I love altered art, but it occurs to me that many people may have never heard of it before.  So what is altered art?

To Alter – to make different in some particular, as size, style, course, or the like; modify

Altered art means a wide variety of things to different people.  For me, altered art began with a set of playing cards, some old magazines to cut up, and some acrylic paints.  While two-dimensional media like playing cards, place mats, and the like are a great way to move from collage into altered art, where it gets really interesting is when you start altering 3-dimensional objects.

Probably one of the most popular altered media is various types and sizes of boxes.  From the small altoid tins to cigar box purses, moving altered art into the realm of assemblage becomes a form of collage sculpture.

Altered art journals and books are a wonderful way to express your own creative style.  Small composition books make the perfect cover to alter for your first art journal.  These small and inexpensive books are the perfect size to have at hand whenever you feel the need to write something down.  The cover is sturdy enough to stand up to some serious painting and altering and can handle just about anything you would like to attach to it.

Many people begin sharing their art for the first time through altered playing cards, altered books, or artist trading cards.  I’ve participated in a few of these round robins – we picked a theme for say ATCs and then sent in a certain number to the coordinator who sent us back one less.  The coordinator has the benefit of grabbing one of everyone’s cards as she spends all the time and energy to coordinate the round robin and mail everything back out.

Round robins can be a great way to stimulate your creativity with altered art as everything you get back will have been made by someone else.  I find that looking at other’s art work will often spur me into figuring out how someone did something I find unique, or their style may drive me to try out new styles for myself!

Altered tins and boxes make for wonderful little shrines or reliquaries for all the little sacred moments in life we don’t celebrate enough!  I like to keep a little table in my room set aside for these altered treasures.

photo credit: CLBcreations

I simply love the look and feel of altered art.  Its so exciting to go through a bunch of found “junk” and transform it into something that is beautiful or useful, or beautiful and useful!  Aside from altering everything from playing cards to altoid tins to old cigar boxes, I also love collage.  I’ve tried both digital  collage and mixed media collage – I love both but my computer graphic design skills leave a little bit to be desired!  Well that combined with the fact that although I consider myself an artist, I don’t feel that I have a depth of technical drawing skills.  Combine that with drawing with a mouse and wow what a challenge!

I am creating this site to enter the art-stream and keep a part of myself connected at all times with the art world, especially with altered art + mixed media.  I plan to share some of my own altered art work as well as mixed media techniques that I have found useful.  Creating collage and altered art was a huge step in my own personal growth journey – the healing you can get out of doing your own collage is incredible.

On a professional level I am a licensed counselor and a professional writer.  I enjoy a great variety of subjects but have a special place in my heart for altered art, visual journaling, the outdoors, environmental concerns, and chihuahuas!