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Journal page from last night (and close ups):
I'm obsessed with these little stickers. I have them in "small" and "large" sizes. Too cute. I love how the kissing one fit on the deer's back.
Spent yesterday parked in front of the A/C doing the final "cut" prep work for my classes at Frenzy Stamper next weekend. Boards and canvas are all cut! Paint is poured! I will spend today sorting out more collage ephemera for the weekend. I'll print the handouts later on in the week when it is cooler (we can't have the a/c and printer on at the same time...). Get ready, Scottsdale, 'cause here I come!
FYI, I will be teaching a night workshop at Stampin' From The Heart in L.A. this Wednesday (April 30th) from 6:30 to 8:30. It's my "Soft & Gentle Whispers" class. There is still space in this mixed media class!!
Soft and Gentle Whispers
Utilizing all new acrylic techniques and a few special tips and tricks, we will learn various ideas on how to create soft, lush and ethereal pieces of artwork using the background techniques created in class. Walk out of class with a plethora of new ideas ready for any form of art: canvas, journals, altered books and more! Supply list: students should please bring scissors, 3 bristle brushes to paint and glue (no foam please), cork backed metal ruler, black permanent ink pad (like Versafine or Memories *if you have one*), container to hold water in, roll of paper towels, and a roll of waxed paper. The instructor will be supplying an array of professional artist acrylics and mediums, rubber stamps, collage ephemera, and all necessary materials.
The next morning (Thursday), I will be leaving for Frenzy Stamper. Looking forward to it!!!
Journal pages from last night-
The next one isn't finished yet, I'll show it when it is! :) Would you believe the image is from a washer/dryer ad?
I'm starting my prep work for next weekend! I'll be heading to Frenzy Stamper in Scottsdale teaching five mixed media workshops May 2nd-4th. I have pictures and info here. There's still room so please spread the word!! (BTW, if you like the journal pages that were on this blog from January until early March that is my "Snippets" class-creating a journal with various size pages, tabs and all sorts of fun goodies. Not only do we do mixed media techniques in all of the bookbinding workshops but we will also be learning collage (composition/design techniques) as well (and those of you who have taken classes with me know my motto-there are THOUSANDS of different mixed media and collage techniques out there and I'm determined to teach as many as I can figure out and pass them along to you)!!! I'm excited!!! I LOVE going there-it's one of my favorite stores!!! Even if you can't take a workshop, make sure you stop in and check it out!
"Demo" page from class this weekend at the Art Bar:
The stamp grabbags are all gone *for now*. If you haven't received an email from me, sorry! They went faster then I expected. I may offer more. I need to finish making these up and seeing what I have left :)
Thoughts-
I received a book in the mail today (via amazon). I was VERY excited as I have been tracking the package all week. Yippee skippee the mailman drops it outside the door. I open it up and WTF?
Not only is the "brand name/logo/whatever you want to call it" on EVERY picture in the book BUT there is also a COPYRIGHT NOTICE. WTF???? What the hell have we come to?? WHY Would I want to spend the $$ that I did (it wasn't cheap, baby!) on a book and have to look at a COPYRIGHT notice on EVERY picture. It's ON the picture (or in some cases, partially to the side). I can send it back to amazon but I'm just flabbergasted at the moment. The whole world has gone nuts thanks to the Walt Fucking Disney Corporation and all those other big Behemoth companies who have more $ then they know what to do with! Mickey Mouse will NEVER go out of copyright because Disney can change the laws to benefit THEM. It's just insane.
It's another reason why we RARELY watch TV anymore. I *hate* looking at the "ads" that they have embedded into the TV show. Fox is one of the worst! I wanted to gag while watching It's a Wonderful Life this past Christmas with the NBC logo ON the screen the WHOLE frigging time. What would Frank Capra think?
Cleaning house time...
Cleaning time in the Kilmer house! We overheard the building manager tell another tenant today something about possible renovations (eek! we don't want them done while we are HERE it would make life impossible)...So, it got the wheels turning and a fire lit. I need to clean house on some of my stamps. I'm offering "stamp grab bags". NO cute. NOTHING but Artsy stamps. You will receive an assortment (sorry, my pick!) All stamps are wood mounted. Some stamps are used but ALL are in excellent stamping condition (I'm not selling anything that won't stamp!)
