Wordless Wednesday.

Cute Greenman and Drawing talk.

Greenman Plaque (Moss), $15

How wonderful is this? I'd love to have that hanging on my wall. And only fifteen dollars? What a deal for such a beautiful item. It's not even small: it's 8.75 x 6 inches. If anything, this is a perfect Christmas gift. It was front page featured, too!

Got some good practice with atmospheric perspective over the weekend, drawing my little kitchen. It's much more difficult doing it outside, with trees, when the wind is blowing right in your face -- as we did today in class. I got graphite all over me! But it's a learning process.

I still don't know whether I prefer drawing or painting. I seem to be naturally better at drawing, but painting is smoother and... well, more colorful. I know drawings can incorporate color using pastels and whatnot, but I've never been too good with those. Hardly use them.

Regardless, though, we don't have a drawing emphasis program so I'll be doing painting either way. Still...

I hope you guys are doing well in your artistic endeavors! :)

Sunday's Secret.

Whatever this job is, I want it. The main thing I like about this card is the simplicity of the drawing. Very cute, and very simple.

I admire all of the different handwriting styles I see. I usually prefer those to the typed ones, although typed can have a special effect with the boxing and placement. Oh man, delving into the art instead of the secret. But that's part of its appeal, right? :)

Elephants in the Room.

So, I haven't had a lot of time to spend on my sketchbook. It's not a theme to be taken lightly. However, I am determined to see its finish before the deadline approaches, despite the work school is also weighing upon me. Fall break will definitely be a good time to fill up those pages with meaningful art.

Which brings me to an important question, for you, and for me: what do you think is the biggest elephant in the room, in our society today? This is coming from my American perspective, but it can include all countries, and all cultures. What problems today are so obviously in front of us that we can reach out and literally feel the tusks?

It is important for my sketchbook to not just get my viewpoint. I don't want it to be all about me. I'm not necessarily a political person myself. But this isn't just about politics.

I want to take in your answers and do research, then translate it through artistic means. This will really help me out, and ultimately your idea will be included in this sketchbook for thousands to see at the exhibits held by The Art House Co-op.

I thank anyone for their input. Opinions, websites, etc. etc. would be appreciated.

P.S. Got my ears pierced, yay! Do I really have to wait 6 months for dangling earrings, though?? Did you guys do anything early?

Friday Featurette!

So this week's featurette is for ljlh*designs at Etsy. Some of you may think I'm a little biased because I recently won earrings from her, but honestly, this jewelry is hard to pass up anyway. If I hadn't won, I still would've given her a quick spotlight because this girl's shop is beautiful and affordable.

Dark Rainbow Bracelet/Necklace, $21

The main thing, though, is that she has very little sales in her store. She has her own website, which includes the wide variety of items she sells, a link to her blog, and even a resume. Yup, a resume. So, I was surprised to see little sales.

She makes great items, simply put! Each piece is so colorful, or so stylish, or all of the above! Not to mention, they're all not that expensive considering what they are! Most jewelry at this level would cost more than $20.

Green Leaf Earrings, $6

She also has another Etsy store, dealing with handmade items from paper: ljlhpaper.etsy.com I advise you to give that a peek, too, although it is somewhat new.

I'm very thankful for the earrings I won, for they have given me a taste of ljlh*designs, and I'll definitely be making some purchases around the holidays from this shop. Take a look for yourself, there's bound to be a good Christmas gift in there somewhere! Happy shopping!

Happy Ending to Week 3.

That's right, the week is done! As an art major, for the past three semesters I've had Fridays off, a very handy thing indeed. Today went by pretty smoothly, and had some joys in it.

Photography class was great! There were no problems getting the film into the spool and processing it. I managed to make three prints today, though I'll present only two because the third was attacked by a black fuzzy thing on the print's edge.



Printmaking wasn't too bad, just trying to figure out my still life. Need to work on that this weekend, along with a drawing on atmospheric perspective, Art Ed. writing sheets and a collage, as well as Ed. Psych. homework. Phew!

But fear not: the icing on the cake today was that I received the earrings I won from ljlh*designs!!


