My Secret ATC Trade with Wendy Southin

A Secret, Mixed Media/Collage ATC Folding Book (Cover), May 2011

Last month, Wendy Southin won a chance to trade an Artist Trading Card (ATC) with me and I was elated! Although we’ve been part of the same ATC group for a couple of years now, we’ve never actually traded cards. You see instead […]

Collage Tip 6: Make History! (Stuck on the Royals, Part II)

Princess in the Making, Mixed Media Journal Page, April 29 2011

Well, I was all set to give you my next tip on collaging textures, when my good friend, Elaine Coombs, emailed me to ask what I thought of the Royal Wedding … excited by sharing my thoughts with her, my left brain […]

Maggie Jordan’s Vegan Potluck Vision Board Workshop

Vision Board Sneak Previews (top left to right) Nicole Beaudin (Desrosiers), Sarah Bentley; (mid left to right) Maggie Jordan, Leslie Ross; (bottom left to right) Charlotte, Lisa Bentley, April 2011

I had the great pleasure of meeting Maggie Jordan last year […]

Artist Trading Cards: History, Rituals, How To’s

March Reflections, Mixed Media/Collage ATC Folding Book (Cover), March 2011

Continuing from last week on the subject of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs)…

Joining an ATC group can be a lot of fun and anyone can start a group – not just artists! The following are a few tidbits to familiarize you […]

A Personal Glimpse into the World of Artist Trading Cards

ATCs Monika Seidenbusch (left); Christine Henri (centre); Michelle Casey (right) 2007

I discovered Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) in 2007 when an artist organization I belonged to invited a local ATC artist to speak about the subject. Along with her came three massive albums of cards she’d collected. I lover of small works, I […]

Student Spotlight: Olive Jones’ Vision Board

Olive Jones' Vision Board, November 2010, 16 x 20 inches

If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear my friend Olive Jones might just be a distant relative of the famed archaeologist/adventurer Indiana Jones! She’s always off gallivanting somewhere across globe digging up amazing facts for her latest research paper! Olive […]

Student Spotlight: Maggie Jordan’s Vision Board

Maggie Jordan's Vision Board, November 2010, 16 x 20 inches

I had the pleasure of meeting Maggie Jordan, a participant, in my Vision Board Workshop last November at Dragonfly Dreams Studio. I was a bit nervous for her when she arrived at the workshop unsure of how her vision board would […]

Creating Collage Using Daily Life Ephemera:

Untitled, Collage Journal Page, February 11, 2011

Yesterday, I gave a visual journaling workshop at my friend/artist Wendy Southin’s studio: Dragonfly Dreams. Here’s a fun exercise we tried using recycled bits of material from our daily lives to create journal pages. This method was derived from the work of twentieth century German Dada* […]

Collage Tip #4: Creative Ways to Play with Text in Your Collages

Untitled, Mixed Media Journal Page, November 27 2009

Here are a few exciting ways to play with text and numbers in your collage and mixed media art:

1. Create text using “chance”: cut out words from newspapers, magazines or books. Place them in a bag and […]

Student Spotlight: Andrea Harrison’s Taste of Ancient Wrath

Ancient Wrath, Collage, October 2010, 9×12 inches, by Andrea Harrison

Andrea Harrison and I go way back to high school. Every now and again over the years we’d bump into one other and update each other on the paths our lives were taking. I soon discovered that Andrea, a Project Manager who works […]