Category Archives: art

Friday Freebie – Silver Shards for a subscriber –

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mirrors1The kiln and I have been busy for the last few day. I’ve done two firings since Tuesday with new designs. Here are the first few pieces of earthenware with silver Gilder’s Paste which I order on Etsy. I love this combination or terra cotta and silver. Check out the little shard mirror! The Gilder’s Paste is a metallic wax that you can rub on with your finger to highlight texture, and it becomes a permanent patina-like finish on the unglazed clay.

Today’s Friday Freebie is one of the little B Beautiful shard dishes like the two in front. You can use them for tea bags, rings, whatever – or just look at them as a small one-of-a-kind work of art. I put a honeycomb texture on the clay that looks very cool, if I do say so myself. If you are a SHARDS Blog subscriber before midnight tonight and your name is drawn by my number randomizer app , I’ll send you one of the little B Beautiful dishes – free tea bag included 🙂 Subscribe by adding your email on the top right on the page – thanks! And thanks to all of you loyal already-subscribers – you guys are awesome.

Also, as a PS, since I’m talking about ME, I was asked to submit my digital portfolio for consideration as San Antonio Art League’s Artist of the Year for 2014. Now, chances of my being chosen are about as likely as flying pigs, but it was nice to be nominated. I didn’t have a digital portfolio so I put one together with some work from the last couple two years. The nomination made me smile because my work was rejected by the juror in the last Art League show, but you gotta roll with rejection, keep calm, and carry on!

 

Spreading the spirit . . .

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sb1s

A Spirit Box by Lyn Belisle with a Secret Compartment on the Back

I had a nice surprise in my Inbox this morning from Barbara Delaney, Assistant Editor at INTERWEAVE Press:

Dear Lyn,
Thank you so much for your submission to CLOTH PAPER SCISSORS. We are happy to inform you that your project “Spirit Box Collage” has been selected by the editorial team to be included in our September/October issue. We are so pleased to have your work included in this publication, and hope that you will be, too.

You bet I’m pleased! The Spirit Box Workshop we did last Sunday was so much fun that I’m glad to be able to share the project with a wider audience. I’ve done one other article for Cloth Paper Scissors so far, and it’s always interesting to do the “step-outs.” You have to make the same object six or seven times, each time going a little further in the process. So I’ll need to make seven Spirit Boxes in progress that are all like alike except for their stages of completion.

Cloth Paper Scissors is a great resource for artists and crafters. I recommend their site and their magazine to lots of people. If you go to their site and sign up (it’s free and secure) you can download free e-books on all kinds of subjects. One of my favorites is Creating Digital Artwork for Photo Collage. Check them out! And look for the Spirit Box article in September.

cps

Workshop video – we learned so much

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It’s astonishing how much happened in two short days. Here’s the complete video of our weekend workshop at the Studio. Michelle Belto’s spiritual and physical energy took us on an unforgettable journey of artistic discovery!

 

Inspiration time . .

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It’s happened again – another artist has taken my little shard faces to new heights! Hooray!! Look at these Bohemian-inspired wrist-wrap bracelets made with sari silk by Janet at Anvil Artifacts – you can see more of her fabulous work at her Etsy Site and on her Blog! Janet, these are amazing – thanks so much for sharing your beautiful work.  janetbracelet3

 

janetbracelet2

 

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Work aka Play in Progress

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I think it’s fun to see artwork in progress, whether it’s mine of somebody else’s. Here’s what going on in my Studio – remember the fired clay parts for the Guardian series? This is how those are coming together. I’m preparing the board back structure and putting together the pieces on small canvases. I’m using more color than usual in the finishes for some reason.

heads and bodies

heads and bodies

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little guardians in progress

little guardians in progress

 I’ve also been experimenting with a new-to-me transfer paper called TAP. It’s kind of pricey but I like the results so far. Here are a couple of preliminary experimental mixed media pieces on 300 lb watercolor paper that I did yesterday:

TAP2

TAP copy

 Right now I need to switch hats and head to Trinity.  it’s a Teaching Day – semester’s over soon, though, so more Studio time! Whoopee 🙂