Hooray! I was so excited to see the little box. Everything is beautiful: the box, the cards (I like 'em!), and of course, the jewelry. It's perfect, too, because the blue crystals almost match the blue gem in my engagement ring. I can't wait to be able to wear them! Thanks so much, Libby. :)

I hope your week has been as successful and productive as mine. The only way it could get better is if I made a sale, haha!

Wordless Wednesday.

-_-'

Monday Musings.

I've learned a few things today.

I don't really hate printmaking. I just get easily frustrated with any new artistic medium at which I'm not immediately great. I'm a perfectionist, unfortunately, so that can really dampen my optimism when trying novel things. But it also frustrates me how hard I'll have to work even more, as well as kiss up to, my teacher because she rarely gives out A's, especially to non-studio students.

Taking photos with a manual camera is much more interesting than with digital. The sense of mystery with not knowing how the picture turned out can be invigorating and intimidating. My other art classes stress me out, but I'm already looking forward to Photography class this Thursday. Getting the film into the spool without damaging it sucks, but it's such a small, tiny problem that it worries me not.

People are not as nice as we ISFPs want to believe. This is a sad, but true fact. Some people are just not good people. The worst part is, some people are so good at concealing this that you have to get to know them a long time before their true colors show. By that time, it's hard to let go. Even now I still miss one of my old friends, with whom I've not spoken since my 18th birthday.

But despite that, life is gorgeous. With my health in good shape, my mind clear, and new prospects on the horizon, I'll just keep on walking with my head up as high as I can lift it.

Awesome Artists Giveaway Edition 2!

Okay guys, I just stumbled upon this really amazing opportunity to win gift baskets that are a combined value of $260! There are five different gift baskets, all featuring Etsy sellers, and I'm so excited. You can win prizes such as these:

Tibetan Earrings from Jewelry By Tara - $6

3 Oak Wooden Tea Light Holders from mapletreelane - $15

Chunky White Rock Crystal Wrapped Earring from tesorojewelry - $16

Isn't that just incredible? The way to win is to visit Live Breathe Dream Etsy, go through each artist's shop, and comment on your favorite. Additional entries are obtainable.

I've already entered. The acceptance of entries continues until October 5th, so start commenting!

Good luck!

Sunday's Secret.

From Postsecret.

This is my favorite out of the bunch this week... the fact that the submitter states they cheated on their eye exam, and it's emphasized by the misspelling of exam. Gotta love people.

Which was your favorite? Visit the Postsecret website and take a look. Also, for Twitterers out there, Frank's giving away an iPod Nano each day this week, so keep a look out for that one.

I missed an update yesterday because I was so busy printmaking. I'm a little flustered because I'm running out of black ink and can't get more from Hobby Lobby; also, prints are looking bad, either too much ink or too little ink. Gah!

Friday Featurette and F(ph)otos!

Yeah, I'm a big fan of alliteration, I do it when I can. Anyway, I think every Friday I'll do a mini-feature of an Etsian where his or her items really appeal to me. For the first one, today I'm featuring crearting:

Handbound Wood Journal, 3 1/2 x 2 3/4in $18

I'm obsessed with journals (kreativlink rocks my socks), and this only fuels my fire. Journals with WOOD covers? And gorgeous painting designs? Count me in.

The only downside to these beautiful journals, in my opinion, is their small size, but I can understand the reason for it. Still love 'em and heart 'em when I can. One day I will own a custom, handmade journal, I swear it! :P

Anyway, a tiny little update. Yesterday was very frustrating and fun at the same time, a bizarre combination of emotions really. Photography resulted in fun, but began with frustration. My film would NOT go in the spool, and it took 15 minutes in a small, pitch-black, hot closet to get the film ready for processing. But after all of that, here's a "contact" sheet of my negatives and one print from my roll that I loved (though a bit out of focus):

Printmaking... ugh. Aligning 2x2 blocks on a huge sheet of paper, and making sure to ink the right amount, is really tough. Hopefully I'll still get an A for effort.

What have you guys been up to this week? :)

What's in your photo album?

So, I was tagged by Cindy at Hellcat Vintage to do a photo post. Here it goes!

