skip to main |
skip to sidebar
That's an order!
It's been very difficult getting back to "real life" after a visit to one of the most beautiful places in the country. My little family just took a 1200 mile road trip from Chicago to Bar Harbor Maine, with a 2 day stop in Burlington, Vermont. I've never been east of Indiana so it was all very exciting. I did keep a travel journal, but I'm ashamed to admit it's not "finished". I took notes along the way but I can't write or draw in the car without a bit of barfing to go along with it. Plus, I needed some of the 400+ pictures I took. I'll elaborate on the trip once I get my journal together. Just trust me when I say... [Loooooong Sigh]
I bought the picture above from a Vermont artist, Dug Nap. It resonated with me and I hung it up in my studio. Check out his web site, he comes up with some truly crazy stuff! Instead of tacky tourist souvenirs, we ended up supporting some local artists and bought some prints and artwork for our home.
I had the most wonderful time gallery hopping in Bar Harbor, Maine. I met so many beautiful, friendly people and talented artists. Oh, so much to tell... but not all right now. One of my favorite galleries was D'Alessio Gallery, run by artist Russell D'Alessio and his wife Linda. I walked into his gallery, into his newest show, and there were Mermaids/Sirens of the sea hanging on the wall! How perfect is that? (I LOVE Mermies!) Linda told me about a class they were having in a few days with polymer clay artist Suzanne Anderson... and I thought I'd challenge myself. I've never seriously worked with clay before so Celia and I signed up. She was a great teacher and we came away from the class with several completed objects - a cool pendant and matching earrings.
I think I'm in love. I don't like where I live right now, the endless stinky suburbia of a large city. I want to live here... by the ocean, by like minded people, where the air is clean and the water tastes good right out of the tap, and there's space around you and mountains to climb and stars to see at night.
[Looooooong sigh]
Just a quick post to remind everyone that Artful Gathering 2011 is about to commence! Classes start July 16th. Have you seen the teacher lineup? It's fabulous! Drawing, painting, collaging, bookmaking, journaling, jewelry, dollmaking, tool-using. Well, the one BAD thing about this event is choosing which classes to take! Today I'm leaning toward Jodi Ohl's class "Mixed Faux Encaustic Discovery." It's the type of art I want to focus on... but tomorrow I may change my mind. Good thing it's online and seats won't "sell out." I wish I could take all the classes... but alas, I'm not independently wealthy (yet) and I'm currently taking "21 secrets" and want to take a class at the upcoming CREATE event when it comes near my hometown in August.
In addition to this 'what class to take' conundrum, I'm very excited that ARTISTCELLAR is a sponsor of Artful Gathering! We have a very nice sponsor page over there, and if you leave a comment for me at the bottom of the page, you'll be eligible for a drawing for FREE goodies! I've put together an "appetizer platter" that includes a bottle of colorwash spray, a distress stain, a stencil, a jar of Stewart Gill Byzantia paint, and a pack of fibers. And I'm talking full size stuff... not mini-samples. So be sure the stop by, check out Artistcellar's sponsor page and leave a comment over there. The drawing will be very soon, Zinnia is working on the video right now. Here's a picture of the prize:
And this is only the FIRST giveaway prize. There are more giveaways to come. Other sponsors are also giving away prizes so be sure to visit them too!
See you there!!
Happy July!
When someone on my SketchbookProject group suggested making some Wild Heart Art this is what came to mind. Of course it was the complete opposite of what was intended... she was talking about giant art, giant canvas, painted freely with wild abandon. Umm. Not really me. Besides, I have NO wall space available to hang large canvases or paper. That I can drip paint all over at least. That's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it.
This is tiny art. It's a 5' x 7" canvas board that was collaged with bits of paper - maps, foreign text, music paper, etc. The a wild heart painted and layered and painted and layered, same with the background. Last, I painted the bold black outline and the words. I dedicated this one to Effy Wild over at Wild Precious Art Group at ning. It just seemed to fit.
Anway, I've got a whole series of hearts started on a bigger canvas size, with different words on them. What word describes YOUR heart? Hmm. Maybe I should make custom ones. *~* DING *~*
I'd like to introduce you to... Marie Antoinelephant! A very elegant regal Pachyderm who lived in the 1700's. She coined the term "Let them eat Peanuts!" Below, you can see she is ready for the grand Masquerade ball.
She enjoys a bit of tea and crumpets in the afternoons with her lady friends.
