Paper Bead Swap returns!

After much hard work and anticipation, the E.C. paper bead swap returns will go in the mail today. All the beads are really outstanding and SO unique. It was a pleasure to receive these and have the chance to admire them before packing them back up to send out. Great work ladies!

The Art Car

 

(This isn't something that I made or even something that I do, so I hope it's ok to post this!)

Recently, I had the pleasure of accidently being in downtown San Jose the same day as the Art Car Festival. Decorated cars were parked around the park and in front of the art museum. I spent the afternoon wandering around looking cars decorated with paint, glass, tile, plastic figures, and anything else that could be glued on. This got me thinking about art and utility.

Cars usually aren't all that pretty. They're utilitarian. They get us to point A to point B in town. Sometimes we take a road trip in them. Mostly they're left out to the elements until we need them. It's not often that I think of a car in terms of creativity and artistry, but the people who participate in the Art Car Festival see their car as a canvas and express themselves accordingly.

We do the same thing with paper, which can be just as utilitarian: we paint it, glue it, color it, emboss it, stamp it, and so on, all to express ourselves and make a work of art. I thought this might be a good point to ask a few questions about looking at the world with more artistic eyes:

Can utilitarian be beautiful?
Is there anything utilitarian in your house that you can look at differently?
What is useful and beautiful? 

Artistic Goal for October

After much contemplation, I've settled on my artistic goal for the next month. September with its diss scares, start of classes, meetings, and travel was pretty much shot before it began. October, though, is perfect for turning over a new leaf. It doesn't really matter if the leaf is green or orange.

I've decided to participate in "The Sharpie Scouts Present: Art By The Card Challenge 2006" at the 30 cards in a single month level. An ATC a day is something that (I hope and I pray) I can handle.

Digression: The Sharpie Scouts is a havoc-wreaking group run by our very own Diabla. A love of Sharpies is a must. A sense of humour and a serious subversive streak help. You're also supposed to like chocolate but I personally prefer the idea of "death by lemon curd" so...

By joining something with rules and deadlines, I'm hoping that I'll be more creative in October. There's an inverse relationship to life feeling like a chore and the amount of for-fun stuff that I produce. In other words, the more ATCs coming out of my studio, the happier I am. Increased happiness will set off a chain reaction that can be described thusly: The happier I am, the easier it is for me to work on my dissertation. The easier it is for me to work on my dissertation, the more I will work on it. The more I work on it, the sooner it will be done. The sooner it's done, the sooner the sun will come out and birds will sing and rainbows will spring up on every horizon.

Creating thirty ATCs in a month is, at least for me, a daunting prospect. So, my baby steps:

Before October:
Cut 40 ATC blanks out of watercolour paper and bristol board
Start sketching ideas
Sign up for some swaps for a little kick in the pants
Warm up by doing some art every day for at least 30 minutes.

During October:
Go to bed every day at a reasonable hour
Lay off the internet
Work on diss
Plan classes
Eat well
Make an ATC a day

I'll let you know how it goes.

P.S. That white thing up and to the right is a recent deco page I did that took far too long. It's what inspired me to sign up for the Art by the Card challenge.

WHat a neat-o idea! Here is my spotaneous scan-collage. I just picked stuff up off my floor. Seriously. From under my feet. I am a slob.

make a collage on your scanner. scan it in and post it! alter it in photoshop if you would like... or scan some objects and photoshop them together! here's my first digital collage, collage 001. i would be interested to hear thoughts/feedback/responses to it, specifically if you feel there is a narrative! this is my first assignment for graduate level digital craft. when i get my hands on CS2, beware! right now i am stuck using PS7.

Friday Five Round-Up: Early Edition

Chrysti puts in an appearence.

Kelli - Master Pedagogue

Kirsten - Soon to be Master Pedagogue

Judi is over at Swapbot.

Miss Fish has been working on her goals. Have you?

Wake up oh Artsy Ones!

All's quiet on the embellished front. I had my atc class last night (first of three) and we made Aimee's serendipity papers. They had a blast! Here's a photo of our finished papers and there are more pix on my blog. Thanks Aimee for your great tutorial! Kelli

Traveling Librarian

I thought I would share these photos of our traveling object, in case it inspires people to participate in the project suggested by Amy. Last year our librarian action figure traveled around the state and this is what happened when she came to visit me in Holland :) The first thing I did was fit her with tiny wooden shoes and outfit her with a tulip bouquet. There are so many "photo ops" when you have a willing victim! Kelli

Friday Five Round-Up: Partially Freaky

Above the line: freaky. Below the line: other. Above and below the line: awesome.

Enjoy!

Kelli made a book for herself.

Wendy loves sock monkeys.

Zhenia's got some WIPs.

___________________
Camilla Engman

Inspiration Engine

Organization rocks!

Okay - it's not art but I'm still pretty thrilled. You know all those bits of fiber we always trade and get as presents?
Before - wound on tags, in little baggies, on cardboard - huge mess!





After - nicely wound on little embroidery floss bobbins. There are about 135 of those suckers. It's taken me two days to wind these but worth the effort for sure!

Meet Myra

http://artshapedworld.blogspot.com/

I am a bit under the weather and feeling sorry for myself, so I am doing a little blog cheat here because I am slightly high on antihistamines and what not. I am lame. I apologize. But go look anyway.

Fabric Postcards

Here is what I've been working on lately--fabric postcards. These went through the postal system and came back just fine. I'll be giving a hands-on demo at the local Fiber Arts Guild in November.

Pincushion!

Thought I'd share a little pincushion I made. It's actually not little - it's life size. Made of wool felt that I hand dyed. I made one for myself and there's one up at my Etsy shop.... I'm curious to see if anyone is as strange as I am ...

Friday Five Round-Up: Non-Freaky Edition

Print and Pattern

Drawing a Day

The Star Odyssey Mail-Art Project

Humus

Craftzine blog