artventure 1

7. Your finished journal!

6. Glue in your text block and place under a heavy weight and wait for the journal to dry over night.

5. Glue all the flaps and fold over onto the binders board.

4. Make sure not to cut right up next to the corner of the binders board.

3. Using scissors or an xacto knife, trim out triangles.

2. PVA glue (along with an xacto knife, scissors, a right angle triangle, a straight edge, and a paint brush)

1. Gather your supplies: pre-made text block, binders board, and ...

Clearly this is not my first adventure in art, but it's my first entry so there you go!   

I thought I'd put up a photo demonstration of how to make one of my journals...  The order is backwards, but I think you'll get the idea.

custom orders

I just finished and mailed two paintings that I did as a custom order.   Here they are:

(packaging)

songbird, 16 x 20 in.

acrylic on canvas

california poppies, 16 x 20 in.

acrylic on canvas

Don't you feel like requesting a custom order now?  

Thanks Claire for you order!

art of the week #3

Pecker, Ray Caesar

Ray Caesar, In the Garden of Moonlight
Jonathon LeVine Gallery
June 28 - July 26, 2008

Well... This is actually a past exhibition but the work was so haunting I had to make it this week's art of the week. In the Garden of Moonlight was the third solo exhibition by Ray Caesar at the Jonathon LeVine Gallery last summer. Caesar used to work in the Art and Photography Department of The Hospital For Sick Children in Toronto for 17 years which I found most interesting when contemplating his work due to the co-existence of realism and surrealism in the spaces he created. Dark truths make themselves subtely apparent and roles are reversed, perhaps giving the victim of real life crimes a chance to avenge his/herself and find some little justice. For example, in Side Saddle I see a girl who perhaps in reality was a victim of child abuse, but in the piece she is able to reign in her abuser. I also really enjoy the creepy quality that lingers about the images - very Frida Kahlo.

All of Caesar's images are digitally created and when I first saw one of his pieces I thought it was a photograph. "Using a 3D modeling software called Maya, he builds models and wraps them in painted and manipulated texture maps. The models are set up with an invisible skeleton that allows him to pose each figure in a 3D environment. Digital lights and cameras are added to simulate shadows and reflections, completing the effect of a mysterious and strange alternate world. (www.jonathonlevinegallery.com)"

when it rains, it pours.

I feel like I have so much to do before I leave for Connecticut - 2 smaller paintings for Claire (by tomorrow!) and a huge painting (at least 60 inches long ... the largest painting I've ever attempted) for my neighbors. Not to mention all the other little side projects I'd like to finish. But even so, watch for hopefully weekly posts called "artventures" where I will chronicle a certain project or something art related for your learning and/or amusement.

playlist of the week #2

Favorite of the Week: Cameltoe by Fannypack

I don't know why this is my favorite but it has a really great beat and the lyrics are hilarious.

1. I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked - Ida Maria
2. Oslo in the Summertime - Of Montreal
3. Je Veux Te Voir - Yelle
4. Day n Nite - Kid Cudi
5. When U Love Somebody - Fruit Bats
6. Cameltoe - Fannypack
7. Don't Want You Back - Backstreet Boys
8. Better in Time - Leona Lewis
9. Eh Hee - Dave Matthews
10. Hey Ya! (Outkast Cover) - Razorlight
11. Little Acorns - The White Stripes
12. Super Sexy Woman - Sufjan Stevens
13. Alive with the Glory of Love - Say Anything
14. Out of Control (State of Emotion) - Kenna
15. Blame It (On The Alcohol) - Jamie Foxx feat. T-Pain

i need one

Our hedgehog friend came to our yard to visit and take a nap again .. sooo cute.

free note cards!

