Online Art Design and Craft Classes From the Best

I wrote in my last post that I had hit a major “snag” in my posting since discovering that one may not be “legally correct” by using photographs from another site, even if one is merely publicizing for them, and alerting other potential readers to it’s existence. The aforementioned post concerned an artist by the name of Marilyn Radzat.

I have spent the time in the interim trying to solve the dilemma; a post about arts and crafts cannot work without photographs. I have found the most amazing art that I have never seen since beginning this endeavor, and it has been somewhat of a distraction that I don’t know if I can legally include a photo of the amazing things that I find. I do, however, have several happy things to report in the interim as I continue to analyze how to handle this hurdle.

Number one: Not only is Marilyn Radzat the finest fantasy artist I have ever had the pleasure of discovering, she is also a real person. I don’t mean that in it’s most literal sense; Of course she’s a “real” person; she makes “real” art. I mean that she is accessible and nice. She actually took the time to personally email me with permission to use her photographs to promote her art classes. In case you aren’t familiar with the artist, she does not do this for money, but for the love of teaching. Her works are in fine galleries throughout a great deal of the planet, and in the homes of such notables as the Clintons, Ron Howard, and Anne Rice, to name a few.

Number Two: For the first time in her decades-long career as an accomplished fantasy artist specializing in figure form, she is offering on-line classes.

Number Three: The classes are very reasonably priced. A steal, as a matter of fact. The opportunity of a lifetime, in my humble opinion. She told me in her email that teaching was what she loves best; hence, the reasonably priced online classes, accessible to folks from all walks of life, not just the privileged. She could easily give personal classes to only those who could afford the exorbitant price she has a right to request.

Number Four: She often uses gourds and specializes in incorporating other “found” and natural materials in her works, such as stones, shells, flea market finds and “throwaways”… Although she does fantasy art in other mediums, it’s predominantly sculpting in one medium or another; her depiction of female faces is unparalleled. She has a lovely “artist’s statement“, which is:

See her website @ www.marilynradzat.com/ for breathtaking examples of her other “prettier” fantasy works. For a mere $20.00, yes, you heard me correctly, $20.00, you can take the online course of how to create these enchanting “pea-pod babies“…. Find information on all classes @ www.thatcreativeplace.com

Now, loyal readers, this is very irritating. I am stuck in a sort of limbo here about copyright laws and such boring details as that. All I want to do is direct you to some extremely cool sites with fantastic art, and I feel that in order to do that, the post should include one photograph of the aforementioned art to get your attention so you’ll know I’m not making this up. But now I have become hobbled, bogged down, and simply afraid to include a photo in my posts, even if it’s only purpose is to link you back to the site from whence it came and promote the artist. Doesn’t seem right, does it?

Anyway, I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it until you go and see for yourself. I just discovered this artist by the name of Marilyn Radzak…. Absolutely mind-blowing stuff. So, if you’ve gotten this far, please visit the site: www.thatcreativeplace.com/ It’s hard to remember that this was made from a gourd….

In the meantime, I will try to clear up this fog and confusion concerning the placement of a photograph which is used simply to link back to the site from where it originated… Sounds like good business practice to me, but hey, what do I know about legalities?

Leslie

One of the most useful and versatile tools one can ever own is the Dremel. It’s not just an arts and crafts accessory, as a matter of fact, I don’t think that was meant to be it’s primary purpose. It’s an all-purpose, “do-it-yourself around the house” tool. Eventually more and more people began integrating it into arts and crafts and hobbies uses.

I am looking at my “Dremel Product and Accessories Catalog”, and there is a very pertinent quote contained therein, which states “If you can’t figure out another way to get a job done, you’ll find a way to do it with a Dremel rotary tool”. This is not BS. It’s lightweight, compact and versatile, with over 150 accessories enabling one to cut, sand, shape, engrave, carve, drill, buff, grind, polish, etch, clean and more. If you’ve never used one of these nifty tools, I highly suggest you get one. You will find many uses for it, whether you’re a craftsperson, an artist, or a handyman. It’s an amazing “problem solver”, and priced very reasonably. I own two of them (one very old, another slightly newer; about 8 years old) and they’re still going like gangbusters.

