Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Freeform Screenprinting

screen print by Sally Westcott
I thought I'd share some of the wonderful work by previous on-line students of
There is still time to sign up for the next session
four lessons, one opening each week
beginning in two weeks - May 4th
There are extra weeks with no lessons - giving you plenty of time to work.

screen print by Susan Price
Look HERE for an outline of the class

screen print by Maggi Birchenough
 You can register HERE at www.QuiltUniversity.com 

screen print by Susan Price

Friday, April 20, 2012

Creative Wisdom/Faces on Friday: doing the work

I've been thinking about my favorite subject again. Why is it that people are afraid of drawing? I say this almost every time I open my mouth in a lecture or class. We have to give ourselves permission to be imperfect. We have to give ourselves time to learn. I think it's crazy that we assume we are not an artist if we can't automatically draw the first time we pick up a pencil. We don't expect a food lover to be a Chef until after they've trained. We don't call someone an author without them first having learned to read and write and compose.



Here I am an artist- and I have to admit that I'm sometimes guilty of it myself. I sketched all the time but was afraid to draw a face because - well - it's HARD! I finally stopped whining about it and decided to 
DO THE WORK! 

The goal was to draw a face a day for a year. I'm not so good at consistency when it comes to things like daily tasks - there is is too much "life" going on at my house. But I did fill the box. And I'm still doing it. I used 3x5 cards instead of sketchbook because they are not "precious." They are kind of junk paper. You can't ruin something if it's already junk right? 


Guess what - it's paying off.  




The time and effort and the work, workwork.  It's paying off.
More than once in the past few weeks I've held up a sketch to show a member of my family and they immediately knew who it was. That's huge progress here. :-)


Mind you - it's by no means effortless. I still have a long way to go but it's such a fun journey to be on. What pleasure to open the box and see how far I've come.

How about you?
For those of you who followed along last year - have you seen the fruits of your efforts?
What is easier now that you've put in some time doing the WORK?

Thursday, April 19, 2012

SurfaceXplorations! A new emagazine from Interweave Press

I'm very happy to introduce you to a new e-magazine by the talented crew over at
Interweave Press
Surface Explorations is an all digital publication and can be downloaded to your desktop or to your iPad or other tablet. Even though I can do everything on my desktop that this publication is meant to do - I'm thinking an iPad might be in my near future. It's that COOL!!!

I don't think printed media is going away any time soon - there is nothing like holding a good book in your hand and turning a page and electronics and the beach don't mix. BUT - you can't click a link to go straight to a source or watch a video of the author actually showing you how to do what you just read about in a paper magazine. With this publication you can do that and more.


I'm very honored to be included in the inaugural issue of SurfaceXplorations with an article and video on Thermofax Screen Printing. I'll show you a little bit about discharge (and remind you why testing is important!) and just plain have some fun with paint.

Some of the other authors are giving you a little peak into their contributions to this fun new digital publication. Stop by each of their blogs to check it out.

Mon 4/16 Lindsey Murray http://quiltingdaily.com
Wed 4/18 Jackie Lams http://studiolams.com
Thu 4/19 Lyric Kinard http://lyrickinard.blogspot.com
Fri 4/20 April Sproule http://sproulestudios.blogspot.com
Tues 4/24 Jane Davila http://janedavila.blogspot.com





If you are interested in learning even more about screen printing, I have an on-line class called Freeform Screen Printing opening up on May 4th over at QuiltUniversity.com! We'll go even deeper into thermofax screens and learn a lot about regular screen printing too.

Scroll down a bit for another post about it or check out the class description here.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Copyright Free Images: The Commons at Flickr

In an ongoing effort to help you find copyright free imagery, or imagery with "no known copyright restrictions" here is another source.


William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877)
Collection of National Media Museum
Photomicrograph of insect wings, as seen in a solar microscope.
We're happy for you to share this digital image within the spirit of The Commons. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions of the original physical version of apply though; if you're unsure please visit the National Media Museum website.
For obtaining reproductions of selected images please go to the Science and Society Picture Library.

According to the site's description of the rights statements:
Participating institutions may have various reasons for determining that "no known copyright restrictions" exist, such as:
  1. The copyright is in the public domain because it has expired;
  2. The copyright was injected into the public domain for other reasons, such as failure to adhere to required formalities or conditions;
  3. The institution owns the copyright but is not interested in exercising control; or
  4. The institution has legal rights sufficient to authorize others to use the work without restrictions.




You might also like to explore: 
The Library of Congress
WikiMedia Commons
Bibliodyssey

Friday, April 13, 2012

Copyright Free Images: Wikimedia Commons

Another favorite site of mine for finding copyright free imagery to use in my artwork is
It is a vast repository of imagery available for download under creative commons licenses. You can find very old illustrations, vintage photography, and contemporary photography. 


You can search through the site for all sorts of subjects.


Wednesday, April 11, 2012

For Your Inspiration: From the Air

Furrows in the Sky by Lyric Kinard



Progressive Rhythm by Lyric Kinard

Glory in the Sky by Lyric Kinard


And also from underground.
Detroit Airport Tunnel - Lyric Kinard
My favorite color combination, even if it only lasted a few seconds. The colors change with the music every few seconds. I have to say that it's really great "rushing about from one place to the next" music... one one of my favorite airport experiences.