Welcome to Arts and Wellness Café. As the week comes to a close we look at the word Discernment and how it using it impacts not only on your life but your creative pursuits as well.
Here are some of the projects that I shared in the video up close. The first one is a stitched project, one of my first and I really enjoyed creating.
The other project that I am working on is trying to extract the pigments from flowers and using it to dye fabric. Here I have been using a mortar and pestle
This is the extracted pigment and the pulp from the flower
Here is the flower - the Clitoria Ternatea and the way it dyes the fabric. You can also use it as a herbal tea - tastes delicious!
For a herbal tea you place the flowers in the cup and pour hot water onto it. The blue color is then released. If you add a couple of drops of lemon juice it turns the water purple instead of blue.
I will be sharing more from the results that I have gotten from other fabrics that have been dyed. If you want to see behind the scenes of some of the work I am doing you can join me on Patreon
I thought that I would share the clip of this video which goes into a bit more information about the image. I was inspired by Taster Session artist Eulalia Majia who is one of the teachers with me on the Life Book 2021.
My version of the Dragon Fly
I love creating faces and usually see faces or scenes in most of my backgrounds, so I incorporated that and did a small version of the dragonfly that Eulalia shared. We currently have quite a few variety of dragon fly in our garden, as it it the rainy season and that usually brings a lot of mosquitoes
This is another figure that I did but she still needs to be completed. I hope you enjoy.
This is a new mixed media collaboration intended to bring you endless inspiration, amazing fun, freedom in creativity and community like no other. Hosted by Tiare Smith, you’ll be immersed in happiness, gratitude and fun from day one.
And if you think you don’t have enough time to create, if you don’t know where to begin, if your inner critic keeps talking and you need someone to lift you up and shut her up, if you need inspiration or you simply want to find your own inner voice the Mixed Media Play Date is for you! Designed to teach, be a guide, inspiration and a friendly place for you to be yourself and thrive! Oh and AMAZING FUN and LIVE STREAMED MIXED MEDIA PLAY DATES!!!!
I am so thrilled to share with you that I will be one of the guest teachers on the the Mixed Media Play Date hosted by Tiare Smith. As teachers we all want to help you put PLAY in your art and your day!
Tiare has assembled an AMAZING group of artist instructors to do just that, and we are gonna fill your creative wells with inspiring ideas, Fun, JOY and gratitude!
The Mixed Media Play Date - a new mixed media collaboration will bring you endless inspiration, fun, freedom in your creativity and a community like no other. I have taught on a number of courses hosted by Tiare Smith, and you are guaranteed to come out of your comfort zone, find your happy places and pick up so many hints and tips and fun from day one.
There will also be LIVE STREAMED MIXED MEDIA PLAY DATES
We all worry about finding enough time to create, and our inner critics voice can often get overwhelming, but as your guides we are here to help you tune into your inner voice, guide you as you see new things in your art and creativity, we will be your companions, supporters and cheer leaders, it will be a friendly place for you to be yourself and thrive!
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In the video I share with you a series of wall hangings I created called Forgotten Stories. Here is how they progressed.
At this point I had painted the fabric pieces and started to add the jewelry and the beading.
I taught myself some simple quilting techniques and ran with it. I knew I didn't want to make a large quilt, just used some of tips that I needed as I learnt.
Very often we stop ourselves from doing things because we don't have the resources, or skills, but you can learn the techniques as you go along, don't wait until you are an expert as you might find that you get some great results from the process as you go along. In my research I learnt about the quilts of the Underground Railroad, the messages and symbols contained in them and will share more in another post.
There were several things that I loved doing with these wall hangings,
the process of painting the pieces of fabric,
using the range of colors and also
creating the marks and designs that seem to come together when they were taken to the next stage and stitched
I called the series of wall hangings the Forgotten Stories.
Forgotten Stories Series
I started creating the series quite a while back and spent a lot of time selecting fabric and hand painting the fabric using a variety of acrylics, fabric paints and later on embellishments. I never used to have so much patience to create the amount of detail that you see in these pieces, but learnt that the messages come out over time, and in different ways.
The idea behind the series for me is the forgotten stories that are told in communities and would traditionally be handed down as you sit around a fire, or people would gather round the village stories tellers. I also wanted them to capture the essence of a short story that I had written where a young girl accompanies her mother to a fabric store and the owner begins to share how far the fabric has traveled and what all the signs and symbols mean.
With each pattern having a meaning. These stories tells of the kings and queens, the daily lives of a village who did what their accomplishments, the travelers of the land, the trade between the villages and the things they produced. The carrying of spices, and precious jewels across sand dunes, forests and seas.
The symbols that tells of the strength the technology and skills that were the cornerstone of populations
Charting the journey of the different tribes, showing the gifts the abilities that resides unto this day.
Once each panel was complete I began to add the beading and embellishments to decorate. You can see a bit of the process in the video above.
Forgotten Stories - Blue
I love the way the pieces turned out and the color mixes.
As my fabric pieces tell their story I hope they will inspire you to share yours. Art for me is about how we use it to express our ideas, thoughts - our truth and is a tool that can bring a voice to every situation. Let me know how you use fabric in your work and to express ideas. If you are looking for additional ideas for using fabric then check out some of the links below for ideas, supplies and more!
I thought I would share some of the work I have been producing from the Soul Food course I have been doing.... In the session led by Heather Santos - 'letting go of perfect', I used a piece of art that just didn't seem to be working and creating a new painting. I drew an outline of a figure I wanted to use and then went about adding the necessary paint.
I was pleased with how she eventually turned out.
Sarah Hand showed us how to make paper mache shadow boxes
Shadow Box
It has been great so far to be able to work with such a vast array of creatives, in a supportive and encouraging environment. I would definitely do both of these again and have collected a few boxes that I would love to alter. I am finding my pace and looking forward to sharing more as the weeks go on. Finally, do you doodle?
I was fortunate to have one of my Doodles featured in the book Zen Doodle: Tons of Tangles. Well, North Light Books are producing another book called Oodles of Doodles and they want you to submit your doodles or tangles to the Zen Doodle competition by March 14th, there is no entry fee so get a move on! Check out Create Mixed Media You can also enter in the following ways:
email them at info@createmixedmedia.com Instagram — email them at info@createmixedmedia.com via your Instagram account Pinterest — tag them in the comment @CreateMixedMedia Twitter – tag them in the comment @CMixedMedia
Realityarts - Creativity Book Shop - Some really great titles for you to dive in
Creative Resources
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