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.

Next in our lovely line-up of teachers is Tracey Wozniak!

Tracey is an American mixed media artist, educator, and outdoor explorer. You’ll usually find her out on creative adventures expressing her connection with the natural world through her love of color and texture on hand-painted collage papers, altered fabrics, and imaginative watercolor illustrations. She has a keen eye for beautiful small wonders and is drawn to all things weathered, worn, hinted with history, journey, a touch of whimsy, and most of all, a story.

Tracey loves being outside, thoughtfully looking and listening to her surroundings while foraging botanicals. Appreciating the many wonders nature has to offer, she works with an expansive color palette ranging from happy brights to muted earth tones; she even describes her favorite colors as being found in the Septenary, 7th layer, range (Primary, secondary...7th). If you would like to embark on a journey through nature in the creative space of your studio, keep reading to learn what Tracey can teach you in Fodder School!

Tracey creates art that evokes joy, peace, hope, inspiration, and possibility. Others have commented on her work being "dramatic with a wonderful sense of lightness at the same time," having a "delicate balance between elegant and playful," with one person even exalting: "I wish I could jump into your watercolors like they did in the original Mary Poppins... They just make my heart SING!" However, beyond the exuberant colors and dynamic textures, Tracey envisions her art as whispering rather than shouting, inviting you to "Really look, and you will hear it."

In the Fodder Challenge, you will be making color explosion paper alongside Tracey. Using watercolors and color stain pigments, she will show you various ways to practice with the way the mediums respond on sketchbook paper, encouraging you to embrace the messy, inky water and have fun playing around with color. As a bonus mini-project, she will also provide instructions to make cute little "Marvelous Mushrooms", which you can personalize by exploring mushroom anatomy and shapes with Tracey. Keep reading for more information about this year's Fodder Challenge and to find out how you can sign up today!

Tracey is excited to teach again in Fodder School for the students and the creative community. She appreciates that they are brave and beautiful, generous and genuine, and loves to see them experiment with a technique, make it their own, and then impact the world with art. She states that the countless notes she received from FS1 participants about the Kindness Cards/Tokens they made (which went to hospitals, schools, first responder teams, elderly care facilities, special needs organizations, and neighbors in need) were incredibly powerful. "Together we made a positive difference in the world, and right now I believe art has a unique way of achieving that!" You can learn more about Tracey's offerings on her page studio16three and keep up with her mixed media art on Instagram @more.than.marmalade.

In her Fodder School class, Tracey invites you to use your leftover color explosion paper, in addition to creating new "painterly mastersheets", to make mixed media woodland tags and designer decoupage envelopes in a project culminating in a Fodder School art trade! You will continue experimenting with watercolors and pigments by adding gouache, acrylics, inks, crayons, and pencils into the mix as Tracey shows you her way of preparing dynamic and organic fodder sheets. Later, you will be batch-making a set of trading tags in abstract, silhouette, and textured styles, to place inside a custom envelope and trade with your fellow Fellow School students across the world! Tracey would love to introduce you to her engaging and refreshing art style, so keep reading to learn how you can sign up for Fodder School 4 and connect with students across the globe for this art swap 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 Tracey and me discuss Tracey’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!