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!
by Linda | Dec 16, 2009 | DIY printables
Happy holidays to everyone first of all. Can you believe that Christmas is nearly here? Less than 10 days to finish all those projects, wrap presents and prepare for the festivities. Woohoo! I have been busy working on various winter related designs and one of them is a wreath graphic for a digital card I created. I decided to use this same wreath graphic for some last minute notecards with matching envelopes and labels/tags. I think it’s definitely a very festive set and happy with the results.
Xmas Wreath Notecards PDF
Xmas Wreath Labels/Tags PDF
Xmas Wreath Envelope PDF
Feel free to download the PDFs for your personal holiday projects. Like finishing all those last minute gifts you have to tidy up for the big day!
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by Linda | Dec 15, 2009 | my creative journal
After getting some collage inspiration yesterday, I started on a triptych of tiny canvases using lovely Japanese washi paper for collage. The designs are so pretty and I love the bit of texture and fibers within the paper as well. Here’s a look at my work in progress…
You can see my little sketches on the bottom where I worked out some ideas and also the cutout templates on the top where the scissors are. Making your own templates really help a lot, especially if you’ll be duplicating any craft. I also used the shape to trace out sketching templates, as I played around with different types of hairstyles and faces for the ladies.
So why three of these little beauties? My inspiration came from the original three muses in Greek mythology, but sort of Japanese-cute tortagialla style…haha! Seriously though, I love how the muses embody the arts and inspire the creation and process of art…they can be my little set of cheerleaders for creativity. I am so anxious to finish them up, but I have to wait in between steps for drying time, ugh! Drives me a bit insane, so I usually have many projects going on at the same time to satisfy my short attention span.
Hope everyone is having a fabulous holiday season. I’ve been so inspired by all the great blogs and online community out there, sharing tips, tricks and great projects. Even with the blistering cold wind here in Italy, it’s a merry lovely Tuesday for me. Ciao ciao!
by Linda | Dec 14, 2009 | my creative journal
It’s easy to find inspiration in art and craft blogs daily or seemingly constantly these days. I often get sucked into browsing site after site, lost in a frenzy of ideas. Probably doesn’t help that I have a million feeds in my Google RSS reader! Although people are amazingly generous to share their work, thoughts and techniques (for that I am so grateful) it can also be information overload at times. I find it calming to turn to my classic art history books to learn from the masters every once in a while. Maybe it’s being off the computer or maybe it’s the whole story that can be so intriguing and different, inspiration-wise. With contemporary artists you are following their journey nearly in real-time. With those from the past, you have the journey already complete before you and a lot of analysis has already been explored to reflect upon. Henri Matisse is considered one of the best artists of the 20th century and the more I have learned about him, the more I am driven and inspired to create.
Young Woman with Parasol, 1905, via Web Museum of Fine Art
Many of us have heard and seen bits of Matisse’s work either in school, a museum or a TV program . However, it’s immensely interesting to explore the life of an artist and the entire progression of his work. Matisse is famous for his paintings, but he was also a master at drawing, worked in printmaking and even sculpture. It’s hard to believe that even though his paintings sell for millions today, he actually didn’t have a solo exhibition until the age of 35, which was not a success either! The greatness of the legacy makes me forget that every artist started as a student. They went through many different trials…probably comparable to what we go through today as an artist trying to make it in this world. Matisse’s Fauvist movement paintings were so controversial, he had trouble providing for his family with all the criticism. Can you imagine that? Matisse had troubles? Oh, I should probably mention that Picasso was one of his best friends. Just stop and wonder, perhaps one of your friends might be the next Picasso?
The Blue Dress Reflected in the Mirror, 1937, via Web Museum of Fine Art
I am personally attracted to a large body of Matisse’s work because of the bold and bright colors he used. Many also call him a master colorist! He emphasized the subjects with bold lines and expressive strokes rather than going for all the detail. He went through many different periods and styles of work, but I also find the collage work in his later years of life to be fascinating. Who said collaging is not a fine art? He called it “painting with scissors” as he was too weak to stand at the easel in older age. It’s also interesting to note that although Matisse lived during a very politically turbulent time in history, his work shows no trace of opinion or conflict. Perhaps in his art he sought for the opposite…balance, comfort and refuge from a violent world. All to allow the viewer comfort in getting lost amongst the colors, shapes and harmony of the works.
The Acrobat Dancer, 1949, via Web Museum of Fine Art
If you don’t have any books on Matisse check out the artst.org gallery of his work and get inspired. Coincidentally, there’s also a great post about collage trends and inspiration on Smashing Magazine. Oh the planets sometimes align for us all, right? I think I’m going to do some collaging now…ciao!
