Free Christmas Collage Sheets

Visit Lisa Volthraith's wonderful "6th Annual Original Printables Holiday Countdown" at http://countdown.tentwostudios.com for Free Christmas Collage Sheets.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to all of my family, friends and readers! Have A Fabulous Day! The Extravagant Heart Valentine decoration is an original design by yours truly. I created it using gold chenille stems twisted into heart shapes that surround a music paper heart that I hand painted. The medallion in the center of the heart is a pendant I found at the thrift store. I accordian folded burgundy silk ribbon to set off the medallion. Ribbons are individually looped and glued inside of each heart. I hope you enjoy your visual Valentine!

Funky Art Doll

In October I taught a Mixed Medium class for 4th-6th graders at the Art Place, an arts center in Marietta, Georgia. I had four wonderful students! It is so much fun to teach a small group of kids. My Funky Art Doll assemblage was inspired by Opie & Linda O'Brien. Our final project in the class was our assemblage doll. They all turned out fantastic. The bonus for me was that I created my own assemblage as an example for the students. I have been wanting to create an assemblage doll for ages. Isn't she great! I had a ball creating her. I still have not come up with a fitting name for her. Do you have any ideas?

Synchronicity

Merriam Webster defines synchronicity as the coincidental occurrence of events and/or mental images of an unexpected event before it happens that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality —used especially in the psychology of C. G. Jung. I believe that synchronicity means that when I put creative energy and actions into the world that I attract positive opportunities to my life. For the last 8 months I have been doing just that. Many exciting things are happening in my life! Monday I received the wonderful news that I will be teaching the art workshop, Creating Inner Child Archetype Cards, for the Women Within Community Weekend in Elmer, N.J. April 29-May1, 2011. I am so excited! My friend, Julia Speer, will be the Keynote Speaker and Facilitator for the weekend. If you don't know about Women Within check out their website. I absolutely love to teach art workshops. One of my greatest loves and strengths is helping women tap into their creative potential.

So what do the photos above have to do with synchronicity? I started this blog 2 years ago with Valentine postcards I created for a swap with Latest Trends in Mixed Media Art. I created the Valentine ATC's above for this year's swap with Latest Trends. So much has happened in my life. Doors have closed and new ones have opened. Last May it was very difficult to believe new doors would open when I found out I had been laid off from my art teaching position with Cobb County Schools after 17 years of service. I was devastated!!! Today I am releasing my feelings of pain, rejection and inadequacy for my feelings of excitement, joy, and happiness. I attract abundance and artistic success to my life through my creative energy and confidence. In my renewed commitment to my blog, I will be sharing more of my artistic journey with you in my posts.

Goddess Tiaras

This past Sunday, Julia and I got together and had an art play day creating Goddess Tiaras. We had a ball as you can see by the photos! Check out Julia's website. She creates incredible ceramic sculptures and leads two women's growth retreats a year. The next retreat is April 8-10, 2011 in north Georgia.

This 9" x 12" altered book's theme is based on an acrostic using my first name, LINDA.

L ife
I bis
N aiad
D alhia
A dventure

I painted the covers, photo 1, with gesso. Next I built up many colors of acrylic paint. Then I glued down pieces of torn tissue paper, netting, ribbon, clip art to represent all the words above, mica, puzzle pieces, corrugated cardboard pieces, lettering, and feathers. Photo 2 is on the title page and was inspired by a Claudine Hellmuth collage. The background is soft pastels-light blue, lavender, and white-from Lyra-Aquacolor crayons. The main image is a photo of one of my favorite sculptures, The Winged Victory of Samothrace, which I saw in the Louvre one summer during my high school years (The real sculpture is missing her neck and head). I used her to represent the word, Naiad. I stamped the letter "N" in white all around the sculpture. I printed out the definition of naiad, tore around it and aged it with brown shoe polish. The wings are edged with real buttons. I finished Victory off with a crown created from the tin of a tea candle. On the left page, Photo 3, I utilized the large color picture of trees, original to the book, in my composition. The right page is half of a double spread of heavy cream colored tracing paper that I sewed into the book with a 4-hole pamphlet stitch through the inside edge of the title page.

This "Delicate Nest" altered book was begun in a workshop with Catherine Moore, artist and owner of Character Constructions stamps. I completed the front cover, photo 1, in the workshop. Then I went home and immediately finished the back cover, photo 6, with my own original collage ideas. Over many weeks I decorated the double page spreads above with collage and drawing. Photo 2 is the front inside cover and title page. Photo 3 is a 2-page spread commemorating John James Audubon, the famous American bird artist. I glued light blue tissue paper over the book text. Then I drew the trees with Lyra-Aquacolor crayons. The birds, portrait of Audubon, and other images are clip art. Photo 4 is a 2-page spread with a typed description of Nature Journaling on the left and my written description of the workshop on the right side. Photo 5 is a 2-page spread which I titled "Lady Catherine of Jubilee" in honor of Catherine Moore. The paper doll lady on the right page was designed by Catherine. I cut her out and put her together in a "Make-In-Take" at the same Altered Jubilee Convention where I took this workshop. The backgrounds of both pages were created digitally and printed on tracing paper. Most of the collage images are from clip art and magazines. The Bird Woman painting at an easel in the upper left corner of the left page was created with one of Catherine's La Belle Epoque Character Construction stamps.

