Rachel Loewens... live a creative life

Getting in a groove with #100daysofcollage

2016-05-04T19:53:00.000-05:00

So for those of you out there who haven't read my blog before, I just wanted to say welcome, glad you stopped by. You have found me in the midst of the #100dayschallenge where I have dared myself to complete 100 collages in 100-ish days (you can find other participants on Instagram by searching #100days).

While I am still in the first quarter of this challenge, I thought I would begin to cover some of the basics about my process so far. For starters, the paper. I knew that I wanted to work in a relatively small scale because my studio space is rather small and a lot of artists will tell you that the scale of their work is often informed by the size of their work space.

This 6x8" pad seemed like it had the perfect dimensions for what I had envisioned. Ideally, I would have purchased Arches paper and cut it down, but I was looking for something more low maintenance. I then made myself a view finder so that I could have a better idea of how my finished piece would look while I'm still in the layout phase.

Here is my rough draft of a collage. I can adjust the layout, change proportions and switch out papers before settling on the final design.

Already, I'm accumulating quite a stockpile of scraps. Think I'll have to start using these up soon before they totally take up my work space!

Any of you big Snap chat fans? I just joined up and am posting there on a somewhat regular basis. I'm rachelloewen with no spaces if you wanted to add me!

Biting off more than I can chew? (100 Days of Collage)

2016-04-27T13:47:00.000-05:00

For those of you who are addicted to Instagram like I am, you are all probably aware of the #the100daysproject. For everyone else, it is a sort of challenge to creative people to do what they do for 100 days in a row. I found out about it's launch date just before it happened and made an impulse decision to join in by focusing on #100daysofcollage. At first I used papers from my collection of magazines, but then switched over to my hand-printed ones on day three.

Old palette paper + drawn tissue paper.

Monoprint + layers of drawn tissue paper + acrylic paint

My stash of monoprints was starting to get low so I started cranking them out!

But then making them started to feel more stressful, and I was becoming more fixated on the end goal instead of enjoying the process of making them. I mean, this should be fun, right?

So now I am taking my time making these prints and giving myself permission to take a day off if need be.

I still plan on completing 100 collages, but I'm ok if it takes more than 100 days. Emily Jeffords talks about sustainable creativity on her blog and started the #doitfortheprocess hashtag on Instagram and those concepts are really resonating with me.

Are any of you participating in the #the100daysproject?

To see my work, follow me on Instagram or purchase prints here!

When life gets crazy, I collage

2016-04-16T06:00:00.000-05:00

The past nine months have been kinda crazy for my extended family medically speaking. Biopsies, cancer diagnosis, myasthenia gravis, feeding tubes, hospice care, heart transplant, infection, DNR, DNR repeal, DNR again, more biopsies, no cancer but abnormal cells, autoimmune responses, vitreous detachment, and on and on.

This week my grandfather-in-law finally passed away. He was a dearly loved man and left behind an amazing legacy of love and family. We are all taking comfort in the fact that he is no longer in pain and was fully ready for things to end. That being said, is is just hard and sad right now.

As we run around trying to get ready for the 10 hour drive that awaits us, I stepped away to have a little time in my studio to collage. It is what I do when I need to work with my hands and engage color but am a little bit of a mess inside.

What do these textures look like next to each other? How does this color relate to that one? This is my favorite kind of therapy.

Prints of these and others are available here in my shop.

What are your favorite creative coping mechanisms? Would love to hear your stories!

Spring cleaning on my blog and in my shop!

2016-04-12T13:12:00.000-05:00

After spending the last few weeks doing some spring cleaning in my house, I thought it was time to turn my attention to my blog! A new header and shop button were the first things to change on my list, and you will probably see a few other things updated over the course of the next week!

By the way, do any of you know how to get rid of the line separating my blog posts from the side bar? The one that is right over there? ---------->

It is kinda driving me nuts, and I haven't found a tutorial on how to remove it!

My shop is also getting updated! I hope you find it super easy to navigate!

