Given To Art

New Website!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Thu, 22 May 2014 02:12:00 +0000

Well folks I haven't blogged on here in quite a while. I ruptured a disc in my back a couple of months and I guess I kind of lost my blogging mojo. I wasn't able to get up and move around much so that meant no painting either.

However I am feeling pretty good now and back to work preparing for my upcoming exhibition. In light of that I made a pretty momentous decision. Well comparatively speaking that is. I decided that I needed to lose the brand and concentrate on backing myself as an artist. I am proud of my art, and I've been working hard on being a 'proper artist'.
So from now on I am standing behind my own name and not hiding behind a brand name.

And on that note, I'm going to send you all along to my new website.
www.sarahwherryart.com

Have a look around and be sure to bookmark the site! You can still follow me on google+ , facebook, pinterest and twitter where I'll share links to blog posts on my new site.
Drop me a line over on the new site and let me know what you think of it!

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New Work!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 06:41:00 +0000

Thought I'd do a quick post to show you all my two newest works! Slowly but surely getting a stock up for the exhibition in September. What do you think?

Following, Into The Unknown. Mixed Media on canvas, 30" across

Defiance. Mixed media on canvas, 36 x 48"

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An Open Letter To Book Lovers Across The World

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 06:29:00 +0000

A little note from my Dad.....

We all stand on the hands of the clock face of time. At first, when we are young the hands moved slowly, then as the dramas of our lives unfolded, the hands of time seem to speed up and there never seemed to be enough time to do all of the things that living a life requires in this crazy world. Every now and then we took a moment to reflect on the things that have happened in our own little world, we watched as our children grew from babies to adulthood, and we wondered where the time had gone, and this is the place that I find myself in now. The doorway has opened to the autumn of my life. I look back through weary eyes, and I reflect on the things that were, those that I knew, and those whose lives were never fulfilled. I am at the final fork on the road of my life and I wonder as to where it shall lead me.

I recently wrote a book about my journey through life. It starts out with me as a child in an orphanage in the 1950's in Australia. The road that I travelled as a child along with other orphan children was littered with pot holes of despair and caverns of darkness. From my earliest recollections I was searching for a father who had once loved me, but had left me when I was three years old with no explanation. The authorities said that I had no right to any information about my family. I was 16 when I asked for their help. It would take me another 31 years to find out the truth. I spent 47 years of my life in total trying to find out the truth about my fathers death and where we had come from, and who I was. Along the road I was involved in the death of a young policeman. The death of that young man played an important part in me finding what I had been been searching for, for so many years, and I dedicated my book to his memory. My search took me across the world to Ireland and to the land of my family who I had never known.

My book is called A Long Way To Goulacullin. Goulacullin is pronounced Gill A Cullin. It is Gaelic and means River By The Glen. It is a place that is dear to my heart and on Sunday the 30th of March I will be travelling back there. You can follow my journey over the following two weeks on my Facebook page. John Kingston McMahon. I live in a small town called Gordon in the state of Victoria, Australia. Now the reason that I'm writing this post is to promote my book. It was released on December the 5th 2013. Just 15 weeks ago. It already has some good reviews, two from newspapers and one from that eminent book review company Kirkus. There are also some good reviews on the Amazon Kindle site. So far people in New Zealand, Italy, America, Ireland and Australia have read my story. I am very gratified by this, but a book is a commodity like any other product, and if the commodity is not marketed then hardly anyone will hear about it.

So I am asking book lovers and people from around the world if they could please share this post even if they don't want to buy and read my story.

I would also love to hear from anyone that has read my post, and, or my book and if you could email me to let me know what country that you live in, that would be great. I will reply to your email. I'm an old bloke who is trying to keep up with the technology that seems to change almost every day. So I thought that if I used the internet to promote my story, I could also see if this technology does connect people from around the world.

My email is goulacullin@gmail.com and my name is John.

Writing my story was emotionally very hard for me, for it is a sad story, and those of you with a soft heart may cry a little when you read it, but that's okay, because if you read my story and you shed a tear, then you shed tears for the children in my story that had no one to cry for them, and that can't be a bad thing. But as hard as it was to write this story, it pales into insignificance in trying to get a book published. I don't have the time to wait months, or possibly years for a mainstream publisher to decide if they wanted to publish my book. So I took the bull by the horns and self published my story.

All that means is that I paid for the publishing costs and in doing so, it allows me to get my book into the market place sooner. But like all amateurs I had no idea on how to market my book. But I'm getting there, and with your help I can promote it more. I don't have a publishing budget like the big publishing houses, in fact, I don't have a budget at all. I'm not a wealthy man, I just had a need to write this story, and it seems to have struck a chord with people who have read it, so I am grateful for that. You can buy my book on lots of internet sites, for a variety of prices. I found that Amazon Kindle is about the cheapest place to buy it from, either as an Ebook, paper or hard back. But recently I was invited to sell my book with an American magazine company. The company is called Focus on Women and you can see my book on their web site http://www.focusonwomenmagazine.net/books-fowm.html. I was happy to become involved with this company and 15 per cent of every copy of my book that they sell goes to the Afghan women's charity that assists abused and mutilated women, so if you have a mind to buy my book, you may pay a little more, but if it helps those who need a helping hand, then that can't be a bad thing.

