I have to confess,  I have never made a bed quilt.

But when my granddaughter asked me to make one for her full sized bed, of course, I said yes!

She wanted something in brown, blue and green. So here is what I selected.  Hope she likes it!
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My best friend from college (and co-author of several books), moved to Costa Rico many years ago so we don't get to see each other very ofter.  But we continue to talk, email and share ideas.

Judy has been experimenting with eco-printing for a while and while she was in the states, she sent me a large packet of papers she printed that I think she really didn't like.  Her note said "have fun or toss". 

Of course, that was a challenge for me.  I decided to make small notepads with her best prints on the covers and not so successful papers on the inside.  

As an artist, I save everything.  Even things I make that are scraps, mistakes or just plain ugly.  Eventually, I find a way to incorporate them into my work.  It might take years to re-purpose these things.  Sometimes, I try a technique and then get back to it months later, finding another creative idea to try.  

Being an artist means experimenting and accepting the outcome. 

​Happy Creating! 

llHilary Lorenz's Moth Migration Project is coming to the Denver Botanic Gardens.  I will be visiting her exhibit and listening to her Artist Talk next year.

I also decided to participate so I drew 5 Maroon Colorado Moths in Black & White that i will send to her for future installations.

You don't have to be a professional artist to contribute to this project so I encourage all of you who like participating in world-wide art event to join!  It's fun!

I have now completed over 30 of these mixed media paintings.  I matted 24 of the best ones and left the others in pile as "lessons learned".  

I am really enjoying this process (and most of the outcome) so I will continue working on this series.  I am using a very limited palette so I'm starting to mix my own colors and find this very exciting.  So far, I've only made "mud" a couple of times but also find adding white to mud makes for some very subtle colors.  

Today, I went to see a friend's fiber art exhibit at Next Gallery in Lakewood.  There were 3 other co-op galleries in the same building so I saw a lot of art from a lot of artists.  I have never been a big fan of co-op galleries since almost all of them require that members "sit" the gallery and attend monthly meetings.  

But what I came away with today is that my current work in Mixed Media is as good, if not better than many artists in these galleries.  So that gives me confidence to move ahead.  Sometimes, it's good to get out and see what other artists are doing and while I try not to compare my art with others, after owning an art gallery for 5 years, I have developed an eye for seeing quality.  I'm happy to say my friend's work was of superior quality, well themed, well presented, and several pieces sold (always a compliment to good work!).  And, IMO, she was the most accomplished artist in all three galleries.

​Some day, I will try to figure out how to show my Abstract Mixed Media paintings to the general public.  In the meantime, I will just continue to make them!

This piece started out as VERY UGLY. and I was ready to throw it out but I thought about my mantra that every piece going through an ugly stage and you just have to keep working on it so I didn't give up and just kept adding layers.

Now, it's my favorite piece in my Abstract Mixed Media series.

There is something about the depth of color and the composition that keeps my eyes moving around the piece.  

I wish I knew how I did this so I could make another piece but that's quite impossible.  Every work of art I make has it's own voice and path from beginning to end.  I guess that's why I love being an artist since I never know how my day will progress.  Will I be frustrated?  Yes.  Will I hate my work?  Yes.  Will I try to "fix" what is not working?  Yes.  Will I love the eventual outcome?  Unknown.  

​In this case, it worked.

I've been working on creating mixed media art for the past month and am really loving this experience.
Today, I ordered some mats since I think my work is worth presenting as fine art.
​I might even get the courage to offer these for sale one of these days.  But in the meantime, I'm getting joy from making these and feeling my creativity expanding into this new media.