Hello
my lovely blog readers!
I thought you might be interested
in the minutes and some links
from my local Art Sisters
group. I am so very fortunate
to have met JoAnne,
our ringleader,
and generous donator of paint
and studio space, last August.
I'm a bit of a homebody
and isolator yet these
women and this
fellowship means the world
to me. My world has been
getting smaller for various
reasons, and these talented
women open it right the hell up.
Sometimes when I don't want
it to, but when I need it to.
I'm the unofficial secretary.
Altho after this missive,
JoAnne might take away
my responsibilities.
teehee.
02/29/12 Meeting: In attendance: JoAnne, Cheryl, Jackie, Greta, Jacquie, Susan and Priscilla
Another night of fine fellowship and arty adventures!! As usual our subjects of conversation were all over the map, and here is an accounting of what we talked about without rhyme or reason really, teehee:
JoAnne mentioned an email list called craftsy which sells knitting patterns. I think she was inspired by Jackie knitting a pattern straight out of her head......without a pattern....does that scare anyone else or just me? LOL Here is the link I found upon further investigation:
http://www.craftsy.com/
Craftsy looks like a huge resource for fiber arts, sewing and workshops and tutorials. You can sign up for email updates or join them on facebook. I liked the fb link because I seem to be able to manage fb alot easier than an overload of email. I use facebook now the same way I used to "bookmark" sites on my computer. I would completely forget about the bookmark after adding it to some invisible computer file! Now I log in to facebook and can see what I've liked very easily. Thanks for sharing the site JoAnne!
Cheryl and I oogled and coveted the collage paper doll book JoAnne had out. The consensus seems to be that everyone loves paper dolls. Who else thinks that would be a fun project? I think it would be cool to have a show n tell of paper dolls if anyone has any left from their childhood. I have one that was my moms. She's missing a head but still dear to me. Creepy, I know.
JoAnne and Greta mentioned getting emails from the Artworks. The Artworks is a valuable resource for artist opportunities, classes and shows. Here is the link to sign up to receive newsletters:
http://artworkstrenton.com/membership/?cc_success=1
Susan brought in a butt load of rubber stamps to unload and the result was like a bunch of fat girls on a deserted island with only one Hershey bar left. LOL I'm kidding. It was super gratifying to be able to offer up supplies I'm tired of that will get recycled by fresh eyes and new talent. Joanne graciously turned the experience into a trade, and gave me some custom made stamps that she makes using fun foam and woodburning tools and exacto knives. Everyone was fascinated by this and I believe we decided that a meeting in which hand made stamps are the subject would be divine.
Jacquie graciously shared valuable JoAnne Fabric coupons! Thanks, Jacquie!
She also shared her artful experience at the Baltimore American Craft Council Show.
http://shows.craftcouncil.org/baltimore
I liked them on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/CraftCouncil?sk=wall
Perhaps next year we could all take the $1 bolt bus to Baltimore and have an Art Sisters Field Trip!
Jacquie shared about the fantastic art she saw on the cutting edge of craft. I think most of us drooled over the incredible encaustic work of
Deborah Kruger:
http://www.deborahkruger.com/
also the purses made of books and album covers:
http://rebound-designs.com/
the mixed media work of Mikel Robinson:
http://www.mikelrobinson.com/
There is a link on the sidebar on the show's site of more of the artists that were shown at the BACCS if you want to see more!!
Princeton was mentioned along the way, an upcoming show in april called Communiversity:
http://www.artscouncilofprinceton.org/HTML/EVENTS/2012CV/2012CV_main.html
and again this site offers a link to facebook.
The show is April 28, looks like a beautiful outing and if my ankles are up to it, I would love to go. Anyone care to join me? If I can't walk all of it, when I get to that point, I will happily sit and soak up the ambiance while my companion keeps looking. Don't let fear of my ankles stop you from going with me!!
This may be a venue for future participation also. Let's keep this on the "calendar" of our minds and maybe get a table and group of our wares. We can be a mini mixed media mall. teehee
Several members, including Greta, spoke about the collage artist Romare Bearden. I have never heard of him. Well, I am self taught from a non art background, thats my excuse LOL. here is the link:
http://www.beardenfoundation.org/index2.shtml
Thank you so much for sharing, Greta! This is why I love my Art Sisters!
