Work in Progress – Art Journal

A student of mine went to my new website the other day and then sent me an email. She wanted to know why I have all jewelry and none of my collage and assemblage on it. It’s a good question. I think it’s because I was feeling the pressure to update my website right before my book came out in January, as well as the  Belle Armoire Jewelry profile in March. Both of these are focused on mixed-media jewelry exclusively, so that’s what drove my website makeover earlier in the year.

She does bring up a good point. I work pretty consistently — and have for many years — in mixed media. To me, there is not a lot of difference in what I do. I use different substrates for different purposes. Collage if I want to hang it on a wall. Assemblage if I want to put it into a niche or have it be a three-dimensional piece that can sit anywhere. Of course, jewelry if I want to wear it.

I feel like my style, no matter the medium, is pretty clear. I can see my “voice” in everything I do and I think others are able to tell just by looking at a picture when I make something. That feels so good! It’s taken years of being an artist for this to fully emerge.

Today’s Work in Progress is a sneak peek of an art journal I’ve been working on and off for the past month for an upcoming Somerset Memories article. I can’t show any more than this (and am really not supposed to be showing any of it) but here’s one completed page. This journal is about two of the most important elements in my work; texture and color. You will see me exploring and pushing this much further in my work. It’s what I’m most excited about right now and what drives me when I’m in my studio.

In case you’re wondering, the flowers are recycled plastic from a bag of organic baby squash from Trader Joe’s. I cut organic circles and carefully singed the edges with my blowtorch. Yes, it’s a little overkill and I would suggest NOT using a blowtorch unless you’re a professional, but I was moving fast and couldn’t find my trusty candle that I usually use for this technique. If it’s something you wish to try, light a candle and then very carefully and slowly singe the edges. This works with lace and paper and resin paper too. It provides a gorgeous texture to your work! Again, if you give this one a try please take the utmost of care!

Here’s wishing you a truly Artful day!

Found Object Work in Progress

This week I’m pulling together my powerpoint presentation (artwork, photos and text) for my upcoming May 16th webinar with Interweave called “Found Objects: Searching for Texture, Style & Relief”  – More deets on this soon! The webinar inspired me to dig around in my plastic bins filled with found objects. I started picking from my collection of vintage hardware and found oodles of inspiration in this particular drawer pull. I still have to finish off my transformed necklace by making some chain and closures but here’s my Work in Progress pic for now. If you want to see the finished piece, sign up for my webinar. (How’s that for a tease??!)

Sweet Hearts

I was playing in my studio over the weekend and wanted to make a sweet little pair of earrings to wear with a T-shirt and jeans when hubby and I have a casual Friday night date night of sushi and a movie. Here’s a little secret: I love to make jewelry, specifically mixed-media jewelry to wear when I’m at art retreats, but….I hardly wear much in my daily life. Most days you will find me wearing a pair of earrings and my favorite stack of mixed metal bangles that I made from forged wire. These earrings are perfect for casual days at home.

Hearts are definitely a Talisman shape for me. You will see them a lot in my work. I’m on a search for a new shape. I wonder what it will be?

Stampington & Co Freebie

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How fun to open my email and see a project of mine on Stampington & Company’s Postscript newsletter. As I do these kinds of articles, I mark them on my big office calendar, do the work, turn them in and usually forget about them until I happen to open a magazine or an email and there I am. It’s always kind of cool to see the process come together. I really do love working with all the Stampington editors because they know their stuff when it comes to layout and typography. Johanna Love, Stampington’s Director of Photography, has such a gift for taking pictures that I do believe every piece of art sent to her looks better after she’s styled and shot it.

For this Guest Artist piece, I created a little house triptych with lots of surface layers of paint, rubber stamps and color. I had a blast playing with Dina Wakely’s stamps. I know Dina and she’s an awesome artist. Her new stamps are perfectly in line with my own aesthetic; a little  edgy with an urban vibe. I used her circles and random number stamps for this.

Believe it or not, I struggle when it comes to giving my work titles. I have no idea why considering I like to think of myself as a wordsmith. However, as soon as I finished this triptych and looked at the images, the storyline “Ma, Pa and the Cousins visit the Big City” immediately popped into my head. The family is dressed up for a night in the city and the tickets represent an invitation to attend a swanky gallery gala, given to them by a worldly artist they met when he came through their hometown in search of a rural landscape for his paintings.

