2012/365 - Day 179

a very art-full day

This morning was a glorious reunion of Wednesday Morning at Joan's...and we had a special guest -- Joan's mom, Frana.

What a lovely surprise that Frana joined us this morning!

She was excited to show us her beautiful mosaic ball.

And rightfully, so -- it is just incredible -- and Frana hasn't done mosaic work before.  Man!

Look at the wonderful little red flower and the gorgeous deep blue one...and the yellow one with the square middle.  I love the grouting, too.

Fantastic!

And then Leann arrived!

Frana took this photo -- I love it.

Leann shared the alphabet(s) she carved.

I am so envious of Leann's carving -- and she does it ALL with an X-ACTO knife! 

I am really horrible at carving letters -- Leann is exceptionally gifted at it.

Scout is posing for today's portrait.

There is Joan's mosaic ball near the hammock.

Wow.  That is all I have to say -- wow!

Leann gave Joan that nipple you see as the center of the yellow flower.

I really want to try doing one of these.

Look at the colors and patterns on the mosaic ball when Joan brought it over to the table under the red umbrella.

Yum!

Leann worked on another carving.

 

Could this be a partridge?

We sat outside this morning -- something I would not normally do -- but it was just so pleasant and lovely to be with my friends.  Joan smashed up another piece of pottery and started to lay out a design for another mosaic ball.  Leann worked on her carving.  I sat and soaked it all up.

Later on I went to the Northville Art House to collect art from the show that recently closed -- West of Center.  I brought home my Baby Beast and also Jon and Juana's pieces.

Baby Beast is back at home with the Cat-Creature and Chime Cat.

And when I checked the mail -- I found TWO boxes of art waiting for me!

I LOVE getting stuff in the mail -- especially art!

I purchased two sweet lolamade monsters from her Etsy shop.

These are by artist Laura Holewa.

And this one glows in the dark -- BONUS!!!

I wish I knew how to take photos of glow-in-the-dark stuff...this guy glows really bright.

And...all of this Topher-y goodness was in the other box!

This is what I won on eBay.

An etched Jack Daniels bottle...the whiskey having been personally finished off by the artist, Topher Crowder.

close up of etching

closer

another close up

You really need to see this etched bottle in person to appreciate the details and the work...it is just fabulous.

That wacky Topher...this was what the bottle was wrapped in.

And this was yet another bonus in the box -- I can't recall what these little creations are called...small plastic boxes with cool artifacts inside.

I first saw the boxes at Topher's show at the Northville Art House in January.  It was called "Etch, Sketch, & Stilettos:  the work of Topher Crowder".  Here is a link to the MotorCityBlog post about it.

I am still getting used to my new medication today.  For most of the day I have felt like I was wrapped in cotton batting and that my head might float off on its own.  Not a horrible feeling, I must admit, but not a good thing if you need to drive or do anything productive.  Hopefully I will adjust quickly and get some work done. (I don't know why Blogger has decided to make my lines double-spaced for the second half of this post...I can't figure out how to fix it.  Oh well.)

Okay...so what do you DO with those Art-o-mat pieces?

Whenever I do an Art-o-mat presentation of any kind, invariably someone asks "so what do you DO with these things after you get them out of the machine?".

Here is an example of what I have done with my "Copper Beaded Web" collection by artist Valerie Hibbard...I made an "Arto-Tree".
















Copper Beaded Webs are marvelous concoctions of bits and pieces of copper wire, beads, metallic mesh and other items that Valerie finds and re-purposes for her delightful series. It is amazing to watch her construct and recycle the pieces...she makes it look so easy and random and effortless. I would be stressing and over-thinking every single piece I picked up.

Oh...btw...on some of the boxes of Copper Beaded Webs Valerie Hibbard used the name "Klop".

Valerie takes a length of wire, cuts it, twists and manipulates it, adds a bead, adds another element or two, adds more beads, does some more twisting and magic and voila -- Copper Beaded Web!














Valerie suggests that you might use her Copper Beaded Webs as paperweights, suncatchers in windows, as a pin or necklace...really, just about anything you can think of.



I have a metallic tree that was once a store fixture. I had it "planted" in cement in my garden and I usually hang glass balls from it starting in the Spring and running through early Autumn.

I have been wanting to hang up my Copper Beaded Webs for some time now. Well, today everything fell into place. It was sunny (it has been kinda rainy for a while here), not too hot, and I had some time and needed to start on the weeding, too. SO...hey!...instead of re-hanging the glass balls, I got the brilliant idea to use the arto-webs instead. They catch the sunlight, they turn in the breeze (it is pretty breezy up on the hill here in Northville) and they are just plain pretty and delightful.


Between weeding, tying the "invisible" string, testing lengths, taking rests, working on collages during breaks, then back to the cycle again it took me a couple of hours to assemble the finished Arto-Tree. I LOVE it!

