Winter's Garden

LUSH GREENERY, A WELCOME BREAK FROM WINTER

Every January The Riverfront Art Center (my favorite local art venue) has a yearly show called Winter's Garden which opens this Friday.  The gallery will be filled with artwork of all mediums whose subject is gardens.  Walking into the space is such a welcome relief from the shades of winter white outside.  Along with the art will be live orchids, violets and cyclamen for sale. This is a great fundraiser for the center and the plants brighten up the homes of the recipients. Today I had the good fortune to go to the wholesale greenhouse with the director to pick up the plants.  How wonderful to see all of this greenery!

WABI SABI ALPHABET SIGN

This board of letters was hanging on one of the walls.  I have no idea what it is for but being obsessed with grids these days I couldn't resist snapping a photo.  Very wabi sabi. 

How are you brightening up your January?

JANUARY BRIGHTNESS

New Book

I recently celebrated my birthday and as a little gifty, I purchased the book Digital Textile Design by Melanie Bowles and Ceri Isaac. The book gives really clear ways to use Photoshop and Illustrator to create textile designs. After discovering Spoonflower I really wanted to be able to create some repeat patterns and voila! this book shows up while I am perusing the shelves of my local bookstore. I'll post some designs when I get it all figured out!

Daily Tiny Art

Here are the tiny drawings I did in the past week. I decided that having three dimensions on each piece just was too much to fit on a two inch square. So, I decided to eliminate the rubber stamp image, except you will find it on the first image...the hand is a rubber stamp. You will still find a border and a leaf image on each piece.

Day Four

Day Five

The cake was for my mom's birthday.

Day Six

Day Seven

Day Eight

Day Nine

Butter Sculpture

First it was crop art and now butter sculpture! You can find so many wild things at the state fair. It is tradition to sculpt the likenesses of the winners of the Princess Kay of the Milky Way contest in giant blocks of butter. Here are two of the sculptures.

Tiny Art, Day Two and Three

This is day two of my daily two inch art creation.

It only takes me about 15 to 20 minutes to do this, but I find I look forward to it and think about what I might do during the rest of the day. Not obsessing, mind you, but just an occasional thought.

Day Three

I have discovered that I have a very critical voice in my head pointing out my "mistakes" Didn't realize how pervasive it is, even on something as simple as this. Hmmmmm, maybe I need to get out my copy of The Artist's Way and get to work on it.

Daily Art, Day One

Many of you know that I am living in cramped quarters and most of my art supplies are in storage and inaccessable right now. Not making art for awhile puts me in a tizzy...I feel ungrounded and out of sorts. I was talking to my friend Randy the other night and she reminded me that making art doesn't need to be a big production and it can easily be done every day. I just need to re-define what art and art making is.

Soooo, I began yesterday to make a very small piece of art every day. I set some parameters for the pieces I would make. Each one would be on a piece of two inch square paper, have a border and incorporate a leaf motif and a stamped letter. (My brother just gave me an amazing set of vintage upper and lower case alphabet stamps that had been our grandfather's. I've been itching to use them).

Creating a piece everyday not only fulfills my need to make something but also serves as a daily record.

Fashion Forward

I'm not a fan of reality shows at all...except Project Runway, whose new season begins tonight. It takes me back to art school days...well art school on speed. I don't think I ever had to complete major projects under such time constraints. What I love about the show is the variety of challenges to be completed. They stretch the mind and sometimes the talents and abilities of the designers. My favorites have been the outfit from grocery store items and the re-design of the postal workers uniforms.

I root for the 'I taught myself to sew' crowd for awhile but then they inevitably hit a wall where self education and resourcefulness can't make up for training. Then I root for a combination of most talented and likable. I'm not a fan of the folks with claws and fangs.

As an artist I think Project Runway fires up that spark in me to look at things differently and see all sorts of ways to accomplish a task. Of course the ever present mantra...make it work cheers me on! I should probably have that sign posted in the studio.

Textile Blog

If you are a fan of all things textile, like I am, Textile Source Blog is a spot you really need to check out. It is primarily a blog for the design industry but is filled with amazing images of fabrics used in lighting, art, furniture and clothing with links to more information about each post. I was blown away by the images (I tend to get more engrossed in imagery than words). The top image are belts that are handstitched by women Ayacucho, Brazil, available from Sundance. The lower image is sculpture by Jens J. Meyer called Kubus.

Think upside down

I went to Madison, WI last weekend and had a great time with my friend Susan. We were walking down State Street and I heard a guitar player, when I saw the guy....he was standing upside down. What a way to get a new perspective on art...love...life. Just play your guitar upside down and see what happens.

Stockholm Art Fair

Last weekend I went to the Stockholm Art Fair in Stockholm, Wisconsin. It is a sweet little town (population 97) on the banks of Lake Pepin, which is really a wide spot in the Mississippi River. The town has a scandinavian feel, a nod to its early settlers, who were Swedish immigrants. The art fair has been a yearly attraction since the 1970's. There were a lot of great artists and musicians. We especially enjoyed the music. It made us feel like we were back in Nelson County Virginia.

Free Images

I posted this on my other blog Threads of Wonder but it really is great to get free stuff, so thought the readers of this blog would appreciate it too. Dover Publishing makes available all sorts of images that have less copyright restrictions. I think this is because of the age of the images. You can sign up for their weekly e-mail of downloadable images which are great for making collages. I have been doing this for a few years and have a nice little collection of them. Go here to sign up for the free stuff!