 Michelle Casey, "My Father's Secret" (Inside) Mixed Media, ATC , May 2011 One of the greatest perks about being an artist and teacher is the wide variety of art work and ideas I get to share with students and artist colleagues/friends. Here are a few brief related highlights of happenings here at Collage Your World…
My “Secret” ATC Trade with Wendy Southin
Some of you must be dying to hear how Wendy Southin’s “secret” themed Artist Trading Card (ATC) exchange with me went. As you know my ATC dealt with a dream I had of a secret of my late father’s. Some of you are probably still guessing what it must be… for a recap see My Secret ATC Trade with Wendy Southin posting. Well, Wendy went a step further than me and created a card based on an actual family secret – courageous soul! It turns out that her husband discovered later in his life that his great grandfather who moved to Canada from Europe had two families which he kept secret from each other! (Oh, the scandal!) As you can imagine when this “secret” was finally revealed it was a shock to all. Using copies of old unclaimed photos of her husband’s mysterious “other” relatives, Wendy put together a mini ATC secret family photo album for me! Receiving “Grandpa Symonds’ Secret” was a fantastic surprise! This antique-toned (à la Tim Holtz) beauty of a card was composed of many textured backgrounds: handwriting, old documents and musical notes; it also included fragments of fabric, patterned tape, glossy hand-coloured copies of photos and nostalgic stickers and paper scraps – it was a sight to behold and sensuous to the touch. Thanks so much Wendy, I’m so proud to add such a personal piece of Southin family history to my ATC collection. Also, congrats to the ever intrepid Diane Salter who eventually uncovered what my dad’s dream secret was … a son from an earlier love affair!
 Wendy Southin, "Grandpa Symonds' Secret" (Inside), Mixed Media, ATC, May 2011 Sharing in the Latest Works of Past Basic Collage Students
In the past six months, it’s been exciting to receive works from former students Andrea Harrison and Jacinta Barroso. Their work keeps growing and blossoming with each new piece they send me. I can’t tell you how impressed I am to see these busy office professionals taking time to continue to expand their creative abilities. Andrea’s mentioned what a great stress reliever collaging has been for her. And, that doesn’t surprise me in the least. Time and time again in my readings related to the brain and health, it’s been reinforced what a cathartic role art plays as a stress reliever, as well as helping us produce chemicals to boost our immune systems! Yes, while we’re working on art, we’re also improving the health of our bodies and minds! Here are a couple examples of the girls’ works. Note (below) Jacinta’s use of luscious, bright colours and textures as well as romantic/nostalgic themes in “Ageless Beauty” and “Showstopper” – I’m such a Fred Astaire fan! I love the way Andrea experiments with scale to render her image “Mixed Up” so surreal and how she explores her more introspective side in “Duluth” — wow, there’s an intriguing narrative waiting to be uncovered in this one! Thanks for sharing ladies – I love receiving these amazing insights into your imaginations!
 Jacinta Barosso, "Ageless Beauty", Collage, January 8 2011  Jacinta Barosso "Showstopper", Collage, February 20 2011  Andrea Harrison, "Mixed Up", Collage, May 2011  Andrea Harrison, "Duluth", Collage, March 2011 Group Book Page Exchange
Every year the ATC group that I’m with holds a themed book page exchange. Everyone makes enough pages for however many people are participating in the project (ie. if there are 10 people like this year, everyone makes 10 pages each… one for everyone). A bit of room is left (ie. half an inch) on the side of the page so the pages can be assembled by their owners. This year the theme was “black and white”. It was an incredible feeling to receive 10 different hand-made pages; each composition/theme exposing the unique personalities of its maker. Page topics included: pirates, the Fibonnaci (sequence) as well as old black and white films to name a few. Special thanks to all the artists who participated – I treasure each and every one of your black and white pages! Here’s a sample of a page by pencil artist Sheila Cain-Sample. I love the way she integrates her beautiful drawing of a bee into this superbly textured collage/mixed media piece. Here images and words are not only glued on but taped with translucent, patterned or stamped tapes and even stapled! I just love the juxtaposition of various kinds of writing on this page. The sayings and quotes she incorporated were so inspiring and just what I needed to see after a stressful week’s work! Amazing page Sheila!
 Sheila Cain-Sample, Black & White Page, Mixed Media, May 2011 I’m Off for a Few Weeks:
For the next few weeks I’ll be devoting myself full-time to working on various aspects of my fall show at the Atrium Gallery. I’ll miss sharing information with you all for this short period, but will be back in the full swing of things in early July 2011 with more of my collage exploits and sneak previews of some of my show pieces so stayed tuned!
Thanks for stopping by today. Just a reminder to all my former students, devoted blog readers and any other creative souls who may stumble across this page, I’m always happy to share in your latest artistic collage or mixed media exploits!
 Monika Seidenbusch, Vision Board, January 2011, 16 x 20 inches I first met Monika Seidenbusch, an artist and painter, while exchanging Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) a few years ago. I remember being so taken by her superbly stylized portraits of women that I now proudly display one in my home. I love the rich jewel-like tones, the fine details and gorgeous textures of her work. I’m in awe of the way she transforms seemingly simple subject matter into something extraordinary, magical and poetic. To get a glimpse of what I mean, you can visit her website Kaleidoscope Studio. If you’re in town, you can catch her show “Every Woman a Princess” at Rothwell Gallery which is on June 1-13, 2011.
