I Am the Phoenix

Life has thrown me a pretty big curve ball, but one result is that I am discovering how resilient I am. I am channeling my mixed emotions into my artwork, so my living room (aka art studio) has a lot of paint splatters, tools, brushes and paper scattered around.

"I Am the Phoenix"

 I Am the Phoenix is an art journal spread with collage, layers of gelli-plate printed deli paper, stencils, stamps, printed teabags and a Sharpie handwritten message. There is a lot of craziness in my life, but I used a Jane Davenport stencil--Tilted Up, from the series ArtistCellar used to carry--because I felt like I was a mermaid swimming up through the chaos to meet the surface. I used some of my favorite stencils for hair and the body and gave her wings to fly.

"Trust the Universe"

 Trust the Universe is another journal page. I used my favorite shade of turquoise (plus a spot of yellow and lime here and there) to cover the page, then sponged on black ink through some of my favorite stencils. The word Trust is an ArtistCellar pocket stencil, and I hand-wrote "the universe" with a sharpie.

"Frida" Journal Inside Cover

 When I saw the Crafters Workshop "Frida" stencil at the Ink Pad NYC during a class I took with the fabulous Nathalie Kalbach, I knew I had to snap it up before they sold out. (Frida and Georgia O'Keefe are my favorite painters.) I had a new journal that just seemed so big and new and empty, so what a better way to initiate the journal than with a Frida stencil? I used some Nat Kalbach art foamie stamps for Frida's body and also for the left edges. It was too neat and boring, so I added paint strokes and scribbles and words as well as some handwritten thoughts.

It was a thrill and honor this morning to see that the Crafters Workshop had reposted my Instagram from a couple days ago!

Crafters Workshop repost of Instagram post