Mr.Turkey Struts His Stuff!

Mr. Turkey thinks he's hot stuff- he has no idea how hot he'll be in the oven next week! This guy is pretty safe since he's just made of decorative papers. I like to doodle when I watch TV and then I scan them into Adobe to use as background papers in collages. I printed about 10 different patterns with different densities of marks to have a full range of values. Using a master turkey drawing, I cut all the parts from the different doodles. They were reassembled and colored with acrylic glazes. I used transparent colors like Payne's Gray and Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide with a lot of medium and built up thin layers of glaze to get the desired colors. Certain areas got touches of gesso and gold leaf to accent. The turkey was layered to turquoise and gold paper with 3D glue dots to give a little dimension then mounted on the red background. An easel back was attached so Mr. Turkey can be used as a Thanksgiving decoration.

Winter Witch on ClothPaperScissors Website

Check out my Winter Witch stuffie on the ClothPaperScissors website.

http://quiltingarts.com/cpsmag/extras/27_winter_Stuffies.html

Halloween Haute Couture

These girls are ready for Halloween in some HOT little outfits! Who knew the dead were so fashionable? These lovely ladies come from a scan of an anatomy drawing from college. The diecut chipboard backgrounds were a $1 Michael's find. Each is covered with torn paper and sheet music. The outfits are an assortment of feathers, fabric and lace scraps and brass findings. They were so much fun to make and a great Halloween treat for friends.

October Beauty

I love autumn and this October has turned into a beauty since we finally got rain here in NC. My fall garden is in its glory and my porch is full of big orange and white pumpkins and gourds. This little decoration celebrates the specialness of October- pumpkins, gorgeous leaves and the warm palette of the season. This tiny collage was made using some paper coasters from Michaels (8 for a $1!!) mounted on a wooden dowel. I copied a vintage postcard then added little snippets from my stash. Stick it in a potted plant or a vase of flowers to add a little reminder of this great time of year.

Halloween is coming!!!

You better be careful- Julius and the The Triplets might know where you live! These unsavory looking characters were scanned from an anatomy drawing I did in college. See- all those tedious studies did come in handy. These guys are framed by purchased scrapbook frames I found on sale. I added adhesive backed ribbon, tags and a collaged background to create this ghoulish family portrait. BOO!

RED!

I love doing color studies. Creating a loose set of parameters can be a good way to push yourself out of your normal patterns. Above are the back and front of a journal about RED. It started by cutting up a bunch of pieced quilt tops I was never going to finish. Each was 7" by 9" wide and I quickly stitched them to cardstock pages just to get started. The sewing machine was threaded with red thread and things just took off from there. I scoured my studio and found the biggest pile of red wonderfulness then googled RED for some great facts and quotes. The whole 12 pages came together in a matter of days- no overthinking or planning, just fun and pure play!

Greeting Card Inventory

I like to have a stockpile of cards that I can use for birthdays, get well or whatever. I'm always cruising the sale aisle in the craft store for plain cards on sale. These make it so much faster to produce a lot of cards -all with matching envelopes. About once a year, I go through the pile of experiments, ATCs and paper scraps in my studio and start making stacks of focal points, pretty papers, stickers, etc. Then, I make stacks of my purchased cards and start matching things up. With everything spread out and in full view, it's easy to put a lot of cards together quickly. As I am finishing each card, I add stickers, ribbon and doodads to spice them up. In one afternoon I can make several dozen cards so I'm ready at a moment's notice to get a greeting in the mail.

The cards above include collage scraps, ATC cards and a beaded leaf that didn't work for its intended project. Now they have a new life as special cards for friends and family.

Published in SOMERSET LIFE

Several of my Pot Pretties will be published in Somerset Life magazine www.stampington.com

The magazine will hit the stands this fall and can be purchased online at the above email address or in most Barnes & Noble bookstores.

These 3" chipboard circles are mounted on wooden dowels and represent each month of the year. They are 2 sided so the complete set has 6 units. I designed these to stick into a potted plant- great if you have a single plant on your desk at work or to gussy up a favorite plant at home. Each little circle has an image representing the highlight of the month with a tiny tag and sweet little embellishments to match. They are small reminders of the changing seasons of the year and the beauty found in each one.

No excuses- Make ATCs

Even if you aren't feeling creative, take a little time and make some ATCs. These little gems are fast and fun at 2.5" by 3.5". Use up paper scraps, try new techniques, get wild with colors. If you don't like the results, you haven't invested much time or materials. It pays to play in art to loosen up your creative spirit and this is a good way to do it. If you like your results, use them on a collage, greeting card or scrapbook page. Examples above include a pleated ribbon, faux postage and embroidered fabric scrap.

