#diy prints

[allicat--art]

magazine collage set of two for my dining room - featuring lyrics from “our house” by crosby, stills, & nash.

keep reading for the full backstory on the inspiration!

I was reminded of the song “our house” by crosby, stills, & nash while watching this is us - a show that helps me release a lot of family history related emotion that I was taught to bottle up and not let out (aka it helps me cry). I should say, I hadn’t forgotten the song per se, but I hadn’t thought of it’s existence for a very long time.

mandy moore’s character, rebecca, asks her son kevin to take her to joni mitchell and david crosby’s former home in LA. she explains that this is where, after a morning walk to the farmer’s market together, crosby wrote/created/played “our house” on joni’s piano. there was something so simple and pure about that story... I couldn’t shake it. I found myself singing the song in the days that followed and fell in love with its easy message of domestic bliss. 

I’ve also always been a sucker for piano as my dad’s mom was a musician and piano teacher - including for me. She died of cancer when I was 16 and it was a loss that shook me. I still hear her voice and sense her presence when I’m listening to a beautiful piece of piano. she was a legend. just like joni.

when I started clipping snippets from magazines for the collages, I wanted to channel a nostalgic home-y vibe with a southwest edge (informed by my husband and I’s winter trip to Arizona and New Mexico) combined with florals (my favorite). sort of a blending between masculine and feminine that reminds me both of the song “our house” and the intermeshed lives/world/home of my husband and I - an imperfectly perfect harmony.

I printed out the lyrics to the song that I wanted to use in the collage and went old school on them - I used a wet black tea bag to stain the paper and erase any sense of newness from the paper. this was a favorite technique of mine back in elementary/middle school for adding years to history projects. I can still remember creating a revolutionary war newspaper and using this technique + burning the corners with a lighter to made it look “old.” 

I’ve been doing a lot of things my inner child would enjoy during this scary as fuck pandemic. I crafted as an escape growing up and have been leaning into that practice now. 

Until the next make xx

[jessitriana]

Screenshot of my linocut video tutorial, go watch it! ❤️

[actuallyintroverted]

Maker Monday: Painting on the Library, Space Edition

Maker Monday: Painting on the Library, Space Edition

Are you sitting down? Okay… I painted on a library book. But, it wasn’t my fault; I blame Susan Schwake. My teens and I were flipping through her book, Art Lab for Kids, and we fell in love with gelatin printing. Because I was so enamored with the idea, I picked up gelatin on our Saturday grocery adventure after convincing hubby that conducting STEAM experiments in our kitchen would be fun. I did…

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