Patti Edmon Artist

Working in a watercolor book - rather than starting on another canvas - has been one of the most liberating creative experiences ever. I don't have a lot of room in my studio and I'm currently not making any efforts to show or sell so the watercolor book is also far more economical.   Working in an open book also enhances my willingness to art more often and experiment more than ever. The biggest issue I'll have is that I may have to cut the pages out and re-bind them due to the dimensional aspect. I'm only seven pages in and the book won't exactly close.  The enlarged close-up shot of an old bottle top isn't quite as interesting a focal point as some, but in keeping with the old black & white photo theme, I had hours of fun: coloring, staining, grunging, embossing, using pan pastels, reinkers, oil pastels and acrylics to stamp and paint over texture and trim, wallpaper and old book pages. Cutting up an old screen, scrap cardboard, a piece of wood...

I posted this photo a few weeks ago, my selections from the collage box, another fabulous project from Lawendula at Woven Letters . Aside from a challenge in 2008 by Jane at Random Arts I don't recall ever taking specific ingredients and making a collage with them. The rule for Collage Box was that all pieces didn't have to be used (phew, though I only left out a couple of papers) and other elements could be added. I decided to use a 9x12 canvas board and started by layering every shade of brown and dark yellow I have, which is about 10 - 12 shades from burnt umber to ochre to bronze Lumiere. As I started pasting a few things down, adding some old newsprint, tissue paper and rub-ons, I realized I had no clue what I wanted to do. The next two photos were taken with my phone, which is good, but not great. I love the way everything is distorted at the top:) I began to commit, pasting down a little house I drew on newsprint and a couple other paper scraps, but mostly sticking ...

I don't know how so many of you manage to keep up the creative pace during the holidays... maybe you have studios in far better order than mine, are able to work late at night, or maybe painting in your sleep? Perhaps it's an illusion. But during my blog visits I saw a lot of work in progress - journals, paintings and assemblage, digital collage... I had to 'do' Christmas in a two-week period, unable to focus on anything else until I delivered the journals that were commissioned in November. I'm happy to report that someone along the way asked the gallery owner if there were any left... fortunately for me she wants more! And that's a good thing because once I completed the 8th piece I was surprised to find myself in withdrawal. I only had time to make a few gifts, two of them, of course, were journals. The background started out, as usual, gesso and a few layers of gel, some bits of paper and stuff to enhance the texture. I had an idea, albeit vague for the conc...

Waiting seems to be a very popular pastime these days, though it wasn't the motivation for this piece... I keep saying I'm going to change my 'look' and here is another in that series of color and style. I do, though, feel as though I'm evolving. Maybe waiting to evolve? It's one of my favorite collages and Cassie likes it too because when I showed it to her she said, "I have to have this - let's go to the frame shop as soon as I get back." That, of course, was before the back stuff with Jim; I hope she still wishes to purchase it, I'll wait and see. Nothing like a kink in the works to put your priorities in order. I'm so far behind in every area, sadly with my Life is a Verb coaching class, although I feel the effects profoundly. Prior to this, very deep and life-altering work, I would not have gotten through the past couple of weeks without anxiety, fear, maybe a bit of depression, and definitely feeling overwhelmed. Always being in choi...

This is the last piece, I think, in my latest collage series. I am rather attached to these colors though, so I'm sure I'll find other ways to use this palette. Speaking of other, I planned to title this piece "Hope." Then I started thinking - usually my first mistake:) - about the article I'd read on Rat Race Trap about shifting from hoping to wondering, and how it helps avoid disappointment. It's a good read; author Stephen Mills talks about how, when what we hope for doesn't happen, our hopes are dashed. His intent certainly isn't to promote pessimism. Far from it; he cites Susan Jeffers' book, Embracing Uncertainty , and her premise that, since we have little - or no - control over the future of our art, our jobs, our children, that if we merely wonder, there is no outcome attached to those hopes. It removes the pressure from the future. Same goes for wishing and wanting. I find that idea so appealing... instead of hoping that my guardian ang...