The Dremel is a rotary tool, which relies on very high speed (up to 35,000 rpms!) instead of force to get the job done. The speed does all the work, while you just guide the lightweight, easy to handle tool. And yet another bonus is that the “Dremel People” are some of the best in the world at “working with you”… In other words, if something breaks, they generally replace it for free. Lose a part? Contact them and they’ll do everything they can to help. They make accessories which enable this one tool to do practically anything. I believe one could almost build a house with it, except as they state in their guide, “it makes a lousy hammer”.

The “accessories” are different bits or attachments that one changes for doing different jobs; some are for sanding, some are for cutting, some for buffing, etc. Then one can purchase many different “attachments” which turn the simple dremel into something altogether different. For example, I own a “shaper/router table”, which converts the tool into a bench mounted wood shaper. I also own the “Flex Shaft Attachment”, which is basically an extension that is attached allowing you more freedom of movement and ability to get to hard to reach places. There are attachments that can turn your dremel into a wood-burning tool, a chain-saw, lawnmower and garden tool sharpener, a tile cutter, and a drill press, to name a few.

Their website is (what else?) www.dremel.com

Okay, loyal fans; I promised a post on the amazing three-story miniature white house replica, and as I’ve said, I always keep my word! It may take a while, but it will eventually materialize.

This subject wasn’t as easy to research as I thought it would be… I first saw this miraculous creation in a book that a friend of mine brought to work for me to look at, when I was going through one of my “miniatures phases”. When I began to research it, I discovered that the vast majority of what’s on the web seems to consist of: 1) In which museum the work is making it’s appearance (mostly outdated, and all museums seem to be named after former presidents), or, 2) Books you can buy about the creation of above-mentioned White House miniature.

They even did “The White House Under Construction”!

There is a “rule” that miniatures artists universally adhere to, which is that everything is created on a very precise scale; the most common ones being one inch to one foot (the one that this white house is based on), 1.25 inches to one foot, and 1.5 inches to one foot. With that in mind, think about the fact that the “miniature” white house is 60 feet long by 20 feet wide!

The artists, John and Jan Zweifel (along with a team of volunteers) spent more than 35 years to research, design and construct it. That’s a long time. I mentioned in my other post on miniatures that people devote large chunks of their life to building a single “house”. It simply doesn’t sound fair to call them “dollhouses”. Many are recreations of a certain time period in history, with painstaking, almost painful, attention to detail and accuracy, providing a fascinating view of history.

This replica of the White House is a stunning example of just that. Every miniscule detail of every room has been recreated, and I mean every detail. Furniture is hand-carved (imagine for a moment how much furniture is in the White House!); miniature paintings match the exact colors of the original works of art, and there are hundreds of tiny working lights (including the crystal chandeliers). Even the carpets are reproduced stitch by stitch. In one of the sites I was on, it said the telephones actually worked, but I can’t for the life of me figure that one out. Are there little miniature living people in there who can use these working telephones? Nothing surprises me anymore.

When one continues to ponder about how many other things were probably reproduced in miniature (china, dishes and cookware, clothing in closets, personal items on desks, flooring, drapes, framed historical documents, etc., etc., etc.) it truly boggles the mind.

After doing my research, I’m certain that the book that I saw was by “Gail Buckland“…There are far too many links to it to choose one particular one, so if you’re interested, just google it, please.

Enjoy!
Leslie

As I have mentioned, I am a jack of many arts and crafts, master of none. I just like to play. I got on a “miniatures” kick for a while. Like gourd art and pine needle art, there are millions of people in this world who are simply hooked on tiny things. People have spent large chunks of their lives creating one miniature house. There is a miniature of the White House somewhere, completed down to the smallest possible detail. I’ll look that up right after I finish this post. Please keep in mind that most of these things I did years and years ago, and like so many things I’ve done, seem very amateurish to me (my own worst critic, the curse of the artisan), but they were all gifts, and people just loved them! That’s the important thing.

Suddenly, out of the blue, the urge overcame me to create a minature room. I was like Richard Dreyfuss in that movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind“. I didn’t want to get into the entire doll-house hobby, I just had to make a small room. Absolutely everything that I used came from “stuff” that I had collected over a lifetime… I could open my own crafts store. Not really, but I try to stay out of them, because I go insane and buy things I don’t need, didn’t go in the store for, things I didn’t even know existed.

