If you're in the Murfreesboro area...

i will be teaching an encaustic painting workshop at Moxie Art Supply & Studio School on January 29th from 10am-2pm. Most supplies will be provided, and the workshop will cost $25. i would love to see some of my old friends there, and maybe some of you that i have not met in person yet!

($25) Saturday January 29^th, 10:00am-2:00pm

Encaustic painting uses various types of wax, paint and ephemera to create multi-layered works. This class is for anyone interested in learning the various techniques of encaustic painting. You will be given most of the materials you will need and can take away as many pieces as you can finish! Topics covered will include:

History
Image transfer
Collage
Mixed Media
Heating techniques
Alternative (cheaper) Materials

Art students, enthusiasts and community members of any age are welcome! Come learn an exciting and different technique and build your portfolio and experience!

Materials Required

· At least one large Natural fiber brush, not synthetic! These will not withstand the heat!

· Any collage materials; black and white photos, clip art, scrapbook paper, newspaper, etc.

· Any kind of stylus (wooden spoons work fine! Any kind of blunt handheld wooden tool!)

· Fine Grit Sandpaper (recommended)

· Sponge

· Any kind of incising tool (toothpicks, clay tools, pizza cutters, etc. ) be creative! Everything works differently!

Encaustic painting gives the artist the opportunity to work on many different visual levels while maintaining a 2-dimensional work. It is highly versatile and can incorporate endless materials. Please join us to see your imagination will interpret all of the various possibilities!

MOXIE ART SUPPLY AND ART STUDIO

316 N. Maple Street, Murfreesboro, TN 37130 615.849.1131

Home Insecurity

finally finished this piece! it's been in the working for about...4 months? hard to make art when school is in, too much other art to be made for grades. but here it is: Home
Insecurity.





This piece started with a tiny little grandfather clock from a thrift shop. it was the first piece to make its home here. i knew that i wanted to use two other items for this; a small Harbor Breeze bauble, i think it's from a fan, and the rusted key hole from the rusted door i used in my Phrenology piece.


the next things to come in were a broken fork and a weird shaped cork. i wrapped some extra fluffy yarn around the fork like spaghetti, and i kind of liked it, but i wasn't sure where i was going with that. i decided to place it behind a tiny piece of glass that i got from a friend who used to work at Lowe's and would give me glass shards etc. i placed a fortune cookie behind the glass with the form that says "you are talented in many ways". i do love using fortune cookies.



the next box i worked on included the puppy and button. this section was supposed to include a few more comforting items, but still ones that were broken or tethered.
next i filled the bottom center box with broken mirrors, tacks, a key, some wire, and a card stock "h".


the last section i completed is my favorite: the center. i found a mutilated doll at Goodwill and used its torso. this section had been half finished forever and i was very surprised when that doll bit was exactly what i needed. last i added a wonderful cog that i salvaged from an old clock. i love this section because it has a very mechanical feel to it with the rusted key hole, gear, and the ball chain of the bauble.


this piece was made to portray the stress and tension in a broken home, which is a subject that interests me. i used all household items (basically anything, not like fairy tales or space). it was difficult to make this piece unified because of all the different colors of my items, but i feel that it was successful in the end.

Sandpainting

time to share a project from my Secondary Education project. for this, we had to use paint and sand on burlap to show a theme from nature. i used the theme of the life cycle. i wanted to paint a new tree growing from a rotten log, but i couldn't get the log right. :/
so i made an ambiguous tree, which could be just newly growing or dying. i also used the colors in the back to be ambiguous, either dawn or dusk.
the back ground is metallic paint mixed with sand and glitter. the tree and background silhouettes are sewn on with yarn and thread. then i added the quote, "to the artist, nothing is ever ugly in nature".
finally i added some leaf beads. i am happy with the result and i'm glad to have a school project that reflects my style.

Hollow Books

For me, the biggest compliment i could receive is someone saying that i have inspired them. so when a long time family friend of my fiance's, who is a very great and successful artist, messaged me and said that she was inspired by my work to finish a project that was years in the making, i was so excited! so i thought i would take a moment to share the work of Lindsey Heath.

She created 2 assemblages in hollow books using 2D and 3D elements. i love her use of thread and buttons in these pieces. i also love the she incorporated some of her own drawn artwork into the piece. she is very successful in minimalistic compositions, which is a weak area for me. i always seem to think my work is too bare or too plain, but she has a nice balance of positive and negative space here. gorgeous work!

