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Top 10 ways to get into a creative groove:10. Sorting through supplies
9. Dreaming
8. Private time
7. Coffee -- even decaf works for some artists!
6. Observation of the world around -- especially nature
5. Blog surfing
4. Looking through art book and magazines
3. It just happens because the groove is always with me
2. Just Do it! Enter your art space and start!
1. Music!!
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According to The New York Times, the average Internet user in the United States spends more than three hours a day online. Much of this time is obviously spent on your can't live without sites!
Favorite Website#1 is Flickr
#2 is Etsy
This is the same result as was found in the previous survey!
Favorite BlogNot counting the votes for The Altered Page (thank you!!), the #1 blog is Nina Bagley's
Ornamental. Judy Wilkenfeld's
Red Velvet and eb's
Be...Dream...Play were close behind. And many people voted for their own site, which is completely understandable given the amount of time it takes to create and maintain a good blog!
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New Medium. So many techniques...so little time. When asked to share an art medium that each artist would like to explore, three techniques were clear winners. Note to instructors...these might be popular classes!
1. Encaustic. Many artists were attracted to the soft, mysterious, hazy, dreamlike, heavenly, nostalgic look of wax. And, as noted by at least one artist, it smells good too!
2. Metal. An equal number of artists wanted to try their hand at metalwork in the form of sculpture, welding, forging, assemblage, precious metal clay, silver, steel, raising & planishing, and casting in bronze.
3. Fabric and fiber. Many artists wanted to explore fabric in many different ways. Adding it to their current mixed media arsenal was popular, but so was using it in handmade books and clothing.
4. Other techniques/approaches/materials that were mentioned by at least 5 artists included jewelry making, digital manipulation, printmaking, drawing or sketching, painting with oils or watercolors, using clay, and working BIG!
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Style File.We are rewriting the history of art movements with the following schools:
Romantic Realist
Contemporary Surrealist
Archeology Ethnography
Creative Collision
Pinball Avant Guard
Controlled Chaos
Creatarian
Abstract Experimenting
Abstract Figurative
Techno Romantic
Expressionistic Minimalism
Bohemian Eclectic
Dirt Encrusted Darkness
The most popular descriptors include: eclectic, colourful, messy, evolving, whimsical, changing, experimental, intuitive, and organic.
As for the rest of us, we might be spare, impulsive, expressive, layered, motley, textural, deep, tender, edgy, raw, realistic, passionate, polychromic, emotive, connected, light, accessible, balanced, irreverent, cartoonish, tribal, surreal, vintage, playful, intense, architectural, diversified, fun, free, quirky, precise, open, honest, dark, twisted, primitive, instinctual. spontaneous, compulsive, minimal, thoughtful, unruly, narrative, abstract, metaphoric, evocative, and grungy!
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Collectors. As I expected from this question, we are a group where the majority has at least one collection that elicits passion and a tendency to hoard. In fact, many of the participating artists have multiple collections. While the items collected are as varied as our artistic styles, some themes emerged over and over again.
1. The most popular type of objects to collect, as
Teesha Moore calls them, are "odd little things." These also go by the names of metal parts, quirky stuff, door parts, ceramic bits, found objects, old things, bits of anything, junk, rusty bits and pieces, bits & bobs, and baubles.
2. Many of us collect different materials for ingredients in our art.
3. The single most popular item seems to be rocks and stones!
4. Nature calls. Many artists collect what
Debbie Mihalick calls nature's flotsam and jetsam ...bones, feathers, agate, crystal, fossils, nests, and even rock crabs (hmmmm...should those crabs be listed along with rocks and stones???).
5. Books are a popular item to collect. All kinds of books...handmade, art-related and non art-related, zines, magazines, and more.
6. Vintage and aged objects seemed to be coveted -- old letters, cabinet cards, vintage photographs, and things with an aged patina are just some examples.
6. Boxes and tins were also collected often. But that makes sense...there has to be somewhere to store all these collections!!!
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Studio Space.One thing for sure that this survey indicated: artist's can create ANYWHERE. Many people have a dedicated studio at a location outside their home. Many other artists have ingeniously carved out space somewhere in their homes. And every area counts...spare rooms, children's rooms, bedrooms, front rooms, kitchens, dining rooms, basements, attics, garages, sunrooms, patios, backyards, frontyards, under the stairs, and in the shower(!). Every surface is usable...the floor, a corner, the living room chair, the kitchen counter, a desk, the dining table, and everywhere in between. Some people work outside...in the woods, in the yard, at the park, in a bookstore, at a coffee shop. No matter where each artist works...magic happens.