Collage

Today I was inspired by this collage video featuring the work of Michelle Caplan


I am presently working on 4 small 12 x 12 inch collages to go in our freshly painted mudroom bathroom.Here they are on my workspace shelves.

Videos that spark your creativity

My best friend Huguette and I can attest to the creative boost that Rex Ray's video gave us earlier this year. It got us doing art again . My favorite part of this video is when Rex talks about how he worked with a creative mind - turning off his critical voices.



Rex Ray has a series called resin panels . I always wondered how complex this technique was so I did a little search on youtube to see what videos were out there to help out. (epoxy resin art show, finishing your work with epoxy resin )

Two great pictures from last February San Francisco exhibition installation via fabulous whorange . I just love that one of Rex with his work.

Elizabeth Gilbert at TED

A video worthwhile watching: "nurturing creativity" - Elizabeth Gilbert ( author of bestseller: Eat, Pray and Love) gave this mindshifting talk at TED last february.



a few other favorite TED talks of mine:
Amy Tan on creativity
Larry Lessig on laws that choke creativity
Richard St-John's 8 secrets of success
Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos Photosynth ( Seadragon)

Beetle art

I am totally fascinated with these groupings and mosaics of bugs and beetles ( mainly beetles) by artist enthomologist Christopher Marley.

Kyoko Okubo paper sculptures

to see new works from Kyoko Okubo go regularly to artfoundout blog

Japanese illustration in the 20's

From the Kodomo no kuni gallery of Artists and Children's Books illustration in 1920 Japan. Some of my favorite pics:

Takei Takeo : Origami 1927

Takei Takeo : Straw crafts 1928

Kawakami Shiro: Horse jump 1929

Kawakami Shiro: The live bears 1930

Kitahara Hakushu: Drops 1929

Koga Harue: Merry May 1932, this one reminds me of French artist Fernand Léger!

Josef Frank and Saint Verde Digest

Some pictures just speak for themselves,... to see more of Joseph Franks wonderful fabric designs browse through Neville Trickett's glorious Flickr set. Do not miss Neville's blog : saint verde digest . It is just soooo fresh and inspiring!


Swedish designer, Josef Frank, created these beauties prior to 1950 !

Yes, Meryl Streep's sheets in the movie Mamma Mia are from Josef Frank

Dear Alice

How can one not fall in love with Alice in Wonderland.

Looking at A.A. Nash's illustrations above, makes me want to read Alice's adventures all over again.


Classical John Tenniel's illustrations, photos of Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell ( the real Alice for whom the story was written) can be seen in Lenny's great Alice in wonderland site.



Following are some of my favorite pics from
Finsbry's Amazing 385 Alice in Wonderland illustrations.


May the enchantment work it's magic and get you to draw your own version of Alice's timeless tribulations in the land of wonder.

For more inspiration, have a look at:
Lauren's A to Z collection of Alice's illustrators.
(image below: Philip Gough, London 1949 )

Golden Books artwork - on tour!

source: child at art

I wish,wish,wish, I was in Baltimore this week to drop by the Enoch Pratt Library where 60 original works from Golden Book artists are on exhibit. Good news is: this Golden Books artwork Legacy tour is scheduled to tour around the states until 2012!

Thank you, thank you, thank you child at art for posting plenty of great pictures of this show!

Interested in renting this exhibit for your hometown? If that's the case then you can read the comments bredlo wrote on retro kid's discussion stream.

Great Golden Books ressources

Browsing on the net yesterday I found these great golden books ressources:

goldengems : Page by page views , from front cover to back cover including endcovers (45 books! as of today).

collecting little golden books : a complete guide to help serious collectioners. Cover pictures and prices of every golden book publications are shown here .

try-whistling-this : 507 golden book photo's in this fabulous golden books dedicated set.

Illustrator collective sites

I just love browsing through illustrator collective sites discovering new talent and inspiration. Here are a few of my favorite illustrator collective sites:


illutration mundo showcases a vast array of illustrators works - "a place where illustrators get all the love" - Check it out! This site delivers the love and much much more.

illoz is an 'invitation only' portfolio site for illustrators. Illoz's caption reads as of today's post: "167 illustrators showing 14,647 images that have actually been viewed 3,256,365 times " ( and they add here: (for real!))


the ispot illustration site hosts artist's as well as agencie's portfolios of high quality work in order to market artists and agencies to art directors - this at a fee.



folioplanet is a directory of 2095 illustrator links, 280 illustration portfolios and 32,000 stock illustration images.

Robert Henri portraits

These colorfull portraits of Mildred , Mary and Pegeen by Robert Henri were found on the amazing: allpainters website. Whoever you're favorite classical artists may be, look them-up
on this amazing fine art gallery website. You will discover, as I did here, new paintings from old masters.

Best blogger tweeks and tricks

As soon as I get the chance I will write a heartfelt thank you note to the generous blogging gurus that have helped me conquer my virtual fears and rein-in my disorderly chaotic workflow.
Meawhile, here are some of the most helpfull Blogger ressources I have used, and some that I plan to use.


Tutorial and Ressources I have used:
Back-up your Blogger template design
How to place a custom header image (Banner) in Blogger ( and helpfull video)
Uploading pictures in Blogger - advices
Converting Minima 2 column template into a 3 column template
Installing a horizontal navigation menu
How to remove or hide Navbar in Blogger
Hexadecimal color codes and names
Missing tool icons, EDIT HTML and COMPOSE - What to do ( slow to download )
Coding for lists : Listamatic
my favorite horizontal list code

Tutorial and Ressources I plan to use in the future:
more of blogbulk's tutorials
Tips for new bloggers tutorials

and more specifically:

Setting up Blogger for custom domains on Godaddy ( revisited ) ( other )
How to make favicon ( that little icon in front of your URL)
How to add a search box within your Blog
How to place photos/images side by side in Blogger

Favorite Fine Art Blog

Underpaintings is an extremely well built, written, researched fine art blog that focuses mainly on realist art ( contemporary and of the last century). If you are interested in outdoor painting, on how to tube your own paints or simply enjoy looking at masterfull work, this site delivers up to date guidance and information. To make-up your own mind take a peek at this well put together 'Painting the nude outdoors' - on the art of the nude model in natural settings.
Each time I visit underpaintings I am pleased to discover new and past works from true realist masters.




top to bottom: John Singer Sargent (1) , Henry Scott Tuke (2 and 3 )

Customize your blogger template

If like me you are somewhat of a neophite to blogging, hang-in there and persevere remembering that there is a lot of help on the web and that you don't need to understand it all for it to work quite exquisitely.

Check these out!

1. Turn your Blogger Minima 2 column template into a three column template

2. Add a horizontal navigation menu to your Blogger template

I totally heart you Jessica Jones and your delightfull 'How about orange' website

C'est parti!

Ta Dam! C'est parti!
This blogging adventure will hop/skip and bounce all over my favorite web design ressources.
In the hope of sharing together all the love.

Chers amis,
bon voyage!