Wednesday Mashup & Updates

Wednesday Mashup:  Welcome to Wednesday Mashup, where I make something out of whatever is on my table from the days before.  No thinking, no planning, just clean up by creating.

   Here's what was on my table yesterday:  Lots of medium, scraps of papers, and a playbill from Once on this Island, which we saw at the Papermill last Saturday.  (Yes, there is also deodorant on my desk -- why, you ask?  I don't know.  It's not an art supply!  But ... I am truly showing you what was actually on my desk yesterday morning -- and the deodorant is back in the bathroom.)   We always bring home too many playbills; most end up in the recycling.  But...what if I make a journal out of the playbill?

 

First, glue and staple a bunch of the pages together to thicken them, and then tape the inside seams:

Second, randomly glue down pieces of reclaimed book pages, scraps, old paint experiments -- whatever is on the desk!  Knock back with gesso, and dry thoroughly.

Add paint, stencils, stamps -- whatever is in easy reach.  No planning, just go.  Experiment with color combinations.  Use scraps that didn't fit into anything else.  And voila, a ready to go journal with NO BLANK PAGES. 

 

Don't know yet what I'll use this for, and the cover is still blank, but I will show you when I finish it.  It was fast, furious and fun, and now I know what to do with extra playbills, magazines, etc.!  If you've "up-cycled" something like this, please link to it to share.  And if you know an arty use for deodorant, I'd love to hear it!

30 DAYS IN MY JOURNAL UPDATE:  It's hard to believe that June is almost over.  I'm going to miss the prompts from Run With Scissors so much.  It's been so great to get to know the other artists participating.  The prompt for day 25 was "my wish for you is..." Since school let out, it has been so relaxing for my daughter Samy, age 11, not to have to get up and out the door in a rush.  She has really spread out and been relaxing -- reading a lot, drawing, playing with friends.  She has no schedule until July 17, when she goes to sleep-away camp for 3 weeks.  So I my wish for her was the joy of endless summer.  

I remember well the feeling of the school year ending and the stretch of 2 magical months before the next school year.  That feeling that I could reinvent myself out of the grind of school days.  I could go to camp and morph from a caterpillar into a butterfly before September!  I call this the "power of the pause" -- and even though we are not school kids anymore, it's important to find those pauses -- between sleeping and waking, being in the studio and closing the door/turning off the light to step into other parts of our lives, etc.  Just a moment to stop, take a breath, and remember that we can emerge at any point and at any moment.  

Day 25's prompt continued into day 26 for me.  I took Samy to get a mani/pedi, and had a pedicure myself.  (my hands are a lost cause!)  While on the chair, I drew my feet to memorialize the moment.  They're not the best feet, but they get me where I want to go!  I'm going to link this to Summer of Color and Paint Party Friday too.  Please go check out the amazing art on those two sites!

Second Floor Challenge: Every few weeks, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and Nathalie Kalbach challenge you to go beyond your usual limits.  This week's challenge was to use a pencil - whatever that means to you and however that inspires you.  Hmmm - I had already sketched my feet, and honestly, a pencil doesn't do much for me.  It creates marks that I then want to cover over in paint.  But I just bought some cool looking woodless graphite pencils that could be used on their sides for broad strokes, and with the sharp points for detail.  I had started a page with these egg shapes I had cut out of prior experiments.  My initial thought was to turn them into cake pops, or lollipop flowers... but while I was at the town pool,  I started doodling and stroking with the pencils.  I HATED EVERYTHING I DID!  So when I got home, I painted over a lot of it, and the result is at right.  I have a lot to learn about pencil work!  My first thought was to write "Perfection is overrated."  But I like to try to put things in the positive, not negative.  And then I thought that perfection is not something to strive for or aim toward.  It is right here in this moment.  Right here, right now.  And so that's what I wrote!  As always, messy mistakes can lead to magical moments.  So thank you Julie and Nathalie.  In the end, I like my page!

LICENSING NEWS:

I just completed the designs for a new line of "Nibbles n' Nosh"® plates and bowls for Aviv Judaica.  Here are the plates.  Hopefully they will soon be in a store near you!   And... Aviv is re-releasing a latke chef line I designed, which will be available for Hannukah!.  One of the greeting card companies I license to has asked me for some Easter themed designs.  So if you have any inspiration you're willing to share, please let me know!

Thank you for visiting! If you are so moved, please leave a comment. Hearing from you means the world to me.