Rock Art? Pebble Art?

I've painted rocks, turned them into little animals and actually made some money doing it. I've sold them in stores and at craft shows. It was fun but rocks are heavy! When lugging boxes of painted rocks into a show my husband would often comment, "Why can't you paint feathers?"

And I did. I made some money painting feathers, too. :)

When painting rocks I'd often find rocks I thought were just too pretty to cover in paint. They had interesting lines and colors and I just couldn't put a brush to them. So they were tucked away under my workbench or left on shelves to admire and I always wished I could make them into art while respecting their beauty.

Then I found Bufalini Pebble Art on Pinterest.  He took rocks, painted some and left others au-natural, and made great art!

On Etsy I found art like The Crawford Bunch. and Made by Nature . A little different mixed media, but equally as awesome.

So, I really gotta give this a try.
Off to Michaels i go to find some interesting pebbles i could mix with my existing collection of rocks. I have to figure out what type of glue would be best. Internet sites are giving me a wide range of "what's best" to use on rocks.
I experimented with Tacky glue. Seems to be holding so far and dried clear.

Today I head to Lowes to find some wood. I'm also thinking of seeing if I can grab an old pallet somewhere. Weathered wood would be great for this project.

So far, here's what I did with stuff I had laying around. Finished artwork coming soon!
Rock On my fellow Crafty Artists! 

5 Essentials for the Home Art Studio

Every artist needs a place to call their own. Be it just and easel  in the corner or a whole room to themselves, a place to craft will lift the artist's heart and set their creativity free.

What's essential to an artist's space? Here are the 5 must haves;

1. Good lighting. Essential for creating art. Place your work area near a window or invest in a good light. Although nothing beats natural light, making sure you have access to a good craft light will give you the freedom to create day or night.

2. Place for tools. Tin cans, glass jars, anything you can store your necessities in. Watch for sales on standing tool boxes at your local hardware store. They have lots of drawers to store brushes, paints, and glue guns. A shelf or peg board would be great to keep them off you're desk and give you a bigger work area. See a peg board idea here. 

3. Storage for Creations. Whatever your medium, you'll need somewhere to stash your goods. Canvas, rocks, wood, or whatever your artist eye needs. Wooden crates, shelves, or even a nearby closet if you can spare the room, can be used to keep things organized.

4. Access to water.  Most art requires some water for the creation or the clean up. A perfect place would have a deep sink to clean brushes, pallet knives, or whatever.

5. Privacy. This one is hard in some households, but art takes concentration. If you have a place where you can block out the world for at least a few hours, you're lucky.

So what does your Art Studio have? What does it need? 

Pegboard Upcycling? Or DIY Liquid Courage?

I made a pegboard to store my art supplies and get them organized. You can see that pegboard here. 

I had half a pegboard left over. About 4' x 4', it was sitting here staring at me asking me to do something with it. :)
I didn't have room for another storage wrack, but I did have lots of spray paint so I took it out in the back yard and just started spraying.

After a while it looked like a face.... so I kept going.

Everyday after work I went into my studio and just layered on more paint. I knew I wanted bright colors and a lion.

So there was more paint...

Some squiggly brush strokes and more paint.

After a couple of days I wondered what I would do with it when I was done. But I kept going.
Painting on a pegboard is a challenge. All those little holes hold the paint and cause drips.

I kept painting.
I'm lucky my family understands me. . . or at least pretends to.

After a while I realized that the facial features would be a challenge due to the odd placement of the little holes. Ignore them and keep going? Work around them?

And now it's done and I still don't know what to do with it! But it felt good painting it and I kinda like his eyes.

ROAR!

How Should You Plan Your Canvas?

Ignoring the basics was my biggest mistake when I started a big canvas. I wanted to put a lighthouse, cliff, rocks, and a beach. What I should have done was sketch it onto the canvas. What I did was just start slapping on the paint.

The result was an uneven horizon line, an out of perspective lighthouse and waves that didn't make sense. The sky has a bit of a transition problem, too. All on a large 3' x 4' canvas.

However, it needs fixing. A wise artist friend once told me just watching the work will go a long way in getting the brain to click and the answers to come.

So I'm staring...waiting...and knowing it will click sooner or later. I really don't want to give up.

Planning, it's all in the planning...

Next time I'll do the sketch first and maybe the outcome will be better. 

 How do you plan your canvas? Sketch it out or just slap on the paint?

The Art of Painted Furniture

One of my favorite types of art is painted furniture.

