Summer is here... DO SOMETHING!

http://alchemy-artmemories.blogspot.com/p/summer-art-classes.html

Gelli printing with Amelia

Saturday was a great day because I spent it with my lovely niece Amelia making art. Gelli art prints!!!!! Love it :-)

Love Binds - Colossians 3:14

"Today may there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.”  ~ anonymous author 

Jesus Offers Real Food

POSTCARD A DAY CHALLENGE

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(Wednesday, May 12, 2013)

QUESTIONS: What does the "real food" that Jesus offers satisfy? How does a person receive that food? Why do you want to be close to Jesus? Do you want his miracles or his claims? Physical food or spiritual food?

Click here to view archived postcards.

Hypocrisy

POSTCARD A DAY CHALLENGE

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(Tuesday, May 11, 2013)

QUESTIONS: Why is hypocrisy so displeasing to God? Where does hypocrisy originate? What hypocrisy in your life needs to be healed?

Click here to view archived postcards.

FREEDOM

POSTCARD A DAY CHALLENGE

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(Monday, May 10, 2013)

QUESTIONS: Think about the fears and needs in your life. In what ways "have you let go of everything" and put your trust in God to meet those needs? Pray or write your own psalm of trust to God. Praise him for his faithfulness to you.

love of friendship

Blessings and LOVE to everyone on this day - of love and friendship.

This is my entry for the monthly challenge of COLOR THIS QUOTE for February.

proverbs 18:24 (friendship) - 4x6 inches mixed media

enjoy,

Sandra

"Purpose" Art Card

So after having fun making the "Winter PLOW" mixed media project last night I also got a second wind and made this sweet little art card. A great gift for a friend or yourself to help to remind us that we ALL serve PURPOSE and all days are A Day To Remember. The card is made using a reproduction digital print (printed on glossy laser paper with a laser color printer). Inside is a special surprise (handmade one of a kind painted and varnished collage strip signed by me). The fibers used have a slight gold shimmer to remind you that in deed this is an Art Memory piece from your artist friend at Alchemy: discovering, exploring, enjoying.

Enjoy,
~ Sandra

Here is the latest listing at my Etsy shop. An art card titled "Purpose".

Sounds of Peace

So the Labor Day weekend kept me mad busy and yet I still was able to create some new little gems to share. Here are two new ATC cards I made using my hand painted collage papers (canson mixed media 98lb paper) adhered to canson 140lb watercolor paper.

"By The Sea" 3.5 x 2.5 inches ATC mixed media

 This ATC was a lot of fun to create. It went from an abstract to a pulled art seaside view off the shoreline. I just allowed the piece to develop as it wished - every time I looked back on it the seaside story was whispering in my air (waves playfully touching the rock formations insisting I take off my sandals, and take in the peaceful sunset). How could I deny myself such a request.

"Prayer Bell" 3.5 x 2.5 inches ATC mixed media

Thus, it was no surprise to me when my second ATC lead me to draw a beautiful eastern inspired prayer bell that I could envision myself carrying into the dark night's canvas. A soothing sound of meditation accompanying my every footstep as I make my voyage back to my cabin sanctuary.

Slight side view of "Prayer Bell" to show you that it is 3D.

"in medias res" 3 x 3 inches on wood base (mixed media)

In the end the sounds of peace helped carry me in a gentle balance of creating art alongside spending quality time with friends and family on a three day holiday tour. Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend.

Enjoy,
Sandra

Discovery Wednesday - Amongst Friends

Here is my inspirational mosaic for this week's Discovery Wednesday.

1. Hole Punch Flowers ATC, 2. Flower ATC, 3. Watercolor Flower ATC's, 4. Summer Flowers, 5. ATC_ violet flower, 6. ATC Pretty Newspaper Flowers 2/2, 7. Landscape: Spring Flowers, 8. Flowers ATC, 9. 3 flowers, 10. Traded: Springtime ATC, 11. flowers ATC, 12. ATC Traded - Button Flowers, 13. flowers - atc

Here is the ATC card I was inspired to create.

"Amongst Friends" ATC 2.5 x 3.5 inches mixed media.

Here are some pictures I took as I worked my way through the process of creating this ATC card.

