Orange Spiral Arts

MiXed MEdiA Art Workshops in Minneapolis, Minnesota Winter/Spring 2015

Hello Dear One,

I am so glad that you have found your way here.  

I am thrilled beyond thrilled to announce that I have a series of mixed media art and expressive art workshops coming out this year.  The series begins on Sunday, February 1st, 2015, and the classes will take place in Richfield, Minnesota, a suburb just outside of Minneapolis, MN.  

Since many of you might not be local to the Twin Cities, or even in the USA, I will create PDFs with information on how to complete the course from wherever you are.  The PDFs might also be useful for people who are able to take the workshop, and would like to have a set of instructions for later use.

The first workshop in the series is called MiXed MEdia Heart Art.  As I stated earlier, it will be held on Sunday, February 1st, 2015, from 1pm - 3pm.  

Here are some samples from the class:

 

First this:

 

Then this:

 

Each student will leave with at least one unique mixed media heart, created by YOU!  The hearts can be given as gifts, or . . .

 

. . . hang the heart in your living space to remind you that you are loved.  The more love we feel for ourselves, the more love we have to share with others.  Love is all that really matters.

If you are local to the Twin Cities and you are interested in expressing yourself creatively, I invite you to join us!  

You do not have to be an artist.  

You do not need to know anything about art materials.  

You do need to have a willingness and desire to try something new.  

You do need to be willing to get paint and glue on your fingers.  

The purpose of the MiXed MEdiA Heart Art Workshop:

-to explore mixed media art supplies

-to have fun with the art process

-to meet new people and make connections

-to go home with a heart that reminds you that you are loved, so that you can spread more love

Mark Your Calendar

Here is the tentative workshop schedule:

Sunday, February 1st, 2015, 1pm - 3pm --MiXed MEdiA Heart Art, $35 per person

For more information and registration, click here.

 

Saturday, February 28th, 2015, 1pm-3pm -- Mail Art Postcards Workshop, $35 per person

Registration is now open!  Click here.

Saturday, March 7th, 2015, 1pm-3pm -- Liquid Watercolor Mandalas, $35 per person

Registration is now open! Click here.

Saturday, March 28th, 2015, 1pm-3pm -- Pattern and Design Play using Basic Supplies, $35 per person

 

Saturday, April 4th, 2015, 1pm-3pm -- Make Your Own Gift Wrap using Paint, Stamps, and Stencils, $35 per person

 

Saturday, May 2nd, 2015, 1pm-5pm -- Junk Journal Workshop- Make Your Own and Learn How to Use It (Note:  This will be a four hour workshop), $55 per person

 

Saturday, May 30th, 2015, 1pm-3pm -- Mini Mark Making Journal Using Non-traditional Tools, $35 per person

 

Saturday, June 6th, 2015, 1pm-3pm -- Expressive Scribble Art, $35 per person

 

Saturday, June 27th, 2015, 1pm-3pm -- Using Stencils in Mixed Media Art and Journals, $35 per person

To see the current workshop and e-course offerings, please visit the LEARN tab at the top.

(More information on the March-June workshops will be released soon!) 

These workshops are intended for adults who have an interest in exploring their inner creativity and have an interest in personal growth.  

Note:  This is NOT the same as art therapy.  Art making can be emotional, and though I am a caring, supportive person, it is your responsibility to have professional support lined up if and when it is needed.  

My wish for you is to experience spiritual joy through creative and mindful acts.  

If you have ANY questions regarding this MiXed MEdia and Expressive Art workshop series, I am happy to help you.  Just send me an email at orangespiralarts (at) gmail (dot) com.  

I hope to connect with you soon!

Blessing and Peace,

Briana

Don't forget to look here for more information and registration for the MiXed MEdiA Heart Art workshop on Sunday, February 1st, 2015!  Space is limited, so you are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible.

 

A Zine is a Publication, and My Art is Published in a Zine!

Today I have a story to share about how I found Mandy Steward, her Messy Canvas blog, and her Secret Message Society Zine.  

In truth, I don't recall exactly how I got to Mandy's Messy Canvas blog.  You know how it goes . .  you are looking on the internet for something.  You find one thing of interest, then click to another thing, then another thing, and finally you arrived somewhere you did not intend to be, but you are happy that you are there.  I am pretty sure that is how I ended up on Mandy's site.  

Once I got to Mandy's Messy Canvas blog, I was stopped in my tracks by the cool art, the photos of herself in thrifted, layered outfits, and the sense of mystery that was filling her spot in cyber space.  I was definitely sucked in.  Maybe it's happened to you when you learn of someone new and you become slightly obsessed with their work for awhile.  That's how I felt (and still feel).  There is nothing creepy about it.  It is just that someone's message is so strong and clear, it invites you in to hear more.  That's what happened to me.

