I would do a happy dance but my feet are tired from standing so much at the Artist's Garage Sale today. When I first got there to set up and there weren't many cars unloading, I thought "oh no, it's Memorial Day weekend and everyone's out of town." There didn't seem to be that many vendors but then it's a big space - Olympia Armory.
Well beside chatting with various artist - new and old friends - I can hardly talk now!
get ready....
I sold $305 worth of my originals [Sumi-e, mixed media, acrylic paintings and those little collages].
I priced to sell 20X16" Sumi-e = $20, the rest of the art [mixed media, acrylic and 11X14" Sumi-e] for $10 and the little mini collages for $10 or two for $15.
my favorite sale was this very cute little girl - about 4 or 5. She couldn't sell the art on the table so I plucked the painting below.
Her eyes lit up... Her parents bought it and picked two other Sumi-e paintings for themselves.
I am thrilled that so many pieces of work went to happy customers. Afterall, for me the point is to share this creativity and not have all these stacks of artwork weighing me down. So a big "thank you" to all who purchased my work... 
Also I handed out biz cards talking up my art classes and I may have a chance to do a demo for the South Sound Ikebana group. 
Keep arting!
e
Facilitated a private workshop on mandalas from 7 to 9 tonight... 
They had created a prior mandala and as always its fun to see how differently they come out. After they shared, I gave them a handout, talked about my process and showed them my samples.
Then we all sat and worked on our new mandalas.
I used a couple designs I had used before [stylized Echinacea and the butterfly].
After walking the dogzzz... I spent a little over two hours adding the color.
This is almost finished. Need to decide what I'm doing in the lower section and mount it to another paper.
Tomorrow I'll photograph the other two mandalas that I finished today that were pictured in prior post.
Have to finish making windsocks for the kids tomorrow... in the morning.
sweet dreams
e
The gallery of 6X6" donations for the annual ROCO fundraiser = Rochester Contemporary Art Center
137 East Ave., Rochester, NY 14604
My pieces start at #328-333
http://www.roco6x6.org/6x6x2014.php
6x6x2014
June 7 - July 13, 2014
Saturday I presented Make Art, Make Books at Olympia Parks, Arts & Recreation. We made a block print first then a Japanese Binding and a Chopstick Ribbon book...
For the Japanese stitched binding book, I brought my hand drill/bit to drill the holes. I had pens, watercolor pencils, etc but the participants just made the books didn't decorated them.The chopstick book has punch holes at the center fold. The ribbon rests in the center fold inside the book, is then poked through a hole, chopsticks slide into the loop, then the end of the ribbon is threaded through the upper hole, placed between the two chopsticks and tied. A very simple binding.
Next for fun..
an umbrella book. I made a pattern to trace on watercolor paper... I'm eventually going to use watercolor pencils and write a poem on it.
Below is an Oak Leaf Book....
It can be made from crinkled paper bags. A string is tied to one button, threaded through a paper punch hole, and tied to the second button.
Keep arting!
e
bought a flat paper file cabinent recently - gentle used - Wow I really squirreled away allot of paper.
I've been trashing the art/office, studio porch and in the garage, I removed the wire rack with lots of extra art supplies to the studio. Out of chaos comes more chaos but eventually organization...
below the closet - this actually is more organized - half way there.
The wire rack below is loaded with extra supplies for teaching...
two rolling carts hold pens, colored pencils, etc...
more stuff in this rolling cart...
lots of sorting...
the three drawer rolling cart above has, art samples, stencils and misc paper.
more sorting below... when will it end?
I contacted MetVet about this new program [art call listed below] to help support the Humane Society Cats. I will have my blank note cards on display soon at the Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital. The cards will be prints of my original whimsical Sumi-e kitty paintings [not my original one-of-a-kind Sumi-e].
Hi everyone,
As you know, as much as we are involved in providing excellent patient care in clinic, we like to stay involved with helping people and pets in our community, too. We have recently come up with a new idea that promotes ​​funding animals in need​, promotes local artists, and helps publicize our available Humane Society cats. With the help of a previous artist, Alexis St. John, "Nat's Cats" was born!
This is where you come in. We are asking some of our upcoming and previous artists if they would like to donate a piece of artwork of our current Humane Society cats.​ We will proudly display your work in our hospital lobby and on our Nat's Cats Facebook page. Any proceeds from sales will be split between our fund for pets in need and you.
