mary Beth dishes out, things that will help me to work better, smarter.  Like her suggestion of creating 'colour palette pages, where you take out those combinations of colours and test them out, see how they preform, how they interact with other colours, what they are like transparent or opaque.  Colour choice is the single hardest thing to work out when it comes to abstracts.  You don't have a photo or still life sitting in front of you that suggests colours, you are working that out in your minds eye and it takes time to explore and play with the combinations to know what is going to work for the piece.

In walking her readers through numerous project ideas, she also exposes you to a wide variety of substrates, tools and mediums.  You will have no trouble finding something to wet your creative appetite.  I love that she lays out a project giving you the steps and information on the things she uses but never dictates the details, allowing you the artist to develop the project in your unique style. Mary Beth points the way but encourages us to allow for our own 'flavour' to come through, in fact to find your artist voice is a lot like becoming a good cook, you've got to do a lot of it to develop style and flare in the kitchen and the studio.

Prior to being able to order my own copy of 'Flavour' here in Canada, I entered a few of the book give aways that Mary Beth and contributing artist to the book were offering.  Well I won one of those contests!  So an autographed copy is on it's way to me along with some goodies from Mary Beth's stash of fun.  I can't tell you how excited and pleased I am about this win.  I've pondered what to do with my current copy of Flavor for Mixed Media and think donating it to the Library may be a good choice.  I love the idea of a number of creative spirits being able to enjoy and learn from Mary Beth as I am.

My Mirage Easel

I've been having a great time giving my new Mirage Easel  a good work out.  It's a gem.  Sturdy, flexible, easy enough to adjust, it's just about perfection.  I say just about, because I'm considering adding the second set of wheels to it, using the swivel kind, so I can twirl and swing it about when I'm flooding a canvas with colour and need to get around the larger canvases.  My hubby's pretty handy so we will go shop for wheels, get the holes drilled and I'll give it another run.

The other great thing is I can sit in my chair in front of it, saving my back some pain, which is always a good thing.  Grace loves it too.  She adjusts it to suit her it's that easy to maneuver.  I think I bought myself a winner and would recommend it to anyone who needs the kind of versatility and affordability.  My dream though is to have a tilt table made like the one Maxine Masterfield shows in her books & DVD's, she included information on how to make it, now I just have to convince my darling husband I really, really need him to build it!

Life & Art In Stages

Grace's macro shot

Seems life gets lived out in stages, much like our art. Enthusiastic beginnings,  mired middles, and  uncertain endings. Rather reminds me of English class, beginnings, middles and endings.  Well I've finished 'Rhapsody' (waiting to get some good photos) have begun the map work for a new piece and am playing in my art journal in-between.

Lyvia's macro shot

My grand-daughters had a taste of doing art in stages as well.  They wanted to do something like I had created with 'Reef', and it was the first time they have had to wait for things to dry/cure before moving on to the next stage, meaning they had to leave them for several days in-between processes.  By the time we got to the end they were pretty anxious to get the paint dried and the high sheen varnish on!  Grace really enjoyed getting 'into' the flow of adding various colours to the mix where as Lyvia, our little live wire, slapped on paint in a frenzy of colour and enthusiasm . Interesting, isn't it how our personalities are reflected so eloquently in art making.

Grace & Lyvia 

Grace & Lyvia would have fun hamming it up with ibooth once we finished a stage in their art pieces.  Behind them is one side of the loft that I use mostly for Art Journaling and collage, across the room is the painting gallery :-)

Taking Risks

Getting the mail is so much fun, you never know what surprises it might hold.  A short time ago, fellow creative, Jennifer Richardson of Ripplespeak opened her own Etsy shope selling some of her brilliant and upbeat art. I wasn't long picking out something that would hang out in my loft and inspire me.  I only wish I had the means to buy something from all my creative blogging friends!

I smile every time I see artist courageously stretching out to share their art with more of the world.  It's wonderful to see, because it does take courage and it does take risk and investing in yourself and the works of your heart and hands.  What's interesting is that no matter where you are in the journey there are always new avenues to explore and new challenges to take, you never do get to be just comfortable with your artistic expressions.  But maybe that's what it's all about.  Art stirs, it suggests, it draws you out, it lays you bare and there's nothing comfortable about feeling naked :-)