Bree•co•lage

Bree Bruington Madison, WI Mixed Media Collage and Beadstitch Artist Art Education Degree from Syracuse University bri•co•lage Definition: A creation made from a diverse mix of available materials. Translation: Use what you've got. Embrace the...

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The fun is just beginning!

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Learning Illustrator... Finally. #breecolage #brainhurt #itsanotherwatermelon

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When Daddy's out of the house we get out the Big Girl paper. #mydaughteristhebest #distractwithart #tgif

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Planning my art kit for a future family vacation. I find one of my favorite phrases on the planet is Travel Art Kit. EEEhappy!

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Bow Tree --- Necessity is the Mother of invention or I am the Mother of a 3 year old with long, crazy hair. or both. Happy Early Mother’s Day!

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Making art supplies out of paint, mess and inspiration

Inspired by the artists at Documented Life Project - http://www.art5academy.com/the-studio/The+Documented+Life+Project

I've been trying my hand at monoprinting using the Gelli Plate. http://www.gelliarts.com/

In an effort to create more of my own art supplies I've been painting pretty much anything I can get my hands on: Shipping label stickers, book pages, coffee filters, greeting cards, tags of a shapes and sizes.

As I use these supplies in my work, I'll document how they evolve.

This process took about an hour after the initial set up.

It's ridiculously fun. Enjoy your own beautiful mess!

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Beauty comes from broken

So. I was fully intending to post about my progress in preparing for the year-long, mixed-media courses/workshops/projects that I'm am too, too, too excited for:

Life Book 2015 - http://www.willowing.org/life-book-2015/

Documented Life Project - http://www.art5academy.com/the-studio/The+Documented+Life+Project

Please, please sign up and join me on these adventures!

But life derailed me... at 2pmish, I broke my foot. 

What a difference a step makes! Sometimes it means a step toward hugging a departing friend. Sometimes it means putting all of your weight on your metatarsal. (I recommend going with the former, not the latter.)

Needless to say, my sweet one-year-old is taking advantage of my immobility and climbing on EVERYthing. Maybe she feels left out and would also like crutches and an ace bandage.

What I can do is take this opportunity to be thankful that I only hurt my foot and I wasn't holding that sweet baby.

I can blog and text my lovies. I can glue things to other things. I can sketch and journal and read. I can crutch myself to where I need to go (mostly.) I can burn that lullaby mix that I've been intending to pull together all year. I can extra love my husband for responding with zest to my "Honey, can you grab..?" And I can slow down and give myself a ... rest. Now I have no excuses.

I'll keep you posted on my progress, and hopefully some beautiful healing comes from the result of being broken.

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Bits from my first art journal. So far, it's been an exercise in - don't think, don't judge, just glue, just draw, just paint.

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Being a working mom and a playing artist means getting everyone involved.

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Join me for my NOW year

I'm resurrecting my "online talking to myself page." 2015 is my NOW year. My goal is to live my moments as they happen and appreciate them as they are.

Things that are helping me do this:

- Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozek

- Syllabus by Lynda Barry

- Saturday morning yoga

- Living with an almost-two-year-old

- Art Journaling

- Going through 10 years of old sketchbooks

- The understanding that Winter is right around the corner and I need to notice every moment of Autumn before it's just gone.

My hiatus was due to: going from a part time job to a full time job, making a new human, setting up a first home. Does that cover about four years of absence? Fortunately, all wonderful things!

So stay tuned for my next chapter. It maybe messy, boring, confusing, emotional. All I can promise is that it will be real.

All the Best!

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Journey of an idea: Fits and Starts

Hands down, no questions, my favorite thing about a piece of art is the artists' process. I love reading artist blogs (check out Ruth Rae's) when they are posting the whirlwind of their productivity... even if it is just tidying their space.

Here is my humble approach to show my approach. Inspiration leads to Fits and starts. The inspiration this time was during a weekend trip to Door County, WI. We (The Hubs and myself) had a day touring around Lake Winnebago and parts north. Lots of pictures were taken, cherry products consumed, water was viewed. 

We went to one park in Oshkosh that had a peninsula walkway lined with trees, moss and what appeared to be chunks of old road as a breaker. 

This mix of texture and ingenuity totally inspired my to take those principles and apply them to my beads. 

Thus began my Fit of sketching. I took the words: sleek, craggy and fringe and turned them into stitches and components. Sleek= rope, herringbone or double spiral stitch.

Craggy= transition, cubic right angle weave using faceted rounds or fire polished rounds.

Fringe= Fringe! loops, dangles or a combination.

Here are some of the plans for the Sleek rope:

Starts to follow!

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Knottiest post Ever!

It seems like I've been working pearl knotting into every project I come across these days. Stringing and pearl knotting. Wire wrapping and pearl knotting. Washing dishes and pearl knotting. If planned properly, pearl knotting is completely self contained and super portable. 

Here are some examples of the types of pearls I've been knotting and what I've been knotting them with:

I hope this inspires you to tie your work up in knots!

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Suspending Knots: Use Overhand and Lark's head knots to suspend beads on a length of silk or cotton thread.

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Decorative Knots: Yarn, Ribbon, Thread. Add dimension without adding weight.

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Tried and true pendants

Yeah, yeah I know this is a rehashed idea, but that doesn't mean it doesn't apply anymore. Especially after being gifted a few wonderful new stone pendants, I had to revisit the time old problem: how to string it up?!

Here are some successes I've had in the past. 

This Yellow Jade is attached with a simple sterling bail. It is partnered with Jonquil Swarovskis, Turquoise and Sodalite. Yum!

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Hanging by a Pin: Wire wrap a stone onto a headpin to create a pendant. This Green Opal is put together with different shapes and sizes of crystal.

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Straight on through: Sometimes the simplest way is the best. This Dumortierite is strung with crystals and labradorite.