On Thanksgiving and Fleur-de-lis

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was very relaxing. I took a very low key approach. Cooked only the basics, bought premade desserts, ate apple pie for breakfast that morning and omitted the tablecloth. It was the first Thanksgiving I've ever prepared that I didn't want to scream at anyone who dared step foot into the kitchen and take a nap from sheer exhaustion around 11 AM. It was absolutely lovely.

My only mistake was underestimating the allure of the pies. I should have purchased at least 2 more. (I do so love left-over pie for breakfast the next morning! Alas, this year, I was thwarted in that little pleasure.) We did miss my poor father who missed his flight that morning due to very unfortunate circumstances involving naughty cats, (I won't go into the dismal details) but we did the best we could to enjoy ourselves whilst pretending he was present. That evening, we skyped with him (my very first time!) and that lifted our spirits immensely. Despite all of the family members missing, it was a good day.

The rest of the weekend was a blur of activity. We went miniature golfing which was all of my kids' first time. We discovered that Dani (10 year old) and Todd (old man) have true talent and we are now enrolling both of them in golf lessons. I couldn't believe that Dani could hit the ball in a straight line and Todd got so many hole-in-ones that I lost count. My personal strategy was to ricochet the ball off of various surfaces in hopes that eventually it would hit the mark. Sometimes I was quite successful. Quinn (3 year old) and Zoey (8 year old) were masters at ditching the golf club and kicking the ball toward the hole soccer-style. We all kind-of had our own little techniques that were more or less effective. It was quite fun for the first 10 holes. After that, most of the group lost interest and balls somehow ended up in lakes and on top of mountains and in random spots like that.

The rest of the weekend, I spent creating up a frenzy. I finished 4 new pieces and am almost done with another. I'm experimenting with my style, trying to define it further, and I believe that one of the keys to that is creating piece after piece. I'm trying to let loose a bit and really put myself into my art. Trying not to fret so much and just go with the flow. I'm having an absolute blast. A blast, I tell you. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but after all that teasing, I thought I'd share a piece I made a few months ago with DecoArt textures.

This is my first (and probably last) very graphic piece. In order to fit the 4 fleur-de-lis I had to adjust the stencil and do all sorts of measuring. (HINT: In order to adjust a stencil that is too big for your project or whatever, simply mask off the parts that you don't want by placing masking tape over them. Don't forget to place tape on both sides of the stencil so you don't have any sticky spots.) Because I'm not a very good measurer (there's a reason why I stay away from carpentry!) I am dissatisfied with the layout. I wish the fleur-de-lis were closer to the center. I feel like there is a big gap that takes away from the composition. Oh well. I learned.

I do however, love each of the fleur-de-lis and the background texture created by DecoArt molding paste.

The fleur-de-lis below was created by loosely mixing Americana Splendid Gold paint with DecoArt Texture glass.

This one was made with DecoArt Gold Craft Twinkles (kind-of like Ranger Stickles).

This is DecoArt Texture Fierro in gold.

Finally, this white one was made with DecoArt Glistening Snow-Tex. (Not just for creating snowy effects!)

I plan on photographing my newest projects by the end of the week. I can't wait to show them to you!

xoxo
Bethany

Sticky Art

Leslie Riley write a short article on Sticky Art at Create Mixed Media. Sticky Art is the type of art that sticks with the viewer, causing him/her to think. If you are looking to improve your art, I highly suggest reading it. You can access the article here. However, when you've finished reading it, come back here because I have a question for you and I want your opinion.

Did you read the article? Yes?

Okay, let's chat.

I agree with most of what she says, however, I disagree terribly on the idea that you must limit your materials. I believe that if you have your own style and you have your message and put yourself into your work, it doesn't matter what materials you use. In fact, I disagree with limiting yourself ever. Yes, I see the benefits of specialization: the basketball player that focuses on his sport will ultimately be better than the baseball-basketball player who divides his time between the two. However, there is a danger in specialization. When we focus so much on one material, or on one artform, we lose the ability to interact with others. We become so specialized that we cannot relate to other fields. Take for instance, the microbiologist who specializes in bacteria flagellum. She becomes so specialized that she can no longer relate to other scientists in different fields. When we can no longer relate to others, we are unable to apply pieces of their fields into our own and come up with entirely new methods and techniques. That microbiologist can certainly specialize in flagellum, but she also needs to stay abreast of the goings-on of other fields completely unrelated. Artists, in my opinion must do the same. We can focus on one material because we love it so, but we should also incorporate new materials from different fields so that we avoid burnout, sterility in our work and becoming outdated in this age of quick change.

I believe that creativity is the ability to take something and make something completely new and exciting with it. If we purposefully limit ourselves to one medium, how can we possibly develop as an artist, creating new artwork by combining materials? The combining of materials, to me is the key to exciting and therefore sticky artwork.

What do you think? I'd love to hear your opinion.

Burning Tools

You know how I chatted about my organization problem in the last post? Well, I totally jinxed myself because now I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in organizing. I'm getting more done in the studio, but the house is still languishing in a state of mild chaos. Oh well. Honestly, I can't blame my disinterest on my blog post, it really has to do with the reality of living with 6 children, 2 dogs, and various small rodents. I spent hours organizing various spaces with mild success only to walk into 10 loads of laundry waiting for me and a few very messy kid rooms. I simply felt a little...well...defeated. So, I'm going to wait until baby Wy starts kindergarten (in 5 years or so) before I attempt that horribly massively terrible little project again. I'm sure that it will wait for me. (giggle)

Now, on a more interesting note, I recently borrowed a wood burning tool from my creative buddy and had a blast burning a gourd shard. Have you ever played around with a wood burning tool? Oh, it is delightfully fun. Enough danger that you feel like you're living on the edge of safety, all the while safe enough that you won't burn your house down if you drop it. It is a great tool for the little rebel artist in me.