Turkey turkey turkey

made some time for turkey making with Nelson this week! we cut out our hands from construction paper and glued poms and pipe cleaners and google eyes to make super cute turkeys! but they wouldn't stand by themselves, so we made bases for them. here are our turkeys!
of course the kitty had to make it difficult by attacking all of the materials while we were making them, but that's what kitties are for. so i made him a cute kitty scarf (pics to come).

and here is my boy with his turkey, so proud!

art paying off

happy news! yesterday i was informed that i had won the art education scholarship at mtsu! for this, you need to turn in an application, an essay, a lesson plan and 2 original artworks. i chose to turn in Assemblage 64 and Series 1/4: Projection.

this was just the push i needed to remind me of what i'm doing in college and that i can be successful. and now i think i can manage the strength to finish all this schoolwork!

making assemblages for class??? ok!

finally! people who get me are making lessons for my classes! in our secondary education class, the students make their own lesson plans and those are the studio projects we do that semester. my friend kelly made a lesson based on Joseph Cornell and used idea of secrets as a theme. so we were to make assemblages from cardboard boxes we made ourselves to convey a secret of ours. my secret was that i loved fashion. i've always been kind of an anti-girl kind of girl and pretend to not care about clothes....but secretly i love love fashion. so that was my box theme! i made some tiny bunting to go across the top and used a gold painted barbie doll as my mannequin. about a week earlier, i pick up a fabric sample book from a consignment shop (only $4!) and used many of those for my background. the mesh was added to break up the space and the zipper was put on for interest, and it did become one of my favorite parts of the piece!

Alter-It Monthly: Dominoes

i was super excited about this month's theme! and i took it as an opportunity to finish a piece i started about a year ago. i also finally used some of the itty bitty clock pieces i found in an old watch. i started by going over the piece with a semi-transparent gold. then i used an amazing $1 stamp from Michael's for the clock on the front. i inserted some tiny screws into the button holes and added the little clock gears. finally, i sprinkled some gold glitter (nothing's complete without glitter) and wrapped the cover with copper wire.
i stamped the inside pages with some more $1 stamps to finish. i am very happy with it and glad that it is finally finished. :)

amazing stamp find/start of school

so yesterday i went to Michael's to get some new tim holtz sprockets, but they were doing inventory and were completely out of them! arg! however, inventory also means discount bins! so i got these amazing stamps for only $1 each! yayy! so i'm going to make an atc featuring each stamp. i also got some cute new bottles and metallic glitter. can't wait to get started on these new projects, but school is starting next week, so my crafting time will soon plummet to nearly none. so just in case i don't get on here for another month or so, thanks everyone for all of your wonderful comments and advice and giving me an amazing summer project. ♥

what i love this week....

art journals! the one above can be found at izabella's tattered letters. i've designed a few journal covers and finished one complete altered journal. i guess what i love most about these projects are the layers. there is no limit on how much or how little you can add to these things, and they still look amazing.
i think this is my most "professional" looking journal cover. the girl is a collaged piece onto a painted diamond background. then i used a gold crayon for some swirls, and that's it!
this piece was another of my first ones, and for some reason i thought that it was an excellent idea to take a picture before the glue dried, so ignore the glue spots. it is a painted background, no stamps. the i collaged on some clock parts and circuit board along with a gold part of a clock face with the word "art" inside connected to a gold chain. the i added an old belt that no longer fits to bind it all together.
this is the cover to my completed journal. it is collaged wallpaper with an octopus drawn on, ha. it also has some painted speckled on there. it is bound with a super cute sparkly pink belt that i loved. the spine is decorated with yarn, ribbon and beads and feathers, that's my favorite part.
this one was my first altered journal. it is green with collaged chinese newspaper and some drawings on the side. then i embellished it with some buttons, mirrors, letters, wire and beads.



i love how puffy these books get when they are filled with writings, souvenirs, and all sorts of collage elements. i also love the decorated spines.

altered journals are one of my favorite projects and is definitely a project i want to incorporate into my classroom. it's a project that can easily be very beautiful and personal. for some of the most amazing journals i have seen, because of subject matter, craftsmanship and originality, you should visit Luthien's Pimp & Paint.

field researcher's journal

as i was looking through everything i have created on here, i realized that i have no nature pieces! anyone who knows me would know that that's a peculiar thing. usually, all of my art is nature themed. i guess i've been trying to get away from it, but here is one!
this assemblage piece has undergone a looong process to get here. first it was white and red for a circus themed piece, wasn't feeling it. then it was kiwi lime for an apothecary theme, not enough materials or inspiration. and finally it was antique gold with the green showing through. and it became a nature theme.
the first element added was the cedar tree needles from my yard. then i wrapped it with some hemp and tagged that with some parchment paper. that started the inspiration for the rest of the piece!
the top left square contains a red leaf and a gold frog that i was actually inspired to use by a Hels Sheridan piece. she used a painted frog on her altered key tin and made me realize that there is something i can do with all those rubber animals i acquired throughout my childhood.
the next square down has all the things i would imagine the researcher to use; collection bottles, paper, etc.
the bottom square is a nest made of feathers that hold a golden snail shell that i had actually prepared for a necklace that was never made.
the large center space holds the first piece; that pit of cedar needles. i used the red tint in that as inspiration for my red, gold and green color palette.
the bottom square has a rubber fish that is wrapped in hemp and thread and mounted on a bug eaten leaf.the top right square contains a rock with thread and a tag that reads "0098", kind of like it's marking the place where it was found or the order in which to file it.
below that is another nest made of dead lawn clippings, ha, that holds a little acorn.
the last space is covered with faux researcher notes and diagrams on parchment with a styrofoam bee mounted. (took me forever to find that bee, he was in the same spot for 3 years and of course i move it a month before i actually want to use it.)