Earlier in the summer, I found my self in a creative slump, a flat, static stretch; feeling OK, but not great, a little down but no major depression. I’ve spent the past three years spent learning mixed media techniques and processes; I realized that now it’s time to move to the next level. Do more than arranging elements in a pleasing design on a page, or canvas. I need to find the source of the muse and, at the same time, understand the forces that subvert creativity. Like fear. Fear is a byproduct of most journeys; who, after all, isn’t afraid of face-planting at some point. My problem is that it often takes hold before I get a good footing on the path. I’d been producing work that I really liked, so naturally fear arrived like a beautiful, fair-weather friend. I found myself doubting - will you really stay, even if I turn out to be a lot less perfect than I’d led you to believe? Will you abandon me just as I get my hopes up? It’s no secret that growth involves risk, but after a few...

I didn't sign up in time for the second round of Seth Apter's Buried Treasure, a fun and very collaborative project for sure. Seth posted some amazing art that he's done and I've enjoyed treasure hunting, found many new bloggers... Who knew that there could be so many amazing people out there, creating, opening their worlds and lives for people like me.  If you haven't made the rounds yet, I encourage you, no urge you to pay a visit to some of the many wonderful arty, fun, incredible artists out there. Grab a mug of freshly brewed coffee - or tea - or your favorite afternoon beverage, curl up with your computer and go to the Altered Page,  get started, you won't be disappointed! When I chose favorite posts for the first round, I focused on the writing... probably since I've been a writer all my life. Even though I didn't sign up for the "Revisited" tour, I decided to post a couple of old favorite collages. I have to laugh as I say that, because...

This is the second of the five 3" x 3" canvases I did for the   Art House Coop Project, the Visual Encyclopedia . It seems like it should be easy to render a word visually, but really, that's only if it's a noun, like bird or nest, a verb even. Once I got past the fact that they wasn't going to be an obvious solution, I started having fun with it. Anyone who has seen my larger collages, well, even my puzzle pieces will find this familiar. But the word is.... Unseen.  It started out to be Protect, but when my friend Karin's cat passed away, that was the only one I could use for the angel/image of Zack/concept of Karin being watched over. So, one of the eggs fell out of the nest and is unseen. And, come to think of it, so is mother bird... And, the tree that the nest is in.... getting literal can really be a problem. Thankfully I was quickly - and hurriedly - able to overcome that, the only way to get five done in two days... If you get a chance, click on the l...

I found a board book at our local bookstore, part of the Rainbow Fish series; every page has a giant puzzle piece that pops out. And it was on the clearance table! Naturally I bought three:) It's really hard to find puzzles with pieces big enough to work with, so this was an incredible find! Like altering a board book, a bit of light sanding and gesso and it's the perfect substrate for a multitude of layers - paint, collage, more sanding, more paint, gel and adhesive... tough and thick enough to handle it all. I had a fabulous time making this, Hold Me, the fourth collage in the colors I've been working in - rich ochre and gold and yellows with green and hints of red. I think I'm ready to move on to a new palette, when I get studio time that is. This piece is another for the Resilience Art workshop I'm taking, which, alas, I have fallen behind in, along with just about every other area of my life. Who doesn't have too much on their agenda? The last weeks of scho...

I made this 6x6 collage for a class I'm taking called Resilience Through Art, taught by Lani Gerity , art therapist, leader of the 14 Secrets for a Happy Artist's Life group I'm in and a wise, wonderful artist. Our challenge for the week was to create a piece of art based on a resilience strategy; mine addresses more than one - voice your wishes, take charge of life whenever you can, look for good things... Living with a chronic illness has a unique set of challenges, maybe the same ones everyone faces, just amplified a bit. Springtime is so beautiful, but for me, it brings barometric pressure fluctuations that yank me around like a theme park ride. And I'm really trying to get off the prednisone that has fueled me through the last four years. Lower energy and higher pain levels make every day daunting... I think about what I used to accomplish in a day's time, now  spread it over a week, and shake my head. Well, nobody likes a whiner and I'm not wallowing in se...

