mixed media

Breaking Free

/ Jodi / 64 Comments

Breaking Free in Blues Abstract 11×14 Arches 140lb Cold Press

Breaking Free.

Three months ago,
when I lost a job I loved
that I thought would be my last,
I was devastated.
I was broken free.

Two months ago,
I started a new job that I now love
and hope will be my last,
and I am so energized.
It is like breaking free.

Over the past few months,
I’ve started exploring new art mediums –
in my “life in between”
from watercolor to acrylic to mixed media.
I am breaking free.

This painting,
done over two days this past week
combining these old and new mediums
feels like I am expressing
the elation of breaking free.

And I love it….
The painting….
The joy…
The freedom…
Yes – I’m breaking free!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

This original painting – as well as high quality prints and card sets – is available at our McKinneyX2Designs ETSY Shop!

AND PS  I’m so excited to let you know the Yellow Canary McKinneyX2Designs World Watercolor Month Limited Edition Pouch is NOW AVAILABLE!!!   Here is the link to order yours!  Hope you will help support Dreaming Zebra –  a nonprofit encouraging children to embrace their individuality to express themselves creatively and follow their artistic dreams.  100% of the proceeds for the sale of this Limited Edition Pouch will help provide art and music supplies to underprivileged children throughout the world.

World Water Day – Weaving through the River

/ Jodi / 39 Comments

Weaving through the River – 11×16 Mixed Media Art

World Water Day – Weaving through the River.

Today, March 22, is World Water Day.

World Water Day is about focusing attention on the importance of water.

The theme for World Water Day 2018 is ‘Nature for Water’ – exploring nature-based solutions to the water challenges we face in the 21st century.  It is about looking for ways we can reduce floods, droughts and water pollution by using the solutions we already find in nature.

Damaged ecosystems affect the quantity and quality of water available for human consumption.  Today, 21 billion people live without safe drinking water at home, affecting their health, education, and livelihoods.

The next time you brush your teeth and let the water run down the drain or fill a glass of water to drink and pour half of it down the drain or take a 20-minute shower, think about what a privilege it is to have a dependable source of fresh water and how many in this world do not.

Wherever you are and whatever you do today, make a point to consider nature and water.

And if you want to do something about it, consider visiting www.we.org where you can donate $25, which can provide one person with clean water for life.

This original mixed media art I created is being dedicated to World Water Day.  It was done using ink-dyed tissue paper and drops of ink on Arches 140lb watercolor paper.  I added torn pieces of some old sheet music for “Weary River” sealed down with gesso.  I purposely tore the title words to form the word “Weaver.”   It makes me think about how water and art and music weave through our lives and make an impact.

I’ve named this piece, “Weaving through the River.”

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Finding Your Own Path

/ Jodi / 57 Comments

Finding Your Own Path.

Your life will…
find its own paths…

and that they may be good, rich, and wide
is what I wish for you,
more than I can say.

It seems to me
that everything has its proper emphasis…

keep growing,
silently and earnestly,
through your whole development;

you couldn’t disturb it any more violently
than by looking outside

and waiting for outside answers
to questions that only your innermost feeling, in your quietest hour,
can perhaps answer.

-Rilke – Letters to a Young Poet

Stay true to your path.
Be confident in the deepest secrets of your soul
that make you… You.

Just like
mine
make me… Me.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

My art of late has taken a different twist as I have been so greatly influenced by the on-line art class I recently took by Lendon Noe – Inspired by Lives and Letters.  Although the class is over, I am not ready to let go of the lessons it is teaching me – the lessons about myself and my feelings.  And this mixed media collage is a letter to my soul – written in the form of art.  It is a conversation between heart and soul.  I have no idea if it will mean anything to you, but this is for me, and I am so grateful for the venue to express it.

Products used for Mixed Media Collage:

Stonehedge Paper
Dr Ph Martin Ink
Ink-Dyed Tissue Paper
Photo on Velum Paper
Script Stamp
Stamp Seal Sealing Wax
Momento Ink Pad
Cheesecloth

Inspired by Lives and Letters

/ Jodi / 71 Comments

Inspired by Lives and Letters.

I am taking my second-ever online art class.  I was so blown away by the first one I took a few months ago, that when I learned the same artist, Lendon Noe was doing another, I had to join in again.

The class is hosted by another wonderfully-talented artist, Carla Sonheim, who hosts a variety of online art classes.

Lendon (I just love her name, by the way, and especially when she says it with her adorable southern accent) is a mixed media artist, and I have learned so many different techniques and ways to really stretch my artistic talent and creative brain from her.

This class is especially poignant, because it is not just about art for the sake of art, but it is about our art telling a story.

It is about creating art that “communicates.”

It is about  being inspired by the lives of those who are important to us and the letters they have written.

We’ve done some fun things with dying tissue paper and creating plaster pieces (which I’ve shared in some photos here) and then put them together in a way that creates a dialogue (at least to us in some personal way).

We then were tasked with searching for some letters that were important to us.  Lendon has some beautiful letters written by her father to his mother and brother while he was serving in World War II.

Though I don’t have anything that wonderfully poignant, I was able to dig deep into my cedar chest – the same cedar chest Hubby made for me when we were engaged – my “hope chest” that still sits in our bedroom almost 36 years later – and found the very first note he ever wrote to me (one he left on my car at work with a rose asking me out on a first date before he even knew how to spell my name) and another poem he wrote to me 10 days before our wedding.

It might not look like much to you, but I was so excited to give it to Hubby as a gift that I framed it and wrapped it and presented it to him one ordinary day last week.

