Printing On Recycled Dryer Sheets for your Art Projects!

I had to post this tutorial that came up after I watched my own tutorial.  What a great idea and one I hadn't thought of!  You can watch this tutorial to find out how to print images on to dryer sheets and use them in your art projects.  They turn out really cool and translucent, so I can think of a lot of "overlay" uses for them.  Check out this short and easy tutorial!

A New Video Tutorial on Mixed Media Art Cloths!

Well, I finally did it.  It took me way too long, as I know next to nothing about using iMovie and it seems like everything I did took forever for my computer to process...but I did it!  So I can cross this one off my list of short term goals to accomplish.   I really want to make more video tutorials on other techniques, so that will be something I'll be working on soon.  But here it is lady's and gentlemen....drumroll please....

A tutorial on how to make larger mixed media art cloths using recycled materials!

One quick little note about viewing this video...because I used a sound track from Youtube, they throw in advertisements at the bottom of the screen.  You can "X" these out at the top right corner of the advertisement itself so that you can see all of the screen.

Domino Pendants...Alpaca Style!

These are a few of the items that I made for a friend to sell at her booth at the Fiber Fusion Northwest event.  I really enjoyed making "alpaca" art!  Alpacas are something I never would have thought of drawing or using as a subject for my art projects....but they are just too cute!  Don't you think?  These pendants were made using my original art prints and old domino pieces.  The last picture shows 4 cute little "mini" domino necklaces...I just discovered these tiny dominos at our local dollar store, and they are  perfect for making child sized pendants!

The Beginning of a new work...

One of my biggest obstacles in painting is figuring out what I want to paint!  The more I agonize over what my subject matter should be, the less likely I am to paint anything at all.  It seems the more planned out I am, the more chance of my artwork being unsatisfactory to me.  In almost every instance, my best work comes when I remain UNFOCUSED and spontaneous.

This morning I sat on the floor with books, magazines and pictures of artwork I admire, trying (with no luck) to come up with an idea.  Every Wednesday I meet with another friend who paints.  She is an amazingly talented fine artist who can draw and paint just about anything.  She plans her work, does preliminary sketches etc...and she always produces something amazing! (Huge Sigh...) I simply can't do that!

So I finally accepted my "planning" limitations, threw some paint and three canvases, a few brushes and a bag full of paper scraps for collage into a bag and went on my merry way...with no plan....telling myself to remain focused on being unfocused (Ha!  makes sense doesn't it!).

I promised myself to not be critical and to just start slinging paint....and here is where I am at after an afternoon of painting.  It's by no means complete, and probably will look nothing like this when I'm finished...but I like where it's headed!  This "style" is nothing like what I usually paint and I would have never went this direction if I had a plan!  But so far it's working, and I have to remember to stay true to me.  Having no preconceived notions about what the outcome of a painting will look like, allows me to think outside the box (well at least the box MY mind lives in)!

List of Child Artist Prodigies and their Websites....Amazing Stuff!

Last week I read a book called "Heaven is for Real" (great book by the way...).  In this book was mentioned a child prodigy artist by the name of Akiane.  I had to check out her website and see for myself her paintings that are inspired by visions and dreams given to her by God.  Her work is so awe inspiring and beyond amazing!  She started drawing at age 4 and painting by age 6.  She is now 16 and is known all over the world.  I had never heard of her before last week.

So I started wondering how many child prodigy artists are alive today and what can I learn about them?  I am having fun checking out the miraculous talent that these kids have been given and I wanted to pass along the links in case anyone else is interested in checking it out!

Joshua Johnson

Kieron Williamson

Alexandra Nechita

Wang Yani (I couldn't find a website for her, but here is another blog post about her) and the video below is a must see!

Akiane Kramarik

Marla Olmstead

Aelita Andre

Hamzah Marbella

I'm sure there are many more that I didn't find, but I thought this would be an interesting topic to share!  Hope you enjoyed!

2012 Planners...Covers made from recycled dryer sheets!

Here are a few more items that I've made using my recycled/upcycled dryer sheet technique.  If you haven't seen my "How To" video tutorial on this technique, you can check it out at the end of this post.

I can't believe how sturdy the end results are!  I wish you could hold these in your hands and feel the texture.  It really has a true "leathery" feel and holds up to the sewing machine so well.  If I were more of a seamstress I would be going crazy with things to make, but unfortunately, the sewing machine and I don't usually get along very well.

These are 2012 Planners that I made the covers for out of art "cloth" using used dryer sheets as my canvas and lots of collage and paint.

I also scanned them before I folded them to make the covers...So here is what they look like front and back before folding them...

If you like these and would like to try it yourself you can watch the tutorial below.  Please post what you create, I'd love to see the results!

Careers In Art