Thursday, September 29, 2011

Art Trunk


Beginning Thursday, October 6th, Art is...You will hold it's 5th annual east coast art retreat in Danbury, Connecticut. On Sunday, October 9th, I will be one of the more than 30 artists and shops that will be participating in the Art Trunk - a full day of vending.

I will be selling original art...


handmade mini books...


 and nearly 100 bags of cool, assorted art supplies - many one of a kind. 

More information about the entire event, including location and hours, can be found here. I am excited to meet many art bloggers for the first time and I would love to meet you too. 

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Your Blog, Your Way: Part 6


Sixth post in my series on Create Mixed Media.

Today's topic: Comments

What did 46% of survey respondents answer to the question "The most typical reason I do not leave a comment on a blog post is..."? Click here to find out.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Technique & Tool: Chapter 2


Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.

Style File was the first project posted and links to all 12 posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The second project, Techniques & Tools, continues now...


Participants were asked: 'The one technique or tool that you cannot live without is... ' I have added links of my own choosing to each contribution below, sometimes to products, sometimes to videos, sometimes to the artist's own work, and sometimes to something unexpected. Even the contributors do not know what I will be linking to!
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Wen Redmond

Paint! In all its forms! I create ALL my fabric and papers. They start out white and I dye, paint, print, digitalize, and go mad with color. Working with color and texture has always been a source of jubilation for me.
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Lisa Sarsfield

A ruler. A simple 30 cm ruler is invaluable when I'm creating a collage as I really like the soft rippled edge I can create, which happens to be my favourite technique.
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Lisa Scadron

Layering, which requires patience. I discovered layering by beginning again, after years, on a previously painted canvas. Instead of scraping away the old work and starting fresh, I found that adding paint and other media on top of the old surface created a richly textured piece. As I stumbled by "accident" into layering as a technique, perhaps honoring accidents/mistakes is more accurately my favorite technique.
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Deb Eck

My bonefolder. I use it for smoothing things, opening things, tearing and folding paper (of course) and lately I have been using it when I make cast paper too. It is in my hands more than any other tool I use.
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Julie Shackson

My camera. I use it to inform all the other media I work with. Sometimes I use the photographic image itself, but more often it is a jumping off point into other media.
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Julie Prichard

Golden Acrylic Paint
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Diana Trout

Quite a question for a mixed media artist! I'd have to say watercolors because of the flexibility. I could draw with them and paint. Can I have a brush (or two) as well?
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Sharon Read

The tool I could never work without is my trowel. I have had the same trowel for over half my life and it is used for mixing, applications, creating texture, propping things up, scraping, smoothing, lifting, and mark making.
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Laura J. Wellner

Just a pencil. Whenever I get "stuck" and need to get back on track with what I want to accomplish, I always go back to the pencil on paper to work it out and as long as I have a pencil or two around with some paper, I'll always be making art.
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Lynn Cohen

My sewing machine; or at least a needle and thread!
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Jane Royal

Derwent INKtense pencils. Just add water and it's like painting with a pencil! They're especially good for traveling.
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Next 'Techniques & Tools' will be posted on Sunday, October 2nd

Friday, September 23, 2011

Spotlight: Patricia Oblack

In the first year after starting my blog in 2007, I had a regular feature where I spotlighted other artists that inspired me. It is fascinating for me to look back at my choices and to read what I wrote, as some of these artists that were new to me then have become good friends since. Many of the names will be familiar to you and some will likely not. If you like, you can read my original posts for the following eight artists: Bridgette Guerzon Mills, Judy Wilkenfeld, Janet Jones, CW Slade, Barbara Kleinhans, Scott Gordon, Erik Saak, and John Copeland.

I bring this older feature from my blog up today as there is now another artist that I want to spotlight in the same manner: Patricia Oblack. Patty's paintings speak to me. All of them. The colors and textures of her abstract work captures something so organic and elemental. 


