Plein Air Painting

We seemed to have skipped our Winter here in Florida. Day after day it's sunny and mild. What's an adventurous artist to do? Go outside with your paints and do a little plein air painting. Plein air is simply a French term that means art outdoors. We're lucky enough to have preserves tucked in every area in Palm Beach County. In September last year, the City of Wellington opened up the Wellington Environmental Preserve at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Everglades Habitat. Now, that's a mouthful. Consequently, everyone just calls it Section 24, which is what it was called for decades when it was an undeveloped piece of land on the west side of Wellington.

Four of us brought our chairs, easels or tables, paints, brushes, and canvases, and set out to paint what we saw. We are trained painters, not-so-trained painters, acrylic painters, and a watercolorist.

As you can see, we all came up with different paintings, yet we were all looking at the same view. I'm glad we didn't have the same results!

Tony created this with acrylics.


I also used acrylics, and infused some brighter colors to exaggerate what I was seeing.

Bobbin used watercolors.

Linda painted with acrylics, mostly using her palette knife.

If you'd like to visit Section 24 for your own plain air painting, photography, birdwatching or hiking, you can find it by traveling west on Southern Blvd. After the Binks Forest traffic light, continue west to your first left. Take that left, which is Flying Cow Road. Travel 3 1/2 miles south to the northern entrance of the preserve. There is also a southern entrance, but there are no restroom facilities there. It is a .8 mile walk over two boardwalks to the trellis area where we pitched our chairs and easels. For a 1 mile walk, you can visit and climb the observation tower. Since this area was reclaimed, it needs time for the planted trees to grow. It is already populated by quite a few species of birds.

Inspired by: Jill Berry

I recently purchased Jill Berry's book called Personal Geographies. Jill creates art that is like a map of her experiences. She uses different style maps, creating them completely from scratch or altering photos using Photoshop. Each map tells a story about some part of her life.

I became interested in her art when I stumbled on her blog. She's generous with her experience, often posting directions to artwork she has created. She posted a little tutorial about making a cover for a book, and inserting two signatures of pages for the book. She did a simple painting on the cover of beach dunes and the sky. Well, being quite the beach girl myself, this caught my eye, and I knew I had to make my very own beach book.

Here is the painted cover and some closeups.




You take the mid-point of the cover and fold that in half. Then re-open it. Take the mid-point of each half and fold those in half. They create the front and back covers, and they are now two-sided covers, instead of the inside being white.


I folded paper to make two 5-sheet signatures. Five sheets folded in half make 20 pages, so this is a 40-page book.


The signatures are stitched in. I used embroidery floss, but I think next time I'll use waxed thread. I had trouble with the threads coming apart and stitching through the middle of one. I also didn't quite understand how to put two signatures in, so I struggled, and made up my own technique.


While I was at it, I painted another cover, that is ready to become a book.



I realize this wasn't really a Jill Berry map project, but that will be my next adventure. If you'd like to read Jill's blog that is devoted to maps, you can see it here.

Adding to My Collection

Are you an artist? Are you also an art collector? I am both, and I love collecting the art of others. Living in Florida, we are at the start of the outdoor art show season. For the next three months, we have a few choices each weekend of wonderful art shows to attend. I've been to many, but there was always one on my list that remained elusive, until now. Last weekend I went to the biggest of them all, the Las Olas Art Fair. This show goes straight down the closed-down Las Olas Blvd. in Ft. Lauderdale, with 300 artists. I've seen a few of the artists before, and bought some of their pieces. There were a lot of new ones too. Here are some trends I saw:

-- Not a lot of traditional oil painting, but the ones there were amazing.
-- Most of the pottery was Raku.
-- The jewelry at this show was top-notch. Jewelry booths didn't take over, though, like at a recent show where 56 of the 250 booths were jewelry.
-- Resin-coated paintings are really in. I saw about 10 artists who did that. I'm not sure I like it though. It gives such a shine to the piece, and I really like texture and being able to feel the texture of the painting. I guess growing up in Cocoa Beach, they just remind me of surfboards.
-- Mixed media paintings are developing a stronghold in major art shows, which is nice to see. I like the combination of paper with paint, and the addition of pencil and other media to the paint.
-- Blown glass is becoming more popular. I saw some amazing artists who are stretching the boundaries, including geometrics in blown glass by layering colored glass upon colored glass.