I had so much fun using these altered vintage photographs that are in Spellbinders® Media Mixage ™ with Susan Lenart Kazmer™ line (Available in the paper crafting section of Joann Fabric and Crafts stores). I’m not sure how many of you know this, but ICE Resin’s Art Director is Karen Michel, an amazing mixed-media artist, author and instructor. As a matter of fact, Susan and Karen became friends 13 years ago when they first started teaching the national mixed-media art retreat events together. Karen is the person who’s responsible for all of our new packaging, our website design, our company blog design, etc. She’s also the artist who created the collage ephemera papers for Susan’s licensed line with Spellbinders® Media Mixage ™ .  Her eye is impeccable! The other reason I like the ephemera packs so much is because it contains so many old papers — all over 100 years old — that we’ve collected on our trips to France’s flea markets. We’re talking the real deal.

All said, I really do like this art piece. It makes me smile. It’s colors are happy and uplifting and there’s just something kind of giddy about it.

Anyway, enough of the “behind the scenes” talk for this piece. Pop on over to Stampington’s website and take a look at my project here. The best part is it’s a freebie!

Work in Progress

I thought it might be interesting to start showing some work in progress. I created this new Studio graphic from a photo I recently took and then altered in Photoshop Elements. Whenever you see this image at the top of my post, you’ll know its a Work in Progress update.

During a recent interview, one of the questions the writer asked is how I work. Ricë wanted to know if I had an idea and then sat down and completed it in a linear fashion from start to finish. Unfortunately, this isn’t my process, though it was when I first began doing mixed-media. As I explained to Ricë, these days my daily life is managed in chunks of time. This has impacted my creative time as well. This means I will work on things in stages and have projects in process at all the different stations I have in my studio. At first blush, it looks like a frenetic and messy way to work, but it’s how I manage to keep moving and juggle my plate.

The absolute worst thing for me is when I’m forced to completely clean my studio for a photograph. It’s like when I put things away I spend too much time searching for them again. My saving grace; tons of clear plastic shoe boxes from Costco to hold all the similar parts that I can make and rifle through when it comes time to finish a piece. (On a messy note, I do a once a month “sweep through” to keep my things from completely overtaking my space, but it never looks truly tidy.)

Like Ricë, I’m also fascinated by how working artists manage their time. Some people I know go deep into their work and don’t come up for air until their bodies force them to with a need for food or sleep. Others work a fairly 9-5 stint while their kids are in school or spouses off at work. Still others work around the clock, moving from laundry and carpools to teaching workshops, making samples and writing articles. Obviously, I fall in the latter category. I can’t imagine not having my studio in my home!

So, as promised, here are some pics of a project I’m working on for a Stampington deadline in 2 weeks. It’s a journal, and my inspiration is texture. I began earlier in the month with a painting playdate one morning with my daughter. The papers shown above are mine and not hers (lol). A few weeks later and another couple of hours resulted in finished front and back covers. In the next few days, I plan to work on collaging the inside pages, adding some photo transfers and then some journaling. Knowing myself as well as I do, the entire thing will get packaged and mailed off just in time to land on the editor’s desk the day of deadline. We can’t all be perfect! (grin)

I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my studio. Now it’s your turn. Tell me, what is your work in progress and what’s your creative process?  Inquiring minds want to know!

Her own kind of beauty…

I’ve been putting off my health for past couple of years as we’ve been building the company and life ramped up to super speed. I honestly didn’t have time for doctors, dentists and eye exams.

Now in my 40s, I know my patterns well. Stress eating is one of them. Each time I grabbed cookies or chocolate, I knew it wasn’t the best choice. It was, however, the easy thing to do and lovely little sugar rushes made me happy each afternoon as I pushed through and kept working. As the weight inched upward to my pregnancy weight, I didn’t want to look at it, or discuss it or even acknowledge it. It’s just no fun to look yourself in the mirror and own up to the things you wish would just go away!

Earlier this month, I decided to use my Law of Attraction skills to put it out into the universe that I would find the perfect new doctor for me. The universe delivered. My amazing new PA asked my permission for a complete blood work and labs to check me out completely and wrote up the order to get a mammogram as well. A complete H2T (head to toe) exam. When we talked about weight loss and busy lifestyles, she told me about the Fresh 20. This is a woman I can relate to; working a busy practice, 3 kids (one with gluten allergies) and a husband who travels all the time for work!  If you are in the same boat of juggling a family, career, art, etc. and looking for a way to feed yourself and your family healthy meals, check out this online plan. I’ve only been doing it for a few weeks so I’m no expert, but it’s working for us so far. (note: the kale, corn and chicken enchilada recipe is yummy!) We print out the list on Sunday. Hubby does the shopping and I do the cooking. My son is now in charge of kitchen clean up after dinner.

