The Art Fund

Do you have an art fund? I put a small percentage of every sale of my artwork into a fund to replenish the art supplies. It's become important to me to make sure we never run out of paint or brushes or yarn or string or glue or anything else art-related. Because of that, I've opted to create an art fund. I've been thinking of increasing the amount I deposit into the fund, not by percentage, but by small chunks, in order to fund a visit to an Art Retreator perhaps some fine art lessons. I'm not sure exactly what I'll do with it yet but I've decided to take on some sponsored posts and use that to fund some new experiences. I've been reading The Artist's Wayand it feels important to fork out some dough for some experiences I wouldn't otherwise have, in an effort to spark more curiosity and inspire more creativity from myself. I've rearranged the studio a bit, too. That should help.
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Product recommendations

I think it's so important to pay attention to the products we recommend. I can't imagine recommending something that I haven't used or tried. If you scroll through this blog you'll see me often posting things we just purchased ad that endorsement is nothing more than "I bought this" but telling readers "You should buy this" takes a lot of courage and I think you need to establish respect with your readers before you do such a thing.
Source Site What do you think? Could you purchase things from a blogger or through their link, knowing they likely get paid for each sale) if you knew that they never even tried the product. It would be difficult to write much in that review other than "This looks good." I'd rather be able to say "OMG we love this product, we want three more." Since you probably looked here to see what my product recommendations are, not to read my words about the credibility of product recommendations. So here are two products I recommend, with all of my heart: Liquitex BASICS Acrylic Paint Tube 36-Piece Set and 30 Fine Art Paint Brushes for Acrylic, Oil, Watercolors. I recommend the paints because the colors are clean and crisp and the texture is nice and creamy. The colors mix well together and they dry to a nice finish. I recommend the brushes because they're labeled first of all. Acrylic paints don't do well with natural bristle brushes. You CAN use them but the fact is that they deteriorate over time, literally turning to mush. And using specific watercolor brushes is smart because they carry and distribute the water instead of repelling it or absorbing it.

I am woman...

Don't you just love this image:  You might have to click on it to make it show up all the way.
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I know it's not pink so maybe I shouldn't even post it here but I happen to think it's the most beautiful thing.  To me it represents all creative women. We're so filled with music, wisdom, curiosity, animal senses and other unidentifiable awesomeness and when we're standing tall and proud in our element, those things are just channeled through us in a way that looks as if we're emanating badassery.

What do you think?  What does this image say to you?  Another thing it tells me is that purple eyeshadow doesn't HAVE to be goofy. Except, maybe if I was wearing it it would be.

New Art supplies - Yay

I always go overboard when buying art supplies. I intended to get some oil paints, I don't know what happened with that. Actually, I think the three painting kits I purchased were my "oil paint"  Apparently not, they're acrylic.  Acrylic paint is fine, but three $80 kits aren't, not for the amount of paint that came with them. I need to look closer, to see if the other supplies inside make it worth it. We'll see. I also got a lot of coloring books, blank puzzles, watercolor paper, canvas pads, flat-backed gemstones, feathers, puffballs, sewing kits, pipe cleaners, finger paints, paint brushes, a knitting spool...I think that's it :)

Anyway, I've been working on a lot more art projects lately. Yesterday I made some beautiful watercolor backgrounds for some ballerina artwork I plan to make.  I noticed the walls at my daughter's dance studio are boring and I'm thinking that these dance school parents spend a fortune on stupid stuff, so why not my artwork, right?  I used to draw ballerinas and princesses for my daughters all the tie and I might not be that talented, but if I just DO it, I think they might sell. If not, at least I got to paint and maybe if I'm lucky, the school will display some of the paintings for me.  If I'm very very lucky, maybe I'll sell a bunch. If I sell a bunch, maybe I'll want to teach an art class.

Art is good for my mind.  My kids like it, too.  As soon as my camera is fixed, I'll post about some of the projects we're working on as a family.

Carved Walnut Heads

At the farmer's market a few years ago there was a man selling carved walnut heads. They were the size of... walnuts, and they looked like shriveled up shrunken old heads. We have a walnut tree, so I kept meaning to try it, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. In the meantime, I found a few pictures of carved walnut things, enjoy...

Handmade Flower Paper

I totally love making handmade paper.Anyone else? I learned how to make it when we lived in Lynnwood. I used to dry it on my sliding glass door. I once printed out a picture of my kids on handmade paper, it looked so cool- printed in Sepia tones. When you dry it on the window it comes out really smooth. I like embedding flower petals and other things into it.

It's coming again....

The monthly crafting with 4 yr olds (even though I think they're all 5 by now) thing. Will I manage to pull it together for the little book things? We'll see.... I need to look for spray paint in my garage. And I need to pick up some ink for my printer to do the little picture things. Although it could work without the little picture things. I need to spray paint, though. several times, for each page and it needs to dry in between layers. Then we need some stickers, markers, paints.... forget the paints, class is an hour...... We can swing it. We'll use markers and stickers.