You will receive at least 10 stamps of assorted sizes for $45 (includes flat rate priority shipping). If you order two or more, the price is $85, three or more the price would be $125. The grab bag value will be well $75+ worth of stamps!! I guarantee you won't be disappointed! These are all stamps from my personal collection. If you have "requests" for various subject or style, I will do my best to accommodate you. :) Paypal, check or money order, please. These are very limited!!
Outside of the US, please email me to discuss postage.
Thanks for your time!!!
This is the post that happens when Kelly is too tired to post her own stuff and wants to make sure that others see all the COOL stuff happening in blog land...Besides, Kelly gets bored looking at her own stuff on her blog all the time so here are some other fun things out there that have me tickled pink!
Per Eddie Campbell's Blog...This is the cutest thing ever!
Andrew's posts about his trip to Artfest are definitely worth spending some time on!
Judy, you never cease to amaze me!
I always check out Katie's blog but I love her recent rock post...wow. Amazing what others "see".
I love his art and damn, his dog is cute!
I love this blog but the cat on a leash picture has stuck with me. If you put a leash on my sister's fat cat, it just falls over and will not move until you take the leash off. Literally...it's called Cat Tipping. Fat lazy bastard Cat! There was a story at one point about a cat who would take the bus (and get off and on at certain stops). Erin & I had a discussion that her cat was too lazy to even walk it's ass down the stairs, let alone to the bus stop...
Moleskine love!
Jeane got *me* into trouble this time pointing out NEW goodies from one of my favorite etsyelephant stickers and just exploded from there. Who KNEW they made ninja stickers like this? Seriously. I *love* this seller. Look at her BLOG too. Yum. I need to add this to my blog.
Words cannot express how much I Love this blog.
OK, off to relax. We were up way too late last night laughing our asses off while watching Bananas. After all, its scenes like this that just have me rolling. I need to find Annie Hall on DVD...I *heart* Christopher Walken (probably one of my favorite scenes!)
Huge kudos and big big thanks to the lovely ladies who took my workshop today at Staci's home in Thousand Oaks. It was a TON of fun (as always!!!). Staci *IS* the hostess with the mostest! I love teaching there (Thanks Annette, Carmen, Darcy, Janet, Mary Ellen AND Staci OH! And Champ too!) You guys ROCK! Here's a quickie sample of what we did today...it's a brand new class called Revelations!
On the way home, I made a quickie stop to get the book I *should* have bought last week (of course I didn't and then when I went to go back to get it, it was gone). Luckily B & N in T.Oaks had one copy left. It's called 200 Projects to Strengthen Your Art. Silly Kelly *really* wanted it last week (but didn't have enough $ AND even worse, didn't think she NEEDED it.) Silly Kelly thought "What else is there in THIS book that I don't have or haven't done??!!" Oh boy. Silly Kelly should go bury her head in the sand. It kinda reminds me of the people who have said to me "Another painted page class?!?!? OR another Book class??!?! or another Collage class?!?!?" I *already know* how to do that. Silly people! There are THOUSANDS (at least!) of different ways to DO something. It's not just "slapping the paint on the page". It's unfolding. It's exploring color. It's figuring out new ways of doing things. It's all about the layers, baby. And there is ALWAYS a new way to do it! I can't wait to relax and kick back with this book. Its visuals (and instructions) have me VERY excited.
*****
One thing that does NOT have me very excited, in fact, it has me down right scared and PISSED is Prop #98 that is on the June 3rd, 2008 California ballot. Being someone who rents (and someone who has rented her entire life. Not entirely by choice, but by pure NEED), this is a proposition that will end rent control in the state of CA. It is masquerading as a "Eminent Domain Reform" bill. There are TWO props on the CA ballot BOTH of which sound exactly the same except the clauses in Prop #98 that WILL end rent control. *Please* do your research before voting on this measure. Even if you don't rent, please please please get the facts straight and realize WHO this will effect and who will benefit. This is a law that will effect people all over CA. I live in West Hollywood. When we moved in here in April of 1996 we were notified a couple of months after our move-in, that our rent was too high by the Rent Stabilization Board at West Hollywood's City Hall. Our rent was lowered. That law soon changed shortly after we moved in. Rents have SKYROCKETED in our area. Our rent when we moved in in 1996 was a little shy of $500. Rents around us now are over $1500-2000. Please do your homework before you vote in June-and PLEASE do vote. Please vote NO on Prop #98.
