Archive for the 'My Artwork' Category

Day Twenty One - Little Book

Published
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robayre
on August 30, 2010
in General Update, My Artwork and Projects
. 0 Comments

I finally broke down and got a new cell phone this weekend. After too many days when I wouldn’t receive any incoming calls or texts, Matt reasoned with me that it was important to get a functioning phone in case of an emergency. I got a Samsung, Messager Touch. It has limited internet usage, for the time being, and I’m completely obsessed with it. Since my last phone was so old and barely worked, I rarely used it, or even knew where it was. But now? Now, I’m constantly wondering why everyone isn’t trying to call and message me at all times. It doesn’t have an antennae sticking out and it has video capabilities! This is the modern age.

I used my brand new phone to take the picture of today’s project.

Only one more day of August.

Day Thirteen - Circle Series 15 & 16 complete

Published
by
robayre
on August 21, 2010
in General Update, My Artwork and Projects
. 7 Comments

I finished the piece I started for day 12, which I was going to post and call day thirteen (because it did take me two days) but my sister thinks that’s cheating. This is Circle Series No. 15, you can see the whole series here.


Here you can see exactly why it took me another day. I dyed cotton string to go with the piece and hand-stitched the last circle. This concludes day 12.


Which brings us up to Day Thirteen. I created Circle Series No. 16.
and a detail shot

For two weeks I’ve planned on participating in Illustration Friday. After two weeks, and two words (star gazing and atmosphere), I came up with and created this piece inspired by both words. I’m not submitting it, but hopefully I will be able to create something and participate next Friday.

Day Five - pill box

Published
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robayre
on August 6, 2010
in General Update, My Artwork and Projects
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Today was extraordinarily busy. It wasn’t until after dinner that I remembered that it was actually Friday and I still had to do a thing for today. I was exhausted from running around and was regretting that I would have to resort to just pressing a one inch pinback button for my thing. Even that small project seemed daunting in my tired state. Then I remembered a small handful of lathed wooden pill boxes that I bought at a garage sale.

Immediately I was inspired and filled with energy to create. The original and unfinished box is pictured above. Actually it probably had been stained, but I painted it white, cut a piece of felt for the inside and created the collage/mixed media piece to go on the lid. I plan on giving it a glossy resin coat over the image when I have enough pieces to make mixing the resin worth it. I bought a bunch of these small boxes so you will probably be seeing more.

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Completely unrelated, check out this tutorial on Design Sponge for making a beautiful chandelier. I think I’ve admired similar ones in stores before, but now I think I must create one for myself.

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Have a good weekend!

post-it note Found Art Tuesday

Published
by
robayre
on July 13, 2010
in Found Art, General Update and My Artwork
. 1 Comment

I was inspired by this post and video shared by Summer Pierre about creativity in the office space.  The video touches on the book she published and promotes leaving positive notes, spontaneous and anonymously in the office. I thought “why not art?”

So today, for Found Art Tuesday, I drew this fish on a post-it note and stuck it on the vending machine at work. Hopefully someone craving something was delighted, for at least a moment, to find more than they had planned on at the snack machines.

And, here’s a joke that a friend told me, and it really has to be said allowed to be appreciated because it deals with the oddities of our language.

Q:What do you call a fish without an eye (i)?

 A: Fsshhh

Summer of Love

Published
by
robayre
on June 23, 2010
in General Update, My Artwork and life
. 3 Comments

Cover, originally uploaded by robayre.

I signed up for Kara Haupt’s online class “Summer of Love” and then promptly missed the first several days. I swear the class didn’t start until next week, but I decided to sign into the group blog to see if there was any early action. Imagine my shock and sadness when the first post that pops up says “Prompt Day Three”. Argh.
Oh well. So goes my life.

Any way, one of the main projects to make an altered book and all of a sudden I remembered this book I made back in 2007. It was for a huge group swap, where tons of artists were involved. Each person was to make a book and then pass it to the next person on the list, do a page in the next book, then pass it down the line. By the time your book would come back to you it would be filled with other people’s artwork. Cool huh? Yeah, well, it turned out to be not so cool. I made this totally kick ass book, above. I still think it’s awesome and still represents my style, check the grass. Anyway, I sent it to the next person in line, got the next two or three artists books, worked on them and sent them down the line. Turns out the girl after me in line, I think her name was natalie, was a total flake and scammed all of those books and never sent any out. It wasn’t until that point where the person that was behind Natalie was getting worried that she hadn’t received ANY books, when the group realized what was going. Needless to say I lost my own book, but then I felt even worse because I also sent other artist’s books to her as well. Man, that really hurt.

Moral of the story. Don’t be lame and flake out on others.
Also, pay attention to the calendar. I feel sort of like I’m living one of those dreams where it’s finals week and I just realized I forgot to go to class the whole semester.

I’m a nerd

Published
by
robayre
on May 28, 2010
in Cool Links, My Artwork, Projects, etsy and shop update
. 4 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, My Artwork, goals and life
. 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.

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!

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