The structure itself is just some thin wood cut with a dremel, the “hardwood floor” and the roof are popsicle sticks, also cut with a dremel (one of my favorite tools: stay tuned for an exciting dremel post!), and all stained. The headboard, lampstand and table legs are just small dowels, the pictures on the wall were cut from old greeting cards. The bedspread, pillow and rug were all painstakingly sewn, quilted and embroidered (I was really on a mission!). I cannot remember what I used for that lampshade; I believe it was part of a plastic bottle that I decorated. My Mom loves it. That’s the great thing about Moms; they love everything you make from age two for the rest of your life. And believe me, I’ve made some things that only a mother could love!

Take for instance this little pin or magnet or whatever is was, also made from junk lying around the house.

Another really nifty and well-received project that I did on and off for a few years was making 3-D Christmas cards from miniatures. Some of them couldn’t exactly be classified as “cards”, because I got carried away with the 3-D thing, and they were more like “shadow boxes”, but their purpose was the same. My sister, who is one of those people you can’t buy for because she already has everything, has always told me that this is her favorite thing that I have ever sent her for Christmas…. I made several of these, and they were big hits, always from just more junk I had lying around the house.

This one is the first 3-D “Christmas card” that I created… To this day, my sister (I have two of these who are impossible to “buy” for) and her family break it out every year and give it the place of honor somewhere in their beautiful home. Go figure.

It was great fun; I just built a replica of a fireplace using balsa wood, scraps of this and that, and popsicle sticks. I glued fabric for “wallpaper” and incorporated some parts and pieces of “found” odds and ends, Christmas decorations, and “stuff” I had in my misc. crafts supply collection. The “photos” above the mantle are clips from magazines with frames made from stained miniature popsicle sticks, which one can buy by the box, as well as the regular sized ones. These same type of sticks were stained, cut with my trusty dremel, and glued with a glue-gun to create the bricks. Once you start digging through your old un-used crafts supplies, broken jewelry and just junk found around the house, you have art in the making!

Then, of course, my “getting carried away” mode kicked in, and the “cards” began to get more and more elaborate. Just by going through your old Christmas decorations and cards that you “can’t bear to throw away ” will give you a ton of material to work with. In the one pictured below, I was later told by my sister that the flamingo (which was a tree ornament), was a collector’s item worth about fifty bucks, but hey, it’s in the name of art. Inside of that window with the lace “curtains” is a Christmas tree completely decorated.

Are you one of these people who can’t bear to throw away the most special of the Christmas cards that are sent to you? Well, I’ve just told you one of the ways you can utilize them, and here’s another great idea I was given by an elderly lady; she cuts out the prettiest parts into a rectangular shape (parts with no writing on the opposite side), folds them in the middle and uses them for those “to” and “from” tags you attach to the packages! Is that a great idea or what?

After I painted about a hundred cans (see my post on creating art from tin cans), I was hired to paint a mural. It was in a very nice backyard, behind a swimming pool. I had been using strictly acrylic paints up to that point, for almost anything I had ever painted, but this was such a much larger area, I thought I would need small cans of latex, such as are sold in large home-improvement stores. WRONG. Do not attempt to do this (in my opinion).

I bought five cans of the primary colors; red, blue, yellow, white and black, thinking that I could mix any color I needed with those. The problem with this is that one cannot paint a mural in one day, one week, or in my case even in one month! So you end up having to mix every color you need, then trying to match it the next time you go to work on your masterpiece.

It was torture. Finally, after about two weeks, I gathered up every bottle of acrylic paint I had (about 30 or 40), and carted them to “the site”….. What a difference that made! There was, of course, still some mixing of colors involved, but nothing like what I was doing with the latex, besides the fact that latex was messier and dried up faster on my “palette” (a plate). And the little bottles of acrylics go very very far; I could cover much more area than I had thought with them. Also, acrylics come in so many colors that you could never in a million years mix from those small cans of latex paints; like the bright, bright pinks and purples, etc. And they’re so cheap.