In Patty's words:

"Early, in 1954, I picked up a pencil and sat in front of the TV with Jon Gnagy’s New Television Art Book and my stack of white envelopes, ready to learn to draw. I learned how to shade cones, cylinders, and cubes, while hearing about the principals of perspective. Jon believed that everyone has a time in their life when the Art Spirit is dominant, I suppose I was right on target and the seed was sown.


Crayons,  colored pencils, tracing paper and coloring books, gave way to pen and ink and I begged my mother to purchase art lessons from Art Instruction, Inc. in Minneapolis, Minn. around 1962. You know the one...with the draw the pirate contest. I won, I think everybody won, but my Mom paid the $500.00 and in a few weeks a huge box arrived, with an oak adjustable drawing table, (which I still own) pads of paper, pen tips, charcoal sticks, watercolors, brushes, a Deluxe Bear Brand compass, a wooden T square and my first palette knife, which continues to be my favorite tool. I finished every lesson and mailed off the homework to be critiqued, by H. Okins, my instructor. After the first year, I received a Certificate of Accomplishment, andwas urged to keep going. Another student of the school, was Charles M Schulz, I was in good company. From that humble beginning, I continued through my whole life, painting, and drawing, constantly moving forward, on my journey through art.


Through several successful art related businesses, I have painted on walls, furniture, pottery, fabric, wicker, and glass. A chest of drawers, based on a Neoclassical Commode from 1770 is in London, England and two chests recreating Charles Wysocki’s early American style are somewhere in France. I’ve painted realistic folded curtains on hardboard, Jack Russell dogs and race horses on terra cotta pottery, orchid botanicals in watercolor, and on clay tiles for table tops, pine boughs on truck cabs, kites, birds and clouds on ceilings, and also antique furniture, refinished with milk paint.


Today, my work is abstract on hardboard, continuing to be self-educated, I am ever as always moving forward. My work has been shown from coast to coast in many galleries and recently a painting was shipped to an office in Hong Kong, during the Olympics. 


Today and for the past 8 yrs., I have woven strings of color onto board with the same palette knife from childhood, creating surfaces of deconstructed relief, crumbling stucco, and contemporary fresco. My paintings have been highly influenced by Jackson Pollock, Anselm Kiefer, Joaquin Sorolla, Pierre Redoute, Tosha Tudor, Marjolein Bastin and Marcia Myers. In studying their work and other contemporary artists, I began what was to be the backbone of my current style with a surface I can’t walk away from."


I can't walk away from them either.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Stackoholics Anonymous

Stack Attack


Stacks. We all have them. They seem to take on a life of their own and grow before our very eyes. Why deny them? Embrace them instead. Today is the day. Welcome to the Paper Stack Project. 


Stand tall, be proud, and join the list of artists and bloggers who are admitted stackoholics. Take a picture of your favorite stack or stacks, post to your own blog, and email the link to me so I can add you to the link list. And visit your fellow stackoholics for inspiration. Please check back here often as I will be updating this list continuously as more people post. The links are numbered so you can keep track of what you have seen.

