Monthly Archives: November 2012

Cool Fonts

Since I know you like art and you also use a computer I thought I would share a great website that I use alot.  Although this site has many different fonts available (Oh and did I mention they are FREE) this link are for some very creative "Graffiti Fonts"

http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=606

Here are some very useful and cool Graffiti fonts.  These are great if you are doing any kind of digital art or crafty photo editing.  There currently are 22 pages available.

Also at the top of the page you will notice a hugh red rectangle.  Inside this rectange are all the different font categories that they currently host.  Again all these fonts are free and most are availble for PC, Mac and Linux.

Take a look and let me know which are your favorite.  If your like me I love me some fonts!

A Quick 6 Minute video by Irv Rudley

Here Mr Rudley goes through painting a face focusing on shapes and shades.  Its more of an exercise than a lesson.  It takes you away from the details and teaches you to pay more attention on the shapes.  It kind of neat to look at if your a beginner.

Enjoy the video.

Art Hoist in Holland

And now for something completely different.  This might be old news for some, but if you have not seen or heard about this, its very interesting.

This came out of the Guardian on Tuesday October 16.  Tens of millions of pounds of paintings were stolen overnight from the Kunsthal Museum in the Netherlands.  One security expert described the museum, designed by the star Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, as a "gem of a gallery", but a "nightmare to protect", and suggested that thieves spent months plotting the robbery.

They are speculating that thieves use Rotterdam's Port to get the painting out of the area quickly.  This is right out of the movies.  When I started reading this I wondered, how in the world are you going to sell these? Again they are speculating that the paintings might have been "Stolen to Order" and that if this is the case its more than likely for a collector.  If this is true, chances are these fine pieces of art will never be seen again.

Read the full article on the Guardian.  It's quite a lengthily article but very interesting.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/oct/16/rotterdam-art-thieves-valuable-paintings

Christmas Cards Already?

Ok so you made it through Thanksgiving, now its time to start thinking about Christmas.  You only have 4 weeks!

If your going to make your own Christmas cards then you better get going.  Take a look at some of these cards I found over on another blog.  These ladies have some very creative tallent.

As far as the supplies they used I noticed down towards the bottom of the page the author says "If you google "Stampendous Frantage"....you will find alternative stockists in the UK...just be aware it is highly addictive stuff but loads of fun to use".

Here is a direct link to the original post.  Check it out.
http://kath-allthatglitter.blogspot.com/2012/11/christmas-with-frantage.html

Pleased to have the opportunity of supporting Stars on Canvas 2012 fundraiser for The Willow foundation!

Stars on Canvas is a collection of original artworks by artists, illustrators and stars of sport, music, stage and screen. This colourful and imaginative collection of 20cm x 20cm canvases created by more than 250 well known names will be individually sold in an eBay auction this November. All monies raised will go to the Willow Foundation and could help us to reach our 10,000th Special Day in 2013.

This is your opportunity to own an original piece of artwork by some of the very best in their field. It could be the ideal Christmas gift for a loved one – or indeed yourself.

To find out more and register your interest for email updates please click here.

eBay auction dates: Thurs 22 Nov – Sun 2 Dec 2012
Free public exhibition @ Maddox Arts, London W1 from Thurs 29 Nov – Sat 1 Dec 2012

Visit www.starsoncanvas.org.uk to see canvases by Mo Farah, The Saturdays, Mark Colbourne, John Hurt, Bagpuss by Peter Firmin, Rob Ryan, Jermain Defoe and many more...

The silence of a painting video

Time for another video.  This time is a quiet video (basically no sound through most of the video) where the artist paints a simple abstract of a building.  Also just to let you know the video is highly edited so you do not have to sit through every stroke this guy does. Give it a view and then posts any comments you might have below.

Vector Letters

Here is something neat I thought some of you might be interested in.  Its a Challenge to make your own font "Letter".  Not a complete font set but just the letter.  For example (like on sesame street) the letter "D" is for Dog. You would then somehow and artistically come up with a Letter "D" design that represents a dog.

Here is the example that was given in the example of the challenge.  "B" is for Bones.  and someone came up with this font:

Take a look at the challenge and enter if your interested.  It would be great if someone from the IartSupplies community won!

http://vector.tutsplus.com/articles/tuts-workshop-alphabet-design-challenge/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+vectortuts+%28Vectortuts+%29

Watercolor Painting

I have to say that watercolors have a mind of their own and sometimes seem as if they are actually fighting you. When this is happening, step back and take a little time (just don't take to long) and learn to accept that sometimes they will pull you in directions you don't expect. Once you accept this then you will start to learn that what you thought was an accident turns into something wonderful.

Here is a tip for the watercolor beginners.

If your painting and end up with a puddle of paint at the bottom of a series of strokes, Do not panic. They call this "gravity". Simply take a relatively dry brush and carefully mop it up.

As you might be able to tell through some of my posts, I am partial to watercolors. I think this is because I have 2 young kids and feel so much safer with something easy to clean up. Never the less watercolor painting is fun and can produce some wonderful pictures.

Canvas Painting

I have finally found some time amongst my busy work and home life schedule to paint again. It is never very easy to find that time to paint as much as you would like when you are running a business from home and have a family and house to look after as well as feeding a few hungry people whom love their food, cleaning the house and walking here and there taking the kids to school and collecting them too.

However, now that I have managed to actually create my own timetable for work and giving myself certain tasks to do each day I have found that I managed to free up a little time where I can go off to my little craft and arty haven and get arty or crafty. it is so easy to fall into a routine of saying to yourself, "right! i need to get all these orders don, do the washing up, get the washer on, cook for tonights' dinner, clean bathrooms etc." but, where is that free time to do what it is you really enjoy?...................Well, like I said previously, timetables help! Plus, being strict on yourself on what you do in your day. For people like ourselves - working from home - we need to be very disciplined with ourselves and set tasks for each day and not worry about the rest, " There is always tomorrow!" as the saying goes.

Getting out my favourite acrylics

So last Friday after a nice afternoon out with my darling husband, eating lunch out,I came home I pulled out my Amsterdam Acrylic paints and palette knives and started to lather on beautiful pastel and pearlescent colours to this canvas I have had sat on my table easel for months. It has been crying out to me to add colour to it to bring the canvas alive.  As a gentle, loving and soft person I tend to mainly use soft pastel shades of colours reflecting my character.  There are 75 colours in the Rembrandt range of acrylics and 6x of which are pearlescent colours which happen to be my favourite colours as the beauty of their hidden shine is just remarkable in a painting when the light hits the painting picking up the true colour of the pearlescent colour. You will see in my painting below, just exactly what I mean.

I did not start this painting with anything in mind because I was just too eager to apply colour to the canvas and get back into painting again as I have not painted for at least 5years. So I started with blues and purples and toned them down, then I started to add in highlights to depict light areas and a sky soon formed. I then found myself applying pinks with pearlescent yellow and violet in the foreground and, hills formed with a path I guess. So, it appears a landscape is being composed here and so far the feedback on it from members on the Crafts Beautiful Forum and on Facebook has been really encouraging and kind. I plan to pick up  my palette knife again soon and look forward to adding more colour, some textures and detail in the foreground to help lift the whole composition of the landscape.

Born Creative?

Some people are crafters and some are painters.  Here is a great little project for both.

came across this blogpost where this lady took an old pair of jeans and cut them up and made a really neat looking brush holder.  She gives you pretty good directions and the entire project is basicly sewing.  I'm not into sewing to much but thought I would share this.

Here is the link:
http://shellielewis.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/recycled-art-jeans-brush-holder/