And finally, here is the piece that I got. It's hanging in the main room of my house so everyone can see it.


It is a long, pottery tube that could be used as a hanging vase. The artist's name is Tanya Tyree, and she is from Afton, Virginia. She explains that this piece is hand built, without the use of molds or templates. She adds original abstract drawings, it is glazed, and then raku fired. What I like most about this is all the different motifs -- house, sun, bird, trees -- and you see something new each time you look. The colors are great with my buttery-yellow wall and light blue and brown furniture.



You can see more of Tanya's art here.

Friday Plans -- See Some Art

I love going to artist receptions at local galleries. It's a fun, social night out. I often get to see an artist's work that is new to me, but usually I'm attending to support an artist friend. This Friday I'm heading to Whole Foods Market to see oil painter Nancy Tilles and her amazing nature-inspired art. Yes, Whole Foods Market. Our store in Wellington is using their eat-in cafe to showcase talented local artists. They've filled the walls of the cafe with over a dozen paintings.


Nancy Tilles is an award winning artist, well known for her paintings and portraits. Her paintings are joyful expressions brought to life through color and form. Influenced by living in South Florida for over 30 years, her images often reflect a tropical theme, rich in color.


Nancy will be bringing additional paintings the night of the event, including a new triptych she will unveil for the first time. If you'd like to attend this event Friday, October 21 from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m., you may RSVP to Whole Foods Market at 561-904-4000. Whole Foods Market is on SR7 in Wellington, south of Forest Hill Blvd.

New Online Magazine

The world just got a little more interesting with the first issue of a new online magazine, Sparrow Magazine.


The editors, Emilie and Kelly, have created a magazine that celebrates a grounded, nurturing life, where you can push yourself to reach your highest potential. They've gathered an interesting group of contributors, from across the U.S. (with one from the UK and one from Australia thrown in) who have written 23 articles for this first issue. They have grouped their articles as follows:

Body

Mind

Nest

Connections

Flight

Here is the link to Sparrow Magazine.

So now comes a plug for me: I am a contributor to their magazine! I have written an article in their Connections category, titled "Finding Community in the Arts." I write about my experience as president of our local arts group, The Wellington Art Society. If you ever wanted to know what my "day job" is, read this article.

Sparrow magazine will be coming out with new articles every three months. Be sure and stop by to read some great content.

Creating with Friends

Two artist friends and I are challenging each other to make new art. We're inspired by the many art books we've purchased . . . but never actually used. Well, we read them, and we look at them, but like many other people, we don't actually try the techniques we read about. We've changed that and are now attempting some projects.

The first was a hanging sign I made from Shona Cole's book The Artistic Mother. The sign acts as a reminder to do something, maybe one of your goals. I made spots for two statements, so I could make my reminder more of an action statement. Currently it says, "Fly Toward/Creating Art." The word tags are slid behind mica sheets. I have other word tags in a little envelope in the back for other goals I have. I'll keep those to myself.


Years ago "star" books were all the rage. I remember seeing them in magazines and craft books. I'd never made one, because they looked so complicated. Surprise -- they're not at all! We also have the benefit that one of our artists works at a printing shop, and she has access to great paper cutters, and cut all the papers to size for us. All we had to do was score and tape the pages together.


It's called a star book because of what it looks like when you open it up.


Accordion books were also very popular. I made mine with painted tissue covers, and watercolor paper.


Unfortunately, the water colored paper looks a little wavy. Maybe watercolor isn't the way to go for a folded page.


Our next projects are banners and a decorated box. I've made the banners, but still need to "bling" them a bit. Stay tuned!

Zine Swap

Three months of planning, gathering materials, creating inserts, and then one crazy week of assembly = my second zine. I love every part of the process. A zine is essentially a self-published magazine. You choose the topic and the contents. It's more than just writing articles, though, because you make the pages, the cover, and inserts. You make a lot of decisions in the planning stage:
-- Will I write all original articles or have guest writers?
-- Do I want to include a page of links or sources?
-- Should I do a how-to article, including examples?
-- Will I type the text, hand-write it, cut and paste it?
-- What size will the magazine pages be and how many will there be?
-- What material will I use for the cover? Will it be all handmade?