With Monika’s wealth of creative knowledge, skill and vast life experience, I knew full well that hers would be an amazing vision! I’d never seen her collage work much before so it was a treat to see her skilfully put together the most images I’ve ever seen a student put together in under 2 hours! Her extensive reflections regarding her dream chalet give rich insight into the process and mind set of creating a vision board. Without further ado, I give you: Monika…
 Monika Seidenbusch Monika, what’s your background?
My educational background is in agriculture; I’m also a trained interior decorator. My real passions lie with the visual arts and piano. As a young girl, I was already visiting art galleries by myself and dreamt of painting figures, very large paintings of figures and bold abstracts as far back as I can remember. I always kept myself busy drawing and painting, mostly with water colours. In my teen years, I started taking oil painting classes at a night school in Germany and later took part in a number of workshops in various art media. I’m a professional full-time artist painting in acrylics and mixed media figurative and abstract work.
What attracted you to the vision board workshop?
It was already in my nature to “gather” ideas for things that I wished for. I have a vision box or “dream box”, the size of a shoe box, with ideas cut out for home decorating, fabric swatches, room designs, even a rhinestone cat collar for our next cat. When I saw the movie The Secret, there is a segment in the movie that talks about the power of visualization and gives an example of the use of a vision board to help materialize wishes through the law of attraction. So, I thought I’d like to some day put all my ideas on a board, but felt too self-conscious to actually do it. When I noticed a vision board workshop being offered by Michelle Casey, I thought this is my opportunity to create one, for me it was all about the purpose of the board, rather than making it a real art project.
What was your dream for your vision board?
The dream for my vision board is to build a beautiful Chalet-type house, the type I used to see in the mountains in Austria. This house will have a large studio in which I can work and give workshops and it will also have a gallery, the Kaleidoscope Studio Gallery, for my art and art shows. It will also have a home library, a separate office and garage/workshop for my husband. I also see a Border Collie dog and a Bengal cat, two breeds I have been actively researching.
Did you already have a dream in mind before the workshop or did that slowly occur to you during the class?
I already had these dreams and had been gathering some information already, such as house plan ideas etc.. What occurred to me during the workshop was the fact that I am so very much drawn to beautiful architectural details and warm browns and creams in a home, so quiet and restful.
What did you think of the visioning process?
Although I had these dreams, I never “meditated” on them and found this part at the beginning of the workshop very enlightening. The music was peaceful and may have helped to quiet my mind. You know I saw the type of window I wanted in my studio and I saw a hummingbird outside the window. When Michelle in her calm voice asked us to open the door to our dream, I walked into our foyer in the new home and put my keys on the dresser, the dog and cat coming over to greet me. The phone was ringing in the office.
How did you feel about the collaging process?
The collaging process was a lot of fun. I had a ball tearing out pictures and quotes to match my dreams and quickly realized I was not going to have enough time to think through an artistic looking composition, so I just let the idea of an art project go completely and started cutting and gluing as fast as I could. There was something very satisfying about cutting and pasting, perhaps it brings out the child in me. I have collaged art projects before and had carefully thought about the composition and colour theme and placement of interesting elements before. I had produced a body of work in collage/mixed media. However, I did not use pictures in my collage work. I discovered that it’s easier for me to explain to others what my dreams are; it gave my husband an idea as well. The other day when we were out driving he pointed out a beautiful interlocking brick driveway and said he would love to have something like that for a driveway and walkway around our house. This dream is not just for me it’s for my husband and family as well. After having a family, and my husband and I having various interests, we know what we want in a house and which rooms are most important to us. It clarified the goal of a house and studio as more of a mutual dream.
Did you feel the vision board is a good tool/touchstone for visualizing your dream?
I think it is if it’s going to be shared with someone else. It also puts the dream as a snapshot in your mind of what you want; it gives you an immediate picture for anyone looking at it.
Where is your vision board now?
Ever since I brought it home, it’s been leaning against a wall in the bedroom. It’s the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing at night. Even when I have something completely different on my mind, I could glance up at the vision board and think of something about it, lately I’ve been thinking about front doors…
Do you see yourself creating another vision board in the future?
This dream is so big and has many facets to it that at the moment I can’t see myself concentrating our thoughts and finances on any other big dreams for a while. I do have other dreams, such as travelling more and perhaps getting involved again as an International Red Cross disaster assistant, something I trained for in my late teens in Germany and have kept up my first response training for.
Thank you for asking me these questions for your blog. As you can see there are sometimes many layers to a dream and often times they weave into the dreams of others or are merely aspects of a personality that are trying to materialize. And they will… First there is the asking, then the believing, then the knowing that it will happen, then trusting that it’s on its way… Hold on to that faith.
Wow, this girl writes as beautifully as she paints! The most phenomenal thing for me about Monika’s board is in the sharing of her dream… with her husband and family. It’s like, as a result, the vision never ends; it gets to grow and become richer with the input of people she loves. A vision board doesn’t have to be centered on the self; its reach can be inclusive and create a nurturing environment for all involved in the “dreamer’s” vision. When viewed in this light, the construction of a vision board could be a wonderful family or couple-related activity.
