Boy has it been busy the last few months. Between holiday shows and teaching, I have not had time to post for quite some time.

Our holiday show in Brainerd went well. It was over the course of two weekends in November. Then I also had for two weekends in December.

January really kicked off with teaching and it still continues!

I have been trying to find the time to do my own art at the same time which I will say has been quite a struggle. One evening I needed some "comforting" unwinding zen and looked at some pieces I had started quite a while back.

I had some mixed media sticks I had done some time ago and felt I needed to do something with them. So on I went. I created a face out of polymer clay which I painted. Grabbing a few elements and scraps of material in my stash and wire I started to wrap my sticks.

 I was months after finishing a project for Art Walk Alchemy 2019 that includes 24 artists for a year long course, which left such an impression on me. I did not at the time realize how much. Here is the link https://www.mysticspringstudios.com/awa-2019-shop/yctt-2019-pal

I have some of my fondest memories of being with my family when I was ten. Coming from a broken family at such a young age, this was truly a time in my life I will never forget, and appreciate. My mom, dad and me drove up the west coast from southern California all the way up to Vancouver Canada to meet my grandmother at the train station. That trip has always left such wonderful memories and a huge impression on me. When I saw totems nearing Canada I was always in such awe of these somewhat scary, mystical, yet beautiful poles, at the time not at all realizing what they were or what they meant.

When I was asked to be a featured artist in Art Walk Alchemy 2019 and was told what the theme would be, Totems and Talismans, I was of course very excited. What I did not know was what emotions would come out of me from this project.

I finished my project with something stirred deep inside me that has not left, thankfully. Sometimes we may not necessarily “forget” fond memories, but rather they get pushed back due to every day life and what is important at that time. We are all just humans.

So recently I started a few projects that depicted a “woman” if you will. Nothing against any other gender, but just because it made sense to me being a woman myself that I could relate to.

My daughter and I have been gathering sticks and rusty metal objects for the past few years while out on our walks. I have always been drawn to rust, I think of the old weathered buildings my mom and I use to walk by on our trips down L.A.

I started my project with just twigs, sticks, material, rusty metals and beads. I painted her face with a patina and a dimple that I had impressions before baking her clay face :)

As I added her hair from moss and grass, attaching the two together with metal wire, she needed more stability as her “frame” was rather weak…. in the beginning.

She need more stability, a “strong backbone” if you will. So I grabbed larger twigs and branches to give her the strength she needed.

But now she felt “cold”. No protection. She needed more material and wool to keep her warm. I felt very “comfortable” now. Warm and protected from the cold. But she needed more. So I added more yarns, moss, beads, anything I could find in my stash to give her more “life”and comfort.

What I noticed was she was needing more stability to hold together. So I wrapped wire around her to help protect her even more. I kept adding more material, wool, metal objects, wire and yarns. When was she going to be complete?

What I did not realize was, was that I was “trapping” parts of her, emotions that she was keeping safe from harm. So as I looked at her and I felt compelled to “loosen” some of her fabric, then wool, then beads. What a release this was for me. I say that because as I was loosening some of the tight fabrics, I was also releasing a lot of what has been “held” inside of me for so long.

If one were to unfold her, there would be so many more treasures inside her not easily seen from the surface as I have left some emblems hidden, for she needs secrets to herself too.

Struggles, confusion, loss of self confidence and self esteem, and fond memories that are painful to remember, yet what I must, are what I have felt working on this project.

I added more metal wrappings but have found I have “loosened” them a bit, yet strong enough to hold her together.

As I look her smile on her face, I know I have given myself an “ok” to be happy, let myself have moments of self doubt yet realize them and overcome them, to be strong, to also loosen up a bit because it is “ok” I am human too.

Things Have Been Busy In a Good Way!

Things have been very busy lately so I apologize for not getting on here lately!

I have work now showing at the Brainerd City Hall and the Brainerd Public Library for the next few months so I have been working on getting these two exhibitions ready for this fall.

We had our show with the Brainerd Area Art Guild at Rumbly Hall downtown Brainerd MN with a great turnout in our new location! Here I am showing one of my 3 demos at the show...

I also have been teaching classes at Canvas Expressions at the Westgate Mall in Brainerd and have my next class on November 27th. Plus I will have a spot the two weekends also at Canvas Expressions the weekends of December 8th and 9th and 15th and 16th selling my creations.

I hope you can join me. If you have any questions please let me know and I will answer asap!

Happy Holidays!

New Online Workshop!

I am teaching an online workshop in 2019! This course runs all of 2019 and you don't want to miss it. The theme is Totems and Talismans. Below is the project we will be working on. For more details click on the link below!


https://www.mysticspringstudios.com/awa-2019-shop/yctt-2019-pal

Make sure to sign up for the early bird pricing!