My head is in the right place. I stopped eating sugary foods, joined Weight Watchers and have been eating good stuff like lots of veggies and protein and drinking my water again. I posted about joining WW on Facebook and didn’t plan to blog about this, as one’s weight and appearance is such a personal issue. My Facebook friends, many of them fellow artists/designers/authors/instructors, had so many positive comments to share and made me feel beautiful and worthy and loved, just as I am right now, that I decided to be brave and take it public.

This time, my desire to change to a more healthful lifestyle feels different. In the past whenever I’ve approached weight loss (and believe me, I have been down this road many times), it’s always come from a place of lack or frustration. Now, it’s not about what I can’t eat, or what I look like or even what I desire to look like some day. Instead, it’s about being the best authentic me that I can be.

I remember years ago when we took in my troubled nephew to live with us for a summer. He was such an insecure teenager that he would talk badly about people to make him feel better about himself. Every time he saw a teenage girl, he would judge them by two standards; hot or ugly. It would drive me crazy! I blew up at him once and told him he was never allowed to call another human being ugly in my presence ever again. The new comment for someone he wished to disparage was simply this: “She has her own kind of beauty.” Yes, I could have just said “don’t do it, don’t call anyone bad names.” However, I felt it had more power making him think about his words and then having to change them to something more positive.

Believe it or not, it worked. He’s 22 years old and when he starts his old habits during family get togethers, he looks at me slyly and repeats, “I’m sorry, Jen. She has her own kind of beauty.” I’ve come to love this, and I realize it is a positive statement. Nothing disparaging whatsoever.

As I’ve been taking these next steps in my journey, I keep thinking about how everyone has their own kind of beauty. We may not all look like Julia Roberts or Johnny Depp, but when we’re moving confidentially in the direction of our dreams, engaging in the things we love and supporting others who are authentically engaging in their dreams, we radiate joy. We beam our unique kind of beauty.

As I was looking through my photo files to find a picture to go along with this post, I came across this necklace that was just returned to me from when I sent it to Stampington almost 2 years ago. Normally the magazine never keeps my art this long, but I presume this little piece must have gotten put in a corner somewhere for possible publication and her time came and went. She never did get published, just returned to me in a box full of my other published artwork.

I made this necklace during a time in my life where I was feeling particularly vulnerable, and what came out of me was a melocholony I felt at the time but didn’t necessarily acknowledge. When I unwrapped it from the box, I was surprised to see it again since I had totally forgotten about this piece. After joining Weight Watchers this time around and looking at health in an entirely new light, I’ve titled this piece, “Her Own Kind of Beauty.”

New website and some thoughts on it

In case you haven’t seen it yet, I finally managed to build a brand new website. I built my first one about 4 years ago and kept it for two years. In 2010, I found a new website host with interesting templates and did another refresh. Because of all the behind-the-scenes in 2012, I knew it was time to tackle my website again for 2013. I had contacted some people I know who do websites and received quotes. However, since I had paid out of my pocket for the videos attached to my book’s QR codes, I didn’t feel like I could spend the money on it right now.

I had planned to get my new website up before my book came out early January, but with the CHA and Tucson shows, the time to do this kept getting shoved further and further down my to do list. My next self-imposed deadline was before my Breaking Out of the Mold DVD was released. I had no idea mine would come in February since there are six artists this year with DVDs from Cloth, Paper, Scissors. Yikes! I missed that deadline again.

http://www.jencushman.com

I was starting to feel some real pressure because I knew the Designer Showcase feature for Belle Armoire Jewelry was coming out for the March 2013 issue. Since I’ve built websites before, I know that starting from scratch with a good template takes me about 2-3 days to do from start to finish. The only way to get it done was to burn the midnight oil. I snuck into my studio 3 nights in a row after my family went to sleep and worked from about 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. creating it. I still had to get up by 6:30 and get the kids ready for school and drive them, so it really did mean giving up sleep to get it done. There are still some small design changes I want to do to it, but it’s 99% complete and I’m happy to have a brand new online facelift. It was very important to me this time around to include a Flash intro because a big part of any redesign is staying current.