the color palette is really what brings this all together. i have been working on a Louise Nevelson
lesson plan and was inspired by her monochromatic works. i didn't want to go as far as her, but i did reference it a bit in the areas where the objects are the same color as the background (fish, frog, snail)

music themed art

this is my piece for this month's Alter-It Monthly challenge: music.

it is a simple domino piece. i spray painted it gold and trimmed the edges with some music scrapbook paper and the bottom with a beaded ribbon. then i added some swirly stamps to the back ground and a little glitter glaze.
next, i added a treble clef sticker. i wanted to use wrapping in this piece, but with a different material. i used black thread to wrap the piece and kind of simulate the feel of a music staff. (i had tried to image transfer a music staff to the background, but it wouldn't take. :/)
next, i made a small flower from some sheet music and used a blue bead for the center. i was going to use a gold and sepia color theme only, but when i painted onto the sheet music, the ink bled and gave a blueish tint to places. so i accented it with a blue bead.
last, i added some gold paint for dots in the corners and some text, "sing". and it is seen here propped against some lovely vintage singing lesson books.

and of course, there is never a project that my little kitty Zoot doesn't try to sabotage. this time i was lucky enough to get a picture of him in the act, destroying my meticulously stacked pile of sheet music.

i also made another piece for this challenge, an altered can. i made it before the domino, but decided that it had been a while since i had done a domino project that i changed my mind!

for this can, i painted it gold and added the same ribbon and beads to the top. i made some larger flowers from sheet music and used buttons as the center.
then i added some music note stickers (i have a ton of music things, my fiance is a music student). finally, i added some black thread running around the top and bottom.

because my fiance is a music student, i have made plenty of music themed art for him and i feel like sharing!
so for his birthday a couple years ago, i made him this wall hanging of a saxophone (his instrument). it is made of MDF plywood, painted black with gold accents made from bristol board.

over the summer, i made this little piece, about 4"x6". it is an encaustic piece. the background is orange encaustic paint and all of the images are transfers.

WOYWW

this is my first WOYWW. i was just so overwhelmed at all the different projects i have going at once that i thought i would share! usually my desk is cleaned up after every project. but this time, every project has ended at about 3am, so i just left it. currently, i have a doll head, a painting, and two assemblages in progress, with no real idea of where they are headed. just part of the adventure i guess. i've never done an art doll before, so i'm pretty excited to see what happens to that head. :)

what i love this week....

literature pieces! this piece was inspired by a pendant i found at Agnes the Red Gallery a year or so ago, pictured above. i love the simplicity of this piece and the use of found materials.

my piece was made with bundled newspaper as the base. i added some plastic sprockets and a metal "L". then i used glue and gold glitter for some swirls and dots (feeling very glittery at the moment). then i used some gold jewelry wire and the copper wire from inside the clocks to wrap the piece. it is all held together with a copper plate and some tie wire at the top. last, i used some brown suede cord to hang it.

this is a very different piece for me, i've never worked with paper before. but of course, it still has my style and is obviously a beth-like piece.

things with wings

inspired by bug collections and the completely adorable Agitha from Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, (btw, if you haven't played you should, and if you have then i'm sure you'll agree that her house if the most gorgeous and wonderfully whimsical bohemian place ever. i want her house so bad.) i decided to make this piece with butterflies for the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge.

i started with some wonderful black and cream wallpaper i found in a sample book. then i used some music note scrapbook paper from hobby lobby and some gorgeous chipboard butterflies. probably one of the most simple pieces i've done, but it's beautiful and classic.

what i love this week....

bottles! i have been wanting to do a new bottle project, but the inspiration isn't coming! so i'm re-exploring some old projects, and you get to see them too! the one above can be found at Scrapbooking.com and was the inspiration for my first altered bottle.
for this bottle, i used white masking tape and covered the whole surface. then i used a gold and brown mixture all over and a sharpie for the black swirls. next i added some rebar wire (spray painted gold) and beads to the top. i also painted the stopper gold and added a clear stone in the center. next, i added a flower made from newspaper with a button as the center.
i plan to use this bottle as an element in a larger work sometime.


another previous bottle work i had done was a mother's day present. this one was inspired by the piece to the left at Rubber Road Adventures.

for mine, i used gold, masking tape and swirlies again. then i made some flower stems from rebar wire and mounted pictures of my siblings and i on different flower cut shapes made from cardboard, coasters and newspaper. then i added some fake plants as fillers. i decorated the outside of the vase with buttons, flowers, glass shards and beads. i also added some flowers i made from scrapbook paper and felt.