(1) I used Strathmore Watercolor cold press 140lb paper as my base, glued a thin sheet of white tissue paper with Golden mattee medium, glued a hand torn piece of (single sided printed) designer scrapbooking paper half of the way up to start my composition for the field of flowers and finally added a glaze of Golden (heavy body) Titan Buff mixed with Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid Gloss (1:1 ratio) over the entire surface and dried with my heat gun.

(2) I then began to play with my permanent color ink pads (golden yellow for sky and green for grass) and dried with my heat gun.

(3) I then continued to add more acrylic paint to build up depth, shadow, highlights and dried with my heat gun.







(4) I then played with texture adding marks using a metal ring and bubble wrap.

(5) Finally came the time to dive into my homemade collage paper I had painted the night before on Canson Mixed Media 98 lb paper. I have found this paper weight and brand to be my favorite so far for collage; especially on an ATC sized base so that it does not become to bulky when I overlap sheets. I hand cut various circle sizes and glued them on 2/3 of the way to add to the composition.

(6) The next step for me was to play with my oil pastels to continue to highlight the texture from the tissue paper and add depth to the overall image.



Hope you're having an excellent Wednesday and are inspired to go out and play and create art and of course stop and smell the flowers;-)


Enjoy,
Sandra

Big Idea Festival - Day Twelve: Play "My Creative Spirit Sings With Joy!"

WOW! I hope everyone weathered the hurricane well and is able to get back to life as "normal". In Lancaster, PA (I live about three blocks from downtown Lancaster city) it was mostly lots of rain and blasting winds. The wind more than anything alarmed me because I have a locust tree that sits smack in the middle of my courtyard which is over 100 years old (same as my house). Lucky for me the home association I belong to paid to have the tree trimmed last summer after a previous rain storm caused some over sized tree limbs to split in half, which nested amongst the remainder limbs just waiting for the next storm to come crashing down. I awoke this morning at 6am and ran to check out any damages to the courtyard and trees. I was happy to discover that only my little white flowering dogwood tree had minor damage (one long tree limb had split in half - easy enough for me to cut off).

Things are still windy but the rain has stopped and I feel safe to get back online (I was worried about power outage, lighting, and anything else that might zap my lap top or mess up  my Internet connection: better safe then sorry). But funny enough without the Internet I was able to really PLAY last night and complete my last entry for the Big Idea Festival: Words to Live by challenge and at the same time start my own personal art challenge... read on and you'll understand.

LAST DAY of Big Idea Festival art challenge.

Day 12: August 27, 2011
Featured Artist: Stacy Julian
website/blog: http://stacyjulian.com/
Challenge word: PLAY

This is my entry for day twelve (the last day) of the Big Idea Festival scrapbook challenge.

Day 12: Play (digital page created using Photoshop CS3)

My volunteer work at the heART of Friendship Art Gallery has me questioning my art abilities as they translate to "realist fine art". I consider myself an artist (because "I MAKE IT MY OWN" as Michelle Ward would say), yet I don't define myself as a traditional or realist fine art artist. I consider myself more of an Outsider Artist if I had to give myself a label but more then anything I view my work as visionary and I'm okay with that. Or at least I thought so until I met Lynn the full time art teacher at heART. Lynn is a beautiful Christian woman who has easily over 30 years experience in the realist visual fine arts both as an artist and teacher. As a volunteer working along side Lynn to assist the heART artists I have learned to better appreciate what the world of realist fine art (landscapes, portraits, nature studies, and any combination of still life acrylic paintings) have to offer.

I guess I had always had a fear to try this type of realist painting style with the thoughts that I'd be horrible since I don't have any formal training in the field. At this point in my art journey I had favored created abstract art just to create; to play, to be happy without the worries of 'does it look real' or having to learn all the fundamentals; your basic art foundation.

My personal abstract art: ATC collage "PLAY" set of five cards.

For I am the happiest when I am learning and sharing without limitations; breaking rules or not following rules per say. Yet spending time with Lynn and the heART artists at the art gallery has opened up my mind to revisit my thoughts and views on realist fine arts and what I am missing out on by side sweeping this style of art making under the rug? I thought to myself 'am I asking myself to be open to the world of structure, formal process, and many, many rules on how to create art' did I understand what I was inviting into my life? After all creating art is my release from my stressful structured, formal, rule abiding lifestyle. Did I really want to drag that into my art making? So I thought about it for some time, and after about 48hours I answered myself without even over thinking it (which I love to do - analysis this... LOL).

