hi 3FC pals!

I'm an illustrator as a hobby--- but my dream is to one day delve into the painting world, preferably oil.... only my own fear of being terrible stops me. I was just wondering if there are any other artists out here, whether professional OR as a hobby, like me!
let me know what you do, what tools you use, what you prefer to paint.... anything you want to share! I would LOVE to hear it!

leda

Hello Leda. I'm actually an artist, writer, photographer and jewelry maker (artist and jewelry maker were semi-professional but I have no time now for it). When I was doing my artwork, I used everything but the kitchen sink...literally. I did sort of punk-modern art. I used spray paint, acrylics, oil, watercolor, gouache, plastic babies, stuff you find at hardware stores, I used everything. I've painted on canvas, illustration board, boards, leather jackets, denim jackets, even toilet seats! I sold my work at galleries, to friends and aquaintances and on eBay.

Don't be afraid, if you really love making art, it will show and someone will appreciate it. Make your art for you, not with an audience in mind, and your work will be a lot more interesting than if you were doing it for others. Experiment, discover new methods and new mediums.

What do YOU prefer to paint? What supplies do you use? Have you taken any classes yet? (The only classes I've taken are a photography course and sculpture course.)

I'm an artist/bookbinder I do art shows every fall... I like to dabble in eeeeevvvrything crafty. Used to head up the craft department in an art store. I was an art major too.

My website if you're bored:

http://forgottentoybox.com

-muse

(Oops edit to add: GO for it. Don't worry about how bad it looks at first you need to start in order to get better. I'm not one of those "natural" talents so I know! )

Muse: I ****LOVE**** your stuff! My birthday is coming up and I am going to tell my hubby I want one of your journals. Can I buy it off the site or is there some other place I should look for them? I would have loved to have gone to art school...that's what I really wanted to go for...but the state is paying for my school and they require that the major I choose is more of a typical day job. I'm still going to take some art classes in the future, though. Your stuff is awesome.

Troo - aw shuck thanks...

The "stock" section of my site is low right now since I havent done shows since last fall, but I just got into one for November... so I need to get my butt in gear! But yeah, anything that is in the store section is available you can buy right off the site. In the gallery section those ones are gone. I may or may not be able to make someting similar. I use a lot of found parts which makes it hard sometimes to duplicate.

As for the Art degree I only ended up with it becaue I couldn't make up my mind as far as major. I don't think my parents were happy about that choice, but they weren't paying for it so... oh well. It's only a BA so it's more like a Liberal Arts thing with art focus. So basically not good for much. Think about going back as soon as I can decide what I want to do.

Turbo - When I was in college my art sucked. So things do get better the more you play. Try it!

thanks so much, troo! im going to art school now in Chicago but my major is Journalism---so my art is my hobby! i JUST came back from an art store, spent $60 on supplies to begin oil painting. i''d love to do little portraits for my friends and family, so we'll see!! for now, its silly illustrations IF i have time or patience.......but i'll keep tryin...

leda

Glass, glass, GLASS, baby. And, boy do my hands show it! I'm constructing a new studio above my garage this fall because my current workspace is too small. I make Tiffany-patterened lamps, small panels, and original works on commission, too. I would attach some photos but don't know how! It is a great creative outlet, but unfortunately, it is hard to make a living at it, that's for sure...

Freiamaya: I would love to work in glass, it's so beautiful. I especially like the lampwork beads but they can get pretty expensive so I don't buy them. Some day, I would like to get a stained glass panel for a window. Last year, for Christmas, I bought some stained glass dragonflies for gifts; they were sort of "3D": the body was made of an antique spoon...they were really cool.

I like to paint and have been itching to paint some Paris scenes since our trip last year! I like to use acrylic and sometimes do watercolor, but I'm too chicken for oil yet.

