Celebrating the Artists Who Have Inspired me as a Blogger......Elizabeth of Altered Book Lover

Instead of doing a Silent Sunday  post today, I'm featuring the artist who inspired me to start it in the first place; Elizabeth and her feline assisant, Bleubeard of Altered Book Lover.  Elizabeth is another astist I met through OWOH and I have been SO glad I did- she enrichens my life daily with her blogging.  She creates through the media of altered books, and on her blog, she very generously shares techniques, trials and errors and tutorials.  Nine times out of ten, the techniques are "new to me" ideas that I file away into my- I must try that someday list!  And I will, someday, in the meantime; I love living vicariously through Elizabeth's creativity and vision.

One siganture from Elizabeth's new visual art journal, "Oh Baby"

For me, one the best things about blogging is the oppurtunity to walk in another's shoes....I get so many ideas from seeing styles and techniques so very different than my own.  It's like a visual feast every time I visit my friends.  For example, I never would have thought to use rust as a vehicle for altering papers, and I LOVE rust!  Elizabeth did though AND shared how....

Elizabeth is also a VERY active member of WOYWW (What's on Your Worktable Wednesday) I don't know how she does it, but she manages to visit more than a hundred participants each week- I'd love to be part of this group, but I struggle to visit all of my own favorites regularly as it is! 
Elizabeth has also become a regular contributor to the weekly challenges at Inspiration Avenue...

Entry for "Simplicity" Challenge

And one last thing about Elizabeth, she has a daily featured blog link relevant to her daily posting, I can only imagine where she gets the energy to do this each day, but I'm really glad she does 'cause she finds a LOT of wonderful blogs I might not have stumbled across otherwise!  Go check Elizabeth out at Altered Book Lover- there is so much to see there!
Cheers,
Stephanie

Celebrating the Artists Who Have Inspired me as a Blogger......Cheryl Dolby of The Healing Woman

Click HERE to Enter My Bloggiversary Giveaway!

Today I'm featuring Cheryl Dolby and her blog, Healing Woman. I met Cheryl during One World, One Heart last January and I am SO glad that I did. The most wonderful thing about OWOH isn't the oppurtunity to win some beautiful prizes (tho' that's pretty nice too :)) but the incredible people that you meet along the way! Cheryl describes her blog as; "An evolving collection of eclectic musings on food, people, purpose, and a life in art" and it really is! You never know quite what you'll find when you visit her, only that it will be wonderful regardless of what it is! For example, this morning when I was on my travels in Bloglandia, I saw that Cheryl had a new post on her Goddess Magic Creams.....really?

But that's exactly what they are- Magical Creams.....and that's exactly how Cheryl is, magical and always thinking and creating outside the box.  She is the kind of artist I aspire to be one day, always stiving to be more creative and in tune with her inner self.  Her art is present in every element of her life; from gardening, to cooking, upcycling found objects into her mixed media pieces and so much more.

                                                                    "Moon Woman Collage"
In Moon Woman, she has incorporated flowers from her garden into her painting using Encaustic Wax, a technique I've been dying to try ever since I saw this amazing piece!  I just love the way she takes what is already a wonderful piece and raises it to another level by adding in a textural element.

"Gypsy Moon"

Gypsy Moon is another example of how Cheryl took what was already a beautiful painting to another level.  She created a mosaic using real pieces of cloth each handcut and separately attached and individually outlined to complete the effect.  She goes more into detail in her blog post.  That's another thing I love about Cheryl, is how generously she shares the process of her work with all the ups and downs.

Last but not least, I must share my new favorites of Cheryl's work; her angels.  Click HERE to read the story behind their creation, it makes then all the more wonderful!

"Angel of Antiquity"

I think I've written enough although I could happily go on and on and on........DO go take a look at Cheryl's blog, you'll leave feeling uplifted and inspired- I promise!
Stephanie

Celebrating the Artists Who Have Inspired me as a Blogger......Inspiration Avenue

Click HERE to enter my Bloggiversary Giveaway!

