Reveling in the Joys of Multidisciplinary Art

Explore your own journey of self-expression through a kaleidoscope of mediums - painting, murals, fiber art, even house paints. Along the way, I have learned a lot about my artistic process - the triumphs, the trials, and the many 'happy accidents'.

Please promise yourself this: perfection is overrated. Embrace the unique beauty that comes with each new endeavor, even if the result isn't quite what you expected. From paper cutting to sculpting, from drawing to dabbling with laser technology, every new medium, and every unfamiliar technique brings with it a journey of discovery. I want to celebrate our collective creative endeavors and dreams. Whether you're a seasoned artist, a dabbler, or you've yet to pick up a brush, let's revel together in the myriad joys of multidisciplinary art.

Today’s doodle: A Mummy Model

Resources & links mentioned in this episode:

Windowsill Chats:
Workshops
Podcast

Cut Paper Collage:
Tracey English

Repurposed pop culture art:
Dave Sherrill- Dave Ruins Art
Mel Sherrill -Fiber Artist

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome back to Brutally Made. Today I want to talk a little bit about multidisciplinary artists and calling yourself one. How do you define that? Is it just an interest in different ways of one medium like painting, or is it that you're interested in different types of art? Maybe you love to do sculpture and maybe you like to paint and maybe you like to do fiber art. What does that mean? How do you define it? And do you have to be professional in every level? Do you have to make money at every level? And really just my thoughts around what that means to me and how I define myself. So maybe that will help you a little bit in your journey. Thanks for joining me today. Hey, happy Friday. Welcome back to Brutally Made.

Speaker 1: 0:47

I'm excited about talking to you today about multidisciplinary, really in the vein of being a creative person. It seems like there's a lot of, I guess, discussion in some of the circles that I'm in about having that as a descriptive in your bio and if that's okay, or do you have to stick with one medium? And I have lots of thoughts on that. So let's first pick the doodle that I'm going to do today and maybe you'll doodle along with me If you do use the hashtag Brutally Made on social media. I do try to start for those to see if anybody is doodling along with me. So today let's see what one-a-draw selects. Looks like A mummy as a model. Oh good, it's another opportunity for me to do something that doesn't need to be super realistic. That's my specialty. So let's get started with doodling and talking about being interested in different types of endeavors. So I really started kind of using that descriptive multidisciplinary a lot this year.

Speaker 1: 2:20

I have an interest in so many different things. I love to do painting in traditional ways, of course, my murals. I do that on all kinds of surfaces. I've painted on brick. I've painted on just drywall. I've painted on some really cool boards that they've installed so they could take the paintings down and move them around. It really makes you think about what you're going to use for a medium. I've used in house paint.

Speaker 1: 2:55

Primer included acrylics, just really tried to make it last, and sometimes I'll have to prep the materials. Sometimes I don't, because it's just a surface that I can paint right on and the materials that I'm using. It has the primer or something that's going to help it last a lot longer already in it. But I've also not really had a whole lot of practice with some of the other I guess paint materials and there are so many out there Like I have never really taken a super in-depth watercolor class.

Speaker 1: 3:37

I've done a couple watercolor classes online and I loved it and it's just so freeing to try your hand at something and realize that you really can't control it. So it has to be its course. Like you can't control everything. I've taken some of those courses online and I really like to take some in person. I know that the museum here in town. They offer quite a few different options and opportunities. I really want to do that eventually. Another thing that I dove into this year that I've never really taken a class in other than again online. I did a lot of Windows still workshop. I love that podcast and I love being part of Margot's Patreon. She offered all of these different workshops for almost well over a year. They had different artists presenting different lessons. I did printmaking and I did paper art.

Speaker 1: 4:46

I remember wanting to get gouache paint but I didn't know how to pronounce it. I was so intimidated to go to an art store and ask for it because I didn't know how to say it. I didn't want to look like an idiot. I'm just going to be totally transparent. That's one of the reasons I never did it, because I didn't know how to say it. I don't know why I just didn't look it up to figure out. How do you say gouache? How do you use the materials? I think I painted on it was a canvas or something and it started to peel off. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I just practiced and played with it and tried it on different substrates and materials. That's just what you have to do. You don't have to be professional 100% in every medium that you try, but you can still be interested in it. I just think I had to share that Because I get intimidated by not knowing everything ahead of time and I know I'm not alone in doing that.