In this so called enlightened world that we live in, there is still so much suffering and hardship and I wonder why. The picture on the cover of my book is me with my Teddy bear. I was three years old when the photo was taken, probably at the orphanage. My old Teddy is still around, he seems to have worn the years better than I have.

So book lovers from around the world can you help me promote my book, purely as an act of kindness for a stranger? Will you all share my post and let me see as to how far it will go?

You can see the video trailer of my book at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqosk8-vBPs and the Kirkus book review is below. Thank you all for reading and sharing this.

A Long Way To Goulacullin by John Kingston McMahon

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Work In Progress!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Sun, 23 Mar 2014 08:01:00 +0000

Expect to see quite a few work in progress posts during this year, now that I have a major exhibition to work towards! I'll be doing lots of work, so will post updates of them for you all to see.

I'm aiming for at least 25 artworks in my exhibition, and given I have 4 completed I think I'm going to be busy! So here is #3 in my Abstract Illustration, Animals series....the Moose. I've titled this one Defiance, in deference to the don't give a rats attitude that apparently Moose have. This one certainly seems to have that sort of stance.

I love doing the backgrounds to these paintings. I start with a coloured ground, then mountains of gesso very liberally applied over the top.

I then use ink pouring it straight from the bottle, letting it run down the canvas. Some parts I rub in with my hands, some I leave alone. I keep repeating this process until I'm happy and then I begin with the oil pastel, adding highlights again until I'm happy with the overall composition and colours.

Once I determine the right location compositionally speaking, for my animal of choice I let loose with the ink again. And this is the final result. I love my moose! Next up I think is an Emperor Penguin cradling an egg.....

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Art Lessons Update!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 02:31:00 +0000

I have become a terrible blogger lately! My posts have been very sporadic and I can really only blame it on a busy life! I am very sorry and I will try to post more often, I promise!!

So today I thought I'd share a little bit of an update on my afterschool lessons so far. I can't quite believe there are only 3 weeks left of term 1, so I have a bit to fill you all in on.

So far this term we have done:

Week 1- Self portraits and gouache

Week 2 - Space drawings and soft pastel

Week 3 - Colour wheels and mixing your own colour

Week 4 - Foam printing using foam sheets and pens

Week 5 - Silhouettes and charcoal

Week 6 - Contour drawings including continuous line drawings

Week 7 - Collage and perspective

Here are a couple of examples from the foam printing and silhouettes classes:

Emily - we did get the knack of writing backwards in the end!

Jacinta

Skye

Hannah

Here are some photos from yesterdays lesson, which was perspective and collage. The idea was to create the perspective that you were laying down looking up at the sky through the trees. This lesson gave them all a little bit more a challenge, which I had deliberately planned. They all at least got one tree and building done, but some students were able to add in a little more in the time we had available. It took all of the hour and a half to get this one done!

Backgrounds were painted with acrylic paint, the buildings and trees were initially done in collage - the kids had to tear or cut up their own paper and then choose appropriate sized and coloured pieces to work with. I did let them sketch out their trees first, then after the collage was done, they used black and white ink to paint in a little detail.

All the kids working studiously.

Kayla

Jacinta

Hannah

Skye

Ryan

Matthew

Olivia M.

Emily

Olivia H.

All these kids are between the ages of 8 and 12. I think they are fantastic and it shows how much talent and enthusiasm they all have that they are able to achieve such great results. I love teaching them and I'm excited about next week's lesson.

We will be doing transcriptions, so I can't wait to see what they come up with! Be sure to leave a comment about their work; I love to pass on what others have said as it only adds to their confidence.

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A Major Solo Exhibition In The Works!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Sat, 15 Mar 2014 02:07:00 +0000

I know I've been quite slack on the posting side of things lately - I do have a couple of artists features still to share with you all and I need to catch up on the lesson posts. My students have been doing some wonderful work: I'm so impressed with them all!

But in other news, I had applied for an arts residency and while I wasn't successful I had contacted them for some feedback and was very excited at their response. After being just a little down in the dumps that I hadn't gotten the residency when he gave me feedback it certainly cheered me up no end!

He said that my application was fantastic and it was more of a testament to the overall quality of all the applications, rather than anything being wrong with mine. Mine was one of the top 5, and of those the 4 'runners up' were so close that they simply couldn't decide on a second winner.

So when I went in to meet with him yesterday he offered me a two week City funded exhibition, plus they'll employ me to run a 3 hour workshop concurrently with the exhibition! He said that they were very excited to be working with me, and he loved my work and thought it was unique to the area and will definitely be a great thing for not just me but also the City!

The exhibition will be run in the last half of September, and there will be an official opening with City Dignitaries present! I'm super excited about it, and just a little bit nervous as well. I have to now decide on how many works I want to do, placement of them within the 83sqm gallery space and invitation and catalogue design. And then also of course who I want to attend the opening!

