WELCOME

  • hi there, thanks for visiting .......
    greetings from my creative space to yours....... having been creative my whole life (whether I am cooking, planting a garden, sewing or painting) - thoughts & images here range from art & creativity, techniques, photography, show & tell to family & baby news & travel.. I am keen to share with you BOTH my art successes & failures because I am not putting myself forward as anyone special - just a work in progress - like most of us........

    Grab yourself a cuppa, of whatever you like to drink & have a look around.

    hot chocolate,winter,hot drink

    BELOW is a list of catagories which house archives, each of my previous posts, that have been allocated to one subject or another. So that's the place to click if you'd like to look at one particular type of work. 2008 was a year of 'curve balls' for our family & as a result my life has taken some unexpected turns. I am now 'accomodating' some physical challenges I hadn't anticipated this young & am studying Visual Arts in an attempt to regain my equilibrium.

    I will retain this blog as my art blog & keep things here up to date with my art, however as my life is starting to head off on it's own 'altered journey', some places not suited to my audience or content of this blog - some my daily musings are on my new blog:


    uRBan dRiFTwooD'

    IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT EVERYTHING THAT I POST ON THIS SITE IS COPYWRITED. I UNDERSTAND HOW YOU CAN BE INSPIRED BY EXPOSURE TO VARIOUS ARTISTS, & I certainly appreciate you commenting & us discussing various aspects of my work. This is why I photograph my processes & explain techniques I use - BUT PLEASE, FOR YOUR OWN ARTISTIC GROWTH & CREATIVITY DO NOT STEAL MY WORK.

Categories

THE HOW'S & WHY'S OF SWAPPING ART

  • WHY SWAP ART
    Sometimes, the progression from percieving your self as some one who is a 'crafter' to someone who is an 'artist' is all about the process & the passage of time. Often times, regardless of the outcome, the process is the most important thing! Sometime toward the end of 2005 an online friend from another art group related a story from the book 'Art and Fear' to me (via the online group we were both a part of) & it has literally changed my approach to 'arting'. It goes something like this............. In one of my favorite books about the process of art (Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland) there is a study cited that is interesting. A ceramics class is told by the professor that they can either be judged by the quantity of work turned in over the semester or the quality of one piece. The students who chose "quantity" would turn in their pieces at the end of the term. The pieces would be weighed and they would recieve a grade based on the total weight. The students who chose "quality" would turn in one piece, and be graded on that one piece. The students who chose "quality" spent most of their time planning, plodding, incubating, and designing their one perfect piece. The quantity students just kept turning stuff out. The surprising outcome was that the very best work came from the "quantity"students. moral of the story? Just do it! Skills, techniques & creativity is honed in the caudron of practise:- I have used it as an 'art ethos' ever since.................joining swaps & projects when the topic interests me, which stretches me, keeps me creating & gives me a starting point to create. I learn new things, discover & develop new processes and get help from my friends along the way. NOT every piece of art that you create will become a Mona Lisa HOWEVER, I do not believe that during the time that Leonardo Da Vinci was painting her, he realised what he was creating....He had to create the piece - then put it out there in the world to be critiqued - you need to work through the process everytime.... I believe this to be the single most valuable thing you can do to develop your art skills - take the Nike approach - JUST DO IT!!!!! My addition to that - JUST DO IT - everyday - no matter how minor or how busy you are, art a little everyday, even if it is only organizing your supplies, as it will keep you present with your art.
  • HOW DO I JOIN IN A SWAP?
    The easiest way to join into a swap is to join one of the many online Yahoo groups, that regularly swap art. Paper Traders is a group that I am involved in (link below) & is one such group, but there are lots of others, each with their own flavour, some specializing in particular mediums or formats. Simply type in yahoo groups in your search engine & the home page will come up. You will need to register an 'identity' (it's best that this is a recognizable word & relevant to you as this is what all your messages come up as). IF you would like to do a 'blind' swap with me, ie you send me an ATC & I send you one back, send me an email using the link above.
  • ONLINE CHALLENGES
    Another fun & perhaps a little less stressful way (because your art is for yourself, though you usually post pics of it to show others what you have created) of participating & giving yourself a little nudge is to participate in one of the many online challenge sites. I have a whole list of them here - check them out, I am sure that there will be something that will pique your interest..... Have fun!!!

I love to visit..........

Recent Posts

About

Eye Candy

  • There's SOMETHING about Alice
  • Antiquarian Alphabet ATC series
  • THERE'S A BEAR IN THERE!
  • THIS IS MY CITY - MELBOURNE

Twitter Updates

    follow me on Twitter

    A Message in a Bottle

    Friday, 15 February 2008

    A LOVEly Day

    Img_5710_resizeI understand why red roses have traditionally symbolized love -though the flower is beautiful, it is fragile, & the thorns that surround the beauty ever threaten your enjoyment of it........my DH bought me home 6 bunches of red roses in appreciation of my Message in a Bottle of Valentine's Wishes Img_5720_resizefor him & I have spent SOME time this evening putting them in vases (after I used them as props for my photos of course!)  Our 28 years of love have sometimes been a rocky path & it is nice to think that despite that, we can still find things to be thankful & appreciative of in each other.  We are not by any means the perfect couple - however our love has found a comfortableness like your favourite slippers that feels nice when we are not both so filled with work (we work together) & we take time to appreciate each other.  All of the imagery for these pieces is from Alpha Stamps.

    Img_5663_resizeImg_5695_resize Img_5713_resizeImg_5677_resize

    Posted on Friday, 15 February 2008 at 01:54 AM in A Message in a Bottle | | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

    | | |

    Monday, 03 December 2007

    A Message in a Bottle

    Full_view_webHere is my latest creation - A Message in a Bottle (Psalms) made from a 5" high little bottle.  It is a special Christmas Gift to someone who has been particularly encouraging to my faith.  I have to say up front, that I am not the Backdetailweboriginator of the idea to decorate/embellish little bottles.  I have many of them, having collected them for years.......but it was the beautiful work of Cathleen LeVeque of Urban Rosary that inspired me to add to them.  My dear art friend JoAnnA Pierotti introduced me to Cathleen's beautiful work & I have been dreaming of doing something with a bottle ever since!  (actually to be fair, when I first looked - I could only dream of ever owning one, however now I notice that there is quite a range of moderately priced pieces in Cathleen's Etsy Store now) This piece has more of Rosie's cast off jewellery pieces.  Art Nouveau is one of my fav. design periods & I was really excited when I found this peice in the stash!  The stopper isStopperweb another light fitting peice & the text behind the figure is stamped onto the paper roll of a REALLY old adding machine that I bought.  The typed text are verses from Psalms from a 1900's bible I have for the purpose of integrating verses into my art.....I already have some more of these 'cooking' each one a different Message in a Bottle.

    Posted on Monday, 03 December 2007 at 11:37 PM in A Message in a Bottle | | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

    | | |