inspiration Archives - Page 2 of 3

Security Envelopes

I use a variety of papers in my collage foundations for my art. One of favorites is security envelopes: they’re free in abundance (hello, junk mail), come in a variety of color and pattern, and add great texture to a collage.

Generally, I balance them with warmer-toned collaged papers like vintage book pages, or papers that are darker or lighter for contrast.

This afternoon, though, I collaged an index card using only security envelopes and a glue stick. The result is interesting — it reminds me of patchwork denim.

Other artists also incorporate these papers into their work. Christine Tischio of TurnstyleART uses them to create well-known character collages. Elizabeth Duffy creates beautiful lantern-like installations. Scraps of security envelopes pop up in Austin Kleon’s collages, too.

There’s also a host of inspiration on Instagram — check out #SecurityEnvelopePatterns.

Joan Mitchell

In May, I went to see the Joan Mitchell exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art; this weekend, I went for the second time. Most of Mitchells’ paintings are huge and full of energy, big strokes, and drips.

My favorite works feel deeply exploratory and focused on the process, not the outcome, and are a reminder for me to do the same.

When I am working, I am only aware of the canvas and what it tells me to do… I am certainly not aware of myself. Painting is a way of forgetting oneself.”

When I go to see artwork in person, I crouch and squint and look at it from the side, wanting to see the artist’s process. How did they use their brushes? Which layer did they add first? What is the balance of looser, watery elements and marks made with dry bristles? I took so many photos of details and texture.

I paint from remembered landscapes that I carry with me — and remembered feelings of them, which of course become transformed. I could certainly never mirror nature. I would like more to paint what it leaves me with.

I also loved looking at and comparing the two diptychs below. Both were painted in the same year, and I’m so curious if she created them around the same time. See how the top left both have vertical, solid colors, and the paintings move into smaller and more energetic strokes as she moves right and downwards?

Wisdom from the Past

Years ago, I kept a blog called My Peacetree where I explored art, healing from trauma, and the natural world. I took an extended hiatus after I enrolled in college, started my career, and settled into adult life.

But looking back, there are so many bits and pieces of those years of writing that still ring true.

Even cooler, sometimes they speak to and build upon one another:

Starting – picking up a paintbrush, a camera, a pen – can be one of the most difficult things to do in a creative’s life when inspiration has vanished. If we feel we have nothing to give, our minds ask us why we should we begin at all. And so we get discouraged, believing that we have lost our gift, and sink deeper into a creative rut.
Let me share a secret with you, darling, one that I must remind myself of again and again and again: often, the inspiration comes in the creating.
Inviting Inspiration, 2011

My experiments in art do not have to result in perfection. In fact, they rarely do. We as a society, as a world, are obsessed with success, and failure is often a threat. Not so in my art journal. Here, I can play and seek out and explore and find comfort in the tension and disharmony of my mistakes. Here, I can accept them for what they are.
I thank them for the wisdom they’ve given me. And I turn the page.
Lessons Learned in Art and Life, 2016

Books About Art Journaling

I first discovered the idea of using books as an creative medium back in high school. I was in Ms. Madsen’s art class, and I still remember picking up and flipping through Bev Brazelton’s Altered Books Workshop and feeling the simultaneous excitement of and hesitancy about using paint and collage in a perfectly good book. It felt forbidden — how often have we been taught not to damage books but to treat them with utmost care? It seemed wasteful.

But Bev’s book.. it was a spark.

Since then, I’ve spent hundreds and hundreds of hours reading books and blogs and scrolling social media accounts, seeing how others approach art journaling and testing out new ideas. I’ve filled dozens of books with my own art, art journals journals that I’ve made by hand and others that started as thrifted books. I’ve ripped out and burned pages, weighed them down with weavings and found objects, experimented with realism and abstract art and a household full of art supplies. I’m no longer afraid of a blank page.

Art is never a waste of materials.

Above is a selection of books about art journaling and creating that I’ve owned and loved over the past 15+ years (and a few I still have on my wishlist). Click through to see details. While these are all linked to Amazon, they’re not affiliate links, and I encourage you to consider buying these books from your local independent bookstore.

(Thanks, Ms. Madsen.)

Passing the Mic

This is a time of intense internal reflection. In addition to condemning police violence against Black men and women, I’ve been thinking hard about my own role in upholding the status quo and racist institutions.

One of my personal goals to that end is to use my little platform to lift up amazing artists who happen to have brown skin.

This week, I am not posting any of my own art online; instead, I’m being intentional about exploring and sharing work by Black and brown artists. I have come across so many new-to-me artists — and the list continues to grow. Check out some of my favorites pieces (so far) above!

And this won’t be a temporary thing. I am committed to changing my behaviors in the long-term; it’s only through sustained efforts that personal and societal change is possible. While I am lifting up Black artists in my Instastories, I’m also saving the stories to my highlights so that they can be found in the future. I’ll also be more intentional moving forward about the artist voices I share here.

If you have suggestions — artists to check out and/or how I can better support marginalized groups — I’d love to hear.