Dancing Cat PaperWorks

Hybrid Art: Digital and Paper

2008-03-31T20:51:00.000-07:00

I have been struggling with doing an altered book, which requires creating collages that are completely digital, and it has me sitting, staring at the computer a lot. Images like the one above are digital; I combined the picture of the woman which I made translucent and placed over the document. I can do single page collages. Stringing them together into a "story" or altering an existing one is just beyond me so far.

I was never clear until recently how much I am really wedded to creating a single collage of images. I am having to think differently about everything, but it is an interesting challenge. Sort of more like writing, using images to create a narrative. The good thing is that I always like it when I feel like something will be a "cinch" for me "because I've had so much experience" :-)and then find that I am clueless. I have become convinced that this is where learning lives.

FAUX POSTAGE: Step 1

2008-03-25T20:26:00.001-07:00

You start by gathering stamps. Ask friends to save them for you. Ebay has great deals on packs of inexpensive stamps. As a life-long stamp collector, I will tell you that even stamps from the late 1800s can be had for pennies, so don't hesitate to try this out. Stamps that come everyday in the mail are just fine as well. It's fun to find more than one stamp still connected. Also, websites like http://www.100ProofPress sell, inexpensively, per-perforated sheets of stamps that are blank and ready to decorate. I also purchase stamps, postcards and ephemera from Europe, very inexpensively at http:www.delcampe.com.

FAUX POSTAGE: Step 2 and 3

2008-03-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

At this point, flip the stamp over to the back. This is your canvas! I use yellow sticky notes to mask a narrow border, or youcan ink right over the edges. Draw, stamp, color, paint. Tiny parts of your existing rubber stamps can be used here as well.

FAUX POSTAGE: Step 4

2008-03-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

Here is an example of some finished Faux Stamps that I created with rubber stamps and colored pencils. You can also make tiny collages on the backs. Please send me an email at DancingCat@Juno.com if you would like a 2-page instruction sheet, illustrated. Have Fun!

Writing and Art

2008-03-22T17:18:00.000-07:00

I am a member of Artelland which is a fabulous site for collage artist and writers (http://www.artellaland.com). Recently there was a challenge to research the meaning of flowers and then write something related to the meaning of a flower. Having completed several pieces that feature Iris' I wrote the following:

The late afternoon sun burned into his nut brown skin. The light breeze swirled the sand at every step as he wound his way past the Sphinx. The damp reed bag slung over his shoulder swayed with the motion of his body. When he reached her grave, he stood for a moment in silence. Slowly he lowered the bag to the ground and sank to his knees. A drop of sweat trickled down his cheek and splashed onto a jewel-like petal of the vilolet-blue iris peeking from the bag.

As the sun moved in the sky, merciless, he remained still, lost in grief and memories. The precious flowers he had so carefully carried here were his final link to her. He knew the etherial purple irises, when planted over her grave, would summon the Goddess to guide her, in death, on her journey.

Shadows grew around him and the dry desert wind became gentle as he took the first steps towards home. Cairo was a long way off, but his heart lifted as he remembered the royal iris, waving gently in the breeze as he left. Surely it was she, herself, bidding him a final, fond farewell, the Goddess standing by her side.

Tiny Little Pieces of Art

2008-03-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

One of the changes to creating artwork that has happened as a result of having so much less energy, is that I now enjoy working with small images (like ATC cars and "Inchies"--collages 1"-2" square). The above collage was created from 100s of tiny little images I have punched from old ephemera, magazines and discarded children's books. They are shown at actual size and I have a real love of the tiny illustrations that probably go unnoticed. This was a fun piece to do!

Hybrid Collage

2008-03-20T20:37:00.000-07:00

"MENDED WINGS"

One of the things I have begun to play with recently is combining traditional collage with digital elements. This piece of art started out as a watercolor image, with wings added (masking tape and stitched on the wings for mending). I was stuck for a long time, and then I scanned it in and began playing with it in Corel PhotoShop Plus and ended up creating a finished piece I really love. I am using a hybrid approach to Collage more and more.

The only drawback is that all the elements and ephemera, although they fit on my spanking new external drive, are, as they say, "Out of sight, out of mind" and the process isn't as easy as swapping in and out physical pieces like I do in my studio. I'm trying to figure out how to print out a "catalog" of the images but haven't so far. It is intriguing and exciting enough that I will keep trying. For days when I don't have the energy to go to the studio, I love the option of tooling around on the computer for half hour or so.

Hand Strength and Creating Art

2008-03-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

One of the things that has affected what I used to do is the loss of strength in my hands and arms. The picture shows my handmade paper, which has been embossed on pottery tiles my mother made for me using old textile printing blocks to make the imprints. Then the embossing has been wiped briefly in melted crayon and overdyed with watercolor inks. To get a good embossed impression requires going over and over the damp paper with sponge and then paper towel, pressing, pressing, pressing. I can no longer do this, and I keep looking for a way to simplify that process. There are embossing systems out there by Sissix and others, and their embossing plates are pretty, but they are not "unique."

Even making paper (pressing out the water) for more than a sheet or two is tough on my body. Fortunately I have a huge reserve of these papers that I am finally using up. It will be interesting to see what direction my papermaking (which has always been a foundation of my collages) will take. I am experimenting more with printing and painting. One of the best gifts of this time when I cannot work or teach is that I am playing around with techniques and experimenting with processes without regard to whether it will sell. Always after grief, comes new ground....

