More Elevator Art

Collage below by Jonathan Talbot, “Pi Patrin”, approx. 2.5″ x 3.5″

Collage below by Jonathan Talbot, “Patrin de los lunas”,
approx. 2.5″ x 3.5″

Collage below by Jonathan Talbot, “ORDER No. 2 PATRIN”,
approx. 2.5″ x 3.5″

Collage below by Jonathan Talbot, “War Story Patrin”,
approx. 2.5″ x 3.5″

Collage below by Jonathan Talbot, “Nasci Patrin”,
approx. 2.5″ x 3.5″

Here is Elevator Art

You know how sometimes there is music in the elevator or the waiting room at an office?  Whenever you’re waiting somewhere there is often music, right?  Well, because I’m taking a two day workshop with Jonathan Talbot and want to focus in on that, I’m posting “Elevator Art” or art you can see while you wait until I can post again.  =)

Collage by Jonathan Talbot, “Floor Plan Patrin”, approx. 2.5″ x 3.5″

Collage  below by Jonathan Talbot, “Orrery Patrin”, approx. 2.5″ x 3.5″

Collage/painting on canvas below by Jonathan Talbot, “Large Pyrenees Patrin”, 2004, 40″ x 40″

Collage/painting  on canvas below by Jonathan Talbot, “Planetary Patrin”, 2004, 40″ x 40″

Collage below by Jonathan Talbot, “Medicine Bundle”, 20″ x 24″

Jonathan Talbot at ArtWorks

WooHOOO!  I’m taking a two day workshop at ArtWorks with Jonathan Talbot tomorrow and Monday.  Don’t know Jonathan?  Ahhh, you’re missing out on a real character of art.  Or a real artist of character… okay, both!  See his website at www.talbot1.com

Jonathan Talbot is an artist from New York that happened upon a process for collage that allows for focusing in on design and composition without losing all that work when you go to adhere everything.  On top of that, he is quite a personality so there is an entertainment component to anything he presents.

He gave a free presentation a couple of nights ago at ArtWorks, part lecture, part demonstration of how he works.  The presentation was well attended and I think we were all entertained, to say the least.   A number of people expressed to me that they left the presentation feeling a freedom for their art that they had not felt before!  How cool is that?  I understand this though because Jonathan hit on a topic that a lot of my students ask me about: when does inspiration and use of imagery cross into copyright infringement or “how bad should I feel about the stuff I’m using?”, in a sense.   It was good to see how many classic artists copied each other for composition or specific design.  It was also good to be reminded that it has all been done before and there is a lot to learn from this.

Working with Jonathan has been a great experience and I can’t wait for our class to start.  I so rarely get to take a class,  (heck when am I NOT working?),  that I’m really looking forward to this on a number of different levels, but mostly because I will get to have two days to learn, soak it up and just make art!

Picture below: Collage by Jonathan Talbot, “An Intellectual Approach”, 1987,  4.75″ x 6.5″

Previously Loved Art Sale at ArtWorks Today

Great art!

It is the annual PLAS sale at ArtWorks today!  We have received donations all year for this art garage sale so we have a lot of stuff at excellent prices: we’re talking serious discounts.  The sale runs 10-4 at ArtWorks (201 2nd Ave. S, Edmonds, WA).

The overall quality of the donations this year are definitely higher then last, too. There is some really good art, a lot of great art supplies, nice frames, papers, prints, and books.  There are also some really great table cloths leftover from the Edmonds Art Festival Patron’s Preview Party.  They remind me of when I got mehndi’d with henna on my hand!  I had to have one!

You can tell when we got tired of pricing things yesterday because everything got cheaper and cheaper!   For example, the books are 50 cents for paperbacks and $1 for hard bound (including Janson’s Art History of the Rennaisance), for the most part.  Getting ANY Janson’s art history book for $1 is ridiculous since they’re all so huge.

Anyway, it’s a great opportunity to pick up some great art or art related stuff at excellent prices. Perhaps I’ll see you there!

