feeling artsy

QUILTING. PART 2

2012-02-06T09:52:00.000-05:00

I ended up not having to cut 160 triangles. Instead the book taught me a trick on how to go from 80 squares directly to 80 squares made out of 2 triangles each without having to cut the squares into halves first.

Do you want to know how to do it?

First, you put two squares on top of each other - the right sides together.
Then you draw a line diagonally thru the middle, pin both pieces together and sew on both sides of the line (about 1/4" away from the line on each side - you can barely see the seams in this picture).
Finally you cut along the line and when you open up the pieces you have new squares!

In the end you just iron the seams to one side. I felt like this was an awesome trick that saved me a bunch of time. So now I have 80 squares made out of 160 triangles:)

Whats next? The fun part! Putting all of these together to create one side of the quilt!

QUILTING. PART 1

2012-02-04T08:50:00.003-05:00

I'm trying something new. I decided to try quilting. My friend and I are making a quilt for another friend's of our who is an absolutely wonderful lady. We're using T-shirts from all the Habitat builds we've done together and then some fabric for the spaces in between them. She's doing the front and I'm doing the back. Less pressure on me I guess:)

I've gotten several books from the library to get a grasp on how quilts are made and really liked "Little bits quilting bee" by Kathreen Ricketson.

I chose one of the patterns that I liked best and felt like it would be a good one to utilize the different color T-shirts and started cutting. It took me 2 nights. The first night I was cutting the fabric into 40 squares and the second night 40 squares out of T-shirts. Cutting the T-shirts was double work since first I had to cut the fusible interfacing, fuse it and finally cut that same size out of T-shirt.
Have you ever wondered what 80 squares of fabric look like? Quite frankly, they don't look like much:

What's next? 80 squares will become 160 triangles:)

PHEW...

2012-01-31T13:57:00.000-05:00

My goodness! I've been seriously busy lately. Haven't been posting here at all. As a matter of fact, I have blogged 5 times as often as a guest on the Poletsy blog than here on my own blog! Bad, bad, bad girl!!!!

Anyway... I just finished this cover featuring Kate Moss as vintage Bowie. I'm so glad that I got to do this. True, I've been painting a lot lately but as much as I love doing commissions, painting just something, anything out of pure desire to do it feels so good.

I'm also quite ashamed to admit that tomorrow is the due date for sending in the sketchbooks and I won't be sending mine in. I've only done one more drawing since that last one and just couldn't find the time to fill it up in time. It feels terrible. Hopefully I'll get to try again next year!!!

IF ROUND

2011-11-26T10:00:00.002-05:00

I finally started working on my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project. My topic is Forks and Spoons and this was the first idea that popped in my head and I just had to do it. It also seems round enough to make it my this weeks IF submission:)

IF SILENT

2011-11-13T15:18:00.000-05:00

I'm sort of cheating out here because this is not a brand new drawing but something I did several of month ago. Couldn't resist though when I saw this weeks topic.

THE SKETCHBOOK PROJECT

2011-10-25T18:07:00.000-04:00

It arrived!!!! My Sketchbook arrived...

What is The Sketchbook Project? It's like a concert tour, but with sketchbooks. The tour will start in New York in April 2012. Thousands of sketchbooks will be exhibited at galleries and museums as they make their way on tour across the world.

It's an annual thing. I've been wanting to participate in the last 2 years but then I've always decided not to, too worried about my busy schedule and whether I'd be able to do it. Not this year. This year I'm doing it!!! Paid for my book and it's already arrived!!!!

There are 30 themes you can choose from for your sketchbook. I chose "Forks and Spoons". Not sure where it'll take me but I'll post photos on facebook as the ideas start to unravel.

I have to mail the book back by the end of January. There are 32 pages in the book plus 4 cover pages - 36 pages total, meaning I should complete a drawing every three days!

The best part? After the tour, my sketchbook along all the other ones will enter into the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Art Library, where it'll be available for the public to view. I may need to take a special trip to NYC...

EVERY MOTHER COUNTS

2011-10-17T10:11:00.003-04:00

Every 90 seconds, a woman dies from childbirth. Fully 90% of those deaths are preventable. The Aid organization Every Mother Counts is training midwives in Afghanistan, opening health clinics in the Democratic Republic of Congo and shipping unused medical supplies to South Sudan. These are tangible, practical projects designed to combat maternal mortality and injuries worldwide.

