in honor of bike to work week, a drawing i did of a bike (and my tea cup) while sitting in cafe krom, amsterdam. i consider this drawing unfinished, but don’t know what else i’m going to do to it yet…
and yup. i failed on the whole bike to work week thing. stuff on my mind is keeping me up late, and drinking a bit too much wine. maybe next week?
happy weekend!
this weekend is art-a-whirl! wha?
art-a-whirl is an open-studio and gallery tour of northeast minneapolis. i haven’t been able to make it every year, but it’s definitely a great option if you’re looking for something to do this weekend. days & times:
friday, may 16th - 5:00 to 10:00 pm
saturday, may 17th - 12:00 to 8:00 pm
sunday, may 18th - 12:00 to 5:00 pm
if you’re local, get a map and go!
um, yikes, i haven’t started my item yet! i did get my yarn last weekend, and new addi-turbo needles (highly recommended by anna). i want to knit, then felt a bowl, but the pattern is a little intimidating for my amateur skills… nothing like a bit of procrastination to put the pressure on!
so i hope that the rest of you are making better progress than i. we’ve got 2 more weeks to go, then your items should be shipped out on wednesday, may 28. and don’t forget to upload your finished piece to the functional felt swap flickr group! upload your progress, too — we all love to see what everyone is working on!
update: anna’s got a fun giveaway for felt swappers! all you need to do is give us an update on your progress. leave a comment here, leave a comment on anna’s post, or upload to the flickr group, by the end of the day, monday, may 19, and you’re automatically entered! see anna’s post for more details.
i came across bubbo last week via flickr. it was the bubbo-tubbo flickr avatar in a comment that caught my eye, which lead me to bubbo-tubbo flickr photos, then to the bubbo etsy shop.
i just love the print above, cat on my head. i love the colors, the illustration, the collaginess (is that a word?), and the humor… the matter-of-factness of the statement and the absurdity of walking around with a cat on one’s head… delicious!
creative activity here has been at a low lately, due to the fact that i cannot say no to freelance requests. it’s not that i need the money, it’s just i am not great at saying no. and i’ve been going nuts for the last few weeks, working nights and weekends in addition to my day job. grrrrrr. but i guess i shouldn’t complain, it’s my own damn fault…
i’ve been wanting to do a series of paintings focusing around the globe lamps that hang in the bar that’s in the same building as my day job. i did have a few minutes to get started on saturday night, but i was too tired to get much further. i’m itching to work on them! but it may be another week or so before i finish them up. if they turn out as i had hoped, i will post them…
happy monday!
detail of “happyscape ix”, a watercolour painting by carina wardi
one last post before the weekend… the lovely and talented carina asked to interview me for her blog, carina’s craftblog. what an honor! she wanted to know about what i do, why, what inspires me, etc…
so if you want to read a little more about me or read me rambling on and on over the weekend, check out the interview! ooo, and check out carina’s etsy shop. i love her happy color creations!
last saturday afternoon, my friend shane and i stopped at a few studios on the lake minnetonka arts tour. we saved the best for last: visiting our friend laurie of pottery garage.
shane and i have known laurie for a few years, and i’m a huge fan of her work. my favorites are the japanese-inspired work, and i love her functional pieces, fired with natural-tone glazes (i love shino!). but laurie also does great sgraffito on porcelain. (sgraffito is a technique in which the piece is thrown, then a colored slip [slip: clay/colorant/water mixture] is added to the piece, and left to dry. then it is carved or scratched away, exposing the clay beneath before the piece is fired.) i am also soooo jealous that laurie took pottery classes, that she left her job, that she and her husband built a gorgeous studio on their property, and now she’s a full time potter!
so, in honor of blogging love week, a little giveaway: after i took the above photo of laurie in her studio with my polaroid camera, we all looked at it and wondered what the heck that red thing was she was holding. can you guess what it is? the first person to guess correctly in the comment section by sunday noon will win the sgraffito fish magnet made by laurie, pictured at the top of the post. (but not the bowl, that’s mine!)
i’ll also throw in a little goodie made by me, too. if no one guesses correctly, then i’ll draw a name at random. so what is that red thing laurie is holding? update: miss anna has guessed correctly! it is a bottle opener…
happy weekend! xxxooo
last saturday, i went to crafted together, a craft fair i haven’t been to yet. i was invited by bee, of beedazzles, and i wanted to meet her!
