I am lucky enough to live near Amish country. It is always a really fun place to visit because it is always changing. The area has slowly been moving away from Amish arts and crafts and is becoming more of a shopping mecca for the upper-middle-class woman (expensive stuff). While I love to look at furniture and accessories that I can't afford, it is also fun to find places off the main road that are not swarming with tourists and have affordable goods.
If you want unique items that don't break the bank, craft malls are your best bet. My mom and I discovered one last year. Off the main road, tucked behind a few buildings, the craft mall seemed like it was a secret. Walking inside, you see booth after booth, aisle after aisle of crafts. Homemade furniture, baskets, holiday decorations, candles, knickknacks, wall art, jams, you name it. Last year, I moved into a new house and needed some Christmas decorations. My mom and I both found super cute stuffed snowmen to put on our fireplaces. Under $20! We stopped a few days ago, and while I was looking for fall decor, I came across another stuffed snowman I had to have. $7! And it was at least ten inches tall! My mom also found a snowman and a cute stuffed Santa.
It got me wondering - can a vendor make a profit selling at one of these booths? With prices as low as they are, the profit can't be too high plus they have to pay for use of the booth plus maybe even a commission to the craft mall. I started wondering if there were any kind of craft projects I could try to make and sell, provided there is any space for me. I might have to work on my decorative painting and come up with some ideas. :)
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Monday, June 3, 2013
Web Design
Because I like graphic design and vector art, I am naturally also drawn to web design. Why? Because all three mediums combine my love of art and my love of computers.
My college degree is in technology and I remember that my favorite classes where the ones involving web design. Web design can be pretty complicated because it not only involves designing how the page looks, but how the page functions. Now, I am a fairly intelligent person, but coding web pages is pretty difficult for me. I have taken classes in HTML, CSS, Javascript, and old-school Visual Basic and Visual C++, but large websites often use several different programming languages that I have never used. A few years ago, I started working on my graphic design degree online. It is really difficult for me to have the self-discipline to work on a program basically by myself and get my assignments done. I finally finished the program this winter. Even though it was difficult to finish the program, I think I learned a lot more from that program than I did in a traditional college. What really helped me was that some of the classes were repeats. Learning HTML for the first time is a little difficult, but when you have to learn it again, even if you are adding new elements (like when a newer version comes out), I tend to have a much easier time retaining that information. Javascript, though, is just beyond me. I really considered getting a web design degree too, and might still in the future.
I have spent some time researching what a web designer needs to know in case that is something I wanted to do in life. It turns out, there were a lot of different coding languages that are used that I had never even heard of! PHP, Ajax, Ruby, Python, jQuery, and probably a million more. *sigh* I found this site called "Code Academy" that has lessons so you can learn new programming languages. I have spent hours on there retesting my skills with HTML and CSS and have picked up a few things. I tried to relearn Javascript, but between computer issues and just having a hard time understanding it, I gave up. Does it take a particular skill set to be a successful coder? Logic skills, obviously, but what else? All I can figure is that I either started learning these skills too late in life and my brain is rebelling or that I simply don't have the brain skills necessary to code. It's kindof depressing because I don't like to be bad at things. Who does, right?
A few years ago, I bought Adobe Creative Suite 2. It must have been the year that CS3 came out, because I got a good deal on it. It was the most I had ever spent on software before and boy did I get my money's worth. The suite came with Dreamweaver, which I had heard of, but never used before. I freaking love Dreamweaver. You don't need to code to make a good website. It helps to be able to look at the code and know what you are looking at, but the program creates the code for you. A few years ago, knowing that I am good with computers, my church asked me to create a website for them. It was so much work! I sketched, I played around with it, and I came up with a simple website that did the job. My church is small and has mostly older people, so the site didn't need to be flashy. With my classes, I did learn to create websites in Photoshop and even how to create some Flash elements (another really difficult program to use), but it wasn't necessary. I have remade the site a few times, hopefully improving it each time. It is still basic, but I am pretty proud of it.
