Do Good, Be Good; Artists Give Back

http://www.32auctions.com/artistsgiveback

In my last post, I wrote about my yoga teacher's teaching that all of yoga can be summed up in one phrase: Do Good, Be Good.  Well, artists around the world have come together to "do good."  Won't you help us?  100% of the proceeds of this auction will go to Pastoralist Child Foundation, a truly grass roots non-profit that supports rural Kenyan tribal efforts to improve the lives of their girls and women.  Here is their video, where you will see my friend Sayydah Garret, who founded the foundation, speak about its work.  

You can also watch the Pastoralist Child Foundation Official Video on Youtube here.  

I have donated these two pieces:

I created Being Strong using my Five Hamsas stencils from Stencil Girl Products.  You can read all about its creation here.  

I created Be Fearless using my Hearts, Flowers and More stencil for the background, and my Shiva Deity Stencil for the foreground.  Here's a blog post where I talked about Lord Shiva, and what his energy represents.  

There is amazing artwork on the auction site.  The auction starts Monday morning at 7AM EST and lasts until Friday 12/12.  I hope you'll check it out!

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.

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Feed Your Hopes and Starve Your Fears

The word up at One Little Word is "Fear."

We all have fears.  I once was:

Afraid to put my art out there...
Afraid my work wasn't good enough...
Afraid that I needed more formal training to call myself "artist"...
Afraid to make videos of creating art...
Afraid to apply to teach art...
Afraid no one would sign up for my classes...

Fear can paralyze.  There is nothing better than busting fear than taking a chance.

Nothing will shrink your fear more than honoring and feeding your hopes and dreams.  You just have to do it.

The background of this tag was done using my Hearts, Flowers & More stencil from Stencil Girl.  Lord Shiva is from my Shiva stencil.   They started out looking like this:

Here's a video of an art journal page fast forward using the Shiva Stencil.   You can also watch Shiva Art Journal Page on YouTube here.

Create something around the word "Fear" and link it up at One Little Word.  We would all love to see what you create.

Today is the VERY LAST DAY to register for Art is You Retreats.  If you've ever feared going on an art retreat - if you feared you might not know anyone; you don't have a roommate; or have not registered out of fear of the unknown, JUST DO IT.  You will feel embraced and loved and nurtured.  I'm teaching two workshops, and every workshop is just an amazing opportunity for self discovery, making new friends, and having a great time!











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.

 

Using Parts of Stencils - a Tutorial

Here is the evolution of two art journal pages in which I used the Hindu Deity Stencils without actually creating the deities!

In this first example, I made a random collage in my altered book journal with punches from the newsprint that is on my table.  I use it to dab off my cosmetic sponge before I stencil, and then I have all these crazy colored pieces!  The blue dots are from a scrap of book page on which I had cleaned off my gelli plate!

Using mostly the Ganesh Stencil, I used Sakura Gel Pens to trace some of the elements in the white spaces between the collage.  Can you pick out which pieces I used?  (Check out this blogpost for more examples of how I used the Ganesh Stencil.)

I glazed the whole page with Golden Fluid Acrylics and glazing medium.

I created two silhouettes from magazine ads and laminate paper, two create to profiles.  Then I used dark and light glazes to accentuate them.  I added bubbles from the Bubbles Girl Stencil to the top of the page, and glazed inside and outside the bubbles.   (For more examples of Bubbles Girl, check out this blog hop with lots of amazing artists using this stencil.)

I added some text in my own handwriting and from a Stampers Anonymous Stamp.  I love how the collage and stenciled elements add mystery and intrigue.

This next example has no collage -- just paint!  I started with a page in my "brayer off" book -- this is a blank book in which I clean my brayers when gelli printing.

After a bunch of stenciling using elements from the Hindu Deity Stencils and my Namaste Stencil, plus some overglazing and freehand flower sketching, my page looked like this:  

Can you see the faces of Krishna and Shiva peeking through?  More glazing, more painting....

 Then I used elements of the Ganesh Stencil to create leaves and patterns in some of the flowers:

I added the word "Namaste" to the top.  I expect I will eventually add some journaling in the white areas, but for now, here it is!  (To see lots of examples of how I used the Namaste stencil, jump to this blog post.)   Linking this one very belatedly to Art-Journal-Journey - where the monthly them is/was flowers!

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.

 

Sharing Shiva - a Stencil Girl Tutorial

Last week Stencil Girl released 3 new stencils of Hindu Deities.

In my last post, I introduced the Krishna Stencil.

Today, I want to tell you a bit about Lord Shiva.   If Krishna is peace and love, Shiva is "shakti" or power.  Sometimes known as the destroyer, Shiva is considered the most powerful god of the Hindu pantheon, and is one of the godheads in the Hindu Trinity of Brahmha - the creator, Vishnu - the Preserver, and Shiva - the judge or transformer.      (Scholars point to the trinity as one of many Hindu tenants appearing in Christianity.)

Although Shiva is responsible for death and destruction, it is important to note that Shiva destroys in order to create, since death is the medium for rebirth.  The dualities of life and death, creation and destruction, reside in his character.

Shiva is often portrayed in the pose of a Nataraj, the dancer - with the flames of creation and destruction surrounding him.  This is how I chose to portray him in this stencil.  In it, he stands on a pedestal of lotus flowers, representing the creative forces of the universe.   His four hands represent the four directions - North, South, East and West.  He stands on a prostrate figure that represents ignorance, and his lower right hand shows the gesture of fearlessness.

You can read more about Shiva online - but I love him for the metaphor of creation and re-birth arising out of destruction.  Certainly, I have learned more, and grown more, from my failures, disappointments and defeats, than any of my successes.

I have enjoyed making tags with different parts of the Shiva Stencil.  I also found great words in Carolyn Dube's Uplifting Words Stencil , and some cool motifs from Kae Pea's Wheel in the Sky Stencil to go with him in my journal.

I also used it to stencil this T-Shirt for my daughter.  May she always be fearless!

Here's a fast forward video of this Shiva art journal page.   The journaling says:

Sometimes we need to be broken to become whole,

to fail in order to succeed.

You can also watch "Lord Shiva Art Journal Page" on Youtube here.

I hope this post gives you some inspiration to embrace Shiva's energy and commitment to rebirth and renewal.  

There's a winner from the giveaway from the Krishna stencil post!  Linda on the Prairie, email your snail mail address to jessicabethsporn at gmail dot com and I will send the "Matters Most" piece to you!

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.

 

New Art Prints and Giveaway Last Chance!

I love the stories of the Hindu Dieties.  They each have something inspiring to teach us.  I created paintings of them in my art journal, and they are available on Society6 as prints and more.   (The watermarks are not on the prints you'll get.)

Want a free download of my artwork?  Click here!  You'll also subscribe to my newsletter with a new free download each month.

Only two more days to comment on my Stencil Girl/Walnut Hollow post (where I show you a step out tutorial for this BREATHE wall hanging)  to be eligible to win my Runes stencil.  I hope you'll check it out!

Linking to Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Every Day.  (So excited to take a class with Julie Balzer tomorrow in NY!)

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.