Playing with Fabrics and my Go To art box

What have I been up to lately?

Someone emailed me the other day asking me what is in my "Go to" supplies box so thought this was something to show you today. Yes… I've corrupted another poor soul into mixed media. lol Sorry Janet!  But you're gonna love it! Just PLAY!

This box was just screaming at me to play with Sunday!
I keep this in my Living room with my most loved supplies so if I'm sitting and watching TV I can grab paper or fabric and play. :)  No, I can't just sit and watch TV and do nothing else. lol  Why waste the time? :D I'm usually found watching my Quilting Arts TV recording Sunday afternoons.

  The box is one of the magnetic closing types from Michaels Craft Store that I proudly got a whole set of assorted sizes on sale for 40% off AND I had a coupon for 20% off my entire order. Gotta love it!   Just close it up and keep it on my book shelf in there.  Looks all neat and pretty when closed up with it's vintage collage covering.  Miss Bailey has one too! :)

Supplies in the box?  Watercolor paper pad, usually a few pieces of canvas or muslin scraps, masking tape, Derwent Intense Blocks, Water Soluble Wax Pastels, 6 of my fav Pan Pastels, gum eraser, pencil and sharpener, 2 water brushes, small gesso paint and brush, spray bottle with water, assorted ink pens and markers (3 Pigma Micron Pens sizes 01, 03 & 08), Piolet Parallel pen 1.5mm, a black Stained Sharpie, black regular sharpie, white acrylic paint pen, assorted foam sponges, plastic mixing cups (recycled from dipping cups from fast food restaurant), 3 mini misters and several Tim Holtz Adirondac Alcohol inks and 3 silk squeeze bottles with needle tips and filled with acrylic paint in them for sketching outlines. All from Dick Blick's Art Materials.

What to do… what to do….

Always could use some more flowers! Where the heck is spring anyways this year? 

Yes, I'm spoiled, usually planting by now. 

 So I sketched some out using my Sharpie Pen on a piece of scrap muslin.

Added background color and flower centers with Pan Pastels using my foam sponges.

These are a newer item in my box lately as a gift from a dear friend… really wanted to play with them and color blending.

See Lynne!  I'm using them! LOVE THEM! Smoooooch!

Lynne is also one of my fellow designers, Aria, in the Follow Your Art series 

in case you haven't connected those dots!  

Added more details using my black ink Pigma Pen 

Can't decide if I'm done with it yet. Stay tuned. :)

Do you play with your art too?  Link me up in the comments here!  Would love to see what you're up to also!

Inspirations and my morning muse

I have been a little out of sorts this past week as I was not feeling at the top of my game with a four day long migraine, so I decided to spend some time cuddled up with my new Quilting Arts Mag in my bedroom with the shutters closed guarding my eyes from the intense Nevada sun.  Feeling the inspirations taking me over, I started sketching ideas for a new Art Quilt I want to make as a gift for a friend who is learning design.  I wanted to do something different but inspirational and educational.  I plan on making a color wheel showing all the color families in flowers into a pretty art quilt.  More on this later as I put this away until I finish my other art quilt with Miss Bailey. :)

I then went surfing for a new Beautiful Mess inspiration for a new digiscrap kit.  I wanted something calming, (with my current state of being), and neutral.  Something that could easily be combined with any colors from one's stash.  I frequently read Rebecca Sower's blog since I discovered her back in 2009 from a Somerset Studio Mag I have.   This week she posted this wonderful neutral photo collage and it's a perfect muse for me today.  See her post here with all the photo credits.

So armed with my new inspiration, I came up with a "non-color" color theme! lol
Off White - Creams - Silver - Taupes - Charcoals

I spent my morning pulling fabrics, textures and my vast collection UFOs (Un-Finished-Objects), together in my studio  to develop a mini inspiration board for this with my color swatch pulled from these.  We'll see where this takes me and I promise to share my journey how I develop this.
Besides… it's not always about the destination, it's about the journey getting there. And that entitles playing… and if you know me personally, you know it's all bout the PLAY for me! :D

That reminds me of a quote I saved from Robert Dancik, a jewelry artist. I feel like I have said this a million times in one way or another and thought his words of wisdom were worth sharing with you.

"Do not underestimate the importance of play.  Play is serious work.  When I play, it is open-ended exploration into my artwork and my processes.  I don’t focus on where it may lead or what the end product will be, but instead put my attention into enjoying and learning from the experience of simply exploring.  So the next time you are creating, don’t worry about where you’ll end up... just enjoy the ride."
Off to play for now!

Sharing what my art buddy is doing!

So I've been told I totally corrupt my friends once I introduce them to my "beautiful mess" in playing with mixed media! lol
PROOF!
I had been talking to my girlfriend Betty Jo about what I use for drawings in not only my art journaling but on my art quilts also.  I explained that I'm an ink lover!  I just love inks more than acrylics and watercolors because they are so vibrant and you can work over them after they dry and they won't bleed.  Guess that's all it took, so Betty Jo ordered the Inktense pencils and blocks to start playing again with her art.

LOOK what she made for her first art doodle in ages!  LOVE THIS!

Be sure to check out her blog for the whole story at Betty Jo's View. 

  There are actually a few of us who almost talk daily exchanging ideas in our real life art.  I even copied some of it to our Artist's Studio at DDS forums in a Mixed Media thread.  

Doesn't matter how you do your art, just do it!  We have our photography, watercolors, acrylics, fabrics, wood, sketch pads, you name it, (and I've been known to leave my mark on a few walls even, lol).  

I think we may have to start something regular sharing on blogs with peek into a designer's mind of two, or three, or four artists that love to play in very different mediums.  Hmmm… "Musings of an Artist" may have just been born!  lol  More on this later… have to go and solicit my creative buddies and twist an arm or two. ;)