All Entries in the "Miscellaneous" Category
lomuto and damuse in 2010
Last night we said a quiet goodbye to 2009, setting intentions for this brand new year and reflecting on the gifts that 2009 brought our way.
Tree of Life {click here to see the ‘before’ picture}
Susan Lomuto on Flickr
New Year. New House. New Town. New Studio. New Attitude!
I view each day of the year as a gift – even the days that bring struggle, uncertainty and hardship – sometimes they offer the most opportunity for change, yes? 2009 was certainly a year of change for me. I was overwhelmed and distracted a lot (could you tell?) and forgot to fill up the well for myself, while I continued to fill it for others.
One of my Intentions for 2010 is to nourish my creative self. That slipped away during the year-long process of searching for a house, renovating the house and finally moving in to the house. We are here now and the process of making our house a home is well underway.
In the weeks before we moved the thing that kept me calm, sane and satisfied was Visual Poetry, Susan Tuttle’s online photo manipulation class. It was exactly what I needed to bring my creative self back into focus, providing just enough of a spark to light that fire again. On Monday I will begin a class with DJ Pettit – a lovely way to begin the year and my first days in the studio. Nourish, Nurture, Replenish, Repeat. My mantra for 2010.
DJ Pettit, Memories and Manipulations
As for Daily Art Muse, in 2010 look for a strong focus on learning and teaching, new ways for me to bring inspiring art and artists to your computer screen and more of my work on the blog (I haven’t posted my work in a long time – did you miss it?).
Happy New Year dear readers…wishing you much love, more laughter and many sparks to light your creative fire.
happy birthday damuse – time for a giveaway!
October 3rd was Daily Art Muse’s 3rd birthday! Thank you for supporting DaMuse through your comments, emails and daily visits.
New here? Read how Daily Art Muse got its start.
Fir..(on a LONG break) on Flickr
It’s the weekend, so let’s have a party! Presents, love and chocolate are welcome. In honor of the blog turning THREE, I also have THREE gifts to give away – here’s the scoop on how you can join the party:
Love DaMuse? Show the love!
Has DaMuse helped you find inspiration, a new piece of art for your collection or simply a lovely way to start your day? Here are two great ways for you to celebrate DaMuse, help me grow the readership or contribute to the cost of maintaining this labor of love:
Blog Birthday Giveaway!
In honor of DaMuse’s birthday, I have 3 gifts – one each for 3 different winners – which means 3 chances for you to win. The 3 gifts are:
Wow…nice!
The contest will close on Monday October 12, 2009, 9 am EST. Good luck!
Here’s how to enter (please read carefully):
jacqueline rush lee’s paintures
While much has been written about Jacqueline Rush Lee’s book art sculpture over the last decade, I am most interested in the artist’s figurative Paintures – acrylic and oil paint skins and scrapings over metal armatures. The Hawaii based artist’s latest series emerged from her 2007 Chromascapes series as “a playful respite from the labour-intensive task of building sculptures out of hundreds of layers of paint”. Lee found the Chromascapes an interesting idea to explore, but not particularly satisfying. Perhaps the most important feature of the exploration was that it led her to create horse sculptures that come alive when colorful paint skins are attached to their scrap metal frames.
Jackson’s Other Steed, acrylic, oil paint scrapings over armature, 6′ x 4′ x 7′
Dark Horse with Puddle, acrylic, oil paint scrapings over armature, 7.5′ x 4.5′ x 12′
Dark Horse with Puddle, detail
Painture No. 3, oil, acrylic paint skins on armature, 5.5″ x 8.5″ x 3′
I like to think of them as being like abstract paintings that have jumped off of the canvas to become 3D figurative works……
jaimie macdonald: new book
Back in 2006 we took a look at a Scottish designer who was using film canisters to make unusual jewelry. Jaimie MacDonald’s work has continued to evolve and in February she published her first book, Jewellery from Recycled Materials
Has anyone seen this book? I haven’t seen it yet, however the description looked interesting – says that it includes step-by-step projects using a variety of materials, including plastic. The piece on the cover looks like it might be some kind of plastic riveted together…I want to know more.
