Journals & Collaborative Projects

Below you will find a sampling our members' work from previous collaborative projects.  Click on images to view them larger. We hope this will inspire you to come and play with us! If you are interested in joining our group, please visit us at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/

Tutorials & Techniques

Below are some of our favorite tricks for adding depth and dimension to your art.  We hope you have fun giving these a try!

Current Group Swaps & Projects

Below is a list of current swaps and projects available to group members. If you are interested in joining our group and participating in these projects, please visit us at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/.  

For existing group members, you can sign up to participate  in these projects here: Swaps & Current Projects.  

We look forward to swapping with you.  Happy Arting!

Member Gallery for Group Swaps
 
Below you will find a sampling our members' work from previous group swaps and projects.  Click on images to view them larger. We hope this will inspire you to come and play with us! If you are interested in joining our group, please visit us at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/.
 
Come play with us... Join today!

Paper Traders is a friendly online community of artists from around the world. We nurture and value creativity, embrace new ideas, products, and techniques yet also value tried and true methods of artistic expression. Our projects consist primarily of paper arts, mixed media collage, artist trading cards, altered art, assemblages, collaborative journals, mail art, and more.

We are interested in creative individuals of varied skill levels who wish to challenge themselves artistically and help build a supportive community. We are at our best when we can share our creative efforts as well as techniques, resources, feedback, and insights. We encourage conversation about art, the art process, and what it means to be an artist.

Paper Traders is hosted on Yahoo Groups at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/.
We hope you will consider joining us on an artistic journey!

In order to prevent spammers and to insure that all applicants are actual persons interested in creating art, a questionnaire will be sent to all potential members. When applying, please submit digital examples of your work or direct us to a website where we can view your art. The intent of the questionnaire is not to judge the merits of your art but to safeguard the integrity of our community.

Free Images for Download

Below you will find images that are owned by our group members and offered for your personal use as well as images found in the public domain. Images may be freely used in your personal artwork but may not be used for commercial purposes of any kind without written permission of the owner. No images may be used to create collage sheets or image collections for resale.

To download, follow the link provided. In some cases, you may be able to just click on the image to enlarge it, then right-click and select "save image as". Content changes frequently and many images are available for a limited time.  Please check back often for newly posted images to use in your art journey.

Open Art Challenges !

We're changing things up here at Paper Traders. Instead of the monthly challenges of the past, we'll now be hosting special challenges that might feature a specific technique or product and will be rewarded with actual prizes sponsored by our group members.

Our new challenge for 2013 is a year long word prompt journaling project/challenge. Each specific challenge will be open for one month and all art bloggers can participate, whether you are a Paper Traders member or not. Each artist will comment with a link to their blog post that features the artwork for that particular challenge. For each challenge, a winner will be selected whose art best exemplifies the challenge. The winning artist will be featured here and get a "Trader Treasure" blog button to display on their own blog. They also will receive one chance for each entry for the end of the year prize drawing. Watch this page for more details and challenge announcements.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Member Spotlight Time - Bevlea Ross

 This month our Member Spotlight is shining on Bevlea Ross.



How did you find Paper Traders?

I heard about PT through three friends who are members.. they seem to be having way too much fun without me so I applied for membership.

How long have you been a member?
This time around... About six months... I originally joined the group in 2006 but left after a few years due to ‘real life’ time pressures... However as things settled down, and I was only working part time now I asked to rejoin

Where do you live?
Home is Mill Park, Melbourne, Australia... Its an outer northern suburb of Melbourne. Mill Park is a ‘new’ suburb and only came into being about 20 years ago...we are on the outskirts with National Parks and forests at our back – and yes, its not unusual to see a kangaroo hopping down the road due to our close proximity to the bush lol

Please share a little about your own art experience.
I come from a family where something was always being made.. Mum knitted, sewed clothes for us kids as well as my dolls, embroidered... Dad made wooden toys (wish I still had that dolls house he made me), hook rugs, also embroidered... It rubbed off on us... I have knitted, sewed, embroidered, cross stitched, macrame'd, painted, made cloth dolls, porcelain dolls, cottage crafts (oh the lace we went through making those tissue box covers)... Around 2002 I became interested in ATCs..which lead to altered books.. Which lead to art journals. I went 'off the boil' for a while with ATCs while I experimented with the altered books etc., but have come full circle back to them.. And now like to include them in my art journals etc

What are some of your favorite techniques or genres?
I love vintage and shabby chic... and playing with paint to create backgrounds.. I have a ‘texture box’ that contains all sorts of found objects that I use for adding texture and layers to the piece I am working on... gesso is my friend.. I use it in about every piece lol..

What inspires you?
images.. hands down every time.. I usually see an image I like and the rest of the piece is built around it.

Who are some famous artists whose work you admire and what especially appeals to you about this?
love the work of Finnabair.. took a class with her this year.. love the way her work is tactile.. there is depth to it... also love DJ Pettitt...the way she incorporates her photos into her artwork (I’m also a shutterholic) .. I admire the work of Susan Lenart Kazmer and Stephanie Baron Lee.. and still make jewellry using what I learnt from them

Describe your work area... Do you have your own studio or craft room?
We moved in April and I have a small studio – its only 8ft x 10 ft but I love it.. .I had to divest myself of LOT of supplies I had collected but never used to fit it in there.. and as I like ‘neat’ and ‘pretty’ that I have the rule that if it doesn’t fit, theme or spacewise, then it doesn’t go in there lol. I painted the walls a soft turquoise, all the fittings are white with touches of black. I have a shabby chic table as my workbench... it has built in wardrobes across one wall so I filled the robe space with cubes and book cases and lots go in there so the room doesn’t look crowded. ... I blogged about the setting up of the new room here http://artiology.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/new-house-new-studio.html

Please share a little about your family and pets...
We were a family of myself, hubby, grown up daughter, three dogs and a cat... but Cino, our bichon/maltese cross passed away at 15 yrs old a few months ago.. and last week my daughters poodle Teddy was euthanised with liver failure... so now its one dog and the cat.... our little Cavalier King Charles girl called Maggie.. she’s only 5 but is stone deaf – has been since we got her as a pup... and my daughters rag doll cat who considers himself totally in charge..

Do you have any other hobbies or interests?
I love to take photographs... started with a box brownie when I was 13 and over the years have owned instamatics, polaroid's, 35mm film camera etc., three years ago I bought my first DSLR and love it.. I now have a Canon 7D ... shoot in RAW .. thanks to lessons from DJ Pettitt on a holiday we took together... I’m not a professional.. just a keen amateur... but love to enter competitions (never won any lol) and share my work on http://www.viewbug.com/member/bevlea#/bevlea/activity


Thanks Bevlea!! We enjoyed learning more about you.

1 comment:

Barb said...

Hello my friend....I am very happy to say that I have "arted" with you for many years...from Cloth Dolls to Mixed Media with my beloved ATCs in the mix....thanx to you, for encouraging me to get involved with those little works of art....and still are my mentor in many ways.
You are and always will be,a star in my universe!