GPP Street Team: CRUSADE No. 31 ~ Make It Your Own

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If you've ever taken a class with me you've probably heard me say this: Make It Your Own. That can mean several things. Sometimes I'll say it when I'm encouraging an artist to claim a material they are using. Adding a little paint, or scudging it up with sandpaper, means you are showing evidence of an artist's hand at work, and you are claiming the item....making it your own. Sometimes I'll say it when I'm motivating someone to put their own spin on a project or process. We have heard the question asked, "what's the difference between art and craft?" I think the answer might be when you make it your own, it's art. When you follow directions, as you would a recipe, or copy a project from a magazine - that is craft. Personalizing, interpreting, processing through your own filters, is art.

For instance, let's take a product. I'll pick on scrapbook papers. I've got a stash of them. Sometimes I'll buy one sheet just for inspiration - the color or the pattern. Sometimes I'll buy them to use as a foundation, then I'll paint over them, making them mine, claiming them. I want the items I use in my work to look like me, not the recognizable brand. You can see I've spray painted over the dots and the stripes....they are less XYZ brand, and more me.

Using images: it's always cool when you can incorporate your own images in your work. Your own photos are way more interesting and individual than 'collage sheets'. Clip art is a favorite default source of images for me, but I don't always want them to be obvious, or identifiable. "Oh, I know that one, she got that from page X in book XYZ". Bleh. However, if you were to make a transfer of the image, you claim it. It isn't as easily recognizable. I've put my spin on it. It's mine.

Another example: here I illustrate how I've taken items you could find in a store, and made them mine.

And I can even claim a branch, making evidence of my artist hand:

A few years ago I wrote an article in Somerset Studio where I broke down my artistic process in terms of being inspired by something. Inspiration can come from so many places. It's up to you to figure out how to make it your own.

Here's a good example: I gravitated toward this rug. There was just something about it that attracted me. Loved the colors, loved the shapes. I will sit with this a while and eventually it will be interpreted through my filters and I will make a journal page about it.

If you've been playing along then you are already good at this. You take my prompts and make them your own. Every artist has shared their own interpretation of the challenges presented. You've been making your own tools and your own backgrounds. Even your blogs have their own personalities - you present yourself with custom banners or colors, nothing right-off-the-shelf or standard-issue for us! Apply that to your work. Make your artist hand seen. Make it your own. You can show how you've altered a material or product to claim it, or you can show us how you've interpreted an inspiration like your new kitchen rug, or the pattern from your new summer dress.

I'm going to extend the deadline to July 1st since it is already mid-May, and we all have alot going on in June don't we? (graduations, family visits, summer!) Thanks for hanging in with me. Love you guys. xoxo

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CRUSADE No. 31 ~ Make It Your Own

CRUSADE No. 31

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CRUSADE No. 31