I guess there's nothing left but to get painting and creating!! Wish me luck!

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I Love My Chucks!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 01:47:00 +0000

I don't think it's a secret that I love love love my Converse Chuck Taylors. They are my favourite shoes ever and I have several pairs. But as with everything in life (or at least inanimate objects), you may have several of something but one will always stand out as top dog, and as it was with my shoes. I am not really a typical girl when it comes to needing to have a million pairs of shoes, and I own only one or possibly two pairs of heels. But I have a long desired for pair of Doc Martens and several pairs of Chucks, along with a pair of thongs (flip flops for all you non-Aussies - I am not referring to underwear here, haha!) and maybe a pair of flats. That's pretty much it.

So my favourite pair of Chucks tends to get a lot of wear! I have worn the same pair on a very consistent basis - read as close to everyday as you can get - since I got them in early 2010. And now they have officially died. Yes, I'm a little heartbroken about it.

You can't overly see it in these photos, but when I put them on my feet kind of fall out of the holes on the sides of the shoes. :(

I designed them myself on the Converse website and as you can see, they really are beyond wearing now. So to cheer myself up, I decided to decorate another pair that I do love almost equally as much. And I say almost, but I probably should love them even more. You see I wore another pair of Chucks that I designed on the website to my wedding. I had a knee length dress and a cute pair of white high tops with pink love hearts adorning the lining. I have mine and my husbands initials embroidered onto the shoes, and I drew a heart in between the initials.

I hadn't worn them overly much since the wedding partly because I love the others so much, but also because they're white I didn't want to just have them end up grubby. So I decorated them and I love them. Now they're my new favourites! What do you think?

Before.

After.

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Make An Offer Month!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 02:57:00 +0000

I have no room left to store paintings! So for the rest of February it's officially Make An Offer Month.

All of the artworks that are available in my portfolio are included, simply have a look under the portfolio tab above and message me your best offer!

You can also go to Facebook and see all the details there.

Simply email giventoart76@gmail.com with your best offer and I'll provide you with a shipping quote. International shipping is available, all rates are reasonable and locals can pick their work up and pay COD. All other payments are via Paypal or Bank Deposit.

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New Work In Progress: Wolves

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Sun, 16 Feb 2014 00:50:00 +0000

For the last few days I've been working on my second piece in my Abstract Illustration Animals series, the Wolves.

The four photos show the progression so far: I started with a blank canvas which I slathered extra gesso and a couple of texture mediums. I then poured ink over it, letting it run in some places and using my hands to rub it in in other places.

For this piece I was aiming to have the colours be reminiscent of the Northern Lights because I knew I wanted to have wolves be the focus of the work. Once the ink was done, I used oil pastels to create the colours of the lights and also added some colour into the base of the image.

When that was done, I was pretty happy with the top half but felt that the lower half needed something so I added some white paint, just a little bit here and there. After analysing it for a while I decided it needed more white, so I used more white ink and rubbed it in with my hands. Then I was much happier with it!

I played around with quite a few images of wolves until I found the ones I was happy with and collaged them on. Now all that's left is to draw them with ink to finish the picture. What do you think?

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Art Lessons Week 2: I Have Amazing Students!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 15:01:00 +0000

Today's lesson was all about using soft, hard and oil pastels to create drawings of space nebula's. The kids really got into it and produced some awesome pictures, so I thought it would be nice to show you all what amazing students I have!

Olivia H.

Jacinta

Emily

Kayla

Ryan

Matthew

Olivia M.

I think they look so great, and it was awesome to see them get so excited and involved in creating their space drawings!

Next week we are going to be making our own colour wheels, with a little bit of a twist. Instead of making a standard colour wheel, we'll be making a colour mohawk, or rainbow or pie..... Intrigued? Stay tuned for the results in a week's time!

I'll be back in a day or two to show you the second work in my Abstract Illustration: Animals series.

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One of my Favourite Posters...

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 08:43:00 +0000

My husband has an impressive collection of screen printed posters, mostly Pearl Jam of course! One of my very favourites is the one you can see here. Aside from the awesome design, it's Eddie Vedder as Batman!!! Who could not love it?! But even if the subject matter doesn't thrill you, the design elements should score points. Great composition, gorgeous colours - the blue is actually metallic but of course you can't see that in this picture.

So one of the reasons I've been MIA from this blog for a little bit is that we've been painting the kitchen and then we saw the wonderful Mr. Vedder in concert two nights in a row which might just have made my year (and yes, it's only February!!). So I thought in honour of the fact that he put on a better than stellar show both nights, I'd show you my little kitchen makeover which of course includes said Eddie Vedder poster!

So first up a couple of before photos: (you also need to bear in mind we're in a rental so while we could paint the walls and cupboards, we couldn't change anything major).

Grubby and boring white cupboards, dull green grey walls and a disgustingly dirty yellow and off white ceiling was the palette we had to work with.