Obviously, you don't need a metallic tree of your own to find a use for a Copper Beaded Web by Valerie "Klop" Hibbard. You could gently hang them from a branch...or affix them to a dowel and add them to your garden among your flowers...or put them in with your houseplants...decorate your mailbox...the possibilities are endless!

So there you go...this is an example of what you can do with some Art-o-mat art and a little bit of creativity and imagination!

Day Nine

Here are some shots of the very, very basic prototype for my other upcoming series for Art-o-mat®.

It will be called either Tunnel Vision or Tunnelvision...I haven't decided yet. Feel free to chime in on which you like better (and which way you are thinking of the phrase).

The "real", finished pieces will have accordion fold walls made of nicer papers on the outside than these basic photos show. Each tunnel will have a teensy Animal Person inside. Oh, and the very end wall will have some sort of punched out part with paper over it, so that if you hold it up to the light you can see the punched out area "glow".

I really like Art-o-mat® pieces that are bigger than the box they come in...it is always such a surprise.

Another place to see Kettle's artwork

Here you go -- over at Deviant Art, Kettle's gallery

Day Four

And speaking of prototypes...

Kettle and I are teaming up for an Art-o-mat® series. We will be using the name KT Goodlove. Maybe I will explain the name later on down the road, maybe not.

We are doing a set of 50. Kettle will paint his delightful characters (and 1/2 of the background) on the bottom half of the blocks and then send them on to me for me to add Animal People heads and other collagey bits on the top half. Then I will pack them up and send them to AIC.

The piece on the left is the prototype for the series. It feels really cool to touch it...I like how the orange paper blends into the paint. The paper is so smooth and matte and the magazine bits are slick and glossy...and the paint is well, painty.

I think this is going to be a LOT of fun!

Kettle and I are doing other collaborations, too.

A while back we started exchanging items. I sent him some cigar boxes and pieces of sanded wood that I started with Animal People, leaving room for him to paint. He sent me a boxful of different things that he had started painting, leaving me room to work.

The artist trading card (seen on the right) is one of the items that was in his shipment to me. I wish I'd scanned it before I did anything to it. But it arrived with the background, the girl and the blue outlined star. It was really cool when I remembered I already had a paper punch of a star in the same style. (LOL, it was even cooler that I was able to find it.)

I like the way it turned out.

I still haven't gotten around to reading up on how to NOT get those dots in some of the magazine pictures in my scans. They really aren't there. Honest.

Day Three

When you want to make art for Art-o-mat®, you have to make a prototype (following the Artists in Cellophane guidelines) and submit it for approval.

Well, I did that for my 2 new series, and I got the "okay" last night...yay!



One of my new series will be called "All Ears".

They are finger puppets and each will have slightly stuffed ears, but each will be embellished with its own personality.

Some will look like rabbits, but not all of them. Some will be solid colors, some will be stripey.

It's a good thing this Art*o*mat-piece-a-day blog project lasts for an entire year.

Day Two

Another one for Animal People. I like this guy. I like how focused he is. I like his collar, too.















I am still not able to make comments on blogs (mine or anyone else's...dunno why).

Day One

It's a day of beginnings...

Things like just diving into this 365 Project, making titles for my arto-art, getting over my dread of writing, making a note to myself to read more about my scanner so that it doesn't make those teensy dots that aren't really there (in the girls' clothes, for example).

So here is "One". This is for my Animal People series. I make the picture, the viewer makes up the story.

As you will find, I am not very computer-y...so all of my collages are made from hand cut pictures from magazines that are on their way to my recycle bin. I really LOVE cutting the pictures, sorting them into their trays and matching up the heads to bodies. I am actually pretty obsessed with it.

I know I will get the hang of this blogging thing, it is just still very new to me. I'm still finding my way around and learning what all the buttons do.

Yikes...I am actually doing it!

Well, here goes...

I have been wanting to do a (fill in the blank)-a-day project for a long time but never knew what to DO.

Every day last year I eagerly awaited Elin Waterston's newest blog entry. Each and every day was not complete for me until I saw what Elin had made.

Then it FINALLY hit me...one of the things that Elin and I have in common is Art-o-mat®. My supply of artwork at Artists in Cellophane is totally empty and I need to make more to send in, but "life" keeps getting in the way. How about if I make it a part of each day to do an Arto-piece...and what better way to stay on track than to blog about it here?

So that is what my 365 Project will be...and once I get 50 pieces of any of the series completed, I will send them in!

I'll explain more as I go along...

(Note: On Jan. 2 I am having issues with being able to comment back on my own blog...and my comments on other blogs are not going through, either...don't know what's up...THANK YOU for leaving comments, sorry it seems like I'm not responding!)