Tag: I LOVE ART

Three years ago I went crazy for needle felting.  I saw a 3 minute video on youtube and it looked so easy.  I collected the materials required – inexpensive and easy to get online.  I was hooked on making felted treats for gifts – hearts, shamrocks, and eggs….then I started making acorns and fit them into the real caps.  It's a great project to do with the kids but be sure to get the tool thing that shields the needles because those things really hurt!  I loved working on felting around the dining table in the winter months when my studio was too cold.  There are artists who are very prolific in either wet felting or needle felting – very cool stuff out there, give it a google.  I was happy to just try it out….and maybe I'll pick it up again as we have snow falling as I type.

I was a lego and block girl.  I still am.  I can never resist stopping in the wood items aisle at the craft store to see if there are any new styles of finials.  A few years ago a scored a Michael Graves set of building blocks at Target.  Swoon! 

I think working on blocks is a great way to forge through creative block if you are experiencing one or need to have an aimless project to keep busy.  There is something non-committal about it.  It's not a 'real' canvas, it's not attached to your journal.  Just a humble loose supply that can be sanded, painted, stamped, wrapped, collaged, brushed with wax….and then make another, and another….then stack them.  Move them around.  Build compositions.  Learn from it or just enjoy it.  And before you know it you have an emerald city, or an urban landscape.  

Speaking of 'creative block', I covered a host of blocks with some of my Stampers Anonymous images as an entry to an art contest for Art Continuum (an art retreat hosted by the Creative Block store, and won a prize!).  I've used blocks as a class format on several occasions, and have enjoyed the process with groups of friends – first Lisa, Anne, and Lynne in Montreal was back in 2002, and with Betsy, Sande, Laura, and Anne when I first was entertaining holding workshops in my home studio.  I love that each artist completed them in their own way, their personal styles evident. 

The first piece I show below "Perpetual", is one that evolved from an a-ha moment…taking some of the blocks and stacking them on dowels so they spin, revealing all the sides.  It's an interactive art piece – as seen in Somerset Studio, July/August 2005.  Each time I pass it on the wall I move a few blocks.  The following picture is a sampling of blocks that are stacked around the studio – you can see how I started with paint and stamps and moved into spray paint.  A great time-capsule of how my style has changed. 

In a creative rut?  Pick up a few blocks and start making some of your own.  It's been a rough few days here – more about that later….I think it's time for ME to get out some blanks as a therapeutic distraction.

EDIT:  In February 2017 I revisited blocks for an article for May/June Somerset Studio.  The surfaces were treated with a wood burning tool with a method called pyrography.  See the blog post HERE. 

I was a lego and block girl.  I still am.  I can never resist stopping in the wood items aisle at the craft store to see if there are any new styles of finials.  A few years ago a scored a Michael Graves set of building blocks at Target.  Swoon! 

I think working on blocks is a great way to forge through creative block if you are experiencing one or need to have an aimless project to keep busy.  There is something non-committal about it.  It's not a 'real' canvas, it's not attached to your journal.  Just a humble loose supply that can be sanded, painted, stamped, wrapped, collaged, brushed with wax….and then make another, and another….then stack them.  Move them around.  Build compositions.  Learn from it or just enjoy it.  And before you know it you have an emerald city, or an urban landscape.  

Speaking of 'creative block', I covered a host of blocks with some of my Stampers Anonymous images as an entry to an art contest for Art Continuum (an art retreat hosted by the Creative Block store, and won a prize!).  I've used blocks as a class format on several occasions, and have enjoyed the process with groups of friends – first Lisa, Anne, and Lynne in Montreal was back in 2002, and with Betsy, Sande, Laura, and Anne when I first was entertaining holding workshops in my home studio.  I love that each artist completed them in their own way, their personal styles evident. 

The first piece I show below "Perpetual", is one that evolved from an a-ha moment…taking some of the blocks and stacking them on dowels so they spin, revealing all the sides.  It's an interactive art piece – as seen in Somerset Studio, July/August 2005.  Each time I pass it on the wall I move a few blocks.  The following picture is a sampling of blocks that are stacked around the studio – you can see how I started with paint and stamps and moved into spray paint.  A great time-capsule of how my style has changed. 

In a creative rut?  Pick up a few blocks and start making some of your own.  It's been a rough few days here – more about that later….I think it's time for ME to get out some blanks as a therapeutic distraction.

EDIT:  In February 2017 I revisited blocks for an article for May/June Somerset Studio.  The surfaces were treated with a wood burning tool with a method called pyrography.  See the blog post HERE. 

I'm guessing you may have lino-cut an image for a print-making assignment 'round about junior high?  If that was the last time you used a 'v' cutter than you are missing out!  Carving stamps is easy, addictive, and an inexpensive way to customize art-making tools.  It's a great way to embrace "make it your own", one of my favorite mantras.  Designing and cutting your own images leads to art that is clever, authentic and personal.  I always have slabs or scraps of safety-cut material on my studio table to help me out in a pinch.  You can spend hours on a large and/or intricate piece like the first one I show, or whip out a few quickies like in the last sample.  Here's the thing – I've only the used the time-consuming one a few times, but the little trees have been used over and over.  Haven't tried your hand at carving yet?  I have a tutorial you can visit – maybe you'll take the plunge.

