Stephanie's Studio

M is for mixing it up Being very linear, with everything planned out neatly, has it place. It is reassuring and can keep your energy flowing from a place of security. I like sketching and outlining but have also enjoyed m ixing things up a bit.  M ixing m edia as an artist is a sure-fire way to break up m onotony. Further, it is a challenging discipline that pushes boundaries preset by other well-defined disciplines. Mixed Media can lead you into unknown territory, ripe and ready to be m ined for new m aterial.  The Dancers, Mixed Media Book Art with Found Objects, Collage and Stitching, by Stephanie Rose Bird As a writer, I’ve found that adding poetry, letters, book passages, quotes, songs or recipes into my stories is another fun way of mixing things up, in a productive and fun way. "The Dancers," Mixed Media Book Art, with Collage, by Stephanie Rose Bird My theme for the A to Z Challenge is Creative Hacks to Break Creative Blocks. I’v...

I've switched gears and started painting and drawing a lot more in my studio. I tend to do this as the seasons change. Seasonal change is just to darned inspirational to ignore. Spring is lovely and lush with unusual colors worth celebrating. Just in time my son Liam bought me this lovely, full bouquet of tulips with stock and some trumpet flowers, among other tiny delights for Mother's Day. It took all week to do these drawings. It felt like a race against time. That's what happens for me with direct observation still life. The light changes greatly from day to day and the subject transforms, if it is alive, as is the case with flowers. So here's what I did. "Mother's Day Tulips Full Sun" c. 2015, Stephanie Rose Bird Mixed Media Preliminary "Tulip Study" c. 2015, Stephanie Rose Bird Close Up Pastel Study, "Tulips" c. 2015, Stephanie Rose Bird Black and White Vine Charcoal Study, "Tulip Bouquet," c....

When I was in art school my main stay as an artist was oil on canvas. As I have matured as an artist, I have found myself gravitating towards mixed media. I find it fulfilling in many ways. It allows for experimentation and it is always full of surprises. This piece was created using kitchen vegetable and fruit scraps from the juicer to make handmade paper. Materials were added to make it able to achieve archival quality and to be permanent. Then twigs were added in and found paper scraps. I call this "Ghost in the Frame." This next piece was created in much the same way as the one above it but it does not have the prominent element of assemblage through twigs, instead it is more of a painted collage. It combines the same type of handmade paper and found paper with water-based paints like gouache and plaka with natural inks. It is an abstraction with landscape elements and its title is "Mixed media Landscape." I am an eclectic in my pagan, earth-based s...

I have been working with memories of land formations and geographic features this week.  One of the pieces I worked on is called, “Sand Dune” and it is an abstracted version of a sand dune I climbed in Michigan.  I have been working with oil pastel on top of a foundation of vine charcoal for a few weeks now.  Yesterday I bought some watercolor pencils to add into the mix but I haven’t attempted to mix the oil-based and water-based materials yet. To my surprise and delight the oil pastel mixed media works seem to be coming together to form a body of work.  For the first time in a long time my work has a flow to it that taps on intuition and expression in a way that I enjoy very much. This is something I can continue with for a while and I can't wait to see the series all together in a gallery space. I intend to continue to work with mixed media, trying the watercolor pencil as a contrasting element with the oil pastels and vine charcoal. Often, I teach my classes ...

Even though I live in the suburbs it is pretty urban here as I am right on the border of the city of Chicago.  My little urban garden suffers the ills and blessings of being near the expressway.  The blessing is the garden itself; I have seen people stop and pause next to it, as it offers a respite so close to the expressway.  The other wonderful blessing is that it is visited by many birds including birds of prey attracted to the expressway possibly because it is very canyon-like.  The ills of an urban garden are obvious. Trash blows all too frequently into its small space adding clutter.  This particular drawing from my sketchbook reminds me of the blessings and curses of my urban garden.  There seems to be trash blowing about in this drawing, landing in odd positions but there is also beauty in color, shape and texture, just as these contrasting elements exist in the actual space of the garden.  Even though it is not spring yet, I enjoy the spri...

After a recent interview on whohub.com, that asked me about the origins of my creative expression, I started to think more deeply about the question posed.  What drove me to want to be an artist?  The question is simple yet the answer is more complex than I can articulate.  To start, I grew up in a creative household within a truly inspirational natural environment.  My mother loved art and was quite creative as was my father.  The two had their own craft store called M & R Handcrafts.  They made and sold ceramic plaques and sculptures and other crafts including decoupage and repose. Their most popular lines dealt with astrology—the Aztec calendar and the zodiac.  I spent many hours with them, working in a log cabin, painting these plaques along with my brothers and sister.  There was a fireplace to keep the space warm and a kerosene stove and knotty pine paneling.  We had the pre-requisite stuffed deer head over the fireplace and a m...