Best to you with your studio/workshop/dream house chalet, Monika! I’ll be one of the first ones to visit your new studio and take a class. It was such a privilege to have you as a student; I’ve learned much from your thoughts. Thanks so much for sharing your vision board with us. Best with your show at Rothwell Gallery!
 Our Lady of Textures, Mixed Media Collage, May 20, 2011 Earlier in the year, I received a request from artist/teacher friend Andrea Pumphrey who asked me to give some tips on creating textures. Well Andrea, I’ve rounded up a whole slew of ways to add fabulous textures to your collages! There are so many, I’ve had to turn this response into a series of three instalments beginning with using ready-made textures from magazines.
Collages can be made up of two kinds of surfaces: three-dimensional tactile surfaces (ie. rough, shiny, matte, bumpy, etc.) created with the help of various tools and liquid/gel mediums. If you don’t have these materials handy, you can create the illusion of real-life textures and designs with two-dimensional (flat) imagery found in magazines. Fine Art, Photography, Interior Design, Fashion and Food magazines are great sources for these.
Textures, what are they good for, you may ask? Well, textures give your art that extra oomph. The fine details they reveal can reel viewers into your piece and also give them more information about the world you’re creating and your subject matter. They can also add emotional depth and symbolic significance to your art. If you wish, you can use textures to reveal not only what’s going on on the surface of your work but also what’s underneath it psychologically.
Since my love of textures is inspired by the worlds of film, music and fashion, I can’t but help use a personality from them to assist me in illustrating the role of texture to you. Above is a collage inspired by pop musical video fashionista sensation Lady Gaga. I’m always amazed by the way she uses her body as a canvas for any number of textures to be played out on… leather, vinyl, lace, faux fur, raw meat, synthetic skin, chrome, chain mail, beads, diamonds, gauzy/metallic fabrics, and thinly veiled tattoos all ensure eyes stay riveted on Lady Gaga’s form; they also reveal nasty and brilliant insights into the characters she portrays. Don’t believe me? See for yourself! In her video, “Bad Romance” (warning: scenes may offend some), she uses numerous texture strategies to captivate her audience as well as her unwitting male victim!
So go gaga for textures in your own collages! Not only are they a fun way of adding interest to your collages, they’re a great excuse to recycle your old magazines! Here’s a list of textures to draw from:
Texture List:
– Unusual or decorative metal surfaces (shiny/matte)
– Iron/metals: railings or intricate design work
– Hand woven items: rugs, floor mats, baskets
– Oriental or ethnic hand-made carpets
– Wallpaper from different eras
– Fabric prints with globally inspired patterns
– Fabric with needle work (simple stitches or intricate embroidery)
– Threads/wool/fibre
– Lace, veiled figures
– Patterned or chequered floor tiles
– Ceramics: I love using whole or fragments of hand-decorated objects
– Glass: look for surfaces with shimmer/shine/light/reflections
– Skies: day/night/dawn, clouds, night stars
– Nature: wood grain, sandy or pebbly beaches, watery/reflective surfaces
– Sea stuff: shells, corals, sand, rocks, pebbles, seaweed, fish scales, etc.
– Fur and animal skins
– Clothing from different eras and cultures
– Food: sliced, textured surfaces, glistening, slimy surfaces
– Paintings/drawings/sculptural pieces which reveal finger, brush, pencil or tool marks
– Drawing related: graffiti, “primitive” drawings, calligraphy, mathematic & scientific formulas/diagrams
– Photography: atmospheric/experimental/landscape photos (microscopic/macroscopic), views of space, human body, cells, nature, city and country scapes.
Cut or tear out various sized pieces of textured magazine fragments and integrate them into your collages. Once you’ve collected many you may want to categorize them by subject matter, colour or theme. Place different categories into appropriately labelled boxes or trays so they are easy to locate when you need them. When collaging, think of your textures as a kind of palette to draw from to create colour, dimension, symbolism and more.
 Texture Samples Colour/Texture Palette Samples: top left: paint splatter, scraping on canvas, flower petal; middle left: seaweed, carpet design, coral; bottom left: wood grain, glass mosaic tile, graffiti painting
Have you discovered any interesting magazine textures you’d like to share? If so, I’d love to hear from you. Stay tuned for the second installment of my texture series in July when I’ll be covering texture tools from around the house.
 Wendy Southin, Vision Board, November 2010, 16 x 20 inches Wendy Southin and I have been members of the same Artist Trading Card (ATC) group for a couple of years now. The first time I laid eyes on one of her cards, I was struck by the great care and thought she put into making it – all of Wendy’s work is crafted this loving way. As well as her ATCs, I’m a big fan of her jewellery. Inspired by romantic elements of nature, she skilfully weaves the natural world into her pieces. It’s hard not to admire the precise detail work that goes into all of her art. Whether it be with paint, paper or metal, she revels in transforming the surfaces of her pieces into a variety of sumptuous colours and textural designs. Impressed by her skills, I’ve taken her metal embossing and collage jewellery workshops and learned much – I highly recommend them. On top of being a talented artist, Wendy, a petite pixie-like figure with an impish smile is a fabulous teacher… calm, well-organized, supportive and generous; she also has a surprisingly wicked sense of humour! Having her as a friend and colleague is such a privilege.
