First digital collage sheets are done!

Whew! I had no idea how much work was involved in digital collage sheets! All of you image sellers I buy from, my hat is off to you! I don't know how you get so many done. I worked pretty much non-stop from Friday to this afternoon and I only have 5 sheets done and have only used about 12 of my 100 or so vintage pictures. I have a long, long way to go! But, here they are . . .

Fun House



Borders and Scraps



Paper and Tin



Little Geishas



Snappy Dressers


I am taking a break from all things art tonight and doing some laundry, going to a soccer meeting, and watching TV later. I might even wear my new lovely bracelet to do these things. I won a prize from Monica Magness's Pink Artist Project and the prize was this very gorgeous bracelet from my friend Sharon of Livewire Jewelry! Sharon, I haven't even written a thank you yet but I'm off to do that now! Thank you so much! I love it and am already fighting my daughter over it! I can't believe I won!

Contrived intuition

I watched all of Teesha Moore's videos this morning that she has recently posted to her blog. Oh boy, I love watching her work and hearing what she's thinking as she does it. It makes my head spin with urges to work in her style.

I think the word I've been looking for to describe my own work is contrived. Teesha uses the word now and then in the context that she wants to change pieces she collages so they don't look so contrived. I think she means too perfect, too neat and tidy and therefore empty of expression. She uses the word intuitive alot. I think I work intuitively but I don't work very expressively or gesturely. Now, everytime I write about where my head is in regard to my work I get a bushel full of compliments and loving lectures. I want you to understand that I am not looking for assurances about my work, maybe admittedly my thinking and questioning (cuz we all like to know we are not crazy), but I am truly posting my journey on this blog. I'm sharing what's in my head. Eventually and hopefully, you'll continue to read my blog to see how I work these things out, how I overcome or ignore the moments of "stuck". If I don't question my work from time to time, I'm not sure I would keep striving to find my true voice, my true work that is buried down deep in my soul somewhere. I think those times of questioning are that deep down art trying to get a little closer to the surface.

A strange thing has happened to me. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I found myself increasingly very attracted to surealsim and digital artists that use vintage images to create these crazy odd elaborate stories. I started to try and think about working in that direction, but still working with scissors and glue and marrying that crisp odd surrealism with a mostly non-digital presentation. Then, I started Nancy Baumiller's class and I foundmyself trying to work in this crazy un-crisp, very expressive zetti Teesha Moore journal style. And I love both styles and find myself torn and confused about which direction I want to work in or trying to figure a way to work in the two styles at once while still keeping me in my work. I think it is these things that have brought on the questioning and self criticism you've been reading. But, please know that I love making art. I'm not about to quit or throw myself off a cliff. I'm just telling you about my journey.

So, I've left just a few links here to show the two very different types of work and artists I find myself in a love triangle with!

Martine Roch
Maggie Taylor
Casa Jordi
Paul Grand
Teesha Moore
Nancy Baumiller
Jade Adams
Roc Nicholas

I plan to flit amongst these styles and continue to keep playing and continue to keep questioning. I'm even taking a mini-break from creating. That really means, I'm not pushing myself as I had been, to make a set number of pieces a week. I'll make when I can't fight the urge and won't make if I have to force it. In the meantime, if I'm not around much, I am finally working on collage sheets and scanning, scanning, scanning, photoshoping, photoshoping, photoshoping, etc. It's taken me about 10 hours a sheet so far so this is a big project for me. I have a couple of sheets done but want to wait until I get a few more before I "release" them.

Lauren went back to school today and we kicked the flu out of the house over the weekend. All is good.

I'm not a digital artist . . .

First, thank you for the support below. I should've told you not to gush over me, but I have to say, what helps more than anything is to know I am not alone in my moments of doubt, that you all feel that way from time to time. I know that deep down, even told other people that when they were doubting themselves, but sometimes I lose perspective and just need to be reassured that everyone feels that way sometimes. Like I said, I don't think my "art world" friends ever make me doubt things, it's the others in my life that make me look at things from a broader perspective and then I question everything. On another note . . .

Lately, I've been getting some flickr and blog comments that lead me to believe people think I am a digital artist, and even a couple of blogs have linked me as a digital artist and I'm not. I mostly work the old-fashioned way - scissors and glue. I WISH I knew how to do more digitally but about all I have figured out is layering textures for backgrounds, then I just print them out and glue everything to them anyway. So, I thought I'd show you the backs of a couple of my older figures so you can see that they are constructed from cut pieces and glued together.