An old chair, painted black with a few bright flowers, a broken table put back together finds a peacock, or a Tiger brightens up a stool found at a garage sale.

Furniture art is one of my favorite prowls on Pinterest. Creative people have done amazing things with furniture found by the side of the road.

Home Talk is another great site where people share their creativity. Like Pinterest, Home Talk lets you search for anything. A step up from the photo gallery like face of Pinterest, Home Talk lets the artist/creator post the details of their design. You can post questions and usually the artist will answer. Home Talk alerts you with an email ( if you want) to let you know you have a response.

Creating art from plain old furniture is a great way to make a few bucks. Find a good piece of furniture. Make sure it's sturdy or fix it. Express your creativity all over it, and be sure to finish with an acrylic seal. (Polycrylic is my favorite to work with)  Now post your pics!

Some places to sell?

• Etsy  (Just double check your shipping costs)
• Facebook
• Google+
• Pinterest
• Make a website or blog and post that on facebook. 
• Find a gallery or craft store to display your artwork. 
• If you're an avid painter (or team up with a creative friend) and can generate a decent amount of furniture art, check out local craft or art show. 

This weekend check out your local garage sales. Start small (Coffee tables, benches, end tables) and take your time to create the best piece you can. 

Happy Painting! 

To Art or Not to Art ~ Is that a Question?

Please excuse messy studio. The jobs are piling up!

Life throws crazy things at us. Some good, some bad, some just time consuming. All these things can throw a monkey wrench into creating art.

I've been working on this stool for too many weeks now. Not that I'm that prolific a painter, but with a simple design, I'm usually better than this...

The worst part? I'm doing this as a gift!

My home is suddenly under construction. My studio is being moved to the other side of the house as we create a new master bedroom. This meant taking down the wall between my studio and a spare room. I'm happy this will make an awesome new bedroom with walk in closets, but I cried when they took down that wall. My studio was the place where time didn't touch, where my soul opened up, and I could breathe. For now it's gone.

There's a bedroom down the hall I'm going to claim as a studio when all the construction is done, but that's going to be a few weeks. Right now I'm working in the kitchen. Tarp goes down on the floor and there are paints and brushes all over the table. My toolbox/rolling art studio (thanks you Sears!) sits behind the recliner and I'm doing my best to keep going. Still, work is slow...

Half way there...

So here's where I'm at now. Basic lines are in and trying to carve out time when the kitchen isn't busy and I can get back to work.

Three Habits that Build an Art Career

Art, like any self-motivated job, takes discipline. Even a driven artist can be sidelined by family obligations, a day job, other creative endeavors, and life. Coming home from the day job with your brain fried from work demands, family clamoring for your attention, and a house that might need attention (dishes, laundry, etc,) can push your art to the back seat. It's life, it happens.

How to break free from this cycle of un-productivity?

• First show up. Go to the place where you do your art. Walking into your studio or even just up to the table where your brushes, paints, and artistic equipment lives will help to inspire you to start. 
• Carve out time. Let your art be your job. Go to it religiously. Set the time. Label an hour or two of your day for art and make it a priority. If you go over that time, great! 
• Alert the masses. Let the people in your life know that this time is scheduled for building your art career. Explain how important it is to you and ask for their cooperation in giving you this time to work uninterrupted.

Finally, accept the importance of Art in your life. Too many times we push creativity aside out of guilt, obligation, or just plain laziness. More Art to the top of your priority list and take the first step in creating a career as an Artist.

Go forth and create beauty in the world.

Sign Making Time - In Pictures

Creating signs with the Silhouette Cameo - my favorite new toy!

 Vinyl Removed

Sanded to distress

Everyone Needs Art ~How to Find Them

Art is everywhere and everything is some kind of Art.

Businesses need artists to design their logos, websites, car wraps, and advertising.
Stores need art to sell.
Movie Producers need posters and ads and set designers.
Broadway needs set designers, painters, and costume creators.
Everyone who works in these industries creating these necessities is an artist, because everything is art.
Andy Warhol knew it when he created his Campbell Soup can work.

As we've watched mix media artist on the rise, the art world is expanding.
Painting furniture to pop with color and design is one of my favorite forms of art. Visit my Pinterest board to see some amazing and crazy furniture art. (Confession; Addicted to Pinterest Art)

The trick to finding a paying gig in business is to get your art in the face of those who need it. I've volunteered to paint theater sets when my daughter was doing community theater, now I get calls to paint sets. Volunteering can lead to jobs.

