Cleaning

As an incentive to get the studios clean and get psyched up for the run with encaustic, I agreed to be part of the Mid Michigan Creative Alliance Studio Crawl, April 22 from 2 - 8pm.

This event will have many creative spots around town, followed by a gathering for a sip and a bite. Should be fun.

I THINK anyone can attend, but go here to learn more if you're interested.

Won't take it for Granted

I just learned that I've been awarded a grant from the Arts Council of Greater Lansing. My project will be the exploration of encaustic, with two hands-on demonstrations down the line. With this grant I'll be able to purchase the tools I need to take this medium through its paces - without toxic fumes. I've already been playing with the medium and will be curious to see what the proper tools allow me to do. I'll be posting what I learn along the way.
Thanks to the Council and to the funding which allows for such grants. I'm grateful and very excited to get to work.

Capital Area Women's Lifestyle Magazine

Looks like I'm in this month's CAWL. All I know is that I should have had my glasses on for that photo. Thanks to the magazine for the covergage. Brittney Moody, who wrote it, did a great job.

Logos

Lately logos have been coming my way. I've always loved doing them - saying the most as simply as possible, but have not had much opportunity. One of these is for hand-harvested wild foods like sassafrass tea (GREAT, by the way), mushrooms and wild rice. The other is for a series of workshops for women to learn pretty much everything about nature - medicinal plants, living out of doors, making fires, identifying edibles...really sounds intriquing!

In Vino

Hate to admit it, but I'm one of those people who buys wine because the label is cool. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. A few years ago I came within cork-sniffing closeness to being able to produce a series of wine labels for a young company. It would have been a dream come true.

A recent conversation with friends about private labels made me long to do this art. So, I decided to create labels for wine which does not exist. I could have a collection of labels and someone could pair a wine with them, or I'll simply have some fun along the way.

My husband named the first one as I was describing the image I wanted to do - Caged Crow.
I do a lot of birds - they mean many things to me. Did this piece in encaustic.

Learning Curve

So, it seems that for silk screened work I need to have created vector art. That means back to Illustrator, which makes me make ucky faces...too mathematical in feel and I've finally gotten so comfortable in Photoshop. There's apparently no easy way to translate from one program to the other. I just need to learn it, so I can create are that's easily reproducible. As long as there's no deadline, I enjoy the curve.

Baby Birds

This might be the last of this little series (for now, at least). I think the giraffe will have to be the outlier. The vertical bands of color just set it apart. It might become the first in a separate jungle series ( later, if at all). Not sure what's going to be the next focus.

You never know when you do something completely new if it'll make sense, so posting these was a little test. I so appreciate the FB feedback along the way...kept me at it.

It's not Friday, but it's Fish

This just came out - was not where I was headed when I started - at ALL. I love when that happens. Next is to look at the series and see what needs to be added or tweaked to get a series of 6 which works well together.

Bahhhhh, or is that baaaaaaa?

Easter must be in the air - or it's just the child palette. I wonder if the black blacks in this series are a bit heavy, but on the other hand like the strength of the black in contrast to the soft colors. I see these as big and to be seen from a distance, so want them to pop.

Teeny tweak

Well - it was stunning to see how many people read Facebook, but the no ball won, hands down. In the final analysis it still needed a little something, then, which I added.

Undecided

With, or without the lower green ball? I just cannot decide.

These are being developed for silk screen. I'm hoping to be able to create the cat's stripes by printing the lower yellow over the black.

And the winner is:
WITHOUT.

Thanks to those who helped.

One a Day - more fun than a vitamin!

I'm going to try to get an image a day done for this series. My mind is spinning with possibilities and I have to keep moving to get to the next one.
I'm starting to think this group has some promise for a number of applications. We'll see. Right now, I just want to do more. They make me smile.

I'm posting them on the i-spot portfolio - could be fun for illustrations. We'll see if they get hits.

The i-spot is cool, because I can switch images up at will and learn what gets response and what doesn't.

New direction

Today I opened Adobe Illustrator for the first time in 18+ years. It was familiar, yet foreign and VERY frustrating. BUT - it made me work in a way that's different from my usual and it showed in the imagery. I wanted flat color (long story - will come later), but in the end I worked in Photoshop. I need "Illustrator for Dummies" or something. Here are a couple of the resulting images...REALLY having fun and can't wait to do more with this series...or some others that have burbled to the surface. I could play at this all day - quite meditative.

Old Town Scrap Fest

We're kicking in to gear for year two of this fabulous event.
As a fund raiser, some of us have made funk-fun gems out of scrap which will soon be available at Absolute Gallery in Old Town.
Applications are now available for artist teams - and lot more information at www.oldtownscrapfest.com and on Facebook. Please come be a fan and follow the fun on Twitter.