One of my friends suggested that I put some of my art up in my etsy store… as digital collage sheets or backgrounds. So, my art journal pages and other fun hand drawn or painted sheets can come home with you at high resolution :) You can use them for scrapbooking, card making, collaging, decoupaging… there are lots of uses :)
How it works is… you order on etsy (or you can order direct through me… just shoot me an email), and after I receive confirmation of your order, I email you a file that contains your art in high resolution. You know how the pictures you “obtain” from the internet are all blurry and pixely? That’s because the internet can only handle 72 dots per inch. When I email you this art, it will be 300 dots per inch (what most standard home printers print at) so it will be crisp and clear as a whistle :) You can then keep this art sheet and print it out to your heart’s content! As long as you aren’t reselling it or… using them for commercial purposes, that is. If you intend on using it for something other than your own personal use, please ask me about licensing my art for resale.
If you want to order more than three, let me know and I’ll cut you a deal :)
I really enjoy painting the wallpaper-ish florals… but I may branch out into other designs if this goes well… or WHEN this goes well, I should say ;)
It’s March… which means it’s time for taking down the Christmas decorations!
A little late but… you know…
So, here are all my Christmas cards… I want to put them somewhere else so I can enjoy them later on…
So, I’m putting them into a little book for perusing later.
I used a two hole puncher and those paper prongs we used in accounting. I also added a red ribbon so I could sort of hide said prong from accounting:
I put our holiday card on top of the stack (you should always keep one of your own card!) And… 10 minutes later… you are done!
You could also add a spine with a cover, more ribbon around the binding area or tie it shut with a ribbon… lots of fun ideas.
I’ve already started 3 more books done in the same way. One with postcards and other old cards I want to save. Because the prongs open up so easily, you can even add cards as you go, keeping them in chronological order. It may not be the “artsiest” of bindings, but it’s quick, easy and everything is in one place! :)
I’m a doodler. When I’m on the phone, I doodle. When I should be paying attention, I doodle. I doodled all through school to stay awake in classes that were yawn-fests. I made teachers angry. I just can’t help myself. That’s why I loved being at Calarts, they encouraged aimless doodling.
I have tons of little fun sketches and doodles on shopping lists, notes, to-do lists… they are everywhere. So, I decided to cut them out and keep them in a drawer to collage with later. I even have stacks of fun receipts, scratched lottery tickets and other “slice of life” slips of paper… all telling a story. (Sort of like Babs’ 10 foot long Ralph’s register receipt of 30+ animal cookie boxes when I was 5? hmmm?)
Here are two of the collages…
I water colored a quick background on the first one… then glued down my house sketches from our Oak Island trip, some of them I punched holes in, then added some texture with colored pencil on top. Voila… an art journal entry!
The second one was from a month of doodling. I wish I would have put down a background color first, but… it’s a start. This page sort of tells a story of that month. I remember each little sketch and my level of boredom during each. Splendid!
On that note…It’s sort of strange how you can look at a piece of art you created and recall the emotion you were feeling as you made it, or at least what you were doing when you put it together. I used to be able to pick up a necklace and remember which sitcom or movie I was watching when I wrapped that wire… sometimes, I would name the necklace after the TV show’s theme, plot line or character. I went through a Sundance Channel phase where everything was named after artsy documentaries, an odd subtitle or things you’d find on Robert Redford’s ranch or in his catalog. I love theming, don’t you? ;)
Had a wonderful weekend. A friend from high school came to visit and we had a great time. We went thrifting and got into a lot of trouble… I think she’s now traveling with double the luggage… oops ;)
Here’s the latest art journal. I think he’ll be put on the front of a card and above him in scrolly writing… “Who is having a Birthday” or “Who needs cheering up” or “Who needs to get out the house more”. The possibilities are endless :)
The frosting almost looks like the cross section of Irish Spring soap… not very tasty… but I may try to recreate it in real food form to prove that stripey icing can be delicious. (Tangent: Do you remember that Irish Spring commercial where the guy is standing next to a waterfall, gets out his pocket knife and carves into the cake of soap showing you its strata, all while explaining it’s freshness using a thick Irish accent? I think that has stuck with me for decades because I still LOVE the smell and color of Irish Spring… truly… it’s the little things in life, isn’t it?)
This cupcake is currently being adhered to a wood board, will be covered in glitter and shiny gold paint and hanging from green ribbon… to adorn your home in time for St. Patty’s Day :)
Okay, so I found an Irish Spring commercial… no waterfall, but you see the soap cross section and it’s hilarious nonetheless!
If you watch the other Irish Spring commercials youtube suggests, you’ll see every cliche in the book… Irish setters, Irish flags, curly red-haired boys covered in freckles, vests, harps and green filters… no leprechauns or gold though… it must not really be Irish then, hmmm? :) hehe!
You know how an old book makes a “creaking” noise when you open it because the spine hasn’t been stretched in years and years? Well, that’s the sound my art journal made when I picked it up this evening… it’s been way too long.
I’m thinking I’ll paint an entire series of cottages now :)
And here’s a piece I started back in 2003-2004… just finished it tonight (not sure I like it, though)… but it was a cute idea…
I found inspiration in the art of Mary Blair for the top painting, and the barn painting came from an old album cover, but I can’t remember which? I seem to recall the artist was Shag’s inspiration. If you want to explore new ways of doing art (music etc), you could read about your favorite artist and find out who inspired them, and work all the way back… and it’s fun to do the research, too :)
