She Gets Me

The other day my mom and I were chatting about art and my recent passion for all things art journal. She and I spend a lot of time together in the studio. Out of everyone I know, she knows my creative process the best. She gets to see it. And she totally "gets me" like no other human being on this planet does.

So she shows up last week with her sketchbook in tow. I got excited immediately that she did some artwork and wanted to show me. I’ve been trying to gently encourage her work because she has talent. After all, I get my creativity from her. She starts talking about how excited she gets for me that I have passion in my life in the form of art. And she got all teary eyed. Then she showed me what she made…

It’s a tribute to me. My mom made an art journal page about me! Isn’t that the coolest thing ever?! And she wrote such lovely things about me on it. It makes me cry every time I look at it. It has taken me a full week to be able to write this post without bawling my eyes out!

Yes, that’s me with the crazy, curly hair and sunglasses. (My chronic light sensitivity warrants the wearing of sunglasses all the time or I get migraines from the light.)

I know this image is probably too small for you to read what she wrote so I’ll tell you:

“You dare to dream
You believe in your art
You dare to try (‘It’s only paper’)
You bravely venture forward
You push your limits
You hunger for art knowledge
You dig deep for answers
Your beautiful soul shines
Your hope is strong
Your mind is beautiful
Your strength is amazing
I admire you”

She took the time to include a bunch of things I love like dominoes, art journals, pens, stamps, cloth, scissors, paper, tags, cards, paint, ribbon, and a domino pendant. She even drew my art journal and wrote “I GET YOU” on one page!

She said she had a vision of this page and wasn’t sure she would be able to get it out of her head and onto paper. But she was thrilled to say that it came out exactly like she wanted it to. I’m so proud of her! She and I don't really hold our feelings back from each other. We’re kind of a touchy feely family that way. We don’t hold the kisses and “I love you”s back at all. Life is too short.

I’m still kind of speechless to describe what this means to me, as I’m sure you can understand. This will be something for me to look at in my dark moments when I’m in pain and feel I cannot go on. It gives me hope. It makes me feel so very loved. If this is what my mom sees when she looks at me then I might not be so bad after all.

Thank you, Mom! I love you more than I can express! xoxo

Postcard Swap 2010 and #CraftSocial

Recently I've been getting myself into various art swaps. It started with the artist trading cards on flickr and has now grown to more and more swaps! I'm hooked! It's just too much fun!

I came across a tweet about a new swap a few weeks ago. I have not done any postcard swapping yet so I thought I would give this one a try. This is also quite a large swap. I have to make 10 original postcards to send. But that means I get 10 original postcards from who knows where in the world! For me, it's really more about the giving than the receiving. Receiving is just the icing on the cake of getting to share my work with someone. Plus who doesn't like snail mail (besides bills)?!

I started on my postcards yesterday. So far I have three in the early stages of paper collage. They measure 4" x 6". I just cut them out of 140 lb cold press watercolor paper. I think that's a nice weight for mail. They are all getting an extra thick coat of gel medium to protect the artwork. Stay tuned in the weeks to come for pictures of them.

Click the banner above to go to the blog post to join! The last day to sign up is February 7, 2010. The postcards are due to be mailed out by Valentine's Day on February 14th. The swap is hosted by iHanna. She will be emailing me 10 addresses for the swap. They could be going anywhere! Fun!

The postcard swap project was conceived at the Twitter party called #craftsocial. They have a website at CraftSocial.net. Read more about this Twitter party on their "About" page. It's a bunch of crafty tweeple chatting up artsy craftsy things on Twitter! The next Craft Social will be on Saturday, February 20, 2010 from 3 – 5 PM, EST. The first hour of the event will be dedicated to craft #fails – they dare you to show your worst! Yikes! I'll be there! But that also means I have to go photograph some art fails! Double yikes! See you on Twitter!

NEW! This Time of Year: Artist Cards, Editions & Originals

New in my Etsy shop! It's an Artist Card, Edition & Original (ACEO)! Isn't she a cutie-pie?!

This ACEO is an original, mixed media collage. It is made with paper, vintage lace, digital photos, machine sewing, a hand painted background, and text from a vintage book. The crown and wings have sparkly glitter on them. The card measures 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches - about the size of a baseball card.