So the colour I chose for the walls is called Self Destruct and it's kind of a latte colour. I love it! It has just the right amount of intensity while still being the neutral the landlords wanted. The trims are a glossy white and the cupboards are a gorgeous vintage duck egg blue. We had to paint the ceiling because of the grossness of it, obviously a standard ceiling white. With a bit of decluttering after it was all painted I just love the finished result. I stumbled on the curtains - they were the only set there, just sitting on the shelf at Spotlight, and the colours matched so perfectly I thought it must be fate so I had to have them! Then we framed the now infamous EV print and I chose a matt silver frame and float mounted it onto black mat board. It matches the kitchen, the retro feel and colours and just finishes it off nicely.

I love our big old refectory table. My husband isn't sold on the orange legs but that's ok cause I am!

The print makes me smile every single time I walk into the kitchen. It just makes me happy!

My antique bottle collection gets pride of place on the pantry.

And these are a few of my favourite things: our Tiki and Pirate ceramic cups from Psycho Suzies in Minneapolis....

and my beautiful Japanese Cherry Blossom tea cup and the gorgeous little bluebird trinket holder that belonged to my husbands' Mother.

One of my daughters' did ceramics at school last year and made this sculpture. It's McFrog Fries and I love it! I also have my growing salt and pepper shaker collection on our kitchen dresser, and they too make me smile every time I look at them!

So what do you think? A kitchen has to be practical yes, but it also needs to hold things that you love and that you get enjoyment from. After all, you spend a lot of time in there!

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Featured Artist Series: Josh McCrimmon

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 02:43:00 +0000

Today's feature artist is someone just a little bit different! I hadn't seen Josh McCrimmon's work before and Teresa (from the last feature) suggested I look him up. And am I ever glad I did! His work is so fun and full of life, l just love it!

Josh has been a studio holder with the Maribyrnong River Edge Artists Movement, and is an associate member of the Australian Cartoonists Association. His work definitely has a street art feel and he himself says that Melbourne Street Art is one of his major influences.

Couple Dream

Couple Muttonbird

Josh has had work published in magazines and newsletters, and has been actively exhibiting over the last few years or so. He and I were actually part of the same exhibition at one point. The first Red Rock Regional Art Gallery Group exhibition in Coroorooke in Victoria in 2012. He has also won several awards for his art over the last couple of years.

Geography Lesson

Gulls

His work has a gorgeous undefinable quality to it: it's kind of raw, almost whimsical, very illustrative and it really speaks to you. Well....it does to me anyway! He says that he thinks art is at its best when it is "raw, local and embedded in grassroots". I think he's got those qualities down perfectly within his work.

Heads

Falling

Josh can be found at his very awesomely titled website, Supermarket Monkey. I just love the above work, Falling. I think it describes the chaos that you can feel when everything is just overwhelming you and it feels like it's all coming down on top of you. What about you? Which work do you like best, and what does it say to you?

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Art Lessons Term Planner

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 01:57:00 +0000

Term 1, 2014 is fast approaching! School starts back up next Monday and my lessons start up Thursday of next week. So I thought I'd do a run down each week of what the plans are with examples to give you all a little sneak peak of what my amazing students will be doing!

Week 1:

A different type of self portrait! We'll be using ink, watercolour and pen to create a portrait of ourselves that is full of colour and movement. We will be looking at artists who work with portraiture in different styles, such as David Bromley (Aus) and David Walker (UK). Both these artists work in very unique styles of portraiture.

David Walker uses spray paint on canvas to create wonderfully emotive portraits that bounce off the walls. David Bromley uses a more illustrative style, reminiscent of comic book styles of drawing. Both artists uses colour to represent the people they are painting, and it is this aspect we will be focusing on in our lesson.

Ditty, Spray Paint on Canvas, David Walker 2011.

Lighthouse Boy, Acrylic and Embroidery on Canvas, David Bromley.

Screaming Face, Gabrella R. Washington Elementary School

I came across the above image and thought it fit perfectly with the first week's lesson. The image was taken from Michigan Arts Education Association, and I give full credit to the Gabrella, the child artist! I'd like my students to explore using different colours and compositions within their self portraits, focusing on trying to create an emotion within the picture, not just a painting of their own face.

We'll be using watercolour for the 'hair', gouache for the face, and ink for the outlines. I can't wait to see how they turn out. I'll have a gallery of students' work up on this site which I'll be updating throughout the term. Next week I'll bring you lesson 2, where we'll be using soft pastels on black paper to create a space image!

Now, you might have noticed I missed the Featured Artist Series last week. Things have been a little hectic around here with getting my painting ready for the Mandjar art awards, finishing off my artist residency application (more about that in another post), and also painting the kitchen (which I'll also be doing a post on, it's a great interior design redo!). So I missed posting on my next Featured Artist, but never fear!! I will be back later this week to show you work by a funky modern Australian artist whose work is very illustrative and very very fun!

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New Work In Progress; Sneak Peak at a New Series!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 02:16:00 +0000

Last night I finished (bar the edges) a new piece. I have to say I'm kind of in love with it. A friend and fellow artist said that it's a requirement to be in love with your own art. But sometimes you aren't. Sometimes you are just ok with it. And that in itself is ok I think if you are trying to make a living as an artist, because the object is to get art out there, right? You don't necessarily have to love each and every piece so long as you like them and are happy with them overall.

