Modernly Vintage Art by Roberta Schmidt

“I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.” ~Vincent van Gogh

I can’t say I’ve always been a Vincent van Gogh fan. For a long while, I thought his paintings unrealistic and childlike. The last 6 years of art study and experimenting with paint myself, I have a fuller appreciation for what artists go through to create their vision of the world around them, no matter what medium they use.

Last year, I decided to try my hand at painting sunflowers…Vincent seemed to love painting them…so, I thought I would take a shot at it. I painted about six different acrylic sunflower paintings on canvas, but this one is my favorite.

I could see why Vincent loved painting them…they are a happy flower, full of texture and color. And I was happy painting them!

 Summer ended, and so did the sunflower paintings…but painting like Vincent never left my mind. This past week, I had the opportunity to paint from a photograph. I decided to try my hand at painting something with bold and colorful brushstrokes (ala’ van Gogh) from a realistic landscape. I wanted to see how he could translate what he saw, into the wild and vivid paintings that he left behind. Besides loving his sunflower paintings, I am also intrigued by his landscapes, especially the ones with planted rows, farm houses…and huge yellow suns in the sky.

This is my little nod to van Gogh…a 12 x 12 acrylic painting, A House for Vincent.

He’s been gone a little over 120 years now…but he is still inspiring artists, just like me, to dream of painting…and to paint their dreams.

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This painting is now in my online shop, and is available here.

I’ve never been asked for an interview before…so, I was a bit surprised when I got an email from Ian Thompson, from our local paper, asking for one. What did he want to know about???

Artist Trading Cards!

The Suisun Library staff (a huge thanks to Laurie and Jim!) asked me about teaching an ATC demo on July 6th. The class went VERY well, and all 13 of us, had a great time piecing together little works of art. The day after the class, I was interviewed for The Daily Republic. Yes, I was a little nervous…but I was so happy to share my love of creating these little art cards, with my community!

The online article came out on Friday. The printed edition came out on Saturday morning, and I was pleasantly surprised to find my face on the front page!

The article ran on page A3…the front section of the paper! I was thrilled with how the article turned out. I would like to thank Ian Thompson, reporter for The Daily Republic, for being interested enough in Artist Trading Cards to write a story about them. He really let my voice come through in the article, and for that, I am grateful.  And a very big thank you to photographer, Robinson Kuntz, who took a great photo of me with my art cards.

And a thank you to my family and friends, who have been so supportive of my art…and were excited to see my face in the paper!

And to those of you who are here on my art blog, because of reading the article…thank you for your interest in my art! I hope you are inspired by what you read, and what you see here. I hope you’ll come back often to see what’s new in my little Mixed Media Art world.

One sure-fire way to stay creative: force yourself to learn something new. ~Harvey Mackay

I fell in love with collage almost 6 years ago, not long after seeing an art piece in a local gallery that was catagorized as “Mixed Media”. Here I was almost 40 years old, and I didn’t quite know what that meant…mixed media? A little Googling…and there I found it, a whole community of people creating art, in a non-traditional way. Mixed Media collage quickly became my art of choice. I found that ripping and gluing had a certain freedom to it…

and it was fun to create stories with torn paper and words. 

 I came to learn about magazines that embraced this kind of art, without excuses, without fear. Somerset Studio, Cloth Paper Scissors, Artful Blogging, The Artist (a UK magazine)…they all showcase artists that create outside the lines, so to speak. And seeing the way they create, inspires me to create new and exciting art as well. Many of these artists have workshops and online classes, and these have been invaluable in teaching me how to broaden my love for collage.

Misty Mawn, Michael deMeng, Orly Avineri, Anahata Katkin…to name just a few. Their love for creating art, is infectious. Their art, makes you want to make beautiful art yourself!

In the last six years, I’ve embraced lots of “media” and this is where the “mixing” comes in…Collage and Paint – Collage and Pencils  – Collage and Oil Pastels  – Collage and Watercolor

or all of the above mixed together.

Yes, you are allowed to draw outside the lines…yes, you are allowed to Mix Media. You can use paper to mix your media on…such as watercolor paper, you can use canvas, a blank journal, or you can use 3D materials and rusty things. Not only is mixing your media allowed…it’s encouraged.

The last few months, I’ve taken what I’ve learned from classes, thown in my own supplies and imagination,  and practiced putting these learned techniques and ideas to good use.  I am finding a way of working, that I am falling in love with.  I can see my own style show through…and little stories start to take shape with each collage created. Learning something new is GREAT! But putting it into practice in your own art…is even better!

Here’s a look at the last few months of collages…

 With each collage, my confidence grows. And I am excited to try the next one…because I never quite know how they will turn out, once I’ve begun! That’s one of the highlights in creating art this way…the pleasant surprise at the end!

I am thoroughly enjoying this recipe…take heaping helpings of Creativity + Collage + whatever else I want to throw into the pot (magazine images, ephemera, papers, paint, matte medium, words, pencils, gel pens) and don’t forget to Mix well = Art that makes you smile

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I’ve started adding prints of my Mixed Media art pieces, to my online shop. I’ll be adding more soon so stop by and take a look if you can!