How to Create a Juicy Background

Before I get to today's topic, the winner of the Valentine's Day blog hop is Monica Garcia!

Thank you to all who participated in our hop. We loved sharing our art with you!

And now, to my tutorial.  As you probably are aware, I love painting angels.  These days, more than ever, I feel compelled to call upon them and manifest them in my life.  It's been a rough few weeks; we need angels more than ever.

Here's a look at how I created a juicy, inviting background for some angels.  The techniques are applicable to any art journal page or mixed media project.


You can also watch "Creating a Background for Angels" on YouTube here.

My daughters and I attended the Women's March on Washington in late January.

Were you there or did you participate in any of the marches in your state or around the world? It was amazing to see the outpouring of people, and the love and support for compassion, tolerance and empathy.

Here's my older daughter's account of our experience, I Was There, which was wonderful, inspiring and heartbreaking all at the same time.  








Sometimes I am exhausted trying to resist the daily executive orders and pronouncements coming from Washington.  But then, I remember that I have my sisters with me.  That, and taking refuge in my artwork, sustains me.

Thanks for visiting.

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Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

How to Support Civil Liberties through Art

Today is Giving Tuesday, and so I offer this art for sale to support the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is on the forefront of fighting hate, promoting tolerance, and seeking justice

Please share with anyone you know who might want to purchase a handmade holiday gift and support an extremely good cause.

First up - Angels Mounted on Vintage Dominos, ready to hang, 2 3/4" x 5 1/2": $38 each, which includes shipping in the United States, $45 outside the USA.

Angel with Bluebird SOLD                                                 Angel with Sleeping Cat  SOLD

Angel with Compass   SOLD                                                 Big Eyed Angel

Angel with Peacock                                                      Flying Angel

Next up:  two 6 x 6" two House Blessing canvases, $48 each, which includes shipping in the United States, and $52 outside the United States.   

Hamsa Home Blessing SOLD

House with Heart Blessing  SOLD

These are all mixed media, original art.

HOW TO PURCHASE:  
1.  Let me know in the comments if you would like to claim one of them.
2.  Include your email address and country for shipping.
3.  Look for a paypal invoice and pay it, and I will ship your item to you!

Also, check out Society6, where you can purchase my Safe Heart image on apparel, mugs, bags and more, with all proceeds going to the Southern Poverty Law Center.  Let's make the world a better place through art!

 Let's make the world a better place through art!  Thank you in advance for your support,

 Love, Jessica

         Visit Stencil Girl Products and RubberMoon Stamps to see all my designs!

If you haven't already - please connect with me here:

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Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

Five Reasons to Participate in Online Art Challenges, Video and Giveaway

I've been continuing with Mindy Lacefield's #365Faces challenge on Instagram.  Recently, I started creating faces on tags, which have quickly become a collection of "Tag Ladies," or "MotivAngels."

Here are five reasons why I find this practice so rewarding:

1.  Confidence:  The more I paint faces, the more relaxed I feel creating them.  I used to have a lot of anxiety about faces - the proportions, the shading, whether they were realistic or not.  With each face, I embrace more, and let go of more, and the freer I become. 

2.  Honing My Style: Staying on the same subject matter - faces - day after day has given me more confidence in what constitutes my style.  When I look at all my ladies together, I can see "me."

3.  Sparking My Creativity:   I truly don't know where these ladies are coming from.  I collage tags with whatever ephemera, gelli prints, old book pages, etc., are laying around.  No rhyme or reason - just listening to audio books and gluing away.  And then, a figure or face "appears" in the scraps, and off I go.  Plus, I staying within a certain format inspires me to use my Stencil Girl Stencils and Rubbermoon Stamps in different ways.

4.  Inspiration from a community: Like the 29 Faces Challenge that Ayala Art hosts 2x a year, this challenge is part of a community.  Because it's on Instagram, it doesn't carry the blogging component - just paint a face, tag it, and post the picture.  It's easy to search the tag and see everyone else's submissions, and hop over to see more of artists that inspire you.  Just check it out!   

