Featured on Stash Tea Facebook page!

Hey! I'm excited that my art is getting a little bit of appreciation. Stash Tea, which is by the way absolutely the best bagged tea in the world, featured some of the art I made from their tea packets on their facebook page!

Love the Mascareri!

Are you sure you want to delete this post? This action is permanent. Yes, delete postNo, keep post

For the past 2 years I have occasionally toyed with the idea of learning traditional Arte dei Machereri, or the art of mask making. The origins of this beautiful art are of course in Venice, but the repercussions of this art can be seen in everything from Mardi Gras to modeling and marketing.

So far I have created four successful masks, and several more that were complete and total failures. You can see some of my masks painted into one of the still life's that I have done in the Paintings section. Below are several do and don'ts when it comes to mask-making.

DO:

• Use an exacto knife
• sandpaper around the edges
• PLAN it out a little bit
• paint the back of the mask
• use very thin and tiny strips of paper on your last layer for a more delicate and smooth look
• use beads, sparkles, fabric around the edges if they are rough
• reinforce the area around the nasal bone with a lot of paper

Don't:

• Pile on many many layers at once, let it dry a little then add some more
• Forget the sandpaper
• Take the mask off the form before it is completely dry
• forget the glaze (modge pogde or collage podge works fine)

Scraps Collages and Diaries

Are you sure you want to delete this post? This action is permanent. Yes, delete postNo, keep post

After reading and flipping through some books on Visual Journaling I have discovered that this is an art-form that will express my ideas well. While I will not forsake any technique work, I think that by keeping a visual diary of my life, I will be more inspired.  While throwing my thoughts on to the paper I was able to express my emotions with words, torn paper, pictures I drew or found, and screaming colors and associations. It is like scrap-booking but it does not necessarily have to match and look tidy, it should look like your head and heart and soul. It felt like a self portrait, a depiction of things I can't communicate but wish to nonetheless throw out.

Some great resources for all those interested:
Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself By Sabrina Ward Harrison for inspiration
Visual Journaling Going Deeper than Words by Barbara Ganim and Susan Fox for a more theoretical psychological approach.

You can also find some great examples at visualjournaling.com

The 3 Examples pasted below are some cool journals I found by an artist Teesha Moore you can find her at http://www.teeshascircus.blogspot.com/