Another very important lesson I learned is always paint from left to right (assuming you’re right-handed), and from up to down. Otherwise, you get wet paint on your hand and smear it on the masterpiece. Boy, does that ever suck. Then you have to mix those same colors yet again, and fix what you messed up. You will see some examples of this (on the gray background) in the photos below. It is much easier to fix the mess on the background than in the actual painting, when the owners have a can of matching paint.

The sun in the middle I can not claim credit for. It is a metal-work that they wanted me to work around. I certainly did work around it. I have this problem. I’ve had it all my life. I don’t know what causes it. I have to outline everything in black, which is a painstaking and torturous process…. (See the “carried away” portion of my post on creating art from tin cans).

It drives me insane. If I didn’t have something in my psyche that causes me do this, life would be much easier. When I started this mural, I told myself, I will absolutely not outline anything in black.… Then, I got the first part of it done (the tree with vines), and I said to myself, “self, I will outline only this part in black, because it just needs to be so. The rest I will leave as it is”. Hohoho.

Of course I ended up outlining the entire thing in black. WAIT, There was one tree I didn’t outline. Because the gentleman who owned the house kicked me out. I mean, these were my good friends, but I had been there for so long, and they were so sick of me being there, that he finally (being the very wise person that he is), gave me a cut-off date. He said “Look, here’s the deal; we liked it the way it was two weeks ago. You’re nuts. You must go away by June 1st and not come back unless we invite you”. I was not working by the hour, it was a flat rate, but I probably would have been there until we were all very, very old if he hadn’t said that. I was just as weary of going there day after day as they were of me invading their space, so I was ecstacic when I got this news. I simply don’t know when to stop.

I have a psychological condition whereas I think that a black outline makes things stand out more, and gives a cleaner and neater appearance. My Mom says it’s just “my style”. So, scattered throughout this post are some photos of my first attempt at a mural, some of the befores and afters. Everything I paint looks the same. I am stuck in the 70s.

Tags: mural, mural painting, mural problems, mural challenges

I promised my vast and faithful audience that I would continue to explore the wide, wild world of gourds and gourd art, and I always keep my word. I also have an ulterior motive; my sister’s birthday is coming up soon, and for the girl who has everything, what could be more appropriate than the gift of a gourd?

So I set about looking for some of those, you know, free, instructions on beginning gourd-crafting. It wasn’t that easy, everybody seemed to want actual money. After a great deal of hunting and pecking, I found that what I was looking for was right in front of my face. Or rather, on another of my posts. The free e-book that I mentioned from Welburn Gourd Farm in California, is excellent. Check it out at:

www.welburngourdfarm.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=31&dc=FGAL

Please note that the above photo is from Kentucky Crafts Network @ www.kentuckycraftsnetwork.com/

Then, I had the shocking realization that at some point, I would have to actually buy a gourd, or gourds, in order to pull this off. This led to some other really neat websites…. I believe that there is a gourd society for every state in the union, and an “American Gourd Society” as well. Hell, there might be a “Global Gourd Society”. I haven’t checked that yet.

The Florida Gourd Society site is great fun, they have festivals with design contests, workshops, and a “hat and mask parade”, among other things. They sponsor retreats, seminars, workshops and whatever else all those gourd people do. See for yourself:

flgourdsoc.org

As you have probably figured out by now, I live in Florida, so I researched for the closest place in which to acquire one or more of these elusive vegetables, and found “Fernsink Farms”, near Ocala. I emailed them, and received an immediate and personal response from Barbara, the gourd lady. She even offered to have her daughter meet me somewhere and deliver them to me! Her website is still under construction, like mine, but you will still find some interesting information here.

www.fernsinkgourds.com/

I promise to keep you “posted” on my progress.

Leslie

If you’ve never seen this work, you’re in for a surprise, a shock, and more than likely a great feeling of inadequacy! This is one of the “real” artists that make me feel like I’m no more than a child playing at finger-painting. But there will always be somebody who can do it better, whatever it is you do. All you can do is admire the work, be amazed, and thank the Lord that they exist to awe and inspire us. The vast majority of us will never reach this level, we just do the best we can.