After selecting the piece you like, you have several material options to choose from!

They will even mat and frame it for you before shipping out!!

I will continue to make more updates each week and will post those announcements on Instagram! Hope you are all having a productive season of cleaning/updating as well!!

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In my sketchbook: playing with borders

2016-04-06T16:17:00.000-05:00

This is just one of those weeks where I am having difficulty getting any studio time. Sketching time, however, has been much easier to come by.

(Look how nice and sweet our cat looks! Don't be deceived!! He loves to drool all over my sketches! Yet another reason why I am not much of a cat person.)

I really like to have parts of my designs go off the paper so that it feels like they extend beyond the work itself. Sometimes this can feel kind of awkward as I haven't always got the feel for a shape down before my pen hits the paper. I had the idea this week to draw a border about 1" around my paper so that I could have those initial movements outside the finished piece.

Then I thought it would be interesting to do two pieces side by side on the same sheet.

After that I tried to see what would happen if I had a piece in the middle overlap both working areas. I already had multiple shapes down so it didn't work so well.

The next time, I drew two shapes overlapping both work areas. The final design in the left one ended up being significantly stronger than the one on the right.

Lastly, I kept things simple and had just one shape overlap. That gave me much more freedom to then work on each side individually because I want both sides to be interesting.

Left side:

Right side:

This whole, "What happens if I try this?" process is what really fuels my creativity. It keeps me from getting stuck in a rut and keeps my curiosity alive!

To make sure that you don't miss any of my posts follow me here on Blog Lovin!

In the kitchen: Kraut-chi and other fermented veggie experiments

2016-03-31T14:22:00.000-05:00

Do any of you have the tendency to read and book about a topic that really excites you, and then become completely obsessed with said new topic until you have a major reality check slap you in the face?

No? Yes?

Well, I have that tendency, and it kinda kicked my butt last week!

I kept coming across blog posts about the benefits of fermented foods, but Sandor Katz's book The Art of Fermentation was what really sent me into overdrive. Particularly all of the info about making kraut-chi (combo of sour kraut and kim-chi) and other fermented vegetables.

My first attempt did not fair so well because I was trying to mash off of my cabbage using a wooden spoon. Then I found this lovely wooden mallet at my favorite thrift store for $2 and really went to town!

And when I say "went to town", what I really mean is that I totally forgot that I have arthritis in most of my body and spent hours mashing away at cabbage, and then could hardly move for the next several days. Now you know why I went so long between blog posts! Oopsie!

Making a brine for some brussel sprouts that were on sale last week at Aldi's was so much easier so I anticipate making more veggies like this!

I even remembered to tape notes to the jars so that I can make them again if they turn out well!

Would love to hear if any of you have tried fermented veggies, too!

Watercolor race prep

2016-03-18T14:06:00.000-05:00

There is just something about springtime that always makes me pull out my watercolors. I think it has something to do with how light the paint feels. Does that sound weird?

Watercolor is also a very portable medium which is nice because this weekend is the first road race (cycling) of the season in Nebraska and if the weather predictions hold, I will be rooting for my husband from the car. I've got quite few of these pieces started and filled up a pencil bag with markers, pens, and pencils to take along.

I also have like six books from the library that had been on hold for awhile that all became available this week! Anyone else have this happen?

For those of you who do watercolor more often, I'm in need of a making fluid recommendation! I usually use rubber cement, but it kinda turns my paper yellow and I don't like that!! Thanks in advance!!

Hope you all have a blessed weekend!

More ink experiments

2016-03-14T09:44:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I was messing around with ink and watercolor paper and decided to try a few more things! For instance, what happens when you combine ink, copic marker, a felt tip marker and then spray it with water?

Or when you spray a leaf design you drew?

Or a surface design...

Or an absract landscape of sorts!

Happy creative experiments to all of you!

