Kristen Ann Walker - Artist of the Week

The first thing I noticed about Kristen's work are the fabulous colors. The second thing I noticed are the positive messages she incorporates into her work.

Peace

Just Begin - An Affirmation for Artists

Follow Your Bliss

Kristen lives in Santa Barbara California where she works full time at a county education office as a web developer.  She is lucky because she loves her 9 -5 job and has a creative outlet in her artwork.  Kristen sells her artwork on her Etsy site, Kristen Annie follow your bliss.  

Kristen is a craft store junkie (I'm sure many of us can relate to that!) and loves to try new materials and techniques.  She is a big fan of acrylics for their easy clean-up, but also loves sharpies, paint pens and fabric paint.  Kristen's grandfather was a big influence on her and her artwork.  Here's what she said, "My grandfather was an extremely creative person, and has greatly influenced my creativity in materials. He gave me a wooden artist's box with oil paints in it when I was young. He included all kinds of unofficial art supplies in it, too, like a comb and some buttons. I asked him what those were for, and he said I could try creating textures with them. That planted the seed for seeking out unconventional materials and seeing everything as a possible creative tool. I am so grateful to him for sharing his creative perspective and joy with me."

As I said earlier, I love Kristen's use of color. I know I can be a bit intimidated about using different colors in my work, so I always admire other artists that seem to have the freedom and confidence to incorporate lots of great colors into their work.  Kristen said she loves to play with color and when selecting her color choices, she goes with what's calling her name when she looks at her paints and pens. 

Kristen has some beautiful words to share about creating artwork in general.

"I feel like the act of creating art is a form of tuning into the cosmic
creative radio station in the sky and transmitting energy and feelings to
others via images and color. For a long time I felt like, "who am I to
offer what I create to people?", but more and more I am realizing that I don't *own* my
artwork, if that makes any sense. I feel like when I create, I am receiving
a gift, and by offering the images to others, I am allowing the gift to
reach the people that it was supposed to reach, and not blocking it. Even
if the image only resonates with one other person, but that person totally
gets it and sees something that illustrates a thought or feeling or emotion from their own soul, it's worth it."

If you'd like to read more about Kristen and her work, visit her blog, Kristen Walker Art, Life and More. Thanks so much for joining me for the Artist of the Week post, see you Friday!  Stacie

Busy Monday

I was so busy in the studio today that it's almost 6:00 at night and I'm finally writing my post!  The good news is I got so much done.  I love when I have a productive day, it's very rewarding.  Today I was working on putting together pieces for The Mystic Jewel.  They have two stores in the Outer Banks, North Carolina.  Wish I could actually go down to take my jewelry to the store instead of the post office!  If you can't get to the Mystic Jewel either, visit their website, they now have a section for Stacie Jewelry!

So here are some of the pieces that I finished today.

Rose and Poppy Bracelet

Vintage Photo and Artwork Bracelet

Fairy Necklace

Brown Art Collage Watch

Blue Hope and Home Bracelet

Black and White Eiffel Tower Earrings

My plans are to finish all of the pieces over the next few days that I will be mailing to the beach and take them to the post office on Wednesday.  I have a great class called Needle Felted Jeans from the Muse on Wednesday night that I can't wait to take.  I thought it would be nice if I had all the jewelry done and mailed before I set out to my wine and cheese art class with a friend!  What a nice reward! By the way, they still have a few spaces left if you live in the area and are interested in taking the class.  Here is The Muse Class Schedule.

Thanks for stopping by! See you Wednesday for the Artist of the Week post! Stacie

Getting ready for the holidays

Ok, so there are only 49 days left until Christmas!  My friends and family know that I'm kind of a nut about the holidays. My daughter even found me a countdown to Christmas app on my phone so every morning I wake up and see how many days are left.

My husband and I have a morning tradition of sharing Starbucks mochas together.  The other morning he was nice enough to go and get our mochas. When he woke me up, it wasn't just with a mocha, but a mocha in the holiday cups!!  I love the holiday cups, the Christmas music, and spending time at home with my family. What is your favorite part of the holiday season?  Any good ideas about how to keep the stress down and the fun up?  Let us know.

I have two more stores left to stock, then it will be concentrating on keeping my Etsy site full and filling holiday gift orders from the stores.  I posted my first piece of holiday jewelry on my Etsy site yesterday.

Snowman Stamp Charm

I plan to add more jewelry and holiday pieces just about everyday, so make sure to visit often.  Today I'm working on the Photo transfer portion of the design process. I always enjoy this part, because it's a very creative and fun process.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Amber Dusick - Artist of the Week

Amber Dusick is the creative force behind Woodmouse.  Amber creates her wooden toys out of her Los Angeles studio where she lives with her husband and two children.  She uses sustainably harvested domestic woods and beeswax from a local beekeeper to make her colorful toys.  This type of wood is more expensive than "normal" wood, but Amber is very passionate about trees and feels strongly about protecting our forests and the animals within them.

Babywearing Mama Figure

All the wooden toys and figures in her Etsy shop woodmouse are designed, cut, woodburned and sanded by Amber.  The toys are simple, creative and safe for children to play with.  Each figure is sealed with beeswax and organic jojoba oil and all edges are sanded buttery smooth.  The water based paints that Amber uses have been independently third-party tested and are non-toxic.