Speaking of Greta, for awhile she disappeared in the paper avalanche LOL of JoAnne's scanner area. She gave us a brief overview of the scanning process:
1. scan your print in CMYK
2. use the highest DPI possible, at least 300 dpi but preferably 600dpi
3. scan at full size because once the image is saved you can go smaller but not bigger
4. save as a jpeg
5. pixels: Greta will get back to us on that
Now why did Greta disappear to scan? JoAnne has a large quantitiy of hand made doodled masterpieces. They are lush in color, and amazingly intricate. Priscilla mentioned that JoAnnes work made her think of the work of Hundertwasser. Here is a link:
http://www.hundertwasser.at/english/exhibitions/hw_im_khw.php
JoAnne's idea is to sell her papers as scrapbook papers on etsy as jpegs. Easy, right? not so fast! First there are hours of scanning, and then tweaking the papers for color. Greta's demo proved that tweaking is necessary. She scanned and printed one of JoAnne's papers and the color was not as powerful. Tweaking will be necessary on some kind of photo editing software, whether it be Photoshop, or PS Elements or a free photosharing site on the web like picasa.
http://picasa.google.com/
or snapfish
http://www.snapfish.com/snapfish/
Once JoA has the initial amount of scanning done, it will be easy for her to keep up with it, scanning as she finishes each new doodle piece. The next issue was applying a watermark. Greta mentioned picasa offers this feature. If JoA has her papers listed on etsy, makes a sale, she can then email a jpeg link (one in which the watermark is not there or program it somehow to not be there when the item has sold and the buyer opens the file? Greta, need you on that ) At this point, I think Jackie mentioned a program called SmartDraw, which is a downloadable website in which you can inbed into the file how many times you can copy the file. I am out of my league here. Here is a link if anyone wants to explore this and report back to us:
http://www.smartdraw.com/specials/smartdraw.asp?id=104640&gclid=CM6gtNXb0q4CFYNo4Aod3XEYyA
Priscilla shared with us information for her upcoming 2 day Clay Monoprinting workshop on May 5 and 6. It looks like beautiful and fascinating work. Here is the link to register:
http://chakrasclear.eventbrite.com
or email Priscilla:
priscillaalgava@gmail.com
We are honored to have Priscilla as a sister!
http://www.priscillaalgava.com/
Late in the evening, I believe we started another meeting LOL....or at least the subject a lot of us are very interested in exploring. Jacquie gave us a quick overview about photographing our work. The overview involved talk of floodlights, white boards, grey sheets, copy stands, white balance, and parabolic curves.
And if a train leaves Chicago going 80 miles per hour.....teehee. We need to be able to photograph our work to sell it. We are blessed with Greta and Jacquie who understand what all those above words mean, and might be gracious enough to share it with us. Cheryl recently took a class about photographing your artwork and has volunteered to bring us copies of her handouts she received.
I propose a meeting in the near future in which we all bring our cameras, batteries, cord, data stick things, laptops, and whatever else we need. Have a demo by Jacquie and anyone else who has the skills, and then each take a couple pics of our work and look at them on the computer to see how we did. Maybe everyone bring in 2 works of 2 very different sizes and colors, to learn techniques for shooting big/small, bright/ b&w.
Maybe this subject would be a good day to have that 3 hour saturday workshop? or we could try it at night and if we need more time or learnin, discuss a second meeting or workshop. Jacquie, let us know if you are interested in teaching this and if so, what kind of supplies do we need to contribute as per sheets, lights, white board, etc.
If we can master good photographs of our art, we save money and time and can possible increase sales on our websites.
I propose Wednesday March 28 as our next Art Sisters meeting. Please leave your input below about future meeting subjects.
That wraps it up, Art Sisters!
Until next time, Live Creatively!
xoS
Please hit "reply to all" and answer these questions:
Next Art Sisters meeting, Wednesday March 28. I can attend. I cannot attend.
I am interested in an Artist Trading Card make and trade Saturday workshop. yes or no
Should a paper doll project / show and tell be the subject of a future meeting?yes or no
I will attend a scanning party for JoA if she supplies filet mignon and lobster.
There is no way in hell I will scan for hours for any kind of food bribery whatsoever.