Daily paintworks is having a fundraiser for Every Mother Counts and I've decided to auction this painting (one of my favorites actually) for the cause. Please click here to see all the works being auctioned and to find out more about the fundraiser.
I'm going to donate all my profits from this sale to Every Mother Counts. I'm also planning to donate 50% of all my profits of all prints of this painting to the same organization.

SWAPPING ART FOR A HAT

2011-10-12T11:38:00.001-04:00

Last year I swapped art for a bag with Ifona. This year I'm swapping art for a hat with Ella Gajewska. Ella is a milliner and she makes all these awesome hats. You know, the royal wedding type stuff. I love those things but I really had a hard time justifying buying one especially since I'll probably wear it about once a year. And I guess Ella felt the same way about my paintings. So I'm thrilled that we ended up talking about it and decided on a swap.
She's asked for a painting of one of her models wearing one of her hats that would look like a Vogue magazine cover. Here's the picture I worked from and the final product:

I just finished it yesterday. The size of the original is 16"x20" so it's looking pretty big and pretty awesome quite frankly. I had a lot of fun working on it.

On the other hand I've asked for a hat that Ella was offering for sale at her store, but in purple instead of red. Here are the two pictures of the two hats:

I can't wait to get it. I'm not anywhere close to being as beautiful as Ella's model but I'm hoping to be able to pull it off.
I love swapping. It's like modern day bartering via internet:)

FOOTBALL BABIES IN BELLY

2011-09-28T14:53:00.001-04:00

With the football season going on for a while now, I've decided I needed to shape up and get the rest of the football babies going. I've been working on the NFL teams first and I'm pretty much finished. College's next. Whew!

This guy is my favorite so far. Not because Cincinnati is my favorite team. To be honest, I have no clue about football. I like this design the most because of the stripes I've added to the ball to make it a little extra Bengal like:)
To see all football babies available for sale now, please click here.
Also, feel free to contact me for custom babies.

INFERTILITY & I

2011-09-23T14:57:00.001-04:00

Have you ever wondered how I came up with Babies in Bellies? Well, they were for me. I wanted to be able to show off my unborn babies so much and I couldn't find anything online that matched what I envisioned so I drew it out myself. I mean I had already been trying for over 2 years and on prenatal vitamins for 3 at that time, it was bound to happen any day...

See, here's something that I haven't shared with too many people. I've been trying to get pregnant for a long, long time. If you're thinking that you're about to read a story that ends with a baby - you're wrong. Why am I coming out with this information then? Well, I've searched all over the internet and there are plenty of happy endings and lots of forum discussing the as you go failures and next steps, but almost nothing about those who said: "I've had enough" at some point and chose not to have their life centered around menstrual cycles anymore and came to terms with an idea of the childless future. So, I'm sharing here, something very personal, because I'm sure, I'm not the only one. There must be others.

This was going to be my last year trying anyway, but with 3 months to spare and one final trick to go for (the IVF - the mighty procedure that would raise my chances to whooping 40%!!!), I'm saying: I'm done, I'm finished, no more. There will be no more people looking at and into my privates several times a month, there will no more hormones, hot flashes, mood swings and crying. Neither there will be any more shots that are also used to give to boys if their balls don't drop and that made my arm hurt for about 5 days. But mainly there will be no more of the crazy unknown that maybe, hopefully, it'll happen this month...

"It'll probably never happen for us" - I've said it several times in the past, but I never really believed it. I always thought that by some miracle it would happen, that yes I would get pregnant, even better yet, I would get pregnant with twins so that I can have 2 babies right away instead of 1. I never really thought that at some point I will have to realize and come to terms with the fact, that this is not what I want to do anymore. Because at this point I'm not"giving up", I am getting a life back.

So, as I'm throwing away the twenty or so remaining ovulation kits, I don't feel guilty or sad or even disappointed, I actually feel quite liberated. And so I sprinkle them with prenatal vitamins and to top it all off, I trow in the unused pregnancy test still in it's pink wrapping.