But this one, I love. And I've figured out what this year will be, art wise that is. I've been trying to figure out what I wanted to focus on in terms of creating art, only knowing that I want to create lots of it this year. I'm applying for my first artist residency next week and while thinking about what I want to say in the application it got me to thinking about the direction I want to go in.

I love my wax paintings, and I know I want to continue to do more of them. But I also love the idea of still creating landscapes because artfully speaking, they're my first love. I do love abstract work and have been playing with the idea of abstract work but up until last night had no clue as to how to keep it 'me.' So for this year, I am going to work on three series' of works. My wax based works, with collaged images over the top, then I will also be working on what I am calling abstract illustration works for the other two series. One will focus on landscapes, the other will be animals.

You know when you make a decision and you just know it's right? Doesn't happen too often for me, but this time I know this is what I want to focus on. I watched an amazing Youtube clip the other week that talked about being successful as an artist and the one thing above all else that was reiterated through the whole clip, was to find and stick to your own style. Work in series and commit to it. That's me for this year. As I said to another artist friend the other day, 2014 is going to be the year of awesomeness and I for one am excited to get started!

On to my current work though, the one that has inspired all this excitement within me. This is 40 x 40" mixed media consisting of gesso, ink, collage and oil pastel. There are actually several layers of built up texture and colour which I think contributes to the overall feel of the piece.

My current plan is to have quite a few in this series: next up are a wolf and lion in two separate paintings, and after that I'm still thinking. What do you think?
Remember that if you'd like to learn how to do paintings like this you can sign up for my online workshops starting in March, and be sure to put your email in below for my once a month newsletter full of awesomeness.

It's super duper hot here currently and I know it's super duper freezing in other parts of the world, so wherever you are today I hope you are keeping cool, or warm as the case may be and are having an awesome day!

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An Artists Hands; kind of a skincare post

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 01:55:00 +0000

The 2014 Blogger Challenge topic 2 is all about skincare. Now....this being an art blog and me being the 'not really into fashion, makeup and skincare girl' that I am, I was kind of at a bit of a loss as to how to approach this one. So I decided to talk about skincare from an artists' perspective.

For many many years there was a stereotype about the 'crazy artist'. So many great artists would pretty much go mad after a while, and while it could be attributed to just the normal artistic chaos swirling around the internal head structures (aka the brains) of those wonderfully creative types it probably has other reasons as well. Take for example the toxic chemicals, pigments and minerals that used to (and on occasion probably still do) make up a lot of artistic materials. Lead and mercury are two that instantly spring to mind but there are others as well.

And artists being artists, well....let's just say I'm not the only one who has ever ditched the paintbrush in favour of my hands. So over time nasty stuff leaches into your skin and for a while this definitely had the effect of sending us artist types a little loopy. Now of course we know better and most of the really bad stuff is no longer in paint. But there's still stuff that plays havoc with your hands and call me a bit girly on this one, but I absolutely hate the feeling of dried out hands!

The obvious answer is probably to wear gloves, like the food preparation type to both protect your hands from any horrible chemicals and to stop them feeling so dried out. But I'll be absolutely honest here and say I'm so so so bad at this. I at least try to use gloves when I'm smooshing ink and paint into a canvas, but I don't always. Sometimes it's just necessary to pour on some paint and get your hands really dirty!

There is something just so organic about it, I can't quite explain it but it makes me happy.

So.....what do I do to make my hands feel normal again? A good soap is on the list:

I haven't used this, but it's on my list to buy! I have used this brands' brush cleaner and it's amazing. I've even used it on my hands, so when I saw this I decided I just had to have it.

Next up is a good moisturiser:

I don't use anything fancy. I either use Vaseline dry skin moisturiser, or Johnsons Baby lotion. Yes...baby lotion. I love this stuff. It smells so good! And it's so soft, and it's pink. And that's it.

So that's my take on skincare from an artist perspective. I hope it provided you with some amusement and was a little informative as well.

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Featured Artist Series; Teresa Lawrence

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 03:34:00 +0000

I'm running a little late with this weeks' featured artist: blame it on a killer sinus infection. But better late than never right?

This weeks' artist is a lady who has taught me a lot. She was my printmaking instructor and is an accomplished artist in both printmaking and painting, as well as being a children's book author and illustrator! My 6 month old daughter just loves her Baby Face books, which you can see here.

On to her artwork now:

Tread Carefully, Etching and Collage, 2013

Teresa began her career as a copywriter in advertising, however wanted something more so ventured into the world of illustration. She spent many years working as a freelance illustrator, accumulating a portfolio of almost 100 books! In between illustrating she gained more degrees and now focuses on teaching:

"These days I still do some illustration work but I have ventured out into the worlds of painting and printmaking which I find very fulfilling. I also teach art, or rather facilitate it, which I love to do. Seeing others discover something within themselves is quite a privilege.

In addition to teaching I also have a studio where I do my painting. My printmaking happens in the studios of others mostly."