Why be BLUE.....

When you could be PURPLE!! This is a page from a mixed media accordian book on purple and all of its glory. The book included 6 Prismacolor drawings of purple flowers, lots of purple paper and all the purple scraps and doodads I could find in my studio!

Winter Witch Stuffie a Finalist!!

My WINTER WITCH stuffie is a finalist in the Reader Challenge from ClothPaperScissors magazine! She's on her way to their offices in MA so wish her luck!!

Mad Scientist in the Studio!!

Took some time this weekend to play with gelatin monoprints. Cheap and fun, you use grocery store clear gelatin and whatever paper, paint or dye you have on hand. I did a thin layer of gelatin in a cookie sheet so I had plenty of room to play with. I used Dr. Martin's colored India inks and Golden fluid acrylics with gloss medium for an extender. I applied the color directly to the gelatin and brayered or fingerpainted it across the surface. To clean up after the colors started getting muddy, I just laid newspaper in the pan and pressed gently.

So far, I've tried 3 paper types for the prints. First, I gathered my ugly paper- you know, the ones in a variety pack that you never use but can't throw away. The colors were transparent enough to allow some of the pattern to show but the the new colorways were much better than the originals. Secondly, I have a whole set of old encyclopedias that I'm using for altered books and other projects. These pages look great when they are overprinted. The text and pictures peek through the color and will make great backgrounds. Finally, I tried paper leaf stencils. I covered the gelatin with paint, then laid the stencils and pulled the print. Then, I overprinted the page with a different colorway. Had some technical problems with the stencils getting stuck so next time I'll use plastic or chipboard stencils and explore this option further.

I want to use as much original paper in my projects as possible and these monoprints are quick, easy and crazy fun! I had paint all over me and half the studio by the time I was done! A couple of hours yielded 30+ sheets of great paper. Now, I will go back through the stack and stamp, stitch and further embellish them to create really special collage components.

I'm in the 2010 ClothPaperScissors Calendar!

My art was selected for OCTOBER in the ClothPaperScissors 2010 calendar!! Autumn Leaves is a mixed media design sewn to a pieced quilt background. The leaves were cut from various decorative papers then glued and sewn to the fabric background. Beading and decorative stitches accent each leaf. It's a beautiful calendar -like everything else from by Interweave Press. Get your copy today at http://www.clothpaperscissors.com/

Book Cover- Putting It All Together

As you can see from previous posts, I am always experimenting, using up scraps and stockpiling collage components. When it's time to create finished pieces, all these piles of things around the studio come in handy. For this book cover, I had muslin that I had gessoed and painted with rainbow colors. The main collage image is a combo of holey paper scraps, colored clipart, an ATC and faux postage. The title piece is 6 kaleidoscopes torn and pasted to an oblong card. The fabric , small collage and faux postage were not made at the same time or to go with each other but when I chose my color scheme and title for the book, I had lots of things to choose from in my design stash. I find that when I experiment and play, the results are much better than when I agonize over just the right thing. Plus, using this method justifies making 50 ATCs at one time just because it's fun!

Fun with Leftovers

My desk tends to pile up with leftover bits and pieces from finished projects. This design is a mishmash of several things. The original background piece was a combo of black and red Tibetan paper with my kaleidoscopes collaged all over it. All the rectangles were cutouts for faux postage. The resulting holey background was too cool to toss so I glued it to some painted newspaper experiments. This got moved from place to place in my studio while I thought about all those holes. In the meantime, I had been doodling up a storm at night watching TV. I decided to cut up the doodles and fill in the holes. Once that was done, a scrap of turquoise painted muslin caught my eye and I ripped strips for each side. The total piece is 14" x 14". Now, I'm considering stitching the muslin strips down and adding Sharpie doodles to them to relate back to the center. I may use the whole piece as a journal cover or cut it up for smaller projects. These experimental pieces are the play that leads to great ideas. There are no preconceptions to hold you back and you're just using leftover stuff anyway so if it ends up being a flop- you toss it or cut it up.

