"THE ARTISTIC MOTHER WEEK ONE: BACKGROUND PAPERS"

I'm reading this incredible, fantastic book - The Artistic Mother by Shona Cole http://www.amazon.com/Artistic-Mother-Practical-Fitting-Creativity/dp/1600613489/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278987689&sr=1-1 and it's been a life-saver and tremendously helpful since I'm feeling very scattered and going through a rough, uninspired, unmotivated phase right now. I feel so blessed to have found this book right when I needed it. It's amazing how God always puts something in my artistic path when I'm most in need.

I highly recommend this book, regardless of whether or not you're a mother. The author herself is a mother of five gorgeous children and a superbly talented artist. Reading her book is not only very instructional, but also inspiring, motivating, chock full of tips, ideas, techniques and other things, and a real good starter for those interested in having a go with mixed media as well as digital photography. I also love how Shona Cole allows us to take a peek into her life. In the end, you're not only ready and aching to create, but you also feel like you made a new friend, that's how she made "me" feel, like I know her since forever.

On the second part of the book, we are presented with a structured way of getting our art started in the form of a 12 week workshop, divided in a way to make it attainable even for the busiest mom/artist out there. Week 1 teaches us how to make background papers to use on several of the projects taught in the book and collage amongst other things. I made a whole bunch and I had a blast creating these papers. I found this Moroccan recipe book somewhere, with beautiful glossy pages and the best thing, the pages were all blank! An obvious flunk but good for me, I get to have dozens of this beautiful surface ready to be transformed. I used Winsor and Newton Drawing Inks and stamped with some background rubber stamps afterwards. I love the way the inks reacted with the glossy surface, creating an agate kind of effect.

Check out Shona's blog here: http://shonastudio.blogspot.com/ to learn more about her book, her art and to see her beautiful photographs of her trip to Ireland (amongst other things, of course). A very inspirational blog, always fun to read, full of wonderful stuff, tutorials, and alternative projects for the workshop in the book. I find myself anxiously checking to see if she has new posts, every morning, the second I finish reading my e-mails. Also, I joined a group of other artists doing the projects in the book. It's a good way to keep motivated and create art with other like-minded people. Here's the link: http://artisticcreationswithtrudy.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-artistic-mother-group-forming-i.html The hostess, Trudy Callan, is a very talented and gracious artist and she has some wonderful words of encouragement for those who want to join. Be sure to check that out as well, you'll love it!

Anyways, my luvs, it's late and I should go now, but before I do, I'll post pics of weeks 2 and three of the workshop as well. I made the poetry tote with two old bandanas in my favorite colors - lime green and pink and for the handle I used an equally old Gucci silk scarf I hadn't worn in a long time. For a split second, I felt a pang of pain at the thought of cutting that scarf but then I thought, what the heck, I haven't even seen that scarf in a million years, it's been buried deep inside my closet for that long, so might as well put it to good use. The only thing missing is to paint something on the canvas square in the center. Shona uses a picture for her tote, but I decided I'd rather paint something on mine, maybe a fairy or a Frida, I don't know yet. The poetry journal was created with some of the other background papers I made and the only thing missing is to tie a few fibers and maybe a charm or two on the spiral binding. Hope you like it.

Hugs and have a wonderful and creative week,
Jade