I wish I'd thought of this t-shirt first!!!

While visiting one of my favorite artist's blogs (Luann Udell - her link is at the right in my list of faves), I learned of this t-shirt, available from this online store. I wish they made a v-neck, or a more girly style shirt.

If I find this in a bumper sticker, I'm definitely going to get it!

The little fat book club...

Hello my faithful readership! Yup, that means both of you. Sorry I've been so lax in posting to my blog. The holiday season is upon us and I am busy - although, I haven't done a single thing for the holidays so that's a pretty flimsy excuse. Mostly I've been making art in my spare time, while watching the housework accumulate. I am on vacation next week, so I plan to catch up on both housework and holiday planning, and more art at that time!

I've been busy making pages for my little fat book and writing a draft for an article I plan to submit to one of the major mixed media magazines - I should really be working on that now, but I need to let it rest a bit!

So last week, I attended my first 'little fat book' club gathering at my friend Mel's studio/store, Art Connection... and it was, not surprisingly, a blast. Once a month, the group gets together for a two-hour art making/sharing session Pages measure 4 x 4 inches, and eventually get bound with rings into a little fat book. I only made one page during the evening - I spent a good deal of time looking through other people's books - but I made more pages over the weekend. Much like the artist trading cards, I like the small format for experimenting with ideas. Here are a few of my pages. The holiday page is for a secret Santa swap at Art Connection this weekend. I made 3 of the same/similar page so that I could keep one, swap one, and give one to my friend Debbie. It's a fabric transfer, along with paint, rubberstamping and collage.

Time to make art!

As I've mentioned in some previous blogs, I participate in a monthly artist's trading card (ATC) swap at one of the stores where I teach, and I am still amazed at how much I love this artistic forum. This month's theme is party hats & beads. Here are my submissions. If you zoom in and look closely, the background of each card is made up of tiny microbeads. I used Artgirlz charms for the faces, and of course they're each wearing party hats and party dresses adorned with various seed beads etc. I only need three for the swap, but I make six every month -- 3 for the swap, 1 for Marilyn, the swap host (visit her picturetrail site in my links at right), 1 for my friend Debbie, who so often encourages and inspires me -- Oh, and one for me, so I can keep a sample of the techniques that I use! The silver one (if you look really close, she has a martini with a beaded olive)-just my kind of party girl- is the one I am keeping. I would let my friend Debbie choose her own, but she is off jet-setting around Scotland, so I am going to pick one of the brightly colored ones for her, as she is a very colorful woman!
I had a rare opportunity to make art for almost three full days straight this weekend, and it was pure joy. I am always stealing time for my art these days, and this weekend I just ignored the remainder of leaves that fell onto my lawn, ignored the dust bunnies that swirled about on my floors, and made art. One of the things I was reminded of is that an artistic body and mind in motion stays in motion - creation fuels creation. Sometimes it takes me hours, after I've been out of my studio for awhile, to get back into the swing. Not the ideas so much as the rhythm, for me, takes some time to recapture. So that by the end of a weekend like this, I am brimming with ideas, and I just want to hole up in my studio for days on end. It reminded me how much I love the process, as much as the finished pieces.

Studio Friday - Interconnected

This week's topic for Friday November 3rd suggested by Nancy Bea: I AM INTERCONNECTED!
" I am not thinking of connections one might feel to other "great artists" of the past or inspiring, high-profile contemporaries, but the connections that help keep you happy in the studio. Artist friends you get together with for critiques or just coffee and supportive conversation.
For instance I am in a group of four women who get together for all of that, plus find venues to occasionally show together, and we encourage each other in every possible way. Maybe you are part of a class or group that gets together to try out new techniques once a month...We are all interconnected and honoring and recognizing that is an immense comfort and inspiration and source of strength for me, and I am sure for others too."
Oh, Nancy Bea, you hit such a chord. Yes, yes, yes. (And you know that you are one of the artist's with whom I've connected recently. Thank you!!)

I have too much that I could write for this, so for the sake of brevity, I will just make a list of some of the most important art connections in my life right now...

1. Debbie Wachel - My most enthusiastic supporter and one of my dearest friends, artistic or otherwise. We get together for artist dates every month or two, which consist of talking, eating, laughing, shopping, critiquing and oh yeah, making art. In between artist dates, we email, at least several times a week, often about art, but also about life and keeping art in life!

2. The Studio Friday artists!! - and all of my online contacts - I have found the internet to be one of the most amazing ways to connect with other artists all over the globe, and I'm sure I won't be the only one to mention this. Through this connection, I have corresponded with artists whose work I've seen in magazines, I've recently purchased a print for my niece from Hungary (from an artist I might never have discovered otherwise), and I've received (and given) more encouraging words and support that I could ever have imagined possible.

3. My teaching venues - Ironically Art Connection is the name of one of the stores at which I teach, and it lives up to the name in so many amazing ways. I love the connections that I make with the students I teach. Their enthusiasm feeds me, and they always have creative ideas that help me improve my methods. It's a totally rewarding exchange and I would feel lost as an artist without it.

4. My creative coach. I've had the opportunity (thanks to my friend Debbie!!) to work with Sheri Gaynor, of Feisty Females, and this connection has helped me to remove obstacles that I continually seem to put in the way of my artistic goals.