Last year, I started to blog. I have several blogs, most of which I never write on and those that do get very few readers. That's okay though, because I am still learning. Strangely, the blog I created that gets the most views is about my favorite tv show. The thing I like about blogging is the customization. For the blogs I actively use, I create custom headers, which is a lot of fun. One of my blogs is about traveling in my home state of Ohio. I love my state and even though I don't travel too much, I have seen a lot of the state and decided to write about where to visit. That led me to start designing a web page to go along with the blog. I sketched out possible layouts for the page and started writing documents of the text that would be on the site. It has been so much work and I have barely begun! I haven't even registered the web address yet. But, I am having a lot of fun with it. The header has been created, the color scheme is picked out, the style sheets are being created. I have a lot more research to do and more pictures to take, but I have a good start. It is a good project that is getting me out of the house and excited about something again. No coding required! :)
My college degree is in technology and I remember that my favorite classes where the ones involving web design. Web design can be pretty complicated because it not only involves designing how the page looks, but how the page functions. Now, I am a fairly intelligent person, but coding web pages is pretty difficult for me. I have taken classes in HTML, CSS, Javascript, and old-school Visual Basic and Visual C++, but large websites often use several different programming languages that I have never used. A few years ago, I started working on my graphic design degree online. It is really difficult for me to have the self-discipline to work on a program basically by myself and get my assignments done. I finally finished the program this winter. Even though it was difficult to finish the program, I think I learned a lot more from that program than I did in a traditional college. What really helped me was that some of the classes were repeats. Learning HTML for the first time is a little difficult, but when you have to learn it again, even if you are adding new elements (like when a newer version comes out), I tend to have a much easier time retaining that information. Javascript, though, is just beyond me. I really considered getting a web design degree too, and might still in the future.
I have spent some time researching what a web designer needs to know in case that is something I wanted to do in life. It turns out, there were a lot of different coding languages that are used that I had never even heard of! PHP, Ajax, Ruby, Python, jQuery, and probably a million more. *sigh* I found this site called "Code Academy" that has lessons so you can learn new programming languages. I have spent hours on there retesting my skills with HTML and CSS and have picked up a few things. I tried to relearn Javascript, but between computer issues and just having a hard time understanding it, I gave up. Does it take a particular skill set to be a successful coder? Logic skills, obviously, but what else? All I can figure is that I either started learning these skills too late in life and my brain is rebelling or that I simply don't have the brain skills necessary to code. It's kindof depressing because I don't like to be bad at things. Who does, right?
A few years ago, I bought Adobe Creative Suite 2. It must have been the year that CS3 came out, because I got a good deal on it. It was the most I had ever spent on software before and boy did I get my money's worth. The suite came with Dreamweaver, which I had heard of, but never used before. I freaking love Dreamweaver. You don't need to code to make a good website. It helps to be able to look at the code and know what you are looking at, but the program creates the code for you. A few years ago, knowing that I am good with computers, my church asked me to create a website for them. It was so much work! I sketched, I played around with it, and I came up with a simple website that did the job. My church is small and has mostly older people, so the site didn't need to be flashy. With my classes, I did learn to create websites in Photoshop and even how to create some Flash elements (another really difficult program to use), but it wasn't necessary. I have remade the site a few times, hopefully improving it each time. It is still basic, but I am pretty proud of it.
Last year, I started to blog. I have several blogs, most of which I never write on and those that do get very few readers. That's okay though, because I am still learning. Strangely, the blog I created that gets the most views is about my favorite tv show. The thing I like about blogging is the customization. For the blogs I actively use, I create custom headers, which is a lot of fun. One of my blogs is about traveling in my home state of Ohio. I love my state and even though I don't travel too much, I have seen a lot of the state and decided to write about where to visit. That led me to start designing a web page to go along with the blog. I sketched out possible layouts for the page and started writing documents of the text that would be on the site. It has been so much work and I have barely begun! I haven't even registered the web address yet. But, I am having a lot of fun with it. The header has been created, the color scheme is picked out, the style sheets are being created. I have a lot more research to do and more pictures to take, but I have a good start. It is a good project that is getting me out of the house and excited about something again. No coding required! :)
My Favorite Mediums
There is a lot to love about art and design. There are so many mediums to work with that I find it difficult to concentrate on just one or two so I can master them. Acrylic painting is my favorite fine art medium. The paints come in so many awesome colors, are water soluble, and you can paint over your mistakes. I love to sketch and use colored pencils. I even have some coloring books of abstract designs and patterns (so-called coloring books for grownups) that I like to use my colored pencils or even markers on. I love to create vector illustrations on computer, which is how I spend a lot of my time. I like to play around with scrap booking supplies and create hand-made cards for birthdays.