I Just Wanna Fly, below, has 6 pieces glued here but by the time she was finished with hat and cuffs and trims there were 11 pieces in just the main figure. All cut and glued and hand colored.



Hope, below, has 9 pieces glued together not counting the 3 on her hat.



And, lastly, one of my newest characters without wings. This crazy person (for Nancy's Collage Dreams on Paper class) has 13 pieces glued together with the wings. (This one is harder to see the cut edges because I should've scanned on another color to avoid the bright contrast but you get the idea)



Hey, but I did learn a little trick by accident this morning that might be fun to play with. If you scan the back of a figure into your computer so that it is white on a black background, take it into Gimp (gimp is a photo editing program that is much like photoshop but free and not as sophisticated - good for easy edits), "color to alpha" which means it takes everything white and makes it transparent, save it as a png image, you can put the shape over another picture and make an interesting silhouette. Hmmmm, may have to play with that a bit more. Would be a great do-it-yourself template for wings or crowns or all sorts of new things to play with.

Do you ever feel totally lost in your work?

I do. I do right now. Between taking Nancy's Collage Dreams on Paper class, looking at more art than I have in a long time from all over the net, and then looking at my own, I have no idea what I'm doing or what I want to do. I accidentally ran across my "flickriver" (an alternative view of your flickr images) and I had not seen it before and the first thing that came to mind was that my work looks very amateur, very elementary and awkward. I just can't see it hanging in a show somewhere. I need to really assess what I'm doing and where I want to go with my work. I need to "up" things a notch or two. I'm being impatient I think. This new facebook experience had me get up out of my chair and look at my work and my life from standing on top of the desk (kind of a Dead Poet Society perspective thing) and it all looks so different to me when taken out of the context of our blog and flickr familiarity with each other's work. And Nancy's class, and some input I'm getting there, has me really feeling like I need to keep pushing myself and not get too comfortable anywhere yet in my work. I just don't know what to do next - I'm in a gridlock.

I had this piece almost finished for over a week, before I started working on Nancy's class assignments (that has me throwing everything in but the kitchen sink - it's been very fun but I'm overdoing it a little I think). This piece is very, very simple but I liked it enough to not throw it out. I'm using it for a trade I have coming up.

Dreamers


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 10/29/09. All rights reserved. You may not copy, print, download, or use this image in any way without my permission.
This is a 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 collage using a black and white face from the public domain, a partial body from cemerony.etsy.com, and black and white legs from the public domain. The hat, boat, and wings were purchased from clipart.com owned by Jupiter Images. The ground is from designer Lori Davison of Studio Lori at scrapbookgraphics.com. The grass is from Create Wings and the TV is from Holliewood Studios at Oscraps.com. The background was made by merging layers from flickr's skeletalmass and Neighya.


I'm off to do some more art soul searching. Daughter is still sick, going back to the doctor tomorrow and I have had a headache for over 24 hours now and sore throat all day. I'm grumpy.

Wait! (updated after WW's comment) (which was very nice by the way)
Can't you all read my mind? I always assume you are right there in my head with me. The other half of my thinking, which I didn't explain, is that I've been very comfortable with my work here and with you all. As I started facebook this week, my potential non-art audience completely changed. I don't have hardly anything about my art on my facebook but when someone from my old life asks about it, I see my work in a whole new way - it's very awkward and scary for me to share it with them and I suddenly feel so inadequate. This stems from the fact that most of my family and friends (except for my dear husband and mother-in-law) never talk about my work, hardly acknowledge it and when they do it's a lot of uhuh's, oh's. They don't like it much or think I have much sense in pursuing it, I gather. So, that is where a large part of my doubt is coming from also. If I was just a person walking down a street and saw my art in a window what would I think? Probably the old "I coud do that, what's so impressive about that?" or the "I don't get it".

All mixed up

I'm all mixed up. Good, but mixed up. Daughter continues to get better so no worries there. She's still home though. And, I'm tired from sleeping on the couch and getting a cough. I have so many things half done and I HATE that - I'm such a don't-move-on-to-the-next-thing-until-the-first-thing-is-done gal. And I have so much I want to do and want to get done . . .