If you want to paint store front windows, paint your own, take photos and show them to businesses in your area.

Small gift shops will often let an artist put their work in the store either on commission or even buy it out right. If you lug your art to a shop, have your prices ready. I once painted pictures on a bunch of feathers, framed them and walked them into a shop. When I laid them on the table the owner said, "How much do you want for them?" I stuttered and just threw out a price. Probably too low, but I was unprepared.  Be professional. Not everyone will want your stuff or give you the price you want. Thank them and move on.

Check out local art/craft shows/street fairs. Not the flea market kind, but ones that do juried shows usually have better crafts and art. Tip; bring enough to fill your table and then some. You want your table to look full and attractive.

Don't forget local Galleries! Bring your art in and ask the owner if he'd consider displaying your work.

Then we have the online venues; Etsy, Fine Art America and others. Google it. You can even sell on Ebay, but I haven't tried that yet. Make your own website and Facebook page. Share and tweet on a regular basis!

Don't be afraid to strut your stuff. It's your art & heart and it's beautiful.

Staining Flower Art - 1st Try!

I saw this on You Tube (you can learn anything there) and had to give it a try. Although my project didn't turn out as good as I would have liked, I found something to do with the finished piece.

First I found this pre-cut piece of wood at Lowe's.  I thought I picked a pretty good piece of wood, but after watching the way the stain sucked in and didn't give me clear lines, I'm not so sure. I'll try a different kind of wood next time.



After sanding, I put on  rubber gloves and used an old t-shirt to dip in the stain and color. I used Minwax stain in Mahogany. I wanted a dark stain for contrast. It went on really easy. The hardest part was thinking in shadows. The darkest part would be the shadows within the petals of the flowers.

Starting at the center I worked outward. The dark stain of the next petal would outline the top of the previous.

 Once I had the stain on I realized there was one point across the center that took the stain a little weird. This is common when working with wood as the grain has a mind of its own. You can see a couple of spots that are actually knots in the wood. I was really tempted to paint ladybugs on the knots. :)

I think getting this stain-flower technique down will take practice. I'm also going to check on another type of wood.
I put three coats of Polycrylic on the top to make it weather-proof.

Not wanting anything to go to waste, I took a plastic flower pot and flipped it upside down to use as a base and screwed the stained-flower wood disc on top. Now I'll use it on the deck for a little table. My daughter thinks I should paint the base brown. What do you think?
Brown? Blue?or leave it green?

Diva Dawn's Metal di Muse at Steampunk Worlds Fair

This awesome artist was found with her rocked out van selling her handmade metal art. She lays out the red carpet for those who come to check out her fine work.                                                                            Diva Dawn uses a variety of metals to create wearable art in the spirit of Steampunk, Victorian, Goth, and Vintage. You can find her art on Etsy here. 

 This piece is one of my favorites and can be found on her Etsy site under Victorian Steampunk Game of Thrones.  Click the link for a better view of this beautiful piece.

Staying with this old world Steampunk theme is the Tatsu Dragon Cuff. The amount of fine workmanship shows through in the detail and imagination Diva Dawn puts into her art. I think the Tatsu Dragon Cuff is my favorite!

What struck me most about her metal art was the intricate  detail in each piece. To breathe this much beauty and emotion into metal shows me Diva Dawn is very passionate about her art. A skilled artisan with a variety of metals, I hope to see Metal di Muse at the next Steampunk fest or maybe Voltaire's Wicked Necrocomicon in September.

Silhouette Cameo First Try

Confession; My first attempt with the Silhouette was a bust. I put the blade in upside down, couldn't get the vinyl to feed and this thing that looked so simple in all those YouTube videos was frustrating me!

So, how did I figure it out? Back to YouTube. :)

The white part of the blade with the numbers goes
"down." Move the sliders on the bar in so it can grab the vinyl to feed it. Connect  to my computer and hit send to Silhouette. I'm trying to cut, "Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History."

Fail! What now? Still not cutting. It's grinding and moving but the cuts aren't there.

Oops! Change setting to "vinyl." Try again. Still not cutting.

I change the blade setting to 2. It says set it to 1 but that's not working so I figured I'd just step it up. Maybe I just bought fat vinyl? I also made a simpler design. It cut it perfectly. I "weeded" it, which in Silhouette speak means to remove excess vinyl. I used the little tool that looks like a sharp crochet hook that I got in my Silhouette Vinyl Kit. Then I cut the transfer paper to size and put over it the vinyl. It came up nice and easy. I wasn't sure what to do with my cut out so I placed it on my Silhouette Cameo, peeled away the transfer paper slowly, making sure the vinyl stayed and done!

