Oh Snap. New Alien Army Logo

 

And this is why crowdspring rocks.  Thanks to Norbert Demeter for the amazing design.  Poster coming soon.

Work of Art Challenge Complete

Okay.  So our first Work of Art Challenge has come to a close.  Big thanks to all the participants.  Granted there were only four of us, but we are the pioneers, so that makes us awesome. I actually learned a lot about myself through this project.  For one, I learned that if I’m not inspired having a project to do can really suck the life right out of you. I loved receiving the entries and getting my husband and cousin to sit down for an art day.  I also LOVE the idea that I will be sending Alien Army out to new friends.  As far as my participation in the challenge,  I really struggled in the beginning.  I kept going back and forth on whether to go with something political or personal and I ended up feeling really anxious with the whole thing.  Eventually I just kind of surrendered and the project became fun again.

I am thinking for the next challenge it might be something more to the effect of “who wants to make something in exchange for alien army?!”  More like artist trading cards. We’ll see.  Regardless, I am honored that Mary, one of very favorite art bloggers  and her friend Tina joined the challenge.  And a BIG thank you to Ev, who always stands by me and is  open to new things.

Here are the projects!

1. By Tina Grey

Tina wrote the following about her piece:

My headline was from the November 16 edition of the New York Times online: “After Giving Up Job for Occupy Protest, Questions for Future”.  It was about a man named Tim Weldon, who holds a master’s degree, quitting his job helping people with disabilities find jobs to work on a think tank for the Occupy Wall Street protest full-time.  The article follows him on his last day of work where he is helping a man with Down’s Syndrome find work at a pizza place.  The man brings a CD of children singing patriotic songs to play in Tim’s car while they drive around town getting him ready for his first day of work.  Tim says he has never considered himself patriotic before but is moved to tears by the CD because, for him,  his involvement in the protest has taught him what patriotism is all about.

The article and video moved me to create this little piece.  I used newspaper, acrylics and ink.  The tents are, of course, removable.

2.  By Mary of MaryMaking.blogspot.com

Mary wrote:

I debated about what type of headline to focus my piece around: political satire, nature based,ect. Ultimately I decided to create a piece centered around our local paper, Sun’s headline, “Remembering the Victims and Their Lives.” Just to give you a background: On Wednesday October 12th, a man in a dispute with his ex-wife about the custody of their son,  walked into the hair salon where she worked and shot and killed her and 6 others (injuring another) and killed another man sitting in his car outside. Seal Beach has been described as “Mayberry By the Sea”. So as you can imagine, this tragedy has been devastating for this tight knit community.

My mixed media piece (watercolor, acrylic, chalk pastel and newspaper) is meant to honor the 8 lives lost as well as to remind us all to be kind to each other and to treasure the lives we have.

3. By Evan Cherry

Evan said:

“I saw this article in the paper about Occupy Wall Street and it inspired me to make this project.  I enjoyed making it.”

4.  By Meri Cherry

My headline was “When Did the Rules Change?” from an article in The New York Times Magazine.  It’s about the road to success and how it used to be that if you worked hard and followed the rules you were almost guaranteed a successful life.  Now, it is much more challenging to achieve success even if you have a college degree.  There are so many other factors; outsourcing to India and China, technology, etc.  Today, we need specific sought after skills and the ability to go with the ups and downs of life.  I recently had an experience with a graphic designer friend who criticized my decision to use CrowdSpring.com for a logo.  Crowdspring, which I HIGHLY recommend, is a place to post graphic design projects for a fee of your choice, and artists from all over the world submit proposals.  The winning designer receives the money.  Anyway, my friend felt really strongly that it wasn’t fair to the design industry to support this kind of ideology. I thought about it a lot.  When I saw this article I thought it was a good fit.  I would love to hear anyone’s thoughts on this.  I think it’s a fascinating conversation.  My project is meant to show the game of life and all the different ways people choose to travel the road to success.

Thanks again for everyone’s participation!  Great experience.

Alien Army Incentive For Work of Art Challenge

Anyone who participates in the art challenge listed here will receive 10 unique Alien Army guys compliments of MOI.

 

 

 

Pinterest Rocks, Again

Oh pinterest, how I love thee.  Seriously, this website freakin rocks and if you’re not on it you need to get on it stat.  I’ve been wanting to make an inspiration board/ideal scene type collage for a while.  I whole-heartedly believe in these things.  I made one out of stickers (searching for a photo) before I met Ev and I’m convinced that’s how I met him.  It’s kind of like Weird Science.  Firm believer.  Anyway, instead of spending hours on line trying to find all the photos and images that inspire me I just went to my boards and found my absolute favs.  Cut those suckers out and voila!  Along with some words from mags that I am still adding here and there.  We’re going to hang this in the family room in constant view.  I believe you have to stare at these things and really put the images in your consciousness for them to manifest.  Anyhoo, wish me luck.  There are some serious European adventures on here, plus Alien Army on the cover of Time Magazine inspiration, and photos of our future home.