Jamie MacDonald, On The Edge of Something, film canisters on white metal
The link to MacDonald’s book is in the sidebar, where you will find many more inspiring books to jump start your creativity, add to your information database or simply satisfy your sweet-tooth for eye-candy!
sidebar tour
Here’s What’s Happening In The daMuse Sidebar This Week
Renowned floral artist Naoki Sasaki has a new book coming out that gives us a look at one of Japan’s master floral designers. Japanese Contemporary Floral Art
Naoki Sasaki Floral Art
And did you see the book about Flower Pounding? Have you heard of it? This is something new to me.
You pound flowers onto treated fabric, transferring the pigments and shape of the flower onto the fabric, and then embellish the image with markers and stitching. Image transfers of a different kind. It’s on my list of things to try this month. Number 54. The list keeps growing.
More Fun In The Sidebar
Another poll (I’m still gathering information about daMuse readers in an effort to make the blog better), two books that will be coming out soon (but you can pre-order them now), and several new advertisers (watch this space for more information soon about advertising on Daily Art Muse!).
search party!
With more than 2,100 published posts, I often search my own archives to see if I’ve already shared a particular artist or art work. It usually means another half hour lost in the belly of this blog studying poetic, powerful, whimsical, complex, technique-driven, haunting, serious, silly, eye-popping, mind-bending, interesting, lyrical, touching, moving, process-oriented, conceptual, mixed-media, living, breathing contemporary fine art and craft. Again. I’m not complaining.
Click here to see what I found when I searched for “circle”.
Watch this space for Search Party posts - I’ll be sharing my daMuse Search Party Finds with you. Want to join my Search Party? Find something spectacular in the archives that you’d like to share? Post it in the comments or send me an email.
samantha bryan’s fairy aiding inventions
I know when it is time to take a break from the realities of the adult world and lose myself in childlike fantasy. My body, saturated by mundane daily chores, bucks and stalls like a rebellious horse. Samantha Bryan’s three dimensional illustrations are the perfect antidote.
Bryan captures fairy characters as they go about their every day life – but oh, what a life it is! Created from bits and pieces of wire, leather, found objects and carefully collected materials, each narrative sculpture depicts a detail of life in fairyland, her charming fantasy world. Be prepared to have an out-of-body experience as she transports us back to a time when cultivating our imagination was our only work. Childhood. Watching this mixed-media world spin renews the spirit and sparks the imagination. A diversion every adult needs…maybe every day.
Brain’s pre-flight stretch fairy
Brain’s portable fairy-dust collector
The artist working on a sculpture (image via Arts Council England )
meet bummerbunny, my new hero
Watch this well-done video that puts the viewer on the fast track into the head, heart and soul of urban visionary artist Laura Castellanos. Every artist who thinks they are ‘just not that good” should feel renewed energy to forge ahead after hearing Castellanos talk about not knowing what she was doing at first, being confused by the rewards she was receiving for not knowing what she was doing, and eventually surrendering to the idea of continuing to do what she loved, regardless of whether or not she knew what she was doing.
Click on the image to go to the video.
A little more than 2 minutes into the 5 minute video Castellanos talks about bummerbunny (pictured above) – don’t miss it. There is a lesson for all of us in the story of bummerbunny. Most artists go through periods of self-doubt. We all need a bummerbunny, don’t you think?
The video was created by Valerie Vozza for Seattle Channel’s Art Zone in the Studio, highlighting the best local talent in the Seattle area (the screen is a bit larger on their site – you can see it here).
bummerbunny has a blog, complete with a picture of Anthony Bourdain wearing a bummerbunny tee-shirt. My daughter might just faint (she’s a huge Bourdain fan and an awesome cook – watch for her blog, coming soon!).
