Queen of Flowers II – A mixed media collage

Hi everyone! Happy Friday! This week flew by and I am just now getting the chance to sit down and visit with you. How has life been treating you?

I wanted to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for the sweet and encouraging comments left after my last post. It’s always a bit scary to share my artwork – so please know that I greatly appreciate the support! Art is such a core part of me. When I actually take time to do it, I am amazed at how it fills me with happiness and peace. I was so pleased with the last collage that I did a second one. I snapped pics of my progress with my phone to document the evolution of the piece.

Similar to the last project – I started by collaging bits of vintage ephemera to the inside of an old book cover.

Enter my muse (another Anthropologie model) who I painted over, inked her face and hair and added scrapbook papers for her dress. You can also see in the upper right hand corner I added some pink acrylic paint to start balancing the color composition.

The last details were added to complete her, including a sweet antique Australian stamp (a little shout-out to my homeland!), a jeweled crown and of course a bird. Gotta have a bird.

I stamped the cover of the book with this chickadee stamp and added the word “fly”.

So there you have it, another little collage project that I was able to complete in a couple of days during Claire’s naptime. So much more fun than folding laundry!

I have just listed prints of this collage and the last one in my Society 6 shop too!

Have a beautiful weekend!

xo,

Ivy

 

Queen of Flowers – A mixed media collage

Hi all! How have you been? I’ve kinda gone off the radar this past week because I have been desperately trying to fit in some creative time to paint, draw and just play with my plethora of art supplies. I have been taking Jeanne Oliver’s latest art course and I can’t get enough of watching her videos and learning new techniques. There is something about watching her paint that makes my hands itch for my own paint brushes. Often, I find myself day dreaming about my next piece so it gives me great pleasure to finally spend some time creating in the tangible world!

Mother’s Day weekend was the catalyst to actually getting my hands dirty and creating. I found myself alone in a hotel room with nothing to do. So I made a cup of tea, flipped on the fireplace and got out my collage box. (I assembled a small box of collage materials so I can easily pick up the box and go anywhere with it. Highly recommend doing this!) And so the her majesty was born…

I began the process by layering vintage paper elements into a patchwork onto the back of a vintage book cover with Liquitex Matte Medium.

Then I glazed the background with sepia and cream acrylic washes to unify the papers.

Using a model from an Anthropologie catalog, I found my muse and glued her down. Then using various pieces of scrapbook paper I created her gown and painted over the model to create my own girl. A die-cut crown was added to confirm her royal status and I inked over her to add definition to her form. More strips of scrapbook paper in deep pink balanced the piece. The sweet bird was printed onto tracing paper and then added. A few pieces of washi tape completed my composition.

Lastly, I stamped a tree image on the back of the book cover. It kinda smudged but I rather like that it is imperfect. :)

I had so much fun creating this that I started a second one. I will share that one with you soon. Who knew the back of an old book could provide such a great canvas for some art – plus the size is manageable and approachable.

Thanks for letting me share this process with you. Please let me know about any creative projects you are working on. I would love to hear about them!

Have a fabulous day!

xo,

Ivy

Etsy Love : love and peas creations

Hello there! How’s your week going so far? Hope all the Mamas out there had a beautiful Mother’s Day! My dear hubby sent me up to Skamania Lodge for some alone time to recharge. So sweet! I came home on Sunday to warm hugs, handmade cards (by Grace), a bouquet of peonies (my fav) and veggie lasagna for dinner. Needless to say, I felt completely spoiled. I even got to complete a small mixed media painting – which I will share with you soon!

Today, I wanted to share with you a sweet little Etsy shop – loveandpeascreations – owned by artist, Jenny Blair. I just adore her stunning work! She combines mixed media illustrations with wonderful hand sewn elements. (Oh, how I wish I could sew!) The blend of paint, pencil, fabric and thread creates gorgeous texture and color. Have a look for yourself…

I’m in love with this bear. Go here to see the process of this piece on her blog.

I discovered her work through the latest Artful Blogging! What a delightful find! Go here to explore her website and view her full portfolio.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

xo,

Ivy

Blog Design Mood board

Hi friends. How is your day going? So far so good over here. I’ve already done my homework for my Blog boss e-course, which I’m excited to share with you. We were assigned to make a dream blog design mood board. I started it yesterday and could not stop till it was done. I’m so excited to be actively  re-designing the blog and finally making the transition over to a WordPress.org. Don’t worry, I will let you know when it happens so we don’t lose track of each other. It’s time for Gracy & Ivy to graduate to a new level. So here’s my mood board…

Let me know your thoughts. Nothing is set in stone at the moment and I may even make another board to play around with some more ideas and different colors.

Have a lovely Wednesday!

xo,

Ivy

Some exciting news…

Hello there. How was your weekend? Ours had everything typical of a weekend including, pizza, thai take-out, a kids birthday party, sleeping in (not) and pancakes. Not exactly exciting, but fun anyway.

I have some exciting news to share with you today. On March 1st, Somerset Apprentice will hit store shelves and little ole’ me will be featured within its inspiring, art filled pages! I feel so lucky and humbled to be included among such wonderful artists!

One of the projects I did for Jeanne Oliver‘s class – Creatively Made – will be outlined in detail with a helpful DIY guide that will walk you thru the steps to create a vintage journal. I can’t take credit for the idea, since Jeanne masterfully taught the lesson within her e-course but I was very pleased with the process and the outcome. It was a joy to build this romantic book. You can check out the full post here.

So, I hope you will check out the latest Somerset Apprentice. If you have never read the magazine, it is bursting with creative ideas and projects – many by very successful and well known artists – all laid out with guides to their processes! Brilliant! It’s a must read if you need to fire up your artistic side!

Thank you again, dear readers, for all the support and encouragement you have given me. I will always be grateful.

xo,

Collage Cards

Hi friends,

Hope you are enjoying your weekend. I know Valentine’s is over but I wanted to share the collage card project Grace and I did for her classroom. I think this simple method of creating cards is really fun and can be done for any occasion.

Grace and I have done many collages but I have discovered that the best success is found when I curate the materials. Usually sticking with a theme or color palette allows your kiddo to make choices and express themselves without being overwhelmed. There have been plenty of times when I threw down a mass amount of stickers and papers only to find the Grace got overwhelmed and upset when her finished artwork looked “messy”.  She simply had too many choices in front of her. Providing just a little framework meant that she got to be creative and enjoy her results too. Nothing  is worse than an afternoon spent crafting only to end up with a grumpy kid, a paper strewn floor and glue everywhere. A creative buzz kill.

Before Grace got home from school I had cut out and organized the elements that would be used for the Valentine cards. This made it easy for Grace to make her selections and understand the color palette.

Scrapbook paper and vintage music sheets were punched into hearts using this handy dandy punch. Scrap booking die cuts and sticky jewels make easy embellishments – we had to make 25 of these cards after all! A little glitter was used at the end for a special touch of sparkle and buttons were a fun 3D addition. K & Company has some of the prettiest supplies and are my go to for scrapbooking goodies!

We had so much fun making these! I would have pics of all of them but it was dark by the time we were finished!

Think about making some collage cards with your kids for Easter!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

xo,