Lesson learned? Patience, Grasshopper, Patience. And when in doubt, look it up on YouTube!

The Art of Lettering

If you've ever really looked at my art, you'd know I stink at lettering. Keeping all those little characters neatly lined up, making each one look kind of the same, then remembering to spell everything correctly. Don't get me wrong, I'm a good speller, but when painting letters I'm thinking more about lines and color than how to spell Welome or Welcome. It's so easy to miss those little letters! My biggest problem? I love words and quotes on furniture and stuff so I'm always trying to improve.

This one is supposed to day Go out for adventure ~ Come home for Love.  I wish it was clearer or I'd thought it out better. I love the piece but....

So for Mother's Day my sweet family pooled their gift money and got me a Silhouette Cameo! (Truthfully, I just asked for gift cards I could save towards one, but they surprised me!)  I'm so excited! Now my lettering won't look like scribbles.

Don't get me wrong. I know how to letter. Take the ruler, measure carefully, make lines, measure, measure, measure....blah! I think I'm just too anxious to get the project done that I rush the lettering. (Yeah, that's a good excuse!)

I went to Michael's because the Silhouette Cameo didn't come with any vinyl or transfer paper or anything, but since it was Mother's Day the place was picked clean. Going online to order a few supplies tonight and hopefully I'll have a project to share by the end of the week.

Do you have a Silhouette Cameo? What do you use it for? Have you made anything exciting?

Do All Great Artists Steal?

Great Artists Steal - by Austin Kleon

In writing they say there are no new plots, only new twists on old plots. When the family of Marvin Gaye sued singer/songwriter RobinThicke, I had to wonder if music wasn't the same thing. How many ways can you play cords to get a different rhythm or tune? Was the music familiar because at some point in Thicke's life he heard the song by Gaye and his sub-conscience remembered it? It appears Thicke is standing by his song and asking for a new trial. See that here.

How many times do you see someone's work and think there's a bit of the technique of VanGogh or Monet? Is it stealing or is there really no new techniques? Or could it be no one recognized that technique before this one artist stepped up to show it to the world?

Art, the Pinterest Addiction & Marketing

I have to confess...I'm addicted to Pinterest. I do have facebook and twitter accounts but Pinterest has pictures! And if you put art, painted furniture, mosaics, oils, acrylics....anything art in the search bar, all this beautiful and creative art pops up. I love it!

Sometimes I pin things I'd like to try, other times its to study the technique the artist used. Sometimes its just because the pictures are pretty. Pinterest is a little bulletin board on the net where things can be saved.

I have multiple boards, but my two art boards are Painted Home Furniture and Art & Painting. I have others for painting Theater sets, writing, reading, dog rescue, etc. But my art boards are the most active.

In my pinning addiction I came across several articles on How to Sell on Pinterest. Although I've never put anything for sale on Pinterest, I can click through to artist websites and people selling their art on Etsy. Most of my stuff is either special order or in a shop in Middletown, NJ called Artfully Repurposed.  If you post on Pinterest you can get a button for your browser to pin anything you're looking at, even your blog posts! Pinning your posts will bring people to your page where you can also sell your art.

I think pinning your art won't make you rich but it will get your name and art out there for more people to see and maybe buy. Or perhaps they'll pin it to their board and the people following them will pin it. And your audience grows.


Happy Painting! Happy Pinning!

Artist Reality Show Needed

I watch shows like I Brake for Yard Sales, Flea Market Flip, and Love it or List it. I loved White Room Challenge but I'm not sure its on any more. All I see is reruns. America's Next Great Artist was awesome too, but its gone. :(

So here's a show I'd love to see; Artists Take My Room!

In this reality show homeowners surrender one room in their home to an artist and lets them use their art skills and talent to re-imagine it.

Take 3 or 4 artists, they each get a room in a different home and a crew to help with the work. Maybe a half hour to interview the family and then create something that matches the family's personality. They they go to town with whatever art technique they want redoing walls, floors, furniture, window treatments, etc. These have to be artists, preferably those who use more than one medium, and not designers.

Let it be a competition and have some artist judges? Or just let the homeowners have their say at the end?

I wanted to pitch this to HGTV but they don't take ideas from lay people.

Can you imagine having a while room, furniture and everything as your canvas?
I get excited just thinking about it!

 

What do you think? Would you let an Artist Take Your Room?