A Fresh Start for 2020

2020

New Beginnings

New Motivation

New Resolve

New Adventures

Fresh Creativity 

The last few years have been seriously lacking in motivation and 

creativity for me, but 2020 has me taking a fresh look 

at my creative journey.  

I have so many ideas that I want to implement and no better time to start than NOW! 

One of my favorite designing geniuses, Tim Holtz, has a saying,

*BELIEVE IN THE NOW *

 I am a lifelong procrastinator, much to my dismay. Turning 70 last year

was a rude awakening. I seriously felt that my time to be creative or 

follow my dreams was over and I had snoozed right 

through it. Since then, I have seen so many women in their later

years being creative every day and believing in their now. They 

are an inspiration to me, especially one very creative 98-year-old in

an online class I'm taking.  So, now it is.

Now is the time to share my ideas, practice my creativity and make art

just for me.  Now is the time to create my website. Now is the time to

pour my heart into what I love instead of lamenting what I haven't done or

accomplished. I will never be a trailblazer, but I can be a creative.

 This will be my place to share thoughts and ideas.  I hope you'll follow 

me on my journey.

Hugs to all,

Kathleen

A Creative Card Swap

A few weeks ago, my sister found a card swap online called "Inspirational Card Swap" hosted by Jessica Brogan.  The theme was "Nature" and we used just a standard card deck and created a piece of art on one side.  My absolute favorite thing to do is to create 'fabric paper' using a method described by Beryl Taylor in her book "Mixed Media Explorations." She is one of my favorite textile artists.

I started with a few basic supplies: muslin, diluted white glue and tissue paper.  I decided to use a patterned paper this time.  I then added paints and inks until I liked the overall design.  My finished piece was probably 18" by 30" give or take an inch or two.  When it was dry I turned it over and used soft gel medium to adhere the 52 cards.  I weighted them down and it does take some time to dry.  When dry I cut out the 52 cards and voila!

Fifty-two cards ready for mailing!

This was really fun to do and we came into it a little bit later than others which actually kept me motivated to finish.  Jessica then does all the sorting and mailing and we, the lucky recipients, receive 52 different pieces of art from the U.S. and abroad.  Hopefully this will encourage you to do something similar.  It's exciting to see how other artists interpret a theme.

Happy creating,

Kathleen