The idea is to:

1. Open your first photo folder.

2. Scroll to the 10th photo.

3. Post the photo on your blog and tell the story behind it.

4. Tag people to do the same.

This was a picture taken on February of this year, when I did The Vagina Monologues. I played the role of a nurse in the office of an OB/GYN. Other girls (a doctor, a receptionist, and patients) and I would discuss things relevant to the play, as well as introduce monologues. It was such a beautiful, empowering play, and I was so glad to be a part of it. This was taken on opening night: the color theme was brown and coral/peach, and naturally I had to wear scrubs. I got this cute top at Rugged Warehouse for 9 bucks. It was so much fun, and I'd do it again!

Okay, so I tag the following...

Leel

Kevi

Karley

StarsandRobots

Get to it, guys, I want to see your results! Don't forget to tag others. :)

Wordless Wednesday.. sort of..

Pouring with rain, the morning I have drawing class. Phew! I only enjoy these kind of days when I'm allowed to sit on the couch with a warm cup of tea or hot cocoa, NOT when I have to go to school and carry PAPER in the downpour.

But... I survived. Luckily, my second class was canceled since my professor is setting up her exhibition -- neat, huh?

Here are some snapshots of my lesson for today: a gesture drawing and 2 blind contour drawings.

What creations have you made today, obligated or otherwise? ;)

Winner of Giveaway #2!

Oh, school can get you so caught up! And social gatherings of the small kind, including a grill and games.

So quickly, I'll announce the winner of Julie's excellent little ring:

Heather D.! Congratulations! You'll be contacted soon for info.

Updates to come, and possibly another giveaway I hope! Stay classy!

More T-shirt Cutting!

Considering that the temp is still above warm out there, I needed a 3/4 sleeve, half-way "cardigan" to go over my tank top. I don't have one. What I did have, though, was this brown buttoned, long-sleeved top by Say What? It's kind of old, and a tiny bit faded. Still a great top, though.

Then: light bulb!! Make that into what I needed using just a pair of scissors! And, by doing so, I've turned one top into four different things. Observe...

Transformation a la moi! ;) Now it has become my light fabric cardigan, two arm warmers, and.. well, the piece in the middle could be my "skank" top, or a mini-skirt over tights. (I'll figure that one out later.) All I did was take my big orange scissors and cut above the second-to-last button -- in the middle of the strip, for a clean look. I'm so happy with the result!

Folks, take out some of your old clothing. Don't throw away that XXL sports shirt just yet! You'd be surprised at what you can do to renew your clothing into stylish, wearable pieces.

Have you transformed anything lately? Got some good tips on shirt-cutting, or changing a skirt into a bag? Please leave a comment here!

(NB: I don't do sewing. So I definitely look for tips that don't require needle and thread, though I hope this'll change in the future!)

Wordless Wednesday.

Printmaking Relief Practice.

Well, I got out my carving tools, my brayer, and the ink. I decided to start with a simple shape that's soon to become relevant: candy corn. I thought that if I came up with some neat little cards, someone would want them for the holiday. ;)

Carving the linoleum is by far the hardest part of the process. Drawing the design and transferring it is pretty easy, but once you get to relieving it's rough. I'd already nicked myself a bit before my honey rushed to get me his super-stuffed skiing glove for protection.

The main thing to remember is a steady hand goes a long way. Also, keeping too much tension from entering your carving hand, otherwise you'll end up hurting your muscles. But I worked with what I had. Here's some pictures of the experiment, which ultimately ending up being fun. Patrick liked watching.

That is the result of a 3x4" linoleum block, painstakingly carved to represent candy corn. I decided to experiment with keeping contour lines and extra nicks to give it a special touch. To the right is the design repeated on orange construction paper. Rice paper is generally the best for printmaking, but I'm not going to buy any until class requires it.

Here are some tools shown. On the bottom left is the brayer, used to roll the ink onto the block. Moving up you can see a glass pan turned upside down: the best object I could find for putting my oil-based ink on and rolling (mostly cleaned off by using cooking oil). At the top, almost cut off, is my cutter, loaded with the C-blade.

Close-up of the orange construction paper print.

These are the little cards I made from the design. I really like how they turned out. The candy shows up well, especially the contours, but the empty spaces and blotches give it a nice style. I tried doing some color on one, pretty neat though messy. Any takers? ;D They're available for purchase now at my Etsy store.

