Oklahoma Love 2013

As y'all probably heard, Oklahoma was hit was some very damaging tornados in May.

Many are still doing without and will be hurting for some time.

With that in mind, I created these little 6x6 collages to raise money for the Oklahoma Regional Food Bank. 
Always a worthy cause, they are definitely providing more people than usual.

Each piece of Oklahoma Love 2013 is $35+shipping. 

Thru July, $20 from each sale is donated to the food bank.

If you would like to share your love for Oklahoma and Oklahomans,

you can order these here.  

Oklahoma can be in any color on a gray or cream background

with a heart or a star over the Oklahoma City area. 

 

heARTfelt art - secret messages and special memories

I spent several days last week making a piece of memory art for my friend Betsy.  I had so much fun making this that I decided to offer them on my website.  I thought I'd share the process with you cuz I actually remembered to take some photos (surprise!). 

I start with the keepsakes & photos you provide,

then layer on elements &; a little texture,

color & more elements,

more texture & dimension, more color, more elements,

so on & so forth until everything is just right.

 

Available here.

working in the studio

I've been quite busy working in the studio lately.

These are two of the pieces still in process.

I'm also working on three projects for my art group

(I missed a couple during tax season)

But the main thing I've been doing is revamping the studio.

Actually,  the only thing I've FINISHED is revamping the studio.

It's going to work so much better - for day to day studio time,

arting with friends and maybe some classes.

You can see a lot more pictures on my facebook page by clicking here.

You can see what it looked like before the revamp by clicking here.

Of course, my brain has come up with lots of other things to do

but I think I'm going to stick with making art this week.

Thanks for stopping by - Sherry

She's Baaaack!

Yep.
My muse is back and I'm feeling myself again.

It all started with art group. I'd fallen WAY behind on the round-robin projects so I had three of them to work on.  And the inspiration really kicked in while working on the top of Lynda's altered box.  She wanted words and sayings on her box so I wrote some of my favorite sayings all over the top.

About the same time, my daughter Dani asked me to make one of my Cut-Ups! for her (oh!  I just realized I hadn't told y'all about these other than the initial idea in a December post  - I'll tell you more later but in the meantime you can see them on my Facebook page) in the very color I was using on Lynda's box!  And when your daughter asks for something in a different color, well, you do it.  And I have to admit this little guy is adorable!

I was having so much fun that I pulled out a pink heart piece I've been working on for months.  Since I showed you the rough draft (in the same post mentioned above), I had scraped off all the natural wax and the speckled paper.  And then it just sat there.  From time to time when I had a minute to walk into the studio, I pulled it out and stared.  But mainly it just sat there.

Then last week I had an idea.  I wrote out some thoughts on tissue paper.  I stamped some scrollwork.  I pulled out the Pan Pastels and the "white" wax.  And of course, I torched and scraped and, voila! ALMOST OVER YOU is finished. 

AND I'm happy with it!!  Without the natural wax, the pinks are much more vibrantly pink!! And the three or four more layers added a lot of depth.  I was reminded however that fusing each new layer gives you yet another opportunity to mess up the earlier layers.  Which made me invent a new way of warming the piece/
Unfortunately, when my muse came back she brought along another source of inspiration.  Just not ART inspiration.  The kind of inspiration that says "you should do this" and "you should do that" about all sorts of little projects you really don't need.

No I'm not talking about cleaning - I killed off that little you-know-what years ago.
I'm talking about things like "you should move your computer out of the studio" or "you should make such-n-such for Christmas gifts" or "you'd use that supply more if you could see it".

You know.  The LITTLE ideas that become HUMONGOUS projects.

And I suckered to the first one. I realized that the internet was just too distracting whenever I hit an art block and that art was always too distracting whenever I was supposed to be doing accounting so I moved the computer & officey stuff to a guest room.  It's sooooo nice in here - I can even sit on the bed and watch YouTube art videos HUGE becuz I'm using a TV for my monitor!

And the best part? All my great shoes are on display.

  

The bad news is that this is what my studio looks like.

 

That's the problems with this little instigator ~ she doesn't always tell you about the consequences!

I'm also working on a 24x48 collage and trying to remember to take photos after every step.  It's surprising how much that slows things down!  But I want you to see a piece start to finish.  If I can, I'll try to give you my thought process as well.

Phew!
Think I tried to make up for my extended absence all in one big post.
It's good to be back.

Now to go work on that messy studio for a little while ;-p

what I've been doing

busy, busy, busy
we are all so busy
when I looked at the blog last week I was shocked to see I hadn't been here since Thanksgiving
but as I thought about it I understood

you see I was working on a piece of art that really really stretched me.
why was I stretching?
mainly cuz it's YELLOW!!!
I know, I'm a little weird but yellow is just not a color I'm comfortable with - it's hard to keep it clean and, well, yellow, when doing as much layering as I do.

the other stretcher was that I actually wanted to paint an image that looked like its counterpart in the real world and I haven't tried to paint realistically in years

all-in-all, I'm very happy with the results

I struggled with a beeswax collage I was working with. I must have scraped this one down five different times. I really like the way it looks now except it's missing something. Any ideas?