IF MESMERIZING

2011-09-20T21:09:00.000-04:00

Haven't submitted to IF for a while now, even though I've been checking it out every week. This week's topic is "mesmerizing". I just finished this portrait today and I've always found Natalie Portman mesmerizing, so here you go, here's my submission.

DON'T GIVE UP

2011-09-16T14:57:00.002-04:00

As a small business owner, I struggle sometimes, or sometimes I struggle a lot. I read something pretty inspirational this week and would like to share it with you here. I've also chose some gorgeous etsy products to include as "graphics" in this post:

1. Every cartoon that Charles Shultz (Peanuts creator), submitted to the yearbook staff at his high school was rejected.

Charlie Brown Centerpiece by inspirationtocreati

2. After Fred Astaire's first screen test, the memo from MGM, read: "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little". Astaire kept it over his fireplace in Beverly Hills.

Fred Astaire pillow by CustomKingdom

3. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas". Disney also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. In fact, the proposed park was rejected by the city of Anaheim, CA, on the grounds that it would only attract "riffraff.

Custom Watercolor Portrait by FeelingArtsyStudio (me)

4. Decca Records turned down a recording contract with the Beatles with the evaluation: "We don't like their sound. Guitar groups are on their way out".

Beatles Decal by VinylWallAccents

5. Thomas Edison's teacher said he was "too stupid to learn anything". He was fired from his first two jobs for being "nonproductive". As and inventor, Edison made over a 1,000 unsuccessful attempts to invent the light bulb. He didn't see it as a 1,000 failures though, instead he said that the light bulb was an invention with a 1,000 steps.

Light bulb moss terrarium by eGardenStudio

6. Albert Einstein did not speak until he was 4. His parents thought he was "subnormal" and one of his teachers described him as "mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in foolish dreams". He was expelled from school

Albert Einstein MePuppet by Sublimations

Imagine if these individuals had given up. Bad experiences can be viewed as positive in hindsight. They can be stepping stones rather than stumbling blocks. So be determined to never give up!

BEDROOM UPDATE PART 1

2011-08-24T10:18:00.000-04:00

I may have been slacking on my art lately but not on painting. I've been working on updating my bedroom and would like to share what's been done so far. My bedroom used to be cream with purple bed covers, purple picture frames and other decorations. I was ready for a change and it's been fairly inexpensive. I hope this post can inspire you to think of updating your own space:)
I went with Sherwin Williams paint called Duration. It's fully washable which is a great advantage if you have pets and / or kids. I chose two colors: Tinsmith (the gray) and Slate Tile (the dark blue). All of the large walls were painted gray, and two small walls blue. After that I taped off parts of one of the walls with Frog Tape (the tape is not as good as advertised but it's better than the regular blue tape) and painted irregular blue stripes to add something funky to the decor. The stripes have also elongated the room and created the illusion of super high ceiling. Total cost of paint and painting supplies - about $200.

I also got new bedding at Bed Bath and Beyond and matching candles at IKEA for the total cost of about $150. And as you can see below I have hung one of my favorite paintings on the wall.

On the other side of the window I hung some more artwork. The pictures below are not paintings, they are cross stitched. They were DMC kits (counted cross stitch) that I had done years ago and they just sat in the closet. I framed them myself. The frame shop will want to charge you over a $100 each for stretching, matting, etc. At any hobby shop, you can get mats for less than $5 each and frames for about $20-$50 depending how fancy you want to go.

So, that's where I'm at right now. I still am planning on buying a low bookshelf for the window cove. (Ikea was out but they should have them early on in September). I'm also working on the framed wall art for above the bed as well as hunting for wall frames at thrift stores and goodwill that I'm going to strip and repaint with the leftover blue paint. All in all I'm planning on spending about another $150 to make the whole renovation cost less than $500. I will post again once finished...

BUSY IN JULY PART 2

2011-07-28T21:30:00.000-04:00

July's almost over. I'm still really busy at home planning the repainting and minor remodeling of our condo or at least some parts of it. On the list are: the staircase, master bedroom and bathroom and maybe, possibly, hopefully, if I still have the energy for it - the garage.

