Sheesh! Thanks for all the wonderful comments about painting on the wall. Really, you could do it, really you could. Just find some paper or fabric to inspire you and with a pencil and a loose hand, draw a rough interpretation of it in a larger scale. Anyway, yes, we'll certainly update you on how the room comes together, you know I show you every creative thing I'm up to!
Which leads me to these, more self portrait project works. This is a page I did in Bee Miller's book. I do not know Bee, so it is really fun to see someone's work up close and get a feeling for them through their art. Bee's book was wonderful. She created a large, hardcover book with loose pages for us to do with what we wished. She encouraged us to be ourselves, and to reveal something personal. So, at left you see the front of my page. Here's a close-up of the written words.
I found the sentence in a book and changed the word "garden" to "art". This is often how I feel. I feel the need to create, and a burning desire in my head, but can't quite get there immediately. Sometimes I literally feel silenced artistically (thus her mouth covered over). I know the roots are always there, I just need to be patient and find my way to tap into them.
For the back, I went a completely different direction. I used the sewn boxes (results from sewing things on the front) as spaces to color in with water colors, and just sort of went with whatever inspiration struck me. I wrote something about my need to create, and just doodled away. The front and back are very different, two different styles, one very vintage and one very colorful and unstructured, but both me none-the-less. I had fun in your book Bee, thank you!
I also completed my entry in Lesley Riley's book. To me, Lesley is an old pro at these collaboratives, and her book shows as much. It is a wonderfully unique, thought out submittal. She made a cloth book out of canvas, putting grommets in (don't you just love grommets?) to attach everything together at the end. She titled it "The Common Thread" and wrote about how "...we are all individuals, yet, as artists, similar, united by a common thread." Then she included a little baggie full of threads from burlap to gold and asked us to incorporate a thread into our portrait. How brilliant is that? Very. Here's my portrait in her book (a little close up above):
I was inspired by a quote she shared with us that said in part, "...you are growing so fast these days. It's like a second childhood..." . I found that to be a perfect launching pad for my page. I used a photo of myself from childhood, a bunch of wallpaper and fabric and covered the paper and photo with gel medium. I included some snippets of her burlap as my common thread, it's hanging at the top from the flower. I also wrote in pencil, which reminds me of childhood days, that "playing in art is a second childhood for me."
Lesley was one of the first teachers I had at Artfest (5?) years ago. She changed the way I thought, quite literally. It was a big step for me to even get there, to artfest, away from my kids and family, and she told us about her life; an artist and traveling teacher, a student (I think she was getting her masters in women's studies at the time), a full time home appraiser, and a wife and mother to six kids! She said she realized she had to Just.Do.It., just make art, participate now, no matter what. Frankly, if she could do what she did as mother of 6, surely I could do more while I was home with my 2. And so I have, thanks Lesley for the eye opening words. Now, I know Lesley has also taken on even more, she's written a book, working on (or finished?) a second, is one of the editors of Cloth, Paper, Scissors, has a DVD out, etc. etc. etc. Guess she Just.Did.It. , now didn't she?
As for artfest, I hope those of you that were thinking about it took the leap. Teesha had over 480 registrations within the first two days of opening the event. Wow! That should tell you something about the event. Congratulations Teesha and Tracy! See you in March.