5.  Exposure to artists you might not otherwise know.  We all get stuck in our circles of people whose blogs or Facebook pages we habitually visit.  It's so nice to see that there are other circles out there, that we can pop in and out of.  For example, I've discovered a whole bunch of artists who create amazing faces on tea bags!  

I thought I'd share my process for one of my "Tag Ladies."  

You can also watch "Tag Lady" Fast Forward on YouTube here!  

Do you have any favorites of the "Tag Ladies" in this blog post?  Let me know in the comments, as I'll give one of these tags away!  Check back on Monday to see who it is.  And please leave me your email in your post, so that I can get in touch with you if I need to.

If you haven't already - please connect with me here:

InLinkz.com

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you are entering a GIVEAWAY, please add your email address in the event I need to contact you.

To avoid SPAM, please write it like this: jessicasporndesigns (at) gmail (dot) com

Thank You!

Stencil Test Drive Redux (#2) and Giveaway

Welcome to the second Stencil Test Drive Redux!  (See the first one here.) 

GIVEAWAY ALERT!  Each month, I will give away one of the featured stencils to one lucky commenter.  Comments for the giveaway will close on Sunday at 9AM EST, and the winner will be posted in this post by Monday morning at 9AM EST, so make sure to check back! 

This week - a look back at the Starry Night Stencil Test Drive.  Here's my project and the Cascading Leaves stencil itself. 

Here are the posts from the artists on that original test drive.  Click the names below the images to go to the original blog posts.

Maggie Nemetz

Revlie Shuit

Natasha May

Judy Shea

Jessica Sporn

I hope you'll check out these posts and the great tutorials some of them have!  

For a chance to win the Starry Night Stencil, make sure to leave a comment below that includes your email address.  

And if you've used one of my stencils, make sure to send me a picture/link and let me know! 

Giveaway is now closed.  Congratulations to: 

Comments for the giveaway will close on Sunday at 9AM EST, and the winner will be posted in this post by Monday morning at 9AM EST, so make sure to check back!

If you don't already, please sign-up for my newsletter HERE, and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin and YouTube, so that you never miss a giveaway, and always get the latest Jessica Sporn Designs News!  

Art is You Mixed Media 2015 Recap Part 2

Last week, I shared the amazing work by my students at Art is You Mixed Media Retreats.  I thought I'd share the evolution of my demo painting in today's post.

Here's how the piece looked at the end of the class.  I had demo'd abstract line and color work, silhouette making, gelli printing and more.  (You can see images from my Hebrew Calligraphy and Namaste stencils, as well as icons from Mary Beth Shaw's Flower Tile Stencils.)

I came home to a messy worktable.  Inspired by this video by Denise Alloca, I started ripping shapes from the newsprint on my table, which had images from my Medallions stencil on it,  into impressionist silhouettes of people.  I added them to my canvas.  Then, I decided to add faces and wings to them.

The piece continued to evolve...

and here it is, finished. The stencils most obviously apparent are the Namaste , and Hebrew Calligraphy stencils from Stencil Girl.

This piece is on a 12 x 12 canvas board,.  The original is available for purchase (without the watermark of course) for $195.  A 13 x 13 Canvas Print is available on Society 6 for $85.  

This is a process I am calling the "Yes, And..." approach to art making.  

"Yes, And" is an improv technique used in acting classes.  It’s an exercise that allows for anything to happen, and it goes like this: No matter what your fellow actors present to you, instead of negating it, belittling it, or disagreeing with it, you say, “Yes, and…”  You accept the scenario as it’s presented to you (regardless of where you wanted it to go), and then to add to it.  (You can hear Julie Balzer and me talk about it in this podcast.)   This approach is evident in this canvas, where the torn pieces of paper on my worktable took me somewhere completely different.  Though it's no surprise, as I've been seeing angels everywhere! 

Your comments make me so happy and let me know you were here. I read and treasure every comment and will happily answer any questions as soon as I can.

If you don't already, please sign-up for my newsletter HERE, and follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Bloglovin and YouTube, so that you never miss a giveaway, and always get the latest Jessica Sporn Designs News!