you will never guess what a friend dropped into me today... a copy of Cloth, Paper, Scissors which is as rare as hens teeth downh here. It is the first one I have ever seen and it it the Winter 2006 edition. Katie Kendrick features in it which was a pleasant surprise.. and at the back is an article which could have been written by me - 'cept it wasn't. It was written by a woman called Loretta Benedetto Marvel. I am sure you have all heard of her. I hadn't..... but my lord she wrote exactly what I have been doing and feeling these past few months in regards to my ART. she calls it ' in search of the Holy grail' and it is the perfect title for it....
It made me laugh out loud when she mentioned that she was like a woman on Crusade - taking art classes, piling up supplies and trying to discover that special technique that everyone knew about except her.... oh that is me for sure! Exept I have joined just about every altered art yahoo group there is... She talks about sprinkling her work with wings & crowns, polka dots and striped legs. How her washing up was piling up in the laundry, the dishes were waiting to be done and her home was a mess.... oh! I nodded as I read that! My poor family get dinner thrown at them as I rush of with a new idea, only to get to my table and freeze or worse, get something out on paper and hate it...
I know I have talent, I know I am creative but I just can't find my 'muse' - hell, I didn't even know what a muse was until 2 months ago.. I know I am quite creative in the fabric medium because I created this:
I can create if I have a theme or a project. But to create art just for the hell of it? no way can I get what is in my heart out onto paper.... it just doesn't come out. I read books, I do journals, I worry and fret. Life was so much easier before I discovered this mixed media thing... it really was.
19 comments:
Robyn, Loretta is wonderful, I subscribe to her blog, she is so much fun, and all her art is part time, she lives in New York and her daytime job is something high powered in the legal profession. Her blog's not really up-to-date at the moment as she has bigtime computer problems, but she is very friendly, and I know she reads my blog and if you leave a comment she'll often email you back.
Robyn...What a gorgeous piece of work. The trees/birds design is simply beautiful.
Oh My Gawd, Robyn! That piece is stupendous! You can do anything you want :) Mixed Media has confused me, too. All that Zetti stuff, etc, came as a real shock to me after not having much to do with the art world for a long time. I've never seen a hard copy of the Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine. It sounds great!
Housework? Laundry? Dishes? Oh my goodness, I'd better get off this computer. I'd forgotten all about that kind of stuff...better make a start, if I can find my way through the clutter! ;)
Have a great day, Robyn.
Go create! :)
Hugs,
Suze xXx
Oh, Robyn, that sounds just like me, too! I'm so confused by most of the techniques, I keep buying things I don't know how to use, and my house is a perpetual mess! Does that mean we're artists??
I love love love that piece with the trees....stunningly beautiful! You do amazing things with fabric.
I still maintain that you should do what makes your heart sing. I've tried different things, I have more supplies yet untried and will continue to play. BUT fabric is always my first love. Play with that Robyn, expand on what you already love to work with. Don't let mixed media stop you in your tracks when mixed media can be with fabric too. It can be painted on, stamped, appliquéd, images transfered on to it....manipulated...in my humble opinion why not play in your fabric stash and have a blast!! This is a beautiful piece Robyn!
XOXO
I agree with what Lisa said...work with fabric which seems to be your strenght in art! Why make yourself miserable with mixed media if you're not really enjoying it...take out your fabric and create that way:-) xox
ROFL Robyn. I needed that laugh. THank you. I enjoyed what she wrote in that issue, too, and she is very friendly. Her blog is fun and very accessible.
You know, I don't have the touch with mixed media either. I adore it. I love to read about it and look at it and I crave making it. But I don't have that special knack for it. I've decided that I don't care. WHen I collage, it is going to just be from my heart. Every time I try to do it someone else's way, not only does it look stupid but it means nothing to me internally. But when I do it completely intuitively, just allowing the collage or whatever to make itself..I like it even if noone else does and it expresses something inside of me...so it means something to me.
You are absolutely amazing with fabric. I like your collages and mixed media stuff too, alot! But it is in your fabric projects that your heart shines through. If you want to do mixed, maybe add some paper to the fabric. Experiment with Tyvek and stuff.
This piece is just stunning. I marvel at that kind of talent.
I think we should collage about worrying and fretting over collaging.lol
Look at that! How can you question your muse when you created such an amazing textile piece of art? You're moving into unfamiliar territory medium speaking, perhaps that's why you feel so uncomfortable. Get acquainted with it. Growing is uncomfortable but isn't it better to grow than not evolve?
OMG stunning,stunning stunning- wow what a wonderful peice...are u going toframe it|Robyn?
hugs from the northern hemisphere....GG aka garden girl
OMG stunning,stunning stunning- wow what a wonderful peice...are u going toframe it|Robyn?
hugs from the northern hemisphere....GG aka garden girl
I agree with Lisa, we should do a collage about worying about things :-}
Your work is GORGIOUS, I love it.
Sometimes its hard to gets whats in your head down into any medium.
Take care
Robyn, the work you do is wonderful, no matter what the medium, because it comes from your heart! And that fabric piece is absolutely stunning! Keep creating, dear heart. xo
That needlework of yours is GORGEOUS!!! Wish I could something like that - I seem to either put the needle in the wrong place or poke myself anymore when I try to do any kind of sewing or embroidery. Lovely, Robyn - you ARE so talented - and you WILL find your Holy Grail of Mixed Media, when the time is right! XO
I think you showed us the beginnings of this piece and I'm thrilled to see it here. My gosh, you're talented alright. I don't have a muse, which is why I never use the word. I just do it. Whatever comes to me to do! And you know the results.
xoxoxo
Fantastic piece of work Robyn. I'm breathing the breath of self-confidence into you. You are GOOD.
LisaOceanDreamer said:
"I still maintain that you should do what makes your heart sing."
I think maybe you are like me... still LOOKING for that perfect art form that makes our hearts sing.
I knit & crochet, but those feel too... planned. I want to do something that is at least semi-unplanned, to be one of those free-spirited doodlers or something!
At least we both know that the other one is searching too... we aren't alone!!!!
Well, to get technical about it, all "mixed media" is is more than one type of medium. So . . . if you draw with your oil pastels on hand-dyed fabric, then embroider and bead to enhance the drawing, you've done a mixed media piece.
If you make a doll from your own pattern, you've made a fiber sculpture. Add beads and paint (and paper and wire and Tyvek and . . . )and you've got mixed media.
Don't fret about the images you get shown as "Mixed Media," and worry that what you do is not a mish-mosh of stripy legs and wings and party hats. So long as what you do reflects the things you want to see in the world, you are making art.
It isn't "cheating" to use themes and projects to launch a piece out of your heart. You draw, right? Surely you've heard about the importance of having reference materials for proportion, anatomy, etc. so you don't have a horse that looks like a doggie, or a giraffe. Same thing with where you get your inspiration.
Art for art's sake is GREAT when it happens. The only trouble I've found is that it only happens that way once a year, IF THAT!!! Most of what I create is with a specific purpose in mind.
Keep going, keep playing, and don't should in your pants, as one of my buddies keeps telling me. One day, I may even listen to her.
Spike
Hi Miss *R
Wow, this is just beautiful. The colors are striking, and so is the energy that emanates from the plant forms. I like the way you have placed the images on the cloth. It tells a story as my eye wanders round.
Love that mag! I have misplaced my muse. I know she is around as I catch glimpses of her as I eye things I should photograph. I used to be a wonderful artist. Not sure what happended.....
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