Creative Books for Your Library

I think all artist’s are addicted to books.  All of my students mention this everywhere I go.  Most of them have books that they have only looked at the pictures, never read.   I think this means that we are in search of inspiration and possibilities for our work.  Since art is an expression of something we’re trying to communicate, (a feeling, color, light, design, whatever the focus is), we’re always looking for better ways to communicate that expression.  Being visual oriented beings translates into relying heavily on pictures.  I love the library!  I have so many books there.  =)

Here are some newly published books to spark your art:

‘Polymer Clay Color Inspirations: Techniques and Jewelry Projects for Creating Successful Palettes’ by Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio –  Lindly and Maggie are color queens that have team- taught  many fabulous color workshops around the U.S. and it’s about time that they put their great perspective into print form.   This should be on every artist’s list to at least see because we can always learn more about color.

‘The Creative Entrepreneur: a DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real’ by Lisa Sonora Beam – for those visually dependent folks that want a fun book on a serious subject!

‘Art Revolution’ by Lisa Cyr – This book has been described as a gift.  It contains a mix of how other artists approach their own work combined with a variety of techniques to develop your own work.  The combinations of mixing mediums is especially interesting.

Imogen Heap’s NEW Album is Out!

WooHOOOO!  I can’t wait to get it…   You can listen to her tunes on Pandora: www.pandora.com, the online radio site.

Watching Movies on iPod Touch

As posted earlier, I just got back from Bead Fest Philadelphia, an enormously successful bead show put on by Interweave Publishing.

Because I had a long flight home, (a straight shot with a brief touch down in Nashville), I figured that this would be a testing ground for when I fly to teach in Switzerland in November.  I figured I could watch movies on my iPod Touch, (no, I am not a twenty-something who is born knowing this already!).  So I made it a goal to figure this out and have movies loaded into my iPod for that big 7 hour flight home to see how it worked.

There is some great software out there that will work with any mp3 player called EZ Soft iPod Video Converter, (www.ezsoft.com) and it’s FREE (even better!).  I’ve used this software before to convert videos to my old mp3 player and it worked wonderfully well despite the small screen of that mp3 player.

So best laid plans and all that, I ran out of time and couldn’t get to converting a movie from DVD for my iPod but, I did find that I could rent already converted videos for iPods online!  iTunes has movies you can rent and then sync to your iPod.  It’s easy peasy.

There is also ipod lounge, (www.ilounge.com) which has a lot of movies, ready to load into your ipod for rent.  It’s a simple process of  going through the free registration, choosing what you want and going from there.   I decided to try one of each for this trip just so I would know how to do this.  Movies to rent on iTunes were generally more expensive then iLounge.  iTunes averaged $6.99 or higher per video compared to iLounge’s average $4.99 per vid (they even have some for less then that).   They were equally simple to navigate: put the videos into the shopping cart, pay for via PayPal or other method, etc.

The next thing to think about was the drain on the iPod’s battery.  Movies running for an hour and a half will take more battery then playing music on an mp3 player.  After researching this issue, I found a portable battery back up on Ebay called the Sidekick IMP 500.  This unit charges from a computer or AC outlet and will give up to 38 hours of time to a cell phone or other electronic device.  You just plug your device into it and it will run off the battery unit or you can use it to charge your device as needed.   I just ran my iPod on this unit when watching the movies without any worry of running out of power.

The hardest part of this whole thing was the download!  This was because I didn’t have time to download either of the movies I chose before I left town.  My little laptop only has an 18 GB hard drive, about 11 of which is all Windows or something equally important and because I didn’t have my external hard drive with me, space was the issue.  Movies can be a bit large, averaging about 1.3 GB each.

Once I dumped all the music on my hard drive, I was fine so off I went.  What I found was that ipod lounge was clearly the winner on the download time.  I don’t know what sort of compression they’re using for this process but it is far superior to iTunes for download time on equally sized movies.  Once I had both movies in my iPod, all I had to do was get on the plane.

