Gnome Door

A few weeks ago I went to a pottery painting party, and in a wine induced whim I added a little door to the bottom of my abstract painting, and it made the piece.  It gave it purpose and a story.

Ever since then I've been a little entranced with gnome doors.  I looked it up on Etsy and it seems anyone selling gnome doors is doing really well.  They are simple and whimsical...and while I've never really liked gnome statues, I love the little door adhered to a tree.  My mind to races with fantastical ideas of where the door goes, and what the world looks like on the other side. (I will admit I looooved Alice in Wonderland and Witch in the Wordrobe...little doors on trees fits both of those stories well).

So here is my latest drawing in vain of my new fascination.  I used the water based markers that I seem to always be drawn to, but added water color paint to get more variety of colors.

I'm really pleased with how this one came out...tying together the abstract into a world others can understand.

Me oh my....MAYHEM! MAYDAY!

About a year ago I went to a pottery painting bachelorette party.  I hated ceramics in high school, so I thought I would hate pottery painting too...not to mention it seemed like such a trite activity...but turns out I LOVE pottery painting. All my silly little marker doddle style looks kick ass on a bowl/cup/vase.

So I've been a few more times. Each time I was delighted with my finished piece...well this time I was so delighted that I started moping "I need a kiln..." and Blair, my husband, got the message and got to work.

We found a $100 kiln on craigslist, and I was over joyed. Now I can pottery paint at home, and maybe sell the stuff!  

But quickly reality hit....I hated ceramics in high school, so I never took a class in it in college, which means I know NOTHING about kilns, pottery painting, or the like.

I've been researching for days now, and it's no longer fun. I love to learn, but I hate starting at ground zero.  I'll start my search on one question like "can I put my pottery on the floor of the kiln?"  Which quickly shifts to "how do you load a kiln" to "how do you glaze pottery" to looking up heat temperatures, cones, tools, and on and on....it's mind numbing.  I'll read for hours and never have answered my original question.

Eventually I had to start taking notes so I could keep referring back to my original question and jot down all other questions that come up along the way that I need to look up later. 

I'm watching videos, making shopping lists...editing those shopping lists...all I wanted to do was paint a silly little bowl.

I bought (Blair bought) the kiln.  Then we bought a ton of glazes off a lady on craigslist...and I thought all I needed next was the ceramics and I'm ready to go, but it turns out I also need tongs, kiln wash, a vent!, kiln shelves (which are heavy and pricey), stilts for all the pottery, and the list goes on and on.

One minute I feel like I'm starting to get somewhere and the next minute I feel like I'm drowning.

In the mean time, I keep admiring my tiny little ceramic bowl, and am dreaming how great it would be if this was my niche.  I've always loved my art style, but it just doesn't feel very sellable...this feels sellable...and it feels magical, the way the patterns mesh and change around the object.

Here's my latest creation...I had to take a lot of pictures because every side is different.

Just Start!

After selling all of our wedding stuff my mind starting churning - what else can I sell? The obvious answer is art, of course! I've got a closet FULL of it...why not pop it on etsy and see what happens?

So yesterday I posted 4 pages out of my sketchbook. I have to admit I didn't find the task to be very fun - taking the photo, color balancing it, measuring it, etc. After posting only half of the photos I set out to post I started looking around at other peoples sites to see what sells and what doesn't and I decided maybe I can make some pieces with subjects that seem to sell well.

My first attempt is of a ballet dancer. Being a dancer myself this theme seems to fit.  I think I will try a few more dancer drawings before moving on to another targeted subject meshed with my abstract style.

On this new adventure my goal isn't really to make money, I'm selling these sketches for only $15 a piece...the goal is more just getting started in art again, and I think it will work.  I believe if I just start doing something, something will come out of it.

Here's a link to my shop if you wanna check it out :)
https://www.etsy.com/shop/UrbanZingara

Just a Few Sketches

I've done so many abstract drawing that I've started to feel rusty in my drawing ability....so I've been doing quick little drawings to build my confidence back up.

I'm drawing one realistic and one more stylized/illustrative version for each sketch, however I'm finding that the realistic one is easy cheesy and I'm still trying to find a good voice in the illustrative one.

Here's what I've done this week"

Random Inspirations

When I went to art school it was creativity 110% of the time....but I got burnt out, and now a days it goes in fits and fizzles.

A week or so ago I saw something magical, or at least at the time I thought it was magical...upon further investigation it turned out to be not so cool...but that's even better.  It was a strike to the imagination causing me to yearn to find more magical things.

However, it turns out it's not easy to hunt for magical things.  I looked at the most expensive gnomes on ebay...lame...I looked up the words "magical"  "awesome"  "crazy" on pintrest and craigslist....no luck (unless you think unicorns are awe inspiring).

I did indeed finally find some things...though it took several days, and even my husband began to join in on the hunt and in the end it sparked the desire to create art again, to be in that moment of creating something that feels magical to me....to dance with delight when I make the right move, and to shudder with disappointment when I fail....