This is one of one (1/1) in this set. You are getting an original, one of a kind ACEO. Signed by the artist, Victoria Porter (me!), on the back and dated 1/15/10. It will be shipped via USPS First Class in a protective sleeve with hard backing to prevent bending. The copyright symbols and letters do not appear on the actual card.


ACEOs are a fun and affordable way to collect art from your favorite artists. They are suitable for framing and make great gifts!

I'll be coming out with many more so stay tuned! I love making these!

I can make custom fairies from digital photos of your little sweeties if you like. Shoot me an an email at inmyheadstudios {at} gmail.com.

Color Theory: Work In Progress

In the new issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine is a great project about using the color wheel. I tend to use a lot of bright colors in my work but find I’m getting tired of the same old color combinations. So I started this project to work out the kinks in my use of color. Here is what I’ve got so far. I’m still stitching it and assembling it.

I’m using the sewing machine to add details. I love sewing on paper and that is the main reason I got the sewing machine in the first place. I’ve had it for more than a year and I don’t think I’ve even run any fabric through it!

Since we are on the topic of color I thought you might like to see how my scrap paper is looking. I’m definitely going to save it and use it for collage! Isn’t it cool?

I Don’t Want Wings with My Hairdo

My sister just called me. She had a hilarious story to share and I thought you might get a kick out of it.

She woke up last night with something nestling around in her hair. It was dark. She didn’t have her glasses on. She’s really blind at night. So all she could see was a small black form. Then, when she sat up and looked back at her pillow, it was gone! She immediately jumped up and started screaming to her hubby, Blaine, that something was in the bed! He heard wings flapping. My sister, Valerie, didn’t hear that part because she was busy screaming. So they had a BAT loose in their bedroom! Ack! Scream! A bat!!!

It flew out of the bedroom into the hallway when Blaine whacked it with something. It lay stunned on the stairs. Or playing dead. And she had the where with all to snap pictures!


They whispered madly to each other, ”What do we do?! What do we do?!” while trying not to wake the kids. Valerie got a garbage can and clapped it over the bat.


They somehow managed to get it into a garbage bag from there. But it woke up during this process and was flitting wildly around in the bag. Just as Blaine was about the leave the house to let it go it got loose from the bag and went into the basement. So there they are in the dead of night hunting a bat in a huge dark basement. Insert more screaming!


They thought it got trapped up in the drop ceiling, but Blaine heard it move around in a box. He snapped the box closed and finally made it outside with the bat. As he let it go another bat came swooping down from the sky and the two bats flew off together.

They still have no idea how it got into the house. They checked the attic for holes but found nothing.

I cannot stop laughing every time I think of my sister standing in bed screaming! Oh, it’s made me cry twice! I really needed a good laugh today. I feel bad for laughing about this, but c’mon! She’s a hairdresser and she had a bat in her hair!!! Eeeekgad!!

What makes this a little funnier is that my hunny, Erik, caught a bat in a hallway at work recently. Feel free to commence with the Batman jokes for the men in my life!

Twitterpated: Etsy Twitter Team Treasury

My handmade card with the heart in a pocket is in an Etsy Twitter Team Treasury! Go give it your clicks and comment love! Thanks!

Created by BurlapWorks.etsy.com
Expires January 17th

I'm doing everything in my power to not go order something nom nom nom delicious from Vintage Confections! Any of these items would make for a great handmade Valentine's Day!

Resolution Fears for 2010: Art Journal Page

I made another art journal page. Sort of worried this was too personal to share, but also felt like I can't be alone in this.

In case you can’t read it:

“i’m afraid to set any 2010 resolutions. why? my fear of failure. my fear of success. keeping me frozen in an unchanged state. i need to change in order to grow… to get better… to learn. i must embrace change. trust the process. stop staying exactly the same. step out of my comfort zone. be brave. this is my year!”

Right now I’m in this yucky stuck place of dealing with a lot of chronic pain. Pain makes me unwilling to do things that cause change because it feels unsafe or insecure. But staying here stuck in this pain is not safe and secure. It’s robbing me of my life. And, gosh darn it, I’m going to do something about that this year. The sooner the better.

I think the “setting resolutions” fears are more about failure. There is a lot I cannot do because of the chronic pain. So if I set a resolution and cannot make it happen, does that constitute failure? Not necessarily. I think as long as I just TRY this year I will be satisfied. If I do my best and still come up short then maybe it’s just not meant to be. Or maybe it’s not meant to be right now but will be in the future. I have to keep trying and not lose hope.

