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! 

Grounds for Sculpture

 My cousin clued me in to Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey.

This place was amazing. Started by artist, Seward Johnson in 1984, it is an interactive museum where you can walk among these life size and larger sculptures.

A great place to bring the kids where they can see and touch pieces of art history and discover new artists. Most of the sculptures here are reproductions of famous paintings or images. Seeing them life size with so much detail will amaze you. I know it did me! We had a wonderful time walking around these great works of art and goofing for the camera.

I can't write enough to explain the visual excitement of this place so I'll let the photos do the talking. See how many of these sculptures you recognize from the original famous works.
Enjoy!

Monet's Waterlilies.  

Seward Johnson's 9/11 sculpture

Grounds for Sculpture is also home to a flock of peacocks that wander by while you're taking in the art. This was a real live white peacocks. 

Go visit the peacocks at Grounds for Sculpture and tell them I'll be back! 

Easy DIY Crafting for Mirrors

When we were talking about selling our house I'd read that mirrors can help make the rooms look bigger. I wasn't about to invest in a lot of expensive mirrors just to either have to  move them or resell them, so I went garage sale-ing!

I got a couple of long ones and two portrait sized mirrors. None were in great shape, but I always believe a little elbow grease and paint can fix anything. So we scooped them up, threw them in the back of the pick up and away we went.

Mirror 1

I did two of the longer ones first and had a heck of a time with the paint. Even though I sanded them good, these puppies must have had a gallon of polish or something on them. The paint was rising in oily pools. They took coat after coat to get a decent look. (Note to self; scrub with Dawn dish detergent next time)

Since the room we would place these mirrors in was white, I painted them a deep peaceful blue. Please forgive the background. It's not hung yet, just leaning on the dresser in my office.

Mirror 2 

My next mirror was interesting but I thought, a little dated. The stained glass on top was really just painted on. It had a bumpy texture but since it was over mirror I wasn't sure I could sand it off. So I flipped it over and painted the reverse side white. My plan at that point was to put vinyl letters on it and then paint it black, and peel the vinyl off to see the white word.

But did I want another mirror at this point? I wasn't even sure why I got this one or where I'd put it. So I popped out the mirror and used chalkboard spray paint on it. :)
The frame got a bright blue/teal-ish coat of spray paint. (Valspar brand spray paint =Exotic blue) I decided I liked the white with blue letters on top as a contrast to the blackboard so I kept it. What do you think?

Now this hangs over my desk for inspiration and note taking!

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? 

DIY Halloween Art Projects

 Simple golf balls make cute jack-o-lanterns when spray painted orange. Paint on faces with black craft paint. Green leaves on top finish the look. To hang these cute little golf balls we drilled a small hole in the top and screwed in a round hook.

 Another option is to paint eyeballs on the golf balls and suspend them from fishing wire. Nothing more freaky than floating eyeballs! 

Don't forget the PUMPKINS!

I was never a good carver of pumpkins so I use paint to bring out their personalities. When one of my daughter's friends was throwing a Halloween party she asked for a character from Harry Potter.

Say hello to Darby, the house elf! 

What's Halloween without a black cat? This little charmer peeks out from inside a pumpkin to wish everyone a HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

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!

Other Art & Artist Blogs

I was surfing for some blogs about Art and it was harder than I thought it would be. I don't know if this was because there just isn't a lot of them, (that's impossible!) or if the key words just weren't there.  A lot hadn't been updated in years. :(
I wasn't looking for NYC top artists, I want to meet the everyday artist. Average folks who reach beyond everyday life to create amazing art.

After surfing around for a while here's a few good ones. Check them out!

Artists Helping Artists; is out of Australia, (gotta love that country!) and it has tons of stuff to help you become a more successful artist. I've only just touched the surface of their content but it's definitely top of my fav blog list.

Lisa Congdon's Today is going to be Awesome blog. Has some pretty impressive content covering sketching and knitting.

Gapingvoid Blog is interesting and I need more time to scope out all the articles. Most were short but entertaining.

The Empty Easel has some good articles to encourage artists to blog. Not sure it can be considered a blog.

I was over on HomeTalk (has lots of painted furniture) and found Tidbits and Wine. More of a design site, but I loved this article on color. 

Got an art blog? Post it in comments and I'll add it to Crazy Painter Art's blog roll!