Adding Categories and Making Changes to Art as Usual!

Maybe you noticed, maybe not, but the blog now has 3 columns and YES I did it myself. Awfully proud of that. I'm in the running for most horribly technologically illiterate person in my age group. Usually I rely on my husband, a software engineer, to take care of these things for me, but he's been busy and so I decided to take some things on myself. Per a request I've also added tags to my past posts to help with the whole searchability thing. As well as a few different ways to do these searches. Adding these tools started to make the right column seem awfully packed- which led me to the quest for 3 columns.

I've also worked out a list of categories that I'd like to create posts for regularly. One is Local Craftiness which will not only include any of my local classes and fun local finds but will also highlight the local craft fairs, artists, brick and mortar boutiques and indie craft suppliers in the area.

Another category will be titled Inspired Reads and I'm planning on introducing you to some of my favorite art and craft authors and their books. I'm huge craft book-aholic and always have several checked out from the library and laying around the house. I'd love to highlight some of my favorites as well as the techniques within them. I'm hoping to integrate some author interviews a little later down the road as well.

Additional categories would be Tutorials, and Art Everyday in which I plan to include inspirational ideas for living art everyday, in your home, and in our world.

I chose the title Art as Usual a year ago because it states in three little words my personal Artist's manifesto. I need art to be an everyday, all the time, integrated, take-it-for-granted part of my life. This blog helps me to live this and I want it to help you to live it as well.

So here, in my little corner of the blogging world, I plan on encouraging you. Through experiments, through tutorials, by providing information and inspiration so that you too can make a life with art, your everyday usual.

Valentine Inspired Art- 2009

The act of creating amazes me. Sometimes I have to really work to create something. These pieces seem to develop over time and take a lot of thought and questioning. I consider each decision I make carefully. Then there are the other times when the work seems to flow effortlessly and I hardly know what I'm doing. I just do it. Those are the pieces that to me seem inspired. Then I'll have to slog through 2, 3, or more of the first experience to reach the place where everything just flows effortlessly again. This can get discouraging. It's like reaching the peak only to have to go down and start all over again. I want the peak experience every time. I've come to realize though that art, like life, takes a commitment to work on through the difficult places. You have to be willing to create bad works of art in order to create a great one.

With Valentine's approaching I've been thinking about love and when I had the chance to create on Friday I did a light, sweet mixed media piece with lots of hearts (above). The entire process was a struggle. Nothing seemed to look just right. I think I painted over it 2-3 times at least. Finally I decided to give it a rest and I slapped a bunch of paint on some recycled canvases I had. Slopping paint is purely therapeutic and really that is where it's artistic value lies. But I was going to use these as backgrounds and really didn't care much about how the slopping went. Then the painting started to develop and became "true love..."This piece just flowed. It seemed to create itself- it was also a true reflection of how I see love now. The first piece was fun and sweet. This piece has a darker side to it. The text says: "true love comes only after we make the choice to be true to the one we love". I've been married for ten years to a wonderful man and I know now what I didn't know in the beginning. Marriage takes work and commitment not just sentiment and chemistry. It takes making the choice once those fade, and life gets rough to commit and be true. When I fell in love it was involuntary. Later, I made the choice to love truly.

So be willing to work when you don't feel like it. Be willing to make truly awful art. Trudging through those valleys, committing to the path, and then making that climb upwards is the only way you will reach the peaks.



Note: This was originally posted February, 2009- Enjoy!

Local Craftiness: The Studio at Rush Creek

Last Monday I walked into the place of my dreams. Seriously. I've dreamed of a place like this. Fortunately for me it actually exists and get this, is only about 10 minutes from where I live in Plymouth, MN. It's called The Studio at Rush Creek and is an art studio, boutique, AND makes a mean mocha. I was contacted by the Studio via Etsy last week and on Monday brought in some work to place on consignment there.

It's a fabulous place. I had a great time looking around and with that lovely coffee smell permeating the air I think I could sit and sip for hours- especially if I can create at the same time. I took a look at their class schedule and they offer all sorts of classes. Painting, jewelry making, an intro to encaustic, and lots of lovely sounding stained glass and glass fusing classes. Slumping glass is one of those projects I've been interested in trying for some time but haven't taken the time to search out an opportunity to learn. The price is right too with the average class taking two hours and costing only $24 plus supplies.

When we met we worked out a class which would introduce my wire and fabric techniques. Pretty exciting! I'll be teaching the techniques for sculpting wire birds and stitching fabric to wire to create a hanging wall display on Thursday, Feb .25th from 7-9 p.m. These are simple techniques and once you've you tried them I know you'll be hooked. The wire work satisfies that need we creative types have to "make stuff" with our hands. Stitching the fabric to the wire is repetitive and promotes a feeling of meditation. Similar to the feeling you get when knitting or embroidering. It's a wonderful craft to try with no experience necessary!