as i was wondering around, trying to find bee, i came across a few familiar names/faces. the first was sabrina of fox and clover (formerly green lantern glass). i had featured her old etsy shop last fall… and i’ve seen her work at gallery360, but i missed the opening reception for the last show she was featured in. so it was nice to finally meet her! sabrina does some really awesome work with glass. i didn’t get a shot of her booth, but i’ve pictured a great necklace above from her etsy shop.
then, a surprise! my friend pat (of heartstrands, new web site coming soon!) was just a few tables away from sabrina. a few days before, i had helped her set up her etsy shop, and she didn’t tell me she’d be at the craft show. so it was fun to see her again and chat a bit more about etsy and crafting. a quick shot of pat’s table:
then, finally, i found bee!
bee had left a comment on my blog a few weeks ago (hey, bee, how did you find me?), and we exchanged a few comments/emails. she told me about crafted together, and i promised to come and meet her.
and i held true to my promise! bee (betsi) is a wonderful illustrator, and applies her work to cards, pendants, magnets, prints. before i even got there, i had my eye on one of her new creations: a set of cards featuring one of her illustrations: raining cats & dogs. once i found her, i immediately stuck my hand out and said “i’m jen from painted fish studio”. i’m normally terribly shy, but since we had already “met”, i had no problem being a bit bold. how fun to finally meet her! we chatted about craft shows, etsy, her work. she threw out the idea of tag-teaming at a craft show. i met her lovely daughters. it was very fun. and she refused to let me pay for my cards. grrrr! i love them bee, thank you!
it’s amazing how many friends i’ve made via the online crafting community, and it’s so much fun to actually meet them in person! i hope to meet more of you.
xxxooo
in march, j of scissors paper glue and i exchanged a few emails about the demise of polaroid film and our need to hoard it. j suggested we do a spring polaroid swap: take 2 pictures of spring in our areas. i was excited to get some spring shots from california, but here in minnesota, spring was taking its time arriving… so we agreed to a deadline of the end of april.
last friday, a package arrived from j, and yay oh yay! 3 polaroids from the west coast:
roses outside of her daughter’s daycare/school
the beach
the first berries of the season
and, in addition to the beautiful spring shots she sent me, she also sent an ephemera packet, customized for me:
j’s and fish! i’m a big fan of her ephemera (i ordered a packet from her etsy shop in feb), and that she created one just for me gives me warm fuzzies inside. thank you so much, j!
last week was so poopy that i couldn’t find the time to finish up my package, so it didn’t get into the mail until monday. it’s on its way, j!
xxxooo
i first saw the wonderful and creative e of margins in the etsy forums. her avatar caught my eye, and when i checked out her shop i wasn’t disappointed. i love the rawness of her work, so i bought the piece pictured above, zebras and japanese, to bring some life to my desk at work. the piece is made with pages of a japanese-english dictionary collaged on a 8″x10″ wooden panel (and no, ayama-chan, i still don’t know a lick of japanese!). the zebras are stenciled over the pages, with spray paint.
after buying the piece, i became a regular reader of e’s blog. she’s so young (she recently turned 21) and creative, and struggles with wanting to create instead of focusing on her school work. she reminds me of me at her age, and while i’m not that old, i do have a good 13 years on her. i want to support her creativeness, and scream “don’t stop! don’t let go of your creativeness when you graduate! follow your dreams!”… while i don’t regret taking the career path when i left design school (it allows me to buy art!), it took me about 13 years to get back into being creative on a regular basis. i missed it.
so go e, keep it up. i’ll be your cheerleader!
xxxooo
{ last week was super-bad. kick-my-ass bad. the bright spots? my blogging and swapping friends. i cannot say how much it means to me to have these new, creative friends. packages came in the mail, and feel-good comments were posted, on the days when i needed them most. thank you so much! this week is dedicated to you, my wonderful new friends! }
last wednesday i came home to find a package from my purple crayon, which contained this amazing mobile! m made a similar mobile for the elsie marley mobile swap, and i was a huge fan of it when i first saw it, and i was thrilled when m asked me to make her a mobile in exchange for one of hers. (she posted the mobile i made her here on flickr)
the mobile is made of wood veneer and felted wool roving, and m named it pARTy, in honor of our “evenings of making“. love it! also included in the package: a continuation of a running felting joke, that is silly, immature humor — perfect for bad days! thank you so much m, you made my day!
