Meet the Artist: Catherine Scanlon

I’m so excited to share this next artist in my Meet the Artist series! I when I started working on the education team at EK Success, Catherine Scanlon was already a full time team member, working away creating beautiful project examples. So far, you’ve seen her cards featured several times in my Handmade with Love series. Her talents to mix and merge different products, tools and mediums always amazed me! I continue to follow her creative work on her blog Art of the Heart and know you will inspired by her work, just like I am! Take it away Catherine!

Hello everyone, and welcome to my Guest Blog Post – let’s take a moment to give Tara a round of applause for her lovely blog and I will add a heartfelt thank you to her for asking me to be a guest blogger today. Thank you Tara!

Tara mentioned that I was working as a Creative Artist Team Member at EK Success Brands when we met — it was an amazing experience to work for a major manufacturer of paper-crafting tools and supplies an my first job in the industry! I worked as a CAT for the last 9 years and have recently said my good-byes to them to have more time to branch out and work on my own. While this is a VERY SCARY endeavor, I am loving every moment of this creative journey so far.
I feel incredibly lucky and blessed to be able to work from home making art and teaching classes at My Creative Classroom. The classes I reach range from Die-Cutting with Spellbinders to Cardmaking, Art Journaling and Mixed Media Art. I really love teaching and connecting with students, it’s very rewarding!

Anyway, onto what I do. I have always, ALWAYS loved art — what’s not to love — getting messy and creating beautiful things — it’s a match made in heaven! Right now I find myself spending a LOT of time in my Art Journal doodling, painting with a little collage work thrown in here and there.

Lately I’ve been making my own journals made from Strathmore Mixed Media paper (140 lb. 9×12 Pad) and a Bind-It-All machine. I’ve also taken my papers and covers and had them punched and spiral bound at Staples. With a bind-it-all I just punch all the pages and use the chipboard that comes with the pad for the cover and cut another piece of book board the same size for the back and bind all the pages together. It’s perfect and the Mixed Media Paper is WONDERFUL to draw, paint and collage on.

Lately, I prefer spiral bound journals better because I don’t have to worry about paint seeping in the gully of a stitched journal. I usually start my pages with a rough pencil sketch and add Koi Watercolor paints for color. As a final touch I use a black pen to add detail and journal with a calligraphy/dip pen.

I think the reason I love to work in my journal is it’s art I’m creating just for me. The message I add is usually something want to tell myself today, and using the dip pen makes it a little messy and more like my handwriting! If you haven’t started an Art Journal, you should!