Toddler art takeover

2016-03-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

The best way to know my kiddos are feeling better is when the oldest asks, " Mom, can we make acrylic skins?" For those of you who have never made them, Jane Davies does a great tutorial here!

I toyed with the idea of working on the dining table, but I kinda like the idea of the kids creating in my studio. While it is really easy to fit one of them in there, but it can get kinda tricky with all three. I had two blank canvases that I adhered pieces of wax paper to (wax paper was the substrate for the skins. Note: see update at end of post before trying this yourself!) using artist tape and a third to a basic drawing board. The kids picked green and blue for their first colors, and then I let them go at it!!

A good 20-30 minutes of work time is usually all they need! I've found that limiting their color palette greatly increases the kids happiness with the final product!

I'm planning on doing some live Periscope video tutorials this weekend talking about ways to make art with your kids. My handle is @rachelloewens if you want to join in on the conversation!!

Urgent update!! Do NOT use wax paper for a substrate when making a skin. They won't come off!! Agh!! I haven't told my daughter this devastating news because I am pretty sure there will be tears. Think I will go back to using sheet protectors or my gelli plate because they are a safe bet. Much apologies to anyone who tried this with the wax paper!!

In the kitchen: comfort food for crummy colds

2016-03-04T12:37:00.001-06:00

The Lowens Haus got hit with a round of colds this week. The drippy nose, constant cough sometimes accompanied by a fever, up several times during the night kind of colds. Bleh.

I'm sure it won't come as a big shock that I haven't been painting much. I just don't work very well when I'm sleep deprived. There would have been a time where seeing my unfinished work just sitting there would have left me restless, but I've started to enjoy just going into my studio to look at my work, the tubes of paint lying where I left them last and my houseplants bathed in nice northern light.

The weather is just cool enough that a bowl of warm soup still sounds like the best thing after a day of using copious amounts of hand sanitizer. For this meal I made

Curried Lentil Soup by the Nourished Kitchen (skip the pre-soak and cook lentils in soup)

Balsamic Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts (hold the bacon to make this meal vegan)

with roasted craisins and sunflower seeds to top it off.

I had originally planned on recording on Periscope for my first time on Saturday but think that will be just too much for me. Fingers crossed that everyone gets better this weekend!!

If you want to go ahead and follow me in anticipation of my fist broadcast my handle is @rachelloewens.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

In my studio: ink experiments

2016-02-23T13:33:00.003-06:00

Last Friday night I was hanging out with my husband when an idea hit me. What would happen if I used a spray bottle on an ink drawing?

The black ink I draw with would do absolutely nothing because it becomes permanent so quickly, but I had no clue what would happen with my new blue-green ink.

Well, the result (I thought) was kind of amazing. The amount of bleed was definitely impacted by how close the water bottle was to the paper and the angle that I held the sketchbook. Having watercolor pencils nearby, I added some washes of blue to create depth.

The next morning I taped down some paper that I thought was watercolor paper (but now am pretty sure isn't) and played around with washes, drips and spraying. The result was nice but different from what I achieved on the watercolor paper.

This time around I made sure to use the same sketchbook paper from the first time. I had my camera set up to record and take close ups afterwards so you could get a better idea of what I was up to.

Kinda cool, right? Now I should warn you that I have not made any type of multi-media video since like the fourth grade. Seriously. Fourth grade. I'm not sure which is more shocking, that I was able to figure out how to use an app to add text to my video or that my kids were quiet while I shot it!

Stay tuned to see where these experiments lead, or if I ever attempt to record again! :-)

In my studio: ten minutes at a time

2016-02-08T09:33:00.000-06:00

As a wife and momma, I sometimes long for extended times to spend working in my studio. As Herman Melville wrote in a letter to Nathaniel Hawthorne, " I am so pulled hither and thither by circumstances. The calm, the coolness, the silent grass-growing mood in which a man ought always compose, --that, I fear, can seldom be mine."

This notion that I had to have at least three hours to work if I was going really make art was all fine and dandy when I was young and had fewer responsibilities. Now, that just isn't going to cut it. I would never make anything if that was still a requirement for art making.

