I’ve been spending most of my creative efforts the last few months on my webpages, or lenses as they’re called, on the Squidoo website. Once you have fifty lenses you can apply to be what’s called a Giant Squid which has a few perks although to be honest I’m not sure what they are. At the very least it does seem to give a certain elevation in status within the Squidoo community.
Once I finished the lenses I learned that I had to apply with a lensography, or list of my lenses. I decided I had to illustrate my lensography to make it a little more interesting. This heart is the illustration for the section called “The Patio of Art and Miracles” which is a group of lenses about Mexican spiritual arts and culture such as The Day of the Dead and the practice of using milagros, or talismens, to petition saints for miracles. Check out my lensography for more: An Intuitive Lensography.
This is my first attempt at translating what I do in Photoshop over to a real art piece using acrylic paint and pastels. The technique is one I learned from the book I’ve previously mentioned called Paint Happy. I made it for my friend Laura’s birthday and enjoyed it so much that I went out and bought some higher quality acrylic paints to do some more. (They are STILL much too expensive!) It is inspired by my own Heart in Hand digital art which has been getting a lot of positive attention lately, and also by the nightly lit statuette of Our Lady of Guadalupe that resides a few houses down from me.
This digital painting is inspired by the beautiful artwork of Laurie Mika who makes rich shrine-like plaques made of mosaics made from tiles of glass and polymer clay. I accidentally discovered her on YouTube a couple of years ago just as she was getting ready to publish her first book, Mixed-Media Mosaics: Techniques and Projects Using Polymer Clay Tiles, Beads & Other Embellishments. I finally got my hands on it during my birthday trip to the bookstore a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t buy it that day but it is SO inspiring. This piece of work of mine doesn’t come close to what she does because, as usual, it took on a life of it’s own. But I’m going to keep trying.
This was the sketch for an art project i’ve been working on. In the end the project went in another direction but I think this is pretty cool. I never thought I’d ever be drawing a stethoscope!
Can’t believe I haven’t done heart shaped Easter eggs before. My how time flies. Coming up on the two year anniversary of heArt-a-Day’s inception. “Painted” in Photoshop.
Someone liked my heart compass drawing so much they e-mailed me and asked if they could have a tattoo made out of it. I think it turned out really well.
I was contacted by Grace McCauley, CEO at Trinity Home Health Services with a request for a print of my Heart in Hand artwork. She thought my art would be perfect to hang in the reception area of their new office in Livonia, Michigan.
I contacted my friends Mike and Mona Majorowicz of Wild Faces Gallery in Rolfe, Iowa to do the printing for me. It was sent on to Grace who had it matted and framed.
This is the end result. I think the matte color Grace chose really makes it pop!
This started out as a page of snowflakes I doodled one Saturday morning I spent with some creative friends. Originally I used ink and colored pencil but with the magic of Photoshop I could cut out each individual snowflake and remix it. I also made a Photoshop brush with one of the snowflakes that I used in the background.
Snowflakes are my favorite design element of winter. I found some gorgeous snowflake cookies (with recipe) to add to my Sugar Cookie Recipes Squidoo lens.
I’m finally done with massage school, have passed my national certification exam, and have the license application in the mail. So now I can get back to my heArts! I had no idea all of that would end up tapping the creativity right out of me. Well, that and my muse disappearing. But…upward and onward!
I've officially applied to be a Giant Squid. Took me a year. lol 1 week ago
Staying cool indoors today. 95 degrees with 75% humidity. 1 week ago
Astarte’s Mega-Zine
This is a fantastic downloadable e-zine featuring articles by top artists and creativity coaches (and maybe, soon, myself!)whom you've seen in Somerset Studio and Cloth Paper Scissors.
Click here to order and get a free sample copy.
Posted by Gretchen 
Posted by Gretchen 
Posted by Gretchen 
