Two trips to Michael's

I spent yesterday morning at Michael's on Long Island cruising up and down the aisles looking for bargains and craft supplies to use for my patterned papers. I bought more craft foam and pre-cut shapes to make a dozen more stamps and went right home to work on the papers. Today I head out to the Michael's in Queens to buy wood backed rubber stamps that are 50% off! I tend to get obsessed with things when first starting out. That's a good thing, right? 

I plan to take photos of the step by step process of making the patterned paper so I can share it with everyone. I'll upload those pics on Monday. I'm still playing around with my blog setup, font colors, etc. If anyone has any tips or tricks I'd love to hear about them. This is all new to me and I am totally amazed that I have been able to do as much as I have so far being a blogging neophyte. One of the problems I have is spacing text when writing a new post. I can't seem to get a space line between paragraphs of text. Does anyone know how to accomplish this?  I'd appreciate any and all help.

Patterned paper

I made these patterned papers and foam stamps after taking a class with Ann Kronenberg in NYC. Ann is an incredibly talented teacher whose knowledge, generous samples and artwork are truly inspiring. I in turn taught the technique to my two collage classes and they loved it as well. Now, will I be able to cut them up to use in collage? They are so rich and beautiful as is that I hate to cut them apart but eventually I will. Over the holiday weekend I plan to make some more and possibly work a few into some artwork. I'll post pictures soon.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and have a safe trip if you are traveling.

All art work copyright 2008 Liz Curtin and may not be copied or used without the artist's permission. Thank you.

Three mixed media collages

These three mixed media collages were started as examples of three different techniques shown in an ongoing collage class that I teach. I finished them in my studio and am often surprised at the results. I work very fast and intuitively during these demos and never know how something will turn out but I am often pleased with the results.

My students are endlessly inspiring to me and it is always a challenge to come up with new techniques and ideas that will keep them thinking, growing and creating wonderful new work.

All art work copyright 2008 Liz Curtin and may not be used without the artist's permission.

A few of my art pieces

Top to bottom: Circular Evidence, Sweetie Pie, Self Portrait

So I finally figured out how to download images from my computer but can't do it all of the time. I may have to get some help from my nephews or the Apple store.

I recently made some very cool patterned paper in a class and want to share the technique with you but first I need to take pictures. I'll do that tonight and upload them tomorrow. Til then.....

All art work copyright Liz Curtin 2008. Images may not be used without my permission.

Just the beginning....

Welcome to my new blog where I will post all things collage and mixed media related with a bit of found object sculpture thrown in occasionally. I've been wanting to do this for a while now but not too sure how to get started. This morning I got an email from Lisa Vollrath saying she was looking for new artists for her design team but they must have a blog or website where images of work can be viewed. This was all the push I needed. Lisa even recommended blogger to get started, so here I am with my first post.

Bear with me as I figure out how to upload photos from my computer, post a photo of myself (one that I actually like), customize the site, etc. etc. Hope to have more later today. Thanks for stopping by and please leave your comments.