I must admit I love Teresa's printing style. Her work is whimsical, delicate and quite lovely.

Sunnybrae Tree

In addition to printing and illustration, Teresa also paints. Her painting style is gorgeous, with an almost haunting quality to her images.

Beeac Paddock, Oil on Canvas, 2010. Now residing in the apartment of it's new owner in Manhattan, New York.

The Highway, Oil on Canvas 2013

I love the above work, The Highway. It's one of a series of landscapes Teresa is currently working on and is yet to be exhibited. To me it almost looks like the opening scene from one of those fantastic suspenseful mystery movies....the ones that have you holding a pillow in front of your face because you can't watch from fear, but you can't look away at the same time! A bit Alfred Hitchcock-ish. Or maybe that's just me.....

Teresa is available for workshops and her work is for sale. She can be contacted through her website or through email here.She's also on Instagram, so why not follow her? @teresalawrence123
As always....what's your favourite piece and why?

I'm still on the lookout for some more artists for my Featured Artist series. If you think you'd like to be featured here, please use my contact page to send me an email, and be sure to sign up to my monthly newsletter!

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Online Workshops

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 14:37:00 +0000

Exciting news here in Given To Art land! Due to popular demand, I will be starting online Mixed Media workshops beginning in March!

The workshops will consist of 5 half hour videos, each one will include an accompanying PDF instruction sheet via email. In the workshop course I will be showing you how to create mixed media pieces utilising assorted mediums and collage. The course will run for 5 weeks; you'll receive a password to the video with your PDF file once a week. Included in your fees are unlimited access to each video so you can watch it as many times as you need, along with an instructional PDF or Word Doc explaining points covered in the videos further, and of course unlimited email support from me. You can email me anytime, day or night with any questions or to send me photos of your work for feedback.

At the end of the course you can elect to have your work included in a gallery on this blog.

The course will normally be $50 for the full five weeks, however as an early bird special anyone who signs up before February 15th will get 50% off!! That's only $25 for five weeks of workshops!

You must be subscribed to my email newsletter (just put your email in below!), and you must pay a deposit of $25 when you register for the course. (If you registering before February 15th, 2014 just pay the deposit, no more!).

First course will begin Monday March 24th 2014. Each new video will be published on the Monday following.

Click the 'register' box above to be taken to Paypal. Once checkout is completed you'll be redirected to fill out your name and email address. You'll receive a confirmation email within 24 hours. A course list will be posted on the blog (and emailed to you) a couple of weeks before the start of the course.

I'm excited to start sharing some mixed media creations with you!

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Finished Work, Saatchi Online and Prints Available

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Sun, 12 Jan 2014 02:39:00 +0000

I finally finished this piece! The hold up was because my technique of using layers of ink and Liquetex had one little (well actually not so little) flaw; that being the removal of the ink when I applied the Liquetex!!

I'm not sure what causes it, but I'm thinking it's because when I apply the ink onto the canvas that has already had Liquetex gloss applied to it, it can't soak in to the canvas. So when I then go to apply another layer of gloss, the ink comes right off. This was causing me lots of frustration, until I had a light bulb moment (which probably should have been obvious but for some reason just wasn't!) to use spray gloss varnish first, then apply the Liquetex to achieve the finish I wanted. (Because it seems to be less the actual gloss and more the motion of applying with a brush that removes the ink). Duh!!!

Worked perfectly and I've found myself a new way to complete the layers in my paintings without having to worry about the previous layer being effectively washed away when I apply gloss!

So I finished this one and titled it 'Winter's Approach'. I really love it and my brain is overflowing at the moment with ideas for more paintings.

Winter's Approach, 15 x 30" Mixed Media on Canvas

It's now available for sale through Saatchi Online and will be up on the ARTFULY site shortly as well. Yep that's right, I'm now selling my art to the international (and Australian) market through the massive world wide gallery site! I have prints available of this work (and others) through them, and also through my Etsy store.

My next post in a couple of days is going to be a little sneak peak of the lessons I have in store for my lovely students in just under a months' time so be sure to come back for a look at that one!

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Artistic Copyright; Does It Help or Hinder?

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 02:02:00 +0000

I watched a podcast yesterday via Creative Insurgents that brought up some interesting arguments against the use of copyright. Artist Gwen Seemel talked about why she doesn't apply copyright to her work and it got me thinking about what role it plays in today's highly digital art marketing world.

My understanding of intellectual copyright is that as soon as you have created something it becomes your intellectual property. If you then have an issue with someone taking it and reusing it in any way you could theoretically take them to court citing copyright violation provided you have proof of your ownership. That proof can come in the form of journal entries, sketches, photographs etc....

This is enough for me. I am happy to not go the extra step and officially copyright my work (I'm not even sure what the process would entail to be honest!). I think in this day and age the vast majority of an artists' marketing must come from the internet. To market your work effectively on the web you need to allow your work to be seen across multiple platforms. To allow this you are effectively allowing reproduction in at the very least digital form. So in my opinion this would nullify any existing digital copyright anyway. Right?

