Greed Revisited

I think I spoke much too lightly about Greed on Studio Friday a few weeks back. I got two new books from Amazon the other day and they are wreaking havoc with my psyche.

The first book was this glorious Artist Trading Card Workshop by Bernie Berlin that is fully of scrumptious ATC's and is making me crave a bunch of new art supplies so I can try out some of the techniques she describes. This has made me realize some new things about Greed. I don't just like to hoard my little stamp collection; I like to hoard all kinds of things. I love to pore over books, especially how-to and art books, and I love to buy new art supplies. So today I'm here at work, all alone, just me and my Greed. There wasn't much for me to do today when I clocked in, but I feel like I should stay at least long enough to pay for the gas that got me here. After I finished my few projects, I spent a little time searching for some supplies mentioned in this book. I had been wanting to add a little luminescence to some of my pieces and the Lumiere metallic paints by Jacquard and a Krylon metallic leafing pen seemed like good possibilities. I found both items at ArtSuppliesOnline. The price isn't the lowest but they are offering Free Shipping to new customers until May 31, 2007, which makes their supplies a good deal. I just had to place an order.


Here's the ugly side of this lovely story. The other book I got last week was Hooked!, a collection of Buddhist Writings on Greed, Desire, and the Urge to Consume. It was easy to be greedy far far away from the cover of this book, but I know it will be staring me in the face when I get home. The bits I've read are so logical, so Sensible, I don't know why I want to choose to ignore them. The best I can say to myself right now is that I will do my best to use the supplies I purchase, much as I use the nails or drywall compound or trowel I bought to work on repairs for the house. The greed seems to come from my internal gushing over lovely supplies and imagining a roomful of them at my beck and call. It's not the purchase of the items that's greed; it's the overwhelming desire to possess them. The idea that struck me most in the chapter I was reading was that Freedom in your life comes from Not Clinging - to things, to people, to ideas. I wonder how it can help me with my art?

new project

I decided that participating in some challenges from other bloggers might be a good way to spark my creativity. I found Studio Friday from tine sparkles which is a weekly challenge related to your personal workspace. The topic this week is "Greed."

Here's my take on Greed. I love the miniature art of stamps and matchbox covers. I think it stems from a childhood phase of stamp collecting. I have kraft envelopes full of stamps that I've been acquiring for many many years and a while back I started acquiring matchbox art. I love looking through my collection which I usually do on the pretense that I'm going to use some stamps in a collage. (Stamps are copyright free, after all.) Then I decide the stamps are too pretty to be taken out of their "natural" environment (my desk drawer). Lately I've managed to use a few stamps in projects and it hasn't hurt, so I hope to continue the trend.




Here's the third and last page I did with my "little princess" pic. This time I covered the stark black and white Asian written characters with a thin coat of white gesso, which softened them but still let them show through. It also added some substance to the page I used a few pieces of fabric in addition to the paper cutouts to add a different kind of texture. I was really happy with the fabric bits although the scan doesn't reproduce the texture very well.

After doing 3 pages with this image I ran out of ideas for it. That was one of the things that prompted me to start looking for some challenges from other bloggers. I sometimes do better when I have a deadline!