I also went shopping with a new friend and she suggested I could do a line of pieces for some local stores and etsy that was a little less involved and less expensive.  I loved that idea and wondered

why didn't I think of that before?

and my brain was off and running.  I came up with a whole series of 6x6 whimsical collages which I finally finished today.

I desperately wanted to have these two pieces and the new series done and on here and on the website and on Etsy and everything linked to everything and and and . . .  
You know how it goes, the more you need to do, the more things go wrong as you try to do them all!  When my camera battery said "ENOUGH" today, I realized I needed to say it too and just post what I have so you all don't think I moved to Mars or something.  Afterall, tomorrow I start tax season and the odds of me popping in regularly are pretty slim.

Thanks for sticking with me.  Maybe I'll get that new series posted before the overtime crunch starts but maybe not.  LOL  In the meantime, I'll be stopping by your blogs and Facebook pages to see what you're doing amidst the crazy busy-ness of your world.

Feel free to visit/like my FB page as it's so much easier to post artsy tidbits and images there than here.
TTYL

Repose

Some of you might remember that in a post titled Risqué or Okay? I stressed about posting art online that contained nudity - not a problem with nudity in art but with putting it online.  And how I got over it when I posted the piece Fire a few months ago. 

Also in that first post I had some close-up shots of a piece that I was calling Oklhoma Hills at the time.  I was never quite satisfied with that piece so it moved out of sight for awhile.  When I pulled it out again, I realized the hills/sky were just too juvenile and the body was underemphasized so I scraped and collaged and colored and beeswaxed, and here we are.

She is not nearly as subtle as Fire, is she?  I'd love to know your thoughts.

Repose is available on my website.

More beeswax workshops coming in September

I've added two classes to the schedule at My Heart's Fancy in September:
 
the first on 9/10 is a repeat of
  EXPERIMENTS IN BEESWAX COLLAGE
 
the second on 9/24 is a follow-up to the first
  MORE FUN WITH BEESWAX
  (if you'll click on the titles, you'll go to actual event pages).

class samples for More Fun with Beeswax workshop

made by Maura W. in Experiments in Beeswax Collage workshop

You can click here to check out some reviews.

Unfortunately, the retreat I was going to teach at in Texas has been cancelled due to health issues with one of the other teachers.  So, if you know of a place in DFW that would like to host a few workshops, please let me know.  I would love to go back to my old stomping grounds to meet up with friends, shop and share the wonders of Beeswax.

Which Way?

Which Way?

encaustic collage on wood

A few posts back I asked how you know when a piece is done?  There are certain pieces that I know are done and others that I know need further development.  Then there are the others ~ those pieces that don't tell me to stop or to keep going.

Today I decided to attack one of the pieces I knew was not quite right (I'm very happy with it now but I can't show you yet because I need my husband to cut the end off) and ended up reworking the one shown here.

Here's the thing: I thought this one was finished when I showed it to you earlier.  But today I realized the wax was too thick and bland so I ironed off some wax and ironed on some color.  What do you think?  Was I right to listen today?

There are a couple more pieces that are speaking to me so hopefully I'll have more pictures soon.

In other news . . .
> as I mentioned in my last post, I started another blog this week.  I also set up a Tumblr blog (not impressed with the format so don't know if I'll keep that up).  And I'm contemplating Google+.  I'm starting to think I should stop - how much is too much?  I'm afraid that social media could take over ALL my time.
> I watched entirely too much Hoarders Monday while defrosting the freezer in the garage.  Now everywhere I look I see a mess!  So my daughter came over and helped me gut the guest room.  It looks so good with the art on the walls.
> Speaking of art - where do you keep yours?  I am getting quite a few pieces here so I decided I needed to hang more so I'm working up piles of what to hang in which rooms.  My house is looking more like a gallery every day.  And while I've sold a few pieces off the walls in my house, I don't really have tons of traffic traipsing thru. 

I guess that means I need to start looking around for gallery representation.  A few friends on facebook have given me some direction in that area so I have no excuse. 

Afterall, I can always make more art to fill the unoccupied spaces on my walls ~ if I don't spend all my time online, that is.

Turning Time

 

I'm sure by now y'all know how much I love beeswax collage - the texture, the subtle color, the scent.  I like it so much that sometimes I look at pieces I did earlier and think I should add some beeswax!  Sometimes I use beeswax as a final layer, sometimes all the layers are adhered using beeswax (which is what I teach in my workshop).  Glues work differently with various papers than the wax so each medium produces a different effect.  