Speaker 1: 5:56

But I also love fiber art and sewing. I love to sew. I have sewed for decades. I used to make so many dresses and clothes for my daughters growing up, matching things, mother daughter dresses, their doll clothes oh my gosh. I did so many weddings of bridesmaids, dresses and veils and, gosh, I can't even quilt. And just sewing, sewing, sewing, sewing, sewing. So for years I've been on my fifth machine. Just love.

Speaker 1: 6:35

I love sewing, I love fiber art. I do not know how to crochet and I do not know how to knit. I have a friend, susan God love you, susan Farley. She came over and I think we spent like six hours. She's trying to teach me how to crochet. I made this huge lunch and we had just the best time outside trying in the gazebo trying to teach me how to crochet. And she's so good at it and I wish I could do it. I want to like be able to look at a pattern and know what those words mean as you go along, and I'm just so envious of, like, everyone who started to do that at a young age with, like grandparents, because I think that's where so many people say, yeah, I learned how to sew or crochet from my grandmother or my aunt and they can do it so fast and just make whatever. I love that. I just think that's just fascinating and I love that Susan still also do patterns and pictures constantly now and like, hey, look at this, look at this jewelry. I mean there's so many beautiful things with the crocheting and knitting. I just no idea.

Speaker 1: 7:47

I have a knitting machine. I got one of the circle knitters that you put the yarn in and you rotate it with or you turn the handle and you can knit a hot really fast and I use the drill to make it quicker and I was like, oh, I'm going to burn this thing up and break it because it was so close, making hats and sending them to like my granddaughters, my daughters, my mom. It was a lot of fun and I still have that and you know, got the pom poms for the top and stuff. So that's a lot of fun. I like doing that. I just love yarn. I love the texture of it and the feel of it, the colors. I just I fascinated by that. So I still want to take lessons to learn how to do that.

Speaker 1: 8:29

I love paper art. I love paper. I love the, the heaviness of paper, the colors that it comes in. I love tearing it and cutting it, layering it it's just beautiful painting on it and then using that. I know Tracy English is one of my favorite paper artists just because I love how she takes all the textures and paints on it and then makes these beautiful collages and pictures and just there's darling, and so I love seeing her work and taking a class with her and it was just just fabulous, it's just so pretty and I just have such a great interest in that and just love and appreciate all the work that goes into that. And I think there's a paiting, paper cutting technique. I'm going to I'm going to mess up the same like a shirt and neti or something like that. It's Swedish, but you use the really teeny, tiny, fine scissors and you do paper cutting.

Speaker 1: 9:32

My mother saw something on like PBS decades ago and loved that and I remember paper cutting a I think it was a Noah's Ark for her years ago in that kind of technique and it's because it gave her validation when she saw how they were holding the scissors. And we both hold scissors in a weird way I learned from my mother because that's the only way she knew how to cut and so when I was little in an art class I would get yelled at for holding my scissors wrong and I remember my mom going into like the parent teacher conferences and the art teacher like reprimanding her for teaching me how to hold scissors backwards and my mom was like well, that's how I hold them, that's the only way I know how to show her, and I think it was like five, five or six. This was very, very young, and so it wasn't until college that I tried to hold scissors. I guess the right way, the regular way, where they're pointing outward and and my mother saw these two sisters on the show paper cutting and they held their scissors like she did and she was like Trixie, oh, my gosh, they're holding their scissors like we do, and so now I can hold them both ways, but it's just, it's a. I'll have to, like, take a picture. I do it and um, but yeah, it's, it was just a way that I always held my scissors, because that's the way my mother, you know, held hers and that's how she taught me. But, um, but yeah, I can remember being reprimanded quite often for for holding my scissors incorrectly, and it's just amazing, thinking back into the 70s and 80s on how things had to be a certain way to be considered correct and that if you were going to be an artist, you know you needed to do it this way and there wasn't like this mindset of being able to do it your way. To me, that's just how I felt. I also grew up in Appalachia, so it's, I don't know, maybe that was a mindset that they were worried that you know you had to follow along maybe some bigger ideals and things from other areas and not really hold on to like your spin on it. I don't, I don't know, but um, but yeah, so I again.

