01.04.09
Holiday review
Hooray! I’m back from vacation and ready to resume my poor neglected Soul Journal.
No pictures to post, yet – I’m just getting back to it, and doing some prepping of pages, but it should be coming along in the next week or so. (yes, I’m still slow).
I had a fabulous art-filled holiday. Made cards for my family, and made their gifts, too! Everyone was surprised and pleased, and even impressed! Which made me happy too! I haven’t done anything like that since elementary school.
Here’s to an art-full new year!
10.23.08
Just in time for Halloween
My vampire identity is:
Scourge of The Hungry
One of the poor who howl at the door of the Rosary and the garlic strung cross.
What I thought was even cooler, though, was my Goth name: Fairie Corpse.
Very Tim Burtonesque, isn’t it? That character I can definitely see.
I first came across a link to the Fairy Name generator from Sue’s Views, and that started me on this quest of cool and funky names. I really like this identity, too, and it also would make a great little ATC or something. I like that this little fairy is so strong, and I also like that her color is blue, as blue is one of my favorite colors. In fact, I think I could see a whole little series about her, or maybe a fold-out book.
And what the heck, in the spirit (pun intended) of the holiday, I found this one that will Harry Potterize your name as a witch or wizard. You even get different results if you do just your first name, or your first name with your last name. I am either Ingrid ze Insightful or Electra the Enchanting. I kinda like that last one. And I see another ATC coming.
In fact, it would be great fun to do an entire deck of cards based on different characters like this. I’ll put this in my “idea file” for now, but if you need some amusement between doorbell-rings on Halloween night, you might want to check out some of these sites. And if you really have too much time on your hands…there are plenty of other selections at Quizopolis.
07.12.08
So what is this blog about?
I’m the first to admit, I don’t have any idea what I’m doing. All I know is that I have suddenly and inexplicably become obsessed with a style of art, or collage, or expression, or whatever-you-call it – that I’m sure must have a term, but one which I’ve not yet discovered. “Vintage collage” – “scrapbooking with a twist” (scrapbooking it is not – but yet it seems to have many similarities, at least in tools, techniques, and methods), “altered art” or something else I haven’t yet determined.
My interest was first piqued when I went to a workshop about altered books – and since then, I’ve been absolutely hooked. As I’ve explored more through looking at books and websites, I’ve learned more about what I like, what I hope to produce, and I’ve gained a general sense of where I want to go with this “artistic enthusiasm.”
After struggling with the altered book (and peacefully setting it aside “to be continued”) I decided to scale back. I also started hitting the craft store all too frequently (as my previous post will attest) and acting like a scrapbook maniac on overdrive. I know that what I’m interested in is not scrapbooking per se, but it does seem like the kind of art I want to do bears some similarities.
I’m not sure where I’m going with this blog, nor where I’m headed with my “art.” This blog may be just a short-lived affair, or it may be a way for me to follow this particular muse at this time in my life. We’ll see.
I put art in quotes, above, because at this stage, it deserves quotes. I’m not an artistic type in any way, though I do consider myself creative and until I know I can produce something, I consider myself on the level of a third grader. I can’t even draw a convincing stick-figure!
But I think that’s part of where the appeal of this type of collage-type art comes in for me. Cut things in pieces? Paste and layer in place? Use pre-printed pictures? Rubber stamps? Pretty papers? OK! I can do that!
And so I shall try.
© amateur-in-art 2008
