Today's 50th Birthday Celebration portrait is a bit of an experiment. And I tried it with someone's photo that I knew would appreciate the effort even if it didn't turn out. Julie is just that way, where she would be happy I tried something different. I'm glad I did. It's very different than oils and it's a medium that I can do quickly using color. Oils aren't that way, at least not for me, yet. Plus, this puts off a lot of unrestrained energy, which Julie has. Hope it comes across well.
2 Comments
Independence day has been filled with parades for a very long time for me. The marching bands are what the Boyfriend likes best but my favs are the floats. I'm delighted and it's almost like being a kid again. I had another chance to do a parade float this year. Part of me really enjoys it and another part doesn't. It's a great creative DIY outlet that's a lot of fun but the uncertainty of how to do it and if it will turn out is a challenge. Some people think it will come together automatically because you're a creative and that it's no big deal, whlie others think it isn't going to work out at all. In the process, you'll swing back and forth like a pendulum. There's a lot of people web searching this time of year for DIY float building info. Last year's 5 Parade Float Quick Tips (found here) has been viewed and reused. So, I thought I'd share 7 ideas about parade float designing. Parade Float Designing • 7 Quick TipsSince the float this year had a fish theme I thought I'd play that up with the tips. #1 Fish for the Big Picture You're likely doing this for an organization of some type. Think of their purposes for wanting the float. What do they hope for an outcome? Are they interested in the process and having a lot of people involved? Or is it an outreach in the community? Or is it a tradition of fun? Or is it to show a strong brand? Whatever the reason, you should understand it. This float was about involving people in the process, name recognition in the community, and a Christian message. People: We had about 40 people work on the float Recognition: Passing out info cards & candy during the parade Message: Free to be Fishers of Men - Bible verse used as the message #2 Fish for an Original IdeaIt all comes down to having an idea. Sometimes that can be hard to do. One tip is to look for inspiration to borrow and then make it your own. Here are 2 inspiration images that I found. I liked the idea of dots and stripes. I thought that would be easy for our group of varying ages to do. I also borrowed the color scheme of the group of Nassos' fish. Here's how our fish turned out. We made them out of paper plates, poster board, & paper mache. Another idea I borrowed was from Helen Friel's paper work of an underwater scene that displays jewelry. I took her small version and went up in scale by a lot. You can see that ours doesn't look like Helens but that you can see the similarity of the borrow. I used foam core (instead of plywood) so that we could have many young people involved in the cutting and painting. #3 Fish for the LoveYou're going to be with this idea awhile. Make sure you love it so that you can hang in there with it. Nothing says failure like hating an idea. #4 Fish for SolutionsThings just aren't going to go 100% your way. Have that in your head at the start so when it comes up you already knew it would. Listen to others ideas during the process. #5 Fish till the EndDon't give up. Sometimes things don't look like they're going to work out, only to be proved wrong. Stick with it. Creativity is often messy in the middle. #6 Fish for HarmonyWith a big group, you're likely to have a wide range of interest and skill levels. To make it look good and like everyone worked together keep a 1) limited color palette, 2) repetitive shapes, and 3) easy to accomplish tasks. #7 Fish for the Wow!Wow them in some way. Surprise them with something a little different. Make it stand out - in a good way. For this float I had the whale shoot water out of its spout. The crowd loved it especially since it was hot. I left an opening in the top of the whale and had one of my kids sit inside with buckets of water and a pool water shooter. You can see him trying it out on a passing friend. During the parade he was hidden from view. The water shot up about 15 feet in the air. It worked perfectly. Hope these tips help you in your parade float madness. I don't know if I'll be asked to do a float next year but if I do I'll read through my own notes as a reminder but until then we'll say good-bye to float building.
It's the middle of summer and I'm thinking snowflakes. I did my first how-to demo video (with Wade's help) and you can find it here. It's DIY watercolor snowflakes. So easy. It's adaptable to any age. Hopefully taking it up a notch makes it so adults might like to try too. We were doing the video for a specific reason and we couldn't include these idea images in it. So, I thought I'd share it here. Sometimes it's hard to come up with ideas once you do the artwork. I took the project pieces from the video and turned them into these. Maybe this will spark a few of your own uses. Or you can just stick with putting it on a shelf just because you like it that way. What would you do with your artwork?
I spent most of a week at Girls Camp. I knew I'd have a little down time here and there so I brought along some watercolors and water color paper. First, I do a little pencil drawing doodle, go over it with permanent marker, then erase. Next, I go over it with watercolors. Very easy. The girls liked the ones I was doing so I did them each little individual ones with their names and some quality they have. Hope this gives you a little watercolor inspiration.
Art & Interiors is about taking art and building a room around it. Furniture, paint, counter tops and accessories. Usually designers build the other way around - room then artwork. Not me. I think the art speaks louder than its other parts. I have a lot of fun designing with the specific artwork(s) in mind.
I did a room with Melissa Peck's artwork and today I am featuring mine. I wanted to do mine to see how it would look in a room setting. Now I just have to find a room to do this in. If you have artwork that you want to send me images of I will add it to my list and design a room around it. Maybe it will give you ideas you can use. Also, I have two giclee prints (5"x7") of the smaller painting Farm Fresh that I will be giving out. I know that there are only 9 of you following (my family) this blog but if you add your name below I'll do a drawing (from the names) next Friday. Went to the Crayola Store in Kansas City, Mo. I love this Store! Look at all that color. Who doesn't like a crayon? Oh, and that's cousin Joan doing a demo. A long time ago I heard there was a debate on whether people dreamt in color. Even if they could dream in color. I always wondered about that. I know strange to think about. Maybe it's just an artist thing. Well I finally found out if I dream in color or just wake up thinking I did. Last night in my dream I saw the most amazing horizon. And I called to those who were with me and said, "Come look at this, I've never seen colors so beautiful!"So there you have it. I dream in colors. Do you? |
Shannon's Studio
Archives
March 2023
|