Ten to twenty minute spurts are how I seem to best operate now. Washing machine cycle is almost over... Run!! I can glue down those collage pieces before it is finished!

The kids are about to wake from their naps. Can I get those canvases primed in time? Yes!

Sketching while simmering soup for dinner? Of course!!

The couple of pieces I am currently working on have been made in short increments of time.

(Still in the beginning phase)

Here's to making it work while still getting on with life's work!!

Surviving #snomahog

2016-02-03T11:16:00.000-06:00

Snomahog? Yes, snomahog! The Mayor of Omaha accidentally dubbed our most recent blizzard after some sort of snow/ city in Nebraska/ porcine creature. Really. I'm not clever enough to make this sort of thing up!

Anyway, my kiddos informed me last week that they were done with snow. All being to young for school, the prospect of a snow day held little appeal. That is until I mentioned that Daddy would stay home all day, that they could stay in their jammies and could pick out new art supplies at Dick Blick to keep them busy during our confinement. Instant attitude improvement!

Now while my kiddos were super pumped about their creative enterprises, I was not so excited. You may recall that I am working on this massive garter stitch blanket and should, therefore, be thrilled at the prospect of being snowed in with knitting to be done. However, I accidentally spilled hot sugar (like 300 F hot sugar) down my hand. I'm not really in any pain, but the bandages make knitting super awkward!

I am still able to draw so I've been making some patterns on tissue paper for future collages and been playing around with two-tone pen and ink designs in my sketchbook, too.

Hope all of you that were snowed in, too had as much fun as we did!!

In the kitchen: brining and baking

2016-01-26T11:23:00.000-06:00

If you were two sum up how I have spent my free time this past week, it would only take two words: brining and baking. Or maybe I should say reading about brining because I've spent significantly more hours learning about the brining process than actually doing brining work.

After reading this lovely post on The Nourished Kitchen about preserving lemons, I knew I had to try it myself.

The prep work was super basic so it looks like the real challenge will be waiting for the lemons to cure. In the meantime, I'm searching Pinterest for recipes to try when they are ready.

Now, for the baking news. My whole family loves my modified version of the Cinnamon Raisin Quick Bread recipe from the 100 Days of Real Food cook book so much that I always make a double batch. I don't know about you , but I always have this "ahhhhh" moment when bread goes into the oven. I pour myself another cup of coffee and stick it in the microwave...

...only to discover that I forgot to put in the melted dairy-free butter. Yeah. Mom fail. Thankfully it is still yummy and even tastes more bready and less cakey which I like. The only downside is that it doesn't stay moist as long do I think I'll just use about half of what the recipe calls for from now on.

In other baking related news, I found a stack of 5" wide baskets for 98c at my favorite thrift store! These will be perfect to prove small loaves of sour dough bread in later this week!

To see more pictures of my baking/sketching/knitting adventures, make sure you follow me on Instagram!!

Knitting Koselig

2016-01-18T09:38:00.001-06:00

So, this is the forecast I awoke to on Sunday morning. Yeah, I know. Last year, tears would have welled up in my eyes with this sort of forecast.

Thankfully, one of my friends posted this article on how Norwegians not only survive these seeming endless cold days but actually enjoy them!

"Norwegians have a word, koselig, that means a sense of coziness. It's like the best parts of Christmas without all the stress. People light candles, light fires, drink warm beverages, and sit under fuzzy blankets."

I can totally get behind this idea!!

My son has been wanting me to knit him a blanket since his older sister has one of her own. I'm using the Super Easy Blanket pattern/formula but with slightly different gauge and yarn (Ravelry link here).

Hope the endless rows of garter stitch help keep me cozy at least through March!

A little crayon therapy

2015-07-18T11:48:00.001-05:00

We spent Independence Day at my husband's grandparents house in Langdon, ND. This quiet little town is the perfect escape for our little ones who are not big fans of fireworks. Also, my Grandparents-in-law are just wonderful people. They've set a great example to the family of how Christians should live and love people, warts and all!