The reason I’m writing such a long post on this topic and giving you the background is because I get questions about marketing when I’m out and about at the art retreats and shows. Often, people say they feel dejected because they don’t have the skills or money to get their businesses up and rolling they way they want to or feel they should. Making art is one thing. Everything else that goes into getting your art seen is another. I sincerely believe time and money are as much about an individual’s priorities as they are time and money. It’s not fun eating noodles and scraping together every penny to follow one’s dream, but realizing dreams takes focus. I was pretty darn tired after the third night of staying up late to get my website done, but I really felt like I had no other choice but to follow through. I didn’t want to pay for the quotes I was given — which were exactly in line with the skills and time it takes for anyone good to build a website — and I couldn’t keep letting it slip through the cracks and missing deadlines. My old website was musty and outdated. I couldn’t back off on my other work duties, so I just had to suck it up and get ‘er done.

If you are contemplating building your website, keep in mind a few guidelines that have helped me along the way:

Keep it simple. Tell people exactly what you want them to know. If you make art, say so and please don’t feel like you have to follow any highbrow kind of language if it’s not your thing. If you enjoy writing in flowery language or an esoteric style, then by all means have at it, particularly if your collectors respond in kind. I tend to keep things pretty straight forward, but I think that comes from my type of writing background.

Put pictures of your best work out there. Your website is an advertisement for you. There are approximately 7 billion people on the planet today and lots of them are creatives and creative people tend to think along the same lines. If you are worried about people copying your work because it’s on the internet, realize there are really only two options in today’s technologically-driven world: exposure or anonymity. Please do consider watermarking your images so people are aware that you are aware of U.S. copyright laws.

Present yourself as professionally as you can. If your collage niece or nephew offers to do your website for you because you’re feeling overwhelmed by it, ensure that he or she really has the design and writing skills it takes to put your best face forward. If not, hire someone to do it for you or barter if you can. It is a tax write off for your business. A good website should help bring people and opportunities to you, which should pay for itself in the long run.

Remember that it’s OK if you don’t have all the answers. Your first attempts at websites and blogs aren’t always graceful. They’re learning experiences about your business. Each time I’ve done a refresh I’ve honed my skills and learned something. I’m sure that will never change because life changes, technology changes, social media changes and so do we!  My website is still far from perfect, and that’s really OK with me. It’s the very best I can do at this time. I teach my children to always do their best, so that’s my motto.

I hope you find bits and pieces of this advice helpful. If you get a chance, please take a look at my new website.

Here’s wishing you a truly Artful day!

In the Studio

This weekend has been spent in the studio making jewelry to sell next week at Adorn Me, the mixed-media jewelry retreat in Houston, Texas. I finished new samples for my classes.  Proposals for workshops are usually due a year in advance, so try to go in right before I teach and freshen up my work a bit. Since I bought some really wonderful new beads, charms and fibers to work with at the To Bead True Blue show in Tucson, I was itching to get into my studio and play.

I really adore Green Girl Studios and all their whimsical charms. My dear friend, Carol LaValley, was shopping with me and fell in love with a flying pig charm. I spotted these new chubby little potato fairy charms with sweet wings resting above a little rump and just had to have them. I kept the necklace design simple here by focusing on the Cold Enameled Heart bezel, where I used our brand new Iced Enamels in ivory and filled it with ICE Resin, of course, and then made a charm dangle using the fairy. A tiny bit of this gorgeous pink velvet ribbon from Thailand that I discovered at a friend’s booth in Tucson adds the final pop of color. This little wee baby will be up for sale at the Adorn Me expo.

For all you Texans out there, my Bangle Angle class is nearly full, but there are still spots open in my other classes. If you are around next weekend and want to make some jewelry with me, I’d love to see you there!

Here’s wishing you a truly Artful week.

Artistic Inspiration Then and Now

Today is my day for the Virtual Gallery Walk, a wonderful idea conceived by my friend Liz Hicks. Liz gathered together 10 artists to create an event where we share something that inspires us and how we used that inspiration to make an original piece of art. The inspiration could come from a song, a color, architecture, another artist, etc. because, really, creative expression is all around us in our daily lives.

