by Linda | Feb 2, 2010 | my creative journal
I’m so thankful for the great community out there because the lovely BobbiLewin has featured me in a treasury! It’s pretty cool that Etsy enables folks to curate a mini show, although I’ve seriously never been able to catch a time when treasury creation is open…it’s like Ebay auctioning, you have to wait and strike fast! I happened upon this feature, I wonder how sellers can be automatically notified if there in a treasury? I always want to thank the creators after all!
In other news, I am feeling a lot better now and trying to get back into the swing of things with more energy. I continued onward with my series of graphic art prints and also starting to work on binding a journal with some printed words. It’s an artsy baby journal for a friend who is expecting. If you haven’t noticed already, I jump from project to project, letting my energy and excitement drive me forward. We must follow our muse and be ready whenever, right?
by Linda | Feb 1, 2010 | my creative journal
A while back, I signed up an online workshop called Color Beyond The Basics taught by Julie Prichard and Chris Cozen. Although I’m starting out a bit late, I’m so happy to be a part of the 125+ people learning together online and discussing explorations in color. I’ve never had formal training in color theory and have always found it all a bit intimidating. I seem to naturally have very different preferences in color, super bright as you can tell from the yellow scheme of my blog or perhaps unsuspectingly combinations that look good to me anyway…but I don’t really understand the whys of it all. We are starting from zero in the class, so it’s really been eye opening for me to just stop and notice the color all around.
I’ve also gone ahead and done some research online, trying to read up about color inspiration and color combinations from the masters. There’s definitely great resources online, but having Julie and Chris available to ask whatever silly question I might have really really helps. Online workshops are the next best thing to real life workshops, which don’t come by often here in Italy! Although at some point I would love to be an apprentice for some of the craftsmen here, talk about cool…one day! I started taking a lot of pictures around the house of color combinations that inspire me…also playing around with going RAW with my camera as well…
That little cute cactus is from my 4-year old niece who wanted to cheer me up when I arrived home from the hospital. I had two other succulent plants that sadly died this winter – it’s been so humid here in Tuscany and it seems root rot got them! Perhaps full fledged cacti will be able to live through my black thumb skills!? Either way, I just love the styling of the plant in the wooden bucket with the complimentary purple flower decoration…all so country chic to me.
Now I’m off to finish off my color swatch library, painting squares in an old grammar book, hehe…it’s pretty amazing to see the differences in the various paints I own and how mixes change the transparency and quality. I wonder how far I can go with the mixing, so many to do! I just started doing some simple skintones, but the possibilities are endless. Hope you have a great Monday and don’t forget to stop and notice the color around you and take it in as inspiration!
by Linda | Jan 27, 2010 | DIY printables
I know it’s considered pretty geeky to watch and subsequently become obsessed with anime series. Stories range from classic romance to funny, whimsical characters and even quirky or downright weird at times. I’ve certainly gone through my fair share of passionate obsessions. I have a 200GB drive filled with subbed anime from my college years! Although it’s impossible to follow all the series, the bright side is that there’ll always be something new to watch.
One of the more popular stories that made it’s way to the USA audience is titled Trigun and you might have heard of it already. I learned a great phrase from that series…“love and peace,” says Vash, the main character (I’m pretty sure this is not the first time I am mentioning him on the blog). It might sound childish and simple-minded, but hey, it makes me happy and I have no issues learning life lessons from cartoons. I totally love watching the newer generation of animated movies like Shrek and Wall-E that aren’t so classical fairy tale like.
The image you see above is a desktop wallpaper I designed for myself. I thought it would be nice to share it with you as well, perhaps you can print it out as a card or even wall art.
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I got the idea of offering free art from illustrator Stephanie Fizer (an artist I totally admire) and she offers occasional free downloads and pick-us-all-up messages, too. I really like her free art for the IndieFixx Feed Your Soul Project – you can see the print here. Enjoy!
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by Linda | Jan 25, 2010 | my creative journal
An American abstract expressionist artist born in Rotterdam, Willem de Kooning is considered one of the most important artists in 20th century. There’s a Pulitzer prize winning book about his personal and professional life, de Kooning: An American Master (affiliate link to Amazon)
, which is the next book on my reading list. I was intrigued to read the book after learning that de Kooning was always in doubt with his work. What? A great master in doubt? I find it very humanizing and started thinking perhaps it’s necessary for artists to doubt…otherwise we would never experiment and push ourselves to the limit in order to grow – always seeking that something…that feeling when you know a work is complete and the excitement that surges inside of you.