July 2018 Show

Wow, a very busy past few days with my Nisswa MN show. We had a great turnout of people come to see 8 artists including myself. I met some very wonderful and enthused people this weekend along with a couple of local art councils who are interested in representing some of my work!

Here are a few images of my work on display...

We were set up at the Journey Church in the Nisswa square. I had a huge response from my fiber art, my Urban Dogs and my Giraffe.

Stay tuned for more updates as I have a new project that I will announce in the near future!

Making of a Philosopher King

I love relics and artifacts and I see this coming up in some of my recent works of art. I created "Making of a Philosopher King" that started with some hand textured papers and a piece of found rusted metal that was found on a walk.

I will say that some pieces just come together while some have their challenges. This piece I found the latter to be the case, but in the end I like where it ended up.

My textured paper was started on a 90 lb watercolor paper that was initially textured with gesso. I then applied color with Paper Artsy Fresco Finish in Steel Grey, Mud Splat and Venice Blue, Golden's Payne's Grey and Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold. I then distressed areas with StazOn in Stone Grey and Ranger Archival Ink in Potting Soil.

Laying some pieces out to get a composition I was happy with.

I knew I wanted to use this awesome piece of rusted metal that my daughter found while out walking her dog, which I attached to a piece of vintage paper which was treated with Seth Apter's and Emerald Creek's embossing powder in Vintage Beeswax, and some Amate paper behind the metal piece to bring out the metal. This was then attached to an old vintage cloth book cover in a mustard-like color.

Next came more laying out with another vintage book cover that accidentally ripped. I kind of liked this "one of many happy little accidents" that happened with this piece so I just went with it.

I started "orchestrating" other key pieces such as one of the relic's from Sandra Evertson's  "Persona" amazing collection and two mixed media sticks along the two sides, which were sewn onto the book cover and watercolor paper.

I felt something was needed in the rust piece even more ( I am never satisfied that easily):))) so added a rusted star and a turquoise bead. 

Adding in some depth...

and along the top to add another element I added a spine from an old book that I sewed 3 X's on it.

This piece is finalized adhered to a cradled wood panel.

Like I said I had a lot of challenges along the way but those challenges were worth every moment!

Now is the Time

I have been going through some recent changes tin my life hat have been showing in my creative process. I am finding more and more that I am striving for significance in my work. Now is the Time really sums it up for me in recent life changing events.

I started with a 6" x 6" deep cradled wood panel. My first step was to gesso in a deep gray. Then I used crackle paste with the Ornamental Compass Screen stencil by Gwen Laufleur Stencil Girl Products.


I then used Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Chalk paints from Seth Apter's collections of a combination Turquoise, Caribbean Sea, Granny Smith, Green Patina, Midnight and of course Mud Splat.

I needed somewhat of a border since I love borders so did so with Seth Apter and Emerald Creeks embossing powders of Ancient Amber, Chunky Rust, Patina Oxide and my go-to Rocky Road.

The sides I used texture medium and again used the embossing powders. Still doing the "what ifs" I decided to add the same Paper Artsy paints on the sides to add more color.

Still hungry for more I sprayed Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain in Rusty Hinge and Tattered Angels spray in Coffee Shop. Ahhh just what this needed!

Onto the emblems.

I used Seth Apter's Steering Wheel die cut offsetting half of the 16 layers which I had the perfect center piece, one of my vintage watch faces from my steampunk jewelry collection. It fit perfect!

I textured and finished the wheel along with the die cut rectangular frame below with the Prima Marketing Finnabair Rust Paste.

Ancient Artifact

I love the look of ancient artifacts that are an inspiration in art. I lalso ove finding rusty metal objects to incorporate into my art, and this one piece was begging for some extra attention due to the unique beauty of it.

This piece was found by my daughter while taking her Corgi for a walk. I think it may have been from a car around the tire maybe? So this was what I went with to create "something" with this piece, but before that....

I started with layering some ephemera on my wood panel. Then layering with paint and stains and stenciling with Pam Carriker's Beautiful Halo and some Seth Apter stencils. Adding more ephemera and more stains along with other textures such as mini stones and latex lace started to really build the piece.

Some of the mini stones on the bottom was a bit too much so I removed some and revealed a nice collage piece underneath. I further accented it and the top with Seth Apter and Emerald Creek embossing powders of Vintage Beeswax. I really liked how this was coming along so I added more embossing powder in Ancient Amber over the stained latex lace.

Still needing something more powerful I added one of Sandra Evertson's relic and artifacts pieces with the head piece. Staining, removing and staining more gave depth to this piece. I also at this point decided to do the same with the halo to give it cohesiveness. 

Next I stained cheesecloth to add another element to the rust piece and then applied both.

I really let the piece tell me which way to go with each step. The rust piece was a joy to work with.