I'm pretty much OCD so it's challenging to live with a different routine and also in a disorganized or rather not organized as usual space. But it'll be all worth it when it's done. I'm starting as early as tomorrow with removal of the nasty, mold infested silicone in my tub:)

In the meantime, July and summer in general mean slow sales, which is actually good for me as far as being super busy as is, but not so good as far as trying to keep up with the budget. So, to "attract new crowds" I've been working on new tops featuring my Babies in Bellies. Here are two of my newest shirts: the pink v-neck and the mauve cap sleeve:

BUSY IN JULY

2011-07-24T11:01:00.001-04:00

I've been really busy this month. My mom came down for the summer which is awesome but also nerve wrecking as far as trying to just stay on my usual schedule. In the midst of that, I'm planning on starting to remodel and repaint some things at home this summer and it's just crazy getting everything in line. Nevertheless, I'm still trying to spend every free second I got on my art and other business related activities.

This weekend, both Saturday and Sunday I got up at 6 a.m. (ouch! really not my time of the day) and continued working on my painting of the Vogue cover featuring Lady Diana Spencer. Here it is. Still wet:)

She was such a gorgeous person inside and out and I really have been wanting to paint her for a long time now. This month, would have been her 50th birthday and the idea of that got me choked up and gave the extra motivation to just get on with it right away and finish as soon as possible. RIP Lady Di!

BACK AFTER A WHILE

2011-07-12T09:25:00.000-04:00

I've gone missing for a month. I went on my European vacation - first to Krakow (my home land) and then to Amsterdam. It was absolutely wonderful being able to hang out in the old world among all of those wonderful old buildings, carvings and visiting local galleries and museums. And all of the street vendors and artist... wow!.. truly inspiring. I can watch them work for hours.

After I've gotten back it took me another week, just to unpack, get over the jet lag, clean the place up, get over the sickness etc., but I'm finally back at my desk working on new artwork. As always I'll be posting my work in progress on facebook.

AUDREY HEPBURN

2011-06-13T13:21:00.001-04:00

I have recently read Audrey Hepburn's biography and I found her life amazing and interesting but also somewhat sad and lonely at the same time. I felt like a Bazaar cover with Audrey and her gorgeous face would fall right in with my other painting from the series:

This picture of Audrey was featured in April of 1956. She's just so timeless.

MY FIRST GALLERY EXPERIENCE

2011-06-10T17:19:00.000-04:00

I've been planning on approaching a local gallery for a while now and this afternoon went straight to the Duluth Art Gallery on my way home from work. It's a local business and it felt like the perfect place to start. Not so much. It actually is quite a bit of a strange place, a little too dark, musty, and dirty, but they have some wonderful paintings and also a couple of gorgeous mosaics and jewelry pieces, but nobody greets you when you come in and it doesn't seem like they try to make any sales. That's not bad, because I don't really like to pestered by sales people but that's also not good. I felt like I was there way too long (about 15 minutes) to be completely ignored.

Once I had finally found somebody, they weren't too friendly at all and the moment I asked about showing my artwork to them (not selling it there, just trying to find out how they operated and if there's anybody I could show it to in order to be considered), I was told that they had a 300 person waiting list and that I should try again next year. (Really? and you still have empty space on the walls?) So, I asked if I could be put on the list. (Right? Why not?, This is my first time after all, not sure what to expect, I just want to stay calm and be polite, all in all I'm just a small business owner like you are). I was shoved a piece of lined paper with no instructions, so I wrote my name down and then asked if I should put my phone number down or email or what kind of information they were looking for. "Phone number's fine". OK. So I reached in my purse to get my leaflet out just to show an example of things I've done recently, but he didn't even look at it and instead said: "All of this will be considered at that time?". What time? when you look at my phone number and think that this is some real nice stuff?

I don't know, maybe I'm taking the whole thing way to personal, but it just felt wrong. Has any of you gone thru something like this before? I have some of The Glam Box items in a couple of stores around town - Working Girl Boutique and at the Hudgens Center for the Arts and have approached several other places in the last year but nobody has ever treated me like a I'm a piece of crap and pretty much kicked me out of their store like I was an insurance salesman that you get 3 times a day everyday.