Should a paste paper project/demo be the subject of a future meeting? yes or no
Should hand made stamps be the subject of a demo/project meeting?yes or no
Should learning to photograph our artwork be the subject of a demo/project meeting? yes or no
I am interested in a Saturday workshop on any subject. yes or no.
I think JoAnne gets cranky after 9 pm. yes or no. LOL
Another night of fine fellowship and arty adventures!! As usual our subjects of conversation were all over the map, and here is an accounting of what we talked about without rhyme or reason really, teehee:
JoAnne mentioned an email list called craftsy which sells knitting patterns. I think she was inspired by Jackie knitting a pattern straight out of her head......without a pattern....does that scare anyone else or just me? LOL Here is the link I found upon further investigation:
http://www.craftsy.com/
Craftsy looks like a huge resource for fiber arts, sewing and workshops and tutorials. You can sign up for email updates or join them on facebook. I liked the fb link because I seem to be able to manage fb alot easier than an overload of email. I use facebook now the same way I used to "bookmark" sites on my computer. I would completely forget about the bookmark after adding it to some invisible computer file! Now I log in to facebook and can see what I've liked very easily. Thanks for sharing the site JoAnne!
Cheryl and I oogled and coveted the collage paper doll book JoAnne had out. The consensus seems to be that everyone loves paper dolls. Who else thinks that would be a fun project? I think it would be cool to have a show n tell of paper dolls if anyone has any left from their childhood. I have one that was my moms. She's missing a head but still dear to me. Creepy, I know.
JoAnne and Greta mentioned getting emails from the Artworks. The Artworks is a valuable resource for artist opportunities, classes and shows. Here is the link to sign up to receive newsletters:
http://artworkstrenton.com/membership/?cc_success=1
Susan brought in a butt load of rubber stamps to unload and the result was like a bunch of fat girls on a deserted island with only one Hershey bar left. LOL I'm kidding. It was super gratifying to be able to offer up supplies I'm tired of that will get recycled by fresh eyes and new talent. Joanne graciously turned the experience into a trade, and gave me some custom made stamps that she makes using fun foam and woodburning tools and exacto knives. Everyone was fascinated by this and I believe we decided that a meeting in which hand made stamps are the subject would be divine.
Jacquie graciously shared valuable JoAnne Fabric coupons! Thanks, Jacquie!
She also shared her artful experience at the Baltimore American Craft Council Show.
http://shows.craftcouncil.org/baltimore
I liked them on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/CraftCouncil?sk=wall
Perhaps next year we could all take the $1 bolt bus to Baltimore and have an Art Sisters Field Trip!
Jacquie shared about the fantastic art she saw on the cutting edge of craft. I think most of us drooled over the incredible encaustic work of
Deborah Kruger:
http://www.deborahkruger.com/
also the purses made of books and album covers:
http://rebound-designs.com/
the mixed media work of Mikel Robinson:
http://www.mikelrobinson.com/
There is a link on the sidebar on the show's site of more of the artists that were shown at the BACCS if you want to see more!!
Princeton was mentioned along the way, an upcoming show in april called Communiversity:
http://www.artscouncilofprinceton.org/HTML/EVENTS/2012CV/2012CV_main.html
and again this site offers a link to facebook.
The show is April 28, looks like a beautiful outing and if my ankles are up to it, I would love to go. Anyone care to join me? If I can't walk all of it, when I get to that point, I will happily sit and soak up the ambiance while my companion keeps looking. Don't let fear of my ankles stop you from going with me!!
This may be a venue for future participation also. Let's keep this on the "calendar" of our minds and maybe get a table and group of our wares. We can be a mini mixed media mall. teehee
Several members, including Greta, spoke about the collage artist Romare Bearden. I have never heard of him. Well, I am self taught from a non art background, thats my excuse LOL. here is the link:
http://www.beardenfoundation.org/index2.shtml
Thank you so much for sharing, Greta! This is why I love my Art Sisters!