Green Continued

My last post showed the progression from Scrappy Background to ATCs and the doodles created to become focal points for the ATCs. I am still working on the large finished green piece but I had a little pile of tasty bits left over from all the cutting. So I decided to make more faux postage. Sometimes I make sections that can be used together like the 12 small stamps at the top. Other pieces work better by themselves. Either way, by using all the scraps, I can make a stockpile of great collage elements. Any time I need a little something to perk up a project, I have a whole box of faux postage to peruse. I could also have made some great inchies to have in reserve. Using your scraps is a great way to clean up your leftover pile and make unique mini tidbits that will enhance your work.

Green Scrappy Background Part 2

If you refer back to the June 8th post you will see the first installment of Scrappy Backgrounds. Above is the green sheet cut into 9 ATCs. I'm going to mount them on a green brocade fabric covered background. I like the look of arranging them as they were on the whole sheet with a little space between each one. The green doodles at the top of the page will become the focal points on the ATCs. They were all done on speckled ivory cardstock. Some have green pigment ink coloring the background and one is a hand carved stamp that I doodled over. 12+ green felt tips were used for the drawings. I like to doodle while I watch TV. If I'm just too tired to be in my studio at night, doodling on the sofa with the tube on keeps me from feeling like a total slug! I picked leaves as my theme for these. Just let yourself meander with the drawings and don't worry about being perfect. It's a great brain relaxer. The next step is to add the doodles to the ATCs. All of the background and doodle scraps get saved for faux postage and inchies. From one background sheet and a couple pages of doodles, you can create a nice collection of personal images to use in your work.

Check out my Life's A Beach artwork in ClothPaperScissors magazine

Follow this link to see my submission to the ClothPaperScissors magazine Reader's Challenge.

http://quiltingarts.com/cpsmag/extras/25_LifesABeach.html

Fourth of July Cards

I love sending handmade cards for all the holidays. It's a great way to keep in touch with distant friends and relatives. Thye don't have to be elaborate and it's a great way to use up scraps. My focal point for these cards was a kaleidoscope made from a scanned flag in Kaleidoscope Kreator. Using the same flag, the blue field and stars were enlarged slightly then cut with a punch and attached to the flag pinwheel with a brad. The center square twirls around for a fun touch. The backgrounds varied as you can see from these 4 cards. I went through my supplies and used any paper that fit the color scheme.

Published in Sew Somerset!

Check out my mixed media pieces in the Summer 2009 issue of Sew Somerset magazine. Above is a detail of Moroccan Lily on page 128 and there are also 5 Lily ATCs on page 129.
The magazine is published by Somerset Studio, a beautiful magazine devoted to paper arts and mixed media. This spin-off is devoted creative sewing with mixed media. Find you copy at Barnes & Noble, Borders or http://www.stampington.com/ .

Special Details

Finishing a piece of artwork is like dressing up for a special occasion. The dress is killer but if the jewelry and accessories aren't perfect, it can make or break the final look. When I begin a piece, I usually gather EVERYTHING in my studio that fits the mood and colors of the art. From this large pile of stuff, I begin to whittle down and edit. Most of it will never be in the final piece but comparing and eliminating help clarify the process. At some point, when the composition is almost done, it's time for the fancy details that make it sing. I love to add beads, couched fancy threads and painted accents to really bring a spark to the piece. On the two close-ups above, you can see how the final tiny additions define and highlight the key elements and movement in the art.

Scrappy Backgrounds

I'm continuing to clean up the pile of paper scraps on my desk. All of these background sheets are 8.5" x 11". For the base, I used pieces of ugly cardstock since they are completely covered. I weeded thru the stash and made piles of related colors. Next, I arranged the pieces, cutting and tearing as needed. My goal was to produce interesting backgrounds for collage and ATCs (Artist Trading Cards). Each piece needed to be balanced and able to stand alone in it's entirety plus have enough interest all over to still look good if it was cut apart. Everything was glued with a glue stick. I ended up cutting all of these into ATC size- 2.5" x 3.5". There was a little waste with each one which I saved for faux postage. I think they will all be mounted to fabric colored boards and reassembled in the order they were cut. I'm still working on that idea so stay tuned.

This is a great way to use the beautiful paper scraps you accumulate and create beautiful, unique backgrounds. Great relaxation too! I usually make 8-10 at a time so I have them in reserve for future projects.

Unique Greeting Cards

I do a lot of artwork and experiments and I always have a pile of paper scraps, ATC (Artist Trading Cards) and collage parts accumulating on my desk. A couple of times a year, I make a big batch of cards with all the leftovers. I find if have a stockpile of readymade cards, I am always ready with a thank you or sympathy card and also give sets as gifts to friends. Everyone likes receiving a card that is unique as it makes the sentiment of the card more meaningful.