Like Olive Jones, Wendy was another student who was so artistically rich that I wondered what more I could possibly teach them!? As usual, there were things to be learned… here’s Wendy’s take on the vision board workshop…
 Wendy Southin, May 2011 Wendy’s Vision Board Reflections
I’ve been creating with many different kinds of arts and crafts as long as I can remember. Right now my main focus is on my jewellery but I enjoy doing paper arts, metal embossing and altered art.
I heard about vision boards a year or more ago and it’s been in my mind that this was something I’d like to try in the hopes of giving focus to myself and what I want to do in the future.
I was unsure of what direction I wanted to go in with the vision board. I had originally thought I wanted to do it about my business but was having trouble actually envisioning it when I tried. This frustrated me; as a result I think it made me pick an easier, safer, alternative theme which was buying a new house.
I thought the visioning process was very helpful. I instantly saw an image of my safe place (my new home). It allowed me to have what I couldn’t own. I realize now if I was more focused about my business, I could probably do a vision board about it now. I don’t think visioning clarified my goals for me, but it did make me realize a number of things and I felt good about that.
I loved the actual process of collaging the vision board. I think it helped me see my visual style more clearly. It also made me realize that many of the things I thought I really wanted in my new house, I really already have and that some of them really aren’t that important for me. It made me face some things I had been hiding from myself and confront them.
My vision board is in my studio; I don’t actually look at it much. I would really like to do another one to push myself more.
Having only seen her small artworks and ATCs, I was thrilled to see Wendy working on a large board (16 x 20 inches). As can be seen, the colours of her dream home space are composed of cozy, warm, earthy tones; her compositional layout, a tightly knit grid filled with small, jewel-like finely detailed magazine pieces…the board is so much like the spirit of her artwork… full of beauty, warmth and comfort.
It’s not always easy to pick a vision board theme; Wendy struggled with hers, right up until the morning of the workshop. I’m glad she decided to take that first courageous step by trying one of her ideas to see where it would lead her. As an instructor/guide, I really appreciated that she viewed the vision board workshop as a process of self-discovery rather than a means to an end. Listening to her gut feelings about her board, Wendy’s further insights revealed her dream home wasn’t the most important thing on her mind. Sharing her new vision board dream of wanting to further develop her art business got the ball rolling for her next visioning-related adventure. I directed Wendy to Jennifer Lee’s Right-Brainers in Business Video Summit where she found much inspiration. Going the extra mile, Wendy started reading Jenn’s book The Right-Brain Business Plan: A Creative Visual Map for Success to find ways to improve her business as well as create a Right-Brain Visual Business Plan (RBBP).
I’m really looking forward to seeing her new RBBP or related vision board which BTW she’ll be making with two other friends venturing into the same territory – working in groups is a great way to ignite creative energy! It’s wonderful to see the vision board workshop inspiring yet another creative entrepreneur. Through Wendy’s passionate dedication to her dreams, I can easily see Dragonfly Dreams soaring to even greater heights!
 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 of trading in the conventional way, to save time, our group members make one ATC each and draw numbers for each other’s cards… so in all this time, fate has denied me one of Wendy’s amazing cards… but not for long! I can’t wait to see what she’s done! In the meantime, let me share some news about this latest ATC escapade of mine…
Wendy agreed to trade cards on May 9th. When it came to deciding on a topic, I was all for making it a free-for-all, while she felt it worked better with a theme and was happy to let me do the choosing. The pressure was on … I had to come up with a really great topic… so after a little reflecting and Internet research, I decided upon: “A Secret”! It ended up being too good for me – I spent weeks wondering what the hell I was going to do! I’ve gotten so used to spontaneously creating my themes, that when I actually have one, I suddenly feel boxed in. Anyway, I had some decisions to make… would I divulge some mysterious secret about the universe? Or relay some wise insight about life? (Nah, I’m still too young and foolish for that!) 😉 Perhaps I could draw on some fascinating secret about a celebrity? Everyone loves this kind of gossip. While speaking with Olive this week she suggested I come clean about a secret shopping excursion I’d hidden from my hubby (ah, she knows me well!) but seeing as he’s my blog editor, I nixed that idea quickly! (ha, ha, Kev you’ll never know how many there were just in the last week!) Despite doing this, Olive’s idea made me realize that often the juiciest secrets are personal ones… maybe I could divulge a family secret. This sounded fascinating but also scary … if only I could come up with a private secret that was a blend of fact and fiction… meanwhile as I pondered and procrastinated, my deadline loomed nearer.