Art Studio For Kids

I finally completed the art studio I’ve been working on transforming for the past few weeks.  This project came out of nowhere/my morning pages and poof, there it was.  I had no idea how much I’d enjoy this process and how much I would learn from it.  I really had to trust myself and my vision and I did just that.  It was truly amazing.  I hope the family loves it as much as I do!!!

Special thanks to Ev for drilling, consulting and loving me through my doubts.  Thanks to Ted for his super duper uber camera for the after shots and thanks to my friend Chrissy, for being a good one.

Art is Everywhere

One of the greatest side effects of doing the Artists Way is beginning to see art everywhere-when I go on a walk, when looking through discarded trash on the side of the road, everywhere.  I feel so grateful to have this new perspective.  What a difference it makes.  So this weekend it didn’t surprise me at all, when I literally found art in the middle of the desert.

I Made Myself A Loom!!!

I am feeling pretty dang proud of myself today.  I have been wanting to make a loom for months.  A teacher friend once showed me one she had used with her preschoolers and I was totally intrigued.  I did some research on line, watched some vids, and knew the time would come.  Well, sure enough, I noticed a pile of trash, including an oversized picture frame, on my block yesterday.  I walked over in the billion degree heat and snagged it.  It still had the hooks to hold in the glass.  Ev suggested I leave in the hooks and add screws in between for more weaving.  Perfecto!  He watched the vids with me, which came in handy, because Evan has a bionic memory and there were some tips I had forgotten.  Anyway, after just a few minutes of hammering and nailing, my loom was ready to go!  This is perhaps the most fun and satisfying project I’ve done since I started Artist’s Way.  I really loved it.  This loom will def be set up in my kindergarten class come the fall.  It’s awesome.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.  I basically just ripped up strips of fabric I had, added some ribbons, and a flower I made from an egg crate.  Over, under, over, under.

Just one tip-At first I had the loom standing upright while I sat on the floor and weaved.  Well, that totally killed my shoulders, so Ev suggested I lay it down on the table.  What a difference.  Holy.  So much more enjoyable.  Ev always knows what to do.

How cool is that!!!??!!  So pretty.

Alien Box Collection

I’m not really sure about this project yet.  It def needs some perfecting.  I had some gift boxes lying around the house.  I took one, decorated it with gold paper and felt in the shape of an alien and then accordioned some white paper and glued it into the box.  On each panel I created a different alien.  So far I’m kind of “meh” about the whole thing, but the Artist’s Way says I should take care of the quantity and let God take care of the quality, so here you go.

Ev Made Felt Balls with Me!

See, this is why my husband rules.  He just gets right in there with me.  I’ve been wanting to make felt balls for months.  I had seen a few posts about it here and here and wanted to try it myself.  I had ordered some roving on SarasTextureCrafts and it’s been sitting in my studio for weeks waiting for me.  I used to be really hard on myself if I didn’t do an art project right away.  Artist’s Way has taught me to trust in the timing of things and to be more patient, which totally worked in my favor this time.  Sure enough, felting day came.  I decided to bust out the roving yesterday and went wild.  These balls are SO EASY!  I watched this youtube vid and voila! Felt balls.  Next I am going to try a bird shape.  Well, once I have at least 50 balls.  I’m obsessed with having a whole basket filled for my kindergartners to sort and play with come the fall.

I took some photos of the steps.  I highly recommend Sara’s vid above.  It’s really clear.  I used Merino wool for these balls.

And then, to my joy and astonishment, Ev busted out today with “I want to make one.”  He had a whole vision in mind and jumped right in.  It was the same thing when we made our wedding birds.  Ev never ceases to amaze me.  He says there is an artist in him waiting to come out.  I believe it.  I love that guy.

Who knew salt dough was so easy?

I saw a post by amazing art blogger MaryMaking not too long ago on how to make salt dough.  She had made the dough for a whacky fish project.  I have adapted the project for an “Out of this World” inspiration.  Before I did it with the kids, I wanted to test it out.  A few years ago, pre-Artists Way, I would have been waaay too lazy for this type of prep, but now I find myself raring to go. Thank you Morning Pages!  Fortunately we had all the ingredients in the house; flour, salt, and water.  I mixed 3 cups of flour, 1 cup of kosher salt and 3 cups of water and voila!  Super Dough, enough for 6-8 fists full.  I played around with an alien shape and a space shuttle and stuck them in the oven at 250.  After two hours I could tell they were still a little soft in the inside, which I was warned online is a no no.  So I kept them in for the 3 hours, which was perfect.  I am going to make a fresh batch on Day One of my “Out of this World” art class tomorrow.  We’ll paint on Day Two.  So far, off to a great start.