Tote Addiction

I swear I am not a tote bag addict.  I am not one of those people who gets giddy with excitement when she receives a free tote bag with purchase.  But I truly love the tote bag my sister made me for Christmas.

My sister has become a tote bag making addict.  She can't seem to stop.  She has made countless tote bags for friends and relatives.  She says that it takes her about 11 hours to make each bag, sewn from a piece of canvas on which she paints layer after layer.  And the fabrics that she uses for the liners are fabulous!

Those of us whom she loves benefit from her addiction.  Here are the tote bags that she made for my daughter and my BFF.

 

Thanks, sister, for my wonderful Christmas present.  And let me know if I need to stage a tote bag intervention.

- christina

Out of the Mouths of Babes

An art teacher at one of my elementary schools asked her students why art was important. . .

-christina

Thought for the Day

“The Earth without Art is just Eh.”

-christina

Thanksgiving Fun

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I was lucky enough to go to Florida to visit my BFF.  The weather was beautiful and she lives on a lovely lake.  It was such a nice break from the cold, winter winds of the midwest.

My BFF and I enjoy many of the same arts and crafts so we tend to work each other up into a frenzy of creativity.  This visit was probably the worst - or best - ever.  We completed 2 really exciting projects, as well as eating, drinking, and shopping.

The first project was from a blog post by Alisa Burke.  We made marbleized paper using leftover spray paint. We sprayed the paint into a bucket of water and laid watercolor paper on top of it.  The paint stuck to the paper and created a marbleized effect. I love the way these turned out.  As you can see we had lots of spray paint colors to choose from.

The next project was by Paul Bozzo.  We made tiles using joint compound, stamps and objects, and 3 layers of paint.  All the directions can be found on YouTube by searching BozzoArt but also check out  Paul's blog here.

Stamps pressed into joint
compound spread on a MDF tile.

The final product after 3 layers of paint
(yellow, red, then phthalo green)

Each of the 3 colors is added individually and then wiped off.  The bottom tiles in the photo are my daughter's, the middle ones were made by my BFF, and the top ones are mine.  Interestingly, we each ended up with a different prominent color.  The tiles are more impressive in real life than in the photograph.  I definitely want to do this project again but first I have to gather a collection of objects to stamp with.  My BFF had everything from plastic easter eggs to computer parts.  She is so clever!

I hope you had a fun and creative Thanksgiving as well.  Now it's time to start creating Christmas gifts. :)

-christina

A Questionable Act

I know people who know people who do things that might, under certain circumstances, be considered illegal.  I am talking about, of course, yarn bombing.

Yarn bombing inSweden
(wikimedia.org)

Yarn bombing usually takes the form of wrapping all sorts of public property in yarn:  trees, statues, buses.  It is done in the dead of night to protect the perpetrators.  I know people who recently yarn bombed the center of my little village.  They are the subversive group known as Knitters for Peace.  They struck last month and left a trail of 80 knitted pumpkins in their wake.

It would have been funny if they had done this at 8:30 at night instead of midnight (because everyone wanted to be in bed by 10).  It would have been funny if one of the participants had brought along her husband, kids, and dog in order to not draw attention to herself.  And it would have been really funny if one of the members, dressed entirely in camouflage for the purpose of stealth, had ended up standing on a brightly lit street corner, arms akimbo, waiting for his wife to finish a conversation with some friends whom she ran into unexpectedly.

I'm not saying I was there.  I'm not saying I witnessed these events.  But I would love to be a subversive Knitter someday.  First step - I have to learn to knit.
-christina

The Class

I had 3 students in my Inspiration class.  First we spent some time talking about where we, as artists, find inspiration: nature, museums, fabric stores, books, music, yoga and even little children.

my Inspiration Journal plus supplies
used to create it

Everyone seemed excited to make the journal.  They really liked the idea of using book pages to decorate the covers.

this book was made for a little girl

One student was a retired school librarian and found it difficult to tear pages out of the books.  She was finally able to do it and the results were excellent.

all the books made during the class

This is a project that everyone seems to like.  I look forward to teaching the class again.
-christina

Inspiration

Tomorrow I am teaching a class on creative inspiration.  That doesn't mean I am an expert on the topic but I will be leading the students in a discussion of inspiration.  Where do we find artistic inspiration?  Sometimes it comes from an internal source (imagination, dreams) and sometimes external (nature, books, other artists).  Once inspired, how do we trust ourselves to carry out the artistic act?  This is often difficult for me.  There are many excuses that I can use for not following through with a creative idea: lack of time, materials, or knowledge.  I need to push through all the excuses and just start the work.  As Pablo Picasso said, "Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working."

Here are some excerpts from The Artist's Way that address the idea of inspiration.

“Art is an act of tuning in and dropping down the well.  It is as though all the stories, painting, music, performances in the world live just under the surface of our normal consciousness.  Like an underground river, they flow through us as a stream of ideas that we can tap down into.”

“Once you accept that it is natural to create, you can begin to accept a second idea – that the creator will hand you whatever you need for the project.  The minute you are willing to accept the help of this collaborator, you will see useful bits of help everywhere in your life.  Be alert: there is a second voice, a higher harmonic, adding to and augmenting your inner creative voice. This voice frequently shows itself in synchronicity.”

tombeardshaw @ flickr.com

I love to look for synchronicity in my life.  I often feel that The Universe is trying to tell me something, mostly positive and supportive.  At least, that's how I choose to interpret it.

The inspiration class also includes making an Inspiration Journal.  Everyone, including me, loves leaving class with a finished project.  I will let you know how it goes.
-christina