Art doesn't just have to be fine art. Crafting and art go hand in hand. I used to love to make bracelets out of beads. Recently I found a few beading books I like and want to try my hand at it again. Knitting can be fun, though I haven't done that in awhile. Yarn can get expensive if you need to buy a lot of it. I like to paint on glass or wood sometimes to create some really unique gifts. I think everyone in my family has a set of my hand-painted Christmas ornaments. I'm not saying they look all that great, but I did my best. Cross-stitching is a fun activity. The problem is, I get bored with it after a while and rarely finish the project.
As for what I don't like, that is a much smaller list. I don't care for doing watercolors. I have seen some really great art in that medium, but I don't care to learn it. No room for error. No thanks. I had a bad experience with oil paints. I got red paint on a brand new shirt in high school and haven't touched it since. That and paint thinner makes me a little wacky. :) Pastels seem like a good idea, but I don't work with those either. Too much mess. Same with charcoal. Messy stuff.
So, for right now, I will stick to my acrylics and other non-messy mediums. Speaking of which, I really should get back to my painting. I have a ton of canvases in the closet just waiting to become the next masterpiece!
Friday, May 24, 2013
Artwork For My House
I always thought to myself that if I ever had my own house, I would create my own artwork for it. All originals, painted especially to match my furniture and my style. Well, I have that house, but I don't have any artwork on the walls yet! I have a few half-painted pieces that I thought would look right, only to find out that they majorly clash. It's very frustrating. My bedroom is the worst, because I was in a hurry to get it ready when I moved in and purchased a bedspread that doesn't really suit me. I love the color pink more than everything, so how did I end up with a light blue bedroom with a blue and tan bedspread and heavy dark furniture? I have to blame my hubby for that one, because he hates pink. Even so, I thought if I got a bedspread that was a little less boring (floral maybe) and added some artwork on the walls, the room could be pretty cute. Well, so far, my art attempts have been failures. The blues I used were all wrong and I shouldn't use much blue anyway because everything in that room is blue!
I started playing around with color and shape and came up with a design that I liked. Big puffy flowers of light blue, pink, and purple with pale green stems on a pink fading to almost white background. I didn't know how it would look as I worked on it, but I was really pleased! Somehow, the painting just reminds me of the month of April. And best yet - it matches my room! The colors are subtle enough that it goes really well. So, I bought two 14x18" canvases and recreated the painting on a different scale. I am really happy with them. Now I just have to figure out how to get them on my walls!
I started playing around with color and shape and came up with a design that I liked. Big puffy flowers of light blue, pink, and purple with pale green stems on a pink fading to almost white background. I didn't know how it would look as I worked on it, but I was really pleased! Somehow, the painting just reminds me of the month of April. And best yet - it matches my room! The colors are subtle enough that it goes really well. So, I bought two 14x18" canvases and recreated the painting on a different scale. I am really happy with them. Now I just have to figure out how to get them on my walls!
Friday, February 1, 2013
Vector Art
Over the past week or two, I have really gotten back into designing vectors. What is a vector? In this instance, it is a drawing done on the computer using a graphics program. If you have ever used the old-school Paint program that comes on any computer or even a photo-editing program, if you zoom in, you will notice that the image is made up of clunky boxes. The more you zoom in, the more unrecognizable the image is. A vector is different. Vectors are made of points connected by lines and are completely sizable without looking like blurry. They are kindof awesome.
