Archive for May, 2010

I’m a nerd

Published
by
robayre
on May 28, 2010
in Cool Links, etsy, My Artwork, Projects and shop update
. 5 Comments

Here is my second animated gif for number 2 on my to-do list. Here’s number one from earlier this year.  This time I made it bigger so you can actually see what’s going on.

Last week I was walking from my car to our house when I saw the brightest yellow finch. It’s been so long since I’ve seen one, I thought it was an escaped pet bird at first. The very next day I was at a BBQ birthday party and saw the boldest Indigo Bunting. It kept flying up to the bird feeder just a few feet away from us. THEN the very next day I was on a bike ride and a bright red Cardinal swooped right in front of me. I view brightly colored birds as a sign, and remembered this mail art piece I made and decided to list it for sale in my Etsy shop.

I recently discovered the coolest (new-to-me) artist through flickr. Alyn Carlson is a very talented artist, graphic designer and actress. She makes the most wonderful art hats, and they can be found in her Etsy shop here. I love how she posts often about colors, often in a Pantone theme, which really speaks to the graphic designer in me too. Well, lo and behold, this week she featured a photograph I took of my tootsie in grass, on this post. And then today, she shared my silver cast and handspun yarn Grass Ring. A woman who also loves grass is a woman after my own heart.

A special day

Published
by
robayre
on May 26, 2010
in Fun, General Update, goals, life and My Artwork
. 2 Comments

Last week was my sister’s birthday. Happy Birthday Chris! I hope you had a great birthday and will have an AMAZING year ahead! She has always been a supporter of my artwork and is ALWAYS there for me when I need help, or an opinion and guidance.

For her birthday she wanted to go to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was an awesome day. I haven’t been there since I was in elementary school and could have spent a couple days there before reaching everything they have to offer.

Unexpectedly, I was also able to (semi) cross off two items on my To-Do-List for 2010. At the MSI now, your tickets to get in become a “sci-pass” where you can record the activities you participate in and then access them online later. They had a sound booth that was similar to the storycorp idea, where you could go in and interview other people. I went in and recorded a short interview with my sister, which was one part of number 23 on my list.

Number 12 on my to-do list was to get an old-timey picture done. In my mind, that meant REAL old photograph techniques, like daguerreotypes, as mentioned in a few posts ago, rather than some quick digital pics that have been converted to grayscale or sepia tone. That being said…  MSI had a photo studio set up where you can take quick digital old-timey pics in an old car, so we played.

I’m the one in the back with the straw hat on, my sister is next to me and my brother in front of me, and his friend Chad next to him. The portrait woman was cracking up at Chad’s leg sticking out.

I have some art to share, as usual. This was the fourth grass painting in the series. I know I always say it, but it has to be said again. I LOVED this painting. It has a watercolor look to it, but it’s acrylic on canvas. It went to my sister for her birthday. I also made her the brooch in the above picture (orange and aqua at the top right).

I also made her a ring, and then made this one for myself. I used this tutorial  from Makeitdo, that I found through the craft blog.

It’s Tuesday and that means…

Published
by
robayre
on May 25, 2010
in Found Art, General Update and My Artwork
. 2 Comments

FOUND ART TUESDAY! As usual, I wait until last moment and then frantically try to think of a place to leave my artwork. A place where it will be safe from the elements, not too populous so that I’m watched, and not too vacant so that the piece goes un-found.

Last week I was in Chicago, but could I be prepared enough to create a piece beforehand AND bring it along? Of course not. So, where did I leave today’s piece? Well, I had to run to the post office and drop off a package, so I figured I’d make it a two for one and leave my artwork in the lobby. As I left it I started worrying I could get in trouble for leaving my artwork. Hope not.

I hope the person who finds and keeps the painting enjoys it. As usual.

Join the Found Art Tuesday fun at facebook and flickr

new grass painting

Published
by
robayre
on May 18, 2010
in General Update and My Artwork
. 0 Comments

I finished that painting from the sneak peak the other day. I really love how it came out. This is painting 3 in the series so far. While I was working on the background I wasn’t sure if it would be as I imagined it, but I set it down for a little bit, walked away, and when I came back and saw it with fresh eyes I was in love.

This canvas painting series is kind of based on this old series of silk screen pieces of mine that never went anywhere. As in, I loved them, but no one else apparently did. Wah, wah, wah, I know tiniest violin. Anyway, I had the idea of the watercolored background on this silk screened print in mind when doing the top painting. It really didn’t end up looking anything like that, BUT I realized it looked a lot like the “pattern” I made recently.

It’s now available in my Etsy shop, and I’m on to a new canvas and a new painting in this series. I’m still having so much fun with the series and wish I could be cranking ‘em out quicker, but the rest of my life calls.

I didn’t do a Found Art Tuesday piece today. Tuesday snuck up on me too quickly, but perhaps I will do one later this week.

Three Awesome Things

Published
by
robayre
on May 17, 2010
in Cool Links, goals and life
. 0 Comments

1. Maybe you saw this already, maybe not. I love it and I wish for all adults to have the same positivity.

2. This soul version of a Wilco song.

3. I purchased my first glass marble to start off my collection

I bought it from Lithomancy Glassworks on Etsy and it’s absolutely beautiful. Now, I can cross #1 off my yearly list.

Civil War Days at the Naper Settlement

Published
by
robayre
on May 16, 2010
in General Update and life
. 5 Comments

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If you know me, you know how obsessed I am with those old reality shows/documentary series where they stick regular people in time specific places and they have to live as people would during the time. It all started with watching the 1900 house on PBS with my mom.