Visit the stamp carving tutorial by clicking on the TUTORIAL button in right sidebar, or click HERE.

I'm guessing you may have lino-cut an image for a print-making assignment 'round about junior high?  If that was the last time you used a 'v' cutter than you are missing out!  Carving stamps is easy, addictive, and an inexpensive way to customize art-making tools.  It's a great way to embrace "make it your own", one of my favorite mantras.  Designing and cutting your own images leads to art that is clever, authentic and personal.  I always have slabs or scraps of safety-cut material on my studio table to help me out in a pinch.  You can spend hours on a large and/or intricate piece like the first one I show, or whip out a few quickies like in the last sample.  Here's the thing – I've only the used the time-consuming one a few times, but the little trees have been used over and over.  Haven't tried your hand at carving yet?  I have a tutorial you can visit – maybe you'll take the plunge.

Visit the stamp carving tutorial by clicking on the TUTORIAL button in right sidebar, or click HERE.

Oooh, I love architectural scale models!  Even better, when they are toy theaters!  I first started assembling theaters from kits.  I have a few Benjamin Pollocks and used to love browsing through their site at all the offerings.  They have shelves of goodies.  The first theater type assemblage I made was for an article my friend Lynne Perrella wrote for Somerset Studio (Sept/Oct 2001).  Later I would make a much larger  theater with drop-in scenery, props, and characters for Lynne's book Beyond Paper Dolls (2006).  All the extras were stashed in a pull-out drawer which included a paper doll of Ville Valo.  Stampington surprised me by including him on The Raven stage with Poe for an article in Somerset Studio (Sept/Oct 2007).  It was a huge thrill to visit (was it 2004?) Joseph Musil's Salon of Theaters with Lynne and our True Colors friends at the Santora Arts Building in Santa Ana, CA.  Joe treated us to a presentation and shared his passion for the theater, the models, and the great architectural history of real theaters.  There are societies all over the world dedicated to making and displaying toy theaters.  I can see why – it's an addictive project.

It would be a fun workshop wouldn't it?  It would have to be at least two or three days long, and you'd have to expect some issues getting it home.  Maybe it could be my first online class?  Ooh, I'm not quite ready to be on camera yet.  I'll leave it to the pros.

Oooh, I love architectural scale models!  Even better, when they are toy theaters!  I first started assembling theaters from kits.  I have a few Benjamin Pollocks and used to love browsing through their site at all the offerings.  They have shelves of goodies.  The first theater type assemblage I made was for an article my friend Lynne Perrella wrote for Somerset Studio (Sept/Oct 2001).  Later I would make a much larger  theater with drop-in scenery, props, and characters for Lynne's book Beyond Paper Dolls (2006).  All the extras were stashed in a pull-out drawer which included a paper doll of Ville Valo.  Stampington surprised me by including him on The Raven stage with Poe for an article in Somerset Studio (Sept/Oct 2007).  It was a huge thrill to visit (was it 2004?) Joseph Musil's Salon of Theaters with Lynne and our True Colors friends at the Santora Arts Building in Santa Ana, CA.  Joe treated us to a presentation and shared his passion for the theater, the models, and the great architectural history of real theaters.  There are societies all over the world dedicated to making and displaying toy theaters.  I can see why – it's an addictive project.

It would be a fun workshop wouldn't it?  It would have to be at least two or three days long, and you'd have to expect some issues getting it home.  Maybe it could be my first online class?  Ooh, I'm not quite ready to be on camera yet.  I'll leave it to the pros.

I'm a self-taught photoshop artist.  I love manipulating graphics.  I have several ongoing assignments to maintain websites, design logos and print ads, and from time to time just give myself a project to do so I keep my skills up and try to discover new ways to use the platform.  I love making brushes and figuring out how to adjust layers – can you believe it took me several years before I even knew how to use layers?  Working in a digital format is a practice that also informs some of my non-digital art.  I have a few versions of PS but always end up defaulting to 5.5.  I know, I'm a dinosaur.  But it works for me, and I love it!  Here are some of my pieces….

I'm a self-taught photoshop artist.  I love manipulating graphics.  I have several ongoing assignments to maintain websites, design logos and print ads, and from time to time just give myself a project to do so I keep my skills up and try to discover new ways to use the platform.  I love making brushes and figuring out how to adjust layers – can you believe it took me several years before I even knew how to use layers?  Working in a digital format is a practice that also informs some of my non-digital art.  I have a few versions of PS but always end up defaulting to 5.5.  I know, I'm a dinosaur.  But it works for me, and I love it!  Here are some of my pieces….