Ever Shrinking Art

Even the largest avalanche is triggered by small things. -Vernor Vinge

On Saturday, I taught my "Ever Shrinking Art" class at Quilters Quest in Woodridge, to a great group of women. Joy left before I took this photo. I think they did great! We started by making postcards then moved to making ATCs and finally inchies.  I remember thinking that I could never make tiny pieces of art and now I just love it! And I love that I can now get other people to love it too. I hope that I gave my wonderfully creative students an avalanche of ideas and inspiration.

My small group that did trades has disband so I decided to join the Artistcellar ATC Facebook swap. I kept it simple. The only rule was that you had to use an Artistcellar stencil so I wanted to make sure that my stenciling was apparent. Lisa Cousineau, the owner, lives close--Wheaton, but we have never met. I do love her "Art is Not an Option" bag that I use all the time. Isn't that a great message.  I am trading 5 for 5 so obviously I made an extra. I'm keeping the "love" one because I tried using paint with the stencil and while I like the look, it does not look like the stencil. It will become a Valentine. Cannot wait to see what everyone else has done.

Tonight I am off to give my first clay presentation--"Gone to Pot: a Little History and a Few Technique" at the Lemont Artists Guild. I am bringing different kinds of clay for everyone to touch plus a whole bunch of pottery to show including shards that I dug up at an archaeological site (with permission) when I lived in Aruba. I feel it is important for me to continue to do things that push my comfort zone. What are you doing to get outside your comfort zone?

The Passing of Time and the Necessity for Change

When Franki Kohler shared that Postmark'd Art had turned 10 years old in June, I was surprised. As a charter member (there are only 6 of us left), I had not realized that 10 years had passed. What does that say about me?

Postmark'd Art provided me with a wonderful opportunity to grow in a supportive community. I also made some wonderful friends and was treated to some pretty incredible art.

For this round, I signed up for the "symbols" group. It will be my last trade with the group. Leaving was not an easy decision but a necessary one. I realize that I need to focus on making meaningful art and that I am not going to live forever so it is time to let some things go. I highly recommend getting involved in some kind of trading art group. Have you belonged to one?

I rust dyed the background fabric then lightly painted some of the areas to make the tone-on-tone checkered pattern more noticeable.  The palmistry hand is an old wood block print which I used TAP (transfer artist paper) to apply (text too). The two additional fabrics are a batik and a piece of blue linen. It was fun to make and I hope all who receive the card are happy. Now I will work through my bittersweet feelings.

Inspiration Struck- No Joking

I was so amazed that my suggested theme, Deck of Cards, for the new round of trades for Postmark'd Art was embraced by more than half the members! This round we are doing the suit of hearts with a joker added. I got the joker! I was so excited because I knew instantly what I wanted to do.  I bought this rubberstamp by All Night Media, Inc. more years ago than I can remember. It took me a while to track it down and I am not even sure the company exists anymore. If I remember correctly Plaid Industries bought them Anyway, inspiration struck and I answered! I am happy with my postcard and it feels good to be done just a couple of days into the trade. Hopefully my playing card will make those who receive them happy. I like the message too! I certainly have had moments lately where I have needed to lighten up. How about you?

I have been asked often why I like making small art. This is especially asked by people who cannot imagine being able to create anything interesting that is small. I think any time we do something often, we get better at it. For me, it is not just about creating but being able to share. By sharing/belonging to exchange groups, I am also exposed to new ideas and different styles. Creating small art is fun, doesn't take a lot of time most of the time and it keeps my creative juices flowing.

This is my contribution to Off the Wall Fridays.

Life Can Change Quickly

I want to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbably beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.
-excerpt from "Starlings in Winter" by Mary Oliver

Late this afternoon I got word that my mother-in-law is dying. She has had Alzheimer's for more than 15 years and has not known any of her loved ones for more than 10. She is in hospice, in a coma and cannot swallow. Hopefully her passing will happen quickly. She is dying the death she most feared- the death of her mother.  I decided that I needed to concentrate on something so I decided to make my collage postcards for Postmark'd Art. When I finished, I realized that the cards reflected my mood (grey, yet hopeful) and that art does save. Make sure you hug someone you love tomorrow.

