Lyric Art

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Artist Spotlight: Tracie Lyn Huskamp

The giveaway fenzy winds down today with the artist Tracie Lyn Huskamp who is giving away a copy of Bead It Like You Mean It on her blog. Read all about her here, then go there to leave a comment for your chance to win.

Tracie Lyn Huskamp is a product designer, workshop instructor, painter, poet, and mixed media artist living in Kansas. Her book, Nature Inspired (by Quarry Publishing), her fabric collection, Nature Inspired (by Windham Fabrics), along with her 2012 calendars, Nature Inspired Birds (by Time Factory Publishing), are in retails stores now. To learn more about her art and life, visit her website at TheRedDoor-Studio.com.

Tracie will be in Houston November 3-6, teaching at the International Quilt Festival. She's also teaching next year, September 16 - 22 in Orivieto Italy! Can I just tell you right now... I WANT TO BE IN THAT CLASS!

Here is a list of all of the lovely artists and blogs that participated in the Bead It party.

Sep 15 Larkin Van Horn http://blog.larkinart.com/

Sept 16 Susan Sorell http://www.creativechick.com/blog/

Sept 19 Kelli Nina Perkins http://ephemeralalchemy.blogspot.com/

Sept 21 Sharon Chapman http://wildflowerhouse.blogspot.com/

Sept 23 Leslie Jennison http://leslietuckerjenison.blogspot.com/

Sept 26 Carla Sonheim http://carlasonheim.wordpress.com/

Sept 28 Gloria Hansen http://www.gloriahansen.com/weblog/

Sept 30 Laura Wasilowski http://artfabrik.blogspot.com/

Oct 3 Carol Sloan http://carolbsloan.blogspot.com/

Oct 5 Sue Bleiweiss http://www.suebleiweiss.com/blog/

Oct 7 Jill Berry http://jillberrydesign.com/blog/

Oct 10 Jane LaFazio http://janeville.blogspot.com/

Oct 12 Tracie Lynn Huskamp http://thereddoor-studio.blogspot.com/

And if , even after leaving a comment on each and every review, you still didn't win - you can buy it here.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Bead It Like You Mean It - Jane LaFazio

The Bead It Like You Mean It

Blog Hop Giveaway

is winding down...

Today the fabulous Jane LaFazio is reviewing and then giving away one of the last two copies of this hour and a half long workshop. On Wednesday Tracie Lyn Huskamp is giving the last one away. And then the introductory sale price of $19.95 goes up to $24.95.

I've introduced you to Jane in the past (read a series of posts here) - she's still one of my favorites. She's full of boundless energy and enthusiasm and is fearless about trying new techniques.

Head over to JANE'S BLOG today and leave a comment to win a copy of Bead It Like You Mean It.

THIS is what Jane did after viewing my DVD.

Read the post about her project of fight Breast Cancer here.

What crazy thing are you inclined to bead?

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Faces on Friday: missing in action

January Faces

At the beginning of this year I decided it was time to stop whining about how hard it was to draw people. Faces especially. Time to practice what I'm continually preaching and do the work, develop the skill, learn to draw faces. (That first post is here.)

5 second faces, getting barely
a glimpse of the subject

You've gotta start somewhere so I started at the beginning. A face a day on a little 3x5 index card. Mostly it has been fun if I just enjoy the process. If I start worrying about getting it "right" it's no longer fun - it's frustrating.

The almost resemble the subjects!
Progress!

And then for a while the pressure of having to do something and post it every week got to me - it was just too much to deal with on top of some of the family chaos of having five kids home all day over the summer.

Faces on Friday went missing in action. I didn't stop drawing my faces but I did take a break from feeling that I MUST do them.

Time for a reset. The oldest is off to college (and thriving!) The youngest started kindergarten. I'm slowly adjusting to my new schedule. So here we go again.

The ones on the left - worked over about five minutes.
On the right - very quickly.

And guess what? Maybe taking something of a break can be a good thing. I have enough distance that I can see improvement. Actual progress.

All the faces so far.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Artist Spotlight: Jill Berry

Sketchbook Artist, Jill Berry is recently returned from three fabulous weeks of teaching in Italy.

I can't wait to hear more - I SOOOO want to do that some day.

Her book, due out soon, is called Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed-Media Mapmaking. I can't wait to see it, having a personal attraction to maps - and art that explores maps and plans. Maybe it's my (long ago) studies of architecture, maybe it's just that Jill's work is gorgeous. You can pre-order it here.

She has a review of Bead It Like You Mean It on her blog and is giving away a copy.

Head over to her blog to leave a comment for your chance to win.

Remember that the DVD is on sale only for the next few days. On October 12th the regular price will go into effect, so if you want it for $19.95 buy it soon. I think you will really like it. If you want your local shop to carry it please have them contact me!

Carol Sloan and Sue Bleiwiess also still have giveaways open so you can try your luck there as well.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

For Your Inspiration: Apples

In honor of Steve Jobs.

Vinyl sticker on Etsy

Print by JoyStClaire on Etsy

cupcakes by hello my sweet at Etsy

Apple cozy by BesoDelSol at Etsy

Print by Lisa Russo Photography on Etsy

Artist Spotlight: Sue Belieweiss

Sue Bleiweiss is the brains behind the Sketchbook Challenge - a group of artists that has taken many of us on a fantastic journey for the past year. I have learned much and made wonderful friends over there, and it has been a great pleasure to work with Sue.

Fabric Collage II by Sue Bleiweiss
34" x 24"

Sue's work speaks to me - it is both richly textured and yet it is controlled and meticulously detailed. Love it.

Sue says: "I am fascinated with the challenge of creating texture both real and implied to a piece of fabric by using dyes, paints, and stitch to manipulate the surface of the fabric. My goal has never been to create a perfect and flawless surface. It is to create something that delights the eye, feeds the senses and fires the imagination."

Sue also works in various media - I've loved her sculptural works and especially her hand made books for a long time. Beautiful stuff.

Sue has posted a review of my DVD, Bead It Like You Mean It on her blog and is giving away a copy. Please head over to her blog and read what she thinks. Leave a comment to win.

Carol Sloane's giveaway is also still open if you haven't left a comment there.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Artist Spotlight: Carol Sloan

I'd like you to meet mixed media artist, Carol Sloan. I have truly enjoyed getting to know her through the Sketchbook Challenge. When I was reading her biography I was drawn to her lists. I like lists. I'm going to share her list with you.

In 2008 I started a blog, began teaching and submitted artwork for publication in two books.

I was on my way to achieving some of my lifelong goals and dreams:

Be an artist. Be an author. Teach others to celebrate their creative spirit.

I have artwork in four books, with a project coming out this fall (I hope) in an e-book with Lark. I teach nationally and plan on teaching internationally soon.

I want to write a book about mixed media book making.