I have not done very much mixed media so far, although I love the look she and others achieve. When I initially thought about who lifts my spirits for me when I need it, and sometimes when I don't...I didn't really have the inspiration to get going on this challenge. Then this morning I was getting out of my store box an altered book when I saw the cover of Stephanie's Journal. Now, before we go any further let me reassure you that my copy is still safe and sound on the bookshelf. This is a tip shop find (50c) and I thought "Perfect!" I knew instantly who I wanted to MM about, and it wasn't just one, and I knew in that same moment how I would present the project. Isn't the brain a wonderful thing...sometimes we just need to give it a bit of space...
Stephanie Alexander has inspired me for many years now, She is a librarian, restaurateur, business woman and writer. She is an unassuming and fairly shy person who has spent her life training young people across Australia for the hospitality industry, is passionate about food sustainably, eating well, and instigated, initially in Victoria, now nationally, a learning programme promoting improved food and eating choices for school children, getting down and dirty with them in their gardens and then showing them how the gathered food stuffs are cooked and eaten. A revelation for many urban children...well, I won't go on about her, it is all in the public record. I don't know her, but I have eaten in a couple of her restaurants as often as I could, and have only met her in that context, as a client. her food is heavenly and her recipes are so reliable you could be eating at Stephanie's once more...(it closed in 1999).
The reason she lifts my spirits is quite complex. She was the first writer to really make me aware that I had a social conscience, that I needed not only to think about political and social issues, (personal, community, state , nationally and globally), but also form an opinion that related to my personal beliefs, moral and ethical baseline. Not through anything she actually wrote or opinions she decried, but I think this was by the intimate way she described her own thought processes in regard to issues that affected her...these somehow resonated with me, drove a chink through my all encompassing blinding youthful naivety and allowed me to see that I was a sentient individual with a responsibility to think about issues and have an opinion I could both express and live with.. (Told you it was complex!)
Others that lift my spirits, in the crafting world include Renje herself. She is so imaginative, creative, and free with her projects that I love to watch her videos when she is working on a project even though her mixed media processes are not something I have embraced myself. I just love how spontaneous and comfortable she is with whatever it is she has forming before her.Her positivity and self assurance lifts my spirits inordinately.
Another is Therese, from Lostinpaper. She has such a a lovely, clean style of card making, a wonderful colour sense and a design style that almost always takes my breathe away. Card after card roll from her you tube videos and always there is something to delight the eye. She is able to adapt techniques to create new outcomes, seemingly endlessly. I like her friendly, relaxed personal style also. She is very generous in sharing her creations through video I have only just started making videos and she has been supportive with lighting and other advice and comments when really she needn't bother at all, so I attribute generosity of spirit to her...always a spirit lifter if one needed anything other than her cards. (I also love hearing the birds when she is videoing during the day...they play their part in this also, see...I'll say it again, it is complex).
The fourth in this list of spirit lifters is Jennifer of jenofeve on you tube. She is a funny, wacky and talented artist who also is extraordinarily generous with sharing her techniques, in particular for journal making. She uses mixed media quite a lot and designs some amazing projects. Her designs are usually very versatile, and she usually makes several videos showing variations of use for the product. She lifts my spirits through her creativity, I cannot help but get inspired and motivated through watching her videos.
Well, that's it from me on spirit lifting, if I go on any more I won't get my project completed, but it has lifted my spirits, just thinking it is possible.
Oh, I don't think I said...all the above just flowed from picking up the cover of Stephanie Alexander's book...I was immediately on a mixed media mission! Very spirit lifting!
Watch this space...I have a week.
And coat some drumsticks for dinner, trying out a new recipe with peanuts and coriander in the crust...I will let you know how they tasted...
Bye now,
Di