Wednesday, March 24, 2010

More Flowers

I've been wanting to do flowers for a while now.  My usual style is to cover things with polymer clay, so something sculptural is out of my comfort zone.  I was going for a shabby chic look and roses.  I know - the inspiration was rhododendrons, but it inspired me to make roses, so I made roses.

 Hope you enjoy!

Kathy

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Inspired By Rhododendrons

In response to February's challenge, I have been working on several flower related projects.  The first is a pen using the colors found in rhododendrons and azaleas. 




I wanted to highlight the different shades of pink against greens. I will have more for you soon.

Kathy

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

February EyeSeeYouSeeArt Exhibit

It's been too long since we last posted -- we have all gotten caught up in living our lives, traveling and dealing with personal and family needs -- that we haven't taken the time to blog.  There isn't really a good excuse, but I do want to say that I'm sorry!

You are all invited to participate in the February EyeSeeYouSeeArt exhibit. The rules and inspiration photo are below. You can take the whole image or part of the image and create an art piece that is inspired by the photo.







Rules for the EyeSeeYouSeeArt exhibition pieces:
  1. Each artist is asked to interpret the monthly inspiration photo in a media and style of their choice.  
  2.  Each submission must be emailed to us in a digital file. Please send a photo or digital file of your art to fit into an 800 pixel x 800 pixel square, saved as a JPG.  If the image is not square, the longest side should be 800 pixels.
  3. With your submission, you must include your name, and an email address.
  4. We will be offering the works for sale to the blog viewers.  If a viewer would like to purchase an art piece, we will email the prospective purchasers information to you to handle the transaction.
  5. You can submit your work anytime during the month, but no later that the last day of the month.  (since we were late posting, if you need more time, please let us know)

 To submit your art, or if you have any questions, you can contact  Andrea or Ruth.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Polymer Clay Entries

These are my entries into the exhibition. I used the colors in the eyes to make items. It was suggested by Andrea that I make an eyeball wine bottle stopper - really cool idea. However, to make it look really good, I would have had to paint the blue and black parts. I might still do it, but I was really looking to use just polymer clay. Here is my wine bottle stopper. I had it at a craft show on Saturday - it was the wine bottle stopper that everyone picked up. (It is one of my favorites too!)

I created the lighter pen for the contest. I created the darker pen to sell. However, when I showed my pens to Andrea, she thought that the darker pen was for the contest. Now that I look at them, I see Kristina's eyes in both pens. The lighter pen remind me of her eyes when she was a child looking up at me and saying "Tandy! Tandy!" ("Candy! Candy!"). The darker pen is more like her eyes now that she's all grown up.


Hope you enjoyed!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Exhibition of Eyes




This is the First EyeSeeYouSeeArt Exhibition.  There will be 2 additional entries added on Monday. Thank you all for your contributions!  They are wonderful and it was truly exciting to see them as they came in, and they are all so similar and yet so different and unique!  Let us know what you think!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Eye See You See Art Exhibition

Hi Artists!
January has come and is almost gone....zooooom!  Where did the time go?

There are only 3 more days to get your art piece submitted for the first monthly EYE SEE YOU SEE Art Exhibition.  If you would still like to participate, the image of the month is, yes, you guessed it, eyes!  These beautiful eyes belong to my niece, Kristina.


As a review, this month, the rules are:


  • Please use your style and medium of choice.
  • the image size should be in a dimension ratio of 3 wide x 1 high ( i.e, 3" x 1" or 6x2"  9x3")
  • Each submission must be emailed to us in a digital file. Please send a photo or digital file of your art  to fit into a 800 pixel x 800 pixel square, saved as a JPG.  If the image is not square, the longest side should be 800 pixels. 
  • With your submission, you must include your name, and an email address.
  • Your submission will be posted to the EyeSeeYouSee art blog. And this month's submissions will be used in the blog banner.
  • Submissions are due by Feb 1, 2010, so there is still time!!!
  • Click here to submit your art file



Looking forward to seeing the results!

Friday, January 15, 2010

What does a Graphic Designer do?

Hey everyone! Although I have narrowed my focus for Visual Tapestry Design to create photo montages, I am a Graphic Designer.  I often get asked "What does a graphic designer do"" I usually say "I can design any print material you might need, like logos, brochures, posters brochures, etc."  but I'm not sure that that is a clear answer.  So I went to Wikipedia and this is what it says is:

...graphic design can refer to a number of artistic and professional disciplines which focus on visual communication and presentation. Various methods are used to create and combine symbols, images and/or words to create a visual representation of ideas and messages. A graphic designer may use typographyvisual arts and page layout techniques to produce the final result. Graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the communication is created and the products (designs) which are generated.
Common uses of graphic design include magazines, advertisements and product packaging. For example, a product package might include a logo or other artwork, organized text and pure design elements such as shapes and color which unify the piece. Composition is one of the most important features of graphic design especially when using pre-existing materials or diverse elements.
Recently I have been working with my church on an identity and brochure for a new program that they are starting (or re-vamping is probably a better way to put it).  The name of the program is Starting Point.  It is a visitors class for people to learn about our church, the programs available, and our foundational beliefs. They asked for a typographical logo (meaning all type/words). So after brainstorming we came up with a list of words that pertain to starting out somewhere on a faith journey and I came up with 2 logos for them to choose between.


 

After they chose the logo they liked, I worked it into a booklet design. After that was finished, I re-formatted the design to put on several other pieces.



That is the quick and easy version of my design process, which is really not all that quick, but I thought you might like an opportunity to see the process I go through when I design.  This process is actually very similar to the process of drawing or painting.  I research, brainstorm, sketch, design and refine.  There are  times when I struggle with the design or I just can't make the vision in my head translate on paper. There are times where happy accidents happen or my ideas morph into something that makes the design better or someone can say something, and how I interpret it (which may not be how they meant it), sends me in a new and better direction for the design.  It's all a part of the process, and that's the fun part...well also the satisfaction of seeing the final printed project.

Well that's it for now.  As always, please feel free to add your comments. I love feedback!
Blessings, Andrea