Willem de Kooning, Elegy, 1939
De Kooning’s work also came to mind as I’m experimenting with more freedom in painting and techniques that stem from spontaneity. Abstract expressionism is sometimes called action painting – perhaps they aren’t the same thing really – but the idea is to spontaneously drip, splash or smear paint onto the canvas to emphasize the physical act of painting itself rather than the finished work. De Kooning actually destroyed some of his ‘bad’ paintings, which is so weird if he was supposed to be concerned more with the action rather than result of painting. It was mentioned that he regretted destroying works later in life, more interesting stories compelling me to read the book and find out more! I’m just so attracted to the idea of not having to plan – sort of stream of consciousness painting and seeing what happy surprises pop up. Perhaps this is an opposite reaction to my past job as a project manager? Of course, this style of painting is also really messy and fun…maybe it’s just regression, going back to finger painting! As I ponder my thoughts, I keep looking at de Kooning’s work, taking in the energy and visual inspiration.
Willem de Kooning, Pink Angels, 1945
Hope you can draw some energy from the idea of action painting as well. Thanks for stopping by, now go splatter some paint somewhere…feels good, doesn’t it?
Willem de Kooning, Gotham News, 1955
by Linda | Jan 20, 2010 | DIY printables
Looking for some free printable Valentines? Check out this funny illustration – my heart beats for you!
As the days draw nearer to Valentine’s day, I have been thinking a lot regarding love-themed designs. I started sketching out some ideas and first came up with a bunch of medical themed, geeky sentiments. Something like “gimme a shot of love” for medical folks. Yes, I’m easily amused! Working on some other themes as well but I thought today would be a good opportunity to offer a freebie card in the same vein (OMG, I did it again!)
I present you with “my heart beats for you” – literally! Download the free printable valentines below, just click the image for the full-size version.
Hope you like it! Enjoy!
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by Linda | Jan 18, 2010 | my creative journal
This lovely Monday morning, I am looking through the work of illustrator and graphic designer, Lara Brehm. I have to say wow, wow and wow again because I love her work in illustration and pattern making immensely! Lara’s blog provides a lot of visual inspiration for any artist or crafter, just for sheer beauty of her color palettes and cute whimsical illustrations. I love how her look is so clean, yet full of vibrance and color at the same time. She is another artist I look up to and aspire to be…hehe…hope I’m not sounding too geeky and starry eyed at this point.
via Lara’s blog
I also really enjoy seeing her mockups for various products and the variety of which she creates with her designs, really showing how versatile illustration work can be. From patterns to scrapbooking pages to printables and tactile products…all the things I would like to work on realizing myself as an artist.
via Lara’s blog
Not to mention her work is always joyful to me, something that really picks me up no matter how crummy a day might be. How can you not smile at these uber cute illustrations? I hope they can brighten you day as well. It’s nice to know there is so much positivity and goodness in the world.
via Lara’s blog
by Linda | Jan 14, 2010 | my creative journal
I mentioned yesterday that I wanted to save more complicated bookbinding for an art journal because I prefer to use something that opens out flat – easier to paint and draw on as well as leave to dry. I learned that coptic stitch binding creates that effect and is supposedly pretty easy to do as well. To keep my art journaling goals more approachable from an almost daily perspective, I decided to create a smaller journal size.
I should also mention that I’ve never learned bookbinding from a teacher, because complicated means more than stapling a booklet! A friend of mine took a bookbinding class, so I’ve been exposed to some of the techniques and tips. I watched this Coptic Stitch binding tutorial on Youtube and was able to follow along and complete my fat, but smaller sized art journal that lays out flat very nicely!
I actually created the cover back in 2003 from some Italian patterned paper I bought in Florence glued over some hardboard – just recycled the bottom board of an used notepad. I tend to make little pieces of projects and they sit around for occasions like this. I cut, folded and punched some heavy ivory paper, enough for a year of journaling and sewed it all together with my metal-twine. It was actually pretty weird, because the metal in the twine causing a lot of unnecessary twisting and you can see some parts of the metal sticking out already as the twine part wears down. I made some mistakes and tightened the covers too much, but it’s holding together nicely regardless.