I think, with time and patience, I'll come to enjoy this form of art. The cutting will always be the frustrating part... and inking enough.

My sketchbook from the SB Project will have to wait a while before I pick up on it again.

Giveaway #1 Winner, and an Etsy Seller Feature!

I just want to thank those who participated and/or RT'd my first giveaway; it was a great success! Now, to announce the winner of the fantabulous Pepper Pot journal... [drumroll]...

Tara, or better known as @BoutiqueKarma on Twitter! Congrats! You'll be receiving your journal soon.

For another first, I present to you my Etsy Seller feature. This week's seller: JulieRose! Welcome, Julie!

Along with providing some info on her shop and herself, she's generously giving away this beautiful, silver sun bead ring:


The ring is wire-wrapped with silver-plated wire, featuring a round silver colored bead with a sun design. Julie's shop mainly sells wire-wrapped rings, all of which are available in either silver-plated and sterling silver wire, as well as some necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Visit her shop here. I think her jewelry is amazing. From antique-chic to cutsie designs, I'm definitely a fan. My favorite piece is her Round Green Stone Ring, as well as her Multi Stone Charm Bracelet.

Here's a little bit about Julie: "I've been making and selling jewelry on Etsy for a little over two years now. My husband and I are expecting our first baby in five or six weeks, and my jewelry and Etsy shop will give me the opportunity to work from home while I take care of my son."

That's wonderful, Julie, and congrats on the baby! Now folks, let's begin with her giveaway.

Details:
There are several ways to earn entries, listed below. You must follow the first requirement of entry to be considered. I'll end the giveaway on September 12th (Saturday), at noon CST, or 12:00pm CST. I'll calculate the numbers and throw them into the Random.org's generator to select a winner. Later on that evening, I will announce the winner here and contact them shortly for information.

How To Enter:
1) First, visit Julie's Etsy shop and browse through her items. Come back here and post a comment telling us which item(s) you liked the most, and what more you'd like to see. Include your email/Etsy url/etc. for contact if you win. You MUST do this first to be considered.

Extra Entries, please leave separate comments for EACH:
1) One extra entry if you follow me on Twitter, and one extra entry if you follow @JulieRoseEtsy. Please leave a comment with your username.
2) One extra entry if you tweet about this giveaway. You can use this: "This week's giveaway features @JulieRoseEtsy, hosted by @spektorish: a Silver Sun Bead Ring! Ends 9/12! http://tinyurl.com/lujz3c" Comment with a link back. Spamming tweets will not help you. :P
3) One extra entry if you blog about this giveaway. Please link back to your blog.
4) One extra entry if you heart her Etsy shop. Link back with your Etsy name.
5) A whopping FIVE extra entries if you buy an item from her shop before the giveaway ends. She'll confirm this for me, so no lying! :P

Note: if you already have done something, like follow me or Julie on Twitter, it counts as an entry -- just leave a comment to remind me, I could miss it! :)

Good luck to everyone!

Middle of the first week.

Wow. Needless to say, I am exhausted! Just finished my first week back at school. Drawing II and Printmaking Relief are definitely going to keep me busy during this semester; both teachers expect a lot from us. Photography will be fun, but I've no idea where I'll find a manual camera to borrow.

And this semester will be EXPENSIVE. The most expensive yet. I already pulled out a loan, and I'm still going to rack up quite some debt just on supplies. Not happy. I'm not trying to sustain this 4.0 GPA for nothing, Tech!! I don't have time to even think about getting a part-time job. I won't have much time to make art on the side for income (no bites at the Etsy shop yet). Patrick is trying to get this customer service job, as well as Coast Guard Reserves, to make sure we don't fall into poverty. Education should not be this way...

One good thing about this week, though: my giveaway! I'm so happy with the response, considering this isn't the most popular artist blog and it's my first major traffic post. After this, I'm probably going to host another giveaway thanks to @JulieRoseEtsy. So keep an eye out!

With that, I leave you with a really awesome, fan-made video. Shiny Toy Guns is a great electro band that does wonderful covers, such as Major Tom (coming home) and this song, Stripped, originally by Depeche Mode.