A forgotten piece of play grabbed my attention and before I knew it, a visitor showed up. This bright, and quite silly, character came to life all because of an O.O.P.S. I started by stenciling the word dreams with acrylic paint and my Vintage Typewriter stencil on a canvas board that had been hanging around the studio for [...]

You just have to start. Something.  Anything.  It’s the most important step when it comes to play.  What you start doing doesn’t have to be perfect or magical.  In fact, you’ll see how this starts as simple shapes and becomes a mixed media canvas called Once in a Blue Moon over Venice. I had no [...]

Building an art journal page with PanPastels is instant gratification.   No pesky waiting for the color dry.  But how do I seal PanPastels so they don’t smear and can pass a white glove test?  One way is with a gel printing plate! In the video, you’ll see how I built this steampunk page by combining pieces and [...]

I was completely in my head when I tried to play.  Any idea I had was shot down instantly.  That first step of getting started felt paralyzing.  My muse had left the building.  Play was not going to be happening with this mindset.  But this has happened many times to me and in the video, I am [...]

There were words of painting wisdom that I just wouldn’t listen to as I played.  The muse kept whispering in my ear, “Let the paint dry.”  But didn’t want to stop playing to wait for anything to dry! I started with a scrap of cardboard, a piece of trash.  Why trash today?  Because this Let’s [...]

How big of a print can you make with a little gel plate?  As big as the paper (or whatever you are printing on)!  This almost 4 foot long print was made with the 3×5, the 6×6, and the 4″ round Gel Press printing plates! Just printing over and over on the paper with the 3 [...]

When I started this page, I glued a leftover copy of a vintage photo into my art journal without a clue where I was going with it.  No plan meant no expectations. After all, I had no idea what direction that very serious woman in the photo was headed.  In the end, she was able to release her [...]

What if you could have butterfly and flower shaped cookies without having to use a cookie cutter? You can when you use stencils and the right kind of cookie recipe! Using my Butterfly Journeys stencil and Flora Bowley’s Bloom True stencil I created a fun platter of colorful cookies.  I’m not a big fan of spending [...]

Control is a creativity killer for me.  My left brain likes control, which is quite helpful in some areas of my life, but not when it comes to art and play. Letting go of control is easier said than done but I have found ways to help myself do it. One way is by using a tool or [...]