Celebrating Black Crafters - Luana Owens
Hi friends! Today we are sharing another installment of our monthly series, Celebrating Black Crafters, where we share artwork from Black artists who we'd love for you to get to know. Today our amazing guest artist is Luana Owens!
I am Luana Owens and I am a creative. I have been creative all my life. As a child I collected stationery, journaled, drew and wrote poetry. I love paper and I love to write! I’m an only child so I had to be creative to keep myself entertained. For instance, I would pretend to be a teacher (which was what I wanted to be when I grew up) and also the students. I would do the assignments, grade the papers and fuss at the children. (which was ALL me) LOL Both my parents are creatives in their own right. They both have beautiful penmanship. My father draws exceptionally well and my mother also draws. They both sing and have this sense of style in home décor that I too have seemed to have picked up. I grew up helping my mother decorate as we changed the house décor very often. I guess that’s where my eye for color came from. I love color and you can see that in the things I create. I can’t say that I have a particular style as I often create based on how I feel. I love CAS (clean and simple) but I also like texture, layers and loads of color. I often refer to myself as a “colorful gypsy soul”.
I started out in 2001 with scrapbooks. I was invited by a dear friend to go to a Crop at her sister’s home. It was such much fun! I spent the entire weekend crafting and learning. When I look back at those pages I get a chuckle. Well, one day I decided to make a card and it was love at first sight (so to speak) I started creating cards and haven’t looked back. I can truly say that I have found the one thing in life that I absolutely love to do. It warms my heart to create cards that make people happy; if only for a moment.
I have created 2 cards and a tag.
For the first card, I started out with watercolor paper and then selected the color palette I wanted to use. I used Distress Oxide inks. I then took a sheet of paper and blocked off sections in the desired color to create the color block effect. After that I pulled out a few stencils to give the card some texture and dimension. I colored the image a shade of brown and used enamel dots to create pops in her hair and around her neck using Color Layering Flower Power Combo. The sentiment I chose is from the Empowerment set.
In my mind both these elements created a powerful card and message. I think we’ve all experienced being delicate as a flower in one moment and strong as a storm in another. We are living through some pretty tough times. Remember to always take care of YOU first so that you’re able to help others.
For the tag I felt I needed to focus on a realistic, yet very sensitive subject that needs to be at the forefront of every conversation and every action you take. I know that we all are different. We come from different backgrounds, different religions, different beliefs and most importantly different races. But, regardless of the color of your skin and what your beliefs are, we bleed the same blood. Kindness goes much further than hatred. Hatred takes way more energy than kindness. I encourage you to take a moment and learn about someone who is different than you. As the elders would say, “walk a mile in their shoes”. I think if people really took the time to know something other than what they were taught, they would be surprised at the outcome. So in creating this tag I wanted it to become a billboard with a message to promote a better world and a better you.
Black Lives Matter, does not mean that all other lives don’t matter. It means to take notice to what has happened and is happening to black people for far too long. Let’s recognize our actions, reevaluate the outcome and restructure the narrative. All races have struggles but let’s at least take the steps necessary to start the conversations for CHANGE. I used Power to the People, Distress Oxide ink, stencils, and some texture paste to create my version of mixed media. I ripped some watercolor paper for a rugged look.
For the last card, I stamped out the image using the United People Bold Prints and decided to color just a few images so that they would bring your eyes directly to them. The image is pretty large so I cut it into strips and colored the images in different skin tones and just a little color. I wanted the focus to be on the sentiment from Empowerment as well. I added enamel dots and the card was complete. We all matter! Remember to treat people with kindness and love.
Gorgeous, Luana! Thank you so much for sharing your inspiration and talent with us!
Please be sure to visit Luana on social media and give her a follow! She's @wanabuggcreations on Instagram and you can also find her on Facebook.
Thanks for stopping by today!
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5 Responses
Barbara-Jean
October 13, 2021
The cards are great! I like the technique of coloring in part of the larger block stamp.
I’m waiting for the day when one of your featured Black Crafters becomes part of your team.
Margaret Roberts
October 12, 2021
Oh, that card! So beautiful and my favorite colors! Love your tags, too – good messages with great backgrounds.
Pocono Pam
October 12, 2021
I agree…Kindness goes much further than hatred. Beautiful cards and tag Luana.Teri Smith
October 12, 2021
Luana I am so impressed with your creativity & the write up as well. Bravo!! The sentiment on the first card kind of sums up we as women in a nutshell. I also like the mixed media tag you created. I too card in the CAS style, but lately I’ve been dabbling with mixed media. I recently got a Gelli Plate & am having fun with it as I can just let go & not worry about things being straight, etc. I am learning to “loosen up” which is a very good thing. Thanks for sharing your wonderful talent & your wise words. All the best from the west coast of BC, Canada.
Dawn V.
October 12, 2021
I really like all of these! I also always enjoy seeing how others use the flower power set. It’s one of my favorites but a bit challenging to use (for me, anyway).