I'm back

Over the past few days, I've been delaying posting anything as it's way to time consuming and I'm literally gathering every precious free moment for doing what I love..paint, cut, stamp and so on.
Does the digital media really help us in connecting with other like minded individuals or is it an information overload? At times I spend hours looking up what other bloggers are displaying, what other artists are creating and after a while my mind is a mess of ideas. No, sketchbooks haven't worked for me, I like creating as and when an idea comes to me. Now I'm trying the alternative. I'm trying to move away from my laptop, my iPad and my iPhone and to use whatever I've recorded in my brain bank after so much exposure to work of other creative folk.

Magazines help a lot in the inspiration department, but then again, my best bet would be to close my eyes and pick a page to follow and be tickled by. Most of the magazines I've bought are bookmarked to infinity, tiny strips of hand torn newspaper, each one marking an idea I want to carry forward from.

My "Technique Tomes", as i would like to call them are I think by far the most useful for learning something without bogging me down with jargon and making me want to balance a hundred balls in the air. Typical blogs would include links to those, right here!! What better way to get more traffic? Doesn't anyone think beyond the buck and fame anymore? Unlike most blogs and magazine articles, books do not, at most times, stress the use of specific products and don't (mostly) ask me to go follow the "link" trail, a wild goose chase, let me tell you. I'm sure there will always be a thousand and more tools I don't own, which are just calling out my name, and god knows, I already own thousands of these. As a saving grace, let me just say that I make just use of most of them.

All said and done, I'd say my aim in starting this long trail of words is finding some balance between my very very small exhibitionist trait and my wish to show my near and dear ones what I'm creating, to gather some positive critique for my work. I wish I could find a free web art gallery, does anyone know one, because I don't intend to spend some more time online trying to find one. And yes, I know I'd love doing that!

Believe me, I've had my share of Facebook moments, I've glorified and criticized my photos, posting by some dear and some not so dear "friends", I've succumbed to the idea that I am what I show the world I am. But now I'm retreating form it all, because I've sampled the fare and loved it's taste but in the long run, it is just a medium like e-mail to keep in touch with acquaintances that may progress to being friends (the real ones). I'm a partially social animal you know, so being in the loop won''t hurt ;) so from now on, I'm going to try and be as free flowing in my words as I can without thinking of the fact that I'm being exposed to the Whole Wide World (that's what I think the internet is). And God help me from being online too long. My poor daughter is already bored to death as she sees me glued to the laptop typing away like a maniac.....

So see you soon with lots of new work I create in a distraction free world, hopefully

Another mixed media creation

Wanted to display this one since long....picture taken with my new iPhone :))) This one came with an increase in confidence of using gel and matte media as well as molding paste. Golden Acrylics products rock! The color combination just happened too, and that was the best part. The painting depicts everything I remember about home: curling up in bed or on the living room sofa with a good book, having tea with my family etc etc.

Some of my cards

Its a nice and sunny Sunday morning, perfect for penning down thoughts and saying hello to everyone I miss and to all my craftsy friends of course. To go on with my show and tell thingy, here's some cards I made the past few months:

The printed vellum is the star of the show here:

And then some bling. The base image for this one is acrylic ink splashed around as pleased (that's the fun part, I get to choose the colors and the flow). Added some glitter as a final touch.

 Didn't want this one to be all christmasy, so added a bit of grunge and of course the eyelets.

 

 

 This next one uses some pretty thread I got from Pune, India and some chalk powder:

Last but not the least. As usual, went gaga over the flower print. The buttons go so perfectly with the hemp rope, don't you think?

 

For now, I take a bow lolz. Catch you soon people.

Its baking time..

Was really missing the smell of freshly baked cake wafting through the house,the soft spongy, warm, delicious, melt in your mouth kinds .Oh, I so wish I was a child again, eating leftover cake dough, and watching aai whisk together everything by hand, me cross-legged on the kitchen counter. Had a pack of fresh rasprerries at home that no one wanted to touch (courtesy the bitter sweet taste), so I made some raspberry muffins! And on the way learned to make some struesel to top it too, so they look like professional yummies waiting on the Strossners' rack to be picked up and savored. Aai, I so wish you were here to bake n gobble with me...

Mixed Media experiments

Here's my first collage/mixed media work after long deliberation. Been going through many magazines and books that detail techniques of collage, journaling and using acrylics. My best reads thus far : Somerset Studio issues and Ann Baldwin's book.
I wanted to express the idea of setting oneself free, letting go and going with the flow. Love the poem  on getting caught in one's own rhytym...
Its pure joy to splash artist quality, pigment rich acrylics around paper, and this was my first use of matte and gel media. Just inaugurated my small new box of Rembrandt pastels.Nothing beats the smell of the pastel fixative ;)
Now I've taken the plunge, the world's my oyster!

My very very first attempt at showcasing all I do...

My first project, design credit to me me me. Picked up the stamp at a yard sale, n used a bunch of used markers to color in the cows. have always been a sucker for the red and black combo, need to try out new schemes...