It was really hard to say goodbye to them on this trip because Grandpa's second round of cancer is finally catching up with him, and we don't expect to see him again on this side of eternity. We are filled with a mix of grief for our up-coming loss but also a hope-filled peace that he will soon no longer have to feel the effects of this disease.

This up and down of emotions has just made me just not want to work on anything I've got "in process" for the moment. I knew that I just needed to work on something so I was thankful that Jane Davies posted this showing her latest pieces using crayons. Given the ages of my children I'm sure you can imaging how many crayons I have!!

I ended up using a combination of crayons, oil pastels and watercolor. The pastels and crayons work as a resist for the watercolor which can created some interesting pooling of color.

The older I get the more I appreciate these times to just experiment and play. They help keep my creative energy up and any negative inner criticism down. Using cheaper materials also takes off the pressure to create masterpieces each time I'm in my studio!

Speaking of tough critics, my four-year-old told me that she thinks I did really well on these pieces. She is not known for holding back negative reviews of my work so positive comments are always appreciated! :-)

Race Report: Odin's Revenge

2015-07-08T14:28:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago my husband and I went to Gothenburg, NE for Odin's Revenge, a self-supported gravel bike race. Note: my husband is the one who races. I merely come along for the fun.

The short course riders leave at 6:45 in the morning so there is no sleeping in on this vacation!

After seeing Travis off, I headed back to the hotel for some breakfast and to attempt some watercolor landscapes and read a bit.

As you can see, landscapes are nowhere near my strong suit, but it is a genre that I would like to gradually get better at with time.

Trav was done with the race by noon (he got third) so we decided to go explore some gravel roads just the two of us!

I ride a road bike so my husband wanted to check my tire pressure right off the bat. It is very nice to ride with someone who can take care of those things for you!

And he took this lovely selfie to remember our adventure date!

Trying something new!

2015-06-26T06:00:00.000-05:00

When I collage, I have a tendency of using small pieces of paper. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this method, but I wanted to try to maintain some larger areas in these pieces.

In an attempt to be more organized, I've already uploaded these to my print store for sale!

Happy making!

Science notebook success!!

2015-06-23T06:00:00.000-05:00

When I was a youngster I loved to hike. I lived in a house surrounded by trees so I spent as much time outside as I did in. As I got older and had some health issues (more on that subject at a later time), hiking was no longer an activity that I could enjoy.

Thankfully this summer has been quite the turn-around for me. I'm feeling better than I have in a long while, and we are starting to make a Sunday hike part of our weekly routine. My kiddos have been all up for it until lately when a dead baby animal sighting and a drastic increase of mosquitoes have threatened to derail this exercise.

I knew that if I gave my kiddos some sort of activity to do while we hike we would be fine, but what can you "do" with a 4yo and 3yo while you hike? My solution was to make a science notebook where they could mark off each time they saw something on the trail.

I made a list of the most common things we see and showed them how to make a tick mark each time they saw the item listed. Knowing my children as I do, I knew that this would last no more than five minutes, but I hoped that it would at least kinda redeem hiking in their little minds.

As predicted, they lost interest in making little marks, but instead drew a line or scribble each time they saw something of note. Ants, butterflies, squirrels, wild turkeys and bird sightings were all meticulously recorded on this page.

So not only did we get through our Sunday/Father's Day adventure, but now I have an activity to try for our upcoming 10+ hour road trip!

My process: quilting with paper

2015-06-16T13:43:00.000-05:00

So, I thought I would talk a little bit about my process today. Specifically, how I select the papers I use in a particular collage. Most of the papers I use come from magazines because they are convenient and are otherwise headed to the recycling bin!

My stash isn't too big, but I do have the goal in the back of my head that I should try to use it all up by the end of the year. This helps me avoid hanging on to "favorite" pieces or treating them as precious. The second I start being concerned with "ruining" a piece by cutting it up, I know I'm going to get stuck!