If I was to fully copyright my work, if I was to say to people "no, you cannot reproduce this ever" am I effectively saying do not for example pin my images onto boards on Pinterest, do not share my images via Facebook or Twitter or anywhere else? If that's the case then what's the point of having this blog and putting my artwork out there? If I do that in the hope that it will then force people to stay put on my site I am very effectively limiting my audience and my potential earnings to the relative few who stick around on here. If I don't allow fair use, if I put full copyright on all my work, then wouldn't it be hypocritical of me to see something someone else has done and then want to incorporate that technique or style or image into my own work? Would I then, as the title of this posts suggests, be hindering my own artistic creativity?

I have copyright stated at the bottom of my blog, and on my home page I ask people to respect my property and use proper referencing and credit when taking my work elsewhere. On my portfolio page I ask visitors to not reproduce my work because they are my images. Is that a double standard and just confusing to people? Or is it (as I hope and assume) just common sense? I personally feel like I am saying to people "feel free to share my stuff anywhere you like, but just make sure you credit me if using my words and tell people I created it if using my artwork". I feel like I'm telling people it's ok to do that, but not ok to use my images and try and pass them off on their own. In that sense I am applying copyright to my work but still allowing for sharing via the internet with the ultimate goal of my work being traceable back to me.

I don't want other people making money off things I've created and put my hard work and effort into unless I make that decision. But I want people to be able to feel comfortable sharing my work and using it in assignments, articles or any other way, so long as they let people know it is my work not theirs.

What do you think? Do you think the way I have stated my usage restrictions, let's call them, is obvious or is confusing? What do you think constitutes fair use of an artists' work and if you can't share images is it going to hinder your work in the future?

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Featured Artist Series; Stephen Whatcott

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 11:44:00 +0000

I'm excited to be recommencing my Featured Artist Series after the Christmas break! First artist up for the New Year is a UK based artist who works in a very unique illustrative style.

Stephen has been drawing his whole life and it certainly shows in his paintings. His skill with proportion, scale and tone is clearly evident and all combine to create a modern take on the more traditional types of portrait drawings.

Alex Reading Acrylic and Pastel on Canvas, 112 x 56cms. £585

A Roar And Then Silence, Acrylic and Pastel on Canvas, 110 x 110cms £805

Stephens' technique of using acrylic paint and pastels on canvas give 'ordinary' pictures a touch of the extra-ordinary. The images become something you want to keep looking at; they're like a drawing but a painting at the same time. Kind of illustrative, but not in the whimsical illustration style that you would normally think of when you hear 'illustration'. I really enjoy his work. To me, his paintings are the perfect combination of a traditional painting or drawing but with elements that wouldn't be out of place in the most modern home.

Just You and Me, Honey 70 x 120cms, Acrylic and Pastel on Canvas, £700

Right By Your Side Is Home, Acrylic and Pastel on Canvas, 112 x 66cms £650

Of his working style, Stephen says he is usually 'head down, with a handful of pencils'. He is a full time artist, in his words: "currently riding out the storm in the same area where I grew up. Although, I don't get to play army games in the woods anymore." I get the feeling that he quite enjoys his job!

The Pontiac, Acrylic and Pastel on Canvas, 120 x 90cms, £785

The Woods, Acrylic and Pastel on Canvas, 137 x 76cms, £770

If you would like more information about Stephen's work, he can be contacted through his WEBSITE, you can connect with him via Facebook or Twitter. My favourite is the above work; The Woods. I love the simplicity of it, and I really love the composition. How about you, which would you say you like the most?

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Art Supply Storage?

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 00:55:00 +0000

More of a question than a long post today. Last year I gained some wonderful new studio space inside the house to allow me to create while still watching my baby and letting her play. Inevitably I guess, the outside studio has become more multi-purpose now. It now houses my 'not needed everyday' art supplies, along with some stuff that needed storing and my little boys' big train set, drums and some of his other toys that are too big for him to play with inside!

I don't mind because I can't really utilise the outside studio while the baby is so little; if I want to paint and create (and I do!) then I need to do it inside! But that has left me with somewhat of a dilemma. How to store all my art 'stuff'. I have my canvases stacked up in the hallway ready to grab and use and it kind of works. But my little art table is now overflowing with art supplies!

So I figured I'd throw it out there and ask the question: how do you organise all your creative 'stuff', while still keeping it (relatively) neat, accessible and part of a multi-purpose room?
Any ideas would be gratefully accepted, and if I implement them I'll be sure to post pics and credit you wonderful people for suggestions! So off you go, get to it and bombard me with your brilliance! :)

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2014 Blogger Challenge: New Years' Quote To Inspire

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Wed, 01 Jan 2014 14:12:00 +0000

As you know I joined a blogging challenge group that now has over 400 participants! We will all be writing about the same subject over a period of a few days and it's going to be great to read all the posts!

Our first topic was to post a quote that inspires you, and that you hope will inspire others for the New Year.

The quote I have chosen is one that's very close to my heart. For the most part I've always been proud of being unique and it's something that I want to instill in my children. We don't all have to be the same. The world would be a very boring place if we were all essentially clones of each other!

