Banner Time!

I started making banners not too long ago when my youngest went off to college.  It started with a banner for her dorm room.  She loved it and asked for two more for her roommates. These are the results...

I use my Silhouette Cameo to cut out all of the elements and glued them in place with my UHU glue stick.  For the smaller elements and letters, I used ZIG 2 way glue.  The fine point on the glue makes it easier to apply to the smaller elements.  Sheer ribbon was used to connect the elements. Pretty easy to do...the time is in the assembly. If you're a multi-tasker like me, you can assemble in front of your favorite television show :)  I just started an Etsy store for some of the banners I've been making.  I will do custom work for anyone needing a specific name, word, colors, etc.  Find it at Dotplay Art.

Dot

Making Marks

Like many of us, I am an idea person...and I have a lot of them.  I'm like a Dr. Seuss character...the "Thinker of Great Thoughts".  I dream and make a plan in my head but fail to execute. It's like I need an assistant to follow me around picking up whatever falls out of my head...or at least the good stuff (and the location of my car keys). Sometimes my failure is a time issue, other times it's a fear issue, and other times I have no idea what makes me tuck my project away...probably comparison.  I see the gorgeous art of others and engage in the circle of doubt in my head...I'm not good enough, go back and try again. It's like I get stuck in a traffic roundabout with no exits.  In an attempt to get out of my circle and move forward, I have had to come to embrace the realization that I cannot predict the tastes of others, so I will do what makes me happy. Some may look at my work and think it's not good, others may love it. Most important is that I like it and it gave me joy to create and if I want to share, I have to be ready to take the criticism as well as the compliments.  So here goes....

Lately, I have been fascinated with the idea of mark-making. Inspired by the art of Belinda Fireman https://belindafireman.wordpress.com/, Roben-Marie Smith http://www.robenmarie.com/, Traci Bautista http://www.treicdesigns.com/, and Donna Downey http://donnadowney.typepad.com/ I have been playing around on my own.  These are the results:

I have more designs to share later.  Except for cropping, these are all unretouched and unedited. I have a few ideas about what to do with them.  One thought is to get them printed and make them available on etsy, either as cards or prints.  I could incorporate them into cards or an art journal and submit them for publication. I don't know...ideas are welcome.

Thanks for visiting.

Dot

Diva Challange #149 Twenty Fourteen

This year one of my art goals, in addition to participating in more of the Diva's challenges, will be to take better pictures of my art.  I admit to being in a bit of a hurry when taking the pics of my 2014 tangles so the pictures are admittedly not my best work.  The picture irony here is that my husband and both of my daughters have taken a ton of photography classes and you'd think that I could get them to take decent pictures.  Side note about photography...my husband and I bought a SLR digital camera about two years ago with all these bells and whistles on it ostensibly for both of us to use; me for taking pictures of my art and him to take pictures of whatever plant, flower, insect, or weird unknown blob of junk in the garden. Seriously, who are we really kidding here, it was all for him. He decided that taking classes at the camera shop would be a good "date night" and I would also learn how to use this camera. Maybe this was his idea to lend credibility to the idea that the camera was really for us or maybe he wanted to see my eyes glaze over and roll back into my head as soon as the instructor began trying to shove two hours of useless information into my head without permission.  Either way, I tried to be a good sport, but sitting through what felt like two years of camera-speak each week squeezed into two hours was testing my patience and my ability to stay awake.  He should know me by now...if the camera has an "automatic" setting, that's all I care about and I can find it without sitting through six weeks of classes.  Now the challenge is to find good photo editing software and learn how to use it. Maybe a program that can just read my mind and automatically fix my photos with minimal manipulation. Ok, my dreaming may have just crossed a line...Anyway, thanks Diva for the challenge, I look forward to more this year.

Dot

Weekly Challange #104 TanglePatterns String #003

Hello again,
What a month it's been!  My dad had some major surgery and I've spent more time in a hospital than I care to again. I am glad to be back to creating art and offer the following submissions to the Diva's challenge #104.

 

 

Both of these tangles were created with TanglePatterns String #003 pattern.  In one tile I used part of the string and in the other I used the entire string/tile.  The challenge can be found here: Diva Challenge.  Thanks for stopping by.

Dot

 

 



PHICOPS I am the Diva Weekly Challenge

Here we go...my first challenge, so please bear with me.  I am getting to know how to post to this blog, how to link to others and how to customize it to make it my own.  Definately a learning curve.   I am not afraid of technology but every time I go to Best Buy I can't help but notice that the computer or television I bought last week has been replaced by a newer, faster, prettier version so as a reasonable adult who can still remember, as my children point out, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I know that I have a limited amount of space in my head.  Any logical person would be reluctant to fill it with such things as how to update a blog layout since the instructions are just going to change in a month anyway, and really, I have kids for that. But I digress...this really has nothing to do with the challenge only to note that I have no idea what I'm doing so I appreciate your patience.  The challenge can be found here.

 

Here are my first entries to the Diva's challenge.  Enjoy, Dot

 

New Year, New List

The new year has come and past and with it all of the regret and guilt of not completing many of the major items on my to-do list from last year.  So this year I have written another list that will surely prove to be the catalyst for next year's batch of guilt and regret.  Like everyone, my intentions were pure, but life tends to get in the way and crushes even the best of intentions.  So, January being the month of motivation (as evidenced by the fact that there are more weight loss commercials on television than actual television programs), I am testing the motivation theory and getting started on at least one of my agenda items. This year I want to try and post to this blog at least once every week with something relevant and I want to participate in crafting contests such as the I am the Diva's weekly challenge. So here we are, two birds, one stone.

The Bird Has It

It has taken me a while to begin to figure out what direction my art was going to take. I'm not a classically trained artist, I just know I like color, whimsy and some kind of mixed media. In the beginning I really didn't think my art had much appeal since drawing is not my forte, but the more I got into the fun of it all, the more I realized that you can create art you are proud of without having to be a great at the pen and pencil aspect. I assume some of the great abstract artist aren't too concerned with the details as they're throwing cans of paint at a blank canvas.

And so a passion was born. I create mostly ACEO's (Art Cards Editions and Originals) and have sold some of my original art on Ebay and Etsy. My little creations are made from my original watercolor paintings that have been embellished with things like beads, glitter, sequins, words, dimensional adhesive, markers, and anything else I can get my hands on. The bird above has been sold on Ebay, but was one of the first in the bird series. My favorite subjects are the birds, the martini glasses, and letters. Occasionally I'll play around with themes like flowers or love. As soon as I can figure out how to create a slide show, I'll post one of the martini glasses.

As much as I'd like to say that my only occupation is my art, unfortunately, other responsibilities take priority forcing me to have a variety of occupations...parent, office manager for two companies (one my husband and I own), chauffeur, and board member for two organizations. My dream is that someday my work will have validation by those other than my family who have a vested interest in pacifying me and that maybe I can just create art, write a blog, market myself and make a little money. My other dream is to win an incredibly large lottery pot, save my older daughter's high school band program, send my younger daughter to the Olympics on the US Figure Skating team, and buy a small Carribean island where I can sit back and drink Coronas while watching the sun set over the blue green waters. Hmmm...I wonder how MY life's going to play out. For now, I'm just glad to dabble a little and see where it takes me (the lottery wouldn't be bad either).

Dot