Hurricane Irene was a blessing in disguise for me this is what it lead me to create. Without the Internet as a distraction and nothing good to watch on TV (I have basic cable 12 channels only). I started organizing my art books and came across a how to book "Be An Artist in 10 Steps" by Ian Sidaway. I opened it up saw the hot peppers exercise and thought 'what do I have to lose' so I started the art challenge of creating a realist style painting. It took me several hours from start to finish and I'm not yet finished (I want to add some graphite to the image to add more of a mixed media flavor - I can't deny who I am) smiles.

Acrylic painting "Hot Peppers" the process of underpainting. I'm learning so much about the tools I have.

The results of three hours of working with various layers of acrylic paint mixed with water and gel medium.

God is good... he is opening my mind to receive the courage to be public with my art abilities; first by sharing through this blog site with 30 DAYS OF GET YOUR ART ON. This made me more comfortable to join other art challenges like an ATC card swap with Creative Swaps and then try something new with digital scrapbooking with the Big Picture Classes.

All to this point have been online art communities but with my volunteer hours (twice a week for 3 hours a day) at the heART of Friendship Art Gallery God has planted a seed within me to move forward on this art journey in my 'real' life. A scary thought to allow your 'real' community to view your creations. It's one thing to be open to allow online strangers to potentially speak badly of your artwork (you can always block them) but to allow people who you know and interact with the opportunity to say things that might hurt your feelings (although most people have good intentions) that was enough to cause me to have a panic attack. But that's just what happened. Not the part about negative online art comments (my online art communities have lifted me up in my stages of insecurity - funny what kind words can do no matter if said by loved ones or strangers, and then there's those strangers who become friends like Rasz and Maggie).

I say God is good because I would of never chosen to put myself "out there" I tend to be a wallflower with a secret superstar spirit within - only revealed to a small pea pod size number of close friends and family. But God spoke to me to become a volunteer this summer at heART and at the Lancaster Farmacy and both have contributed to my spiritual growth, in term my self-esteem. Who would turn down a self-esteem jump start? NOT THIS GIRL!

Well, if I must be honest at first I wanted to turn it down; volunteering at heART my first week and seeing the fine art work being produced at the gallery (for sale) and here I was being asked to assist in the development of said art. I was like "someone made a mistake, this is not a good fit... I can't help in this process, do these people know who I am, what I'm not capable of..." I questioned everything; my art abilities, if I had the right to call myself an artist, was I going to be more of burden then a blessing to this nonprofit and its heART artists. It's scary when the business side to art making comes knocking at your door. I thought I would be a volunteer to JUST help develop art with the heART artist. I was so consumed with the imagery of the joy and fun art making provided me and how much I wanted to share that joy that I completely forgot about the realization that each heART artist strives to create art to sell at the gallery which provides them a personal income. All this became real on my first day of volunteering. Yikes!

I wanted to run but God had other plans for me. For this was not any nonprofit this is a Christian nonprofit who works with adults with intellectual developmental delays (heART artists) and staffed by two fabulous Christian women who embraced all my fears and doubts and invited me to try it again; to stay on as a volunteer. For both ladies (Lynn, full time teacher and Marsha, gallery coordinator) saw something in me that I could not see myself; they say my spirit... the real me.

My spirit was dim after so many months of self neglect not allowing time to create art during my full time employment and the added stress of being laid off for a second summer in a row due to budget cuts in education (I worked for a nonprofit in the public school system of Lancaster County). Which really gets you to ask why life cannot be more smooth and organized, what lessons was God putting forth for me to learn. I knew that staying on as a volunteer at heART was part of my journey that God had created for me. So in usual "Sandra" style instead of volunteering once a week I bumped it up to twice a week. I always feel like if you're going to do something sent by God better put in double the effort so I don't miss anything. Or in other words I needed at least two days to learn, one day was only enough to introduce me to the questions I would have I also needed a second day to reflect and share with Lynn and Marsha so I could better put my skills and studio time to use with the heART artists.