Green is the theme for this week's Inspire Me Thursday, in honor of Earth Day on the 22nd. This collage, the third in a series of 6 x 8's, seems an appropriate response. Seek is the title and though not visible unless you click on the photo for a closeup, the dictionary definition for 'find' is pasted to the left of the hands holding the, um, bird's nest (earring).  Speaking of finding, while foraging in a thrift shop on spring break I came across several cards of Wilton porcelain roses and leaves that were ivory, maybe even white a few decades ago. I grabbed 8 cards for $2 and looked for a way to use them as soon as I got back; I painted a few of the leaves with alcohol ink before gluing them on the tree. I suppose using discarded jewelry, buttons, rusty stuff and other treasures in mixed media is a form of recycling.   Thanks to an upper respiratory ailment I've fallen behind on my swaps, forget about the laundry and other chores, but it's hard enough to b...

Space in the Altered Attic is at a premium, the bins are overflowing  and there's stuff every where I turn, piles, stacks, boxes full of trinkets and other found objects spilling out over the tops of shelves. Spring cleaning? Heck no, but I can hear the birds singing outside the windows, on the days that it's 65 instead of 35 degrees. So, I continue to ignore the obvious, which is the enormous amount of time I'd probably save by getting organized, and use all my 'extra' time to play. Last week I posted a small collage I'd done - a coffee cup filled with flowers, coffee beans, buttons... everything but coffee. And, what's with the birds? I don't know that the two necessarily 'go' together, but I wanted to find some elements I could use to experiment with color, texture and process. Using the same color themes to create different finished pieces, like a magnet made from a recycled puzzle piece and trimmed with beads and charms. I also love altering...

I spend a lot of studio time making light switch plates and magnets, ostensibly because they generate a (very) little cash - enough to help offset my supply bill, again, a very little. I recently decided to vary my substrates, add some excitement to my creative day.  The visual journal workshop rekindled my love for creating backgrounds, and techniques I learned from Pam Carriker came in very handy (I'll never run out of baby wipes again!). Though I didn't have a clue what the image would be, I knew I wanted to use shades of blue. And, I've been stuck on coffee and birds lately. Maybe because I discovered that I can draw both and I'm thrilled, albeit behind the curve a decade or so:); everything I touch will probably have a bird, or coffee cups and beans on or in it - for a time anyway.  A while back, in the letters section of several Somerset Magazines, readers made mention of the possible overuse of certain embellishments/ephemera in art pieces. Like crowns and wings,...

I've been watching Random Notes daily for my Sweet Tweet journal entry, which I mailed at the last possible moment. It popped up, for sure, in my mailbox yesterday - the label fell off!! I had spent almost as much time on the envelope as the page so the postal carrier took pity on me and brought it back for an address. I used this quote on one of the pages I made for the visual journaling workshop I recently completed (over but not abandoned!). And, since the theme was birds and sweet, I thought it fit rather nicely. I think we are all tempted to let a pesty nest start tangling in the do, now and again anyway. My favorite ways to disassemble the sorrow roost in whatever stage I manage to catch it, are making art, wandering through blogland and keeping in touch with people who use their time and talents to create projects like the journal this page will hopefully end up in - if it gets there in time. Jane at Random Arts is one of my all-time favorites... pal, artist, shop owner, bl...

I did this page the other day. It was the end of a long day spent iced in and I was really tired, and in a hurry. But so far, it's my favorite, though I haven't ventured very far from the yellow/gold base color that I've used on most all the pages. There doesn't seem to be any way to predict this process, whether the images will be cohesive, if I'll like the way the pages look... I suppose that is the real beauty of doing this in the first place. To loosen up and let go, freedom from the over-thinking that rules most every area of my life. So, now it's time to start the actual journaling part - writing on these pages? They seem sacrosanct, like doing a collage and then writing all over it. Obviously, after having struggled through this entire reverse process, I still have miles to go. Being a writer, this should be the easiest part. We'll see.