I just joined facebook yesterday and amazed at it! I've had contact with people I haven't seen or heard from in 20 years and my head is spinning with nostalgia. It's a very weird feeling to get in touch with one's old life no matter how good your old life was. Facebook could become very addictive if I am not careful. I made an updated slideshow of my family for my facebook profile and thought I would share it here if you'd like to see (it's kinda long though). It's called 22 years of my life (but it won't take 22 years to see, it's not that long - though it might seem that long to some) . . . here's the link
http://www.slide.com/r/nC94Kfiuwz8k5ms_QLSwWNXFCgK48Dmx?previous_view=lt_embedded_url

Happy Wednesday!

Happy post

There is a sad, but important for me, post below this one. You can read it if you like and if not, you can just stick to this one.

My daughter is turning the corner and feeling better. She is wiped out but doing much better. Yay!

Drawing winners from Sunday are in this post. There are 10 winners in all so if you entered and haven't checked to see, you'd better go look now!

Here's where I am so far on my Collage Dreams on Paper class with Nancy Baumiller. You have never seen a more busy piece from me and might not ever again . . . and it's not done yet! We still have more to add and more to learn! Oh my . . . the crazy person is not attached yet and I may end up changing it. I'm beginning to look at it and think it looks like I tried to fit in all 10,000 pieces of my scraps in it. But, I am learning a lot and I'm so glad I am taking the class.


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 10/24/09. All rights reserved. Do not copy, print, download or use without permission. Image credits will be posted when the piece is finished.

Sad post - I mark this day (updated 8 a.m.)

I try to keep this blog lighthearted and focused on art for the most part. Today is an exception.

Two years ago, sometime in the night of October 27 or the morning of the 28th, we lost someone very special to our family. William, the only son of our best friends, who was only 15 at the time, a gracious, kind, vibrant young man died of a drug overdose in a friend's basement while his parents thought he was at a high school dance. He was discovered several hours after he died alone and unnoticed by his "friends". His biological mother, who I do not know and who had custody at the time, was at a concert late into the night and didn't know her son wasn't where he was supposed to be, nor did she cooperate with his biological father, our friend, who was very concerned about what they thought was only a recreational use of marijuana. William's father wanted to drug test his son regularly and get him help but was threatened with law suits (from a family of lawyers) if he pushed the issue. It is not clear who all knew that what was thought by his concerned father to be a typical teenage marijuana experimentation was in fact a real and much larger drug problem . . . but his father and step mother were not given the opportunity to deal with that in any way and for that I have little forgiveness in my heart. They would have fought with all of their might to turn things around and were shut out and cut off because the custodial family didn't want to deal with it. All I can say is, the hurt is still very real not only for my family's own loss of a young man we dearly loved but for the broken heart of his father and his wife, our best friends, who tried to do the right thing, who always did the right thing as best any of us could have tried to do. We will never forget William or the great emptiness his loss has left us with. We pledged, as a family, that his death AND LIFE would make a difference in our lives and it has. Know where your kids are, know what they are doing, follow up, be a parent, and handle the tough stuff.

I had a slide show up of my family and friends but it was annoying me that I couldn't turn it off. Sorry if you missed it. It wasn't that important for this post anyway.

Added later this morning . . . . Thank you for all of the comments. William's family marks tomorrow as the anniversary of his death but I always set aside today as the anniversary of the last day of his life. I'm not sure why I do that. I find myself thinking two years ago right now, he was here and no one had any idea what was about to happen. I want to add after reading your lovely comments . . . no matter what we do, bad things can happen and tragedies happen and we all have our faults as parents. We can only do our best I agree. For me, it is just the ultimate reminder to not feel badly about being strict or snoopy and to sit and talk with and really be with my kids every minute I can. My husband and other best friend were pall bearers and I remember at the graveside John, our other best friend, saying they were appropriately taking William on his last hike. John had hiked many, many times with William over many years. My kids stood with me and watched this and watched the incredible waling of William's family and we hugged and I told them "Don't you dare ever put me through that" - it was a very painful experience for my kids to lose their friend and even more painful and shocking to see how very much William's family was hurting and still hurt to this day. My purpose for sharing all of this today is to remind all of us, especially me, to stay involved, say the stuff to our kids we sometimes get too lazy to say or assume is understood, hug lots, say "I love you's" lots, and to not let up on the message to our kids that they just cannot be using any drugs ever. One more poignant part of the story for me . . . William's father found out that has son had died because another kid who found William found William's cell phone in his pocket and went through the contacts and "dad" comes before "mom" in a contact list. William's dad was so delighted to see his son calling him as his son didn't want to talk to him in the weeks before he died because he was coming down on him for the marijuana, only to find a stranger on the phone telling him his son was dead. William's family and my husband and other friends spent most of the day in a police station waiting to confirm it was actually William that was found as no one was allowed at the "crime scene". Can you imagine having to do that?