More here
here
here
and here (make sure you read the blurb about what the AOA thinks about renters! ARGH!!)
Journal page from yesterday...
Pictures of the bookshelf space that I promised. All of the books above and the first half below (From the left hand side all the way the mammoth book called "Place") went from being on the floor near my bed to the bookshelf. To the left of the stack of Lynda Barry & Japanese art books, wrapped in plastic are my Juliana Coles booklets/kits. I LOVE her kits. She put more of them on etsy last night for sale. Yes, I did order 4 more last night including the All For Love booklet that I am very excited she decided to offer that one!!
Last night we went for a walk to Barnes & Noble (armed with our 25% off coupons). Would you believe I was the only one who didn't get anything? Tristan greeted me at one point not with one but with FOUR Indiana Jones books in his hand (he got one). Husband greeted me with a copy of The Ten Cent Plague...we also wanted to get the new Bakshi book (you NEED to check out this book-I love the art in it!!) but decided we only had so many precious pennies (and so much bookshelf space! LOL). While we were on our walk, we found some neat posters on Melrose. My favorite is the one above which has a message scrawled across the top of it: "Why is this painting here? What is it supposed to express?"
Many of you know that in a couple of weeks I will be teaching at Frenzy Studio in Scottsdale. I am very much looking forward to it!! Whenever I go to AZ, not only do I visit Debbie's store (I love love love her selection. She always has the latest and greatest...not to mention she is just one of the funniest people to be around!), but I also trek on over to Tempe and visit The Paper Studio. If you want paper, this is THE place. Hands down. It beats every other paper store I have *ever* been to (and I have been to a LOT).
Unfortunately, the Paper Studio recently experienced a break in where not only cash was stolen, a security system damaged and break in damage done, but also two of their computers were stolen. TWO. These computers held all of their artwork, photos, classes, fonts, graphics, etc... All gone. Cindy is encouraging people to back up their artwork AND to look into offsite storage places to hold your computer info. (David and I learned the hard way ourselves a couple of years ago when our computer blew up. I lost all of my stuff. We now have a safety deposit box that holds our back up backups!) I can tell you how lost you feel when your information that was so easily at your fingertips the previous morning, is now gone-and you can't get it back. On top of that, Cindy and Gary also learned that they did not have a "theft rider" on their insurance policy so that means they are out not only the computer work and information but also over $12,000.
You guys know how much I love and support Mom & Pop businesses and how I think they rival all other ways to shop! Now is the time to show your support for THE best paper stores around! Not only do I visit their shop but, I have ordered online from Paper Studio in the past and they are *wonderful*!! They ship all over the place. I'm serious when I say they have the *best* paper selection around...plus they are just some of the nicest folks I have met in my travels!! Check 'em out online here (and tell your friends!!) Just make sure you leave a little bit for me when I head that way in early May. :)
3 journal pages last night (finished! Yes! Got my groove on last night...)
(Rub ons in various sizes, tape I found somewhere, red signo pen,Pentel Metallic Brush Marker (expensive but they last a LONG time), White Signo pen, black brush pen)
black brush pen (see above), white uniball (see above), Caran d'ache Neo Art watersoluble wax pastels, tape, Coffee Break Design stencils (note: some of you have emailed me asking where to find these...Frenzy Stamper has them in the store I've heard and Small Studio Productions has some on her site with more to follow!)
stuff from my ephemera stash and the black brush pen I keep talking about...
Yesterday was comic book day so we trekked on up to Meltdown comics where I found two books (ack!):
Box: The Evolution of Character Design
What Gets You Out of Bed in the Morning
Their website with more art here.
Last night at 10 pm, I had the urge to "clean" and put books away (you know, the ones that we all have stacked next to our bed)...I am cleaning cleaning cleaning and next thing I know it's midnight! Eeps! I will show pictures of my bookshelf space "revised" when I'm done. Suddenly there is much more room next to the bed for new books. LOL!!
