5 X 5 small works project

From the blog of Seth Apter:

my piece w/flaps down

This collaborative art project began as an extension to my first book, The Pulse of Mixed Media, in which contributing artists responded to questions and prompts by creating art. As a way to involve additional artists, I placed an open call on my blog for contributors to submit work for an online exhibition. Artists were asked to create new work, in the form of a 5" x 5" square and in any medium, that answered one or more of the following questions: 

1. If your artwork could talk, what would it say?

2. Who has had the most impact on your creative life?

3. What is one thing you have never shared with the creative community?

More than 75 international artists contributed over 110 works. All works were initially published on my blog in a series of posts. Subsequently, the 5 x 5 project was featured in an 8 page spread in the November/December 2012 issue of Somerset Studio in which 18 works were highlighted.

If you click on my link in the sidebar (5 X5 project) you can see where the art is now exhibited and for sale.
(i actually have a piece in there)   :)  the link will take you to Seth's blog post that includes pictures from
the exhibit and links to read more about the project~

my piece w/flaps up to reveal picture

Day at the Dallas Arboretum

Traci-8 Maids a Milking  "more cowbutt"

Traci

 Sunday our art group had planned a field trip to the Dallas Arboretum to see their new "12 Days of Christmas" exhibit.  One of our members-Traci Hutton, worked on some of the costumes. (she is a costumer by trade-has worked on Barney, Wishbone(award) and currently the Dallas Opera.) We planned to go the 2nd wkend it was open to avoid opening wkend crowds. ( well opening wkend weather was bad and it rained sat so we picked a great day) the weather was wonderful, clear & cool -and early enough that the crowds were small. 8 Maids a Milking and 9 Ladies Dancing were the two that she worked on.  Each exhibit was wonderful-great attention to details.  Since Traci was part of the team that worked on these, we got some of the inside scoop on issues they ran into and just how much work went into these. Traci also worked on 3 of the fabulous ballgowns in the 9th exhibit. Stunning dresses/fabric to say the least.

Traci-9 Ladies Dancing

3 French Hens  Donna G and Mary

This is an example of one of the gazebo's. Each was encased in glass. Each weathervane on top had a cut out to match the theme. This one was
 a french hen for 3 French Hens.














This is a closer view of above.  Each gazebo had painted columns to go with the theme that were glittered and jeweled. The lattice work inside was painted/glittered and mirrored.  Keep in mind each gazebo was specially built for this-and each exhibit moved (turned inside like a carousel.)

5 Golden Rings

  

 The gold rings was one of the favorites. The seals with their golden hoops and the polar bear "ringmaster."  Inside ceiling of each gazebo was draped in fabric-this one had red and white circus stripes.

7 Swans a Swimming

  The 7 Swans had to be one of my favorite.  Very elegant-captured the look of ice and snow.  The swans each had on a fabulous jeweled crown.  Their were strands of crystals hanging down around the perimeter.

One of the houses in pumpkin exhibit

 

 Since the fall pumpkin exhibit was still going on (the last wk) we checked it out too.  Every type of pumpkin and gourd you could imagine.  Several of us also started collecting the stems that had fallen off  for future art projects...won't say which of us kept squatting down to pick them up, but i will say my thighs are so sore today i can hardly walk...

Pumpkin exhibit

   

 

 Really have no idea why i have such a pained look on my face in this picture  I also noticed for the first time that Donna G and i are both wearing lime green.   I do notice the bulging pockets in my jacket so this was after the pumpkin patch :)

Donna (me) Traci, Mary, Donna G   no, we did not plan to match

Denise, Mary, Donna G 

 We all went to Torchy's Taco's for lunch after our outing. We were all starving and what better way to end the day than eating with friends!

Traci, April, Carolyn

Me (donna) Carol

Thanks to Carolyn for the pictures of Traci, the lunch photo's and the 4 walking!  most of mine had too much glare~

Jeanne Oliver's New Endeavor

Go here to check out Jeanne Oliver's newest endeavor and a giveaway~

"My heart behind The Living Studio is that we will all learn to explore and create wherever we live.

I hope to inspire people to step out of the comfort of their studios and out into the world and boldly create based upon the beauty all around them.

The Living Studio combines my love of travel, creating and connecting with other creatives."

Go to the link to learn more about where she will be teaching.  

"Oh the places we'll go"  comes to mind...

The Mask...

