inactive...inspiration

Whilst the serious making is on hold for the time being, I thought I'd share with you some of my recent inspiration...Cloth•Paper•Scissors.

Probably not new to any mixed media artists out there and it wasn't new to me either but, whilst inactive & needing inspiration, I asked the mister to buy me the latest issue whilst he was out & about (the newsagent in the Town Hall car park in Skipton stocks a wealth of hard to get publications & a lot of them arty/creative).

Back he came with the Jan/Feb2012 issue & I swear I have never devoured a magazine quite so thoroughly & with such pleasure! I carried it around with me for the first week, dipping in & out of certain articles as they caught my fancy & trying out one of the tutorials...Word Birds by Ann Ellis.

I have wanted to try collage for a long, long time but seeing the amazing creations other people dream up, very much stopped me from trying it myself. Silly really but when I see collage and mixed media art I'm always struck by how free the artist must be to pull it all together so naturally...I was worried I wasn't 'free' enough & that anything I created would look forced. So, with the idea of filling a whole canvas being a monstrously daunting task, I hadn't bothered even trying.

Until I came across these birds! They were the absolute perfect size to break my teeth on...and so I just got stuck right in, drawing and cutting out 8 bird shapes and their wings [this is another problem I have...I can never just try 1, it had to be 8 *shakes head at self* ] & then pulling out tissue papers and the like ready to make. Now I will say that after gesso-ing all the shapes (I'd used old Graze boxes which are brown in colour & I didn't want this showing through) and pva-ing 6 of them & gluing on the torn tissue bits, I did start to think I was wasting my time.

You know that "what AM I doing feeling"? But I persevered & even dug out the paints for a couple of them. Once the wings were on I could start to see them come to life and quietly lost myself in the process for a couple of hours, playing with colours, sticking on embellishments & writing out little sayings.

Now, you can see that they are hugely influenced by Ann's own designs but I am so pleased with them - they were such fun to make that I'm having a crack at some of my own designs but using a similar method & hoping to use them in a different way. 

Well, I've become very sidetracked with telling my birdy story when what I intended to do was to tell you all about Cloth•Paper•Scissors *tsk* *tsk* Ms Ditsy!

I loved this issue & I think a lot of it was down to timing...the whole mixed media/collage slant plus my break from making-to-sell giving my creative mind time to think, ponder & stretch a little. Wanting to feed this stretching, I registered with the CPS site and my, oh my, there is SO much help & information & inspiration & wonderful free resources...and for all sorts of media. I urge you to take a look when you're next on the pc or your phone and having a little internet browse. You never know what it may spark off so remember...

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