This quote was on Pinterest, however there was no link to the original source.

We are all different and that should be applauded, not maligned. This New Year, make it a goal to be yourself. To do and be what makes you happy and makes you you, regardless of societal expectations of what you 'should' be. Take a step outside yourself and see the world through different eyes; see that it's not just okay to be unique, it's desirable. Our worldwide uniqueness is what makes the human race special. We as humans can be so terrible to each other, let's make 2014 the year we celebrate our differences and marvel at the gorgeousness of the world when we break off a little from the crowd.

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Artwork and Interior Design

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 00:46:00 +0000

Yesterday we rearranged our living room: we had a big clean up, took down the Christmas tree and decorations, decluttered and took a more minimalist (for me) approach to what we have out on display.

It's probably not a secret that I love bits and pieces. I have so many cute little knick knacks that I love looking at. Sometimes though it's easy when you have so many pieces to 'lose' them in the clutter. So to ring in the New Year we cleaned up and put some away. This was actually a big step for my husband and I (probably more so him than me). But my theory is that every few months we can change things up, put some away and put out some we haven't seen in a while. This way, we'll not only not get bored with what we have out, but it allows the focus to be on the few pieces we do have out!

Two of my favourite things at the moment are my moose that I bought in Duluth, Minnesota in 2012, and our American flag Mickey Mouse that my sister bought last year.

As you would expect though, we do have a lot of artwork in the house! Most of it is mine, but certainly not all of it. And we have a big stack of prints and art posters that we want to get framed and up on the walls. The only problem is wall space! My new 60's style Batman and Robin tin sign was a Christmas gift and I just love it! 60's Batman is of course the best Batman hands down, and it's retro kitschyness is perfect!

Sometimes it's not easy figure out the kind of artwork, the size or where it should go though. Artfuly Gallery has a blog post about this very subject right now - it has some great suggestions for some original art for your walls (mine and others!). You can read it HERE. Do you have any favourite pieces that you simply have to have on display all the time, or do you prefer to rotate things around?

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Art Takes Miami 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Sat, 28 Dec 2013 11:17:00 +0000

Way back in mid 2012 I entered a worldwide art competition called Art Takes Miami. The basic premise of the awards was that 1000 artists worldwide would be selected to exhibit digitally in Miami during the physical art awards.

I was lucky enough to be selected to exhibit some of my work! With my entry fee I had elected to receive a printed catalogue with work from all 1000 artists, including myself. Back at the start of December when I still hadn't received anything I'd pretty much written it off. Then low and behold a week or so before Christmas a package arrived!

Upon opening I found this:

The book is beautifully bound and is quite thick with lovely glossy black pages overflowing with gorgeous artwork, mine included! There was even a letter of apology for having taken so long with the production of the book and the subsequent mail out.

It was a lovely pre-Christmas surprise, and is now something I will cherish along with all of my other art books!

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Mixed Media Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Wherry) — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 02:57:00 +0000

I've had quite a few requests to learn about my technique when creating my mixed media pieces, so I thought I'd do a little tutorial for you all with the piece I'm currently working on. It is a wax based piece with collage, ink and oil pastel layered over the top of the wax.

Your first step is to melt your wax onto the canvas. Now wax comes in many forms including basic crayons. The advantage of crayons is the range of colour you can get. I would suggest though that when using crayons you should use only pure wax crayons; some may have other ingredients in the crayon which may produce unexpected results when melting onto your canvas.

When melting them it's useful to use hot glue to secure the lump of wax to the canvas, or use a fork or other metal implement to hold the wax in place until it melts sufficiently to not roll away anymore. Hot partially melted wax makes a big mess when it is pushed across the table or floor by the airflow from your heatgun or hairdryer! Which is how you melt it: it's so much fun to watch it melt, and you can kind of control the direction of the flow by the angle you hold your heat gun on. Varying the airflow strength will also allow you to play with different types of splatters and flow within the wax.

Once I had covered the canvas in wax (which took a good few hours), I then used cut and torn book pages to create the shape of the tree trunk and branches. I collaged these pieces straight over the wax with Liquetex Gloss medium, which you can obviously also use as a collage glue. Once that was dry I used black and white oil pastels and drew in the shape I wanted over the collage. I used them also to shade a little to give the tree some depth.

I then used more Liquetex to seal the oil pastel, and once that was dry I used white and black ink to redraw the shape again and to add in more shading and colour on the trunk.

I started to add in smaller branches at this point as well.

The process basically consists at this point of alternating layers of ink, then Liquetex, then oil pastel until I'm happy with the tonal qualities of the tree.

Once I am happy with that, I then use more oil pastels to create more colour over the wax. I'm not aiming to cover the wax, rather use the pastels to make the colour in the wax pop a bit more.

And here is the end result. Finished bar collaging the edges and a final varnish. It's a reasonably simple however quite time consuming process. But the end result is definitely worth the time put in.

I won't have any more posts up now until after Christmas and New Year. I'd like to wish all my readers and their families a happy and safe festive season, and say thank you very much for your support!

Merry Christmas To You All!

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