001 Blissful Things
002 See Jane Run
003 Insights and Bellylaughs - link broken
004 Art by Canace
005 bohemiannie! art
006 Dabblings
007 A Colorful Journey
008 Two Dresses Studio
009 My Time Out of the World
010 The Land of Lost Luggage - link broken
011 Faerie Acres
012 The Art of Cheryl Connell
013 Artfully Ooglebloops
014 Clearer Reflections
015 A Pale Novel - link broken
016 WJC's Digital World
017 Sheep Rustling
018 River Garden Studio
019 dosfishes
020 The Rhinestone Contessa - link broken
021 World of Joy
022 Sparkleblue Faery - link broken
023 Dandelion and Daisy
024 Cerulean
025 Faery Rocks and Things
026 printmaking without a press
027 JazWorks
028 A Paper Bear
029 Art Beneath the Cottonwoods
030 The Distractible Scrapper - link broken
031 Magpie's Nest
032 LaWendula
033 Kelly Kilmer
034 Altered Book Lover
035 QuinnCreative
036 life as a five ring circus
037 4 rooms and the moon
038 Marit's Blog
039 Painted Heart Studio - link broken
040 Art from the heart
041 Often Medieval in Mood
042 Ingrid Dijkers
043 Art Camp for Women - link broken
044 turn UP the Sound Lulu - link broken
045 I am Rushmore
046 Four Corners Design
047 DharmaKarmaArts Blog
048 Ro Bruhn Art
049 An Artist's Journal
050 What's Next??? - link broken
051 fibra artysta
052 Altered by the Sea
053 Loving the Smell of Wet Paint
054 Oma's Patch
055 Sun Soul Art - link broken
056 Getting my Feet Wet
057 Hidden Art
058 Dust off the Butterfly
059 Halle's Hobbies - link broken
060 Altered Attic
061 Right Brain Planner - link broken
062 Alley Art Studio
063 Barnacle Goose Paperworks
064 cHim Prints
065 shauna lee lange studios - link broken
066 April Cole's Studio
067 Soul Humming
068 Magic, Miracles and Joy of an Artist
069 creative lenna
070 Claudine Intner
071 jaeartworks 
072 Quinceberry
073 Rolling in the Deep
074 Sonya's Daily Art Journal
075 Hazelnut Cottage
076 Tattered Edge
077 CappuccinoAndArtJournal
078 Parabolic Muse
079 True Adventures of an Art Addict
080 NM Creatix
081 Drawing Near
082 Gulfsprite - link broken
083 Altered Bits
084 Katie Cahill Art
085 Jabberwocky - link broken
086 Colorsmith
087 Arte Tatorigato
088 Ms Grubby Little Mitts
089 Dryadart's Weblog
090 Michele Jackson Studio
091 creative lenna
092 erika husselman
093 Earth Cuddles - link broken
094 ess-arr
095 Things I Make and Find
096 Wen Redmond
097 Suzi Qu's Threadworks
098 Just a Note
099 Arting Around with Fibre
100 Kelli Nina Perkins
101 moments in time
102 Carol Sloan
102 Gosia S. "Po prostu karteczki"
103 Sue's Craft Cupboard
104 Lisa Call
105 Whimsical Mermaid - link broken
106 Diana Trout

Monday, September 19, 2011

In the Queue


I am lucky enough to be receiving an advanced copy of Mingle, Stampington's newest magazine set to hit newsstands in October. Mingle is all about hosting artistic gatherings, celebrating community, and exploring creative retreats. As soon as it arrives, I will be writing a review, posting a preview, and hosting a giveaway. In the mean time, click here to read more about the inaugural issue.
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The Paper Stack Project goes live this Wednesday, September 21st. There is still time to join the 70+ artists who have already signed up. Read all about this online collaborative project here.
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The newest project from The Pulse began yesterday and continues every Sunday. Participating artists share their very favorite artist techniques and/or tools and I add a special link to each contribution. 
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Sunday, September 18, 2011

Techniques & Tools: Chapter 1


Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.

Style File was the first project posted and links to all 12 posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The second project, Techniques & Tools, begins right now...


Participants were asked: 'The one technique or tool that you cannot live without is... ' I have added links of my own choosing to each contribution below, sometimes to products, sometimes to videos, sometimes to the artist's own work, and sometimes to something unexpected. Even the contributors do not know what I will be linking to!
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Paint splatter. I learned this from Lynne Perrella and I find myself using it on almost everything I do. I love to experiment with thin and thick paint mixtures and different angles and brush tapping techniques. Endlessly diverse results.
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I love my stencils. I use stencils when it would be easier not to. They protect the best areas, they can add pattern or texture. I like sticky stencils, quilting stencils, paper stencils, hand cut stencils. scrapbook stencils, and every other kind of stencil. Anything with a hole in it can be a stencil. Anything you can cut a hole into is potentially be a stencil. 
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Caran d'Ache water soluble wax pastel crayons.