Be brave, my friends. This is YOUR year, too!

Hope: Art Journal Page

I did it! I got into working in my new handmade (by Parkside Harmony) art journal! Success! The paper quality is most excellent. No wrinkling or buckling. The pages are Stonehenge heavy weight paper - some of my all-time favorite paper! It is good for just about any medium.

Most of yesterday was spent creating this page. I didn’t really plan much where the different papers were going to go. I just went with what I picked up at the time. I used matte gel medium to glue the paper down and went over it to seal it. I like to go back and fill in the blank areas with paint. The gel medium makes for a nice painting surface. It is also good for stamping on with paint or ink. Adds a lot of dimension.

Click on images to see in my flickr stream.

The book pages measure 8” x 8” so this spread is 8” x 16”. I liked working across the fold of the binding. I have been working in spiral bound books and it’s harder to do that in those.

I thought the theme of “Hope” would be a good way to start my 2010 art journal. My plan is to complete the whole book by the end of the year. Ideally, I would like to then exhibit the book somewhere. But first things first… make more pages!

I took a lot of photos of the page so I can print out artist trading card sized images and use them for “instant” backgrounds. Why not make all this work go a long way? I multi-task… so should my art!

Listen to Your Heart ATC

Just goofing around in the studio late last night. Had the itch to make something – something at all – because I cannot manage to get started in my 2010 handmade art journal. It’s too pretty and neat and clean right now. I don’t want to ruin it! So I made this instead.

Hold On To Your Hat!

I came across this video today in that art group I joined. It has blown my mind! I cannot believe the amount of creativity and work that went into making this video. Words fail to describe it. Just go now and watch it for yourself!

Go! Now! Hurry! What are you waiting for?! Why are you still reading this?! Hit PLAY already!

Remarkable Artist Community for Women!

While searching for art journal pages to look at on Twitter I stumbled across a community for women artists called Milliande Art Community. This fabulous and inspiring artist named Milliande started it. She makes neat videos of herself making great art and art journal pages as well as several in depth tutorials. This community appears to be rich and vibrant. Many new posts and comments from all over the world are happening there all the time! This is my personal page in the group.

She started a project called Art Journal January 2010 in which she hopes to have a new video and page done everyday. I’m not quite that ambitious, but I will play along as much as I can. However, I tend to work slowly and don’t think I will be video taping my process at all. I am intrigued about doing something like that in the future so we will see. But you can expect lots of pictures! It's a good thing I received a new handmade art journal for 2010 from my mom!

Here is her video for January 1st:

I love how quickly she works. Her style is very free and kinesthetic. So inspiring!

Are you taking on any creative endeavors for 2010? I would love to hear about it in the comments!

New Year, New Work: "Cohesion"

I enjoy the challenge of melding dissimilar shapes, colors, and patterns to make a single cohesive piece. I think because my personality feels a bit fragmented at times I’m drawn to designs that have many components and complex movement. Plus I’m kind of rotten at making decisions so I throw many mediums and elements into all my artwork because I cannot decide what to leave out.

This collage reminds me of glimpses of visions in dreams. Parts you cannot quite grasp before they are gone. Then you move on to the next possibly disjointed vision and so on until you are left with a mosaic of images and a sense of struggling to assemble them to uncover the meaning in it.

All of the individual rectangles were made separately and then brought back together. I wanted to stay with earthy tones, but some hot pink snuck in, and I think it worked out fine. Created in the proportion of a wood domino - only larger (measures 6” x 2 7/8”), I plan to scan it, shrink it down to domino size, print it, and use it to decorate the domino pendants. This way I can work in a larger format to make art for the dominoes.

Consequently, I then have an original piece of art to sell, too, and possibly sell prints, note cards, and calendars with the collage on them. I have not yet ventured into the world of selling original art online so there are some things I still need to work out before you see this one in my Etsy shop.

I am enjoying getting back to my collage roots and working in a bigger scale than the dominoes and the one-inch square glass slide pendants. This work may be sectioned into twenty-one pieces, but it’s making me feel more put back together than I have felt in a long time.

A larger version of the image

©2009 In My Head Studios