I Am Art

Love Always- Original Spirit House- Pay What You Can

I was watching a documentary about Banksy the other day and they were talking about how in some areas they add graffiti to buildings to make the rent more valuable. I love that!  This spirit house is home to love always. I bet there are always warm cookies on the counter in the kitchen here and all the couches have cozy blankets.

Details:
"Love Always"
-Mixed media on 4.5"x7" Wood
-Sealed with non-yellowing varnish
-Signed and Dated on the back
-There's a sawtooth hanger on the back or this piece can be free-standing.
All of my art is created and stored in a smoke-free, cookie filled environment.
Elements in this piece include acrylic paint, glazes, ink,  and watercolor.
My art represents life- full of drips, splatters, and a bit of blur between the lines. Blur, scratches, and texture in the art are intentional. I like to use imperfect items which adds to the charm of each piece.

How it works: Shipping in the USA is via Priority Mail at $5.60 and to all other countries is $10.00 and will be added to the price you pay. Enter the price you can/want to pay at the paypal page and the art is yours! There is no judgment involved- I totally get that everyone has a budget and I like to make art available to everyone when I can. There is only one of each final original piece so if you want it, get it while it is available. You are the boss of the price! Scroll down for the BUY IT NOW button.

In progress:

Complete:

 SOLD OUT

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Shop: Limited Edition Prints, Greeting Cards, and Pillows | Original Art

 

Original Art: Me + You LOVE - Pay What You Can

It's a big day around here. Karen's daughter is heading out for a semester in Copenhagen. Copenhagen is way further (or is it farther?) away than Nashville and I can assure you that tonight there will be two seesters suddenly following every type of "breaking news Denmark" twitter account there is, even the ones not in English.
Today's Pay What You Can original is again in combination with my Revision Experiment. I was inspired by my niece who does not like flowers in her decor, but does love sweet things in blues and purples. When we were helping her with her dorm room, I learned that little bit of info. She likes geometrics, abstracts, and flowery colors. I added that little challenge for myself while working on this one. A super fun challenge!

Details:
"Me + You LOVE"
Mixed media on 3.5"x4" Wood
-Sealed with non-yellowing varnish
-Signed and Dated on the backThere's a sawtooth hanger on the back or this piece can be free-standing.
All of my art is created and stored in a smoke-free, cookie filled environment.
Elements in this piece include acrylic paint, glazes, ink,  and watercolor.
My art represents life- full of drips, splatters, and a bit of blur between the lines. Blur, scratches, and texture in the art are intentional. I like to use imperfect items which adds to the charm of each piece.

How it works: Shipping in the USA is via Priority Mail at $5.60 and to all other countries is $10.00 and will be added to the price you pay. Enter the price you can/want to pay at the paypal page and the art is yours! There is no judgment involved- I totally get that everyone has a budget and I like to make art available to everyone when I can. There is only one of each final original piece so if you want it, get it while it is available. You are the boss of the price! Scroll down for the BUY IT NOW button.

 

 SOLD OUT

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Shop: Limited Edition Prints, Greeting Cards, and Pillows | Original Art

 

Melt With You

My husband is working a few days this week, but by days I mean nights. Of course I am thankful that he is working but the worrier in me prefers he work during the day so there is no risk of falling asleep while driving home after a 14 hour day. The crazy thing about tv shows is they love night scenes! So, until tv shows are only centered around daytime events, I will stay up late and wait for my beloved to arrive home safely.

Last night was one of those crazy late nights. To keep myself awake and entertained, I started painting and showing my progress on instagram. Apparently, everyone is up late! I added the finishing touches this morning and "Melt With You" is available for purchace in my originals shop.

Thanks for looking!

 

 

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Shop: Limited Edition Prints, Greeting Cards, and Pillows | Original Art

 

Under a Blue Sky

I've been working on this little landscape for a few days. The sun has been shining and the sky has been blue, which clearly inspired me.  If your roof is yellow, it is like the sun never stops shining. "Sky Was Blue" is available for purchase here.

Thanks for looking!

With An Open Heart- original art- pay what you can

Some days doesn't it seem like it would be real easy to become a bitter old meanie? I never think of bitter meanies as having much fun so that is not ever a real option! You can't let crappy or sad experiences turn you into a sour person. You just have to keep your heart open and enjoy what you can, even if that joy is only a bag of peanut butter cups you forgot you had. I was of course, thinking about this when I was squeazed out of our bed by a certain cuddly cat. I was not even mad that I had to move to the couch because she brings us such joy.

I hope my  painting will bring someone joy, so I am offering it as a Pay What You Can today!

Details:
"An Open Heart"
Mixed media on 4"x4" stretched canvas
-Sealed with non-yellowing varnish
-Signed and Dated on the back
-There's a hanger on the back, hang right out of the box!
All of my art is created and stored in a smoke-free, cookie filled environment.
There's a sawtooth hanger on the back or this piece can be free-standing.
Elements in this piece include acrylic paint, glazes, ink, clipped text, and watercolor.
My art represents life- full of drips, splatters, and a bit of blur between the lines. Blur, scratches, and texture in the art are intentional. I like to use imperfect items which adds to the charm of each piece.

