More Mixed Media Mania

I'm having a blast with my newfound love of mixed media art. Thus far I've kept my mixed media art simple, and I personally like it that way. I like to choose some magazine clippings, select and arrange a quote that I believe matches the clippings, do a little original drawing to tie it all together, and then Mod Podge it all together. This allows me to do a little bit of just about everything I like doing best, all to one common artistic end.

I've got plenty of these mixed media pieces in the works, but for now I'll just share some shots of the one I've most recently completed:

I'm calling this one "Dance in the Rain".

For this piece I used one of my favorite quotes: "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain." I tore the edges of the paper to age it a bit, and then I splattered the strips with dilute blue food dye for a cloudy, rainy effect. (A little fact about me: I used food dye because, quite honestly, I do not currently own any paint. Although I wish this were not the case, I have never personally found much joy in painting.)

I used my favorite art pens to draw this colorful little girl wearing her rain coat and rain boots and holding an umbrella.

I am far from perfect in creating this mixed media art. But, that's one of the great things about art -- since it's not possible for any one artist or technique to be the same as another, there really is no such thing as "perfect" art.

In other news, I hope to finish my last two My Furry Family pieces soon. I also have some more InspirACEOns in the planning stages, as well as tons of other pieces and projects I hope to get to soon. As usual, I'll share them as I make progress with them.

Happy Sunday!

Midnight Dreary

I finished my first mixed media art piece. In my last post I showed you which of my mixed media works in progress was my favorite, and of course that's the one I completed first. Here's the finished product:

I'm calling this piece "Midnight Dreary".

I started with pictures from old magazines. After I found clippings I liked -- these particular ones all containing some quaint architectural elements -- I used Mod Podge to adhere them all to my base cardstock. Then, once I had that initial canvas, I had to decide what to do with it.

Although I love to read, I've never been a big fan of poetry. That being said, though, I do enjoy the eerie poems of Edgar Allan Poe. My favorite Poe poem is "The Raven", which is what inspired my final touches of this mixed media art piece. I decided to add two of my favorite lines from the poem -- "Once upon a midnight dreary" and "Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore.' " -- to this piece of mine. I wanted the paper on which the quotes were printed to look aged, so I tore them so that the edges would be frayed, and then I stained the paper slips with coffee. And, I drew a little raven on cardstock paper to add to the mix. Then I pulled the Mod Podge back out and adhered the quotes and raven drawing, and applied a final coating of Mod Podge over the whole thing.

I prefer to use glossy Mod Podge, as I like the sheen and texture it gives the final product. However, being a novice photographer at best, I find it difficult to capture just the right picture of my glossy Mod Podged pieces. Nevertheless, I tried various angles and lighting in order to capture the gloss and texture of the Mod Podge finish I used. So, here's another picture of my "Midnight Dreary" piece, this one giving a little indication of the textured, glossy finish:

I hope you like it!

Monday Night InspirACEOn

As we all know, sometimes life is difficult. So, here's a little InspirACEOn to pick you up:

"Life is like photography. You need the negatives to develop."

I came across this quote the other day, and I fell in love with it immediately. I hope you like it, too!

Have a great week, bloggers!

Failed Attempt

After a weekend without internet and a date today with the internet provider technician, I finally completed a new card in my InspirACEOns series and was very excited to post it. However, upon completion I noticed an error in it -- a small error, but I'll admit that when it comes to my artwork I am a bit of a perfectionist, and so this small error is bothering me more than it probably should.

Here is the ACEO card in question:

This InspirACEOn card reads: All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. -J.R.R. Tolkien

I am one of Tolkien's biggest fans, and the quote I chose to illustrate is one of my favorites from his The Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, the version I ended up scrawling as seen above is instead the one from the movie based off of Tolkien's books. The version of the quote from the book, the version I intended to use, reads: "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." The movie version, though, as I erroneously wrote on my ACEO cards, says "given to us" at the end of it. I know, I know, it's a miniscule error involving one miniscule little word. However, in my unfortunate perfectionist's mind this means that I did not truly quote Tolkien.

I'll probably end up recreating this InspirACEOns piece in the very near future, to appease my mind. I'll put that correct version in my Etsy shop as soon as it's finished.

Have a good night, bloggers!

InspirACEOns on Etsy!

The original illustrated ACEO cards in my InspirACEOns series are now available in my Etsy shop!

"When you have a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go." -Carol Burnett

"Courage, dear heart." -C.S. Lewis

"Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit." -Kahlil Gibran

"Love conquers all."

"Know thyself."

"Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil." -Psalm 23:4

Just click on the Etsy link at the top of my blog to visit my shop!

The above pieces are just the current six original ACEO cards available in this series of mine. I will be creating many pieces in my InspirACEOns series, so stay tuned for more!

Have a great week, bloggers!

Weekend InspirACEOn

I just finished another ACEO card in my InspirACEOns series and thought I'd start off the weekend by sharing it.

"Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil." -Psalm 23:4

I hope everyone has a nice, safe weekend!

InspirACEOns

I have started on another new artistic endeavor, amongst all of my others I have in the works. I've had some ACEO cards sitting around just collecting dust for quite some time now, and for this new project I decided to put them to use. In short, my new art project involves creating inspirational ACEO cards, or what I like to call InspirACEOns.

I have thus far created two pieces in my InspirACEOns series.

For this one, as you can see, I just drew a miniature version of another piece that I recently shared. I think I like this miniature drawing better. "When you have a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go." -Carol Burnett

"Courage, dear heart." -C.S. Lewis

I already have a more or less tome's worth of quotes that I would like to illustrate, so this will certainly be a large, continual series. What I really like about these particular pieces is that they are not only fun but also relatively quick to create. ACEO cards are 2.5" x 3.5", so it doesn't take long to fill this canvas. And since I apparently enjoy having a multitude of projects started at once, it's nice to have pieces that I can have fun drawing in just one sitting.

I anticipate that most if not all of these will be pen drawings. What's more, I plan on selling the originals of these InspirACEOns in my Etsy shop. So stay tuned for news on their arrival in my shop!

Have a wonderful day, bloggers!

Hold on to Your Dreams

In between My Furry Family pieces I stumbled upon a beautiful, inspirational quote, and so I drew this:

"When you have a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go." -Carol Burnett

Here's a close-up of the little bear who helped me illustrate this beautiful quote.

I wanted to add a simple, subtle background. I sort of like how this turned out, although I'm not sure I'm 100% there yet.

Another close-up of Mr. Bear.

I hope you like it! And don't forget to hold on to your dreams!