Now, I don’t know about you but when I collage something… it really has to intrigue me… it needs to be something I can’t fully picture but would really like to. A few days ago, I had a restless night’s sleep and awoke from a terrible nightmare … and that’s when I had an “aha moment” and made a mad dash for my dream journal! A couple of years ago I started one, and let me tell you, when it comes to dreams, I could be the queen of nightmares! I can’t complain though, because often these tragic visions are visually rich and compelling. I excitedly reviewed my journal for the perfect dream to work with and found one that revealed a secret about my late father…
Dreams are great to work with because like collage, we often remember them in fragments. One of the greatest artists of the early twentieth century, Max Ernst, used images from illustrated books to fashion his own seamlessly collaged dream world novels. My ATC (see above), a two page card-like book on Stonehenge paper, is composed of magazine images and an old invoice fragment; it’s hand-coloured with Sakura Gelly Roll pens (can’t live without those things!) while the writing is done with a black Pigma Micron pen. In composing the card, I chose several elements that I felt “spoke” to each other to reveal parts of my dream. As I was working in a small space, I had to edit many of my dream details out but I was pleased with the results. Now I was told you must never judge a book by its cover, but I was wondering just how intrepid you people are… can you decipher what my father’s secret is from the cover above? If you can, I’ll send you an image of the inside of the ATC card via email so you, along with Wendy, can share in my dream secret, too! Stay tuned in the near future for more on Wendy’s fabulous ATC.
Here are a couple of other dream-related pieces of mine: “Disturbing Dream” and another related to an old family home. One day, I’ll devote a show to dream-related collages.
Other Related Links:
A Personal Glimpse into the World of Artist Trading Cards
Artist Trading Cards: History, Rituals, How To’s
 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 went right out the window and my right-brain took over… so this week’s entry couldn’t help but be about Will and Kate again! I went into mad scientist frenzy mode: cutting, tearing and ripping through several magazines I’d bought about the royals as well as a few other favourites… trying desperately to give shape to a new “peoples’ princess”…
The night before the wedding, I’d been working on a very sombre daily ephemera page featuring the couple as well as Diana, but when I got up at 4:00 o’clock on Friday morning (thanks for waking me up Kev!) to watch the televised ceremony, Will and Kate mania hit me all over again! For weeks my mind has been on the ill-fated Diana and Charles wedding. Every time I saw the young couple, my mind was haunted by the tragic death of Diana… I just couldn’t shake it off (a part of me still worries for them and how the various press expect them to live out a perfect marriage). When I saw the wedding that day, however, I really felt it was going to be a fresh start for them. I couldn’t help pausing for a few teary-eyed moments to ponder what Di would have made of her son walking proudly down the aisle of Westminster Abbey hands linked with the beaming and beautiful young Kate… or if she might have advised William to make sure to give Kate a nice long romantic lingering kiss (the kind Charles never gave her!)… I chuckled at William’s first shy kiss (which was okay by me)… then was taken by the second slightly longer one the two shared that made everyone’s day and, also I think, totally obliterated comparisons to the ghosts of royal nuptials past. It was hard not to root for the pair who appeared to be genuinely following their hearts.
I believe they really held their own that day, too. Never for a moment did I look at Katherine and make comparisons to Diana… I felt a bit strange about this… but I think it was a good strange. It’s exciting to see Kate Middleton blazing her own trail; warming the hearts of the British people and the world. What a smashingly elegant dress she wore; how awesome that it gave a contemporary nod to Grace Kelly’s 1950’s one (which BTW I’m glad the media has chosen to view in a positive light!). As a young girl, I was struck by breathtaking images of Kelly in her wedding dress. I was fascinated by the thought of a beautiful and talented Hollywood actress (a “commoner”) marrying a Prince from a far-off country. Besides the dress, the couple added many other personal touches to their wedding. I loved the eco-friendly idea of bringing in tall potted trees into the Abbey. The selection of hymns favoured by the crowds was a very thoughtful thing. Katherine’s borrowing and donning jewellery from the late Diana (the ring), the Queen (the tiara) and her parents (the earrings) was a mark of respect for all three and also brilliantly fulfilled the “something old, borrowed and new” categories. The Prince, in his selection of the Irish Guard military uniform, gave a very respectful nod to his unit in Afghanistan. Through these gestures, they relayed their commitment to the important people and ideals in their lives.
I couldn’t help spending much of my Friday morning and early afternoon contemplating the wedding, and felt compelled to whip off a journal page about Princess Katherine. I worked furiously through the afternoon and evening trying to make whatever visual sense I could of my feelings behind of the making of a modern day princess. I’m proud to share this latest piece with you which will also be featured in my upcoming fall show at the Atrium Gallery here in Ottawa.
Despite my royal tangent, I do have a collage tip to offer you today. In the past, I’ve spoken of how literature can be an important jumping off point for your collage art and journaling… well, capturing historical events through your own eyes can also be just as exciting. For collagists, the Royal Wedding is a doubly whammy – think of all the beautiful images coming our way! There’ll be so much to play with and ponder. So during moments when you feel a personal connection to historical events for whatever reason, you may wish to consider channelling your reflections into some concrete form through your art. By doing this in a sense you’re not just making art, you’re also making history… this can be a pretty wonderful and enlightening thing! Why not add your two cents worth about world events… it’ll be just as interesting as what the media and royal historians have to offer! If you dare to share, I’d love to see your Royal creations. How did the Royal Wedding make you feel? – good, bad or indifferent, I’d be curious to know.