My nephew texted me on a wednesday night (oct 15) and asked if I could make him a mask "like this image" (one he included in text) I had had to work thurs and have my garage sale fri/sat and he wanted it for sat night. sure thing.
I said I would attempt something but it wasn't going to look like his image.   I started on an idea
that i ended up scrapping pretty quick.  I looked on pinterest for some mask-making hints. 
I got a text on thurs that he got his dates wrong and I had another week.  OK, game on.
I bought a cheap plastic mask to use as my base and used some air-dry clay to form my mask
that i would paper mache over.
 Once happy with the image I let the clay dry overnight.  I started layering good old fashioned glue/newspaper paper mache to build my face.  When I got it to look like I wanted, I let that dry too.
 Now comes the fun part-painting and embellishing.  I gave it a base coat in white then added my
other colors for a worn leather kind of look.  I sewed over the eye and mouth openings, added buttons
over the mouth and a rusty safety pin through a "scar."   I sewed heavy cotton fabric around the mask
so it could be worn more like a hood.  Blood red paint was added to the scars/cuts and a few other
spots to highlight.  All in all, he was a happy camper when I took it to him.   He said he had several offers
from people to buy it from him..guess i know how to pick up a few extra bucks next year.  :)

 

3 Weeks Gone

Time flies by quickly these days- Gary and I went and painted pottery about 10 days ago.  I did halloween
themed stuff and he painted a bowl with a college logo (that he drew himself)  It was his first time to do this.  I think he did pretty good for a beginner.

top view

other side

Gary's first attempt at painting pottery!

bundle ready for steam

unveiling...

blah result

I've also pinned a lot of "eco-dying" pins lately.  I've loved the look of the paper and fabric since the first time i saw it several yrs ago.  A friend of mine tried it last wkend on paper-hers turned out pretty good.  I decided to try it on fabric during the week.  EPIC fail is all i can say.  some color came off the blue twine i used
to wrap the bundle but that's about it.  Guess I'll try again after i have my garage sale. (finally)  Then i can
start to get my house back in some sort of order.

On My Table

 I've been on a bracelet kick since i made some wrap bracelets this summer and took an online belt bracelet class.  Suffice it to say, people will be getting bracelets this Christmas.  I just finished a halloween fat book project so decided it was time to clean off my table (sort of) and make room to start a jewelry frenzy.  This of course led to the decision to organize my beads and doo-dads so they would be easier to find/use.  So last night i sorted through stuff i forgot i had, set aside "kits" of beads for certain people and got everything ready to go.  I got 2 started last night-many more to go.

some of my doo-dads

 I recently read this book I found at my library. If you liked Seth Apter's books, you'll like this one too.  It asks a series of questions from a wide variety of artists-how they beat creative block, what would they do if not artist, etc...  interesting read.





And of course, what is a binge in the art room with out a snack...like chocolate. Blue Bell's new malt shoppe...chocolate malt ice cream with mini malted milk balls.  i don't usually like chocolate/candy in ice cream, it's too hard.  but if you set them aside to warm, they aren't bad :)

Studio Table

Seth Apter is hosting a blog hop-show us your studio table.  Reality.  Not the pretty ones we see
in magazines~ This is how our tables and the tables of others look most of the time.
We all know you can clean it off and have lots of space but the minute you start a project (or two) you
are back to the 12" spot to work in...
Looking at these pictures, i think after I finish this current project and clean up a bit, i'll post a picture of how the table look occasionally-like the day between projects. :)

Neglecting the Blog

close up of "circus:" fabric collage

one of my circus collage's in progress

Wow, didn't realize i hadn't posted in so long.  The past few months were busy.  My parents put their home of 41 yrs on the market and it sold the first week.  A month later they were out.  We helped with massive packing/going through attic etc the final four days.  It was hectic to say the least.  The new homeowners have already made changes and called me to pick up things that were accidentally left behind or hidden in
the far recesses of cabinets and storage building.  Between their move and emptying my grand parents' home earlier this year, our house would now qualify for an episode of Hoarders.  Until my garage sale later this month (hopefully it will cool off for it) I have 2 refrigerators in the kitchen/breakfast nook.  One will go in the garage when i get rid of the freezer that is out there~ There is a basic path through the garage, my dining room, kitchen, living room and garage are crammed full. Found a lot of memorabilia type stuff that would have been tossed if it weren't for me helping at both houses.  My dad would have left the contents of the attic if i hadn't gone up there and got most of it down.  He was beyond stressed at that point.
   I have done a little bit of art lately.  I'm working on a collaborative halloween fat book and my art swap
for this month's art meeting.  Our theme is "dirty, old circus" and it was right up my ally.

This is a book i did this summer.  Made fabric paper out of muslin and tea bags. Stamped on them and glued them down.  Will do another post on this and my circus collages soon with better pictures 

stamped tea bags

Book page

book cover

dis·in·te·grate

verb

verb: disintegrate; 3rd person present: disintegrates; past tense: disintegrated; past participle: disintegrated; gerund or present participle: disintegrating

break up into small parts, typically as the result of impact or decay.

 

I decided i wanted to do another "bundle" this year-the one i did yrs ago when Seth Apter had everyone making one was my learning curve.  It was not cool like so many others-i know better kind of things to add to it this time.

 Started with a piece of muslin.  I laid papers on it, tea bags (empty and some with tea)

 more muslin, rusted metal, chicken wire

 cardboard

 rusted muslin

 grapevine (grows in our back yard) sheet music

 tied on some washers

 secured it all with some pink twine and thin cotton fabric strips

It was night when i got thee urge and about to rain, so i hung it on the back porch for a few days.  It now resides in a tree so I can't see it daily-and be tempted to take it down early.  It's been out for 3 weeks now-so I will take a photo from time to time before i remove it at the end of summer.