Hodge Podge and Mod Podge

Finally, I've gotten my running out of the way for the week and I've taken time in the studio to play around with some new techniques and painting. This mixed media stuff is so much fun! I know I should be doing fiber stuff in preparation for the Midway Festival, but.... you know me!


I told Mirian that there were surprises in store for her if she made the bus and missed no school for the first month, and here's a decoupage box I made for her from a left-over stationary box that I painted and embellished:




She's been wanting to learn to shave her legs, so I included a sparkly pink razor and some fragrant shaving gel- she loved it and did well with her first shaving lesson! (She would be SO embarrassed that I put that on the blog).

We had our first fall alpaca cria, a black male from one of our oldest import girls, Roana.

Hopefully he's a harbinger of our fall births- unassisted, nursing in no time, bright and healthy! I am normally excited for each and every cria, but we've got a big surplus of males I'm trying to move right now. Black is desirable, though, and he appears to have some good potential. If you know anybody looking for bargain-priced fiber males OR breeding stock males please refer them to me, okay?

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Creating

I realize more and more all the time just how much satisfaction I get from creating... whether it's knitting socks, felting a hat, dyeing some freshly shorn alpaca fleece, or baking cookies (and although I love having a clean house, I don't like being the one to create that!). As if I need any more hobbies, I have been drawn like a magnet lately to mixed media art of all types- collage, paper arts, paintings, and altered books. I read about the art of Suzi Blu (above and below) and her mixed media workshop from an artist blogger I really like, Zorana, and was immediately attracted to Suzi's upbeat and whimsical style.

Suzi has an amazing creative niche which has a huge following of the video postings of her art, techniques, and wacky and wonderful philosophy on YouTube (or in her case, SuziBluTube!). Without thinking twice, I signed up for her online workshop, Les Petites Dolls, where she teaches drawing techniques for the darling girls that she uses in multimedia paintings. Walking into Kennedy Art Supply felt so good as I got together the suggested materials. There's just something about buying new art supplies if you're the kind of junkie that I am- even the smell of paints, pencils and ink is a balm! Suzi's style of folksy art and crazy videos aren't for everyone, but I personally love them and her teaching videos have brought me along quickly I think, with practice. Above and below are some of my first face drawing attempts...
Now I'm drawing on wood and shading with watercolor pencils, as well as using a woodburner for the first time (now THAT is fun!). The course lasts eight weeks, so I'll keep you posted and show you my progress. These are my most recent drawings, done on wood and adding color.
Suzy's videos and course PDF's encourage self-acceptance, art for the sake of fun and expression, and laughing at one's self through highlighting her own imperfections. I don't know about you, but that's something I can always use and unfortunately didn't outgrow after the teen years. Mirian has been doing some drawing with me and watching the videos, and we both laugh at Suzy's "making out" with her dog Gigi (who appears to be a shihtzu like our little Munchie). We've both been having dreams about drawing! I hope that the positive messages are sinking in with Mirian- Lord knows that tweens need all of the positive messages relating to self-image they can get!

I'll leave you with a few quotes ala Suzi: "God loves my art," "We change the world by changing ourselves first", "I trust my inner being to lead me in the right direction."

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