 The Future, Mixed Media Journal Page, February 3 2010 I don’t know about you but I’ve found myself totally reeled in by the upcoming Royal Wedding! For months now I’ve tried to resist the big media hoopla surrounding the upcoming royal nuptials of William and Kate – being a great critic of media and all (that’s was you get when you do your MA in Media Studies!). Eventually, however, I found myself just as intrigued by the story behind Prince William and Kate Middleton as I was with Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.
I’m a big fan of the late Princess Di. In my teens, I remember getting up at 4:00 o’clock in the morning, with my grandmother Sophie who was visiting from the UK, to watch Diana’s wedding to Charles. I was blown away by Di’s Cinderella-like gown and magnificent tiara. The following year I remember a number of girls at my high school prom wearing exact replicas of her dress! Like almost everyone else in the world, I fell in love with the Princess’s shy smile; it was that along with her sense of humility, humour and courageousness that fully won me over. Never for a minute, did I think I’d outlive Diana. Like the death of Elvis Presley, John Lennon and Michael Jackson, hers caught the world by surprise. Stunned by this loss, it was hard to envision a world without her coy smile and graceful figure greeting us on almost every magazine cover… through these bits and fragments of stories fashioned about her life, many of us came to know more about Diana’s private life than we probably did about our own relatives!
Like many artists, I’m compelled to transfer my private obsessions to my work. In my 30’s when Diana was at the height of her fame, I began religiously collecting Royalty and other magazines about royals. In art school, when asked to create a piece reflecting the 20-century’s impact on my life, being a product of colonial times, I gravitated to the tragic tale of Diana and the Royal Family’s unfolding around me. I created a three-dimensional collage sculpture dedicated to the fall of the Royal Family… with the burning of Windsor Castle; the strained relationship between Charles and Di and Princess Fergie’s disastrous media encounters. I wondered where all this would lead them. My piece, a tall tower composed of a set of children’s blocks featured fragments of images from fairytales and nursery rhymes (Cinderella, London Bridge, etc.). Adding to these, I pasted on images of Charles and Diana’s wedding kiss; Fergie’s dress blowing up in the breeze (à la Marilyn Monroe); Big Ben (the London clock tower) and Windsor Castle in flames. At 12 blocks high, the structure trembled as the last piece, an image of the fleeting wedding kiss between Charles and Diana, was added to it… eventually it tumbled down after a few seconds. I don’t know where this work is now, as my hubby stashed it away somewhere in the black hole that is our garage (!)… one day I’ll share it you…
Putting that piece together made me think about the genesis of those “happily-ever-after” thoughts we have engrained in our head as little girls and how our realities soon dispel them once we marry. For those of us that still believed in the possibility of “true love” even still, the real-life tragic fairytale of Prince Charles and Princess Diana put to rest that Disney-inspired myth that “common” girls can find true love and happiness with their handsome princes. With Prince William and Kate, however, I hear that the story is different because the pair have known each other for years, are more mature and ever more aware of each other’s needs than Charles and Diana were. Well, let’s hope it’s true… Let’s hope that the brilliant sapphire ring William has daringly and nostalgically placed on Princess-to-be Katherine’s finger brings them good luck this time round. Even this slightly jaded collage artist wants to believe it will.
Are you a fan of the British royals? I’d love to hear your Royal Wedding thoughts… if any of you have devoted pieces to Diana; I’d love to know about them, too. One day, when I find just the right pieces, I’d love to do a more positive Princess Diana commemorative collage.
 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 while holding a Vision Board workshop at Dragonfly Dreams Studio. Impressed with the class, she asked if I would teach it to several of her friends – boosting the spirits of this fledging teacher to high heavens!
The workshop was held at the Munster Community Centre April 10, 2011. This great venue, which Maggie found, is a spacious, well-equipped centre (with large tables and digital projector) whose pièce de resistance is a fully equipped kitchen (oh, the luxury of it all!) … it wasn’t long before Maggie’s head was also filled with visions of a vegan potluck lunch for the session– a delicious idea which I immediately put her in charge of!
Before the workshop, this worrisome instructor was of course wrought with anxiety wondering whether Maggie’s friends would like me or if the class would go well or not. Bent on keeping the drama queen in me at bay, I relied on the daily affirmations of fictional self-help guru Stuart Smalley for guidance … (he’s a creation of SNL comedian Al Franken) … refusing to lead myself into a “downward spiral” of negative thinking, I repeated his mantra over and over: “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough and, doggone it, people LIKE ME!” as well as inventing my own: “It’s going to be a GREAT workshop!” Re-energized, I prepared for the class adding new material for the digital projector as well as coming up with a name tag idea to break the ice. I collaged vintage images of 1950’s women onto the tags and would ask students to add their names as well as a comment about how they were feeling… hoping this would spark conversation or a laugh and give me insight into their spirits… it did all three! We had a great time. Unfortunately, the vegan potluck vanished before I could snap it up for you! Here are the class pics… it was so great to see everyone “in the zone” while creating…
 Leslie Ross working on her vision board, April 2011 Leslie Ross, a first-time collagist, reflecting on the placement of her images which she hoped would give vision to the balanced lifestyle she sought for herself. I admired her excitement as well as the many creative leaps of faith she took in herself during the process…
 Charlotte working on on her vision board, April 2011 Charlotte, a yoga instructor, was confident about where she was going with her board which she intends to use for her meditative yoga practice. This was her second one and she hoped she could do a better job gluing it down than the first one she did a few months ago!
