PLEASE VISIT THE NEW BLOG LOCATION: https://blog.balzerdesigns.com/ Continue reading

Continuing with the shadow theme, here is a new piece I've been working on called "In Shadow." Immediately recognizable as plants and yet...upon closer examination...they're very unrealistic plants, stems don't seem to connect, leaves emerge from nowhere, and even what's light and dark seems to be randomly assigned. This is the crux of the identity/perception issue my artwork explores. Identity is how I view myself. Perception is how you view me. I'm interested in using my artwork to spark a conversation about that conflict. In a world where we quickly judge others based on appearances, your first narrative about someone... Continue reading

Do you recall when I blogged about my visit to the light show at Descanso Gardens in California back in January 2023? I've never stopped thinking about the rainbow shadows that the misty night created. I've been working on some pieces that attempt to capture some of the feelings of those rainbow shadows. (I have photos if I want to share the reality of it!) This piece is called "Night-Time Shadows": It's a 16x20 Monotype Collage. You can see another piece from this series being worked on in this short video from instagram: I am going to be hosting an... Continue reading

You may recall that I've been working on a series of pieces (over several years now) that use gardening and plant metaphors as a way to try and capture my experience of motherhood. This is my latest piece in that series. It's called "To Pinch or To Prune." Pinching is a type of pruning that involves removing the top of a plant's main stem to encourage branching and fuller growth. Pruning is a more general term that involves cutting off plant parts with tools like scissors or pruners. In parenthood, there are so many different ideas about how best to... Continue reading

The current Book Club selection at My Art Practice is Expressive Printmaking by Mary Dalton. It's a dense book full of really interesting fresh and modern ideas about printmaking. I made a few things from the book and I have plans to try many more -- like I said, it's dense. My favorite thing that I made was this block: It was carved using a variety of tools I don't normally use for stamp carving and I enjoyed that challenge. As Peter F. Drucker said: “If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old.” Monthly members can... Continue reading

I've been trying to think about how to describe this piece I made. It's mixed media collage, but it's also a painting. I collaged by adding paper, but I also cut away layers of paper. It's acrylic but also watercolor. It's carefully put together but also wildly free. I named it "Tapestry of Flight" and it's about leaves and birds and that cacophony that swirling winds bring. It was a slow and meditative process to put it together. Days and days and weeks of cutting and adding and painting and cutting. You can see that complexity in these detail photos:... Continue reading

I made something cool! (And once I started, I couldn't stop!) These are bowls made from my leftover fabric scraps. Because I do so much hand painting, stamping, screenprinting, etc. with my fabric, I end up with lots of teeny tiny pieces that I don't want to throw away. But they're too small for most sewing projects. So, they go into a big plastic bag. Well, this project is a scrap buster! I plowed through my bag of scraps while making these vessels. And I looove that I get to keep all my little scraps and make them into something... Continue reading

Late last year, I worked on a series of six pieces all about my adventures by the Charles River with my young son. I call them "The River Walk Series." They're all 16x20 monotype collages. I'm delighted to share that three have sold thus far. It's always such a delight for me when someone loves my work enough to take it home. Rebekah Joy Plett said it best: "When you buy from an independent artist you are buying more than just a painting or a novel or a song. You are buying hundreds of hours of experimentation and thousands of... Continue reading

In this week's artist vlog, I'm sharing a bit about iteration. It's the theme for this cycle at My Art Practice. Iteration is defined as: "A procedure in which repetition of a sequence of operations yields results successively closer to a desired result." It is often called "working in a series." I think of it as working thoughtfully. You make one thing and think about what you like and don't like about it. Then you make another thing, taking that knowledge with you into the new work. Watch the video for more: You can see a bit more in this... Continue reading

This week's Adventures in Arting podcast, "Drawing at the Danforth," is packed with practical tips based on my experiences taking a drawing class at the Danforth Art Museum. Listen to the podcast on your favorite podcast site or using the player below: Here are the five big take aways for me -- all of them have to do with purposeful artistic practice: Balancing Excitement and Challenge Maintaining an artistic practice involves striking a balance between tasks that excite and those that challenge -- you can think of it as things that are fun (and easy) vs. things that are hard... Continue reading

Continuing my list of favorite art supplies, my choice for acrylic paints is Golden Artist Colors acrylic paints. There are five types of acrylic paint that Golden offers. As a side note, I am a certified Golden Artist Educator. Golden is an employee-owned company with high quality standards and excellent customer service. They've always been both kind and generous to me. I'm very happy to recommend their products because both the products and the company are excellent. So, let's get into it: SoFlat: SoFlat is one of the newer Golden paint products and it's fantastic for those of us who... Continue reading

So many of the questions I get asked are about the art supplies I use. So, I thought I'd create a series of posts that go through some of my faves! First up, let's talk about ADHESIVE. Golden Soft Gel Matte: Thick and creamy, this gel medium is an awesome adhesive for collage. I prefer matte adhesives because you can't see them when they dry. So I can be as messy as I want to! And the soft gel is just the right consistency for me. It's soft enough to be brushed on, but you can also use it with... Continue reading

Hey friends! I've been busy in the studio with lots of art making, a new online community and classroom, and some exciting exhibitions (including my prize winning piece currently on view at the Attleboro Arts Museum in Attleboro, MA as part of their exhibit: "Morning Noon Night"). I hope you'll check out this podcast interview I did with "Little Local Conversations." It's a fun one! Listen below: If you'd like to get weekly updates in your inbox, be sure to subscribe to the newsletter. Thanks for stopping by! Continue reading

Hey guys! I'm taking an indefinite break from blogging. If you'd like to keep up with what's going on, please subscribe to my weekly newsletter. It goes out every Friday. It's free and (I hope) packed with inspiration. You will still be able to find my free weekly "Studio Snippets" videos on my YouTube Channel. (In fact, there's a new one today.) Mom and I have started recording a 2024 season of The Adventures in Arting Podcast. So, look for that to begin in January. You can always get art inspiration and tutorials in my monthly art membership program. Or... Continue reading

Please join me every other month in 2024 for a new live online class! “Not only can color, which is under fixed laws, be taught like music, but it is easier to learn than drawing, whose elaborate principles cannot be taught.” -- Eugene Delacroix This course is designed for painters at all levels. The lessons lay a solid foundation for beginners while offering an expansive perspective to mid-level and advanced artists. I put "practical" in the title because the course is packed with immediately usable tips, exercises, and ideas for you to integrate into your own work. It's labeled "for... Continue reading

Today is the last day of the 4-part series on some of my favorite art supplies, divided by discipline: Art Supplies for Painters Art Supplies for Printmakers Art Supplies for Art Journalers Art Supplies for Collage Artists So let's wrap this series up with art supplies for collage artists! There are two main things to talk about with collage: paper and glue. So let's start with paper. The main papers I use are: Deli Paper & Wet Strength Tissue Paper - Both of these papers are thin, translucent when glued, and take a beating. Deli paper is cheap and not... Continue reading

Hello friends! It has turned mighty cold around here. My Mom is convinced that it's going to be a brutal winter because the squirrels are super fat this year. I also saw a video online from a beekeeper that said the bees are really packing away the honey and so we should all prepare for a long cold winter. I wonder if the animals are two steps ahead of us? In the meantime, here's the news from around here: Family News We have three November birthdays in this family. One Scorpio and two Sagittarians (I had to actually look up... Continue reading