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Stitching. It's obsessive, nostalgic, and holds everything together.
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Spray ink and stenciling/masking. So versatile. I am constantly finding new ways to use spray ink.
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There are too many! I'm still in love with Creative Paperclay. There are so many ideas I have for its application. Now I just have to find the time.
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At the moment (and this changes from year to year) I would have to say Photoshop. I can't go a day without playing with my Photoshop.
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I can't live without my Fretz hammers. I refuse to consider it. My best piece of advice on this is: get the best tools you can afford.  
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Hmm...so many...have to say TomBow glue sticks
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Alcohol Inks from Ranger.
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Next 'Techniques & Tools' will be posted on Sunday, September 25th 

Friday, September 16, 2011

Air and Light

Aether

Greek God of the Upper Air and Light. He is the personification of heaven and space. Aether has been referred to as the soul of the world from which all life emanates.


Available for purchase from my Etsy shop.

Sold. Thank you!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Paper Stacks

Paper Stacks - A Call for Collaborative Participants!


Earlier this month I posted this picture on my Facebook Page. I had been moving some things around in my studio and had temporarily stacked these journals, papers, artworks, and handmade books in a pile. Couldn't resist the photo op. One of my visitors, Heather Campbell from Blissful Things, commented 'I love stacks of paper and handmade books...we should all take a picture of our own. Maybe Seth you have a place we could post them?' Great idea Heather. Ask and ye shall receive.

One week from today, on Wednesday September 21st, The Altered Page will host Paper Stacks, an online collaboration. Please leave a comment on this post if you would like to participate. All you need to do is post an image on 9/21 on your own blog of your stacks - be they papers, books, journals, or anything else of your liking. On the 21st I will post a list of all participating artists on my blog so that you can be sure to find all the links to the stacks. Feel free to let your own readers know about this project by spotlighting it on a post on or prior to reveal day. Please (and this is important) email me with a link when your post goes up so I know to add you to the posted list on my blog.

This is one time when the higher your stacks of stuff, the better.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Collage in Color


The future is now. Cloth Paper Scissors has recently release Collage in Color - an amazing eMag. This is a must have, both in terms of content and format. Their eMag is not just any downloadable file. It is fully interactive, in all the best ways. Of course you can click on links all over the place, but you can also pan and zoom in on the images, watch one of the 19 videos embedded in the eMag, view slideshows, scroll through articles, print out pages and lists, and much more. You can also see my piece 'With Wings' in the gallery section of Jenn Mason's article 'Complementary Colors.'

Available for purchase in my Etsy shop.

Sold. Thank you!

The first time though the eMag I barely even looked at all the articles and pictures - I was too focused on the fun format. But since then, I have come to see that the eMag is packed with information and art as well. For more information, click here. Or for iPad, you can go directly here.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Ten Years


In memory of...

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Double Header


The collaborative project that I completed with Bridgette Guerzon-Mills and Jen Worden will be featured as part of Come Together: an exhibition of sculpture, installation and collaborative work. Juried and curated by Beth LeFauve, Jane Michalski, and Emily Rutledge, this show is the inaugural exhibition in the new Logan Square Arts Center in Logan Square/Avondale in Chicago.




Come Together opens on September 10th with a reception from 6 to 9pm and continues through September 30th. Logan Square Arts Center is located at 2810 N. Milwaukee Avenue, 2nd Floor, in Chicago. Gallery hours are Wednesday to Thursday 12-3pm, Friday to Sunday 12-5pm. For more information contact Jane Michalski at 733-392-1866.

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An Object Found continues its journey. After being featured in a juried exhibition of members works at the Printmaking Center of New Jersey, it is traveling to the Harold B. Lemmerman Gallery at the New Jersey City University.


The exhibition opens with a reception on September 15th from 4:30 to 7:30pm and runs through October  26th. The gallery is located on the campus of New Jersey City University in Jersey City in Room 323 Hepburn Hall on 2039 Kennedy Boulevard. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday, 11am-5pm. Call Midori Yoshimoto, Gallery Director, at 201-200-3246 for more information.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Style File: Chapter 12


Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.



