Old Acrylic Painting I Did

This now hangs on my brother's living room wall. I didn't know what to do with it, and I didn't want to store it, so I gave it to him as a gift for helping me move. His roommates like it too!

I think I did it in 2010 or 2009. Acrylic, 18"x24" or possibly 16"x20" since I did it for a class and the standard required canvas size was 16"x20". I've learned a lot about perspective since then!

When I painted the city on the right, I was listening to a History channel documentary about Hitler, and those buildings will always remind me of that!
I was also living at home, and we didn't have much room. I used a milk crate on top of books on an upside-down chair balanced on a chair to make an easel. Some of the books never recovered.

Polymer Clay Sculpted Creatures In Progress

Well, here's a bunch that are waiting for more clay and more sculpting. I found myself doing too many giraffe like creatures so I branched out in to turtles and scorpion dudes.

I have used up almost 12 yards of armature wire in the past two days. Some of the wire has gone to my felted creatures.

Felted Creatures for Etsy, Craft Fairs, and Practice

A beginner at felting creatures, I declare this one DONE. And it looks like a Pokemon.

He looks more blue in this picture.
I got tired of jabbing him over and over again so I wet felted for bit. This may have made too tight of a felt for putting the doo-dads on him, because it was hard, and broke a needle!













I start with an armature that looks a bit like this:

The proportions were different for this one, however.

Why the World Needs Your Art

                        

  In this world there are 8 billion of us and counting; inundated with countless mediocre artworks that drown in a sea of social media and overpriced galleries. And yet the few and brave of us admit that we want to create even more. 


And this short article is why you really need to create, even with everything else that's similar to your idea, even with the people saying you won't be successful, and especially when you don't think your idea is very good.


           Have you seen the world lately? It kinda sucks. 

          Each thing that you create will 1) relieve you of the tedium and 2) give someone a redeeming quality to this world. 



         When you create artwork with a message of any kind, you speak it in your own language, and it might just be the language that a person needs. Maybe the same message through a different perspective never really got through to them. That's why we need you. And with 8 billion people, that's a lot of languages, visually and verbally. 

         What if "they" say you can't create? Time is going by without you, and unless you start, you won't get better. Art is funny that way, just by attempting it, and by multiple attempts alone makes you an artist. Just do it, there really is no excuse, and time is passing anyway, whether you did even a single line more today or not. Baby steps. Even one line, one sentence written today is more than the person who has nothing. 

Persistence in trying is what makes you an artist, and the subjective judgement of customers that makes you a living. 

The world needs your art, and not as a product, but as a tool for coping with the world. Maybe a tool for enjoying the world and appreciating it. 

There's power in stories: borrowing strength from fiction to fight monsters in reality.

And until you write that story, and until someone SEES it, they may be lacking the sword they need to slay their dragon. 

So don't be afraid to show your artwork. We need your art. Enjoy it, and make the world a better place.  


Peace out.

Anna.


  I've been thinking more about the purposes for making art.
 

Planning for Easter: Reinvented.

Easter!    But no bunnies, chicks, eggs, or pastels. Can you do it? And why on earth would you want to?

         I want to get to the point of Easter back to Jesus.  What do bunnies, chicks and pastels have to do with Jesus? Or the cross? Spring, new life, I get it. But I wanted something a bit more radical; I needed something a bit more radical.

Easter colors: red, white, and gold. Red for blood, white for the resurrection, and gold for Heaven and royalty. Because Easter is about the truest love, I like to use wedding decorations too.

   Ok, so I still allow butterflies for the new life theme. I'd like other suggestions on Easter motifs. I also use flowers and roses.

Passover really is the beginning of Easter. So for the first week before Easter I put red decorations above my door frames. Can you guess why?


Here's a link to my Pinterest collection for Easter Ideas:Here

Dabbling in Polymer Clay Creatures!

Armatures for polymer clay creatures.

I'm new to armatures for polymer clay, and so I'm going to list resources that help me.  I've been using steel wire covered with crumpled aluminum foil to help bulk out the form, and therefore use less polymer clay. But I want more tips on making anatomically correct armatures for animals.

http://www.squidoo.com/armatures 
http://joshuamosley.com/tutorials/claymationArmature/armature.html 
http://evasion.imag.fr/Membres/Franck.Hetroy/Projects/Skeleton/gallery.html

 Here's the concept of one of my creatures, and the final little dude. My sister bought a smaller similar creature for $20. I dyed the feathers too.