I also make jewelry (I do metal smithing and have done casting and love to bead with semi-precious and gold), love to take pictures but my obsession is scrapbooking right now. I just can't get enough! I need to incorporate my rubber stamping with the scrapbooks. I'd like to try digital scrapbooking, but there's just something about getting "messy".

Idealmuse: GORGEOUS work!! I may have to order a journal... but which one?

I bet glass blowing will be on the docket in my future as well!

Have fun TurboLeda!! Show us your portfolio sometime!

Aymster, Paris scenes would be beautiful. Would you do them from pics that you took, or pics you find somewhere? I want to do a painting of either a New Orleans street scene, or a street scene from Italy or some place that has colorful houses. I like a lot of bright colors. I have begun getting into scrapbooking but have only done something like 6 pages in about 2 years. lol I just don't have the time right now. I guess it would probably be a great stress reliever, maybe I will try to do it during the semester. I've got so many pictures to use, too many. I drive my husband crazy with all my art/crafting supplies. I've never heard of digital scrapbooking. How do you do that? That sounds interesting, but I agree, there is something about all that glue and stickers!

Aymster: I just did a google on digital scrapbooking and it looks so cool! I don't know, I might have to try it. I have photoshop (I don't know how to use it that great though). I also found some sites with some materials on it. Neat!

The sad thing about glasswork is that there is an influx of cheaply-made tiffany style items from Mexico and China, where they can pay a buck a day for each factory worker to churn this stuff out. Hard to compete when you are doing it yourself!!!
Oh well, it is the process that counts...

Fre - Do you do any kiln work? I've done sone stained glass but only a few things here and there for myself. I got one of those mini PMC kilns to do some fusing but I havent been able to hook it up since I moved.

Ay - Hah thanks, I wasn't tryin to advertise or anything just showing off pretty pictures

My studio is in my basement and is a dreary mess right now. We bought this house because of basement (for the studio) but we haven't been able to fix it up properly yet.

Haven't got into fusing glass, but a mini-kiln and a good book and some appropriate glass and you should be on your way! I do mainly windows and panels -- my last one was a 5 ft by 3 ft window insert for a window in my client's living room. The light exposure was excellent and it turned out really well. It was kind of interesting, because the glass project was the fellow's dream but his wife HATED the idea. When it came time for glass selection, I was really surprised that she showed up because he told me that he and I would do the selection. When I saw her, I knew it was going to get rough! And boy was I right. By the end of the day, I was ready to pop her in the mouth, because it was clear that she didn't really want a window so EVERY piece of glass and color combination considered was "wrong", "funky", "too dark", "too light", "too---SOMETHING" (seriously!), "too RED", "too NEUTRAL", and when I asked her what colors she liked, she said that she hated red, yellow and blue, and also purple, green, orange, and any tints. She liked beige but hated light brown, meduim taupe, darker beiges, warm beiges and cool beiges (i.e. EVERYTHING) so my client finally kicked his wife out of the selection process and we got on with it. The window was exactly what he wanted, but when I did a recall visit (just to make sure there were no problems), she was there and told me that "others really seem to like it" and "I can tell you put some effort into it" -- all a NICE way of saying "I really, really hate this..."
Made me laugh, and I still got paid at the end of the day!!!!
I HOPE I've attached a photo of the dragons I did for my DH a couple of years ago for his birthday...

Wow..... That's really beautiful! I love it!

To tell you the truth I'm not fond of commisions myself but it's hard to turn down money, so I do them. The last one was this really cool 8 by 10 copper book for this garden/greenhouse. The interior patina was such a pain it didn't want to play nice. heh.

So Turb - Are you going to take that painting class? (nudge nudge)

I took a pottery class at Lil Street.. you are in Chicago too do you know where that is? It's in Ravenswood off the brown line. The classes would be a lot cheaper then at your school if you just want to get your feet wet. I don't know how the painting classes are but the pottery ones were good as well as the jewlery making ones. Not as in depth as a college course, but good for testing the waters.