Halloween Winners and more!

The winner of Sarah is Jean of Bluebirds Living in the Meadow
The winner of Sady is Leslie who remains blogless despite the urging of many of us!
The winner of Jack is Kathy (in Chicago) of A Spectacular Mess (what a great blog name!)
And the winner of the larger Good Little Witches piece is Danny of fiDOArt
You winners, please send me your addresses ASAP so I can try and get these to you by Halloween. Just email me at marsha@tumblefishstudio.com

There are more winners!
For the rest of you, I have drawn six other names to complete my part of two very special prizes I won earlier this year. One from Terri of Pringle Hill and one from Cathy of Reflections of a Ramblin' Girl. Both of these talented ladies had a drawing to win a surprise piece of art sometime in the year after the drawing. The recipients of the prizes had to also promise to pay it forward and send three more pieces of art to three other people. So, the six of you listed below need to send me your addresses as well so that I can truly surprise you sometime in the next 12 months with a piece of art from little ol' me. You may receive a set of limited edition prints, several ATC's or a larger original piece - time will tell and you will just have to wait and see. I may contact you just before mailing so you know to look for it in your mailbox. Now, you were not given the opportunity to enter into this drawing and may not wish to participate by sending on three pieces yourself. In this case, I say you can fudge if you promise to do three random acts of kindness in whatever way you can, whether it is sending art or doing something special for someone who needs it. I leave it up to you.

These winners are . . .
Theresa in MS
Jill of Third Age Musings
Janny of Tricolore
Elizabeth of The Last Door Down the Hall
Shannon of SaturdayVille
Michelle of Lost Coast Post

Daughter is still very sick and I just try to lay near her most of the time. This is definitely one of the worst illnesses we've seen in her 16 years - maybe one other time years ago. I didn't worry too much about all the swine flu hoopla until now - it's kinda scary when someone is this sick and nothing much anyone can do and reading how it can be harder on young strong healthy folks because their immune systems fight with such power it kind of backfires on 'em. So, I may not be around much until she is better. I do have to say she probably caught it from her 17 year old brother who probably caught it from my husband but the two guys were just down and out like a regular flu. It's weird that it has hit Lauren so hard.

My son sent me to this very cool website - little people - this kind of work fascinates me so! Enjoy!
http://do-while.com/small-people-in-the-big-world/

Drawing tonight, swine flu, & Collage Dreams on Paper

Don't forget! The Halloween drawing will take place and be posted here tonight! Comment the post below to enter to win one of the published original Good Little Witches collages! I'll post the winners tonight!

Our daughter probably has swine flu! Eeek! Actually, my son and husband probably had it last week but their cases were very mild. We had to take our daughter to the doctor early Friday morning after she had 2 asthma attacks and a very high fever. She has never had an asthma attack except in the midst of a soccer game and it has been a long time since that has happened. To have two pretty bad attacks in one day, just laying in bed, scared the pants off of us. So we were told to go to ER with her. She tested positive for influenza A which more than likely means she will test positive for swine flu - we will know in the next couple of days. But, she is home, really, really sick but home and soaking up the TLC.

As I keep an eye on her, I am getting caught up with my homework. I've been taking Nancy Baumiller's (aka Crowabout) Collage Dreams on Paper online class. I have already learned so much! We haven't gotten to the main image or adding lettering (which scares me to no end, I'll tell ya) and details, but here is what I've done with the first three lessons. This class is great, and I mean GREAT! So glad I took it!


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 10/24/09. All rights reserved. Do not copy, print, download or use without permission. Image credits will be posted when the piece is finished.