I've done some teaching in the past but this will be my first class teaching these techniques and I am so excited! I would love to have any of you that are local to join me! If you have any questions about the class, please contact me. To register, just click on the class schedule above. Happy Crafting!

Tutorial: Wired Love

Love. It's a word we use to express emotions- both deep and light. I love my sweetie husband and super cute little boy. I love the smell of varnish and oilbars. I love the Pogues. I love places like the Yosemite Valley in winter and standing next to the waterfalls in Glacier National Park in the summers. I love coffee nights with friends and of course, I love art.

At this time of year, with Valentine's Day right around the corner, I think of the word "love". Love is an emotion, it's also descriptive of a feeling of great like or enthusiasm. It's also a promise. What do you love? How do you use the word throughout your week? Who do you love?

In honor of the word," love", I've a short little tutorial for you. So take a look and give it a try. Then give it away to a good friend or sweetheart that you love!
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Wired Love Tutorial

Tools and Materials
16-gauge steel wire
19-gauge steel wire (optional)
Heavy Duty wire cutter
Needle nose pliers- jewelry sized



1. Start by pulling a length of wire from you spool, wiping it with a rag as you pull to clean off the oil residue. Then using your needle nose pliers, bend the end of your wire in.






2. Using your hands, create a loop to form the letter "l".








3. Continue to shape with hands to form letters, "o", and "v".








4.Next shape another loop to create "e".








7. Leave 8-10" for a tail and then cut. Make a smaller decorative loop if desired, and then using your needle nose, bend the cut end of your wire around until it is flush to itself. If desired, you can use the 19-gauge wire to secure the wire where it overlaps by wrapping it around the juncture. Use the needle nose to shape or smooth your wire to finish.

Welcome Challenges!

It's been over a month since my last post. In that time I did finish my book manuscript (BIG WHOO-HOOO!) and managed to do a birthday party for my now five year old son as well as submit some mini quilts for the next Sew Somerset publication. It's been all about getting it done this month. Here are some of the other new challenges for this coming year.

New Challenge #1-Remodel our Basement! My husband and I ripped out the carpet in our lower level and had hardwood floors installed. This was a project that we hadn't planned, it came as the result of some pretty nasty allergy problems we were all experiencing, but I'm still excited by it. We took the opportunity to cull our book collection, the piles at right are what's left (I took them out of the bookcases to vacuum the dust off them). We are also going to get rid of the nasty old hand me down furniture we had down there. I think that some of it was my husband's parents first furniture. When we were doing the newly married- don't have anything- thing it was great to have any furniture at all but now we'd like to update. So a basement redo is in the works. I'll keep you posted!

New Challenge #2- Back to LIFE! I had a bit of a crisis when I realized that I didn't need to spend every waking moment on the book any longer. It was the set task every day and at the end everything else in life was put on hold. So the moment I emerged from that task I was faced with a large array of others that needed my attention- NOW! I've been trying to find a balance again but it's been difficult. When I was in kindergarten I had major surgery that kept me in a hospital bed for several weeks. I actually forgot how to move my muscles to walk during that time and to learn again I tried hard to focus on the action of one foot in front of another. Learning how to do something again that was first learned naturally and taken for granted is hard. We want to think it all out but that's not how we learned in the first place.

Emerging from this book project has been somewhat similar. I know I used to know how to plan all the meals, balance play dates, shopping, exercise, time with the family, cleaning and laundry during my day but for the life of me I can't remember how now. It seems daunting. So finding balance again is going to be another challenge to meet. If I figure out any tricks I'll let you know- we could all use the help right? If you have any advice on this I'd love to hear from you too!

New Challenge #3- Getting Crafty! Before the book releases I want to have a website up and running and a kick-ass blog. I'm envisioning lots and lots of tutorials as well as some of the personal writing like I love to read in others blogs. I've also just signed on to teach a class locally at The Studio at Rush Creek. I'll post more about that soon. They'll also be carrying some of my work on consignment. The thing I'm most excited about however, is getting back to work! Spending time in the studio and getting to follow a few of the mad thoughts that plague me (like what if I tried combining a wire bird cage, a vinyl decal of a bird, and an old metal tray). I developed some projects for the book that I've just been dying to play with and take a little further as well. PLUS I'll be adding a lot of new products to my etsy site in the next month or so and I can't wait to see what you all think!

Life is grand- don't you think?

Almost There!

Whoo-Hoo!! Thought I'd post an update and get back in touch with my blogging self. On New Year's Eve I hit "save" for my last chapter and today I sent in the first four chapters and the intro to my editor. The book is almost done and I can't believe it. The last few weeks have been all up hill as I did a balancing act that would do a Cirque du Soleil performer proud. Without giving you all the gory details I did want to mention that I have a new laptop that is not compatible with my camera and because we did an emergency eviction over Christmas while some repairs were made to our home I can't access my old computer files/art/camera stuff so until I get computer savvy I'll be limiting my time on blogger.