How it works: Shipping in the USA is via Priority Mail at $5.60 and to all other countries is $10.00 and will be added to the price you pay. Enter the price you can/want to pay at the paypal page and the art is yours! There is no judgment involved- I totally get that everyone has a budget and I like to make art available to everyone when I can. There is only one of each final original piece so if you want it, get it while it is available. You are the boss of the price! Scroll down for the BUY IT NOW button.

 SOLD OUT

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Shop: Limited Edition Prints, Greeting Cards, and Pillows | Original Art

 

Family day, food experiments, a new tape journal

This weekend we all gathered at our brother's house for family day. We were minus two members who had previous engagements (Tod turned 44!) but all the college kids were home, so it was loud enough to seem like Tod and Wendy were there. And, Karen and I took it upon ourselves to eat their servings of lunch. We are good and loyal sisters.

Highlights of our day:

*Lee and Valerie got a selfie- stick in Hong Kong and within minutes of trying his, Karen and I had ordered our own.

*Karen made a delicious kugel in a redemption attempt. Somehow her Thanksgiving kugel was not her best. She is still the Kugel Queen!

*Valerie mastered the seashell casserole so now I  can devote all my time to perfecting the corn pudding recipe.

*I made frosted blondies that were hit and miss. 4 loves, 2 hates, and the rest were just eh. I used the Sally's Baking Addiction recipe for the blondies. My only change was I used white chocolate chips instead of candy bars, and added a dash of orange extract. I made a cream cheese frosting that was 4 ounces of cream cheese, a dash of vanilla, and a few cups of powdered sugar all whipped up. The people who hated the blondies took one bite and handed the remainder to the person next to them. Lee was the most verbal hater, Emily thought they tasted  flowery.

*Lee made multiple types of ribs and a tritip and all were a hit.

*I brought a Spirograph so Karen and I could relive our youth and experience it with the kids. This was also hit and miss. Some got easily frustrated and some hyperfocused and got their hands and eyes working at the same time.

*Somehow the conversation turned to Lemon Drop Martinis and how Dustin used to be bartender (long, long, long ago). We all like experimenting and taste testing, so Lee ran to the store for ingredients and Dustin got to work mixing. The Goldberg- Woods- Dinino Lemon Drop is now a thing. The interesting bit: Two of the blondie lovers (me and Karen) thought the Lemon Drops would taste way better without alcohol. We took a sip and quickly passed them on, just like the blondie haters did.

One of the things I loved about the spirograph drawings in my sketchbook was that there was bbq sauce and crumbs on some of the pages. Evidence of a good meal! I left most of the drawings in my sketchbook but cut a few out to start my new tape journal for 2015. My journal is nothing fancy. It is just card stock cut in half, hole punched, and bound with binder rings. I like being able to add and subtract pages. And, in fact, as soon as I am done writing this post, I will print it out (in my  handwriting font) and add it to the journal so I can skip the step of repeating myself and writing it all down again. I am the laziest journaler ever. And, when I get the photos from our day printed, I will hole punch them and stick them in. Easy and fast!

 

 

 

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Shop: Limited Edition Prints, Greeting Cards, and Pillows | Original Art

 

Original Art: YOU MATTER - Pay What You Can

Football is on today and I thought it would be a fun time to combine my Revision Experiment with Pay What You Can while all the screaming and cheering goes on.

I was feeling all lovey today (perhaps seeing the Reese's Hearts in the store the other day got the lovey feeling started. I decided to add heart and some words painting in ink to my floral painting.

Details:
"You Matter"
Mixed media on 8"x8" stretched canvas
-Sealed with non-yellowing varnish
-Signed and Dated on the back
-There's a hanger on the back, hang right out of the box!
All of my art is created and stored in a smoke-free, cookie filled environment.
There's a sawtooth hanger on the back or this piece can be free-standing.
Elements in this piece include acrylic paint, glazes, ink, and watercolor.
My art represents life- full of drips, splatters, and a bit of blur between the lines. Blur, scratches, and texture in the art are intentional. I like to use imperfect items which adds to the charm of each piece.

How it works: Shipping in the USA is via Priority Mail at $5.60 and to all other countries is $10.00 and will be added to the price you pay. Enter the price you can/want to pay at the paypal page and the art is yours! There is no judgment involved- I totally get that everyone has a budget and I like to make art available to everyone when I can. There is only one of each final original piece so if you want it, get it while it is available. You are the boss of the price! Scroll down for the BUY IT NOW button.