Its now been over five weeks since I first started volunteering at heART and now when I walk in to the gallery it's like visiting old friends. The heART artists always have such great smiles and kind handshakes to greet me with. I feel like Norm in the sitcom "Cheers". I feel so comfortable with the staff and other volunteers we sometimes sit after the heART artists have gone home and discuss openly about our personal views of art (which are all very diverse) we create ourselves and society's view of art (good and bad). This really nourishes my creative spirit and allows me to share my concerns with my art process and what God is calling me to do with my skills.

I know Lynn embraces the newness that my love for collage art has to offer (even though it is completely new to her and not a mainstream art favorite in an art gallery setting) for she along with Marsha have both invited me to help lead in instruction with various collaborative art projects that heART artists will be showcasing in future fundraisers. Here are some images of what has been created thus far. I instructed the Wednesday class to work at a small scale (ATC size 2.5 x 3.5 inches) during the brainstorming process. It was well received by the heART artists who enjoyed turning their past watercolor artwork into new creations. Everyone lite up with delight when I introduced them to the packing tape transfer technique which we used to capture the cityscape image for the ATC on the far right.

ATC collage brainstorming/idea cards completed by Wednesday's Class.

Full page 8.5 x 11 inches collage created by a Thursday Class heART artist (in progress).

This has lead me to where I am now; if a fine art gallery can be open to investing in collage art (mixed media) then I too could invest in learning more about the other side of art which to me is fine art "realist" - investing in reading, practicing, and need I say it, YES creating UGLY art for it will take time until I am happy with the results of my creations.

So this is my new art challenge - to develop my realist fine arts painting style which will in the process enhance the artwork I have always loved to create (mixed media visionary art). I will work my way through the "be an artist in 10 steps" book and blog about it from week to week. The season is changing and public school starts this Monday; in turn I hope to start my full time employment sometime soon. With those ideas in mind I don't want to fall back into old ways of self creative neglect but I also have to be realist that I won't have time to do as much art as I have in the past two months. So what I want to do is allow myself the opportunity to devote more time to studio discoveries one acrylic exercise at a time and and combine those new skills with my mixed media work. I will share the progress and results weekly thus allowing myself more time to get caught up on reading some of my favorite artist blogs and taking time to make comments on them. I hope you return to visit my blog (become a follower to stay updated) and continue to share with me your comments/feedback. I still plan to share any free classes I learn about and/or other artist blog sites and artwork with the Discovery Wednesday feature.  

Funny how God reminds us of lessons learned from our past, that life is to be lived in BALANCE. Like I knew that but sometimes 'living life' makes us forgetful. (smiles)

If you have gotten to this part I thank you for reading and I hope you have a blessed day and may you nurture your creative spirit every moment of the day.

Enjoy,
Sandra

Big Idea Festival - Day Seven: CHERISH

Day 7: August 21, 2011
Featured Artist: Amy Sorensen
website/blog: http://www.amysorensen.typepad.com/
Challenge word: CHERISH

This is my entry for day seven of the Big Idea Festival scrapbook challenge.

Day 7: Cherish (digital scrapbook page created using Photoshop CS3)

 
Enjoy,
Sandra

Big Idea Festival - Day Six: NEST

Day 6: August 20, 2011
Featured Artist: Emily Falconbridge
website/blog: http://embers.typepad.com/
Challenge word:NEST

This is my entry for day 6 of the Big Idea Festival - the word for today was NEST.

Day 6: Nest (mixed media from art journal, photography, and edits using Photoshop CS3)

You might notice that this entry is quite different from the other postings in layout design and style. I am still evolving in my personal style of digital scrapbooking. In playing around in the studio this evening I discovered that I enjoy the results of merging (hands-on crafting and digital editing using Photoshop CS3). Its the best of both worlds for me.

Hands-on crafting: here is a photo of the original "real" layout of corrugated cardboard pieces covered with various collage papers sewn together in my art journal.

Mixed media in recycled art journal.

Photo taken at the Farmacy of an artichoke.

Hands-on photography: here is a the original photo I took of an artichoke at the Farmacy I volunteer at. I used Photoshop CS3 to weave new elements to the background of the page, add embellishments and tweak the color tones, light levels and added text to tell the story of what the word "nest" means to me.