I'll admit, I was slightly frustrated by some of the "mystery".  Mandy doesn't spell everything out for you. You have to slowly move through her words, her art, read an e-book or two, then finally you might start to "get" what she's all about.  I am still learning, still soaking up her story.  And I like it.  We are not the same, but I can relate to her in so many ways.  She's a mother, an artist, she's on a spiritual journey, and she loves connecting with other like-minded artists.

Now, onto the zine part of the story . . .

I love books, the book arts, text, typography, fonts, personal expression through art and writing, and ZINES!  I especially like zines with an art focus.  I was very attracted to the style of Mandy's Secret Message Society Zine.  You can buy back issues in Mandy's MessyCanvas Etsy shop, or you can subscribe for a nominal fee to the Secret Message Society.  This year, in 2015, Mandy is doing a Zines of the Zodiac theme.  I have submitted some art for the February issue, which comes out around February 20th, I believe.  Mandy suggested creating some valentines in a "guerrilla art" style, where people can keep secret messages for themselves, or leave them out in the world for strangers to find and keep.  Since you are here, reading this, I'd like to offer you my sheet of secret message valentines.  Simply click on the image below, and save it to your computer.  You may print them out, color them, or leave them as is.  I invite you to keep some for yourself, but also to leave some out in the world for someone else to find.  Some suggestions for where to leave your guerrilla valentines would be:

at the library in a book

at a book store

in your favorite coffee shop

at the art museum

in the aisle at the grocery store or market

anywhere you think someone might like to find a special message

Enjoy your FREE PRINTABLE:

 

You might see some or all of these guerrilla style secret message valentines in the February 2015 Secret Message Society Zine #23.

I also have art published in the following Secret Message Society Zine issues:

Secret Message Society Issue #17 (August 2014)

Secret Message Society Zine Issue # 20 (November 2014)

 

 

Secret Message Societ Zine Issue #21 (December 2014)

I am not only happy to share that my art has been published, but I love spreading the word about other artists whom I admire.  If you haven't already, visit Mandy's Messy Canvas blog here.

Thanks for being here and reading this blog post about my art in the Secret Message Society Zine.  I hope you feel inspired to make some art, do some writing, or both.

Blessings to you,

Briana

#CarveDecember Podcast Featuring Me, Louise, and ArleighB

Hello, Hello!

I have exciting news to share with you today!  Yesterday, I was a guest on Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's podcast called Adventures in Arting.  There were five of us all together, speaking via Skype.  Here's who was on the call:

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (@balzerdesigns), her mom Eileen, Louise Nelson from Australia (@loolabelle), Arleigh from Colorado (@arleighb), and me (@BrianaCreates). (Just in case you are wondering, the "@", plus a name, is our Instagram handle, or name.  That means, if you use the social media app Instagram on your smartphone, you can search us by name and see our feed.  I am explaining this because I used to be very frustrated by all of the @ and # symbols that I would see, but did not understand what they meant or how to use them).  Anyway . . .

You can listen to the 027:  #CarveDecember Adventures in Arting Podcast by clicking play below.  

I also encourage you to go directly to Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's site to see all of the wonderful stamp photos and read the bio's of the participants on the podcast (me, Louise, and Arleigh).  Here's the link to Julie's Adventures in Arting page. 

For a little more of my story, read below:

One day on Instagram, I saw a post from @balzerdesigns about a CarveDecember challenge.  I did not know what this meant, so I zipped over to Julie's blog to find out more.  I saw this post by Julie.  I loved the light-hearted invitation to just simply play and have fun while growing your handcarved stamp collection.  I loved that she gave us permission to miss a day or two.  Julie wrote, "If you miss some days, who cares!" Yes, that was what I needed to hear.  At this point, I was struggling to get back into my creative routine of making art in the mornings before my family woke up, and honestly, I wasn't sure that I could get up every single day.  Here's how it all went down.

My #CarveDecember Story

I decided to take the #CarveDecember challenge to fulfill one of my long time dreams of having my own handcarved alphabet stamps.  I figured if I carved one of the 26 letters per day, with maybe missing a day or two, I'd end up with a complete set of letter stamps by the end of December.  

Well . . . since I was trying to protect my heart from feeling failure, I started out carving six letter stamps in one sitting.  The next day, I carved six more, then six more after that, and so on.  By December 6th, I had a complete set of uppercase letter stamps, plus a question mark, and an exclamation mark, and a lightbulb stamp.  

