Wallpaper sample books and old wallpaper rolls were always part of my childhood artsy craftsy times. In preparation for May day (May 1st) we would create wallpaper cones and fill them with candies and flowers for our friends, neighbors, and loved ones. (We would hang them on the door and ring the bell and run!) Sandy Gordon from Art Tea Life blog has yet another good use for old wallpaper. This great photo tutorial could be used with children to make homemade gifts with an adult to manage the iron and machine perhaps.

Always a hoot, always unique, Lady Linoleum does it again, this time with a felted eyeball tutorial. Nice clear step by steps on how to, plus Regina’s fabulous commentary. Is there nothing this woman can not make from fiber? Clearly not! Great photo tutorial for those of us who are “visual learners”.

Lisa Congdon, Penelope Dullaghan and Ashley Goldberg have come together in an exhibition entitled {un}Limited at artstreamstudios in New Hampshire through July 11, 2007. The theme of the exhibition was rather open, yet the three women created work which speaks to one another’s in this group show. Lisa used black ink on vintage book and magazine pages filled with text. Ashley used vintage book pages too, as base layers for both drawings and paintings – and made new paper vintage-like by dyeing it with coffee. Penelope used text on a small badge in her painting of an elderly woman proclaiming “I’m in Love”.

There are birds, chairs, and intimate scenes where you are not sure what might happen next. The work is charming and in some cases disturbing at the same time. There are mostly originals, but also a few high quality prints in limited editions. Each artist has a strong sense of personal style and yet the show as a whole creates a mood which the singular works might not project.The use of mixed media in the works is exceptional by all the artists.

Some viewers have called the exhibition “girly” others “gritty” and yet others “whimsical”. This indicates to me that at least we have people thinking, which makes it all worthwhile. All the work is online and the gallery shots can be seen here at flickr.

Rama Hughes is one of my favorite illustrators. Here is his latest “good idea” in bringing people, drawing and community together at this newish blog “The Portrait Party. I love the story behind the idea – involving his family getting together to draw portraits of each other. Go to the site and read it all – get a partner, and get involved in the joy of drawing – or start the tradition in your own home!

Over the past fifteen years teaching children art, there have been references which have come and gone but there is one which stands the test of time for me. “Drawing with Children” by Mona Brooks, has always been a great source of inspiration to me. She now has 44 schools in the US, UK and Canada to teach her methods to both teachers and students. Her books are inspirational and the methods are easy to achieve good results with even the first time around. She has a second book geared for teens and adults too, which goes a bit deeper. A great resource for anyone who is interested in drawing, with or without children.

For the months of March and April, artstream is currently hosting a show with four very different artists with work relating to textile. Danny Mansmith from Chicago, Leigh Pennebaker from NYC, Alyssa Ettinger from Brooklyn, and Kimberly Lyford from Vermont. Each artist has a personal twist on textile use and the combination of the four is eye popping. Most all of the work is online here and here and an early review of the show is here.

Regina from Creative Kismet has an easy to follow tutorial for adults and the over eleven set. Keeping ones hands behind the tool at all times, is the most important rule.Dharma Trading has lots of supplies and ships most everywhere. Check her tutorial pages for printing on fabric too!

Over at Art Esprit I have added a new feature interviewing artists via podcast with photos. I was thrilled to interveiw sculptor Leigh Pennebaker from NYC. Her work is labled wire couture and is created entirely from fencing wire. Her sculptures have been shown in galleries around the USA as well as the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue and Barneys in NYC. Next month her work will appear in our gallery along with textile artist Danny Mansmith.

Sometimes it is good to try a longer term project with children in a few small segments of time. In three or four one hour settings, most of my 56 students, ages 6 and up made these little creatures of their own design. Few of them had done any handsewing before and yet after the initial few falters, embraced the process with zeal! One boy told his mother at the end of the hour that he was going to sew all of his own clothes from that point on. Pretty ambitious for age 7. The process was pretty simple. They drew their monster on paper first. They drew it a second time on a piece of mid weight canvas about 18 inches by 12 inches large.Using acrylic paint and a wet brush, they painted the front of the monster. The next hour was spent by cutting out the front of the monster close to the edge of the design and tracing it onto another piece of canvas. They then painted the back of the monsters and embellished the fronts if they wanted to with scraps of material, strong glue, sewn on buttons, puffy paint, and other bits of collected items.

The next 2 hours were spent using tapestry needles (they are blunt and don’t hurt little fingers as quickly as other needles) and colorful embroidery floss. I used the floss at full strand, doubled and knotted at the end.

They then stuffed the creatures with poly fluff and finished sewing them up. The entire collection will be hung for a month at our local library children’s room, which is fitting, as such hard work deserves to be recognized!

Our charity Exhibition “Lovely Hearts” is filling up with a lovely diverse grouping of entries! Rug hooking, photography,felting, wire sculpture, quilting, paintings, encaustic, mixed media, jewelry, pottery, raku and soft sculptures are just some of the media which we have already received. Entires have poured in from all across the USA, France, Australia, UK, Germany, and Canada! There is still a week to enter – so jump on in if you have a “love” (and all it’s aspects”) related artwork in the house. Forms and rules are here at artstream. The work is available to view in the gallery, our online shop and previews at our flickrand artesprit. We are looking forward to this opening, meeting so many new artists and sending a big check to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.