It all started with a door knocker (I know random)


He's not as cool as he looks....you can buy one on ebay...but the fact that he's not as cool as I thought only makes me want to make what I thought I saw in this picture.

So then I started searching....
I learned from pintrest that you can draw on paper with milk and hit it with a hot iron to create an awesome woodburned look:

Pretty cool.

Then I found a photographer that created this delightful book about random people in New York, paired with lovely quotes from the people.


http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2013/nov/03/brandon-stanton-humans-of-new-york-pictures


And another photographer taking photos of people who like to dress up as movie characters, in their costumes in their own homes:

http://petapixel.com/2013/11/01/portraits-costume-owners-home/

But Blair found the winner that made me feel most satisfied....It's a book written by an architect in the 70's. He made an encyclopedia in a made up language about a made up world. He wanted you, the viewer, to feel like you were a kid again, thumbing through an encyclopedia staring at the images trying to figure out what's going on...and I LOVE IT....the sixth edition has just been printed, and for the first time ever it's actually affordable, but it seems everyone is out of stock until after Christmas...I must own this book!



http://the-dimka.livejournal.com/6645.html

However, now I've become a "magical hunter"...as a result I'm also debating buying a 3ft long museum quality t-rex (not assembled! How fun is that?!) for $50 on craigslist (he would make a great fireplace decoration), a crazy couch (and chair, but I would keep the couch and ottoman and resell the chair), and the coolest craziest Christmas gift for a friend from a restaurant auction, but I can't say what it is in case "the receiver" or anyone related to the "receiver" reads this post...but it's 6ft tall, and who knows how heavy, would be freaking amazingly well received, but would end up right back on craigslist by January 1st....but totally worth it.



And in this playful yearning I'm drawing again!  I can't find my freaking markers, so I'm just doing pencil drawing for now, but my mind is churning and I believe it is ready to go places!!!! There will be more to follow, I'm sure of it.

Trying Something New....

When I went to design my wedding invitations I had a really hard time finding a stock template that made me happy. We're quirky people and I wanted something that reflected that so I had to start from scratch designing something that would make both of us happy....in the end I was really pleased with the collection of work that we made so I thought maybe I would have fun designing for others too.

I've posted an ad on Craigslist, but I'm not so sure that will work because you have to click on "services" when searching in order to see the ad.  I don't know about you, but I've used craigslist a thousand times, I didn't know you have to click on "services" so I doubt others do either....but we shall see, it will be a fun experiment.  

I figured I would charge $300 for a wedding invitation and $50 for an envelope.   When I made my invitations it took FOREVER...I mean I will admit, we're both artistically picky, which is what made it such an impossible task.  (To be honest I'm not even that fond of our wedding invitations....but they were Blair's 'dream come true' so I guess that's all that matters...and on top of that every other piece in the packaged I am in love with.

Here's what the ad says, and some of the samples that were posted with it (for some reason Blogger wont let me post all of the samples): 

Are you looking for wedding invitations that are a little more personalized than those stock templates online? 

I'm a graphic artist who had a blast setting up my own invites, now I'm toying with the idea of starting a side business designing stuff for others.

We would have an initial meeting, talk about what exactly your looking for, then I would design three starting point ideas....from there you would pick one, and you would have up to three more rounds of changes from there. After we come up with the final layout, I can give you a cd with your art on it and I can either help you find a printer, or you can print your artwork yourself, the art is yours. I will sign waivers so you have full access to it.

I would need to be paid upfront after the initial meeting
I would charge $300 for a wedding invitation (however I would give a discount for easier jobs)
$50 for an envelope design

Generally speaking, if your looking for something quirky/unique, it does take some time to make it happen...it's impossible to say how long something will take when you start the project, because you never know if your going to need to hand draw your own art, or if there is art already out there that you can tweak and twist to be what your looking for....but I have a wide range of skills, so if you want something hand drawn, or you want photos photoshopped into something crazy, I can make it happen.

I would be happy to design other stuff too: thank you cards, rsvp cards, save the dates, baby shower, posters, graduation, etc.

Shoot me an email if your interested:  wendy.nisley@gmail.com
http://kansascity.craigslist.org/crs/4167853469.html

Inspired by lace

Several years ago I dabbled in making bobbin lace.  It completely changed how I create artwork…in lace, the negative (empty) spaces are almost more important than the positive spaces (the main subject).  From that point forward, I became mesmerized by the negative space in between objects, and it shows up constantly in my abstract art.  When making a drawing like the one above it usually feels like a dance. I soften my gaze, and can feel the energy of the shape push me into the next shape…in the end it turns into this push and pull where I’m not really concerned about the composition but more the energy of the space around each object. In this particular piece each of the panels is its own object, but each color mass is an object as well, and as a result the empty spaces are almost as captivating as the spaces filled with color/decoration.

Here's some examples of lace that play with the positive/negative space in case you were interested.