Speaker 1: 11:59

I think I had talked about earlier how I loved making paper dolls and and I used to draw faces all the time and like compare them against one another and which one looked prettier and which one was funnier, and I like didn't even think about them being different emotions and stuff like that, but it was just you know how curly was this one's hair? How straight was this one's hair? Did this one have bangs? You know their eye shapes, and just I would draw for hours and hours and hours like that. And so I loved drawing and sketching and I can remember taking those classes in college for the first time and one of the first critiques that I got was to stop using the edges of the paper as a frame to draw past that, and it never had occurred to me. It was like it had to stay either centered or like right in the middle. I just I was so regimented to think that everything had to fit instead of thinking what if it expanded outside those edges? Pretend that you're very close up to it, and it was really hard for me to think like that for a very, very long time and it was just fascinating to me to see other artists from other schools that had come from different states and even in the same state, but watching their work and like that's how they were told to think freely, and I just never had that instruction and it was just like, oh my gosh, I didn't know that you could break that rule. I thought that was a hard rule.

Speaker 1: 13:35

Hey, I don't feel that I am alone in my creative journey, in exploring different methods of creating, and I would love to have you as a guest on the program just to talk about what you are interested in and how you are creating your dreams. And it doesn't have to be an art creative career. It could be a small business, it could be anything that you have put your life into and your goals are something that are your dreams. So just send me a message. I would love to have some guests on. I already have a list running of people I'm contacting, but if any of this sounds like a great time for you to do it along with me, I won't make you do it if you don't want to, but I think it would be fun if you could do it with me and just chat and talk about how you are achieving those goals. Send me a message. Thanks a lot. My mom still may have it I don't think she does but I can just remember making Oversized pieces, like I made the shoes that I had worn to prom and they were like two feet long and it was ginormous and I just loved thinking that I could do that with clay and you know firing it.

Speaker 1: 14:55

And then you know glazing and learning about glazes and raccoon was my favorite. I just loved that sheen and the way that it changed, you know color and the way that you held it and and just you know, never got to do that in high school, that was a college thing and and uh, just you know, loved, just love that texture and getting to build something by hand and that was, that was a lot of fun. I have a great appreciation for that. I don't do that on a regular basis at all. I do little sculpture, tiny little things, and love building things with wood and and, and I love working with my laser and that kind of just blended into my graphic work because I love doing, um, digital drawing and I love procreate and I love the ability to Use the pen as different brushes and so there's so many cool Different textures and things that you can replicate and I I just think that that's so much fun digitally.

Speaker 1: 15:58

And it really stayed a huge step for me because I was taking pictures of my paintings and then and bringing them in and to photoshop and you know being able to print them from that and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm save, I'm saving an entire step. I can draw this natively as a digital file and now I can print it or I can have it put on merchandise and, and when I design a mural, I don't have to sketch it out and use color pencil and marker. I can do it digitally and then I can superimpose it onto the wall or the item and they can Really see what it's going to look like. And that was a huge game changer for me. I love that and it just, you know, opened up a whole other world. But that medium alone is so much fun. I love doing that and, um, I love being able to think about all of the different ways that I love to create and turning them Into something that I can share for someone to also enjoy.

Speaker 1: 16:53

So if you think about the different ways that you like to make something and expanding on how it's traditionally used, like I was talking about fiber art and always sending my friends Susan like jewelry and Everybody thinks of crocheting a sweaters and stuff but I've been finding these beautiful, like necklaces and patterns for earrings and headbands and all of these things that are in crochet. Granny squares it's not just an afghan anymore. I have so many cardigans and sweaters and I even send them like you got to make these and sell these because they're like one of my favorite things. They're just beautiful and and she's like she's like I didn't even think about it being past an afghan or a blanket and people love wearing, you know, yarn items. So, uh, pest like a, I guess, traditional sweater. So I just I think if you also look at um wrapping paper and cards, if you have that work done and you do a really beautiful photo of it, you can take that and put that as a repeat pattern on All kinds of things. You can print the knit in the crochet design on tote bags and and, like I said, cards and journals, and it's so pretty and you get to share it that way too.