also on wednesday: i learned that the lovely carina, of carina’s craft blog, had awarded me the arte y pico award for inspiring blog. wow, thank you! it means a ton, as the biggest reason i do the blog is to inspire, and to keep me creating. i must now bestow the award to 5 blogs… stay tuned.
xxxooo
another great weekend for art events!
crafted together: over 50 vendors will be showcasing their wares at the white bear lake armory, saturday may 3, from 9-5! craftedtogether.com
local jewelry artist mart, walker art center: saturday, may 3 from 10-3. jewelry by nearly a dozen artists and designers will be on sale at the walker art center shop’s local jewelry artist mart. walker skyline room.
lake minnetonka arts tour: visit 11 artist sutios, featuring 30 artists and guests. saturday, may 3rd and sunday, may 4, from 10-5. lakemtka-artstour.org
the creative drive 2008: i came across a brochure about this arts tour while picking up a chai at a little coffee shop in river falls… 40 artists at 6 sites in western rural wisconsin. may 3rd and 4th, from 10-5. thecreativedrive.com
get out there and see/buy some art!
i’ve been hoarding polaroid film for 2 months now. it’s no fun if you don’t get to use it once in a while…
one last netherlands etsy find for april: zeepje. i am drawn to the pure, basic images of the soap, especially the lavender zeepje. i can almost smell the lavender oil, and my fingers can almost feel the texture of the slice and the dried lavender buds within…
i drew the tulips on my table, on my birthday. i finished the piece when i got home with a bit of paint, a scrap of a dutch newspaper from that day, and a stamp i had in my studio.
i had a burst of creativity this week. (yay!) one of the creations is a new journal for my etsy shop.
i found the big red button in amsterdam, at a flea market in the jordaan neighborhood. upon returning home from my trip, the order i had placed for the printed cotton tape from jesse (etsy shop: jezze) arrived. i love jesse’s block printing, and i bought the tape for another project. but i had ordered more than enough for my original idea, so i could use the extra tape for something else. together, the printed tape and the button were perfect! i decided to make what i know best with the combination: a journal. i titled it wanderlust, as i was inspired by the materials and where they came from. and maybe the journal will inspire some wanderlust in others!
happy weekend!
what a great weekend to live in minnesota! spring has finally made its slow arrival, and this weekend is packed with great art events. some highlights:
craftstravaganza rogue art & craft sale: saturday, 9am-6pm. i enjoyed it last year, and this year looks to be just as fab! 75 local artists & crafters, all under one roof. craftstravaganza.com
st. paul art crawl: friday 6-10 pm, saturday, 2-10 pm, sunday, noon-5 pm. the spring and fall crawls are always a great way to see local work. stpaulartcrawl.org
gallery 360: opening reception for in full bloom… a garden captured in clay: recent works by norma hanlon & kristen walstead. saturday 7-10pm. new works by michael pleau, sharon ulrich, michael sweere, and heather hambrecht will also be on display. gallery360mpls.com
if you’re not in the twin cities, what a bummer! anything arty happening where you are this weekend?
do i knit, then felt? or should i wet felt with roving? or use wool felt sheets? !?!
for those of you participating in the functional felt swap: your partner information should be in your inbox! if you haven’t received anything, first check your spam/junk mail folder, and if it’s not there, please send an email to functionalfeltswap {at} gmail {dot} com.
congratulations to jen c, in california! she’s the lucky winner of the tiny box with felted knob (pictured in this post), our sign-up promo give-away. we were 5 shy of an additional 20 swappers, but that’s close enough for me!
ok, swappers, time to start creating! you should have your swap item finished, and in the mail, no later than wednesday, may 28.
i have no idea what i’m making! arg!
a netherlands etsy find, and functional felt swap inspiration, all in one post…
etsy seller reyaveltman wet felted the bowl pictured above with wool roving, then machine stitched the swirl. it’s gorgeous…
reya has other great felted items available in her shop, if you need swap inspiration!
a week ago saturday, i had the honor of meeting one of my favorite artists, gineke zikken. (for a bit of back story, see this blog post.)
i walked about 2 miles to her apartment, which is right outside of central amsterdam. i was a little nervous, and when she invited me in, it was a bit awkward. but she offered me tea, and we chatted a bit about why i was there. then, up to the 3rd floor, to her studio!
it was so neat to see her workspace, and to see so many of her paintings in one spot. after much fawning by me and a few intelligent questions, i think she realized i wasn’t completely nutty, and we both were at ease, and were able to talk about art, traveling, and life. more about my visit, about gineke, and what i bought after the jump…
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