The most important thing I have learned in the last five years is this:
"Just Keep Going..."

An Incredible Resource for Collage Artists: http://www.Artellaland.com

Energy Requirements For Making Art

2008-03-10T22:22:00.000-07:00

This colored pencil sketch is a favorite of mine because it shows me what I CAN do.... I have always had a longing to keep a sketchbook. I never have. I did buy the books, the supplies, attended the classes. But I was never able to take up sketching. A million minutes spent sitting with a blank sheet, pencils in hand? Yes. I just could do nothing further. I couldn't figure out why, if I longed so for this, I could never actually do it. This picture answered one question. I had the skill. So what then?

When I became ill I was forced to be more and more realistic about what I was and was not capable of completing. It was a tough process, but it turned out to be a gift. I discovered that I only had a set amount of energy each day. Things that are natural to me (spontaneous, scattered, skipping around -- like Collage) have a small energy price tag and flow along easily. Things that are not natural for me (sustained focus, concentration, and prolonged attention to detail -- like Sketching) have a huge energy price tag for even small efforts.

It was simple really. Keeping a sketchbook was more energy than I had available. Making even one sketch was too much. With a real sense of loss I put away the instruction books and empty sketch pads. In return, I spent more time doing things related to collage, which allows a million steps in no particular order, impromptu changes in direction, and the creation of glorious messes! Creating artwork in this way remains available to me on my worst days, even if for a scant half hour.

This picture symbolizes for me the process of sorting and loss and gain that I experience on a daily basis as I cope with each day's energy allotment. There is much I cannot do, but what I can do, is really quite lovely, and in the end, enough.

Creating Fast and Furious

2008-03-08T19:51:00.000-08:00

Even when I have just a little energy, I go out to my studio. By the time I clear a space, pick a project, and get out materials, I have no energy to continue. Talk about discouraging!

This happens frequently, so I decided to try a different approach. I begin with a blank canvas, my boxes of paper scraps, and matte medium. The only rules are: pick something up, put it down with medium, and repeat...the faster the better. No thinking allowed, no pausing--decision making becomes instinctive and I respond to an inner "I want this there!" impulse. This allows me to sidestep the VOICE that wants to say: but that might ruin it, I don't think it's balanced, are we using that color?

I can work this way for about half an hour to an hour at most, but the terror of working instinctively always gives way to a wonderful exhilaration! What an unexpected bonus!

Each piece I create (like the one shown above) will likely go through many transformations as I more thoughtfully develop it, but in the meantime my whirlwind half hours help me build a growing stack of "Start Here" pieces for days when I have the time and energy I need.

My Personal Workshops: Challenges

2008-03-07T20:41:00.000-08:00

Cloth Paper Scissors magazine always has challenges linked with its articles, and while I don't send in what I make (meeting a deadline is impossible for me as my health varies) I find that completing the challenge takes me in wonderful new directions.

In a one issue last year they challenged readers to make 3 small pieces based around the same figure or face. I had an old, old image from some antique scrap that had been kicking around for awhile, and I found a wonderful little map entitle "Storm Warnings" about the same time. The best thing about challenges is they make you think "what if....?"

After much playing around I made one face represent "cold front" and one face represent "warm front" and a final Mother Earth represent Storm warnings. These three little pieces went through a zillion translations as I played with putting all the elements together. I'm not sure they work well enough to have submitted them, but I ended up truly liking them.

While I wait for the day I am well enough to join groups and swaps and challenges, it is nice to practice in my studio, and fun to have a place to post them. Feedback welcome!

A Return from Isolation

2008-03-07T06:09:00.000-08:00

I have been a collage and paper artist since I watched a PBS Special on making handmade paper from recycled materials in 1987. Between then and 2000 I wrote a book (The Art of Handmade Paper & Collage, out of print), traveled and taught throughout the United States and Canada, was part of an Artist's Cooperative Gallery, took and taught multiple classes and workshops, appeared on the Carol Duval show on HGTV and generally had a ball. I was also a graphic designer and Art Director for a Publishing Company in the field of quilting and crafting. I couldn't have been luckier!

Then I was stopped cold by a cluster of health problems. Over the course of a year I stopped teaching, stopped traveling, stopped working.... I know this has happened to many people, not just artists, and it is a journey of terrible loss you go on by yourself. But thanks to my beloved husband's foresight in building a tiny studio for me, I have never stopped creating. Just sitting out there looking through things is as much as I can do many days, but it is enough.

As the Internet boomed with places for artist websites, tutorials, and now blogs, I felt less and less isolated from all that was happening in the field of paper arts, multimedia, rubber stamping, quilting and dozens of other avenues of creative interest. My computer was as much of a godsend as my studio. However, nothing replaces the interaction with another creative soul, and I missed that most of all. Then....

Voila! the world of blogging grew by leaps and bounds and I could visit more artists than I had time for! see their work! be inspired! hear their stories and struggles and triumphs! Finally, the most recent issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors arrived (published by QuiltingArts.com) with a simple and encouraging article about starting your own blog - tiny blog - no pressure.

I decided to take the plunge today, and already I feel as if I'm talking to another creative soul!