Running Full Speed with an Idea

An 8" x 6" journal page for a journal exchange, created a desire to explore using the image of Mother Nino (I've never heard a Georgian refer to her as St. Nino but she is a saint in the Georgian Orthodox Church and I have visited her grave.) in more art. I'd like to thank Helen Lindton for causing this journey. I don't think I would ever have created any of this art if her journal had not been about icons. And while I love icons, I've never created any art using them.

Part of the reason I wanted to continue to explore was I was not entirely satisfied with the journal page. That's what I get for not entirely planning things before I start gluing!

The next step was to create a 6" x 4" postcard.  I have joined Shannon Ganshorn's International Postcard Swap V 3.0 (encouraged by my friend Marie Z. Johansen). We have to make 10 postcards and mail them to 10 different people. I love the idea of being exposed to art created by other people. I'm particularly interested in art being created outside the US. I thought if the postcard worked out that I would have one less postcard to make. By the way, there's still time to join in the fun! They just need to be mixed media creations.

Next I created a 2.5" by 3.5" ATC (artist trading card). Arts in the Cards theme for our January trade is verdigri. The background of the ATC is from a photograph of a patina part of a building that I took in one of my trips to Georgia which seemed perfect on so many levels. I love the way this background works for both the theme and the card. I'm a very literal person so being able to come up with art that is not literal to the theme makes me very happy. Also I'm done early so less January stress! Of course, this is creating more December stress but I truly believe one needs to listen and answer the call to create when it happens (if at all possible).

Last night I became inspired once more. This time I made a small quilt (7" x 9").  The transfers were printed on silk habotai. Georgia was part of the silk route so I thought this was appropriate. It was the first time I worked with using silk habotai for transfers. It has a great hand but the background colors bleed through. For the most part this was okay except for the image of her head covering around her shoulders. This presented me with the challenge of fixing a problem. I'm actually quite happy that this accident occurred! I like the look I was able to achieve.

So which one do you like the best?

Don't forget to enter my blog giveaway! (see below)

I have gotten a glimpse of some of the 12/12/12 Project quilts and all I can say is "Wow!" I am going to have to definitely step up my game! Thanks! You still have time to join in the fun. Details are here. Make it a creative day!

Mind Mapping

One of themes for this (our 16th) round for Postmark'd Art was "Maps." I decided to do a play on Mind Mapping which is a diagram used to visually outline information. I had learned mind maps from a journal class I took from Corless Brown Ferrara in 1993. Being a strongly visual person, mind maps are a great tool. Of course, the minute I finished my postcards I found the perfect brain material in my stash.

I love serendipity. Writer Elizabeth Berg said, "Sometimes serendipity is just intention unmasked." I was looking through the December/January issue of Quilting Arts Magazine and was pleasantly surprised to discover that they are having a Reader Challenge called "Map It Out." Check out page 70.  And while I have hundreds of things that I should be doing, I decided to get right to work on my quilt. Here is what I have so far. Please let me know if you decide to enter a quilt too!

Ransom Note Postcard

I am bone tired and still feeling a need to be creative. I don't know what it is about cutting letters and words out of magazines but it makes me happy. As a member of Postmark'd Art, I was thrilled when Typography was one of this round's themes. I hadn't planned to make another ransom note and yet it seemed like the perfect activity for today. I sat on my couch, watched old movies and created this postcard. It's just the first step. I have to decide whether to use TAP (Transfer Artist Paper) or print it directly to fabric. Too tired to decide tonight. Happy and hope I can get a good night's sleep. Here's to creative dreams for all of us.

Zentangle Inspired Threads Skull

I joined Postmark'd Art in the beginning because the idea of making fiber postcards intrigued me. I've stayed because it provides me opportunities to grow and try new things in a supportive environment and because I am exposed to so many amazing artists. I signed up for the Zentangle Inspired Threads group because it was so different for anything I had ever done. If you don't know anything about Zentangle, do check it out. While I purchased their starter kit, I haven't spent much time playing with it. Basically, it's a fun kind of doodling.

I gave myself the added challenge of trying to do a shape. I love skulls so I drew one and used it for my postcards. Yesterday I went to the satellite post office in a local pharmacy. The kid behind the counter could not believe I had made them and wanted to look at them some before putting them in the box. Hopefully they will make it to their destinations. If not, I got a teenage boy to track down. I will admit to a couple of moments of "what was I thinking?" and that I am really happy with how they turned out. I included a quote on the back "Locked in each human skull is a little world all it's own." by Robert Tusker which seemed appropriate.