 Nicole Beaudin (Desrosiers) working on her vision board (I made sure to get a shot of her "good side"!), April 2011 Nicole Beaudin (Desrosiers), a media specialist and fan of the movie “The Secret” had made a number of word-based boards in the past; this time she wanted to create a more visual-oriented one. I really appreciated the energy, enthusiasm and stories she shared with the class.
 Maggie Jordan's infectious smile... I think she's imagining the vegan potluck lunch!, April 2011 Maggie Jordan, artist/designer, intuitively crafting a board to help her visualize the major transitions she’s currently undergoing in her career and life… a challenging theme. This is Maggie’s second go around at creating a board… she decided to make this one more theme-focused.
 Leslie Ross taking a photo, April 2011 At the end of class, Leslie takes a photo of her vision board to remember the placement of images she hasn’t glued down yet. Upon returning home she made a number of adjustments to her initial layout — I can’t wait to share her amazing results with you! Good for you Leslie for taking things further! It’s so important to remember that until you glue things down, your layout is never set in stone.
 Charlotte describing her board to everyone, April 2011 Charlotte sharing her vision board with the group… we all agreed she had achieved a wonderful sense of balance, peace and stillness through her composition. As well as a virtually wrinkle-free board!
 Lisa Bentley sharing her vision board, April 2011 Lisa Bentley sharing her vision board with the group… as a writer, she selected and emphasized a wide variety of interesting words and phrases, as well as key images (ie. a fabulous reading room) to spark her vision mindset.
 Everyone enjoying a laugh as Lisa shares her board, April 2011 Lisa’s comments made us all smile … even Kev (my hubby and tech assistant) had to get up to see what all the laughter was about! The group dynamic of making and sharing a vision board is unbelievable… the energy, contagious.
 Nicole Beaudin (Desrosiers) sharing her vision board, April 2011 Nicole giving us a tour of the many elements on her board… drawing on her PowerPoint skills and media savvy, she fused a variety of themes together expertly… such dynamic, powerful text and imagery!
 Sarah Bentley offering a glimpse into her vision board, April 2011 Sarah Bentley, Lisa’s daughter (my youngest vision board student ever!), had recently visited a psychic who told her to create a vision board and so she found her way to my workshop! Here she is sharing her board through which she wishes to capture a sense of happiness in the hopes of turning things around in her life. You know, this could be a fine premise for a movie, Sarah!
 Sarah Bentley vision board in progess, April 2011 Sarah’s soft, magical, lyrical, musical, poetic vision board… a simply awesome composition. I was struck by the fleeting, floating imagery on her board. Everyone loved the little baby goat jumping over the bed… such talent and vibrant imagination.
 Charlotte's vision board in progress, April 2011 I’ll leave you with Charlotte’s calming visions which simply took our breaths away….
It really was a great Vision Board workshop… I find the students just keep getting better and better! I was high on the energy of the group for a whole week! Many thanks to Maggie and her friends for trying out my class, serving up a tasty potluck lunch and especially for their generosity in sharing their visions! They have ALL agreed to do student spotlights of their pieces in the near future – I look forward to sharing them with you. Thanks too, to Roberta Hurman and her husband Patrick for getting everything ship shape at the centre for us in such a friendly, timely and professional manner! We loved the space!
 My Walks, Mixed Media Journal Page, December 11 2009 The last fragment of snow has evaporated from my front garden… spring is finally here! This past week, I’ve been liberated from my subterranean studio and begun to once again enjoy taking my daily walks. For some time now, I’ve been walking, not only to foster a healthier lifestyle, but also to renew my inner strength and find insight into solving the everyday challenges life throws my way…
When I was young, walking was a vital part of my life. Moving to Canada from Pakistan in 1970, my family had little to their name; it was several years before we could afford a car so we walked everywhere… through all the four seasons, even the blistering cold winters. In those days we lived a stone’s throw from the scenic Rideau Canal in Ottawa, Ontario. During the warmer seasons, we enjoyed walking the canal’s nearly 5-mile length over and over: feeding ducks on its waters, scanning its glassy surfaces for fish and picnicking along its banks. Those idyllic days were short-lived as we grew older and financial times toughened. It was many years before I could afford the privilege of living in a neighbourhood where I could once again enjoy a nice walk… (Not that I didn’t learn a lot from walking in other spaces… I’ll save that for another reflection.)
