ARTicipate: Tchotchke

This post is a day later than it should be, but I spent the weekend in New Hampshire and by the time I got home yesterday, I was overly exhausted from too much fun with my best friend.

Tchotchke is a really fun word to say, and attempt to spell, but it’s meaning is pretty straightforward. According to the dictionary, it’s an inexpensive souvenir, trinket or ornament. After brainstorming for a bit, and seeing this post, I knew I was going to make an ornamental plate.

A quick trip to Marshalls, and $23 later, (The plate was only $4, but of course, I browsed the shoe section and ended up with a pair of black flats as well), I was looking at a large blank white plate, with no clue what to draw on it.  And then as I was browsing through my sketchbook, I came across this elephant I’d painted a month or so ago, and I remembered that my sister loved him, but wouldn’t display him in her apartment because his trunk isn’t up. So I decided to use him as inspiration and make her a plate to display in her apartment.

I drew one, slightly off-center elephant, then stood looking at him for a while. The “stencil” I’d made and used to draw him was sitting flipped over, overlapping him, and it occurred to me that the only thing better than one elephant, was two! So I added a little friend.   Then I put the plate in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, to cure it.  And called it a day. I’m really happy with the way this little gift turned out, and I’m pretty sure my sister is gonna love it.

Because I’m the only one (I know of) who did a project for Tchotchke, and Rose is taking a (much deserved and needed) blogging break, this is going to be the last ARTicipate post for a while.

ARTicipate Round-Up: Green

We have some more ARTicipants this week, so I’m really excited for the round-up. I loved seeing what everyone came up with for green and I hope you do too!

When Shellby emailed me her awesome project, she wrote:

Green can be interpreted so many, many ways, but I chose the quote “Creation over Consumption” for this challenge to remind me to create more. The act of making something (painting, sewing, gardening, baking etc.) is so therapeutic, but it can also be economical (save green!) and environmentally friendly (be green!), especially if you use recycled materials. In particular, the paper I used here was a former “splash page” (catch-all for spills/ makeshift palette) from a series of crafty projects. By the time I finished the crafts, I had this colorful paper covered with globs and speckles of paint, that most would’ve thrown away, but I saved it for an unknown future project… like ARTicipate!

 I adore Shellby’s interpretation of green and what she was able to create from scraps.She’s also inspired me to try to incorporate some of my scraps into future projects!

 

Hope participated again this week. Her post is chock full of delicious green recipes!  I can’t wait to try to make the spinach patties, what a great idea! Rose’s post this week also had me salivating. I love eggplant parm, and I can’t wait to give that spaghetti squash casserole a try as well. It made me happy that both these ladies interpreted green by cooking healthy meals!

Last week, I posted on the better blogger network about ARTicipate, to try and generate some more interest and participation. Sarah from A Cat-Like Curiosity, immediately emailed me this awesome green artwork she did, that is actually exhibited in a gallery! I think her green tree is beautiful!

Kelly of the Whiskey and Westerns tumblr was able to ARTicipate and shared her awesome creation. She says that it’s only about a quarter of the way finished, but I already think it’s awesome!

Thanks for ARTicipating for the prompt GREEN ladies! I hope you’ll all ARTicipate again with this round’s prompt, Tchotchke. When Rose and I were brainstorming prompt ideas, she suggested Tchotchke and I couldn’t have been more excited over her suggestion. It’s one of my favorite words, and I cannot wait to see what types of creativity it inspires! Happy Creating!

ARTicipate: Green Project

I found this round’s prompt, Green, to be a bit too inspiring. I had way too many ideas running through my brain and I ended up doing something completely different from my plan, because I was overly busy and put it off too much. Sometimes that happens for me. My best intentions fade to dust and I end up with something I’m not very proud of, because I didn’t put a lot of work into it.

One of the things I associate with green is youth or naivety. At the last-minute, I decided to make a bracelet like the ones I used to make when I was younger, as an ode to my “greener” days. I used hemp and the most basic bracelet making technique, and I added some beads that I already had on hand from earings I made for someone. The beads are a really pretty combination of green, light blue and brown. They are an oval but flat shape and I like looking at them on my wrist.

This wasn’t an overly ambitious project, taking me a total of about half an hour from picking out my materials through completion, but I actually like the final result. Despite the lack of time spent on it, my bracelet will look nice on my wrist for the remainder of the summer! For the next round of ARTicipate, I hope to dedicate more time to create a bigger project!

On Wednesday, I post a recap of what everyone’s done, so again email me your creations or posts! I’ll also let you know then what the prompt is for the next round!

Have a happy Monday!