This particular piece, TURNING TIME, was a mixture of regular collage and then beeswax collage.  I used several papers, glass bead gel medium, mica powders, colored pencil and some stamping.  Unfortunately, this photo doesn't really show the way the glass beads and mica powders glisten.  I'm very pleased with how it turned out and submitted it and SEEKER to the Small Works Art Show that starts this Friday.  This show is put on by the Oklahoma Art Guild so stop by to see a variety of works from local artists.

Guinea Pigs

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm going to be teaching some beeswax workshops. Since I haven't done this in any sort of official capacity, I invited the members of two local art groups to be my guinea pigs in a rehearsal class last night - I guess you could say that we experimented with Experiments in Beeswax Collage.


Lisa B, Katie, Kelley, Lisa W & Glynis with their class projects

I had a blast!!!  I've always said that being around other artsy-fartsy people is one of my favorite things to do - it feeds my creativity and energizes me.   And last night was no exception.  We tested how the wax works over & with various "stuff".  We played with texture and color.  Everyone came home with some tags & a canvas (or 3 in Katie's case!).  And while we all experimented, I learned some new things in that serendipitous way ideas are formed, exchanged & tested when a group gets together. 

But shhhhhh!  don't tell anyone that I'm learning too - I'm supposed to be the teacher.  hehe

After class my friend Lisa B. suggested a name for the piece I did last week and I loved it

- so here he is again -

SEEKER

And I have more exciting news!

I've been invited to teach at a retreat in Salado Texas next October!!

I'll let you know the details as soon as they're available.

Now I'm off to use some of the creative energy I soaked in last night ~ Sherry

Experiments in Beeswax Collage - NEW DATE

I'm holding my first workshop,

EXPERIMENTS IN BEESWAX COLLAGE

at My Heart's Fancy

the June 26th class is sold out
so now we've set up another class

July 17th 2-5

follow the link for more info
or contact me thru comments

Lonely Cages

Lonely the empty cage.

Happy the free bird.

(poem also by Sherry Ball Schoenfeldt)

This is the last of several projects I dabbled at off-n-on during tax season.  In early February I started several pieces at the same time that I did tons of journal backgrounds (you can see all the beginnings in Great Weekend - this piece is sideways on the right in pics 2 & 3)

I started this by gluing a pretty monochromatic floral paper to canvas.  Then, for ten minutes here and 15 minutes there, I would spray and glue on all of the projects at once until one by one they said "I'm done!"  Surprisingly, I never glued anything else to this canvas!  It's just layer upon layer of color - I wish the scans could show the depth. The second to last layer was a gel transfer that unfortunately removed some of the previous layers in a few spots.  I'd planned to use beeswax as a final layer so I added some metallic crayon to cover up the bright white areas.

In addition to the last piece to be posted, this was the last one to be completed - I just kept thinking it needed more.  Then as I stared at it the day before Easter, the little poem popped into my head and it felt complete.  (I waited to post it until today because it was a project for my art group that I didn't give away til last nite.)

I feel so free when I'm creating - even if it's for just a little while here and there.  So here's to more lonely cages and happy birds ~ Sherry

he needs a name (since named SEEKER)

beeswax, scrapbook paper, CitraSolv paper, pattern tissue, crayon, pastel

Finally found the time, energy, inspiration and materials to do some art.  Spent Monday digging in the garage for my CitraSolv papers only to discover them in the paper slot marked, wait for it, CitraSolv Papers.  Yikes!  I was just too organized for myself!!!

I found two papers late Monday that I thought looked good together so I decided to use them together as I worked thru ideas for an upcoming beeswax workshop I'll be teaching at My Heart's Fancy in OKC later next month (I'll let you know the date when it's decided - test run is 5/25).  When I started playing with the papers  yesterday morning I discovered the ghostly, melty face of a man in the CitraSolv paper and decided to play up the eye with a bit more color and the melty effect with dripping beeswax.  Usually I do so many more layers than this but he just seems finished.

Except for the title.

In my last post I talked about having a title for a piece only to have the piece tell you later what its real name is.  I have nothing for this one.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Nekkid Again

or maybe I should say I'm talking about nekkidness in art again.

Some of you might remember that in a post titled Risqué or Okay? I stressed about posting art online that contained nudity - not a problem with nudity in art but with putting it online.

After receiving a few comments and several emails, I decided to go for it. 
So here's the scoop on the piece

FIRE

(formerly known as Fifty-One)*

This piece is large - 31 x 41 - and unless you're at least 15 feet away,

it just appears to be abstract.

It's made up of 51 of these 3x3 squares that are portions of a highly pixelated photo.

But when you stand back far enough

you can see the nekkid woman!!

