Friday, January 13, 2017

Top Ten Blog Hop winner!

I'm so sorry that I've kept you all waiting for a winner!  Life got crazy during the holidays!  I went back to work and well, got distracted... squirrel!

 I chose with a random number generator...

So, without further ado... the winner is:

StampNK


I emailed you for your address... please email me at jennifermatott(at)gmail(dot)com so I can send it out to you!  I know you will love these colors and make some awesome art with them!  

Thank you all for visiting my blog and leaving my a sweet comment!  

Jen

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Top Ten of 2016


Hi artsy friends! It's been a long time since I've blogged. 2016 has been a very busy and somewhat distracting year. It's been full of personal goals being met, but also a year of making tough choices. One of those tough choices was letting my design team obligations go and just create for me. This means that I haven't been under the gun to create and have sort of let it go by the wayside. Not that I haven't created art. I have! I just work on art over a longer period of time and with no deadlines. I've been running, working, teaching, and parenting. I've had an emotional roller coaster of a year and learned a lot about myself and people around me. My family is busy too... sports, performances, a child in middle school, a child still in elementary and loving it. It's been a heck of a year. So, as a tradition, here are my top 10 pieces of art created this year.

If you leave a comment on my blog, I'll pick a random winner for a small prize of a pack of Steampunk Colored Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft Gelatos. Leave a comment by midnight on January 1st!

1) 2016 Canvas: I created this for Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft and did a second one for them to display at trade shows. It was slightly different in color but same design. I displayed this on my mantel for the New Year and I'm thinking I need to do another or change the year for this year!

2) Altered Canvas Sneakers: Another fun project for Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft and love wearing these still! They always get a lot of questions and compliments. I love unique shoes!

3) Journey Mini Album using Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft's mixed media kit.
4) Encaustic Painting with Image transfers
 5) An art journal page... we did a swap for the art teachers in my district. We all trade sketchbooks and do pages in them each month and pass them on. At the end of the year art show, we display them!
6) Another Altered Shoe project... wedges this time!
 7) Die cut Encaustic necklace: Using a chipboard die cut, I created a monoprint with wax crayons and adhered it from the back. Lined with felt and a necklace attached. Love wearable art this year!
8) Nature's Playground: An amazing ceramic tile mural project that I worked with my students in grades Kindergarten through 6th grade and a visiting artist on. Deb Walsh helped kids create these relief tiles and created two huge murals outside facing our playground. So, while I didn't actually create the whole thing, I help design and facilitated the project and I'm so proud of the kids for this work!



 9) Blackbird Fly Away: Encaustic Mixed Media piece that won Honorable Mention at the New York State Fair Fine Arts exhibit.
10) Beehive: Encaustic Mixed Media- Won 2nd place at New York State Fair.

 This piece is an Intuitive Painting piece that isn't done yet, but I created in an amazing workshop at the NYSATA Conference this year. I'll post when I think it's finished.

 I hope 2016 treated you well and you created some work to be proud of. If you had a difficult year, I wish you all the best in 2017! Happy New Year!

If you leave a comment on my blog, I'll pick a random winner for a small prize of a pack of Steampunk Colored Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft Gelatos. Leave a comment by midnight on January 1st!

Please visit all of the blogs in this Top Ten hop and leave a comment for a chance to win a prize on some of them!

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Starting From The Same Place... An Artist's Collaboration

Welcome to 
"Starting from the Same Place" artist collaboration.....


What is this artist collaboration I speak of? Well, there was a call out to see if artists wanted to participate in a challenge of sorts... 


We were all sent similar packages of bits and baubles and encouraged to use EVERYTHING our kit contained.  It was a fun mix of vintage, handmade and fun finds.  There was even a cool stencil from Stencil Girl!  Thank you to Beacon Adhesives and Amazing Casting Products for contributing to this amazing group of artists and sparking our creativity!
I really had a hard time deciding how to approach this project.  I was going to make a journal page, then I was going to make a mini album, but then I was in a craft store looking for something for another project and came across a small oblong box.  It was begging to be altered!  So alter it I did!

I loved using all the bits in different ways.  First, I painted some with acrylic paints. The resin pieces were especially fun to alter!  I hid the gear piece behind a window.  The flower was painted to give a pop of color!

 Found items like branches, feathers, and old paintbrushes were added to the back of the box.  A collection of sorts... nature and manmade... a marriage of the two!
 A fun item I created for the top of the box!
 I LOVED this Viewmaster piece in the bits sent to me!  Brough back memories of childhood.  I loved incorporating both the envelope and disk!
A close up of some of the nature vs. manmade items.
I have no idea what these were from but I love the look of it overlapping the texture paste stenciled design.  Splattered paint gives another element that provides texture.