Not only was I growing a baby blog this time last year, I was also a newbie to Etsy.  I'd opened my shop that February but felt too overwhelmed to put anything into it until that July.  Some of you might not know this, but I'd put my art on hold for 15 years to be a stay at home mom and then an art teacher- so I really had to relearn the creative process and rebuild my self confidence as an artist.  Enter Etsy teams.....I started by joining VAST (Visual Artists Street Team) and saw that a lot of the artists had blogs of their own- so I started exploring- remember I was also trying to find my way in blogging at this time too.  Through VAST, I found Angie of Artangel 

Artangel

who has a WONDERFUL blog....and her links led me to Maggie's "The Magpie Nest"

Magpie

and Tammy's "Art and Inspiration" 

Tammy

all of whom have lovely blogs of their own and also had links to their team, Inspiration Avenue.

I started doing IA's weekly challenges and checking out other folks who did them as well....and along the way I discovered Lisa of "The Wright Stuff"  

and Lulu of "Coastal Sisters" 

Coastal Sisters

And Lisa of "Priti Studios"

to make what is becoming a rather long story, short-er, everything about IA seemed bursting with creative energy and inspiration- it was a team that I wanted to be part of- and I HAVE been for almost a year now!  The team has also been growing steadily for the past year, enough so that as much as I'd like to show examples from each of our talented ladies, there really isn't enough room here.  Hop over to Inspiration Avenue to check everyone out- while you're there, check out this week's challenge; "Decide".

Cheers, and don't forget to enter my giveaway (the link's at the top of this page) if you haven't already done so- there are 3 opportunities to enter- go check it out!

Stephanie

Celebrating the Artists Who Have Inspired me as a Blogger......Tara Dillard

Enter my Bloggiversary Giveaway HERE!

I met Tara Dillard a couple of years ago at our friend Nancy's birthday party and then later at another gathering......we got to talking about our art- my paintings and her design work; she is the most amazing landscape designer you could ever hope to meet!  And she started telling me about her blog, Landscape Design and how much she enjoyed blogging.....well I got curious, as an artist, I'm a pretty solitary sort and the idea of "meeting" other artists was intriguing to say the least!  Like many new "what-if" ideas, my mind kept returning to the idea of making my own blog.  and next thing I knew, I'd started "Dragonfly Design Studios"!  Actually, I did a feature on Tara for my Curiouser and Curiouser series, if you want to read more about her amazing stylings.....and you should definitely visit her beautiful blog- it is RICH with ideas!  So, here I am, a year later still blogging and still LOVING it- thanks Tara for the inspiration!
Don't forget to enter my giveaway- the link is at the top of this post and please come back tomorrow to see my next featured artists- my good friends at Inspiration Avenue!
Cheers,
Stephanie

Bloggiversary Giveaway!!!

My Bloggiversary is next week, September 30th!  I can't believe it's only been a year- doing this has become such a major part of my life!  Blogging has inspired me as an artist, helped me travel the world to visit my bloggy friends cheered me when I was down and enriched me in many more ways!  SO, each day for the next week, I will also feature one of the many bloggers who have inspired me so greatly in the course of this past year!


Also, I'm having TWO giveaways to celebrate ! Your choice of 5 cards from my Etsy Shop and my other giveaway is this Altered Book celebrating Henri Matisse!

exterior of Matisse book

Please use this posting to enter your name in my giveaway-

you can enter your name 3 times.

1: just leave a comment.
2: follow me or  if you are already a follower make sure to tell me in a separate comment
3:- mention my giveaway on your blog, and again-tell me in a third comment if you do.
I'll be drawing TWO names next Thursday, Sept. 30--good luck everyone!

pop up interior with original painting in homage to Matisse

Silent Sunday- The Process of Painting....

It's me again.......with a new painting and my entry for this week's challenge at IA

Since I already posted twice yesterday, I decided to give it a rest even though I finished my new painting yesterday morning. 

and see, I didn't do much more than a bit of tweaking here and there ;)  I can still see things that I would change- but for me, half the point of this series is to loosen up and be less of a perfectionist- to see what happens when I let the brush speak for me instead of over analyzing......

I also have to admit that I finished another painting in this series but did NOT post about it because I was saving it for this week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue.  It was my turn to set the prompt for the week, and as I was trying to decide what the theme should be, "Metamorphosis" popped into my head, along with all these mini visions of paintings that I could do.  I love being part of my team in general, but when being part of it helps me get away from artist's block" then, I adore them!  And that's how my new series came into being!  This is my entry for this week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue:

Metamorphosis 02- Becoming

And while you're at it, try to pop over to Inspiration Avenue tomorrow after noon- all the entries for this week's challenge will be posted- I KNOW they will be a diverse and an absolutely wonderful collection!

TTFN,

Stephanie