Since online you see the entire piece at once,

you don't get to experience the sense of discovery -

which is why I'm hinting at it with lots of close up shots

(plus, with these detail shots you can see a lot of the layers and texture).

Anyway

here she is

Thanks for helping me to be more brave!!

* Do you ever work on a piece and have a title in mind only to change it after viewing it for awhile? 

This piece was originally called Fifty-One because, well, it was started the year she turned 51 - thus the 51 squares.  But it took me so long to finish her that she was no longer 51!!  As I continued to view it, the canvas just looked like it was on fire with charred edges and the white flame in the center.  So she got a new name. 

Plus she's pretty hot for a 51 year old - hehehe (I said that just for my husband's benefit)

Distant Bridges

Here's another one of my tax season art pieces. 
It began with a lovely water scene - see it next to the lips?

Next came some pattern tissue with a dart.

I dabbled at this 10 or 15 minutes at a time,

sometimes before work, sometimes late at night.

Actually, it became a tester board for another piece I was working on.

The problem with that is that lots of the stuff I tested didn't work!

So I'd layer on some gesso and test something new.

Then, near the end of March I wrote a journal page and blog post about a vision I had about how I wanted my life to be.  At the end I said I might write that on an art piece.  Well, I did.  I wrote it on here with charcoal pencil and immediately hated the way it looked.

So of course, I couldn't remove it which meant more gesso and spray colors and some modeling paste.  Then somewhere along the line, the image was turned upside down (I think with the writing) making it look more like a bridge than the dock it originally was.  And it all took on a yellow-green cast.  Here it is right before the final layer of beeswax and encaustic.

It's very similar to the final product but the beeswax added so much more dimension and texture.  And the encaustic helped balance the color at the bottom.

I have really been getting into beeswax more and more lately - I think every piece I've finished has had a topcoat of it.  Not only do I love the texture and dimensin it adds visually, I love the soft smooth feel of it.  I really like the look when I mix in colors from crayons or encaustics.

Speaking of encaustics, I'm taking an Encaustic Painting Workshop in June.  I'm so excited.  So far all I've done with encaustics is add color to collages - in this class I'll learn to use it as the primary medium in a piece.  I can't imagine using only one medium in a piece - let alone for always - but I cannot wait to have an expert teach me how to handle the wax.  Everyone I know who works with it can't get enough of it. I'm very excited about learning about it and about meeting other artists here.

Thanks for letting me share ~ Sherry

Blue

I've noticed lately that nobody's reading my blog . . .

could it be cuz nobody's posting to it?

hehe

I have been so neglectful lately of everything -

including the things that matter most to me

family

friends

art

I am so sorry for not posting or reading your blogs regularly -

in six weeks I should be back to normal.

Which we all know isn't all that normal  *WINK*

I made the piece above, BLUE, over a couple weeks

by dabbling a little every nite - and I mean a little.

Patrick dropped it off for

MONEY TALKS, ART WALKS

Maybe we'll see you there Saturday nite?

ps ~ since some have asked, I plan to get brave and post about the art I wrote about in my last post soon - how I did them, full size pictures, etc.  And, they did not get into the OKLAHOMA FRIENDLY show.  They had 785 pieces submitted and chose only 20%.  Guess that makes the rejection easier to handle. 

Risqué or Okay?

In mid-December, I finished a piece that I'd worked at on-n-off for 2½ years.
It is my favorite piece by me.
Ever.
I absolutely love it.

So, I know you're over there saying,
"lemme see, lemme see"
but I'm afraid to post it cuz,
drumroll please,

there is, as we used to say in Houston, a NEKKID woman in it!!!!!
I have no problem with nekkidness and I don't think it's naughty to make or view nekkid art.
My question (Risqué or Okay?) isn't about the art but about putting them
on my blog, my Facebook page and/or my website.

I have a fear of being banned on Facebook or of getting an over-18 label on Blogspot.
 
Heck, can you tell by my cagey terminology, I'm afraid of
dun-dun-dun
web-crawlers

I don't know a lot about SEO or webcrawlers but I don't want to be
labeled as naughty because I use the real word for nekkidness.

Now I've completed another piece with this issue.

TOTALLY different from the first but nekkid just the same.

To make this even sillier, you can't see the body in the top one unless you're

standing 15 or more feet away.  And a few people have even seen

the second piece up close and don't realize it's a body.

So what are your opinions - not on nekkid art but on the consequences of posting said art?

Do you know much about crawlers and labels and banning, etc?

Should I be worried or should I post away?

(It sure would be nice if someone from Google or Facebook would just call and tell me the scoop!)

By the way, the top three photos are from the piece

FIFTY-ONE also known as FIRE

and the lower three are from the new piece

OKLAHOMA HILLS.