I borrowed this fun tool for a project in my online Encaustic Class. Here's a picture of my shard immediately after burning. (Pay no attention to the random toys on the floor, I've lost interest in cleaning, as you already know.)

I absolutely love the design. Love it. What I did with it after this picture I don't love. Nope. But that's okay. I'm learning. I'm going with the theory that the piece is in the ugly phase and it will improve with a little more layering. Unfortunately, I don't exactly know what to do so I'm letting it sit while the creative juices simmer.

I must confess, I have an entire drawer in my studio of pieces in the ugly phase waiting for those creative juices to simmer. This shard may end up there if I don't hit some sort of inspiration soon.

I'll keep you posted.

xoxo
Bethany

Mosaic Heart

For some reason, the organization bug has bitten me. I'm obsessed with cleaning out, trashing, and donating. Could it be the holiday season approaching? Could it be the fact that we've lived in our house for about 3 years and I've yet to organize my closet? I don't know, but I'm getting kinda nutty and I'm not doing as much creating because I'm so crazy about seeing the floor in my studio. Up until this week, I didn't even know what color the carpet was in there. Light tan, if you are wondering. ("Light tan" is a quick reference to a line in Nacho Libre, one of the funniest movies of all time. I'm just saying...)

Enough of that, however. About a month ago, I fiddled around with DecoArt's awesome textures and created this mosaic heart. It was done on a 12x12 inch canvas with only DecoArt products, sheet music and a graphite pencil.

I'm intrigued with the idea of doing a mosaic-texture thing. I definitely want to explore this idea further. I love the idea of dividing up a piece into sections and working on each one separately, all the while keeping everything connected via the color palette.

I'm also intrigued by the whole light/shadow thing and am excited to explore that further. I attempted to do this in my mosaic heart with limited success. (See the light source in the top left?) Ever since I read The Tale of Despereaux, I've been interested in chiaroscuro which is an Italian term that means light-dark. I'm sure you've seen this technique in fine art paintings like this one by Gerrit von Honthorst (swiped from Wikipedia).

I love how this painting has a very prominent light source that draws the eyes immediately to the focal point of the piece. Along with this prominent light are intense shadows that provide mystery. Love this idea. I think that applying it to my work will take a bit of practice as I'm not used to such contrast, nor am I very aware of exactly how shadows fall. Chiaroscuro certainly merits further study, in my mind.

Do you have any techniques that intrigue you? Any artistic experimentations?

xoxo
Bethany

Christmas Charm Bracelet -- New Video

I must have been a good girl this year because I was lucky to get my hands on the newest Shimmerz Winter release colors!

It is hard to say which colors I like the most because they are all so beautiful. However, I have to point out that Jack Frost Enamelz is really amazing. It isn't like your ordinary embossing powder. It is chunky like bits of mica flakes and it is a dream to work with.

These colors are so bright and happy that I wanted to make something whimsical and fun with them.

This Christmas charm bracelet fit the bill. Christmas trees and snowballs, oh my!

Even though this project looks complicated, it really isn't.

And, because I think that creating homemade wrapping paper is so fun, I also included a quick demo on how to decorate plain paper. Now, you can create a cute charm bracelet and wrap it beautifully!

I hope that you enjoy the video! And while you are watching and learning the simple techniques, think about different shapes that you could create for your charm bracelet. What about cute Santa hats? Or presents? The possibilities are endless!




These colors are only available for a limited time so hurry over to the Shimmerz Shop!

xoxo
Bethany

Wacky Hair Day 2011

I've got a thing for wacky hair day. I don't know why I love this small school fun day so much, but I do. Each year I have to outdo the year before. It's kind-of like the model solar systems that my father helped us build in 5th grade. Mine (as the first child) was pretty cool with the styrofoam balls painted and glued to the poster board. My brother had one with the styrofoam balls suspended by a wooden dowel. Another brother had a model built in miniature in a shoebox and you had to look into a small peephole in order to enter the galaxy. Each sibling's model got progressively more complicated and more amazing until I believe the last child (#7) won the Nobel Prize for her submission. That's how wacky hair day is for me. Luckily, my kids seem to be as excited as I am.

My oldest, Danika, has very long hair and therefore is prime real estate for this school activity. Last year, I attempted an updo that required a wooden dowel. It was a disaster and apparently quite painful. So, this year, I reigned myself in and focused on soft pipe cleaners. Thanks to some internet inspo, here's what we did.

Dani's was supposed to be cat ears, but with her long locks, they morphed into Minnie Mouse ears.

Zoey's was a little more involved with multiple loops and braids. She's my experimental hair girl.

For Cam, we focused on color and I created a quick stencil using junk paper for the polka dots.

Now that I've discovered the joys of pipe cleaners, I can't wait until next year's Wacky Hair Day!

If you have any cool ideas, I'm always game. Are you as crazy about this silly day?

xoxo
Bethany