So, I'm sitting on my couch with these piles of paper before me thinking, "Where should I start?" The easiest place for me to begin is to grab the first piece that really jumps out at me. Then I start flipping through the stacks pulling out other pieces that I think would go well with that first piece. In the picture below, I started with the page that is on top.

If you are a quilter, you will probably think that this sounds quite a lot like the process you use when pulling fabrics at the store because that is really how I view a collage, a quilt out of paper.

I try to find an interesting balance between warm and cool colors, semi-solids and patterns and so forth. Sometimes I'm really successful at this and sometimes not so much!

Often I go and pick out paper for multiple collages at once with the intention of doing all the cutting and pasting in the very near future. This has lead to multiple "What was I thinking?" moments when I look back at what I've previously assembled. :-)

Anyway, selecting the papers I'm going to use for a piece is one of if not my favorite part of the process. Would love to know if any of you work this way as well!

Happy making!

Shop update!

2015-06-09T14:04:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to let you all know that I've update my shop on Fine Art America to include my latest collages!

They provide multiple print options as well as pillows, duvet covers, tote bags and cell phone cases!

Also, you have the ability to select the size of print to best fit your wall size!

Happy making (and shopping)!

More naptime making and interruptions!

2015-06-05T14:00:00.000-05:00

Well, it looks like all these "Naptime Collages" might become a series since I keep making them! I've even toyed with recording myself making one until I realized how many times I have to stop and check in on one of my sleeping kiddos. (going to pause writing now to do just that!)

The one from the previous post and the three pictured above are all made on these pressed wood boards that I purchased last year at a school closing sale. They are a nice size and make an excellent substrate! You can see in the one below where I used a thick paper as a substrate how it curls up on the left side a bit. That won't be noticeable if I scan it in for prints or frame it for my own wall so I'm not worried!

If anyone knows of any amazing tutorials for how to record yourself making art, please put a link in the comment section in case I decide to try it anyway!

Happy making!!

What I'm Making: a naptime collage

2015-06-01T06:00:00.000-05:00

I really needed to make something. I mean, REALLY needed to make something. As much as I love having my living room painted, the loss of making time over the past two weeks was really taking a toll on me.

Past experience has taught me that one of the easiest ways to get back in the creative mood is to piece some collages. There is something rather meditative about cutting up paper and you can always glue over the parts you don't like. For example, I thought for a little bit that the piece was complete as it was below.

But then I thought that the proportions were a bit off so with a little bit of tweaking I ended up with this!

I wish I would have used a gel medium instead of a fluid medium so the wrinkles wouldn't have been so bad. Live and learn!

Art in Progress: Flora Bowley

2015-05-29T07:27:00.002-05:00

I think I stumbled upon this video of Flora Bowley painting on Pinterest (of course!) and just loved all her methods of mark making- especially when she uses her fingers!

Flora Bowley ~ Brave Intuitive Painting from Zipporah on Vimeo.

Happy Friday!

Memorial weekend making

2015-05-26T13:35:00.000-05:00

My goal to have most of the living room painted was sort-of met. The brush that I was using for edging broke so I still have some touch-ups to do and an entire wall still needs a second coat. Thankfully said wall is behind a sofa, bookcase and artwork so no one could tell!

Friday night was spent watching Dr. Who on the porch by the fire. My kind of date!

The Grammy's took turn watching the kiddos so I had plenty of time to clean the house and prep food for Monday night.

We make foil-pack dinners on the fire so most of my work is chopping all the veggies!

All week long it looked as though it would rain, but thankfully the storm did not roll in until after the evening was over. Each year I try to prepare only enough food for the night so I won't have to deal with leftovers and each year I fail. Guess what? This year was no exception!

We don't usually each meat but we had quite a bit left so I made a huge batch of beef curry which easily used up ALL the leftovers!

And here's a little peek into what I was sketching on the porch!