Jane Davies is a full time artist working in collage, painting, mixed media, and encaustics. She offers workshops at her studio and nationwide, focusing on helping people to find a personal and playful approach to creating. See her LINK on the right under Artists I Follow, or go to her website at http://www.janedaviesstudio.com/, her blog at http://www.janedavies-collagejourneys.blogspot.com/. Also see her Books page on her website along with Links to her favorite resources She has many wonderful video tutorials you can watch and try on her blog.
I call myself a collage and mixed media artist because I’ve always worked in various formats with diverse materials. Though it may sound cliché, for me, art is definitely a journey. It has taken me from being a potter to free lance artist to artist-author-teacher, with interwoven avenues of bookbinding, print-making, beading, painting, textile art, design, and other means of creating.
Every day of this journey offers new possibilities; I go to the studio to see what will happen rather than to make something specific happen. I may start with an idea, but once I engage with the materials and become absorbed in the process, the muses take over. On a good day, that is. Some days I just show up, do all the same things, and nothing surprising or interesting happens. Still, I believe that the act of showing up and engaging is the most important activity I can do as an artist.I believe that making art is a journey with very few hand-holds and only a general road map. Each participant has to find his or her own way, while at the same time remain open to learning from others. While I may teach a multitude of techniques, my focus is on the back-and-forth play of spontaneity and intention that characterizes the creative process. I try to pave the way into that precarious I-don’t-know-what-to-do-next zone, where you are challenged to forge a personal path, with guidance, to discover the satisfaction of making art that is truly your own. Cultivating a degree of comfort, or at least willingness, with that awkward territory of not-knowing, is one of the keys to finding your creative edge.
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