Then take into consideration the fact that he works with such an usual medium; sidewalks and pavements…. He works primarily in Europe, and somehow manages to distort his drawings in such a way as to give them an absolutely unbelievable three dimensional effect when viewed from a certain angle.

He also does murals and traditional fine art paintings, but the “sidewalk art” is my favorite. He is an English artist who has been creating his pavement creations since the mid-1990s. Beever uses a technique called trompe l’oeil, French for “trick the eye”, and you absolutely cannot believe how well he does it. Take this for an example, if you can manage to wrap your mind around it… Now, keep in mind that what you are seeing right now is total optical illusion, created by the artist. There is nothing but the pavement in front of him (he’s the guy in the photo); no ledge, no Batman or Robin, no crowd, no burning building, just his art. Can you see where it begins? Look closely and with any luck you may be able to discern where the pavement leaves off and the drawing begins. Can you see the lines of the pavement in the drawing? Can you even believe that this guy can actually pull this off? I’ve looked at his work dozens of times and I remain in awe. And the real kicker is, that sometimes by the day after he’s finished a drawing, they’re often gone, erased by the feet of passing pedestrians. His work survives through photographs. What I would like to know is , who could actually walk over something like that?

Well, it wouldn’t be fair to just leave you with the one example of his work; let’s look at some more: Remember, all of these are drawings done on flat pavement, using “trompe l’oeil”, tricking the eye.

There are many more. I have only scratched the surface.

A truly free art form

As I have said in my previous post on this craft, it is time-consuming and requires patience. However, It is not difficult and I found it extremely relaxing; like some people find knitting and crocheting relaxing.

The first thing you need is a supply of long-leaf pine needles. They have to be long-leafs, which are approximately 6″ to 15″ long. Hopefully, instead of “cheating” and buying or ordering them, you live in an area where you can just go gather armloads full from a forest floor. Somehow buying them seems to be defeating the purpose, but if you have no other alternative, they can be ordered (already “cleaned”). After you gather your needles, you will need to soak them (say a dishpan full at a time) by pouring boiling water over them and letting it cool enough to handle the needles. Place them on a towel or other surface to dry.

You will find that the needles always grow in “bundles” or “groups” of three, and you have to separate them. The water will have softened the tip that holds them together so that you can easily scrape or pull it off with your fingers, the flat edge of a nail-file, butter knife, anything that works for you. Then you are left with three separate needles. You will need a lot of them.

You will also need a large blunt tapestry needle, and some heavy quilting thread. Also I found it much easier to use a piece of plastic tubing about 3″ long. Some people say to use a soda straw, but I find that a bit too small and flimsy. I can’t remember exactly where I got my tube, but it was a little bigger and stronger than a soda straw. Something from a hardware store, I believe. Some people don’t use the tube at all, but it’s purpose is as a gauge, to help keep your coils an even size.

Start by putting enough cleaned pine needles together to begin a coil approximately 1/2″ in diameter. You want to wrap two or three inches of the ends of the pine needles which had the “cap” or “sheath” with a single strand of thread (the needle is threaded as if you were embroidering). Many people use rafia, but I don’t know this method, and I like the way the black thread constrasts with the pine needles. Wrap them snugly, leaving the loose end of the thread under the wrapping to secure it. Wrap about 3″ or so in this manner and secure the thread. Make sure to snip off any loose pine needle ends sticking out from the wrapping. Now you curl the wrapped end into the beginning of a circular form, and anchor it together using a whip-stitch. This small circle or oval (your choice) is the beginning of the bottom of your basket. Now push the remaining loose ends of the pine needles through the plastic tube, and continue the coiling process, while adding cleaned pine needles to the tube as you go to maintain a consistent sized coil. As you create this circle, sew the coils together using the same simple whip-stitch, drawing the thread through from front to back. The spacing of the stitches will widen as the coil grows. Keep the coil flat by bending it as needed as you progress. It’s a lot easier than it sounds. Once you get used to it, it’s pretty mindless; hence it is relaxing. See my first post on “pine needle baskets for the beginner” to view my very first attempts. And I had no idea what I was doing!