NEW DEAL! Be my 5th sale and you'll get a free set of 4 note cards that match your purchase!

hedgehog

Tonight we found a little hedgehog in the middle of our street.  This random woman thought it was hurt and that we should kill it, but it wasn't even dying!  We put it in the spare lot and hopefully it wanders off into the woods and not into the busy street ...

art of the week #2

David Rathman, Against a Crooked Sky

Larissa Goldston Gallery

May 14 - June 20, 2009

For this week I chose David Rathman's "The Negotiator" (2009, watercolor on paper). I love the old west and what first drew me to Rathman's work besides the obvious cowboy allure was the medium. At first I thought that the works were perhaps photographs, but it turned out that they are just very beautifully, well done watercolors. There is mention of a "longing for a world of absolutes" in the press release which I definitely see in this work. I also see a comment being made on the way media (and specifically film, due to the fact that this body of work was created from film stills that were then manipulated to create vignettes) takes an event and twists it to leave out the "grey area" - an interesting reminder to us as an audience and as (un)informed citizens that the hero doesn't always wear a big shiny sheriff's badge...

playlist of the week #1

Along with posting "Art of the Week" on Fridays, I will now be posting "Playlist of the Week" on Tuesdays (coincides with New Music Tuesday on iTunes. A coincidence? I think not.) Each playlist will be a thoughtfully crafted mix of 15 songs I've been listening to for the past week (or maybe longer). I'll also include my especially favorite song of the week - and maybe I'll even say why!

Favorite of the Week: All the Tired Horses - Bob Dylan

I heard this song when I was eating lunch with a friend at the vegan restaurant Red Bamboo on West 3rd Street a few weekends ago. Sometimes I forget how much I love Bob Dylan. I especially like this song because I feel really inspired to accomplish everything I want to accomplish and yet I also feel as though it's okay to just be and maybe not accomplish anything at all for a while...

1. All the Tired Horses - Bob Dylan
2. Hallelujah - Rufus Wainright
3. Empty - Ray LaMontagne
4. Breakin' Up - Rilo Kiley
5. Your Rocky Spine - The Great Lake Swimmers
6. Samson - Regina Spektor
7. You're the One - The Black Keys
8. Alaska - Dr. Dog
9. On a Neck, On a Spit - Grizzly Bear
10. Measuring Cups - Andrew Bird
11. Down to the River to Pray - Alison Krauss and Union Station
12. San Andreas Fault - Natalie Merchant
13. For Lovin' Me - Gordon Lightfoot
14. Phone Went West - My Morning Jacket
15. Sun, Sun, Sun - The Elected

dickblick love

I placed an order on dickblick.com for a few more fabric pens (for journal covers!) and ***drum roll*** a light table! I can't wait for it to arrive. It's going to make transferring images from paper to linen so SO much easier. Not to mention anything else I will/want/need to transfer to other things in the future.

Anyway, after a long weekend where I really accomplished nothing of particular importance except maybe keeping my sanity, I'm ready to get back into the swing of things. Hopefully I'll have more journal covers up this week (probably state symbols of Michigan). What I really want to do though is take quality pictures of my journals. I have really been slacking in that department which is bad, bad, bad.

Don't forget, be my 10th sale and you'll get a matching set of 4 blank note cards that match the design on your journal!

free note cards!

Hey Everyone! Be my 10th sale on Etsy and you'll receive a set of 4 blank note cards that match your purchase for free!

art of the week #1

Gosha Ostretsov, Coolville
Claire Oliver Gallery
May 21 - June 27, 2009

Since I'm no longer in New York and can't visit galleries whenever my heart desires, I've decided to do a weekly post on one gallery show that I find interesting, relevant to me, et cetera. Maybe in the near future I'll get really ambitious and include galleries outside of New York City, but for now I'll stick to what I "know."

I'll try to do current shows, but for my first weekly post I'm going to feature Gosha Ostretsov's show Coolville at Claire Oliver.

I had never heard of Ostretsov's work, but after looking through upcoming and current shows on artforum.com, clicking on a bunch of galleries, finding things that caught my eye, "On the Roof" really hit the right chord with me. It's acrylic on canvas measuring 158 x 63 inches. I looked at a few other pieces by Ostretsov and his work varies a lot which I like. He seems to do lot of installation pieces and I have found my own work gravitating towards installation.

Of course I LOVE the fact that "On the Roof" shows a superwoman-like female and the colors used only bring her power, her presence, whatever you want to call it to life. I also think it's interesting how dead the woman's eyes look - almost as if the world (or artist?) expects women to be so totally perfect visually, so in control. But on a lighter note, this is just very visually fun and dynamic so the fact that there seems to be darker things at work in the painting only makes it that much better.