ARTicipate “Rule” Change

Hello Friends,

Rose and I have decided to alter the ARTicipate project specifications. Originally, we planned on posting a new prompt every week, but we’ve decided to do it every two weeks instead. We feel that one week is just too short of a time for us (and our fellow creators) to create something based on the prompt. It will work the same way, just with two weeks between the prompt and the project resulting from that prompt.  As always we hope you’ll join us on the journey, and create something for the current prompt Green, over the next week and half.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone creates next Monday!

-Frankie

PS. Have a lovely weekend!!

ARTicipate Memorial Round-Up

You probably already saw my memorial project on Monday, and hopefully you checked out how awesome Rose’s project was (it involved gardening so we all knew I’d love it!). Rose and I were so happy that we weren’t the only ones who ARTicipated.

Despite being super busy during law exams, Hope managed to find time to appreciate a Memorial for a possum. I really loved her post.

My dear friend Shellby, also participated. In her email she wrote,

“I really liked the idea of doing a toy soldier as part of this week’s project. But I am never for war, war is awful and expensive and I so badly wanted to make an anti-war thing. Then I saw Band of Brothers on and felt like a total jerk for not just saying thanks. War sucks, people die, or worse, get physically and mentally damaged forever. But they chose to protect and fight for our country and everyone should recognize and support that courage. I guess it’s a little obvious, but I enjoyed making it so that’s ok!

 

Artist Trading Card of a ink and colored pencil green toy soldier shooting a glittery ‘Thank You’ to all those who served our country.”

Isn’t it awesome? Shellby is so multi-talented. She’s definitely the most crafty person I know personally.

Thank you ladies for ARTicipating, I hope some more of my creative readers will choose to join us this week for the prompt, Green!

PS: If you did something for Memorial and it’s not mentioned in the post, send me an email at tobefrankblog (at) gmail (dot) com, or comment with the link on this post! I’ll update this post with your links

ARTicipate; Memorial Project

I had really ambitious plans for what I wanted to do for Memorial. I was going to paint my grandmother, using her wedding photo, with some of her favorite things scattered around her. I wanted it to be a sort of visual ode to how awesome she was. I did some sketches and paintings in prep, but unfortunately, when it came down to it, it just didn’t come together. 

Sometimes, when I’m trying to create something, and it’s not going smoothly, I have to scrap it for a while and come back to it another time. I still hope to complete the painting at some point, but for ARTicipate it just wasn’t going to work. So I decided to do a quick simple ode to her, on a clay planter like I’d given her when I was younger. 

My grandmother loved mermaids and elephants. Her apartment was full of both, and every time I made her something, it was either a mermaid or an elephant. So I painted a mermaid on the pot. I gave her pink and white hair, referencing a time when my grandma had white and pink hair. Honestly, I’m not very pleased with the mermaid. My love for her tail equals my distaste for her body. Eventually, I may stylize her body more or make it more realistic. Perhaps I’ll even give her hands.

Despite, my displeasure with the (un)finished product, and the frustration with (temporarily) abandoning the original piece, I already see the benefit of ARTicipate. I enjoyed all the time working on the original piece and painting the pot, and that is what ARTicipate is about; the act of creating.   

On Wednesday, I’ll do a link round-up of any and all creations for ARTicipate, Memorial, but without further adieu, I’m going to announce this week’s prompt word. It’s Green! When Rose and I were concocting prompts, we knew we wanted to include a color. We chose green because of the many non-color associations it has, and we’re so excited to see what people create. Also, make sure you go see what Rose created for Memorial, and email me (tobefrankblog (at) gmail.com)  if you created something for Memorial, so I can include your post in the round-up.

Articipate Week One

ARTicipate is an eight week artistic journey that Rose and I have decided to embark on. We hope that you will join us as we create something each week based on a word prompt. 

 

This week our prompt word is planned around the upcoming holiday, but the remainder of the words are going to be chosen at random (and pulled from a hat). If you have a blog, please post what you’ve created for the challenge. On Wednesdays, I’ll post a recap of what everyone’s done for the previous week. (Note: If you don’t have a blog and choose to ARTicipate – email me photos and a description of what you’ve done, and I’ll include them in the recap post.)

ARTicipate is about challenging creatives into action, without the competition that challenge implies. The joy of creating is in the act – not necessarily the product. We hope you join us this week as we explore the prompt: Memorial. And remember, all forms of media are welcome. I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with!

The next word will be chosen randomly Monday, June 4, and we’ll post our “Memorial” creations that day. Please join us in posting your creations on or before that Monday, (or email us your photos/descriptions if you don’t have a blog). We are allotting an extra week for this prompt since it falls over a holiday weekend.  A full round-up of Memorial projects will be posted Wednesday, June 6.  Happy Creating!