Tuesday, March 25, 2014

The First "I Made This" Monday!

Yesterday, one of my favorite creative divas, Jamie Ridler, started a fun new blog share on her site, called
I MADE THIS!
"Each Monday here in the studio, I’ll invite you to share what you’ve made over the week before. It can be anything – a flower arrangement, a crocheted cap, a painting, a poem, a party, an outfit, a cake! Show what you made and tell us a bit about what the experience was like for you. What inspired you? What did you learn? How were you challenged? What did you love? 
And hey, if you want to share the inspiration, the pattern, the recipe, 
the kinds of supplies you used, we'll all be the richer for it!"

So last week in my studio, I spent most of my time finishing up detail work on mixed media collages I have been working on over the past month or so. I finished TWENTY THREE pieces, including photographing and posting them on my website Laurie Richardson Creates, as well as submitting to several local "call for art" postings on Craigslist, and to the Northwest Collage Society's Annual Juried Spring Exhibit. (fingers crossed for acceptance!)
The collage I am sharing here today for the first I MADE THIS blog share is one that is quite different from the style I usually create. I had a dream about making this piece, and I am pretty pleased that it turned out very close to what I saw in that dream, even though I must admit to having my doubts along the path of the process!
This piece was made using a 16 x 20 stretched canvas, which I purchased for $2 at a thrift store. Canvas can be so pricey, so I like to find already painted on ones  for re-purposing into my artwork. It is much less expensive, as well as a way to utilize my love of making new things out of the old, which is what I strive to practice in most of my collage creations. I mainly use things like old magazines, found objects, recycled paper and packaging, thrift store book pages, handwritten papers, etc. as elements in my work. 
For this piece, I first applied various colors of Ranger brand Tim Holtz "Adirondack Brights" alcohol inks to the existing painting (basically just squirting it randomly here and there on the canvas!) and then covered the entire canvas with black acrylic paint (cheapo kind from Michaels). After it dried completely, I used a ceramic tool to scrap the letters/word "be" into the paint, and then used fine sandpaper in and all around the letters, to reveal a bit of the underlying alcohol inks and original painting. I then used Liquitex Matte Gel Medium to affix various descriptive words I had cut out of magazines, following the lines and curves of the two letters. I am a collector of all things ephemera, so always have several shallow boxes filled with various cut out words and phrases to choose from for use in my art. (You probably don't want to leave me alone with any magazines or books you cherish, especially if there are also scissors within my reach, lol!) After adding all of the words, I then used a silver Sharpie marker to draw the arrows following the path of the letters. I finished with a very light coat of Tulip "Diamond Glitter" Dimensional Fabric Paint and then sprayed a coat of Rustoleum Matte Finish spray to seal and protect.
Even though this is different from my usual style, I really like how it turned out, and feel that it conveys the message I was wanting to share: that you have the power and ability to be so many different things, and that I believe, in fact, that everyone posses many if not all of these descriptive qualities- some at the same time, some more often than others, some possibly only rarely. But the most important thing is just to be who and what you are, and we are all many different things at different times. I do realize that I purposely used pretty much all positive and affirming words as the descriptive qualities, because I think it is important to focus on and let those "higher self/good" qualities be the ones to aspire to, seek out within, and strive to embody in order to inspire and brighten the world (and yourself!) through living and BEing!

Here is a list of the words used in my collage:
"happy, spirit, perfection, inspirational, sophisticated, evolving, yourself, more, different, new, needed, your best, complete, home, mega, radiant, big, reasonable, active, better, clear, fair, all that, connected, rockin', invigorating, strong, nice, still, irresistable, open, intriguing, outstanding, successful, decadent, wild, classic, bright, effective, super, healthy, charistmatic, childlike, free, funny, confidence, necessary, natural, creative, iconic, alert, generous, thoughtful, well, stylish, exceptional, majestic, useful, pretty, hope,wonder,passion, special, true, transformative, ready, caring, change, delight, beautiful, available, stellar, weird, high-quality, you, balance, good, perfect, giving, ravishing, magical, deep,comfort, next, important, one, cool, peaceful, romantic, artistic, power, breathless, great, wise, delicious, found, empowering, love, colorful, unforgettable, relaxing, friendly, excitement, stunning, sensitive, unique, polished, otherworldly, timeless, powerful, the one, bold, lucky, knowing, kind, clever, interested, ambitious, amazing, cooperative, innovative, up-and-coming, edgy, something, fabulous, refreshing, independent, spontaneous, sweet, experimental, united, funky, hilarious, shimmering, elegant, great, energized, alive, soothing, real, carefree, fancy, pure, incomparable, prepared, subtle, satisfied, mysterious, enticing, dedicated."

Do you see yourself in any of these words? Do you see words you would like to BEcome? Any words you would NOT like to be? What are your favorite words to describe yourself? What words would others use to describe YOU?

Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful week and remember to BE yourself!
Happy Me, Laurie.

3 comments:

  1. I love this idea for a collage and the simple word BE that is so powerful!

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  2. I really like your choice of words. Thanks for including how you did the collage.

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  3. Laurie, I love the way you share your creative process... I am looking forward to seeing your work I am also a mixed media artist and use a lot of "green" material in my work... Right now I am creating Eco Jewelry and transforming material and it is amazing I feel like an alchemist. Joy

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