The second week of the Visual Journaling workshop was about adding visual elements to our backgrounds - still without an idea or concept of the finished piece.  This feels like collage to me, though this process is more fluid, less planned. More spontaneous. It certainly is uncovering my difficulty in altering my approach to a project or process.  I started off by sifting through images for elements that looked 'right' together because of color or theme, without giving much thought to how they relate to each other. Then a theme of sorts started to emerge and I felt a bit more comfortable. I haven't begun to think about actually writing on these pages. Aack. All of this work only to mess it up with words? I didn't realize that I had a comfort zone when it came to art, since it's relatively new in my creative career; I can see that my trepidation at stepping outside the box, my rigidity is in place, and that's why I love this workshop. All the time I've been e...

Jane Powell, proprietress of Random Arts, in Saluda, NC, one of my favorite havens on earth, issued a challenge in September (I think?) that was answered by 75 people! Our assignment: make a 5 x 7 journal page using the ingredients she sent each of us in an envelope. That's all, no further instruction.  That sure didn't help me one bit. I stewed and procrastinated, all normal so far, and then I asked if she'd be posting any early... like an incentive. She saw right through that one and told me to have fun. Well. One day I was looking at the envelope and saw an image stamped on the back: We are Famous, Glamorous Artists. Finally, some inspiration! I cut apart the envelope and went to work. I've not done much art journaling and I still think my page is kinda kooky, but I did have fun.  In November, once she had a whopping stack of envelopes, Jane started posting 5 entries every day on her blog ( Random Notes ). From there they went to the 'tower' in her shop. Once...

So what makes art fine, anyway? Is it fine art photography, like the panoramic photo published by my friend (and recent groom) Jeff Rogers, that appears on the coffee table book, Kentucky Wide ? (for which I wrote the forward:) What makes art, for that matter... Is it my son marching with the Thriller ensemble, channeling his passion in rehearsed and spontaneous rhythm through his drumsticks? Or the grace and amazing beauty of my daughter, who has been a ballerina for 7 of her 11 years... I admit it may have been a bit petty to even post the cartoon below, and Jane's comment is beyond perfect. But after living for years as an 'invisible' artist, with a painter who has a BFA in Fine Art (and earns our living at our graphic design business ), I was curious to see what kind, if any, response it elicited.  According to my dictionary an artist is "a person who produces paintings or drawings as a profession or hobby; a person who practices any of the various creative arts, s...

The candy has been passed out, the lights turned off, orange and purple candles extinguished, and I'm packed. Our plane leaves Lexington in a couple of hours, destination Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, to attend the Sunday wedding of one our long-time best friends. They don't have kids so of course they didn't plan their big day around Halloween and the Thriller re-enactment that follows, which my son is played in for the first time (snare drum). So, it has been an interesting mix of last minute laundry, costume details, and packing, wondering what the heck I'm going to wear to a wedding on the beach. I'm leaving a horrendously messy studio layered with Christmas ornaments gessoed and painted, in a sea of found objects, buttons, ribbon, charms, piles of images and papers, glitter and trim to finish them, along with the cards, collages and jewelry I'm making for a Holiday Bazaar - in two weeks. That's way before I start my holiday preparation, so it has been a...

I've kept a written journal nearly all my life, dozens, no hundreds, of notebooks -  from the 89-cent spiral bound notebooks (for morning pages) to hard cover books - zillions of letters forming  a record of my life, the better and a lot of the worse parts in detail that I don't think could be any more vivid, even if I had known how to draw. I made money writing, ad copy, articles, public relations and marketing campaigns, technical copy, video scripts.   I made the leap from personal essays to writing short stories and an entire universe opened up. In search of help I wound up with teachers who are among the best in the country, the list of authors they've edited reads like a literary Who's Who; they've taught at Iowa Writer's Workshop, edited Esquire Magazine, published novels... How did I get in that program?? Naively, of course, by responding to a classified ad for editing services in Poets & Writers, sans credentials. It wasn't until after I'd s...