To cut down on the assembly time, I keep an eye out for blank card sets on sale. This way, I don't have to cut and measure to create the base cards. Even if cards are patterned they will work. Just coordinate the additonal layers and artwork. All of the cards above were made with purchased cards and envelopes. I really like the diecut layers with scallops and zigzags. I spread all the cards out on the floor so I can see them and then go thru collage scraps, ephemera, etc. to create the focal point of the card. Then, the paper scraps come out and I choose additional layers for each card. Finally, any ribbons or embellishments are chosen. I stack each card and its components in bins. When I'm ready, I just pull off the stack and assemble. It's so much faster this way if you think production instead of individual cards.

Making cards is relaxing for me and gives me a good breather in between bigger projects. It also teaches great composition skills and allows me to try new techniques. When I'm done the huge stack of "stuff" on my desk is more manageable and I have a stash of great cards!

Faux Postage

I love making faux postage! Many artists who create these little gems add all the text and numbers like they were real stamps. I will do that occasionally but usually mine are all graphics. This set originated with a piece of beautiful handprinted Tibetan paper (the bold black and red designs). I created some kaleidoscopes from my own photos and drawings in Kaleidoscope Kreator ( www.vpprints.com ) then printed them at various sizes and cut them out. I glued 18-20 of them to the Tibetan paper to create a large collaged sheet. Then I made mylar templates for the inside dimensions of my faux postage and used it to draw around interesting parts. I cut out all of these rectangles, being careful so I could use the "waste" paoper background for another project. Each little piece was then layered to another contrasting piece of paper. These layered pieces were then arranged and glued to the faux postage sheet. Use a block of them together or as individual stamps to add to your artwork. These were part of a project for a decorated card set. I get my faux postage blanks ( with the dotted perforations like real postage ) from www.WCP-NM.com . If you've never made faux postage it's a great way to make a bunch of great collage parts for your stash. It's so much fun, I like to do it between big projects or when I'm stuck. Use paper scraps, stamps,clipart and tiny embellishments- whattever is laying around your studio.

Crazy Newspaper Antics Part 2

Continuing with yesterday's post, here are more newspapers colored with India ink and fluid acrylics. Start with a layer of ink- just drop it randomly on the paper and fold and press. When that layer is dry, do the same with fluid acrylics. On these pieces, gold metallic webbing spray was added as a final step. Find it in the spray paint section at your craft store. If you've never used it, it's a blast! The effects are totally random but beautiful. My art buddy Lynn and I discovered the magic of webbing after a day of making ink dyed papers. Some of them were incredibly ugly so we just went wild with webbing and voila- they were magically transformed. As I scanned these papers in today, it occurred to me to use the Hue/Saturation function in Photoshop to play with the colors. I love the new colorways and will print them on nice paper to use in collages.

A note on the archival quality of the newspaper. Before I use any of these papers, I will coat both sides with acrylic medium. That will keep the acidity of the newspaper from affecting other papers in the final art and help with the yellowing process newspaper is infamous for. The acrylic will not prevent all problems, so if you are a stickler for archival this may not be the technique for you.

Crazy Newspaper Antics Part 1

Our local newspaper company did a 2 week free paper promotional to try and increase sales and suddenly I found myself under a mountain of newspaper! I glanced through a few and then just started stacking them up to bundle for recycling. Then, it hit me. It was PAPER- lots of free paper to experiment with. So on a sunny afternoon I took, newspaper, inks, paint and webbing spray out to the driveway and had a free-for-all. I just had fun dumping paint and folding the paper to get patterns. I started with colored India inks for the really saturated color then added white and interference acrylics. I wanted to see the underlying text and colored photos as pattern only so I tried to obscure areas that would distract the eye. There were colored papers all over the driveway and colors all over me as a breeze kicked up right in the middle of everything and I chased wet papers all over the yard. Now I have a big stack of gorgeous paper to further embellish. Here you see one piece after the initial step and 2 I've started doodling on. I want to create really complex and interesting background papers so I will doodle, use webbing spray, gold leaf and crayons to add more pattern and texture. More to follow in future posts.