Style File is the 1st of 6 projects from The Pulse. Participants were asked: How would you describe your artistic style?
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Roseann Cazares




My artistic style is not about making pretty art, but instead, about honesty and what is going on in my life at the moment. I am drawn to journaling and collaging, as well as hands and hearts, which play a huge part in my art making.
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Jodi Ohl




By and large, I think my work is distinctly textured with lots of layers, contemporary in color palette, and almost always inspirational in some way. I oftentimes incorporate hidden messages, inspirational words or free expression journal writing in my pieces. That said, a girl is allowed to change her mind and go in a different direction if she wants to! (fly away with me)
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Pam McKnight




Found object assemblage - Using up all the stuff that would otherwise end up in a landfill.
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Jeanie Thorn




I think it is a combination of two styles: Constructivism which is a precise and logical ordering of space inherited from the Classical world and the second style is Minimalism. I always try to simplify and remove what is unnecessary to tell my style...you know, less is more. Unfortunately less is more difficult...not a lot to hide behind. (Patch)
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debi lynn designs




Gypsyfied  (Mae West meets Stevie Nicks)
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Lynn Cohen




Often my style is wild and colorful. This is the Sunflower art quilt that just won first place in the Yolo county sunflower art show. (Indian Summer)
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Marit Barentsen




That's difficult...right now I am in a 'reflection period'. I am standing at a crossroads, not knowing which way to chose or which direction my art will go. But I will keep my 'weekly journal' going, and that maybe shows a bit of my style. I always include text. My art is personal and on many occasions has a deeper meaning. This is not always visible though. For the 'unsaid' things, I use my own symbols - that way, some emotions stay unseen to the viewer and are just known by me. (The Chronicles of Marit - week 23)
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Laura A. Pace




I paint in an impressionist style. I go back and forth between mixing the paint on my palette and letting the paint just mix directly on the canvas. Many times I start with an underpainting of complementary colors as I feel that brings a certain sparkle and light to my work. I use little to no black, though I harbor no resentments toward it! It is beginning to be mostly about the play of light for me now, as I think this piece shows. (Hot Laundry Alley)
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donna louise rodgers




Everything I make is one of one. People are what fascinate me and everyone is unique so there are endless subjects to draw. And making dolls is an art form that enables me to recreate human based characters in three dimensions and make up stories to go with them. Making 3d bodies is hugely helpful when drawing life figures - your hands begin to 'know' what the image should feel like if it were 'real'. My limited edition salt dough dolls are absolutely me in terms of style.  'adonnalouiserodgersthing' does not try to be anything else.
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AnTonia Griva




SurRealistiC and DreamLike.
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Dave Dube


Realism. That's been my style since I was five years old. I want viewers to see what I see in my visual world of 'storyland'. There is of course a story to go with this piece. (Marianne's Putnam Lightening Jar)
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This posting marks the end of Style File, the first project from The Pulse V. The links to all twelve posts will remain on my sidebar but will drop down toward the bottom with the links to all four previous editions.

There will be no post for The Pulse next Sunday in honor of the 10th anniversary of 9/11. But please join me at The Altered Page on Sunday, September 18th, when the next project from the The Pulse begins...


Friday, September 2, 2011

High Wire Act


Back in April I answered a call for artwork from Cloth Paper Scissors for their Wild Wire Challenge. CPS was looking for artwork made from or with wire, whether soldered, twisted, braided, weaved, torched, or shaped. In May I was happy to see on Barbara Delaney's blog that I was among the finalists. I am now even happier to find out that my submission was among those selected and has been published in the September/October issue of Cloth Paper Scissors. I share the page with  David Hayes and his very cool creation 'Hot-Wired Terrier.'


My submission 'Bone Folder' was made using a twist on a technique I learned in a workshop with Keith LoBue


You may also recall my recent collaborative sculpture 'Angel' that I made for the Exquisite Corpse Festival, again created using paper and wire.


Many thanks and much appreciation to the crew at CPS for this honor.