In My Heart

'In My Heart'

Emotional connection is what I experienced most whilst creating this piece.  I'm discovering in a richer way, that this is actually what is of most importance to me in the process of art making.  There's much buried in my heart - faith, joy, frustration, fear of rejection, fear, fear, fear!, love, hope, resentment, excitement (and much more of course), but nearly always prayerfulness and it most often ends in thankfulness to God, for without Him I would be lost in a very dark and lonely place.  Connecting emotionally as I create, is helping me to release those bound up emotions, search for truth and pray through them for God's guidance, healing, peace, love and joy.

I worked slow (as I usually do) and found myself in a place of remembrance.... remembering the amazing and creative lives of my mother and grandmothers; reflecting upon the wonderful gift they have given me - the joy of living a creative life - what a heritage!  I miss each of them terribly, but am so thankful that each one of them continues to play a huge part in who I am today and the art that I make.  I am incredibly blessed!

I'm also very thankful for the many artists who are so willing to impart their knowledge, skills, time and talents to those around them, both locally and globally.  Something I find truly remarkable, is that often times these artists may never even know the incredible impact they have had on others and their art making.  

A number of years ago, Lesley Riley turned my art making right around, allowing me to steer it in another direction.  Did she have any idea of the impact she made on me back then?  No, she didn't, but I have since told her once or twice.  I was participating in her class, as quiet as a mouse and soaking in with wonder all that she was teaching.  I felt a greater sense of freedom in the way I approached my work and was thrilled to discover new possibilities for art making.  I'm still learning so much from Lesley, and I don't think I would have broken through some of the boundaries that were necessary to smash in order to create this piece.  So thank you Lesley, and thank you to all those creative souls that are willing to mentor, teach and share their creative lives with others.  You may never know the impact that you have on someone's creative life, but I pray you will be blessed in some way because of it!

Musical Cherubs - Darkroom Door

I think this new Darkroom Door frame stamp may well be one of my absolute favourites!!!

For this first piece, 'Always Find A Song', I stamped Darkroom Doors new frame stamp 'Musical Cherub', directly onto a piece of vintage sheet music that I had previously painted with a light layer of gesso.  I then stamped the sentiment found in Darkroom Door's stamp set 'Chorus', into the centre of the frame and added the copyright number to the frame from some of the remaining sheet music.  I then had a lovely time embellishing this piece with some pressed hydrangea flowers, silk fabric, sheet music and cross stitches.  

For this next piece, I stamped the Musical Cherubs frame onto a scrap of white paper and trimmed around both the inside and outside edges of the frame and layered it over a lovely image from Darkroom Doors 'Love Letters Collection Vol 2' stamp set using 3D mounting tape.  I stamped 'Paris' found on the postcard of the same stamp set and placed it behind the lower section of the frame.

The frame was then added to a number of layered papers, including sheet music and embellished with Darkroom Door's postal stamp found in the 'Love Letters Collection Vol 1' stamp set and a floral image found on the 'Art De Fleur' montage sheet.  Lace, silk fabric strips, buttons, flowers and pearls were then used to complete this collage.

A Dashing Good Time with Darkroom Door

He's dashing, isn't he!!!  I've been having a lovely time playing with Darkroom Door's Gazette background stamp.  I created the background to this piece by stamping 'Gazette' with VersaFine Smoky Grey ink onto white paper and then once again stamping it onto another piece of paper, without re-inking the stamp, to get a more faded effect.  After that, it was just a matter of cutting the papers up to create this composition.  

Other Darkroom Door products used to complete this project are:  Dashing Gents, Champs Elysee, Steampunk stamp set, Regal frame and Love Letters montage.

Outburst of the Soul - Darkroom Door

I love this thought that, 'Music is the outburst of the soul'.  I love to sing and I especially love those moments when I really lose myself in the melody or lyrics of a song.  I find myself all goose bumpy and emotional and lost in the wonder of it all.  There's nothing like it!  It's fun to sing with my beloved too and it's such an amazing way to connect with someone.

I've been having a lovely 'dress-making' time as I played around with the new Darkroom Door background stamp, Postage Stamps.  I've simply stamped the background onto some white paper with pink ink, scrunched it up a bit and created the shape of a skirt.  I scalloped the bottom edge of the skirt with scissors and added a little layer of lace underneath the skirt.  Then I hand cut a torso shape to go with it, adding a swipe of ink around the edges of the skirt and bodice.

I've also used words and images from two of Darkroom Door's stamp sets to create the background :  'Chorus' and 'Champs Elysée'.  Finally, I added some additional music inspired bits n bobs and  a bit of lace complete the collage.

Now it's time to turn up the music and have a little sing-a-long!  It's good for the soul!