*****
Happy Birthday to my Dad today!!!
ya gotta love groovy 70's & extremely early 80's photos:
(Any of you Bostonians know WHERE this picture was taken?!?!) First person with the right answer wins a prize (just a little somethin' somethin'...). (Erin-you can't play! Isn't my little sister so cute in this picture??)
*Ding* thanks to Roberta for playing! Castle Island is CORRECT. :)
The finished pages from my post the other day:
I'm struggling with the size of this journal. It's a different size (6x9") then what I am used to...It's also "landscape". One thing that does keep me on my toes is to try using different sizes and formats but it has been a struggle to "want" to work in this size book. I think if I flipped the book so it was "steno style", it would be easier but I want the kick in the pants of a different format.
I love the "close up" of this Graffiti style flourish. It's actually a black outline sticker from Magenta that I 'outlined' with a white gel pen.
I'm teaching a brand spanking new class (called: Revelations-it's a new mixed media workshop where we explore various mixed media and collage techniques and then create a book from the pages) this weekend at a Private home (the workshops are open to the public though!) and I will be teaching my Day By Day Book at the Art Bar in Santa Ana. Looking forward to it!!!
Yesterday Tristan & I went on a tour of his school for 6th grade next year. We're both very excited about it! The library was *huge*. The computer lab looked very promising! I LOVED the art on all of the walls!!! I dropped him off afterwards at his school and I headed over to the Container Store looking for a "box" that a lady had in class last weekend. I loved this big box she had that held her pens. I didn't find that box but I did find this which I loved because *gasp* I could SEE the pens!! It won't work for the plane but for home, it's perfect! It's only the second time I have been in that store and it is dangerous! (BTW, they didn't have the flower tapes that they had during Christmas. :( ).
David & I finished all of the extras on the Twin Peaks boxset. I have to say I was disappointed with the extras. The collection is WELL worth having (I love the series and it's so much cheaper collected on DVD now then the other formats they released)...but, I think I have more extras on a bootleg of Twin Peaks stuff I bought years ago.
For some reason David, Tristan & I were talking about the Tickle Me Elmo fad (not to mention Pet Rocks and my favorite, Cabbage Patch Kids. I still remember how badly I wanted one and the insanity of some parents to get one!) Any ways, we were telling Tristan how on our way to the doctor one day before Christmas there as a woman standing on the corner in front of the Beverly Center hawking an Elmo doll. Some guy yelled out "How much?" She put up five fingers-FIVE HUNDRED dollars. For a toy. Ouch. Insane.
*****
Apple left a kind comment on my blog yesterday:
"I love all of your work!!! How are you so open and full of ideas?!?"
I play. I play a lot. I ask a lot of "What if" questions. The more you play you'll learn what you like-colors, look, etc... You develop your own style. You can't be afraid to mess up. It's all part of the learning process. Let it go. Turn the page. Do something else. Paint over it. Collage over it. Everything stays in my journal-the good, the bad, the ugly. In the last couple of years, I have shown ALL of my journal pages on this blog-ALL of them. I've been keeping a journal since I was younger-for decades. I do cringe sometimes when I go back, but you need to realize it's all part of the learning process. If "journal" doesn't work for you, call it an art book or a play book. Do Atc's, make postcards, etc.. whatever art form you want to explore, do it.
The other thing that keeps me on my toes is my students. I've been teaching for 10 years now. I have over 300 workshops. A lot of my workshops are "mixed media" techniques (using a variety of art supplies and collage). I believe that there are thousands and thousands of different ways to do things. I try to make all of my workshops different (especially since I have so many repeat students!! Lovely folks who have been taking my workshops for years) so my students do push me and keep me on my toes.
I'll reiterate. Play. Paint. Rip. Glue. Make a mess. Do it again. And again and again. The more you PLAY, the more your work will start to take on YOUR voice. It will speak for you and you will learn what it is you want to say with it.
The last thing is, do your work for YOU. It's for YOUR eyes and not for someone else to judge.
Go on. Go make something.
Some previous posts I wrote about May 1st here, here, and here.
