My first RL collage (img heavish)

[myfairytalescomingtrue]

i can't even tell you how much i love these!  especially the one with the cricket!  good luck with your show!

[Muddlepud]

I think you are wonderfully talented. Good luck!

[eternallyeve]

Congratulations! In spite of all the nerves you must be amazingly excited . What an incredible honour to not only have you husband love your work so much that he decotes himself to marketing it, but that someone actually wants to give you your own show. Wow O_O.

I am sure you will find great textures everywhere, as it was mentioned before art supply stores have amazing papers in large sheets and there are so many great textures and patterns in dollar sotres and hardware stores and op shops.

And don't forget that you can get your digital prints printed at a print shop in enormous sizes and on a variety of papers.

If you make a numbered, limited edition series that are all hand-signed they would probably garner as much interest as traditional 'originals'. A great option for digital artists.

[BlueKia]

Fun,Strong,Beautiful work!

Looking forward to seeing your work and hearing about your success!
Go with it...It would be nice to be able to buy your ladies someday on cards and other pieces,they work and you have a good eye and a wonderful heart to create such lovely ladies..
I like the ethnic lady too I hope you do more of her as well...

Collage using pieces from your environment will open the world to you.
I like doing collage pieces, I feel a connection with those things I hold in my hands..

Fun and Beautiful!

[ehinders]

I love, love, love your work! I'm dying to know how the art show goes! Please let us know.

[hardyswanton01]

Hey fellow Madisonian!  If it counts, I liked your design for the ethnic fest!  What coffee shop will your work be at and when, I always need artsy places to sit and study.

In the Madison area, I reccomend:
Traditional craft stores: Joanns, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, WI Craft Mart
stores with craft stuff: walmart, target, the university bookstore (state street location--sometimes has discontinued handmade papers), the dollar store
unconventional supply places: Menards, Farm and Fleet, Home Depot, goodwill, st vinnies, savers; try frugal muse for books, they often have a dollar bin, or free stuff.  even barnes and noble (west side for sure) does it.

[CrazyR]

Free materials: Get some wallpaper samples at a DIY store (as in DIY -> painting your own walls, installing your own kitchen DIY stuff). You can get great textured wallpaper and with really great prints!
For the music paper, go to a secondhand store where they sell old music books (or just old novels for lettered paper). Not free, but very cheap! (Like 25 cents or less).
And for the back, you could use plywood (I don't know for sure if it's called that way though). It's very sturdy, and It will make a great background in the 'woodfiber look' you intended.
For a cool aged effect on paper: Put a nice strong sheet of white paper in a e.g. dishwashing basin, then poor tea (not hot or cold either, is it called lukewarm?) over it, gently, and let it sit for about 5 min. Then take it out gently and let it dry. Different kinds of tea give different effects! The colour of rooibos will turn out different than e.g. green tea.
I personally wouldn't use lace, ribbons, glitter, or buttons and things like that, because I don't think it fits with the 'feeling' of your creations.
Fabric like this http://www.therugs.com/images/CLHO/Jute-Berber-Beige.jpg would look great I think! How do you call that in your country?

I hope I gave you some usefull tips, and I hope you were able to understand them even though I'm a little bit 'disabled' when it comes to the English names of materials.

Good luck!

[laura_anderton]

Horray for Madison! I heard the State Street Obama party was bigger than Freakfest. And thank you for the local store tips... I was going to try and get over to Frugal Muse this weekend; we don't own a car so I always have to wait until the weekend to go craft shopping.

The show will be at Mother Fool's on Willy St. for all of December! I'll post when the reception... thing is, it would be so great to meet someone from craftster!

Thank you again everyone for the wonderful advice. I'm going to try using fabric tonight. Off I go!

[vitaboheme]

I love your ladies- there is something nostalgic but warm, whimsical and girlfriendy about them. The quirky crickets and teapots and wonderful textures- they are really wonderful.

My opinion is that you could easily hold your own at any art show. I teach at an art college and see all kinds of things in all kinds of mediums, and I would say that your digital work would match anything that I have seen. The fun thing about collage is that it is a playful medium to begin with, and pretty much anything goes as long as it fits your vision (I would agree with a previous poster to stay away from the more kitschy crafty things like glitter, unless it was an accent blended into fabrics or something). You did a marvellous job with the first 'real' collage, and they won't look just like the digital works. You are consistent with the form and feeling of the subject, but the transition into fabrics etc will add a three-dimensionality that the digital won't have (this is not to say that one is better than the other- they are simply different, and I loved them both).

Have fun with the show- some people will love your work and others won't, but that is the nature of art whatever the form. I would attend and quite likely be unable to resist taking one home.

And by the way- good on your husband for doing so well by you! Not only does he support your art, but he is actively putting his own skills to use on your behalf. Good man!

[vitaboheme]

Oh yeah- I was going to say, regarding being laughed at by the 'art community'..... Your work is no less valid than theirs, whoever 'they' are (and I ask- just who are they, and what qualifies them as judge of all art???). Honestly, some of the things that I see being pushed as valuable art- and we are talking here on the big market scale- is laughable in my opinion (animals in formaldehyde??? Flat color acrylics of backyard pools? Barf and banale, I say), and some of the artists being overlooked really unique and expressive.

Art is subjective- some will like one thing, some people something completely different. It is a matter of personal taste, especially when you move out of the ridiculous big money market and into the real world where real people look at and buy art, and that is a good thing.

Your work is good. It is unique, personal, and interesting. But, if someone should be tactless enough to laugh, ask them what matchbook they bought their education from.