Art
My SIL asked me to design a wall decal for my nephew. She wanted to use the Irish phrase "Tada Gan Iarracht" which roughly means "nothing without effort". She wanted a surfer tattoo style like something you would find on a t-shirt by Quick Silver, Hurley or Ed Hardy. This is what I came up with:
I am adding this to my portfolio!
I found some general instructions for "coffee filter art". Basically you draw on the filter with washable markers and get them wet. Once the water hits the color, it starts to bleed. I dried them in the oven at 200 for about five minutes since I was in a hurry. For the butterfly, I tore open one of the sides and pinched the middle together with a sparkly pipecleaner. For the jellyfish, I taped colorful yarn around the opening to simulate tentacles and made a hole in the top to add another piece of yarn to hang by. Here is how they turned out:
I have been making some minor changes to my website over the last few days. I changed around my TMI and Start Page and added some more items to Art Therapy. I also created a new page for an ongoing discussion of great names for pets of all types. Go to Pet Names to see some that I have already posted.
I created Mr. Big Nose around the end of April '08. He was sent to the people at istockphoto.com so they could see some samples of my work, and I could start selling things there. No such luck. They told me that it was either not the right subject matter or theme they are looking for, or not it wasn't professional enough. I started out drawing the profile, which I now remember wasn't supposed to be a profile. It looked similar to a disfigured face, so I tweaked it a bit, and Mr. Big Nose was born. I used Illustrator: the paint brush tool and a simple brush stroke for the hair. I am proud of him, even if istock doesn't think he is good enough.
They did however give the OK on the blue robot i created for www.12robots.com. The robot is one of a 12 part series, which is yet to be finished (but you can see more on my Art Therapy page). He is made with simple shapes and a technique I learned online stacking the same shape on top of itself, with varying line weights. Once you have that down, it doesn't really take long to complete something like this.
I also created some silouhettes of baby items, which they also rejected, this time because they don't want any silouhette artwork, they have too much. This shook me a bit, and I have given up on the whole istock thing. I don't know if I will try again. You can see these image larger on my Art Therapy page.
I just discovered http://www.worth1000.com, a image manipulation contest site for Photoshop, photography and multi-media projects . This particular contest called “Color Blind 8" (where the images’ colors are a bit off) had my attention. I really like blue tomatoes by the user hotta2005. There was no name or website connected with the user name, so I guess this is the best cite I can give you.
I am starting a new type of project, decorating switch plates and outlet covers with different pictures, art work, and whatever looks nice. I finished some for my SIL, she just moved into a new house, and I am going to use them as a house warming present. I went through some magazines and found pictures of food to use. Each one will have a different texture, with various colors. I have one that is close-up of an orange, then a peach and a salad. She has a whole lot of plates to do for her kitchen, 5 outlets, 1 light switch, and then 1 double light switch. If I buy the plates I need today, I can be finished by tonight, and get them to her in a timely manner. I am excited about this project.
I don’t know what I will attempt next, the decorative match box covers looks like fun, but I don’t know what I would do with them, or who to give to. I also like the idea of antiquing paper using coffee and using a weird technique with water and spray paint. A shadow box with real branches and paper flowers looks nice too. Expanding on the switch plates technique, I can make serving plates to match.
I got the idea from a book called “The Big-Ass Book of Crafts” by Mark Montano. He is a designer from the TLC show While You Were Out, and is well published around the
