Jul 31, 2010

Fine Tuning

I am fine tuning things. Not just art, things in general. I don't have much to show you, but am going about changing things in my Etsy, and in my work, and my house, inside myself. Little adjustments here and there.

This morning I finally cracked open my new copy of Somerset Studio. I had been saving it for a quiet relaxing few minutes so I could savor the Anahata Katkin feature. She has long been my idol, my role model. I was aware of her and her work just about a year before she rocketed to the forefront of the mixed media world. I nearly cried at the end of the article, as if it were written just for me, given my recent experiences.



I'll quote the article 'Her advice for artists and young entrepreneurs who would love to live the creative life: "It's easy to look at successful people and think their circumstances were different than yours. But they're not. Anyone who is doing what they love will tell you the same thing: Believe in what you are doing no matter what and follow only your own formula. Our success has been built on the fact that we march to the beat of our own drum and have never wavered from our original vision."'

I had recently wavered, for whatever reason, possibly greed. And I lost all connection to my original vision, my personal journey. It became business and my business became other people's business and all that that entails and I could no longer hear the beat of my own drum, let alone my inner voice. So thank you Anahata, wherever you are, for once again affirming for me what I momentarily lost sight of!

Speaking of vision, here's a rather unique one I've shown you before, but it's been awhile. Scott Wade and his Dirty Car Art I admire him so for working in such a temporary medium. It is really quite amazing.



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Jul 27, 2010

Big Changes . . .

Obviously, I am working on a new blog banner, first of all. Please excuse the empty header for now.

I have decided to leave DeviantScrap. It was a hard decision and one that will take me awhile to recover from, I'm sure. But in the end, it boiled down to not having the flexibility I missed in having my own little single owner business. I have said that I felt like a small town girl in a big city market and I was just not good at managing it or dealing with its ups and downs and quirks and issues. I kind of stunk at it actually.

So, I am going to take a bit of time to regroup. I have closed my Etsy to reorganize and fill up with new work. I am going to ease into just returning to my roots and visiting all of my blog friends and favorite flickrs and just make art for awhile. I will someday in the near future be offering my digital images through Etsy as I work on reformatting them to fit better over there.
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Jul 15, 2010

Buried (blog) Treasure!

I'm a bit late today, but it was the day to post some Buried Treasure to participate in Seth Apter's (The Altered Page) annual blog collaboration. Participants are invited to dig deep in their blog vaults and repost one of their favorite posts from the previous year and then visit all of the other participants' treasures.

I had a hard time with this as the last year was consumed with my dad's failing health, spending time with him (1800 miles from here), taking care of him, missing him, and then his passing and really missing him. I am still in the stage of grief, marking time, looking back at those days and thinking "dad was still here" or that was "just before I left for Dad's", etc. So, I'm just not gonna go there. And, my art has grown and gone in new directions with the digital designing so . . . . what to post, what to post? As I was revisiting old posts I was reminded of a very cool little idea that just fascinates me . . . . .
the Art-O-Mat!




I originally posted about this in October, 2009 and mentioned how it is one of those "wish I would have thought of that" things. I still wish I would have thought of it. So, what is it? Well, it's the very cool idea of artist Clark Whittington and the idea is to sell art in vending machines. Currently there are 82 of these ultra cool vintage vending machines scattered across the U.S. with around 400 contributing artists from around the world.

Customers put a dollar in the machine, pull a knob and walk away with an original work of art about the size of a cigarette pack!

You can see all 82 machines, see where they're located, and samples of the artists' work here at the Art-O-Mat site! The whole idea was born out of the attraction to the crinkling of cellophane . . . I love knowing where ideas are born. You can read about that on the site too, but in case you don't make it over there, the mission statement is worth sharing here . . .

"Artists in Cellophane (A.I.C.), the sponsoring organization of Art*o*mat® is based on the concept of taking art and "repackaging" it to make it part of our daily lives. The mission of A.I.C. is to encourage art consumption by combining the worlds of art and commerce in an innovative form. A.I.C believes that art should be progressive, yet personal and approachable."


I also posted my favorite personal work to date in 2009 . . . in August.

Lady Fish


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 8/13/09. All rights reserved.
This is an 8 x 10 collage using a face and separate body from flickr's Suzee Que, wings from itkupilli.etsy.com, a crown from the Library of Congress, a fish from keeperofthenest.etsy.com, shoes from a magazine picture, flooring from flickr's 'Playingwithbrushes', buildings from the Library of Congress, black and white checked pieces from flickr's Nancy Baumiller (pieced together to form a frame) available at Crowabout.etsy.com, additional borders from flickr's wackystuff and designer Sande Krieger, and a main background from flickr's JoesSistah. All but the background were reprinted, hand cut with scissors, edged with ink, shaded with pastel and many were completely recolored with ink and pastel.


So, that's all I'll share tonight. It is always an unexpectedly fun task to go revisit your own old blog posts and see what you accomplished the year before or survived or enjoyed. I think the only two times I've taken the time to do that is with Seth's project. So thank you, Seth!

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Jul 11, 2010

Challenges!

I want to tell you about a couple of challenges over at DeviantScrap.com. Everyone is welcome to play. All mediums are welcome and so are all skill levels. DeviantScrap is not just for scrap layouts, but altered art, mixed media, journaling, and collage! All types of work are not only welcome but encouraged in their galleries, challenges, and swaps!