If you are wondering what the Bingo references are all about, you can read about the beginning of our story here.

Thank you my sweet art and blogging friend Jill Kuhn at Jill’s Art Journal for nudging me into this class.  I am truly Inspired by Lives and Letters.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Mixing it Up with Mixed Media

/ Jodi / 53 Comments
Mixed Media Holiday Poinsettia - 12x12

Mixed Media Holiday Poinsettia – 12×12

Mixing it Up with Mixed Media.

Feeling a little crazy…
Feeling a little creative…
Feeling a little loose…

I painted a bright, bold, red poinsettia
on some newsprint,
and then I went crazy.

I glued,
and I taped,
and I splashed,
and I sprinkled.

I tore,
and I tied,
and I buttoned,
and I pearled.

And when I was done…
I framed,
and I smiled,
and I sighed in contentment.

 

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

Autumn Art Sonnet

/ Jodi / 57 Comments

Autumn Art Sonnet.

I recently took my very first online art course at the gentle urging of my blogging friend Jill at Jill’s Art Journal.  Actually it is my first-ever any kind of art course.

The class was hosted on Carla Sonheim’s website and presented by the amazing Lendon Noe.  The short 2-week, 6-session class was on Meaning Making:  Inspired by Poetry.   They were short 20-minute recorded sessions that you could watch at your own pace and at a convenient time for you.

I LOVED it!  I learned so much from Lendon – about art, mixed media, poetry, and even about myself.

My first art love is watercolor, but I loved dabbling into the mixed media world.  And what fun it was to combine my love of words, writing, poetry, watercolor, and stamping.

In my art piece here, the lines are actually an artistic version of a Shakespearean sonnet, where verse is written in a pattern of AB AB CD CD EF EF GG.  You might notice that the lines are repeating in the same pattern.  I used a combination of Sumi Ink, Walnut ink, watercolor, water soluble pencil, and a splash of Dr. Ph Martin’s Iridescent Gold Ink.

I photocopied (directly on my photocopier) a sprig of burning bush leaves and berries from my front yard and gesso‘d it right on top of the “sonnet.”  I drew a trio of leaves directly onto the piece, stamped some patterns and words, and then “scribbled” a collection of autumn words on top with a Pilot Parallel Calligraphy pen.

I woke up early yesterday and created this piece after considering all the things I learned in the class.  It is my little mixed-media sonnet about Autumn.

The air is finally a bit crisp and cooler than it’s been in a long time this weekend. It is really feeling like Autumn.

And Autumn is quickly becoming one of my favorite times of year.  I wonder if it is because I am in the Autumn stage of life too…

Have a wonderful day – whatever season you are in or love.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

In Love

/ Jodi / 36 Comments
pink-orange-gold-abstract-watercolor-with-hearts-11x14-on-300-lb-arches-cold-press

Pink Orange & Gold Abstract Watercolor with Hearts 11×14 on 300 lb Arches Cold Press

In love with…

Pink and orange and gold
and dots and lines
and hearts and swirls.

In love with…

Fridays with my little C
and smiles and snuggles
and happy times.

Happy Friday!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Abstract Watercolor done using:  Opera Pink, Quinacridone Rose, Cadmium Orange, Dr. Ph. Martin’s Iridescent Copper Plate Gold, and Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleedproof White, Salt, Twine, and Black Micron Pen.

McKinneyX2Designs

On this day… three years ago

/ Jodi / 45 Comments
happy 3rd anniversary watercolor and mixed media card gesso newsprint, tim holtz tea dye ink, perm rose

Mixed Media Card – Newsprint, Gesso, Watercolor, Tea Dye Ink

On this day three years ago, I gained a very special daughter-in-law.

On this day three years ago, I watched my oldest son’s dreams come true when he married the girl I always knew was “the one.”

On this day three years ago, my youngest son gave the most incredible toast to his big brother and new sister I have ever heard in my life.

On this day three years ago, I danced to “What a Wonderful World” with my son…

and my husband brought the house down dancing to Katy Perry’s “Firework” with our McHendy daughter, Jackie.

On this day three years ago, a new family was born – a family that during their third year will take 1 + 1 and = 3.

Happy Anniversary Jake and Colleen!

Love you,
Mom ❤

For this #WorldWatercolorMonth card, I painted a thin coat of white gesso over some newsprint DSP.  Once dry, I painted a watercolor heart in Permanent Rose using my Rekab320s brush and added some splatters.  I then sponged some Tim Holtz Tea Dye Ink around the edges and used a distressing tool to “age” it.  I finished it up with a black die-cut “happy,” a few pearls and some baker’s twine.

But a Speck…

/ Jodi / 48 Comments
But A Speck Mixed Media 9 x 12 300# Arches Cold Press

“But a Speck” Mixed Media Watercolor 9×12 300# Arches Cold Press

This painting
I decided to feature
for the first day
of July

and the first day
of the first ever
World Watercolor Month

began as a field
of daisies
gone wrong….

So following the advice and experimentation
of my mad scientist artinista mentor, Laura,
at CreateArtEveryday

I slapped and slathered
white Gesso on top
and started over

feeling free
and loose
and creative.

I wanted to express
how I am but a speck,
in a huge universe

but a tiny speck
can also have
a rippling effect

that creates art
and magic
and joy
and beauty.

I am
but a speck.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

 

This abstract watercolor mixed media piece was created using Brusho Watercolor Crystals in Black and Orange, Splatters of Rubbing Alcohol and water, hints of InkaGold and Golden Brand white acrylic, a straw, sunshine, and a free mind.