There are many computer programs you can use to create vectors but the only one I use is Adobe Illustrator. Luckily, I have gotten some deals on the program over the years, because it is very expensive. Illustrator often comes in a package of other Adobe programs collectively called a "Creative Suite". This package usually contains Photoshop (photo editing) and InDesign (page layout) and sometimes Dreamweaver (web design), Flash (animations), Fireworks (web graphics), and others. The first version I got was CS2 and I got a deal because CS3 was just coming out. Now I use CS5. CS6 is the current version, but I have no desire to get that right now.
Making vectors is a lot of fun. You can make anything you want. I like to draw cute animals, flowers, trees, people, and whatever else appeals to me that day. My husband bought me a Wacom graphics tablet (pen tool) for Christmas last year and it has really improved the look of my drawings. Highly recommend, but again, they are hundreds of dollars. I probably not have one if it had not been a gift.
I recently created a vector of a pink sunflower that will be used for my logo. I am pretty happy with it and created a header for this blog with that sunflower. That header will also be used on my Etsy store when I get that up and running.
I plan on creating a few tutorials on how to create flowers in Adobe Illustrator and headers in Photoshop in the near future. Be on the lookout!
There are many computer programs you can use to create vectors but the only one I use is Adobe Illustrator. Luckily, I have gotten some deals on the program over the years, because it is very expensive. Illustrator often comes in a package of other Adobe programs collectively called a "Creative Suite". This package usually contains Photoshop (photo editing) and InDesign (page layout) and sometimes Dreamweaver (web design), Flash (animations), Fireworks (web graphics), and others. The first version I got was CS2 and I got a deal because CS3 was just coming out. Now I use CS5. CS6 is the current version, but I have no desire to get that right now.
Making vectors is a lot of fun. You can make anything you want. I like to draw cute animals, flowers, trees, people, and whatever else appeals to me that day. My husband bought me a Wacom graphics tablet (pen tool) for Christmas last year and it has really improved the look of my drawings. Highly recommend, but again, they are hundreds of dollars. I probably not have one if it had not been a gift.
I recently created a vector of a pink sunflower that will be used for my logo. I am pretty happy with it and created a header for this blog with that sunflower. That header will also be used on my Etsy store when I get that up and running.
I plan on creating a few tutorials on how to create flowers in Adobe Illustrator and headers in Photoshop in the near future. Be on the lookout!
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Inspiration
I started this blog and hadn't even written on it yet! Wow, that is a whole new level of lazy for me. I guess it is hard to blog about art when you are too busy to make it. Getting married and moving to a different house, I had new priorities - getting furniture, keeping the house clean, and keeping my husband and pets alive and fed. I just sounded like a fifties housewife, didn't I? Anyway, one priority I neglected for a long time was myself and what I needed to be happy. Creating art is happiness for me. I just love to draw, create vectors, and paint. It took me a long time to get my studio organized and find a place to paint, but I finally did it.
As I was trying to clean up my studio, which is really just a small bedroom, I came across a very heavy box of my old paintings. It was a lot of fun to go through them and remember the times when I could paint for hours and sometimes come up with something pretty cool. I pulled out a few paintings to fix and a few more that I thought would be cool to recreate as vector images (in Adobe Illustrator).
It didn't take long for the ideas to start flowing. Sketchbook pages were filled with ideas! I was going to make paintings for every room in my house! I was going to make paintings to sell! I started to have fun with it again. Even though most of what I have painted so far doesn't look like what I pictured it would, it still felt great to get out the old paints and to give it a try. My painting area still needs some work - a better way to protect the floor and a good old chair to sit on, but I am getting there, and I am determined to make it work! :)
As I was trying to clean up my studio, which is really just a small bedroom, I came across a very heavy box of my old paintings. It was a lot of fun to go through them and remember the times when I could paint for hours and sometimes come up with something pretty cool. I pulled out a few paintings to fix and a few more that I thought would be cool to recreate as vector images (in Adobe Illustrator).
It didn't take long for the ideas to start flowing. Sketchbook pages were filled with ideas! I was going to make paintings for every room in my house! I was going to make paintings to sell! I started to have fun with it again. Even though most of what I have painted so far doesn't look like what I pictured it would, it still felt great to get out the old paints and to give it a try. My painting area still needs some work - a better way to protect the floor and a good old chair to sit on, but I am getting there, and I am determined to make it work! :)
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