My red table

  

My favorite piece of furniture in our home is the red dining room table.  It was made by a friend of ours, Tim Stevens.  A few years ago, I called Tim in a panic after our wood dining room table was damaged during our kitchen remodel.  Tim has superpower building skills, and his specialty is working with metal.  So I asked if he could build me a red metal table, and two weeks later, this is what he delivered.  

After the remodel and the dining room table experience, I became a huge proponent of custom made items.  A lot of people assume that custom furniture is way out of their price range, when in actuality, it can be more affordable than buying a piece from a retail store like Design Within Reach.  

 

Our custom wall mounted pantry is another favorite of mine.  It was built by a local craftsman using materials locally sourced.  I had looked into purchasing cabinetry from a few independent lines in the Pacific Northwest, but choosing to work with a local, creative cabinet builder was surprisingly the least expensive route. 



If you're currently shopping around for a new furniture piece for your home, consider working with a craftsman in town.  I wouldn't go to the Yellow Pages first.  I would ask around at local home building supply centers, which is how we found our cabinet maker.  Home decor and furniture shops that sell locally made items also are likely to have a great resource list. 



To read my tips on designing custom pieces for your home, go here.

A kindred spirit

Artists naturally gravitate towards art that is similar to their own.  Case in point, when I found Belinda Kemp's art on Etsy,  I became an instant fan.  There's a familiarity when browsing her works.  Although Belinda has a style that is recognizably her own, I definitley "get" her work.  I especially love her abstract landscape designs.

full moon with yellow birds

round 5am

3 blue trees

early morning garden

I love it when artists post pictures of their work space.  Here's a snapshot of Belinda's art desk.  

You can find more photos of her work area on her Flickr page. 

New work: more patterns and landscapes

This ink and marker drawing was inspired by Oregon's beautiful landscape- the waters, the mountains, and the ever-changing skies. Oregon has always been my home, so I decided to keep the art work for now (see how I framed it in yesterday's post).   

I finished another drawing this week called Desert Sky.  I've really enjoyed playing around with patterns and landscapes.  I'm currently working on the drawing shown below. It's been slow going for sure.  It's a little bigger than the others, so the detail work has taken a lot longer.  I was planning on adding some stars at the top.  I'm undecided about adding a sun in the lower half of the picture.  Any feedback?

I'm also still working on birch panels.  Here's a little media media work using a picture I took at the Oregon coast.  It makes me happy, so I'm calling it Happy Rain.

Framing art is as easy as 1, 2, 3

Showcasing art, particulary smaller drawings and prints, doesn't need to cost a fortune.  Here are three simple steps on how to frame art for your walls.

STEP 1  Find an artwork that you really love.  It can be a print, an original drawing, a photograph, and even a card.  Browse these sites for some great art pieces: Etsy, The Shiny Squirrel, Little Paper Planes.

STEP 2  Find a mat and a frame for the art. If the artwork is not a standard size, like 5" x 7", you can still get a mat custom cut for an affordable price.  I had one cut for my drawing for $8 at a local art shop.

The hardest part of the mat process is choosing a color.  An off-white (anything from cream to light gray) is always a good choice.  I chose a light gray mat for my drawing.  Make sure to look at the mat sample in the natural light to get a more accurate idea of what it'll look like in your home. 

You also want to have a frame picked out at this point, so that the mat can be cut to size.  Even though the dimensions of my art work is 9" x 12", I wanted a frame that was a little bigger.  At the art shop, I found an 11" x 14" metal frame in black that was perfect. 

STEP 3 Frame the art!  Now that you have the mat and the frame, all you have to do is assemble the pieces together.  First lay the artwork on a flat surface.  Place two pieces of tape at the top and bottom so that the sticky side is facing up.  Position the mat over the art and press down.

Before putting the matted work in the frame, wipe the glass clean on both sides.  With the frame face down, place the mat and art work onto the glass.  Secure the back and voilá!

Choosing a frame and having a mat custom cut took less than 30 minutes. And the total cost was under $25!

The art of sketching

On a recent trip to the library, I picked up a book called Sketchbooks: The Hidden Art of Designers, Illustrations & Creations by Richard Brereton.  I'm always intrigued by other artist's sketches, and this book (which happens to look like a sketchbook), features works from over 40 artists.

I appreciate the scope of art represented in the book, from scribbles on a page to detailed portrait drawings. Although there are artist introductions, the book is really more of a photo montage of the artists' sketches. 

Artists: Agnes Decourchelle, Anna Giertz, Renato Alarcão, Pablo Amargo

The artist's sketchbook is a visual diary of raw creative energy, and many times, personal reflection.  I like what graphic designer Frédérique Daubel has to say about this.

My sketchbooks allow me to be free, to express myself without boundaries. . . Keeping sketchbooks helps me to empty my brain, while making connections between ideas without judgment.  Once something is in my sketchbook I can forget about it, and then find it later.

Art is as much about the process as it is the end product- something that I need to remind myself of more often. 

Ode to Punxsutawney Phil

In honor of Mr. Groundhog himself, here's a collection of fun, furry little creatures that know how to predict the weather- well, sort of.  Apparently, Punxsutawney Phil has only been right 39% of the time.  Forecast for 2010 you ask?  Six more weeks of winter- sigh.

Groundhog Amigurumi by Moon's Creations

Groundhog plate by Ayumi Horie

photo source: giam.typepad.com



I love this illustration by Walter King Stone.  It was printed in Harper's Magazine in December 1917.  That's a groundhog on top of the rock.

Brush up on your art vocabulary

When I teach drawing, I spend most of the time talking about perspective, which is the method used to create three-dimensional space on a flat surface.  Here are three terms on perspective that should be part of your art glossary.

Foreshortening is when the subject goes back into the picture plane and is perpendicular to the horizon line.  Art historians agree that the most famous work that exemplifies this is The Lamentation over the Dead Christ (1480) by Andrea Mantegna. 

Aerial Perspective (also called atmospheric perspective) is the visual effect of atmospheric haze in a painting or drawing.  The closer an object is to the horizon line, the more subdued the colors and contrast. If you were to look at a mountain range, for example, the mountain furthest away from the viewer is always the most muted.  The objects in the foreground, on the other hand, have the greatest contrast and hue intensity. 

Masaccio is attributed as being one of the key Renaissance artists (along with Leonardo di Vinci) that used aerial perspective in his works.  In his painting below, The Tribute Money (1427), you can see colors and details fade as they recede towards the horizon line. 

Chiaroscuro (kee-AR-o-SKOOR-o) is an Italian term that refers to the use of light and dark to create dimension in a painting or drawing.   Normally, chiaroscuro pertains to a dramatic contrast of light and dark, as seen in the works of Caravaggio and Rembrandt.  Below is one of Rembrandt's famous self-portraits.