I created these two "Teacher Collages" as gifts for teachers who were retiring from Mountain View Elementary School where I taught art for 10 years. For many years, I facilitated a group of teachers who volunteered to create collages as a gift for each teacher who was retiring from Mtn. View. The focal point of each collage was a wonderful poem commemorating teachers. I printed the poem on transparent vellum. Each teacher artist either cut or tore out the poem. The background was scrapbook paper with a variety of torn papers, magazine and clip art images, embellished with ribbon, beads, buttons, etc. I developed the "Teacher Collages" through the inspiration of a colleague who wanted to recognize retiring teachers in a more memorable way than buying a gift.

"Vignettes of White" is 28" x 36" mixed-media collage which I created from being inspired by a Somerset Studio magazine challenge. The base is Arches Cover paper with paint, tissue paper, magazine images, photographs layered and embellished with lace, buttons, a buckle, ribbon, and plastic mesh. I stitched the edges of the collage with white satin ribbon.

"3 Sisters" is a 5" x 7" beeswax collage featuring myself, center, and my two sisters, Barbara Carol, on my left, and Ginny, on my right. The photo was taken in Greenville, S.C. on the first trip the 3 of us took together as adults. We had an incredible time!

"Amanda" is a beeswax collage that I created in Claudine Hellmuth's class. It is an 8" x 10" canvas featuring my maternal Grandmother, Amanda Keck Diebel. The central photo is of Amanda as a little girl, all dressed up in her finery. Upper left is a photo of Amanda in her nurses uniform. Lower left is a photo of Amanda with her two children, my Mother, Barbara Diebel Greiss and my Aunt, Ruth Diebel Timte. The entire collage is attached with beeswax. The background is layered first with tissue paper and then floral paper to suggest antique wallpaper. I then tore strips of the floral paper away to reveal the tissue paper.

Incredible Women

Today I found this incredible photograph of Victorian Women Friends on Karen's blog the Graphics Fairy. I just had to share it with you. The photo just makes you want to smile! If you don't know about Karen's blog you have to go visit. She offers daily wonderful clip art images for your personal use.

Steampunk Doll Head

I am taking a Steampunk Doll class from Chaska Peacock with her Creative Sparks Group.
Georgina Diaz is the guest teacher who designed the doll from which the class was created.
The photo is my doll head which I have created from polymer clay. The lips are painted with Golden acrylics. The horns are embellished with silver wire and watch parts. Stay tuned for more photos as I continue making the doll.

June ATC

This is the Artist Trading Card I created for the June swap with The Latest Trends in Mixed Media Yahoo Group. The theme for this month is the sea. My ATC is about the second "Cliff House" in San Francisco that was a major tourist attraction in the late 1800's.

Fashioned after a French chateau, the second Cliff House opened in February of 1896 and boasted eight stories, four spires, and an observation tower 200 feet above sea level. Though never a hotel, it served as an elegant site for dining, dancing, and entertainment. The third floor held a photo gallery, reception room, and multiple parlors with beautiful panoramic views. The second floor held 20 private lunchrooms, an art gallery, and a gem exhibit. At ground level, there was a large dining room, parlor, bar, numerous private dining rooms, and the kitchens. This exquisite building had survived the 1906 earthquake only to succumb to a raging fire that destroyed it in less than two hours.

Birds & Zentangle ATC

This is the ATC I created for the May Gothic Arch swap for my Latest Trends Group. I had a lot of fun creating this ATC. I did Zentangles with my high school students the last week of school. This inspired me to create the Gothic Arch Frame for my ATC. Then I used bird scrapbook papers for the background and the colored cut out birds glued to the frame. The black and white birds were clip art from The Vintage Moth and The Graphics Fairy. The string in the bird's beak was made by coloring cardstock with markers and cutting a thin strip with an x-acto knife. I tried thread but could not get the effect I wanted. The cardstock curled as I cut it which was neat.

Paintings by My Students

These are some paintings in the style of famous artists that some of my high school art students created as an advanced project on ceiling tiles this year. I think they did a superb job! They laid out the main background shapes in pencil first. Then they painted the background colors in tempera paint. Layers of colors were built up until the correct depth was created. Finally the details were painted.