A HUGE Thank You to Tina Walker and Susan M. Brown for all your hard work putting this collaborative project together.
Beacon AdhesivesAmazing Casting Products and StencilGirl Products for the items to make our kits so inspiring!

Other items I used:
wooden box (Michaels)
Tim Holtz metal feet and embellishments
Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft Whipped Spackle
Golden Paints and Matte Gel Medium
Doily
Other items from my stash

Thanks for visiting my blog!






Thursday, January 21, 2016

Metallic Textures Mini Book and a winner!

Hi friends!  I promised to post photos of my mini book from last night's Ustream class with Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft!  If you want to see the video again go here!   So sorry to keep you all waiting for me to pick a winner from my Top 10 blog post... I'll announce at the end here!

Journal board cover

 Kraft paper page

 Mixed Media paper

 Cork paper page

Texture cardstock


Hope you enjoyed the class and if you make one, link me up so I can leave you a comment!
Annnnddd... my winner from my Top 10 post is... 
Blogger Emily Ricketts said...
Would love to win!emilyannogle@yahoo.com
Emily, please forgive me for taking so long to post this!  It has been a crazy few weeks!  I'll get your prize out as soon as you let me know your address!

Jen

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Top Ten Blog Hop of 2015

Can you believe 2015 is coming to an end? This year has flown by!  I couldn't even catch up!  My blog posts were few and far between but I swear that I am going to try to do better this year... a sort of resolution.  I accomplished so much this year in my art and also in my life.  So many changes, so many positive choices, some mistakes and lots of laughs!  
For this blog hop, you just need to leave a comment on each of the posts (links below) up to 24 entries!  
We are giving away an $80 USD to the online store of the winner's choosing. To be entered you need to leave a comment on my blog by 11:59 pm CST on January 3. Then hop around to as many blogs as you want! Christine will choose a winner on the 4th and then I'll post it later on the 4th here.  You can get up to 24 entries for commenting on each blog.  Many of us have individual giveaways too - so make sure to check out those requirements. I will have details on my individual prize at the bottom of this post!
2015 was a crazy year for sure.  Time flew by and I found myself scrambling to finish projects but I also made some of my favorite art ever!  Sometimes deadlines help get me moving and creative juices flowing! Here are my top 10 favorites this year:
 This is an encaustic piece that I won 1st place at the New York State Fair Art Exhibit this year!  I love this piece an plan to create more in the series! It's made on drawing paper, beeswax, Pan Pastels, oil pastels, Gold Leafing, charcoal, and Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft Stamper's Big Brush Pen.
 An art journal page with lots of Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft products!  Love the Cicada stencil from UmWowStudio!


 Another art journal page with lots of Steampunk Gelatos colors! 
 There are not many scrapbook pages here this year... I just love my mixed media projects, but I do love the colors and techniques on this page.  My gorgeous friend, Nicole from NicoleJames Photography took this photo.  It's a symbol of womanhood to me... strong and soft.
 This little mini album was so fun to make with UmWowStudio's tag book and stencils.  LOVE the Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft products on here too!
 Even though my Ustream video cut out due to an electrical storm that cut my power during the filming, I still love this mini canvas!  Someday I'll re-tape the process.  I just haven't had the time lately!
 This tote bag was a favorite of mine to create and I love the mediums and stitching that I did on here!  It's gorgeous and I always get complements wherever I wear it!
 This box was made for the Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft and Graphic 45 blog hop... I love this ATC box so much!  All the little details with mediums, Gelatos colors, and metal accents!



 Another Ustream project... a canvas bib necklace.  Love wearing this!

Another project that I did for a blog hop on Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft blog... clutch purses are so fun to make.  I think I'll be making more to match different outfits!
These last two are more encaustic work that I love.  I make the above when subbing for a professor at a nearby University this summer!  I was so honored to be asked and enjoyed the time to make art with students who inspired me! The below was a gift to my mom and dad for Christmas.  Empty nest symbolism but the colors were so soft and the nest was from a photo I took of a nest in the Adirondacks this summer.


So a few more than 10 but that's okay... I love looking back at how much I did accomplish this year in art making.  Even if I didn't share it all here, I love reviewing the past year and looking forward to a new artsy year!  Leave a comment here and on the other blogs and you could win a gift certificate of $80 for a store of your choice!  I am also giving away a Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft Steampunk Gelatos set!  
Comment here by 12:01am on 1/5/16 and I'll choose one lucky winner!  Check back on 1/5/16 at 8pm and I'll post the winner!  Happy New Year and happy blog hopping!!

Blog Hop List 2015
You are here---->Jen Matott http://arttalk-sigmagirl.blogspot.com/
Rhonda Van Ginkel http://snapwhiz.blogspot.com/
Kelly Jean Guzlas http://www.kelsterjean.com/
Juliana Michaels http://www.17turtles.com/