So, I'm hosting a Shades of Blue ATC swap. You have until July 30th to upload your ATC. We have some folks that are trading digitally and some folks that are trading in the regular mail. You can sign up for either way and we'll match you up with a partner to trade with after everyone's done. No purchase is necessary to play in the swap or upload to the gallery. You can read the details here.

Delight Full Boy


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 7/10/2010. All rights reserved.
This is a hand cut collage with many pieces further tinted before attaching to the background.
Image Credits: The face is from Crowabout StudioB's Men in Hats kit. The body, crown, words and frame are all from Tumble Fish Studio element packs. All available at DeviantScrap.com


I'm also hosting a Tattoo Anyone? challenge. For this project, you can make any size you like, any medium or style. We're not trading, just uploading to the gallery and thread and two players will be randomly drawn to win free Tumble Fish Studio packs at the end of the challenge. Again, everyone's welcome and there's no purchase necessary to play. You can read more about this challenge here.

"Seriously?"


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 7/11/2010.
This is a little 5 x 7 hand cut collage for the Tattoo Anyone? challenge in the DeviantScrap.com challenges thread.
Image credits: The hat and green curtain background are from Old School, the wands and fish are from Art Dollies - both Holliewood Studios kits. The face is from Tumble Fish Studio's Twinkle Toes pack and the wings from Wild Wings. All of the above available at DeviantScrap.com. The counter and top strip are from clipart.com and the tattooed body is from the public domain.
All were hand cut, the face and body were colored by hand from black and white pictures.


Challengs in my own life . . . nothing serious, but challenges to some degree.
Lots of new projects to work on this week. I have my own website almost ready to show you and I can't wait for that. I have my Etsy up and running again. I am working on at least 2 new image packs for DeviantScrap this week (released in about a week). I've also decided to start adding jpg sheets to all of my png packs so when you get an image kit from Tumble Fish Studio at DeviantScrap.com, you'll be getting both png pictures and jpg sheets! It will be about a week before that's done, but keep an eye out if you're interested! I'm waiting for a magazine cover I did recently to come back so I can show you that.

Between all of that, I've been trying to visit blogs and flickrs this last week. I've really missed my art friends and the huge inspiration I have always gained from visiting other people's work and lives. Made it through the A's and most of the B's on my blogs links list. If you know how hard it's been for me to do familiar things and be social in my old stomping grounds since losing my dad, you'd know that is an accomplishment for me. I will make it through the whole list and I am learning to not hide in work 20 hours a day to deal with the little depression that I've been in.

Have a great week everybody and enjoy the summer!


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Jul 7, 2010

Last Call!

Well, I'm about to sell out of my first two print editions!
There's only a few left of each of these . . .


Just Imagine (only 3 left as of 7/11/2010)


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 3/28/09 All rights reserved. You may not copy or download or use any piece of this artwork.
5 x 7 collage using a face from Spark Your Imagination's Elements No. 1, body from lisaslalteredart.etsy.com, wings from phenomenon1859.etsy.com, shoes, hair, and legs from personal photograph or magazine scraps, all reprinted, trimmed, and hand-colored, letters for words from public domain, all arranged on scrap papers.



Hope (only 2 left as of 7/11/2010)


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 4/9/09 All rights reserved. You may not copy or download or use any piece of this artwork.
This is a 5 x 7 collage using a face,legs, and some letters from an image sharing group on flickr, wings from jackandcatcurio, hair, body and dress from magazine pictures. All pieces were printed, carefully trimmed, hand-colored and pieced together on a background of scrap papers and handmade hearts.


My muses are finding their way back to me. I've managed to get a couple of pieces done but I am slower than a snail on a sloth. Truly starting to get caught up and am so glad! I've even started visiting blogs and flickrs but just a few at a time so I can savor everyone's best and latest!


Little Wild Thing


copyright by Marsha Jorgensen 7/3/2010. All rights reserved.
A little 5 x 7 hand cut collage using images from Crowabout Studio B: A Bit of Vintage, Funky People Parts, Funky Doll Parts, Wild Things & Papers, Funky Birds and Borders,and the bird is from Holliewood Studios: Spring Faeries,and the floor is from Tumble Fish Studio: Funky Scraps. All at DeviantScrap.com.
These pieces were reprinted, hand cut, edged in ink, some tinted by hand with ink and pastel and attached to a background that was also slightly altered with ink.



I Can Can Can



Copyright 7/5/2010. All rights reserved.
This is a small 5 x 7 hand cut collage. All 25 pieces were reprinted, cut with scissors, tinted by hand, and glued.
Image credits: background, can dress, iron balls, and 14 sign from Clementine Design's Tommy Town kit. Wings and frame from Holliewood Studio's Stark kit, rays from Sunburst Paper Pack and fish and wand from her Dollies kit. Face from Crowabout StudioB's Funky Doll Parts and legs are from her Funky People Parts kit. Crown and sign from Tumble Fish Studio packs. All available at DeviantScrap.com


I had troubles with this one. I had forgotten to make this piece slightly smaller than 5 x 7 to fit the opening in a standard mat. It was too big for the mat and got cut off. So, I had to alter it again after I thought I was finished so it could work a bit better in a larger 8 x 10 mat. I just added an old photo frame, cut out the middle, inked it, and place the previously finished collage inside. So, it floats on the white background which I've never done before but I like it. This is one of my current favorite pieces.


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