Earth Day 2013 – and a sneak preview about artist Pablo Solomon

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earthday 2013My memories of the first Earth Day involve getting in trouble at Alamo Heights Junior School (I was a *very* young art teacher) for organizing an activist march for my students. My principal, Mr. Ivy, was not pleased with my rabble-rousing, mini-skirt-wearing, hippie ways. Forty+ years later, how things have changed – or have they? Thoughts? Pablo Solomon, internationally known artist and designer, featured in National Geographic for his part in the first Earth Day in an article by Mark Anderson, lives for the earth’s conservation. In a recent interview, Pablo says, “Do what you can to obtain a green freedom, a philosophy that there is no greater freedom than energy independence.” He created the first Earth Day poster and has done another one each year since 1970. Here is this year’s (left)

But wait! There’s more! Pablo Solomon with be at the Studio in June for an informal lecture, exhibit and sale of his work. I am really excited about his visit. Mark the weekend of June 21-22 on your calendar.

pablosingle

In the meantime, celebrate Earth Day – as Marshall McLuhan reminds us, there are no passengers on Spaceship Earth – we are all crew.

 

 

Sunday and Spirit Boxes

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Another beautiful Sunday workshop at the Studio – this afternoon, we created Spirit Boxes, small wall sculptures with a hidden compartment on the back. Each one has a special “heart stone” jewel or symbol in the center and lots of other adornments The artisan participants were very original and imaginative. Nobody fought over stuff, everyone got along – gee, you guys,  you play well with others! Thanks ♥♥♥

Sunday’s getting closer . . .

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So the big Fiesta Show and Sale is day after tomorrow – I’m sorta ready, but this morning I really wanted to work on something new for the show. I started with some square black frames that I had ordered just because they were on sale. Then I printed some digital photos of gravestone angels (but of course!) and started working on two small collages that remind me of the Guardian series. I call the new series El Ala y la OraciĂłn (the Wing and the Prayer) because they feature bird feathers and monument faces. They are turning out so well – it’s great to feel them come together. Here are the first two – with any luck I’ll finish four more by Sunday. These are behind glass so there is a bit of reflection in the photo, but it adds to the overall effect, perhaps. The hardest part was figuring out how to create the shadow box. I did it with thin strips of black foamcore mounted against the inside edges of the frames – come by the Studio on Sunday and I’ll show you the trick!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tell and Show

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The “tell” part: I keep remembering great tips from artist Sherrill Kahn when I saw her presentation at FASA on Monday. One that I’m going to try today is mixing cheap hair gel, the kind you can get at dollar stores in a pump bottle, with acrylic paint to make a glaze for fabric, collage, whatever. Another technique that she uses is Styrofoam plate printing. It’s fun to watch her do this. Breaking news: there’s a pretty good possibility that Sherrill will be at my Studio in August for several workshops (or you can go to Italy to see her in September <wistful sigh>)

The “show” part: Lesta Frank, Jan Longfellow, Alison Schockner and I are reuniting for a Fiesta Show at the Studio this Sunday – whoopee! Here’s a sneak preview of the cool stuff – there will be food and freebies and Fiesta fun, so come by and celebrate from 11-5!

 

 

Gloria Hill: Guest Artist for April

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I’m honored to feature my long-time friend, Gloria Hill, whose expressive abstract paintings have blossomed in 2013. She started working with me at the Studio in February (I hesitate to say “taking lessons” because I learn as much from her as she does from me). Gloria grasps an idea and makes it her own. She is dedicated and amazingly prolific considering that she has a demanding full-time career as North East ISD’s Director of Visual Art where her art teachers and students win state and national awards. Gloria is, thankfully, finding time for her own art, and boy, is she good! Her paintings (below) speak for themselves, but this is what she has to say about her personal creative journey:

“We all have to start somewhere and I feel that I am at the gathering stage in my work.  I am motivated by the strong urge to create.  I hope that through the process of discovering, gathering, creating, experimenting, searching, failing, and learning I will develop the tools, techniques, and processes to better express myself.   I know who I am and am happy with me.  I never want to stop growing and learning and I am finding that my art is taking me down the path I want to travel.  It is giving me joy, inner peace, confidence, and a feeling of personal accomplishment.”

Thank you, Glo, for sharing your talent and inspiring work!