MMM: Personal Symbols

"Birds of a Feather"

Clip art images on Balsa wood 

This week's Mixed Media Monday prompt asks us to examine the personal symbols that reoccur in our artwork. I used this opportunity to review the things I've done over the last year, and noticed that I often use birds, wings and children's illustrations in my work. I also use imagery that tells the story of our coming together as a family, including our hope to add another child to the mix. In addition to presenting something that represents us (in this case, Kendra, our future child and me), I also used some of the supplies that I often turn to in order to create this new piece, "Birds of a Feather."

I recently created a Butterfly Reminder for The Artistic Mother's Group that is going through Shona Cole's new book of the same name. I still had some of the supplies on hand (and inspiration from Shona in mind) when I decided to create this piece from some clip art that I found from The Graphics Fairy. The original bird is black and white and was enhanced (along with it's reduced twin) with stamps, water-soluble oil pastels, glitter and Swarovski crystals. It was then backed on Balsa wood and strung (along with the cage that hangs on the bottom) with wire. Final touches included more Swarovski crystals (beads) and a piece of satin ribbon.

Thank you for looking! I look forward to seeing what everyone does this week. . .

Kristin xo

The Artistic Mother's Group

"Grady Joseph"

The Artistic Mother's Group: Project 6

Project 6 of The Artistic Mother's Group is to create a Nameplate out of a 6 x 8 canvas board, 4 x 6 landscape photo and handmade papers. This week I used a picture of Kendra's second cousin Grady Joseph. I tried to do something a bit more rustic and masculine (to match the subject) while at the same time keeping it pretty (for the recipient). 

The inspiration was taken directly from Shona Cole's  new book, The Artistic Mother. I created new handmade papers for this one and used a vintage dictionary entry (with word Grow) to keep it interesting. Other materials used were black acrylic, a text stamp (on the chipboard letter), wax crayons, wire, eyelets and a bit of black glitter. The coolest thing I learned today was that if I sprinkled a bit of glitter on the wet ink as it comes out of the printer, it sticks! A new discovery for me! Final touches included a smudge of acrylic on the hanging wire and a coat of archival varnish.

Thank you for looking! I am working on Kendra's version which I will post next week. . .

Kristin xo

P.S. Yeah! Spell check is back on blogger! Whew . . .

Vision Statement Banner

"Dear Kristin"

18 x 8 Fabric Vision Statement Banner

The Artistic Mother's Group: Project 4 

Detail of goals

Detail of letter to myself

Project four of The Artistic Mother's Group is to create a Vision Statement Banner based upon our individual Vision Statements. We were also encouraged to list a set of art goals that we hope to achieve. I found myself writing a letter instead of a vision statement (you may read it in it's entirety in the post below), but the idea is the same: to make a piece of art that inspires us to do what it takes to reach our goals.

The 18 x 8 banner was based upon the one in Shona Cole's new book, The Artistic Mother, and started life as a piece of reinforced fabric with two wooden dowels. To that, I added collage elements including a vintage Bingo card (I placed a picture of Kendra's feet when she was about 9 months on top), a vintage milk ticket, some handmade papers (really, really love using these), some decorative, vintage and scrapbook papers, acrylic (the fabric was washed in watered-down gesso and pink paint), some tea died fabric swatches, water-soluble oil pastels, a tag to which I added the words, "let go," the letter, and my goals attached to a postcard. I did not have Velcro so I used a clip and removable strips of paper instead. It was completed with decorative trim and two versions of Swarovski crystals.

It has found a home in my "Studio" (really just a girly guest room) and I look forward to putting it to good use . . .

Kristin xo