Enjoy,
Sandra

Journal Fodder Junkies and Deck of Prompts Swap... Michelle LaPoint Rydell

Call me crazy but I'm already thinking about my next art challenges. As I was uploading my most recent art journal page "adventure" on Flickr I discovered the artwork of Michelle LaPoint Rydell. who also shares her artwork in the Art Journal Everyday Group I belong to. Check out this "WOW Artist" mosaic I created with images of her artwork for you to explore. Super fun stuff going on there. So inspiring. I'm now a follower of her blog because I don't want to miss a thing this fab lady has to share. A WOW Artist she is!! To find out  more about the art challenges Michelle participates in check out her blog at http://inspirationeverywhere.blogspot.com/2011/08/journal-fodder-junkies-and-deck-of.html

Snapshots of artwork done by Michelle LaPoint Rydell.

1. FTB Grand Finale Journal Inside Pages, 2. Inspiration Journal Back, 3. Look For Beauty, 4. Four Full-Tilt Boogie Journals

Enjoy,
Sandra

Big Idea Festival - Day Three: LESS

Day 3: August 17, 2011
Featured Artist:Peppermint Granberg
website/blog: http://www.onelittlebirddesigns.com


Challenge word: LESS

My entry for day three, the prompt word is 'less'. I used a page out of my art journal which already contained the word and message for the featured image on this digital scrapbook page.

BIF Day 3: LESS (digital scrapbook page using Photoshop CS3).

Enjoy,
Sandra

Discovery Wednesday - Nature Inspired!

Here is my inspirational mosaic of artist images that inspired me this week to create my journal page titled "adventure". 

1. altered envie journal page 7, side 2, 2. opposites WIP- would like to add opposite colors to the yellow orange- Where do I go from here? I didn't even think of a background..., 3. Another fallen tree, 4. Olive Green Tip In Pages Right

Art Journal page 8x7 inches mixed media titled "adventure".

What I discovered in the process of making my own personal artwork was that I enjoy creating in a monotone color palette infused with a punch of highlight color. I also discovered that while I like the color harmony that was created in my journal page I also enjoy the irony of the opposing messages the images communicate. 


The page is titled "adventure" with a subtitle of "a point at which to pause and think". If you study the top image (a packing tape image transfer of two hunters walking side by side carrying their 'prize') and the beauty of the bottom image of a songbird perched ready to start it's day you will glide over the letter 'Y' that was placed to sound out loud the question of why we hunt.

I have friends who are hunters and come hunting season they will proudly seek their weapons and children to join in their family tradition of hunting for deer and turkeys for the holiday festivities. I'm not trying to say they are wrong (I am a meat eater after all) but I do pause and wonder of all the animals in nature that find their end by the hands of humans and what might of been their destiny if given an opportunity to sing a song. Just something to think about. 


Enjoy,
Sandra

Cool, Rainy Days!

Hi all! Just a friendly reminder that tomorrow I will be mailing out the magnet requests I received thus far (a gift for my "30 Days" blogger friends - read the end of my post from Aug 1st for details after the PS) . Or just click on the link provided.

Below are two images I recently added to my flickr account. I hope you enjoy them; they have a fall/winter theme reflecting the months in which they were made.

Art Sentiment Card (mixed media)

"Quiet" ATC (mixed media)

In other news... I've been very busy on the farmacy and at the heART Gallery this week but enjoying every minute of if! Below is a picture of the 100 + watermelons we harvested on Tuesday at the farmacy. Yesterday I did a lot of weeding around the squash (very muddy business working in and around the rain; but so inviting after the heat wave from weeks past).



Watermelons from the Farmacy - harvest on August 2, 2011.



This is an info card I made using Photoshop CS3 of the completed painted glass vase a heART artist created this week. I'm now volunteering twice a week this allows me to get more familiar with the heART artists (adult artists who have developmental and intellectual disabilities)  so I can better assist them with their studio needs during their class time. Lynn the full time art teacher has been a blessing to me. Her patience and mentoring during my first weeks as a volunteer has provided me a new zest for creativity that I have begun to put into my volunteer work and personal artwork. Lynn echoes what a lot of my online art mentors have shared with me "relax, play, and allow art to be healing".

As always I welcome your comments ;-)

Enjoy,
Sandra