I'm also 1o days away from my manuscript deadline and while I have it half sent, until I can yell "DONE" I'm going to be a complete recluse. I can not wait to return to all of you and I have lots of plans to share. So have a wonderful wonderful few weeks!!!

The Red Thread

Wow. I just finished reading a blog my cousin has set up to share their adoption journey. She and her husband leave today for Seoul, South Korea. They have been constantly in my heart these last few days and I know that God will bless this experience. I know too that they will be wonderful parents. The love they already feel, never yet having held their son is amazing. It's already the complete and unconditional love of parents. I can't imagine how emotional it will be to for them to meet their son.

Tomorrow is the day, and coincidentally it's my cousin's birthday as well. I'm absolutely certain she consider this birthday the very best ever! A while ago Heidi shared a children's book with me that I just love. It's The Red Thread by Grace Lin. Here's a description of the book.

"There is an ancient Chinese belief which states that when a child is born an invisible red threads connect that child's soul to all those people - present and in the future - who will play a part in that child's life. As each birthday passes, those threads shorten and tighten, bringing closer those people who are fated to be together. This story is not the tale of the legend, but a fairy tale inspired by the legend."

I keep thinking about this red thread today. If you've never heard of this before I really encourage you to read this book. It'll make you cry with tenderness for both parents and child.

Christmas Scrapbook-2007

I took a few photos of a scrapbook I made a few years ago that I thought included some pretty fun pictures. I'm always trying to take pictures of my son that really capture who he is at that age or what he's doing. A way of stopping a moment in time.

I tried to create a mix in the scrapbook of still shots of decorations, activities, and my son being cute. I also cut up a few special Christmas cards we received and added them to the scrapbook as well. Oh, and a tip- I had the blank scrapbook already made at Christmas so after, when my enthusiasm for the holiday waned, all I had left to do was add the photos and text.

One of the best techniques I stumbled on while putting this scrapbook together was to apply rub-on's directly to my photo's surface. It turned out to be a really nice way to integrate the photo into the page as a whole. I also got my set of gel pens for Christmas that year and decided to try writing right in the book.

Some of my favorite photo opportunities are:
Mailing a letter to Santa
The first Snow
Decorating the Christmas Tree
Snuggled in bed Christmas Eve
Sledding
Holding a Christmas wreath
Throwing a snowball
Making Christmas Cookies

Disappointed- but dealing with it.

Today's an up and down day. Actually, down then up I guess. It started whenI ran over to my local JoAnn Etc. to buy Ruth Rae's Layered Tattered, and Stitched. I had flipped through it before, loved the book, and keep thinking of it so I figure I should hand over one of my 50% coupons and get me one.

Alas, they had every book BUT that one. On the way out I found the latest Sew Somerset on the rack. Instantly a thundercloud must have appeared over me 'cause I just started grumbling because my last submission wasn't in it. Which is a dumb thing to be upset over- cause they might still use it for another issue. I was just disappointed. Besides- I have a BOOK coming out. Talk about needing some perspective.

It came as soon as I got home. First, the issue is great. I love everything in it. They seem to get better and better each time. If my work didn't get in, then at least it's because they has so much cool stuff to put in. Kind of consoling. Then I checked my e-mail. In it I found an e-mail from my editor with a lovely little attachment that made my heart actually leap. It was my book cover!!!! I can't show it yet but it's bright and pretty and will definitely stand out on the shelf. It's so much better than I imagined.

Down then up. I know as an artist that putting my work out there is putting myself out there. Sometimes I face rejection. Perhaps even a nasty critique or two. But I know it'll be worth it. It IS worth it. Every time I write something that encourages someone else it makes it totally worth it. Putting my work out there is the price I pay so that I have that voice. So that it will be heard. Totally worth it!

From One Holiday to the Next!!!

Like all of you we had an extremely busy holiday weekend. Friday was Cookie Baking Day at my aunt's, and Saturday morning my mom informed us all that it was Decorating Day. So while Jasper and my mother were scouring the storage area for Christmas decorations I got the upstairs holiday ready.

I hung garlands and wreaths and then switched over the fireplace area. This is a focal point in many people's homes. Especially at Christmas! I thought the contrast in colors and decor was interesting so I snapped a few photos to share with you. You'll notice that the basic composition is similar. Two larger arrangements bookmarking a central area. The other difference is the candles. It's a small detail to change them but it really helps to pull the primary accent color up the wall. Creating a larger visual impression overall.

The deep red is repeated in the berry wreaths hung in front of the windows as well as the stairway garlands. My parents have been adding to their Christmas decor each year for years. It makes putting the decorations in place simple. I already know what they have and where it goes.

Which is why I was able to decorate the entire upstairs while Jasper and my Mom did the tree in his bedroom. But in their defense, Jasper did manage to cram on that little tree the entire assortment of ornaments usually left for the 10 foot tree upstairs.

As you can see in the photo I snapped, he is very very proud of his tree! Enjoy the holidays!!!