Feature Artist Becky Voth!!!

Altered Pages is delighted to share the art of 

BECKY VOTH!

I am so pleased to have Becky as our Feature Artist.   She has always been very creative, it runs in the family with her Sister and Mom!   I saw her grow to become a fabulous canvas artist through her diligent practice and taking many classes.  I knew she would move on and that made me a bit sad, but her talents have to be shared and grow even more!   She remains a friend and I will always support her artful endeavors!   Proud to have made the connection, Becky!   We still have her kits on our website and they continue to sell to people who like Becky's creative process. ~ Jean

  

Hello All!

I am super excited to be a Feature Artist on Altered Pages today! Some of you may remember me as a Design Team member here on Altered Pages, but this past January, I decided to take my mixed media art to the next level with commission work, shows & teaching.

In the past year & a half, we moved from Denver, CO to a wonderful small town 30 miles south called Larkspur. It’s a quiet little “mountain” town without being all the way up in the mountains! I have thoroughly enjoyed having a big unfinished basement as my art studio & classroom, making new friends & living the small-town life! I have been happily married for almost 16 years with a wonderful 8 year-old daughter (The “Magpie,” in my biz name, The Laughing Magpie). They both bring so much happiness to my life! Besides creating on canvas, I enjoy spending time creating with two women’s art groups, nature & architectural photography, travel (going to Peru in June!), spending time with my family here, & recently becoming a Thirty-One Gifts consultant too! Life is full, fun & busy! But there is ALWAYS time for ART!

I am currently taking a year-long online course through Donna Downey Studios. I really enjoy taking online courses since you have the ability to watch the lessons over & over again while working. (I have no formal art training other than photography classes & find online learning a great alternative to driving 30+ miles to a college campus!) Here are a few of my journal pages from the first 12 weeks of the class:

She uses a lot of layers to achieve some beautiful textures & colors.

 

One layer of texture in the background here is joint tape from the hardware store!

This is one I am currently working on. A few fluid acrylics mixed with gesso, sprayed with water to drip & a few other layers on top of that!

The canvas in the back is a version of one of Donna’s classes that I’ve yet to finish. The tree canvas in the foreground I created using a script stencil, masking tape, 3 different glazes & a crackle stamp on the trees. Here’s a larger picture of that one:

This owl I created as the sample for a class I taught for a Sweet 16 birthday party.

I started by lightly drawing the tree shape on canvas with charcoal, then collaging bits of paper & stickers onto the tree. Then I added texture with paint & a few bottle cap circles. Then I drew in the shape of my owl before blending colors into the background using 2-3 colors in the same family & blending with gesso using my fingers. Then I painted in the owl using various brush techniques. Finally I outlined here & there with more charcoal.

 

Here is the one I created in class with my students:

This is another sample I created for a class…lots of layers & texture in this one! One thing I have learned this year from the online class is that joint compound works just as good as modeling paste for texture & is a heck of a lot cheaper! Simply spread it on with a palette knife let dry or stamp into it when wet! All sorts of fun texture to play with!

 

Lastly, I have been working on my first commissioned piece – a 48x48 mixed media canvas for a friend’s stairway landing…only a peek here because I don’t want her seeing it yet! It’s almost finished!

I started with the background – layers of fluid acrylic paints & some water to create drips in the sky. The flowers are actually paint on some 7 Gypsies printed tissue paper – you can see more of the writing on it in person – that I then tore into oval shapes & then layered to create the poppies.    That’s it for me today!

Thanks for stopping in & to see more of what I’m up to, please visit my blog at www.thelaughingmagpie.com & like me on FB!

Cheers!