Since I’m right now spending the day in Paris for a workshop called Ruins, Relics and Resin, I wanted my inspiration for the online gallery walk to be based on one of my favorite French artists Henri Matisse. There are numerous things I adore about Matisse’s work – his mastery of line, color, form, composition, perspective and motion. However, the thing I love the most about his work is that it makes me feel something every time I see one of his drawings or painting or late-in-life paper sculptures. Great art, to me means, that it’s not just pretty. It’s great art because it elicits emotion where I continue to see and be haunted by the imagery long after I’ve looked away from the piece.

I wanted to reinterpret a Matisse drawing in an ICE Resin necklace and a striking piece of black-and-white jewelry. The painting in the focal is my representation of his famous drawing, as shown above. Mine is a little more full figured on purpose (wink). I used his line drawing of a female figure and freeform painted it on to cured resin that I had poured as a black background layer and let dry.

Once the bezel cured in about six hours in my studio, I finished off the piece with black rosary chain and also pearl rosary chain, some vintage seam binding and a heart dangle. The heart dangle was made by drawing a bead on 18-gauge sterling wire to create a headpin and then wirewrapping a crystal bead, crystal rondelle and large crystal heart to the bottom loop of the hobnail shadow box Art Mechanique bezel.

I like the simplicity of the necklace, which I think would be a great piece to wear to a real life gallery walk with a simple black skirt and white blouse. I packed the necklace for my journey and plan to wear it today as my way of staying connected to all of you who are enjoying Liz’s exciting tour d’art.

There is so much more inspiration to come. Be sure to check out these wonderful artists’ blogs, today: Liz Hicks http://www.blogerisms.blogspot.com/, and this coming week:

Oct. 2: Kathy Cano-Murillo: http://www.craftychica.com/ and Tracy Weinzapfel http://www.tracywburgos.typepad.com/

Oct. 3: Catherine Matthews-Scanlon: http://cmscanlon.blogspot.com/ and Martha Richardson http://themermaidscloset.blogspot.com/

Oct. 4: Camille McClelland: http://shesonehotmama.blogspot.com/ and Jamie Dougherty http://www.jaylynnscraps.com/

Oct. 5: Lorraine Bell: http://actsofrandomkindness365.blogspot.com/ and Cheryl Waters- http://www.artsyfindings.com/

Virtual Gallery Walk

My sweet friend Liz Hicks – fellow artist, art educator and overall one of the most kindhearted souls that I know — came up with a really wonderful idea called the Virtual Gallery Walk. Like most of us, Liz is inspired by the world around her and she invited 9 of her friends to join hands with her to make something coming from the pure love of art to inspire our blog readers.

While making a piece of art for art’s sake doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, Liz asked some of the busiest designers/instructors working today. Some of these ladies, such as the Crafty Chica, have their own product lines. Every single one of us own our own businesses. When Liz sent me the email asking if I would participate, I had to stop for a beat, look at my calendar and figure out just how in the heck I was going to do this while I’m in France co-teaching Ruins, Relics and Resin with Susan.

But here’s the thing. Because Liz’s heart is so pure, and because the idea is about nurturing an online art community, there was no other answer for me but YES, I’d love to join in with these amazing group of ladies, many of whom have been a huge inspiration to me over the years.

Please see Liz’s post on  The Virtual Gallery Walk for all the details. Then be sure to check out the artists’ blogs to see their work and get inspired. The actual gallery walk will take place Oct. 1-5. As I mentioned, I will be in Paris when its my turn, but my dear friend Carol LaValley (who is also our social media curator for ICE Resin/Susan Lenart Kazmer LLC) is going to moderate the comments for me. That day is a travel day to Durfort where the workshop is held, but I promise to find wifi hotspots whenever I can to check in and respond.

I’m truly honored and blessed by the opportunities to share my work with others continue to find their way to me. This is just one more tangible example of the power of art to heal, nurture and make a huge impact in the world today.

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Liz Hicks: www.blogerisms.blogspot.com

Camille McClelland: http://shesonehotmama.blogspot.com/

Catherine Matthews-Scanlon: http://cmscanlon.blogspot.com/

Cheryl Waters- http://www.artsyfindings.com/

Jen Cushman: http://www.jencushman.com/

Kathy Cano-Murillo: http://www.craftychica.com/

Lorraine Bell: http://actsofrandomkindness365.blogspot.com/

Martha Richardson: http://themermaidscloset.blogspot.com/

Tracy Weinzapfel http://www.tracywburgos.typepad.com/

Jamie Dougherty- http://jaylynnscraps.blogspot.com/