Fuchsia Lilies

Don't be afraid of strong colors!! Even if you generally shy away from intense, saturated colors like this fuchsia, they are fun to experiment with. Both of these cards are based on a scan of a lily drawing rendered in Prismacolor pencils. I intensified the color a little in Adobe to really pump them up. The card on the left uses the yellow in the flower center for its color scheme. I hit my paper stash and starting stacking textures and color for high impact. Notice the marble paper? That is another lily drawing that was "liquidfied" in Adobe. It's a quick way to make marbled papers in exactly the color scheme you need. The second card plays off the purple/fuchsia tones and adds black accents. Its darker feel accents the lily in a much different way from the lighter, brighter orange version. Both of these cards were quick and fun little color studies and think of the smiles they will bring when the recipient pulls them out of the envelope.

Realistic Kaleidoscopes

In a previous post you saw some great kaleidoscopes made with Kaleidoscope Kreator ( www.vvprints.com ). This quick and easy software allows you to take photos and artwork and create amazing kaleidoscopes. In many of the earlier examples, the colors and fractured images made it hard to tell what the original art looked like. Above are examples taken from drawings and clipart that are easily recognized but still so cool! The spider is my favorite but the mouths, women and skull are neat too. These black and whites can be colored with markers or pencils to use in your art or manupulated in Adobe to create a new color- like the blue mouths. Use this software to really extend your personal images and photos for more material to use in your art.

Warm Colors on a Gray Day

It's a cold gray day and I long for the warm sun and hot colors. This is the corner of a mood board based on the color wheel. It was so much fun collecting papers, ephemera and doodads to express the character of each color. I love having the board in my studio for inspiration and to spark ideas when I'm in a creative funk.

Using Photos in Collage

If you are a scrapbooker, the photos are the main focus of your compositions. If you want to use your photos in artwork and still have them as the focal point, you need to do more than just paste them on the page. On the top example, a photo was color enhanced in Adobe and then torn and pasted to printed paper. Then, a heart shape was cut. The photo is integrated into the piece and adds interest without looking like a snapshot. The moonflower at the bottom was cut out to eliminate a distracting background, edged with blue pigment ink and a clipart image added to the center. The purple flowers were cropped to concentrate on the flowers and then a large stamp was used over the edge. This stamped element integrates the photo into the work.

In the bottom example, the red poppies were changed in Hue/Saturation to better fit the color scheme. Close cropping and torn edges focus on the flowers and soften the rectangular shape. Black rub-ons and stamping used across the boundaries of the image bring it into the composition instead of allowing it to float on top. Additional paper and inchies (1"x1" pieces of art) continue the color scheme and exotic feel of the technicolor poppies.

Use your photos like art by changing the color in a computer program or handcoloring over the image with markers or paint. Then, use them in innovative ways as your own personal imagery. Your work becomes more meaningful and much more original.

Doodle Mania

We all do it- stuck on the phone with a pen in your hand you start doodling. I'm a spiral and square in square doodler and I bet you have a certain motif you repeat too. Harness that accidental creativity for your artwork. I like to do something art related everyday but sometimes I'm just too tired to care. That's when I get a stack of paper and my Sharpie and doodle while I watch TV. I try to fill a whole page with a pattern but creating a more realistic composition is fine too. Stop thinking so consiously and just start putting marks down. Once I have a good collection, I scan them into Adobe. There I can change the scale, color, etc. and print the patterns many times. They make great backgrounds when painted with transparent acrylics. Cut them in strips and glue to a base for a great patterned paper. The top illustration here shows doodles that were cut into pattern pieces for the turkey wing then painted with acrylics. Additional painted tissue and gold leaf were added to create texture. In some places, the doodles barely show, but they give the whole piece continuity and interest. You don't have to be an artist to make doodles and they can become a great personal vocabulary of images for your artwork.

GIRLY ATCs

I am addicted to ATCs- Artist Trading Cards. They are cool little pieces of art that must fit in a 2.5" by 3.5" format. I don't trade them - just make big batches to use on cards and in collages. These 5 share a really girly, frou-frou look with their pink and blue colors and dressmaker details. The pink parrots are a closeup of a kaleidocope (KaleidoscopeKreator) printed on fabric. Using the shape created by the kaleidoscope, it was easy to add beaded embellishments. The next three are fabric scraps from a crazy quilt experiment. I have no problem cutting up projects that weren't successful! I isolate small parts that work and incorporate them into another piece. A little artistic recycling! These scraps include embroidery (one of my designs for my company Embroidery Studio), several fabrics and a lingerie scrap. More recycling- when you "outgrow" pretty lingerie, see if you can reclaim lace or trims to use elsewhere. These crazy quilt scraps were sewn to a paper ATC card then embellished with pretty rhinestones and ribbon flowers. The final ATC includes a scrap of yet another recycled collage and 3 pretty trims. Don't toss those tiny little snippets of trim and lace. They make great embellishments for these little art cards.