I think it’s pretty cute for a homemade journal and I encourage everyone to make a small and approachable-sized journal. I got the idea back during Art Every Day Month in 2009, where Jennifer Lee from Life Unfolds blogged about her tiny art journal that made it convenient for quick and daily spurts of creativity. Fabulous idea, grazie!
by Linda | Jan 13, 2010 | DIY printables
Like many other artists and crafters, January is typically a time for organizing and planning. After the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, we can finally settle down and get focused for the upcoming year! I usually start my new year with making a few art journals to use and a yearly planner to help me keep focused on future tasks and goals. Writing out your thoughts, goals and tasks not only helps you to remember them later, but I think the act of writing helps to reinforce the idea in your mind as well. This year I decided to design some planner pages that I could print out at home and quickly bind together. I’m currently really loving the teal and gray color palette, however I like to leave lots of white space for doodling and coloring as well.
I think these planner pages are versatile enough for everyone and great for printing out to incorporate in your bujo and planners… if you don’t want to redraw boxes or want something reoccurring.
Feel free to download the graphics above (click to get large versions) to print for your own personal planner this year.
I created things to do list – always handy – as well as the weekly and daily planner pages. I took the easy route and just printed various combinations of the pages front and back on regular paper, then folded them all in half to make a simple booklet planner. You can also cut the pages in half and bind the pages in various combinations to suit your specific planning needs. I’m going to save more complicated binding techniques for an art journal I’m working on…I’ll show that tomorrow. Enjoy!
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by Linda | Dec 23, 2009 | DIY printables
Oh dear! Only a few days left until Christmas Day and I still have a huge list of to dos. In the rush of wrapping gifts there’s always a need for cute holiday graphic images, so I decided to whip up an angel illustration today. I’m a big fan of personalizing each gift with a different illustration – if possible – as well as matching all the different elements together. I can use the illustration to make a greeting card, matching labels, tags and even decoration for the wrapping paper. It’s a quick and easy way to dress up a gift and really give it that handmade personal touch.
Let me share my angel illustration with you to use on your personal holiday projects. All you have to do is click the image for the large version and download to your computer. You can print it out in the size you want and cut it out for use – all straight lines so it’s easy and quick. I’ve also included the black and white version below for all your digital stampers out there – I’m one of them, too!
Hope you like this quick little freebie!
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Have a great holiday!
by Linda | Dec 21, 2009 | my creative journal
Can you imagine a blanket of white snow gracing the Tuscan countryside? That’s the view I’ve been privelged to witness this whole weekend as it snowed in many parts of Italy where normally it would never snow and actually stick! It’s been super fun having a winter wonderland to play in, but now it’s a cold Monday morning and time to get back to work. The weather has certainly caused trouble for many trying to commute to the workplace. I feel so lucky to be able to work from home, especially since I always take Mondays to collect myself, organize and fill my mind with inspiration for the week. Today, I’m snuggling up with a warm cup of coffee and the beautiful works of Lena Corwin.
via Lena’s Flickr
Lena Corwin is a pattern designer and illustrator living in Brooklyn, New York and I first encountered her work when I purchased her book, Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens (affiliate link to Amazon). I love how the book starts from zero, explaining the how-tos and whys. Even though I might have dabbled in some of the techniques, it really helps to start from the basic foundation. I like it so much that I purchased another copy to give to a friend this Christmas! I’ve read through the book a few times, but still have to get through all the projects in a practical sense – she presents a project for each technique including patterns if you want to use her designs. I totally love all her design work and I started following Lena’s website as well. From there I found that she not only creates wonderful patterns in her textile work, but also print items and works in various other mediums.
via Lena’s Flickr
I love her sense of style and the feeling her work invokes. To me her designs exude that organic natural feeling as well as homey comfort that I love, yet the professional finish goes hand in hand as well. I always aspire to create handmade and art from the heart, but also strive for that professional finish and quality. You can check out Lena’s shop for a sampling of the beautiful products she creates.
via Lena’s Flickr
As if that is not enough, Lena also works to curate a book/zine called Lines & Shapes. It’s all about connecting with other artists, sort of a showcase of art and design. It’s so fascinating to see how her work spans across so many mediums and it’s very inspiring to me especially because I love so many different facets of the creative life and can’t see myself focusing only on one aspect. To see other succeed in multiple avenues, makes me feel less scattered and gives me hope that a jill-of-all-trades isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Isn’t it all so very exciting and wonderful? I hope you can soak in the inspiration and have a fabulous holiday season as well. Today is official the first day of winter after all!