I don't know how you plan projects, but my initial planning is all in my head. In fact, I can plan an entire jewelry piece or ATC in my head. For the zine, after I've done the initial planning, I start to mock up the pages. I use 8 1/2" x 11" pages so I can type most of the text using Word. I'll take 5 blank pages, and fold them over, and write the heading for each page and the table of contents. I'll include other notes, like if there will be a pocket, what kind of inserts, and if I'll add handwriting to the typed words.

I think inserts are key to an engaging zine. It's fun to pull out examples of handmade papers, or ATCs, or mini-books. The theme of my zine is always mixed media art, so those are the kinds of inserts I include. I think the reader likes to see and feel the examples.

I'll tell you more about my zine in my next post, but here's a sneak preview of what it looks like.


I hosted a swap, and ten other artists made zines as well. We made one for everyone, they sent their boxes of zines to me, then I split them up and sent them back so they have a full set. Now we're all spending our free time reading these wonderful works of art. Check out my blog again, and I'll show you each of the 11 zines individually.

New Orleans Jewelry Classes

I recently traveled to New Orleans with two friends to take jewelry classes with Thomas Mann. Thomas is an amazing metal jewelry designer who has been perfecting his craft for 40 years. Check out his website here and be sure and look at the gallery of his designs.

Here we are with Thomas and his excellent right-hand woman, Angele, who arranged the classes for us.


He is now teaching classes at his studio. He's created a space with 11 workstations, plus one for himself, and moveable tables he can set up for soldering or other kinds of specialty work.


I've worked with metal a lot, but needed some help with the jeweler's saw and soldering. I only broke about 5 saw blades, and melted my soldered piece once. It's never good when the instructor looks at your soldering and says "Start over". That's because I held the heat on too long and melted mine to little blobs. But I was having fun, and by the end I got it right.


He taught a week-long series of classes in metal working. We learned the proper way to use a jeweler's saw, soldering with a torch, and filing, etching, and cold connections to make a "Found Object Sandwich". Here's the soldering class holding our pieces.


Here are our finshed sandwich pieces. The sandwich consists of a metal front that has had the middle cut out, a plexiglas piece, a photo, and a metal back.


We stayed in a beautiful Bed & Breakfast right down the road from Thomas' studio. We could walk to his studio on Magazine St. in five minutes. We had a suite of two bedrooms and a sitting area on the top floor of The Terrell House.


Each morning, we were treated to a full, hot breakfast. The owner was even generous enough to share some recipes with us. We had egg dishes, pastries, all homemade, and an amazing bowl of fresh mixed fruit every day.


I highly recommend destination workshop vacations. It's great to get away from your usual life, great to visit a new city, learn something new, and meet new friends. If you've never done it, dare yourself to. Be bold, even if you have to travel alone. You'll find many surprises along the way -- like just how brave you can be and how much fun it is to try something new.

I won an Award

Thanks to K.C. Woolf, way over in The Cotswolds, England. If you don't know where that is, look it up. I actually do know, because my brother-in-law visited there, and brought me back something for the kitchen that says "The Cotswolds" on it. It looks like a beautiful area.

Anyway, K.C. is a writer, and I stumbled upon her blog and have enjoyed reading her. You can check out her blog here.

She has bestowed upon me this award.


Thank you so much! As a stipulation of this award, I need to write seven things about myself, then pass the award on to someone else. So here goes.

1. I've visited Scotland three times, and absolutely love it there. I have a knack for coming during warm and sunny weeks. When we last visited, the first week of April 2001, it ended up being the warmest week of the year, warmer than the coming summer months. We love it there, and always do a lot of hill walking, which is like mountain climbing to this Florida girl.

2. My new favorite sport/hobby is stand up paddleboarding. I have no pictures of me doing it to show you, because we're always out getting wet while doing it. Our favorite is to do it in the rivers, where it's calm and relaxing. Our whole family has gotten into it. We haven't bought our own yet -- it's just easier to rent it right on the river. Here's a picture of someone else doing it.


3. I love alternative music, and music is a big part of my life. That means that I listened to The Clash, Modern English, and Duran Duran during college. Moved into the whole grunge scene with Pearl Jam and Nirvana. And rock to The Killers, The Airborne Toxic Event, and Muse now.

4. I have a degree in accounting (didn't like straight accounting), a degree in baking (discovered you can't make much money at it), and now run a local arts group.

5. I'm a movie nut, although I don't get out to watch many movies. I can tell you about different actors and what they've been in and who they've acted with.