The artist and Turtle Dreams
Castellanos also has a blog – where she takes pictures of herself with her paintings (fresh slant on blogging!) and a website for her paintings.
gail lannum’s copper metal clay test
Bill Struve continues to push the metal clay envelope – first with last year’s BronzClay and now his newest addition to the metal clay family – Copper Metal Clay. When he tapped Gail Lannum to test the CMC she jumped at the chance. This pendant bead has a subtle patina that really shows it off. Loving it! Read more about Gail’s experiments here and here.
Copper Clay with Heat Patina
Copper Clay Fired
Copper Clay Dry
The clay will be available some time this spring. Hadar Jacobson, whose work we’ve seen here, sells a powdered version of the copper clay. She has a video on her website showing how to take it from powder to clay in four minutes!
Hadar Jacobson, Sticks Bracelet, silver, bronz and copper clay
[Psst...last chance to tell me how you really feel about product reviews on daMuse. The poll in the sidebar. It ends on Wednesday. Your answers will help shape the future of Daily Art Muse - thanks for your participation!]
felice frankel on the surface of things
I posted a few more books to inspire your muse, including Felice Frankel’s On the Surface of Things: Images of the Extraordinary in Science
More book links in the sidebar and a new poll too. Keep those answers coming – the first poll had 193 responses – nice! There will be a new poll each week for the next several weeks and then less frequently after that. This is a good opportunity for you to get involved in the process while I am working behind the scenes to build a better Daily Art Muse experience for you. Many thanks to all!
Apple thinks Frankel is pretty special too. Read her profile here.
weekend to-do list
This is at the top of my weekend to-do list. Yours too?
If you haven’t done it yet, please take a moment to answer the daMuse poll (in the sidebar) – and thanks to everyone who already took the time to answer. Have a great weekend!
kinetic digital sculpture
Is it kinetic sculpture? Or is it digital art? How about kinetic digital sculpture? Digital Media artist John Baugh uses the mechanics of 3D modeling and animation to create what he calls kinetic digital sculpture. Very interesting…
To get the full effect you must see these in action on Baugh’s website: The Dark Space, or you can view them on Axis Web.
The repeating animations are constructed using 3D animation software and consist of a series of digital forms that explore the relationship between movement and structure. The digital structures use movement to create arrangements that deconstruct and re-assemble over time. The movements mirror the evolution and growth of material elements captured through time lapse photography. The aesthetic intricacy of each sculpture could also be said to possess a duplicity changing between symmetrical beauty and an uneasiness that is ascribed to the continually changing combination of forms that appears synthetic and uncontrollable.
fun: fat bottom clips!
I’m ready for some fun this afternoon. Come with me to a little home-based shop in Paris where discarded plastic and colorful pages from old magazines come together to become fun Fat Bottom clips.
I love that Mon Ami Vie looks at the bottoms of plastic bottles and sees flowers in full bloom.
[read about them below!]
These clips are made from the very bottom of the plastic bottle. The center is a vintage button securely sewn on to a piece of salvaged fabric, then super glued to the plastic bottom. Under, there is a new clip that is also super glued to a small piece of salvaged fabric and then glued to the plastic! This clip has been decoupaged with random pieces of a magazine. The result is amazing, like a mini collage you can wear!
book love! seeds: time capsules of life
Did you see my new Amazon book listings in the sidebar? I’m so excited about the first one I’m going to order it today. I’m swooning already…
Seeds: Time Capsules of Life
From the Carol Haggas review:
Through the marvel of scanning electron photomicroscopy, and in collaboration with two renowned experts, visual artist Kesseler unveils the delicate artistry and vibrant wizardry of these horticultural workhorses in an incandescent blend of exacting science and extraordinary art. Seeds’ distinctive shapes and sizes enable them to withstand journeys of thousands of miles and hundreds of years before they complete their task of plant germination. Stuppy energetically relates the story of some 300 million years of evolutionary adaptations that have enabled plants to populate the earth’s surface from the Antarctic to the Amazon, while simultaneously drawing attention to the alarming extinction rate of the world’s remaining plant species.