I started my alphabet stamps like this:

I had a large (9x12 inch) sheet of Soft-Kut handed down to me by my artist mom.  I did not really know what I was doing, but felt I had to work quickly, due to limited time before my toddler would wake up.  I did not spend time researching how to go about cutting and carving and transferring an image; I simply trusted my gut and went for it!

I used a piece of notebook paper to draw out my letter.  Then I transfered that letter onto my 2 inch by 1 inch block that I cut with a metal ruler and an Xacto blade.  

To transfer the letter, I put the cut piece of rubber directly on top of the hand-drawn letter.  Then I flipped the notebook paper over, and rubbed with my pencil to transfer the image.  

Next, I carved out the letter using the no. 1 Speedball blade, and the no. 3 U shaped blade.  

As I went through the alphabet, I learned more about my tools and how to transfer the image.  For example, at first, I was scribbling with pencil on the back side of the hand-drawn letter to transfer it, but then started just using the side of the pencil to make the transfer

.  That was much less messy, and it was just as effective.  

One tip I can share, is that I found it really helpful to write the correct orientation of the letter on its edge.  This is what I mean:

For some letters, it's obvious, but sometimes printing a reverse image is confusing to my brain.  : )

Here is a picture of the last letters in the alphabet, including the punctuation marks and light bulb stamp.

Since I am an avid journal keeper, both written and visual, I wanted to create a light bulb stamp to help me quickly see the "bright ideas" I document in my journals.

After I completed my alphabet stamp set, I thought it was logical to make a number stamp set, too.

What To Carve Next?

As you can imagine, after carving 26 letters, punctuation marks, and the numbers 0-9, plus a pound/hashtag sign and a dollar sign, I was starting to feel more confident about my carving skills.  It was time to move onto some shapes and designs.  

Since this post is getting quite long, the rest of the story will be told mostly in pictures.

These stars were inspired by Pam Garrison's star stamps I spied on Instagram (@pamgarrison).

I wanted to try carving some white erasers:

This plant image was inspired by Misty Mawn's book Unfurling.

Then I made some gift wrap for my sister's birthday presents.  I love making handmade gift wrap!

 

At this point, it is only mid-December, so I have half the month left to choose more designs!

I decided to be brave and try some of Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's repeating image designs from her fabulous book, Carve Stamp Play!  For these stamps, I was using Speedy-Carve by Speedball (the pink kind).

 

Since I love nature, I had to carve another plant image, and a couple of fish, too.

This last fish was taken from one of my favorite Dover image source books called, Design Motifs of Ancient Mexico.

I carved a stamp (or six), nearly everyday in December, and it was AWESOME!

If you'd like to give stamp carving a try, see the list of stamp carving books in this blog post of mine from December.

If you can believe it, this isn't everything I have to share about my experience with #CarveDecember.  In fact, I am writing my first e-book called, Creative Habit Transformation (working title).  This will be a guide on how to start a creative habit and stick to it!  I invite you to sign up for my newsletter (top right of the blog, in the sidebar), and "Like" my Orange Spiral Arts Facebook page to keep informed about my latest creations and offerings.  

Thank you for reading and viewing this lengthy post.  When you are passionate and have a lot to say, I guess that's what happens, eh?

I am extremely grateful to all who participated in the #CarveDecember challenge, and also to everyone who has left kind, encouraging comments on my Instagram pics, Facebook posts, Flickr pictures, and Tweets!  You all are awesome!

Thanks again to Julie Fei-Fan Balzer!  You are a fabulous designer, teacher, inspirer, encourager, and artist!  By the way, I loooooooooove your stencils, too!

Blessings, Peace, and HAPPY CREATING to you!

-Briana

PS  Thanks again for being here and reading this post on OrangeSpiralArts.com  It is the longest one I have ever written!  It took me litearlly 3 hours!!!!








 

Junk Journal Pages

I am keeping a junk journal, which I started on January 1st, 2015. I have made these journals in the past, but for some reason I felt blocked when it came to filling them up with my marks, handwriting, photos, doodles, etc. This year is going to be different. My fear of art making is going out the window. I mean, what is there to be afraid of? Personal expression is my goal. Sometimes I will like the end result, sometimes I won't, and that is OKAY! I hope my blog posts will inspire you to open up, release, let go, and express yourself through art, writing, and photography.

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year to you and yours! What is next for you? How will you shine your light and share your joy even more in 2015?
I plan to share a lot more art journaling pages, mixed media art, photography, and perhaps even an e-book or two with you! Expressing my inner creativity is where I find my joy. I connect with deeper parts of myself, as well as with my spirituality. To me, that is the sweet spot in life. I am present, I am connected, I am my best self. I also love connecting with other creative and like-minded humans. I look forward to being on this big, beautiful planet with you in 2015. Thank you for being here.
Blessings and Peace to you!