Long story short:  I didn’t notice that the plane ride was as long as it was because I was happily entertained!    It was pretty cool to pass the time this way.  The picture was clear, the action was smooth and it was just like watching a little T.V.   One of the movies was one of the new Bond films with Daniel Craig.  The high action was a good test and it was great.  I had snacks and water with me and all that was missing was the recliner!

I’m ready for that flight to and from Europe now, armed with a head set splitter so my husband can enjoy the movie with me.  Porquoi pas?

I think I’ll keep a video loaded onto my iPod for when I’m waiting for stuff and I could watch a good portion of a thing,  (I’m thinking ferry ride, Dr’s office, etc.).   There are a lot of video interviews that would be nice to see that I never have time for.  What would you do with this capability?

What a Week!

I’m here in Philadelphia still and it’s been a whirlwind week.   I was lucky enough to get a room upgrade – ahhhh, the King Suite at the Scanticon Valley Forge.  Amazing room.  Heck, the whirlpool tub is as big as my bathroom at home.  The living room has been very nice to have and would have been a great party space if one were so inclined…

I’ve worked with so many great artists here and been able to see some old friends, meet some new and put faces to those I’ve met online that it’s been very fun.  Everyone seems to like what they’ve made or learned and are so jazzed with the info that it’s energizing.  I love that.

Yesterday I taped a guest segment for  the PBS show ‘Beads, Baubles and Jewels’ and demonstrated a fun technique with polymer clay.  This will be the 1000 series of episodes for the new season.   I don’t know which episode exactly though I hear that the last taping I did for them just aired somewhere in Texas yesterday.  That was odd timing!

Today I get to walk the show and visit some friends that are teaching that I have not been able to catch up to.   I’ll post some pix later!

Free Clip Art Resource and Copyright

Free clip art from Dover. Art work is by Hiroshige, a Japanese master.

Have you ever wished you had a certain image to combine into a piece you’re working on?  There are some great resources out on the net but one of the best clip art resources around is Dover Publishing.

Dover produces some great clip art collections and I know everyone thinks that they’re free to do whatever you want with but there are specific ‘intent for use’ limits listed in the front of each Dover book.  There are some variations for the intents for use so it’s important to check them.  Some of the exclusions listed include using less then 10 images from the same collection in the same piece of work.

One of the best things that Dover does is provide FREE clip art every week to anyone that wants it.  All you have to do is sign up online!  It’s free, free, free.

http://www.doverpublications.com/sampler1/

Go to this web page and sign up for the free clip art.

A sample of free clip art from Dover.

Stitch, Cloth, Paper and Paint

Stitch, Cloth, Paper and Paint by Angie Hughes

Another great book that is worth adding to the experimental art library: ‘Stitch, Cloth, Paper and Paint: Mixed Media Ideas and Inspiration’ by Angie Hughes.  This is one cool book.

Some of the techniques outlined include collaging with fabric and paint, sewing textured materials onto canvas and stretching it before painting it.  Things like laces, textured fabrics, needle point canvas, etc. are sewn onto canvas first in a collaged fashion.  Then paints and other surface techniques are applied on top.  The results are awesome.

I liked how the techniques described were used to create shrines and books.  The art is amazing and there are over 270 pictures so lots of great visuals.

Another great book that I’ve found recently is called “Fabric Art Collage: 40+ MIxed Media Techniques” by Rebekah Meier.  It is chockful of great ideas for combining materials and creating collage.  I particularly like how papers and fabrics are combined in different ways.  For example, the paper buttons explained are very charming especially when combined

into fabric collage, bookmarks, etc.  Some of the techniques described include:  needle felting, altered lace and ribbon, etched canvas, using Tyvek, Lutradur and dryer sheets in art, fusing silk, playing with embossing powders and melted crayon on fabric and tons more.  It’s

almost a new technique every page turn and the pictures are luscious, large and really clear.  I can’t wait to get home to pursue some of the ideas that this book has sparked for me.  This is definitely full of inspiration besides a boat load of things to try.