Today in the Garden

It's late Spring in the garden. Daffodils and tulips are gone here in NC. The summer perennials are up and growing- especially with this little heat wave we've had. Right now, the garden belongs to the columbines, irises and this gorgeous white viburnum. Saw the first hummingbird of the season last week.

Postage Stamps- Tiny Masterpieces

I love using postage stamps in my collages. Each one is a tiny masterpiece with beautiful colors and elegant design. Use a special one, like the elephant stamp to suggest a theme for your design. The mushroom stamp suggested a great color scheme. Whistler's Mother with her austere demeanor was lightened up with the tongue-in-cheek pink pig. The elegant outfit on the angel stamp suggested the red and gold colors and theme for the ATC. On the blue and green ATC, postage created a beautiful background.

Many stamps are sold in batches by theme or country. Use the best ones for focal points in a piece. Since they are so small, layering to several different pieces of paper is an easy way to increase the size and importance of the stamp. The quirky ones, like the pink pig, can add a little humor and irreverance to your work. Finally, all of the basic nondescript ones make great backgrounds. Glue them down randomly or in rows. Most stamps here in the US are self stick now so they are like great little stickers- fun and easy to use.

Integrating Clipart

Even though I can draw my own images, I love using clipart! Many clipart collections are old book illustrations or advertisements. Before the camera, artists created detailed and often exquisite drawings to inform readers or attract potential buyers. Dover has a vast collection of copyright free clipart and it's easy to find images on nearly every subject. You can use these images in black and white or color them with pencils or watercolor. Two of these pieces are colored with pencils. Only the faces and special details were highlighted but they can be completely colored too. It's like a coloring book for adults. You can also alter images in your computer to create colored images from the b&w art. Sepia looks antique but consider blue, red and purple too. Color changes the mood of the image and allows you to integrate it into your art. I like to work with an image and create several colorways and sizes then print them to add to my collage stash. Printing on colored or patterned paper give new options too.

On these four pieces several methods were used to bring the clipart into the composition. The top two are both colored to work with the background colors. The face on the left has a dramatic placement in the composition and her sultry gaze draws the viewer right in. The bottom examples were used in black and white to pop off the intensely colored backgrounds. Detailed black rub-ons were added to repeat the feeling of the fine lines in the clipart.

CRAZY colors!

Ever stuck for a new and innovative color scheme? Let Adobe Photoshop do the work for you! The original photo and natural colors are in the top left corner. By adjusting Hue/Saturation you get a whole array of new colors. These experiments can be tweaked by adjusting the Saturation slider bar for subtle colors or a blast of neon. Take an image with these color changes and put it thru filters like Solarize for even more possibilities. You can take one image and create a whole portfolio of possiblities to inspire a new piece of art.

New Art from Old

Sometimes I will finish a piece and no matter
what I do, I'm just not happy with it. Even
when I put it aside and revisit it 6 months later, it doesn't work. Many of my collages are very complicated with lots of different techniques in the background or time consuming hand sewing and beading. It's hard to throw them away. So, I just cut them up! I'll isolate areas that will make good ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) or cut strips for new backgrounds or rip off the focal parts. The actual "whacking up" part is very freeing. The old, unsuccessful art is gone and fun possibilities exist with all the new pieces. These 4 collages all include parts from a much larger piece. I did it for a specific project and when it wasn't accepted, I didn't care to be reminded of that. On these 4 new pieces you can see the background fragments in the turquoise and
blue parts. The original piece was on deckle edged watercolor paper and I used those edges in the fragments. The little sampler in the bottom right example is also recycled. I used every piece of the original "reject" and had fun making a lot of new art. So, if you have some bad art hanging around in your studio, just put it on your papercutter and make something new and beautiful!

http://www.vvprints.com Great site and they sell Kaleidoscope Kreator software.
http://www.joggles.com Cool mixed media supplies and a wide range of online classes
http://www.stampington.com Publishers of Somerset Magazine and it's many sister publications. They are real leader sin the field of mixed media and paper arts.

Photoshop FUN!

I have lots of garden photos that I use in my garden journals. Most are very generic since I'm recording the plants for my records, not doing an "art" photo. This photo of black grass is a good example. Even with this so-so image look at the cool stuff you can do in Adobe Photoshop! I really love Hue/Saturation and Solarize. I have over 20 versions of this photo- all totally different! As you can see, you don't have to be able to draw to create killer designs for your artwork.