Once you reach the size that you want the bottom of your basket to be (start small!), begin building the sides by simply forming the next coil on top of the flat circle or oval that you have created; stop making it flat and build upward. For an excellent illustrated lesson on making your first basket, visit http://www.knowitall.org/naturalstate/html/pinecone-interactive/Basket-How-To.cfm

But if you’re not used to using raffia, as they do, I definitely recommend going the thread route. Also, they give a choice of removing the “caps” or not. I have not tried making a basket without removing the caps, but I’m a little leery or that part, especially for the beginner. Even though it takes patience to separate the needles, it seems to me that the cleaned needles would be easier to work with and produce a better, smoother result. But I’m no expert, and they are!

Just like the wide, wild world of gourds, the possibilities here are endless. People dye the needles, incorporate dried walnut shell slices, seashells, beads, whatever their imagination tells them to do. They not only make baskets, but fantastic wall hangings, hats, you wouldn’t believe the things people can make from pine needles! Well, why don’t we visit some of them? I hope you find it as inspiring and amazing as I do. Please visit “Peg’s Basketry“. It is one of my favorites.

Leslie

http://www.nancybasket.com/gpage4.html

http://www.pineywoodsbasketart.com/basketgallery3.html

One Christmas, I was so, so broke (oh what a unique experience for a starving almost-artist!). But that year was worse than most. A good friend of mine turned me on to this extraordinary craft which is truly free. All you need to buy is a large needle, some heavy thread of some sort, and an approximately three-inch piece of plastic tubing, about 1/2″ in diameter (which is optional but recommended). My friend loaned me a book on this subject I had never heard of, and I lived in a place absolutely loaded with long-leaf pine trees. I was set to go. This is not meant to be a “guide” or “instruction”, just my experience, because a lot of it I don’t remember, but I promise I’m going to research it and then fill you in with all the pertinent details. (UPDATE: 07/07/08: for complete instructions, see my post “pine needle art for the beginner”)

I went out into the yard and gathered up an armload of pine needles, and following the book’s directions, proceeded to go at it. You need long-leaf pine needles; the short ones won’t do. They’re about six to twelve inches long. When they fall off of the trees, they are in clusters of three needles bonded together. You soak those in a sink full of warm water (I can’t remember the length of time), and then you carefully scrape off the “stuff” that holds the cluster together. Let them dry. As I said, a lot I don’t remember (this was ten years ago), but once you get started, it is the easiest, most relaxing craft I think I have ever done. You cannot do it quickly. You will never mass produce them, but I swear, everyone that I gave one to was absolutely amazed that I just went out into my backyard and picked up some pine needles and made baskets out of them. Just one more thing I’d like to pursue further if I had the time!

The basic premise is you take your “cured” needles and use the plastic tube to maintain consistency (you sort of thread the pine needles into it, adding as you go along and the tube ensures that the rows are the same size. Or close. Going round and round, as you stitch the rows together, you create a circle. This becomes the bottom of the basket. Then you begin to build the layers upward for the sides. There’s a certain simple stitch used which I can’t remember at the moment, but it is very, very easy.

My first (and only) baskets were pretty clumsy and amateurish, but you just wouldn’t believe how the recipients loved them! The book that my friend loaned me had fantstic works or art made from pine needles; wall hangings, incredibly elaborate baskets, dyed needles, etc. As usual, I never carry anything far enough to get really good at it, I just go in spurts, then move on! Jack of many arts and crafts, master of none.

Since that time I have seen absolutely awesome works of art made from pine needles. The craft is extremely time-consuming, but it gives a great feeling of satisfaction to the artist. I met a man at a crafts fair who made the most beautiful baskets you could imagine. He was in his mid-eighties and legally blind. I believe it’s what keeps him alive. There was a newspaper lady there interviewing a man who was caning a chair. I was so frustrated that I ran after her and said, “you interviewed the wrong guy!” Not to say that re-caning a chair isn’t a nice thing to do, but what about an eighty-something year old man making the most beautiful baskets you’d ever seen, and 90% blind! Now, that’s a story worth writing. So she did. Okay, now don’t laugh, here are a couple of pics of my baskets, uneven stitches and all, but hey, they were my very first. I will be researching this craft a great deal more and keeping you posted….