My Artistic Journey, in a Nutshell

Long overdue, this posting is ...

On Saturday March 7 and Sunday March 8, I attended two full days of workshops with Golden working artist CHRIS COZEN ... and all I can say is ... who knew?!

I used to have one of those {because I didn't know any better, OBVIOUSLY} attitudes about ACRYLIC paints ... like, 'that's for children', OR 'that's cheesy', or, well, you get the idea.

I have many people to thank for my awakening:

FIRST, my friend ANN DEAKERS, who first (re) turned me to local artist JANE LA FAZIO. I say "re-turned", because I first met Jane some years ago at a Pampered Chef party ... and then she invited me to her home to do another one! I then ran into Jane at an event at Quail Botanical Gardens, where I bought some of her lovely painted cards.

SO when Ann told me about Jane's WATERCOLOR JOURNALING workshop, I signed up with friend Cynthia (Fall 2007) and away we went. It was challenging, it was eye-opening, it was incredible. But that was only the beginning!

NEXT, friend Ann forwarded me a link to the blog of artist KELLY RAE ROBERTS. Wow, what a find. I ordered a few of KRR's art prints {which are still waiting for frames - one's a gift for my daughter Kristina, although she doesn't know it ... yet!} and over the months, I became so enamored of KRR's work and her blog-style, I couldn't resist ordering her first book: Taking Flight: Inspiration And Techniques To Give Your Creative Spirit Wings {which you can purchase thru Amazon, or Barnes & Noble, or directly from Kelly Rae, which will include her autograph}. When her book arrived, WOW. I was so enchanted. But what were all these materials and mediums she was talking about? Her supply list was all-encompassing, and I didn't know what 75% of those things were / were for ... Talk about intimidating !!!

SO then, as my Scrapbooking and Stamping / CardMaking SUPPLIES began to expand to include materials for COLLAGE WORK, I began my quest. The quest to discover "life beyond ModPodge" {as a young girl, Mom would plop me down at a TV tray, with a box of paper and ribbon scraps, and some glitter, and a bottle of glue - or Mod Podge - and I'd create collages to my little heart's content}. And by the way, ModPodge is alive & well, folks, and easily adapted to your art projects.

OKAY, so then PAPER SOURCE opened up right here at The Forum, in Carlsbad, a mere 6 minutes door to door {dangerous stuff, that} ... and it was there that I picked up a beautiful book by mother-daughter duo Sunny and MaryJo KOCH.

Vintage Collage-Works: Artful Ideas with Antique Ephemera is the title, and I was again ENCHANTED by the possibilities lying within those pages. Wow, wow, wow. But again - an extensive list of supplies & materials, and me, ignorant about what most of them are, or how they're used, or what they're used for.

And thus began my journey. I googled "mixed media art class san diego" and I came up with - get this - the name Jane LaFazio. At the top of the list! So I sent Jane a quick e-mail, asking her what this MIXED MEDIA term really meant, and she said I should sign up for her upcoming 6-week class through the La Jolla Athanaeum.

I jumped in, feet first, and the rest is blogging history! {if you haven't seen my blog before, the entire six weeks was 'journaled' herein, complete with photographs}

I learned so much, but mostly what I learned was that there is SO MUCH MORE to be learned!

But instead of being intimidated, now I am INSPIRED and INTRIGUED and EXCITED.

Thanks to Yvonne, who was in my first 6-week MIXED MEDIA with Jane LaFazio, I sought out workshops with Golden working-artist CHRIS COZEN ... because the idea of learning how to do IMAGE TRANSFERs was so exciting to me.

a smattering of the work I did in the Chris Cozen {Golden product} workshops, March 2009

Thanks to STAMPING DETAILS in Poway, California, for hosting 5 workshops with Chris earlier this month {of which I attended four}. More eye-opening, more stretching, more possibilities opening up. You might say that I'm no longer "on the fence" about art and it's place in my life :-) ...

"On The Fence" {a tribute to my mother, Edith} - this piece was made, start to finish, during the Chris Cozen weekend at Stamping Details in Poway, March '09

Big sigh. Contented sigh.

-- Princess Magpie