Gosha Ostretsov was born in Mosow in 1967. He graduated from the School of Theatre Design at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1984 and began to work as an artist, showing his work at numerous exhibitions. In 1988 he moved to Paris, where he lived and worked for ten years, including a three-year period as artist and designer at Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. Gosha now lives and works in Moscow (http://triumph-gallery.com/artists/ostretsov).

new journals on etsy

I just added 6 NEW hard cover journals to my Etsy!  Yay!  Please check them out :)

marketing

Marketing really does work and it's a great way to reconnect with the friends you haven't talked to in a while.

belle affairs event consulting

I got just an invite on Facebook to join my friend's wedding/party/etc. planning page.  I'm SO proud of her!  Check out her website here: Belle Affairs Event Consulting.

I've been doing a TON of reading in the Etsy Seller Handbook lately and I have decided to do a sort of "grand re-opening" on May 17th (the date that is also when I'll appear in two showcases).  Hopefully all goes well but now that I don't have as much time to work on new items - go figure - I should probably stop blogging and get working!

ideas in my head

I got home safe and sound on Saturday night - we landed 45 minutes early.

This week is being spent unpacking and working on new journals for Etsy.  I just got my website up and running today AND I even joined Twitter (ugh ... more sites for me to keep up on).  Thankfully unpacking has been going pretty well considering I usually unpack a week after I've moved back home.  I also am addicted to craftzine.com now and  have so many new projects (mostly non-Etsy related) that I can't wait to start.  

Today I decided on two new lines I'm going to release on Etsy by the end of this August.  One being simple pen/ink drawings of women who inspire me (i.e. Annie Oakley, Jeanne d'Arc).  The other being simple drawings of state symbols - of course I'm going to start with my favorite state, California.  I'm hoping to expand from journals to cards and possibly pillows or something that incorporates embroidery of sorts.  I also have been brainstorming a sort of "crafter's/quilter's" project journal ... more to come on that later.

visit my etsy!

Well,  I can't believe the semester went by so fast.  Today I finally made it to the Natural History Museum.  

Cait left this morning.  

Tonight I'll probably just work on making more banners for my Etsy.  I'm also starting to design my very own website so I'll work on that too!

I fly home tomorrow :(

cinco de mayo

Last night Cait and I discovered this great bar - Don't Tell Mama.  It was really fun and besides the free entertainment, in between sets was open mic.  Today is Cinco de Mayo so I'm sure that we'll be going out tonight.  I'm hoping to go to the MoMA and Dylan's Candy Bar before our celebrations commence though.  Maybe even the Museum of Natural History.  I wish it would stop raining here ... it's hard to be outside.

On another note, I discovered this great site: instructables.com

I can't wait to start making things again!

2nd to last week in nyc

Well, Emma got sick on Sunday morning :(  ... so we had a really late start and just ended up going to Central Park and then visiting the Belvedere Castle.  There was an art fair set up along Columbus near 81st Street.  I mention this because all the tents were being taken down and I recognized a photograph as one I had seen on Etsy.  I went up to the artist and asked him if he had an Etsy and he does!  It was so cool to meet people that had Etsys ... it just makes the whole community more real for me.

Anyway,  Emma left on Monday and I had to go to work.  That night we had our opening for the gallery show we put on at our building.  Hardly anyone showed up but it was still fun.  Sadly,  I did not win the art prize, but that means I can put the work on Etsy!

On Wednesday Esme and I spent the day in Central Park - I finally got to see Cleopatra's Needle.  That night was some of the people's last night in the program but they didn't feel like going out to celebrate, so Cait and I celebrated for them.  We discovered this bar over the weekend, Coopers 35, so we walked all the way there from our building.  

Thursday Cait and I went to this french restaurant in the neighborhood that also has a location in Brooklyn - the Brooklyn location is better!  I ordered my favorite dish, quiche lorraine (this is the quiche I wrote about in entries past), but it just wasn't the same.  Still very good though.  

This weekend I have to work all day today basically.  First at the gallery for a few hours and then babysitting tonight.  But tomorrow will be spent out in the city as will the rest of my days here.  Except on Monday I'm helping Emilie move her art out of storage and on Thursday I'm going with Sally and Jay to Emilie's for a studio visit.

I'm also having another Etsy Showcase on May 17th because I have more journals (which are almost finished) to post on my site.