Although quite a beauty, she still has her insecurities and will be frequently overheard asking her ladies in waiting "Does this dress make my butt look big?"
Of course her Ladies-in-waiting assure her, no matter which direction she faces, she is beautiful!
I'm sorry that I can't take credit for this beautiful piece of artwork. It was made by my mini-me, Celia. My very special 10 year old partner-in-art. She got a paper mache elephant from the craft store and dug into my bin of Marie Antoinette "stuff" and created this piece of art. It's going to be represented by a New York Gallery and priced at $13,000. Haha. Not.
Celia says:
:-)
This is the first cuff I ever made and I think I'm in love. Talk about a quick and easy project... and beautiful too! (I love instant gratification projects!) My base fabric was a strip of canvas and I just started layering laces and cheesecloth and more laces and ribbons and finally sewed on a row of buttons. It has a button and loop closure but I may change that because it's hard to put on by myself. Here's some more views:
Then I thought... hmm. What if I used some brighter fabric and some metal embellishments and made a funkier mixed media cuff?
I sewed some black netting over some metal washers on some painted fabric squares. Then sewed those squares to some hand dyed fabric which was sewed to my canvas strip base.
To add some more metal goodness, I sneaked some metal Heishi Beads from my inventory at Artistcellar and hand sewed those on between the squares. To close the cuff, I added two metal snaps.
I really like the way it turned out. So I made another one. They are like potato chips... can't have/make just one! This time I took step by step pictures. My focal point was a beautiful fabric ribbon flower my friend Sox sent me.
First, like with the rest, I started out with a plain canvas strip that I ripped to size.
Next, I got out my Brocade Stencil and some Adirondack Color Wash Spray.
Gave it a good spritz with the Color Wash spray in Denim. Oh yeah, I'm real precise here. I just layed the stencil on top, just like you see in the picture.
Next I auditioned some laces. I found some that was just the right width and transparent enough to let the painted base show through.
And sewed it on top of the canvas base with a regular straight stitch on the sewing machine.
Next I wanted a narrower ribbon to run up the center. I wanted it to stand out so I went with this heavier, opaque trim and stitched it up the center.
Before adding the delicate flower, I needed to figure out a way to close it. I went with two white metal snaps, so easy to put on the ends.
Last, I hand sewed the ribbon flower to the center of the cuff. Viola! A beautiful, delicate Flower Cuff!
What do you think? You want to make one now don't you? I'm warning you... they're addicting. But if you do try it, send me a link in the comments section cause I wanna see too!
I thought this was appropriate... today was the first day in... a week? that the sun actually shone all day long. No afternoon thunderstorms or clouding up at 10:00 a.m. I'll bet it made for some nice Memorial Day Picnics... and sunburns! The high today was 91 degrees F.
This journal page was made with only Copic Markers. The most recent issue of Cloth Paper Scissors had a few articles in it that inspired me. One article was on making the doodle type lettering and the other article was on using Copic Markers. Those suckers are expen$ive but I managed to complete a few 3-way colorways (thanks for HobbyLobby coupons) to help with the depth of shading. For example, you start with a light purple, add a medium purple as shading, then use the darkest purple to shade further. All those numbers on the caps? It's all secret code for the color families. Who knew?
Have a productive week everyone!
I knew it was coming but it wasn't completely REAL until I got my copy of the magazine in the mail. My artwork, something I painted with my own hands, in print!
The funny thing is, I didn't submit the artwork, the art director of the magazine found it on my blog and asked if she can use it. The magazine is the May/June issue of Horizons Magazine, published by Presbyterian Women. It accompanies an article called "Words Matter"- about how the words we choose (or don't say) shape our reality and how we experience the world and ourselves. I am very honored to have my artwork accompany this article, as many of you might know, words are very important to me. Almost every piece of artwork I make has a word or words on it that help express the feeling I want to convey. Or maybe just a word that is important to me and no one else.
I want to thank Tam over at Willowing.ning. It was in her free online class "Art, Heart, and Healing" where I made this journal page. Not only did she teach me how to make a stylized portrait with water soluble crayons and paint, and create some awesome backgrounds (can you say brayer?) but she made me think about how, with inner strength, we can move past those words that have hurt us in the past and heal. Here is a closeup of just the journal page:
You know what I love? The idea of women telling stories of how words from the past have affected who they are today. Maybe I'll write a book about it someday. I'll put it on my to-do list.
Happy Hump-day! Have a great rest of the week!