A couple months ago I was enthralled by a “tourist infomercial” about New Salem, IL. It’s a historic settlement type of place where they have old buildings and show tourists about the old way of life. I think it would be so cool to work or volunteer at one of these types of places. My brother or Matt said “what would you do there?” and I said “Well, I know how to use a spinning wheel and I can garden.” I’ve just been having a conversation with coworkers about how I’ve been wanting to go to one of these types of places.

On Saturday we went to the Civil War Days at the Naper Settlement in Naperville, IL. The Naper Settlement is something I’ve heard about for years and years, but I’ve never visited it. Driving by yesterday, we could see the grounds were filled with white canvas time appropriate tents. Through the fence I could see all sorts of people in period clothing. I immediately started getting excited. I brought my camera to share some pictures from the day.

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There was a battle, which was crazy loud. I couldn’t really see over the crowd and the cannons were so loud I could feel the air hit me. After a while I wandered off and spoke with a woman who was working on lace.

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After the battle was over we went into the school room where we found an oil lamp had knocked off the wall from the shock of the cannons. Apparently they close all the buildings during the battles because for exactly this. My brother said he noticed the windows to all the surrounding buildings vibrated with all the gun fire.

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My two favorite things had to be the printing building, naturally…
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and the thing I was hoping most to see… a person developing daguerreotypes
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I had such a good time and can’t wait to do more of these types of events. Dare I say, become a re-enactor myself. The day couldn’t pass without recalling the book Choke by Chuck Palahniuk, and an episode we recently saw of Big Bang Theory, where they visited a renaissance fair.

You can see more pictures from the Civil War Days at my flickr.

buttons in the shop

Published
by
robayre
on May 15, 2010
in General Update
. 0 Comments

I finished listing the button sets I mentioned in last post.

1. Glitter geometric button set, 2. geometric button set, 3. geometric button set, 4. geometric button set, 5. snail mail button set, 6. geometric button set


And, I have to share this picture of my nephew. His mother took the picture and I just had to steal it and post it to my own flickr. Now, whenever I sign into my flickr and see it, it just makes me soooo happy. I think it’s time to print it out and stick it on the refrigerator.

Progress shot

Published
by
robayre
on May 14, 2010
in General Update and My Artwork
. 2 Comments

I’ve been working on this painting for quite a while and now I’m at this point where I’m afraid to move forward. The blades of grass are supposed to be painted green, like the previous pieces, but I look at the canvas like this and think it’s beautiful the way it is. I’m afraid if I do anything else to it, it will just go down hill. I guess I could always paint white back over it again if I’m not happy. And, it’s always an option to keep in mind for another painting in this series down the road.

I’ve been having fun making more buttons like my Found Art Tuesday pieces from earlier this week. I have a bunch finished, and have listed a couple sets in my Etsy shop so far. I’m going to list 3 or 4 more sets from the ones above this weekend.

Looks like we are going to have a nice weekend here. It’s been raining cats and dogs here, so much so there was a flood warning, and my bike ride today got cut short because the path was all under water. But finally it has let up and the sun is out and I hope to get out and enjoy it. Have a great weekend!

Found Art Tuesday

Published
by
robayre
on May 11, 2010
in Found Art, General Update and My Artwork
. 3 Comments

Today I did a last minute Found Art Tuesday piece and I’m so proud of myself for starting and completing it all in one evening. It seems every Tuesday I always have these last minute ideas and then I get off of work and reality hits. The concept and estimated time are always much quicker than the actual execution. But tonight? Tonight I finally succeeded.

Last night I made this page spread in my little book. The cut pieces in the above page spread were originally part of another project that is still in the works. I finished using them for the other project and couldn’t just waste them, so I created the above Radiohead inspired piece. You can even see that I used the same idea with the shapes here as well.

Today I had the idea to use the same technique of pierced paper geometric shapes to make original wearable art pieces. Tada! I really liked how they came out. There are three buttons and each button is a layered piece with watercolors painted on the background paper, then a hand-cut geometric shape collaged on top, all sealed together and protected by clear plastic.

 

I made up a card on watercolor paper, decorated a frame to go around the “art pieces” and stuck it up on a local community bulletin board. My only regret was that I didn’t take better pictures. You can’t see from my quick snap shot of the bulletin board, but the “frame” on the watercolor card is glittery gold paint. It was supposed to be like a gilded frame, and would hopefully attract attention. I love-love-love how these buttons came out, and I thought I took suitable enough pictures, but they just don’t show how beautiful they really are. I think I’ll make some more.

FAT Fun Fact: Did you know that Found Art Tuesday, created by Rosa Murillo, has been around since 2006?

As usual, please take a look at the flickr and facebook groups for Found Art Tuesday. Join in on the fun by leaving artwork out in the world, and adding to the joy, excitement and unpredictability of life, or just stop by and enjoy the other participating artists.

‘Roid Week 2010

Published
by
robayre
on May 10, 2010
in Artists, Cool Links and General Update
. 0 Comments


Untitled, 2. sail her, don’t sink her, 3. seedy motel, 4. 127/365 2010, 5. Any requests?, 6. logs, 7. Route 66 California, 8. waiting, 9. Daydream

‘Roid Week 2010 is over, but that doesn’t mean the beauty is gone. Please check out the many, many pages of participating pictures over at Flickr.  I made the above collection using FDs flickr tools with pictures from the group.

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