Several years ago, my husband and I bought our first home in a quiet suburban area of the city. It was so surreal to go from a noisy, cramped, downtown living space to homes lined with an endless succession of towering trees, well-manicured lawns and immaculate gardens. After all this time, I still can’t get over the strange beauty and golden silence of it all. On my afternoon walks, it’s not unusual to see a brilliant red cardinal chirping in a tree or catch a squirrel performing death-defying acts on an electrical wire high above my head. Nature provides a wide array of surprises for me as I wander through the neighbourhood. When I’m feeling really old, I go to the children’s playground and have a go on the swings… it’s so exhilarating! Despite these pleasantries, I’ve still walked through the area with the weight of the world on my shoulders… sometimes feeling like a great big failure as an artist, teacher, sister or wife. In spite of these worries, I rarely return from such a walk without some hint of a solution to my dilemmas or a glimmer of hope that stirs my soul. On my walks, inspiration is everywhere. I might glance up at the sky and find the title or the impetus for a piece floating by on a summer cloud … or look down and discover just the right word for a journal page on a piece of paper the wind has swept at my feet. As I pass by homes from different eras and economic stratas, a familiar doorway, a front porch or young girl skipping rope on a driveway have the power to unleash a flood of memories within me that shed vital insight into my life and art. On these journeys I even find free art materials: rusty bottle caps or interesting bits of plastics or weathered papers; in the fall I collect leaves to press. Walking in my neighbourhood never fails to rejuvenate me; it gives back so much without me even asking for anything. No matter how busy I am, I always find time to fit a 20-minute walk into my day.
I highly recommend walking outdoors as a studio/life practice. Whether it’s near your home, a nearby park or wood, meander outside your apartment/home/studio… somewhere where you feel safe… try to make it a routine. On these brief excursions, begin with a deep breath and allow your walk to wash away your anxieties for just a little while. Take time to appreciate being alive and healthy enough to engage with your surroundings as well as having the privilege to enjoy the pleasure of walking… in the process of doing so you may uncover a great many insights. Has walking been a source of inspiration for you? I’d love to hear your stories…
Stayed tuned for next week when I discuss my latest Vision Board workshop adventures with Maggie Jordan and a group of her friends at the Munster Hamlet Community Centre!
 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 with ATCs:
Brief History: The concept of exchanging ATCs originated in 1996 and was the brain-child of a Swiss artist. See http://www.artist-trading-cards.ch/ for further information on this.
The ATC Ritual: Meeting at coffee shops or the houses of participants are a couple of cost-free options I know of. Gathering face-to-face to exchange cards for free (no selling allowed!) is an ideal that’s vital to the spirit of exchanging ATCs. These meetings foster a great feeling of community creating the perfect context for socializing and networking. There are a number of ATC on-line trading communities; ATCs are exchanged via snail mail and some are even displayed in on-line or real world galleries. Groups may get together once a month to trade; some pick themes (to give direction); others don’t. At some venues people are sticklers for creating only original art work; others don’t mind accepting copies. Copying comes in handy when you’re dealing with trading with large groups of over 20 people and don’t have time to make many original cards. In my Painted Pony ATC Group we make one card each and draw numbers to see who we’ll trade with – this makes things easier if we’re really busy with other professional and personal projects. We get together for a couple of hours before we do the actual trade so if anyone hasn’t had time to make their card, they can do so during the session; for those of us who’ve finished our cards early it becomes a great sharing/networking time.
Here are some on-line ATC Trading groups :
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ATC_World/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/artisttradingcards/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bmuse/
Here’s a great ATC publication:
ATC Quarterly
Size: ATCs are 2.5 x 3.5 inches (64 x 89 mm). Depending on what type of work is done on them, a nice thick 130-140 lb white cover stock paper or smooth, mixed media paper is good to use. Many art stores sell blank pre-made ATC cards by Strathmore in paper stocks suited to a variety of mediums.
 Olive Jones made me a wonderful 4-card ATC holder Storage: ATCs are the size of sports cards; they can be stored in the same plastic acid-free sleeve holders and placed in albums. They may also be kept in small boxes or envelopes. See Bernie Berlin’s book or Cedarseed website (listed below) for cool ideas for crafting your own ATC holders.
 Renée Deschamps' "Bird" ATC, Collage, February 2011 Collaging ATCs: While any medium can be used to produce ATCs, many agree collage and mixed media are well suited to this type of work – everyone has bits of paper and glue around the house or studio. If you don’t know how to draw or paint, collaging is an easy way to produce cards. When collaging consider these materials: a variety of papers (tissue, wrapping, scrapbooking, handmade), cropped/mini photos, metal embellishments, buttons, stickers, sequins/beads, stitching, beeswax, fabric/lace, rubber stamping, stencilling and text to create your cards; recycle scrap papers from around the house, too. Use a glue stick to stick light papers and heavy glues or gels for mid to heavy weight papers and objects. Because they’re small, ATCs take no time to make – if you’re an obsessive artist like me it’s easy to spend several hours on one! It’s my personal rule of thumb to give only my best cards away; when I receive cards made with the same passion and care, I feel very blessed. Once completed, the addition of one’s name, addresses and other pertinent info (theme, title, etc.) is written on the back of the card.
Amazing reading and visual source for making and trading ATCs:
Artist Trading Card Workshop by Bernie Berlin
Excellent on line source re ATC history, ATC holders/envelopes/techniques:
www.cedarseed.com/air/atc.html
Reader Challenge: I’ll trade a card with the first person who can tell me the name of the artist in Switzerland who originated the idea of artist trading cards… (hint: one of my links can help you!) I’d love to trade cards with more of you in the future. Stay tuned for collage-related ATC card ideas from me throughout the year.
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