The text in the middle comes from an invitation to a meeting for a local artist's group, the topic was "how to promote your work". The postcard is from the 80s. I didn't go, but I stuffed it in a box where I save envelopes, stamps and postcards. 
I still don't know how to promote my work, but its really fun to share online and to discover artists who inspire me. Today I discovered Emily Klein, a mixed media artist, art journal maker and teacher. I was searching "art journal" on Google and her page really spoke to me. She doesn't rely on cute birds, flowers or faces or even inspiring slogans -- her pages are really cool! I'm thinking "maybe I could do an art journal". Thanks for the inspiration Emily! 
​

I'm always looking for cool vintage images to add to my mixed media art & jewelry. I have a huge collection/archive. Huge. Really huge. But sometimes when I'm making jewelry I need a really small detailed image and Luna Girl has a great selection. I'm challenging myself in a new way by joining the Luna Girl Design Team. I'll be creating mixed media jewelry and art that will be featured on their blog. The theme for October is "gothic". I know I'm going to have fun with this one! 
To make this necklace I:
1) Found a photo I liked, glued it on cardboard and copped it off with ice resin.
2) Cut a rectangle slightly longer than my photo from a sheet of 24 gauge copper and wrapped it around the photo, overlapping the top and the bottom. 
3) Punched two holes in the bottom and the top of the metal wrapped photo. I used tiny screw and nuts to attach the bottom. I used 16 gauge wire to attach the top.
4) Used Glue 6000 to glue on a the vintage rhinestones. 
5) Attached the pendant to the necklace using a piece of 16 gauge copper wire. 

Did you have a mentor when you were young? Someone who encouraged your creativity and you fondly remember to this day? I have a kind of "anti-mentor" and I kind of fondly remember him. I failed art every year in high school because I refused to follow instructions. I just kept taking art, kept failing. I know that sounds kind of silly because it seriously impacted my GPA and my chances of getting into college let alone art school. But I had bigger fish to fry! 
What were these bigger fish? I had to prove that I was committed to the creative process and my principles! Never compromise! I had to follow my muse, go with the flow, express myself. Rules? What rules?  
Because I have a big high school reunion coming up this weekend (ugh!) I'm pondering "if I had to do it all over again, would I do it differently?" No ... I'd do the same thing! Foolish. maybe, but I'm still an impractical impulsive free spirit. I found a way to get a scholarship to art school and yes, I even graduated. I teach art now, and I'm a very different kind of teacher, more like a collaborator and co conspirator. 
What I learned from this teacher is if I really care about something I'm willing to fully commit and take risks. I learned that I had courage to stand up for what I believed in ... and yeah, that smoking cigarettes in the girls bathroom and general mayhem may not be some of my proudest moments but they are some of my fondest memories. 
The drawing above was not done by one of my students or by me when I was age 6. It was done by me this week. Why? I'm reading a book called "Making Marks: Discover the Art of Intuitive Drawing" by Elaine Clayton. A quote from the cover claims this book will "facilitate intuition, releasing the mind to discover new ideas, creative inspiration and unexpected solutions". Basically its a license to doodle. Its too early to say if doodling freely will change my life, but I do know we we had a lesson like this in school I would have participated and really enjoyed it. 

This is probably the last Friday I'm going to celebrate "Drink & Dunk". Its a traditional activity that takes place at/in the bay, at night, accompanied by a good friend, live music and some alcohol. Bathing suits are optional because there is no one else in the water. Safety first! Its only about 3 feet of water and we always get a ride home. 
The amount of alcohol depends on the temperature of the water and the air. At the beginning or the end of the season (late May to late September), or on rainy nights, a shot to tequila is sometimes required. Most Fridays its just optional.
One of my very favorite things in life is swimming at night in the bay. Its a truly transcendent experience where I feel like am part of the water and the sky, in a place I grew up on and have a strong connection to. Someday soon I will take the last dunk of 2015 and I will look forward to the first dunk of 2016 nearly every day. 

Why does the prospect of stepping up to my table to create every day scare me? Every day? I was hoping that by now (day 21 of my art every day challenge) I'd get a little bolder. A bit more confident. I was hoping that the structure of showing up every day would make the process of creating art easier. That hasn't happened yet.
I'm just as anxious and as much of a procrastinator as I've always been. The main difference is that I'm letting my anxiety be my excuse any longer. Its become more like the process of jumping into cold water that actually isn't so cold after all. Once I get started and get involved with a project I'm able (most of the time) to feel comfortable and get into the flow. 

A collage inspired by a bar? Yes, The Blue Ruin in Hell's Kitchen NYC. The highly edited version of the story is that I ended up there with friends. The bartender blew fire out of her mouth. My friend almost got shot in the face with a stream of seltzer (yes, same bartender) for no apparent reason. A major popcorn fight broke out. The most amazing thing was that the owner thought WE were bad asses, bought us drinks and even posed with us for photos. What did we do? I'm not telling that part of the story. 

My studio currently consists of an 8 ft table so piled high with art supplies that I don't have any room to work. Yup, this is it. When I'm busy creating I just throw things around and make a huge mess. Previously I'd been limiting my work to small collages because I knew that was all I could physically manage. I started painting and now I don't have any place to work. Its kind of a good dilemma because I've decided to carve out a space in the basement to work. I will need to get more organized and get rid of some junk. I will need to buy & install some shop lights, move all my supplies and set up another folding table. 
The practical aspects are all doable. But I also need to find some courage because I find the prospect of having more options a bit scary. Taking on a bigger space is more of a commitment. I can work larger, I can be bolder. Maybe I can set up an easel and even take photos and videos of my process to share. I'll just take baby steps and start by finding new homes for some of the junk in the basement. 

I live in a beach community on Long Island. Come Labor Day most year round residents are absolutely elated that they will be free of traffic, lines at the store and beautiful serene vistas to contemplate free of annoying things like beach umbrellas, humans and dogs. I always have been one to dance to my own tune (typical artist) and I have to bite my tongue so I don't blurt out "This is absolutely the saddest time of the year!"
While I don't have a traditional art journal (in a bound book) I do consider my daily art practice to be a kind of art journal. It reflects my moods and experiences in a more subconscious way. I often don't know how I am feeling until I look at my work at a later date. Reflecting on this postcard series I see an expression of a feeling of loss, a trip, a memory. 

When I decided to create a collage a day on September 1st I was not expecting that I would be making a big leap into painting and mixed media. My collage work has been imaged based so its been a surprise detour to work abstractly. 
My comfort zone in terms of a color palette is neutral/green/blue. That's why I decided to choose red for the theme. To my surprise this piece practically created itself! It was so much fun to create all the different red textures with magazine images, acrylic paint, fabric and oil pastels. Although I'm not especially knowledgeable about the Chakra centers I definitely felt energized during the process and have fallen love with red. . 

Its been literally decades since I've worked on a painting. It wasn't just those negative art school critiques that made me put it aside ... it was the fact that I agreed with them. I just wasn't a very good painter. I experimented quite a bit with painting last week and I think I found a secret weapon: paper! 
Because I'm in my comfort zone as a collage artist, I decided to bring collage into my paintings to add some structure and familiarity. I'm definitely been having more fun painting than I did in art school, and I think that is a big part of it too.