Catalyst One Hundred and Ten

Catalyst One Hundred and Ten

April 21, 2010, 6:00 am
Filed under: catalyst

 

As always, thank you to all of our visitors and all the encouraging comments you left for us. For those of you who did, thank you for playing along with us.

 

Ok! Here’s catalyst number one hundred and ten:

 

How would you describe yourself as a child?

 

We’re thrilled to have Diana Martin as this week’s Guest Artist.

 

Here’s a quickie self-bio for Diana:

 

I am 35 years young and I live in a coastal country town on the South Coast of NSW in Australia with my two girls aged 7 and 4. I am very passionate about many forms of artistic expression such as digital, hybrid and traditional scrapbooking, mixed media, painting, drawing, sewing and photography, to name a few. I could never pick one over the other and say that it was my favorite. Each one gives me so much joy and allows me to have complete creative freedom over what I create.

 

If you’ve never seen Diana’s art, make sure to visit her blog and you can also find more of her art on twopeas and flickr.

 

 

 

 

Here is Diana’s art with this week’s catalyst. You can click on it to see a larger version and a lot more detail.

 

 

 

Diana Says:

As a child we moved around quite often so I was a very shy girl and found it hard to make friends as I knew I would have to change schools and start over again. My imagination became something I cherished and I spent most afternoons and weekends in a day dream, dreaming up stories I would write down in my journals {story teller}; making little cubby houses out of anything I could find {collector}; sketching what I saw around me and adding color with pencils using techniques that were self taught {artistic}; running away from home quite often, even if it was just around the corner, up a really tall tree or just to the back smoke house on the roof so I could watch my Mother drive up and down the street looking for me {adventurer}. Looking back on my childhood, my life was filled with many dreams and some wonderful self-made experiences. I lived with my head in the clouds, my heart on my sleeve and a great story in my hand!

 

Technique Highlight:

I am a lover of layers, so this canvas has many layers built up over a period of a few weeks. With this canvas I began with drawing a picture of myself as a child, hence the
short afro-type curly hair, onto quality sketch paper and used prismacolor pencils to shade the face, hair and arms. I love to use either material or patterned paper for my dress/clothes to give the figure more dimension. In this case I used a vintage book page that had the word ‘dream’ written somewhere into the block of text.

 

I start working on the canvas by layering scrapbooking papers and tissue papers onto the canvas. I then add some acrylic paints to tone down any bright colors or patterns. I place my figure onto the canvas and start adding more layers of acrylic paint using paint brushes, my fingers and everyday items that have texture, around the figure and to the edges of the canvas. I add more dimension using texture paste and oil pastels for shading some areas of the canvas as well as creating a little house-shaped bookshelf out of layered cardboard covered with a vintage book page, cardstock and tissue paper. I created the little books with chipboard covered in cardstock, bound together with cotton and hid the binding with some more cardstock. The red heart is made of clay that has been painted with acrylic paint and the wings and roof are painted with crackle paint then inked. I added clear crackle paint in a few random areas of the canvas as well adding some on the hair. To finish off the canvas I placed a piece of gauze under the title and inked it. The title ‘Dreamer’ was painted with acrylic paint blending one color into the next and finishing it off with a layer of clear crackle paint.

 

 

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Here are some interpretations of the catalyst from members of our team.

 

Larissa:

 

Larissa Says:

I remember being an ugly child, who wore glasses and braces and wasn’t very popular. I had a few friends but they were always taking advantage of me. I lived in a big city and my games were always urban, but it was awesome spending the day playing dollhouse, entertained in a world of fantasies.

 

 

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Wendela:

 

Wendela Says:

When I was young I felt myself so beautiful….I was very proud of my long hair…..loved my long piggy tails….On the picture it’s me, with my hair like “Pippi Longstocking” my little hero…Pippi is a fictional character in a series of children’s books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, and adapted into multiple films and television series. Nine-year-old Pippi is unconventional, assertive, and has superhuman strength, being able to lift her horse one-handed without difficulty.

 

 

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Karen:

Karen Says:

As a little kid I was mostly quiet and pensive. I tended to sit by myself, preferred reading over anything else and it wasn’t until my mid-teens that I became more outgoing and friendly. Even though most people would say I’m extroverted today, I’m still that quiet and pensive girl on the inside.

 

 

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Rachel:

Rachel Says:

As a little girl I was shy and quiet and I embarrassed easily. But I was also a dreamer with an imagination that would entertain me for hours and hours. I loved to draw and paint and make things out anything that I could find. I loved to dance and sing. I carried my heart on my sleeve and I felt deeply and profoundly. I was artist, I was a dreamer, I was a caregiver and a friend and I had a wonderful little world that I lived in… I was who I am now as an adult, yet somehow magnified by the innocence and wonder that is childhood.

 

 

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Karola:

 

Karola Says:

I think only one word can describe me when I was child – shy! Yes, I was shy for long years and probably for today too, but I remember mostly when I was very shy, humbly. quiet girl. Most of these I have for today and I think this is great. More of my adult life expriences create me as quiet, romantic, honestly, peacefull woman with big distance for disasters, but I am still a shy and humbly little girl. I made this tag for myself – I found this old photo, taken when I was 9 months and when I made my fisrt steps. I combine this photo with several new supplies and my favorite colors.

 

 

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Dina:

 

Dina Says:

As I child, I was happy and sensitive and curious and earnest and bookish, and I still am.

 

 

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Amy:

 

Amy Says:

What was I like as a child? I don’t know, and so I asked my mom. She sent me a wonderful description which gives me a picture of years I was too young to remember. This drawing touches on a surface and a constant. It weaves together what appears to have always been with me… a love of words and books. And in it are allusions to a few random things I hold among the threads of memory… a series of early stories I wrote…a representation of a stuffed doll I vaguely recall.

 

 

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Christine:

 

Christine Says:

I was a very shy child. My constant companions were my favorite books, and whenever we would go out I would make sure that I would bring along one or two of them with me. My cousins remember me sitting for hours in a quiet corner just reading while everyone talked and played around me during our family gatherings. It wasn’t until I was closer to my teens that I began to feel more comfortable talking to people and opening up. I’m not as self-conscious as I used to be, and I’m thankful that I finally overcame being shy because I wouldn’t have the wonderful relationships with friends and family members that I have now.

 

 

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Iris:

 

Iris Says:

I was very fortunate to have a parents who supported my interest and my dreams. Whatever was my dream, they supported. My Dad would always say ” I want to see you catch your dreams and fly.

 

 

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Kathryn:

 

Kathryn Says:

When I was a child, I was much like my own children-happy, optimistic, excited by everything. I hope my boys will be able to stay that way.

 

 

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Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “How would you describe yourself as a child?” I urge you to give it a try. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you.

 

Leave us comments with your work so we can share in your creative therapy, too. If you don’t have a community or blog where you upload photos, you can upload them on our flickr group.

 

 

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

 

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

 

 

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