If you would like to participate by making an art donation, please feel free to stop by to view the cats or we can email you photos. It would be greatly appreciated and help a wonderful cause. Please feel free to contact us via e-mail Reception@MetVetPets.com or check out the Nat's Cats Facebook page with any further comments or questions.
Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital
MetVetPets.com 253-274-0225
I contacted MetVet about this new program [art call listed below] to help support the Humane Society Cats. I will have my blank note cards on display soon at the Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital. The cards will be prints of the original Sumi-e whimsical kitty paintings not original one-of-a-kind Sumi-e.
Hi everyone,
As you know, as much as we are involved in providing excellent patient care in clinic, we like to stay involved with helping people and pets in our community, too. We have recently come up with a new idea that promotes ​​funding animals in need​, promotes local artists, and helps publicize our available Humane Society cats. With the help of a previous artist, Alexis St. John, "Nat's Cats" was born!
This is where you come in. We are asking some of our upcoming and previous artists if they would like to donate a piece of artwork of our current Humane Society cats.​ We will proudly display your work in our hospital lobby and on our Nat's Cats Facebook page. Any proceeds from sales will be split between our fund for pets in need and you.
If you would like to participate by making an art donation, please feel free to stop by to view the cats or we can email you photos. It would be greatly appreciated and help a wonderful cause. Please feel free to contact us via e-mail Reception@MetVetPets.com or check out the Nat's Cats Facebook page with any further comments or questions.
Metropolitan Veterinary Hospital
MetVetPets.com 253-274-0225
Keep Arting!
e
Worked on a couple mandalas today...
I started this one a long time ago. I was using the "root" from a stencil I had made before.
I outlined the trees and worked on a root design. I'm not happy with the roots - I will rework it. Probably
affix another paper on top of the current center.
I colored the "sky" background with watercolor pencils but didn't add the water to blend them yet...
It's on Bristol paper so I have to use a light hand with water or use a blende pen.
This second mandala I had cut the "doves" from two different white textured scrapbook paper.
I mounted the main green patterned circle onto mat board to raise it up from the purple pattern base paper
which is mounted on black paper to give it a half inch border.
I used star brads and brushed gold brads. Last but not least I added two small one inch squares of foam core underneath
where the wing shapes come close together to raise up the edges a little higher.
Keeping the design simple.
e
I went to the local Etsy meeting on Monday and am going to work on my neglected shop. So today I renewed my PMC [Precious Metal Clay] jewelry pieces, added ten block prints that will be made on demand, and I will add ten of my "cubicle" mini collages from the first Avanti 30X30X30 challenge a couple of years ago.
reversable PMC pendant
I'll handprint various block prints for cards or to put into an 8"X10" mat...
Cubicle Art - mini collage Sun & Moon
Stop by and see what you think.... comments welcome.
After going over the basic info about materials [brushes, substrate, paints, mediums], the class tried to take their primary colors [red, yellow & blue] to mix the secondaries orange, green and purple]. this seems like an easy task but... depending on the brand of paint the pigment colors vary greatly and it became apparent to some that it was very difficult to mix a correct secondary. We also played with tints [adding white] and tones [adding black or gray] before starting a dune scene.
We started with coating the canvas, paper, etc with an even basic coat to fill in the texture of the paper or canvas.
The sky and sand we very opaque coating. Here the colors are blocked and a few glazes have been applied to the base colors.
Keep arting and don't listen to that critc on your shoulder telling you to forget art!
e
Made two more flower and ink drawings but something seemed lacking so I started cutting up one and gluing it to the other.
everything in place below
hmmm didn't like the background - grabbed the scissors and mat knife....
now I need a background... found some scrapbook paper.
the mat helps it come together - I know, the photo is a little wonky.
untitled #5
© 5/5/2014 Nine Lives Studio
need to get to some Sumi-e cards.... been dragging my feet a little on those but every day for a week I have done some art!
Printing block prints counts - right?
I find getting out of this office/art room gets me away from the distracting PC.
Here are the other four images with matts and yes they are all a little crooked but the mat helps define the image I will frame if they are slected the hang in the Florabunda exhibit ay Ida Culver House Broadview, 12505 Greenwood Ave. N, Seattle
Deadline: May 17, 2014
untitled 2 waterlilies - not sure of the title yet
untitled 1
untitled 3 maybe zinneas
untitled 4
now I have to get the images and other info for the submission...
Keep arting,
e