I’m typing this while sitting at the coffee shop enjoying a skinny latte, coffee shops are great places to unwind and let the worries of life just slide off your back. Especially if you find a window seat where the sun shines in! So I thought we’d tackle ways of coloring your work with out using the “typical ” art tools we use for that. This week I want you to get unconventional, use coffee or tea, or if you’re so fortunate to have grass available on this March the 1st, grass stains. I bet there’s lots of ways to stain, or color your work with out using markers, pencils, crayons, ink, or paint. You just have to think Outside the Box, I can’t wait to see what you all do!!!
Archive Page 2
[I'm posting early cause I'll be out of town this wknd]
Fabric is everywhere!!! We wear it, we sit on it, we put stuff in it, you cannot go a day with out seeing, touching, smelling, fabric. Unless of course you stand naked in an empty white walled room w/ bare floors. What would our lives be like with out fabrics? Therefore how can we possibly create art with out including fabric in it from time to time? I’m not just talking ribbons, strings, yarn or gaffers tape, I’m talking denim, cotton, sythetic blends, tapestries, you know FABRIC!!!
This week, lets bring fabric into our art, but I don’t want to just see a card w/ a ribbon or fancy yarns attached to it, really stretch your imagination, cut up that pair of jeans w/ the big hole in the knee, or that pair of jeans you’re saving cause you MIGHT fit into them again SOMEDAY!! Create something that you can be proud to say you created. Something that you had to Step Outside Your Box to do.
This can be such an exciting adventure! The sky is the limit when it comes to art dolls. You can create a themed one, one that tells all about you, the artist, small ones, large ones, paper ones, wooden ones, fabric ones, metal ones, the list goes on and on!!! The sky is truely the limit!!!
The one pictured is one that I did, the instructions for it are listed in the classes on the Artchix Studio website.
I’ve only ever taken one art class as an adult and the instructor was none other than Tim Holtz. I just find him to have such great talent and he sees things so differently. One of the things that we didn’t use in our class was any adhesive of any kind. Everything was put together w/ wire or brads or eyelets. At first I thought, huh? How the heck are we supposed to do this??? But surprisingly everything came together rather easily. I now have a new love for wires and eyelets, I even broke down and bought one of the Cropadiles that I balked at when they first came out. (of course now they have a long reach one which is the reason I balked at it in the first place, figures!)
So this weeks challenge is for you to put away the glues and tapes and pull out other ways of fastening things together. Try to really think outside the box for this one, because this one might be easy for you to stay IN your box by just creating a layered card by using brads/eyelets on it to hold your layers in place. I want to see you get your art wire out, clips, safety pins, sewing machine, eyelets and brads and put them to good use!
I have a friend who hates to go shopping with me because I have to touch EVERYTHING!!! I just have to see how things feel!! I think that art work should have some kind of texture to it, it should make you want to reach out and see what it feels like, art shouldn’t only be something that people LOOK at but WANT to feel and touch as well. Now I know some art work shouldn’t be touched, like thick oil painting for example, thats a big no no. Which is why I have such a hard time going into art galleries w/ oil paintings cause as I said, I have to touch EVERYTHING!!!
So this week, lets really make people want to touch your artwork! Some of the things I use for texture when I do my canvases is tissue paper under my paints, crumple it up, flatten it back out and then paint over it and let it move a bit as you do it. Gel mediums are great ways to make texture as well, there’s some awesome ones out there that do all kind of different things.
This photo is of a canvas I did that honestly I’m not really liking, it’s one of those things I started w/o a focal image and now it’s not going anywhere, however, you can see the great amount of texture it has to it. I’ve used thick gel medium, a tar gel medium and a pumice medium on it as well as tissue papers and textured papers under the paint. It FEELS fabulous!!! Be sure to click the photo so you can see it larger and really see the texture that is there.
Mmmmmmmmm!!! Have you ever worked with beeswax? Oh my does it smell yummy while you’re creating. It’s like aromatherapy for the artist! If you have than you know exactly what i’m talking about, if you haven’t, now’s the time to try it! There are a couple different ways you can create with wax, either by dipping things into it, like, finished atc’s, or painting it on w/ a paintbrush, or using a hot marks tool or mini iron as well. Also there’s no reason it has to be just plain wax, you can add some crayons for a touch of color as well.
If you’re not sure where to start there are many great examples on the web that will help you, there’s one on art-e-zine, one from Trish Bayley, Claudine Helmuth on the Carol Duvall Show, and a free class on the Artchix Studio website as well. If none of these strike your fancy, I’m certain that a little more online searching will bring up even more fabulousness.
Also, just a reminder, that just because I post these challenges on a Saturday, doesn’t mean that if you don’t get to it on that Saturday that you still can’t take the challenge! This one is a bit of a larger challenge especially if you’ve never delved into the beeswax, so of course you can work all week on it if need be.
I really do hope that you join us in todays challenge, you won’t regret it at all, beeswax is such a wonderful medium to work it!
You all did so awesome with the last 2 weeks challenges, this one should be a breeze for you!! Go scrounge through the garage and see what kinds of rusty things you can find! Or if you’re like me, you already have a stash of rusty things sitting in your studio just waiting to be created with. Not sure how to attach a rusty thing to something? crystal effects seems to work well, or E600 if you can stand the smell. Attaching 1 rusty thing to another rusty thing? Try some liquid nails. I’m sure there are other ways out there as well, and you’re all brilliantly talented and can figure them out for yourselves.
I can’t wait to see what you do this week!!!