Speaker 1: 18:22

So I think, if you have an interest in different types of art, think of different ways that you can share it and in in really diversify your portfolio too, because I think that A lot of people think, okay, I only like to do sculpture. But sculpture can translate into beautiful photography and it can be placed on items. It can inspire a repeat pattern. I mean a beautiful piece of sculpture, you know, take that into a digital format, repeat it and put it on a really pretty texture background. I would wear that as a dress or a shirt. I mean that would be amazing.

Speaker 1: 19:05

You know, just don't think of it as the only, um I guess, substrate or or item that you're making, and that's the other way that you can use it. But there's lots and lots of different ways that you can take your work and and really Offered a variety of ways for people to enjoy it. You know, I might not be able to buy a five thousand dollar um piece of pottery, but if I have it as a note card and they're thank you cards that I can frame or share with friends I can buy a pack of those and, uh, get to enjoy seeing it and looking at it just as much If I didn't have the five thousand dollars to buy it. So it's, it's, you know, think about different ways that you can, you know, share all of your interests and, uh, different. I think about, like I talked about Tracy's work Um, she'll put it on tea towels and calendars and you know, of course, her cards and then make stories and it's wonderful that she's you know, okay, I've got this one piece with all this beautiful paper, you know, collage on it, but offering it in different, different, cute ways to enjoy on a pillow as a throw, um, a puzzle, just it's. Think about different ways that you can share, share that work and it's okay to be interested in all sorts.

Speaker 1: 20:31

You know, if you're a painter, you don't have to just stick with acrylics. You know, you can try oil. I've taken one oil class painting, and it was also this year and it was like a Bob Ross style painting class and it was so much fun. I had never done that before and we had a blast. There was I don't know 10 of us I don't even think of it as 10. And it was done by local artists. I'll find her name and put it in the show notes because she certified to teach the Bob Ross style and it was so much fun and I just had a blast.

Speaker 1: 21:05

I was organized by a friend, dave Charrell his little handle on Instagram and everything is Dave Ruins art and I say Lil, this man, this guy, I swear. He has been featured all over in Newsweek and board Panda. He takes thrifted art and creates amazing fun like pop culture pieces from it and he takes his pieces and makes. I've got magnets and he had this black velvet art with like horror pictures drawn on it and I did this recycled jewelry box and I put his little magnets that he created from his art. He has calendars just awesome.

Speaker 1: 21:54

Mel, his wife, another phenomenal fiver artist. She does crocheting oh my gosh. She has knit hats. She has animals. I just got this cutest chicken nugget from her and it reminded me of my kids were little and I had to make a felt outfit for the chicken nugget Because I love working with felt and I'm like I love her pieces. I told her I'm like I need like five more of these because I want to do the whole series of when my kids were little they had the chicken nuggets from the happy meals that were Halloween dressed and I had to, like, make the little pumpkin one. But now I want to do the rest and I'm serious, mel, I need, I need like five more. I really want to do this.

Speaker 1: 22:31

But I'll link all of these artists and all the classes or ways to take the classes in the show notes because it's important to learn other mediums. You never know what you're going to fall in love with. You never know what's going to spark an interest to continue down a path, doing something with a new tool or a new medium, and it's totally okay to explore that and it really expands your style and it really expands your knowledge and you learn so, so much. And don't be afraid, don't, don't be like me and not do something because you're too embarrassed to figure out how in the world to say something correctly. It's totally okay to watch it. Just try, laugh it off and and not be so concerned that you have to know how to do it 110% before you can dive in.

Speaker 1: 23:29

That's the beauty of learning something new and having interests in all of these different forms of art. It's, it's freeing and you have permission you have my permission to try it. Not that you need it, but us as artists always seem to talk about well, I just never knew I could do that. Who in the world? Why are we waiting on someone to give us permission to do something? I don't understand where that comes from. It's it's totally okay to try. I mean, the first thing that you do is never going to be a masterpiece, ever. It's just not. And that's the beauty of like when you're little, growing up and you're learning how to do something and everyone's like Yay, you tried. If you need that pat on the back, tag me, let me know that you're trying something for the first time. You know you're going to get that. Yay, you tried, you did it. You jumped in. You said it wrong, but you tried. Anyway, you are going to get that from me because I am right there with you.

