Hello! I’m Wendy Solganik, aka @willa.wanders on Instagram. If this is your first time here on my blog, welcome! I’m pretty excited that you found me and my little corner of the art world.

I’ve done a bazillion kinds of art in my life, and the thing that intrigues me the most today is Mixed Media Collage Art.

I’m such a passionate student of this form of art and I’m obsessed with making and using collage fodder (what the heck is collage fodder?).

I really want to learn everything I can about it. I created an entire online art school called Fodder School where anyone with an interest in Mixed Media Art collage art, handmade books and journaling can come and learn this craft from a variety of incredible instructors, even if you have never made any mixed media art before! At this point, Fodder School is about to enter its fourth year with no intention of slowing down.

If you are looking for a great place to start your mixed media art journey from scratch, can I recommend this $19 course?

In this blog series, I’m going to be introducing you to the instructors that will be joining us in Fodder School as Fodder School 4 instructors. If you want to know all about what Fodder School is, go here.

Joining our crew this year is the wonderful Stephanie Lee!

As an artist and creative mentor, Stephanie creates luminous art that invites others to explore the corners of their own creative impulses and honor their own desire to create. She is the creator of over a dozen popular online art courses and eBooks which provide easy, step-by-step guidance on how to improve your metalsmithing skills in her signature “homesteader” style, how to create original sculpted forms with plaster and found objects, and how to combine plaster, paint, and encaustic medium in two-dimensional work.

You might be asking yourself: "What the heck is encaustic medium?" Stephanie is a unique artist in our Fodder School history who taught me the incredible properties of this hot wax painting style. While she has many exciting tips and tricks in store for how to use this stuff for the first time, notice the incredible translucence and milkiness that encaustic lends to Stephanie's art. If you are curious about adding this medium to your artistic toolbox, keep reading to learn more about this year's Fodder Challenge and how you can sign up for Fodder School 4 today!

"I work from my home studio in Southern Oregon in the company of a dog who looks a little bit like a fruit bat, a small flock of chickens, two pigs, and my husband who can do anything I put my mind to." As an artist and creative mentor, Stephanie merges a variety of materials to create art that invites you to honor your complex stories while also simplifying (and elevating) the continuing stories you tell yourself. Her work is all about inviting a spirit of peace with what is AND exuberant trust in what can be, heartache AND hope, defining moments AND recreating yourself anew.

In the Fodder Challenge, Stephanie will show you a very unique way to make textured fodder using gesso and plaster! She will walk you through her method of finding a substrate to apply these mediums onto, giving suggestions on what works best with the trash and fodder you may already have laying around. You will also be guided on how to properly mix and apply these mediums before pressing in found objects to make an impression, then finishing your fodder with a wash to bring out the texture. Keep reading for more information about this year's Fodder Challenge and to find out how you can sign up today!

Stephanie believes that your creative power enables you to make not just beautiful things, but also a beautiful and fulfilling life. "Because I know that a creative practice is often a curative path to your deepest truth and most authentic expression, I create art and courses to give you the tools to illuminate and amplify your creative genius in your art and in your life." If you would like to know more about Stephanie or her art, check out her Instagram @stephanieleemaker or visit her website stephanieleeart.com​

In her Fodder School course, Stephanie will give you an overview of her favorite technique: encaustic painting (or, painting using hot wax). She will begin by making a new batch of fodder with you using various papers. This time around, she will go more in depth on color consideration, markmaking, contrast in composition, and subtle texture techniques to use when experimenting with this new medium. Using your new fodder (and perhaps even what you made in her Fodder Challenge!), she will give you a step-by-step tutorial for properly collaging your encaustic painting onto a hinged box to make your very own fodder treasure chest. Stephanie would love to introduce you to her "out of the box" (pun intended!) creativity and rustic textures/techniques, so keep reading to learn how you can sign up for Fodder School 4 and learn from her today!

If you think that you aren't capable of creating incredible mixed media art like what you see here, you haven't been to Fodder School yet! We make it accessible. We make it effortless. We make it incredibly FUN!

Want to listen to Stephanie and me discuss Stephanie’s journey with mixed media art? Tune into my podcast, "Show Up or Shut Up."

Currently available for listening on the Willa Wanders website here, or on Apple Podcasts, Amazon and Spotify:

Get all of the information about joining us in Fodder School by clicking this button below:

XOXO,
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Where are you on your Mixed Media Art journey? Leave a comment and let us know!