mix it up with Melange weekly challenge...fun

This week's prompt was fun and here's what I came up with. The collaged background is all about the stereotypical woman...a school teacher, a beautiful new mom, a great seamstress and cook. I transferred an image "real" women on top of the background and embellished the piece with buttons. The women are having a wonderful time at the beach...and also laughing at the fact that they don't fit the stereotypical female mold. The piece measures 5"x7" was done on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper.

Visit the melange blog for the weekly prompt, then create a mixed media piece and link to your piece in the blog comments. Anyone is invited to participate, you don't need to be a melange team member.

~Alisa

mixed media weekly challenge...mix it up with Melange

When I heard this weeks prompt was ticket, I immediately envisioned a young woman saving her pennies to buy a train ticket and starting a new chapter in her life.

The piece measures 5"x7" was done on an upcycled piece of cardboard. I dug deep into my stash of ephemera and included a handwritten envelope from 1913, a page from an old ledger dated 1886, a few stamps and an old train ticket. Then I transferred an image of a train station over the initial collage and added some black watercolor crayon around the transfer. Finally I stamped the words "headed west" on a piece of coffee-stained fabric and attached it to the bottom.

Visit the melange blog for the weekly prompt, then create a mixed media piece and link to your piece in the blog comments. Anyone is invited to participate, you don't need to be a melange team member.

~Alisa

Easter pictures and photoshop fun

Before I had children, I was dependable, reliable, a clean freak (so to speak) and always-on-time. I don’t know what has happened to that person, but I haven’t seen her since my girls were born. Now we’re lucky if we’re only 15 minutes late to an event. Ella has only been on time for school two or three times this entire school year. Lucky for me it’s just preschool.

So, needless to say I’m a little late in getting these Easter pictures up. But better late than never, right? Part of the reason for the delay was my new-found obsession with photoshop. Thanks to the sun and nice weather, I’ve been able to break out my good outdoor camera that has been sleeping in the closet all winter. And with that amazing camera comes some pretty amazing pics…even if I do say so myself. I’ve always been interested in photography and have read my share of on-line tutorials and digital photography books, but really…the camera does all the work. I’ve added my own touches using photoshop. Take a peek.

On a completely different topic…can someone please explain just why it is that women turn into their mothers as they age? I had a startling realization on Easter. As a kid, I absolutely hated being dressed like my sister, yet every holiday my mom dressed my sister and I exactly alike. Now I find myself buying matching outfits for my girls to wear on special occasions. Why? They haven’t complained about it yet. Maybe I’ll stop when they do, but for now they are just too adorable when they have matching dresses on. Any advice on how to break this cycle now would be greatly appreciated.

The Easter Re-cap:
The girls got to hunt for eggs three times on Sunday and even though we were completely exhausted by the end of it all…we couldn’t ask for a better family-filled day. We started the day off with the Easter bunny egg hunt in the living room, then followed with lunch and an egg hunt at my Grandparent’s house in Marion, IN, and finally finished it off with dinner and yes, yet another egg hung at my grandma’s house in Indianapolis.

During all of that driving, I did manage to talk the driver into stopping at a few locations for a quick photo shoot while we were running around the state. One spot was an abandoned grade school just south of Marion, Indiana on highway 37…Duck Creek Grade School. The other was an abandoned motel in Elwood, Indiana. Those who’ve visited my blog before may have some idea of my obsession with abandoned buildings and the stories that they hold. Well, these unplanned stops really made my day.

Have a wonderful weekend!

~Alisa

The Portrait Project

In an attempt to allow museum visitors and members of the community to see their artwork displayed in a museum, the Eiteljorg Museum initiated the portrait project.

You may remember my earlier post urging you to submit your own portrait. Well, I wanted to update you on just how AMAZING this project has become…it has truly taken on a life of its own.

We initially had no idea how many portraits to expect and started out with a 12’ movable wall to display the portraits on. As the portraits came pouring in…from schools, museum visitors, artists and community members of all ages, we quickly realized that we would need more space. So, we recently added another movable wall since both sides of the original 12’ wall were now full.

The portraits will be on display through August 9th in conjunction with the Facing West: Celebrating 20 year of the Eiteljorg Museum exhibition. Portrait submissions are being accepting through July, so if you haven’t gotten around to doing that portrait yet, you still have a little time. So, submit a portrait today!

These are just a few of the many hundreds of portraits that we’ve received so far.

This image includes the two pieces done by my girls, Ella (age 4) and Eva (age 2). Can you guess which pieces they did? Maybe a title will help. Ella's is called "Self-Portrait of Ella" and Eva's is called "Ella with Whiskers"...incase you're still having trouble, pink marker was their medium of choice.

Enjoy!

~Alisa

Spring is here!

I have to admit…spring is my absolute favorite time of year. I love walking by the flower beds and seeing those teeny tiny sprouts beginning to pop up…and trying to guess what they are. So, I haven’t been very productive in my studio lately.

Grow in the Sun, 5"x7" mixed media on paper

The girls and I have elected to play in the new sandbox or play on the swing set rather than sit at the table and admire the beautiful weather through the window. And thanks to daylight savings time it stays light well into the evening hours. So, we get to indulge our passion for the great outdoors until bath time, when the girls deposit all collected bugs, worms, snails, feathers and sticks and race to the tub where they are ritually scrubbed free of sand and mud…then they wake up ready to do it all again, which is fine with me!

Sing in the Breeze, 5"x7" mixed media on paper

What do you love most about springtime?
I love seeing tiny shoots popping up out of the ground…the smell of hyacinths (in moderation) and lilac blowing on the wind, the thought that in another month I’ll be able to plant my vegetable garden and get fresh produce from the local farmer’s market…the fact that I’m free, no longer confined to the indoors…

Here are a couple new-ish pieces that were done with spring in mind. To make each of the pieces, I transferred a flower image onto a piece of vintage ledger paper, then added a phrase from a vintage reader and embellished with black thread. I think I’ve sewn more paper with sewing machine than cloth. I wonder if sewing through paper, glue and paint could be bad for the machine…hmmm.

Hope you enjoy the post...and the beautiful spring weather if you happen to be experiencing springtime where you live.