In the end, I wouldn't want to exhibit in an unfriendly place anyway. First of all, my artwork probably wouldn't sell and more importantly I would have to deal with those people every time something sold or everything I needed to bring a new piece in.

I'm sure they will never call me. Heck, some people that actually loved my artwork (or acted like they did anyway), never called me. But I'm definitely not giving up. Live and learn is my final thought on that subject.

MORE HATS

2011-05-15T08:59:00.001-04:00

In the last week I have already started and finished another of Arturo's hats. He calls this one a Couture Mask Headpiece but I just like calling it a hat. I have no idea where I could possibly wear it to but I am completely in love with it:

Don't forget, next weekend I will have a booth at the Alive Expo at the World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA. I'm going to bring this painting with me so if you're local to ATL, by all means, stop by and come see me:) Now, I'm off to framing and doing 3 million other things that I have to get ready for the expo. I had no idea how much work and time it takes to get ready for one of these (It might be the OCD in me that makes me go the extra mile and make sure that everything is perfect, but either way, it's a loooooot of work). This is my first big one so I have no idea what to expect but I'm hoping for it to be real fun and a total success:)

Next up, (when the expo craziness calms down), another hat, this time created by Ella Gajewska who is another genius milliner and have already chosen another Bazaar cover to work on:) Wish there was more time in the day to just paint, paint, paint:)

HATS CONTINUED

2011-05-08T13:39:00.001-04:00

I've been so much in love with Arturo's hats and so much excited about being able to paint them that I've been pretty much working non-stop since Friday night and finished it this morning:

If you're local to Atlanta area, I'm going to exhibit the original at the Alive Expo the weekend of the 21st:) Come see me and the painting!

HATS

2011-05-06T18:21:00.001-04:00

Arturo Rios is an artist who makes extraordinary hats. I'm sure he thought I was a wack job when I asked him if I could paint some of them but nevertheless agreed. So, I am really excited and have already started. Here's the first glimpse of the first one:

You can follow my progress in my FB WIP photo album but I'll make sure to post again here once finished. Happy Friday everybody!

MIRANDA KERR

2011-04-27T09:12:00.000-04:00

When I saw this cover and this picture of Miranda done by Michelangelo Di Battista, I just knew I had to paint it. It's truly wonderful. I had real fun doing it too. The light hits her from the back so the shading on the face and other parts on her body is different from the usual. I love her dress and her hat and she's just soooooo pretty. I'm not sure why would I ever choose painting flowers already cut and dying in vases or some other still life if I can continue painting beautiful faces:)

HMMM....

2011-04-14T16:06:00.000-04:00

Here's a third drawing from my Expressions series:

It's called Hmmm.... I hope you like this series because I have several more coming: Oops..., Mwah..., Eew..., Ooh La La... and whatever else might come to my mind between now and whenever.

I don't know how soon I'll get a chance to work on them though, because I'm getting kind of busy with Mother's Day orders. Can't really post those here either since they're going to be gifts:) Not complaining though, because I truly enjoy doing portraits. I guess people and animals are my thing. I just really don't care for flowers, fruit, landscapes, etc. Don't get me wrong, there are some gorgeous ones out there, I just enjoy doing life subjects and incorporating their energy and character in my art.

JENNIFER ANISTON

2011-04-13T12:36:00.000-04:00

Less than a week and a new post? I have to say I'm proud of myself:) That's only because I've finished this painting yesterday and want to show it off:

It's Jennifer Aniston when she was featured on Harper's Bazaar cover last September. Here's the cover that I was working off:

I feel like I made the eyes a little too big but also like that made her look a little more beautiful so I'm keeping it the way it is and not changing anything.

REALLY?....

2011-04-07T15:21:00.000-04:00

Once again, I have not posted for over a month! Ouch! Has it really been that long?! WOW! Time flies when you're having fun. I've been gone for a little and then just really busy with stupid stuff like spring cleaning at home. At the same time I've been busy working and getting ready for my May 1st show. Here's Really?...

She's the 2nd drawing from my Expressions collections. I named her Really?... because I felt like she's got that look, that I give people when it feels like their BSing me and I'm just tired of listening to them and all I have the energy to say back to them is "Really?", the "Are you serious?" really type thing.