Autumn Leaf Child Toy Children of Nature Series

Amber adds interesting woodburning details to her toys that make woodmouse products truly unique. She developed this unique style in 2006 because she wanted the toys to look similar to the black ink and watercolor paintings she had created many years ago.

I asked Amber what her favorite part of creating her toys is and she replied, "My favorite part about creating my toys changes on any given day. I love to sketch and come up with new designs. I love to stand at my saw and cut wood as I find it very meditative. I also love to paint them because they really come to life. I also love to photograph them. At each step I say to myself, "Yeah, this is my favorite part" but then I'm onto the next step. "

Her toys are perfect gift ideas for children and adults too.  I love her Nativiy Toy Set with the soft colors and woodburning details. 

Natural Wooden Nativity Toy Set 12 Piece Set

Amber was featured in an Etsy Handmade Portrait Video in December 2008.  Take a few minutes and watch her video to be further inspired by her work and find out more about the behind the scenes life of Amber.  She also has a great blog, Amber Dusick where you can follow Amber and learn about her family and work day to days.

Thank you so much for joining me for the Artist of the Week post. I hope you have a wonderful day! Stacie

Creative and Motivational Sunday

Yesterday before all the Halloween festivities began, my daughter Madison and I spent hours in the jewelry studio creating our Creative Mandalas. As I mentioned in my earlier February 20th post  Madison and I are working on the exercises from the awesome book The Creative Entrepreneur by Lisa Sonora Beam.  This week we had so much fun taking our last four journal entries and creating an artistic Mandala.  The word Mandala is from Sanskrit and is loosely translated as a "magic circle".  Here are some photos of my finished Mandala. 

I loved working on this and have to say it felt very motivating.  I decided to hang it in my studio inside my supply closet door, so each time I open it I can remind myself of my visions and dreams for my business. 

Here is Madison's Mandala.  She talks about two different dreams in hers, one of her business of making and selling her artwork and one of her dream to be a famous singer!

After our creative session, my son and I were off to the bookstore to spend a little quality time together.  I did find another great book Creative Is a Verb: If You're Alive, You're Creative that was recommended by one of my fellow coconuts, Sarah Stevenson.  She was the artist of the week in my October 20th post.  I spent an hour in bed reading this book last night after trick or treating with my daughter and the neighbors.  It was a perfect ending to a wonderful Halloween day.  I hope you and your family had a great day together.  I'll close with the "sweet" picture of my little zombie bride.

Another Fun Craft Day!

Yesterday we had another fun craft day with the girls.  My friend Kathy hosted and graciously served us with mimosas and yummy foods.  She also made each of us these beautiful Halloween centerpieces.

I spent the day making textured circle bracelets and peace sign jewelry.  I changed the style of the new peace jewelry by using beads that have warm fall colors. 

This morning I was planning on finishing up the silver clay that I started on Monday...but I ended up sewing plastic spiders and arranging black spider webs to my daughter's Halloween costume!  She is going to be a Zombie Bride.  Of course it took me way longer than expected, but I'm done and ready to drive to the school and help her get dressed for the parade and party. 

I hope to find time this weekend to finish my silver and get my studio together. It looks a bit haunted now with silver clay, tools, spiders & black web everywhere!  Have a Happy Halloween.  See you Monday.  Stacie

Kaci Lorance - Artist of the Week

Spirit Doll

I thought featuring Kaci Lorance's Art Dolls would be perfect for Halloween week!  Especially after I saw her Spirit Doll she listed on her esty shop!

Not all of Kaci's Art Dolls are quite so spooky!  Kaci is a Fashion Design graduate from Brooks College in Long Beach, California.  She currently lives in Ventura, California where she grew up.  Kaci found her love of dolls by making cloth dolls with her grandma as a kid out of odd socks.  She started getting into the more complex and artistic art dolls as an adult about 3 or 4 years ago. 

You can find a few of Kaci's Art Dolls for sale on her etsy shop Daydream Retreat.   

OOAK Art doll - Rilo

5X5 Original Fabric Collage

Kaci also works with other mixed media types like the Fabric Collage pictured above.  She plans to branch out further and create some more functional items with her images such as journal covers and jewelry boxes.  When I asked Kaci what is her favorite part about making Art Dolls, she answered; "My mind works best with dimension, for example in fashion school I was great at draping patterns on a dress form but couldn't flat pattern draft to save my life. As much as I would like to be a painter, it's just not a strength of mine and creating these little figures just feels natural. I also love the diversity, you can work with various types of clay, paint, wire, fabric, yarns, fibers, fabrics, and found objects all in one piece. I'm a fashion designer, make-up artist, and hairdresser all in one and there are no limitations except your imagination."

Kaci's "Sprout" doll was selected by Art Doll magazine in the "Upcycled Doll" challenge and published in the Art Doll Quarterly issue released in January, 2010.

Sprout Doll Published in Art Doll Quarterly

If you'd like to read more about Kaci and her creative works, read her blog at Daydream Retreat Art dolls and Other Creative Explorations.

Thanks so much for joining me today.  I hope you have a wonderfully creative day!  See you on Friday.  Stacie