Speaking of Greta, for awhile she disappeared in the paper avalanche LOL of JoAnne's scanner area. She gave us a brief overview of the scanning process:
1. scan your print in CMYK
2. use the highest DPI possible, at least 300 dpi but preferably 600dpi
3. scan at full size because once the image is saved you can go smaller but not bigger
4. save as a jpeg
5. pixels: Greta will get back to us on that
Now why did Greta disappear to scan? JoAnne has a large quantitiy of hand made doodled masterpieces. They are lush in color, and amazingly intricate. Priscilla mentioned that JoAnnes work made her think of the work of Hundertwasser. Here is a link:
http://www.hundertwasser.at/english/exhibitions/hw_im_khw.php
JoAnne's idea is to sell her papers as scrapbook papers on etsy as jpegs. Easy, right? not so fast! First there are hours of scanning, and then tweaking the papers for color. Greta's demo proved that tweaking is necessary. She scanned and printed one of JoAnne's papers and the color was not as powerful. Tweaking will be necessary on some kind of photo editing software, whether it be Photoshop, or PS Elements or a free photosharing site on the web like picasa.
http://picasa.google.com/
or snapfish
http://www.snapfish.com/snapfish/
Once JoA has the initial amount of scanning done, it will be easy for her to keep up with it, scanning as she finishes each new doodle piece. The next issue was applying a watermark. Greta mentioned picasa offers this feature. If JoA has her papers listed on etsy, makes a sale, she can then email a jpeg link (one in which the watermark is not there or program it somehow to not be there when the item has sold and the buyer opens the file? Greta, need you on that ) At this point, I think Jackie mentioned a program called SmartDraw, which is a downloadable website in which you can inbed into the file how many times you can copy the file. I am out of my league here. Here is a link if anyone wants to explore this and report back to us:
http://www.smartdraw.com/specials/smartdraw.asp?id=104640&gclid=CM6gtNXb0q4CFYNo4Aod3XEYyA
Priscilla shared with us information for her upcoming 2 day Clay Monoprinting workshop on May 5 and 6. It looks like beautiful and fascinating work. Here is the link to register:
http://chakrasclear.eventbrite.com
or email Priscilla:
priscillaalgava@gmail.com
We are honored to have Priscilla as a sister!
http://www.priscillaalgava.com/
Late in the evening, I believe we started another meeting LOL....or at least the subject a lot of us are very interested in exploring. Jacquie gave us a quick overview about photographing our work. The overview involved talk of floodlights, white boards, grey sheets, copy stands, white balance, and parabolic curves.
And if a train leaves Chicago going 80 miles per hour.....teehee. We need to be able to photograph our work to sell it. We are blessed with Greta and Jacquie who understand what all those above words mean, and might be gracious enough to share it with us. Cheryl recently took a class about photographing your artwork and has volunteered to bring us copies of her handouts she received.
I propose a meeting in the near future in which we all bring our cameras, batteries, cord, data stick things, laptops, and whatever else we need. Have a demo by Jacquie and anyone else who has the skills, and then each take a couple pics of our work and look at them on the computer to see how we did. Maybe everyone bring in 2 works of 2 very different sizes and colors, to learn techniques for shooting big/small, bright/ b&w.
Maybe this subject would be a good day to have that 3 hour saturday workshop? or we could try it at night and if we need more time or learnin, discuss a second meeting or workshop. Jacquie, let us know if you are interested in teaching this and if so, what kind of supplies do we need to contribute as per sheets, lights, white board, etc.
If we can master good photographs of our art, we save money and time and can possible increase sales on our websites.
I propose Wednesday March 28 as our next Art Sisters meeting. Please leave your input below about future meeting subjects.
That wraps it up, Art Sisters!
Until next time, Live Creatively!
xoS
Please hit "reply to all" and answer these questions:
Next Art Sisters meeting, Wednesday March 28. I can attend. I cannot attend.
I am interested in an Artist Trading Card make and trade Saturday workshop. yes or no
Should a paper doll project / show and tell be the subject of a future meeting?yes or no
I will attend a scanning party for JoA if she supplies filet mignon and lobster.
There is no way in hell I will scan for hours for any kind of food bribery whatsoever.
Should a paste paper project/demo be the subject of a future meeting? yes or no
Should hand made stamps be the subject of a demo/project meeting?yes or no
Should learning to photograph our artwork be the subject of a demo/project meeting? yes or no
I am interested in a Saturday workshop on any subject. yes or no.
I think JoAnne gets cranky after 9 pm. yes or no. LOL
I hope you enjoyed a peek
at Art Sisters!
xoS
isn't it wonderful to have partners in crime? just from studio night where the minutes (had any been taken) would have been all over the place, but the laughs & inspiration are so productive! too bad we're so far apart, we'd really like sharing music & art making :)
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