Speaker 1: 24:34

There are tons of things that I still want to learn how to do, still trying to learn how to do, still taking classes to learn how to do, and it's totally okay to not do them perfectly. I mean, perfect is underrated. Nobody wants perfect. Nobody wants it to be like this flawless thing. Who can relate to that? Who can relate to something being flawless? And you know just, I don't ever want to feel like there's a threshold that I'm going to hit and that is it. There's. There's no fun in that. Where's the beauty in that? It just that means it's done. I don't want it to be done, I want it to continue. I just, you know there's no fun in perfection, you know. You just don't feel. I don't know.

Speaker 1: 25:34

There's not a sense of accomplishment when it's like exactly right, I can look at something and I'm like man, I could have done a little bit more. Now that I've stepped away, and that's okay, that's totally okay. Nothing has to be 100 percent. We're never going to be 100 percent At the end of our lives. It's not like oh, that was it there. You know she achieved everything. It's. You know, there's always going to be like man, we really wish that person was still around, because there's so much more that they can do. It's not like, oh, that was it, that was, that was their limit. You know there's always more that you could have said. There's always more that you could have done.

Speaker 1: 26:15

And I think you need to look at everything like that, because it makes it exciting to try a little bit different spin or approach it another way, and don't don't get rid of things that you're working on. You fail at something, don't toss it, don't throw it away. Don't, you know, destroy it. Just put it aside for a little bit, don't you know? Don't do that. Go back and look at it and see how far you've come, and see maybe how differently you would approach it. And, you know, do it again. But just, you know, use those as guides and measuring sticks and really think about man, this is a big change. I look at I still have my portfolio from college and I look back at some of the assignments and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is, this is so raw from where I was and I look what I didn't know and look where I what I know now and look what I'm still learning. And that's, that's the beauty.

Speaker 1: 27:16

I remember doing pen and ink and had never had other than calligraphy class, having to learn how to control that and doing all the hash marks to control like shading, and it was just so cool to try those different pens. And then my cron pens. I love my cron pens and I remember, wow, I don't have to carry around ink and you can just use these. And there's all different types of you know tips and compared to like the nibs that you would use with the pen and ink and, just again, I can just go through charcoal and pastels and chalk and different pencil hardnesses and just that's one of the things that I miss around here. We have no dedicated art store anymore and I would just go in there and just like, oh, I want to know how to airbrush. Oh my gosh, look at all of these colors.

Speaker 1: 28:11

I'm just working with golden paints right now. These. I've worked with acrylics. Of course it was always just an expensive acrylics that you could get. Never knew Golden's been around for a hundred years, I think. Never knew about these paints, never had got to practice with them, Never got to mix something that's got such heavy pigment I'm going away. I have no clue that this was available and just what a game changer and learning how to paint a little bit more freely and abstractly, and that is totally something that is new to me.

Speaker 1: 28:45

I just feel like there's no reason in the world for you to not try something new, and there's no reason in the world that you can't be known as a multidisciplinary artist as well. So be interested in painting and sculpting and drawing and sketching and digital art and fiber art and recycled art and metal, art and jewelry and everything. Share with me what art that you love to do. Share with me what you like to paint on. I just I love learning. If there's classes out there, I'd love to know about them. I really think that you have to continue to explore. Don't fear that unknown or the unpronounceable, like me. So I hope you enjoyed the mummy as a model and thanks for listening to me this week, and I'd love to know what you work in, what mediums you work in and the classes that you take and what you've enjoyed and how you are sharing your work with others.

Speaker 1: 30:04

And if you're too afraid to share with work, work with others. Stop being afraid. Share it. Share pictures. I don't care if you don't think it's good enough. It's good enough. It absolutely is good enough. The world needs more of that. You need to see your work and you be brave because it's brutally made. I'll see you next time. Talk to you next time. Thanks for listening. Subscribe every week. Take care Bye. I so appreciate you tuning in today. Please subscribe. Leave me some feedback. I hope you enjoy the program. I'm getting to talk a little bit about creative journeys. I'm excited to have some guests on soon and I appreciate if you take a look at the show notes and there's all kinds of great information from the classes that I've taken, the people I mentioned and just want to always, you know, collaborate and share all the information that I have, in case it's something new to you. So have a great weekend. See you next time.