6. I love to cook, especially desserts. I can crank out four kinds of cookies in one day, or a dessert buffet for 50.

7. I'm probably a bit Attention Deficit Disorder-like. I jump from interest to interest. But I like to say I have a Renaissance Soul.

I now bestow this award onto Sandy at Food and Fond Memories. Her blog is filled with recipes, travel, and great stories.

Painting Styles

I'd like to introduce you to some artists who may have a painting style you haven't seen before. So many wonderful artists are self-taught, and don't make traditional landscapes, still lives, portraits, or other more formal styles. These artists practice what I would call a whimsical, springtime style. The colors are vibrant, not dark. The subject matter might be animals or character/people. I "met" each of these artists when we took an online class together. I'm now a follower of their blogs and their art.

First, I'd like to introduce you to Jenni Adkins Horne. I posted an interview on my blog that you can see in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. She resides in Georgia, and is quite prolific with her art, making paintings, jewelry, and accessories. She often shows her work at art shows and galleries.



Nic Hohn is an artist in Australia who paints beautiful pictures of women, and has branched out into greeting cards. You can see her blog here.



Juliette Crane lives in Wisconsin, where she is very busy painting owls. She even has a "How to Paint an Owl Workshop" that you can see the details of on her blog.




I hope you take the time to visit these artists' blogs, and leave them a note that you dropped by. Are there any painters that you know from visiting blogs that you'd like to tell us about?

New Trends in Jewelry

In the world of jewelry making, as in any art, trends come and go. I think most people remember the macrame jewlry trend, and the tiny seed bead trend. Here are a few trends I'm seeing now that you might find interesting. I found these examples on Etsy, where you can search by type of handmade item you're looking for, such as jewelry (or specifically necklaces, bracelets, etc.), or paintings, or handmade books. For each photo, I'll give you a link to the artist's shop so you can see more examples.

Sea Glass

You'll find lots of jewelry using sea glass as a component, in a variety of colors. I don't know if it's real sea glass, like found on a beach, because I know some artists are just breaking bottles and putting the pieces through a rock tumbler. You must admit, though, that the artists make gorgeous pieces. You can find this artist here.

Polymer Clay

Polymer clay is a substance that you can shape then bake to a hardened state. You can use colored clays, and you can add color after it's baked. I've seen artists make pieces that look just like precious metals, gemstones, or rocks. The good part is, they're gorgeous, much less expensive, and lightweight to wear. Laurel Steven makes amazing polymer clay pendants and jewelry.



Steampunk Jewelry

Steampunk is a style where you use old watch parts and odd metal pieces that might be glued, wired, or riveted together. When done well, they can be really cool pieces. You can see this artist here.



Dichroic Glass

It seems everyone has a little mini-kiln nowadays. To make dichroic glass, you layer bits of glass and melt them together in a kiln. They make tabletop kilns now that are perfect for this. I haven't gotten into this since I have young children in the house and don't want a hot appliance around. Some of these artists do amazing things. The problem is, tons of cheap pendants are being shipped over from China and are sold at craft booths for $5 a pop. I know artists who hand make every glass piece, and there's no way they can sell one for $5. It's tough to compete with that. Here's an artist who makes some beautiful pieces.



Wire and Metal
Now this is the trend that I like to do. Cut a piece of metal, shape it, hammer it, add some wire, twist and turn it. I can tell that this piece has also been given an aged look, using Liver of Sulphur. You make a solution and dip the piece in it, and it darkens it, especially in the deep parts. It's a nice look. This artist can be found here.

Stamped Letters

This is an easy technique, and I see a lot of it. You can custom make name tags or stamp inspiring messages. You can also finish it with the Liver of Sulphur, so the interior of the letters darken and stand out more. You can see this artist here.



Art Jewelry and Resin

This is a nice example of two trends. Painters and collage artists are realizing in this economy that they won't be making as many $300 sales of paintings as they did in the past. They need to expand their product line, and the smart ones are selling prints and licensing their art. Others are taking a reduced size of their art and making jewelry with it. I think that's genius. This artist has taken a bit of a map to make a pendant. Others might use just a piece of their art. The other trend here is using resin to finish a piece. It seals and protects paper or small pieces in a pendant. Resin is huge now, and you can try different brands or mixes to get a resin that works great for you. Resin has come a long way, and there are products that dry clear, not cloudy, and bubble-free. You can see this artist here.



Have you noticed any trends in jewelry making? I love trying something new.