My Studio

Art, books, music, incense, vintage items, my dogs and a glass of wine... that's my studio!  I feel so blessed to have this place, that sometimes I believe that God has granted me a little piece of Heaven on Earth.  When working on a project, I've been known to spend hours in here and only leave when my family needs me - LOL!

I love vintage items and like to create assemblages with them.  I also like to find creative ways to use them.  Some of the items I've repurposed are the coke crate, which I use to store punches, and the oil can display which I've used during art shows to display my cards.  (I attached the Fleur-de-lis to the top.)

The first thing you'll see as you enter my studio is my lounge chair, a gift from my Mother-in-Law, that is topped with a throw and lots of pillows.  It is a great place to sit to read or just take a nap.  In front of it, there's an ice cream table, which I inherited from my wife's grandmother.  I use it when meeting with clients and during art lessons.  I also have an easel in the corner which I use to display some of my work and when working on large acrylic pieces.  (I've had this easel since I was 15 years old - it's an antique!)

Against the opposite wall I have two bookshelves, which house my vast collection of art books.  I treasure my books and refer to them regularly.  After all, my motto is - Read, Explore, Create!

The second book shelf has drawers, which I use to store art supplies.  In the collection of vintage boxes between my shelves, I store finished cards and other small items that I've completed.  The boxes also serve as props during my art shows.

Last, but not least, is my old and faithful drafting table.  It's solid Oak and I've had it since I was in college.  I bought it from my one of my uncles, who was a map maker.

Oh, I almost forgot.  This is Tipper, my Greyhound and one of my 3 "studio" dogs.  I also have Bo, a Boston Terrier, and Rossy, a Chihuahua/Rat Terrier mix.  Tipper loves to sit by my drafting table as I work and hold guard.  Bo sits in front of the drafting table and Rossy on my lounge chair.  I hope you've enjoyed the tour of my studio.  Blessings!

Tea-Bag Fold Window Card

About a month ago, Kristina Werner featured a "Punched Double Fold Card" in her blog.  I liked the idea of the window, and thought it could be used to feature a piece of origami or other piece of art.  Since she didn't have a challenge this week, I decided to create a challenge for myself!

I designed a triptych card with a circular window, in which I attached a tea-bag fold ornament.  I created the card by cutting an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of card stock lengthwise, to form a 4 1/2"  x 11" strip.  I laid the strip horizontally and scored it at 2 3/4" and at 8 1/4" from the left short end.  Then, I folded the 2 side flaps in and centered a circular template on the opening.  I traced the circle with a pencil, to use as a guide.  Next, I opened the flaps and cut the half-circles out with my shape cutter and template.  The foundation was done.

To decorate the card, I used eight 2" pieces of paper to make the tea-bag fold ornament.  There are many sites on-line that teach you how to make them, but I used one from the book Creative Paper Folding.  Then, I used a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Asian themed paper to line the inside of the card.  Next, I attached the tea-bag fold ornament to the center of the window with a miniature brad.  On a 3/4" x 1 1/2" piece of coated chipboard, I wrote "Joy" in Kanji and English calligraphy.  I attached it to the bottom right hand corner.  I finished the card by signing my name on the inside in Hiragana and Spanish.

The foundation is not very difficult to make, but it does take time to measure and make the cuts and scores.  There are lots of possibilities to decorate the inside of the window, since you could use a stamped image or other embellishment.  I'd love to see your spin on it, so please comment with a link to your blog.  Blessings!

Zentangle Jungle

This school year, my elementary school's theme is Safari.  As an opening activity, I decided to introduce my Gifted and Talented students to Sandy Steen Bartholomew's book, Zentangle for Kidz.  As I mentioned in my review on Amazon, I believe there are many educational benefits that may come from working on tangles.

I began the class by conducting a brainstorming activity regarding patterns.  What is a pattern?  Where are patterns found?  In what subjects can they be found?  How are they used?  To make the experience more concrete, we looked at examples of patterns in art, music, poetry, math, nature, etcetera.  Then, I explained that tangles are patterns too.  We examined various examples and discussed how they were executed.

Next, I had them work on a tile as a whole group, as I modeled the process for them.  I taught them how to frame their work, use a string to separate the plane, and how to work the tangles "one stroke at a time."  Finally, I had each of them decorate a leaf by using tangle patterns of their own choosing, except for the 1st graders who needed a little more guidance.  They loved it!

The students glued the tiles to their journals, and I incorporated their original leave designs to our classroom's bulletin board.  Below are pictures of the bulletin board, as well as close-ups of each groups' set of leaves.  I hope you enjoy them as much as my students enjoyed making them.  Blessings!

Wedding Gift Card

In this week's Friday Focus by Kristina Werner, she challenged her followers to use the new folded card technique that she introduced, based on a book by Laurence K. Withers.  In her design, she used a sentiment about friendship through the seasons, which ran through the 3 views of the card.  I decided to use 1 Corinthians 13:13 in my design, which was read in my wedding and was fresh in my mind after working on a commissioned art piece a few weeks ago.

For this challenge, I used "Mi-Teintes" card stock by Canson for the base and "Mocha" textured card stock by Pressed Petals for the insets.  I also used a Pigma "Micron" fine line pen for the calligraphy, 2 Making Memories scrapping flowers, a vintage leaf, a button, thread, a scrap of grosgrain ribbon, a glue stick, double sided tape and Martha Stewart's Glittering Glue.  My tools included a guillotine paper cutter, Martha Stewart's scoring board, an X-acto blade, a ruler, and an EK Success corner punch.

This was a fun card to make.  I truly enjoyed the color scheme that emerged, and it would make a perfect gift card for a wedding.  Did you take Kristina's challenge?

Blessed Art

I am not Roman Catholic, but could not agree more with Pope Benedict XVI in the General Audience YouTube video below.  As quoted in the video, "Art is an open door on the infinite, which opens the eyes of the mind and the heart."

I have always believed that art is a gift from God, rather it be in the visual arts, dance, music, literature, or other form of art.  Although I love writing icons and usually incorporate my religious views into my work, it doesn't necessarily have to be explicitly religious in its genre.  Landscapes, still lives portraits, architecture, interior design, classical music, ballet, etcetera can be reflective of God's gifts if they are righteous in nature.  In the words of Mr. Steve Turner, author of Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts, "If we want to see art that challenges the prevailing secularism we need artists who are not only skillful but also theologically well equipped, grounded in a fellowship and living obedient lives."

Therefore, without further ado, I leave you with Pope Benedict XVI.  Blessings!

Friday Focus - Challenge #2

Kristina Werner, at the Kwerner design blog, had a second challenge for her readers this week in her new Friday Focus series.  It's fascinating to me to see the various designs that stem from the same card fold.  Layouts, colors, prints, embellishments, closure styles, etcetera, made each of the cards last week completely different.  Yet, they are all beautiful.

This week, I chose to create a miniature collage and matted it within the upper flap of this week's model.  I used a faux stamp from a series that I created using 3 different stamps, which I colorized with pastels, colored pencils, and a gold pen.  I also used a bronzed skeleton leaf, a punched medallion, and a strung mother of pearl button.  The only decoration on the bottom flap border is a strip of linen textured paper that has a light zigzag pattern.  I tinted the edges of all the paper pieces to create some dimension.  Finally, I used my "Notch & Die" to cut a rounded tab to slide and lock the upper flap into.

On the inside, I used calligraphy to write "peace" in Kanji and English on a piece of paper.  (Note: I chose not to cut into the bottom flap sides or round any of the corners.)  Can't wait to see what the other readers come up with!