Wendy Starling - Mixed Messages

I'm happy to introduce you to Wendy Starling, and given her recent efforts it appears I'm just in time for Valentine's Day!

Wendy defines her art as Collage and Poetry Fusion.

She mixes poetry and prose with abstract art to create a collage of thoughts!!  Ergo her byline 'Mixed Messages."

I've known Wendy for many years and she has always been an inspirational poet.  

To give a deeper and visual meaning to her words, she added pieces of material life around her to express emotion.

Wendy produces works of art for framing and also offers cards that the sender can embellish by adding their thoughts and wishes to and send off to their chosen recipients.  The artwork is the front of the card, the inside remains blank for your artistic additions!

Along with infusing her poetry into her work, Wendy will take your poetry or prose and design a personal message for you to do with as you choose.  Mail them to loved ones, frame them for display, or tuck them away in your secret little treasure box to view on those days when you need your memories to pick you up!

Wendy loves and uses old postcards, postage, tags, and bits of ephemera she finds during her travels, such as fortunes from Chinese fortune cookies!  Check out some of her current cards for sale, posted in this blog.  Click on any image to see it larger!

Here's how Wendy views her work:  "I feel like my work has many different styles and themes woven through it but the common thread is texture. Laying down paint and paper and getting my hands dirty with all the mediums I use is therapeutic for me. I love the feel of a piece coming together layer after layer. My hope in adding my poetry and prose is to touch someone on a level that is not just visual. A great turn of phrase can be just as artistic as a beautiful painting; it just strikes a different chord.  My work is very much my passion and it is certainly a labor of love. When I’m not working on something, (and usually there are several pieces going at a time!) I’m continually on the hunt for unusual and interesting items for my next piece. I’m always looking at objects with an artist’s eye." 

Wendy finds inspiration in the sensual and romantic; this is reflected in her poetry and also in the textural aspects of her work. Wanting to reach out and touch one of her pieces might be a natural reaction.

Her love of old postcards and tags takes one back to a time when we thought differently about writing.  She says, "Whenever I see a message on the back of an old postcard written in longhand cursive, I instantly remember the anticipation of waiting for the mail delivery. And once it finally arrived, that feeling of knowing that the sender thought about me, no matter how far away they were. They took the time to pick out the perfect card, write me a personal note, and confidently sent it out into the world to reach only me. Our world is filled with instant messages, email, cell phones and all the technology for communication to take place immediately – postcards, tags, and postage all harks back to waiting in anticipation and hope to hear from your lover, your friend, your family. There is no substitute for seeing their unique handwriting, being able to run your hands over it, to put in your pocket and take it out time and time again to read it. It’s tangible…much less fleeting than anything electronic…"

Wendy works out of her home studio in Oceanside, California.  She uses acrylic paints, collage, ink transfer, metal, wood, tile, paper, and found objects...once she found a dinner fork on the road that had been driven over thousands of times – it was flattened and textured beyond belief! She had to stop and pick it up…finding a ‘fork in the road’ – it had to end up in one of her pieces.

Always on the hunt for materials, she haunts antique shops, hardware stores, backyards, and attics.

Using other people’s words and inspirations, Wendy is also able to do very unique and personal commissions. Whether it is personal pictures or poetry she can incorporate them with her style into a one of a kind work. She also has a line of Mixed Messages Art Cards and Greeting Cards that use images of her works or original poetry. All cards are hand assembled, collage style, and embellished with gold and copper leaf.

Now that you know Wendy is available to translate your words and objects into art, either for framing or as gift cards, you have to reach out to her.

In the meantime, she has a line of cards all set for Valentine's Day and shipping is available.

The $8.00 cost per card, plus shipping and handling, is a bargain given the fact that you're giving your giftee a personal message and a piece of art that can be framed and displayed for years...the message never wanes!

Contact me via this blog or click on Wendy's link in the "Artist's Contact" column on the right.

She is truly a one-of-a-kind artist...and she has an array of artwork that's not limited to cards or to the upcoming holiday...check her out at http://wendystarling.com/

Whatever you purchase, and she does offer individual pieces, individual cards or sets of cards, you'll have a unique and personal piece of art!

We'll get  purchase out to you quickly so that you can "show and tell" your loved one how much you think of them!