Craft Warehouse Design Team Member Tamara Dinius

Meet design team member and local artist, Tamara Dinius. When I saw Tamara's work I just knew she could teach our customers so much mixed media techniques that I couldn't wait to get her started! Tamara just loves to play. A lot of us could use a little free spirited play time! I can't wait for you to see her tutorial tomorrow, but in the meantime, here is what she has to say about her process...

How long have you been crafting?

I have been crafting for over thirty years and cannot imagine my life without having some form of creative expression. My creative endeavors have included macrame', pottery,  life drawing, watercolor, cold plaster, oil painting, fabric painting, sewing, glass painting, pen and ink, and so many other art forms. Although I have enjoyed numerous forms of creative expression, I feel that mixed media art has allowed me the most artistic freedom.

What inspires you to be creative?

To be honest, I find inspiration in just about everything. It could be the shape of a cloud, the color of  my daughters eyes, the way a leaf falls from a tree, or the texture on a wall. Once I am inspired to create a particular subject, I reach for materials that will add color and texture. I am a texture magnet. I truly love how texture can add movement and dimension to my artwork .

What Craft Warehouse products do you love to use?

My favorite Craft Warehouse products are Dylusion Sprays, stencils, rubber stamps, and scrapbook papers. Dylusion Sprays are vibrant and depending on how you use them, you can achieve quite varied results. I like spraying them through a stencil and then going over them with white acrylic paint on a brayer. I also like adding clear water to the dry inks to reactivate them and add drips to my artwork .

The variety of stencils and rubber stamps that Craft Warehouse has in stock is fabulous. I like using products that aren't season-specific in my artwork. I prefer my stencils and stamps to be geometric, script, or flora and fauna. I have found my favorite rubber stamps at Craft Warehouse.
I love the variety of scrapbook papers in the Craft Warehouse stores. I use quite a bit of scrapbook papers in my artwork. I like using music paper, script paper, vellum, and papers with texture. I can typically find exactly what I am looking for in the paper aisle.

How can you encourage others reading this column?

I think the best way to encourage other artisans is to give them permission to play. I think it's important to remind other artisans that we want to learn a process and not be overly concerned about the final project. Each and every person who completes a step-by-step project will have dramatically different results...and that's okay! That's what we want to achieve. We don't want  a carbon copy, if we did, we would just buy the original artwork. What we should be instilling in each other is the freedom to express ourselves in our artwork. Each of us has a different point of view and we should encourage one another in exploring our uniqueness.

The following quote is my reminder to make my own kind of art and stop comparing my artwork to others. "A flowers does not think of competing to the flower next to it. It just blooms". source unknown.

Make sure to visit Tamara's blog and etsy shop to see her mixed media work and visit her on Facebook! Be inspired! Then join us tomorrow as she shares a little of her knowledge with a mixed media tutorial!