In Progress:

Complete:

 SOLD OUT

____

Shop: Limited Edition Prints, Greeting Cards, and Pillows | Original Art

 

Tranquility Complete- original art

This small paint study took me two days to complete. There were lots of layers to dry between stages. I love the tranquil flow of colors and textures that all blend together all brush strokey. That is some serious technical art talk! It's my feeling about the beach, the sky, water, all together. When I started painting this small study, I had a migraine and by the time I was done, I was relaxed and peaceful.

Tranquility is an original on 6"x6" canvas and is available for purchase here.

 

 

 

As I meantioned earlier, the smaller paint studies I do are often in preparation for larger works. These are the larger works that came from my study. I am so pleased with how everything turned out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Shop: Limited Edition Prints, Greeting Cards, and Pillows | Original Art

 

Revision Experiment and telling it like it is- with an ampersand.

There's this great internet myth that licensing your art is a huge gold mine that happens to most people over night and requires very little work. One of the projects I have been working on for years (actually decades) is licensing my art and photography to manufacturers and publishers. The end products vary from housewares to editorial images to work for interior designers. More often than not, I have no idea what happens to my art or how it is used.  I love how fluid the process is. One project complete and on to the next one.  I have neither found a pot of gold nor has any success happened over night. I work my tuchus off!

I thought it would be fun to show you a bit of how my process works and also start an experiment.

Usually, a client will see my work in my portfolio and then say something like, "I love this piece, and this one, and this one, but can you mix this and this and change the colors?" Basically, transform your style to fit our needs. Ok! Sure I can. One of the best lessons I learned in art school was how to handle this very situation. Take your ego out of the game and make your client happy. Revise, revise, revise.

Here is one example of how three individual pieces from my Zen and The Art of Mixed Media collection became one final design. Elements from each piece were isolated and reworked. Revised, revised, revised. I call this process Art Tetris. Lots of moving around and seeing what fits.

Not every piece in my portfolio sells or gets licensed and not every original art piece sells. I'm totally cool with that. Often there is a weird thing where a print of an original will sell like hotcakes but the original gets no love. Light Of Day is an example of this weird thing. It is my best selling print for interior designers but the original never sold and I had it in my shop for a year!

I was thinking that this year it would be fun to revise original pieces that do not sell the way I do for my licensing or custom clients. How many revisions can I make to an original before it sells? The Revision Experiment starts now!

First up: The blue and white ampersand!
Revisions Made: I painted over the entire front with black acrylic glaze. When it was dry, I sanded it so areas of the previous blue and white painting would show through for a fun texture. My inspiration was the punctuation going on in texts between me and my seester. Exclamation points were winning over emoji. We talk in multiple exclamation points, too!!!

Details:
"Punctuation Ampersand"
Mixed media on wood, 8"x9"
Signed and dated on the back.
Sealed with a non-yellowing varnish.
Elements in this textured piece include acrylic glazes, ink, watercolor, and graphite.
My art represents life- full of drips, splatters, and a bit of blur between the lines. Blur, scratches, and texture in the art are intentional. I like to use imperfect items which adds to the charm of each piece. The back side is unfinished.

 

 

 (Click here to buy)

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Shop: Limited Edition Prints, Greeting Cards, and Pillows | Original Art

 

mixing the media of art and life for real, yo!

If you are reading this entry on the blog (not in a reader), then you see the obvious! Change is in the air! I wanted to make things really simple around here. And, I wanted to really get back to my I AM ART mantra and share all the things we are into, not just art journaling.
This was a struggle for me. I know many people discovered us because of our books and I feared that If I changed things then people would wonder if Karen and I had a fight, or if I was not going to journal again, or just be confused. There's no fight (we are texting as I write this! We never fight unless there is only one cookie left!). I still art journal (expect to see more). The reality is that I have been an artist my entire life and I want to share all of those art projects with you. The journaling books were an amazing part of our lives and we love the books so much. And we cherish all the relationships we formed with art journalers during the process. It has been nine years since Visual Chronicles came out (and Journal Revolution quickly after that) and I am ready to inspire and share our lives and art in a different way. I think the different way mostly applies to how I feel about being free from worrying about people asking if we are going to write another journaling book. Writing books was a project we very happily did, but it is not my passion. I have no idea if we will ever write a book again but I do know that I am excited about making art -and I am excited about making funny lists with my seester- and I am excited about treats from Trader Joe's- and I am excited about traveling- and I am excited to share inspiration from my life as an artist (not just as an art journaler) without limits.  I am excited about combining all my art projects into one space- really mixing the media of art and life.
And of course, I am excited to share the photos of all the cats! See, I have changed a lot in nine years! I HAVE CATS! I still love exclamation points, so things have not changed too much.

I did not want to wait until the site was perfectly redesigned to use it. I am not a fan of waiting until anything is perfect. There's no perfect in art! I will still be posting while I work on the site and things may change before your eyes as I work out the kinks.

Let the embracing of change begin!

 

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Shop: Limited Edition Prints, Greeting Cards, and Pillows | Original Art