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New Surf City
Links Lisa Vollrath Gallery Beauty is in abundance here, with Texas artist Lisa Vollrath offering a multitude of online galleries. And, there truly is something for everyone. Galleries showcase altered books, art dolls, playing cards, journals, shrines, assemblage, collage, trading cards, decos, glue-books and almost anything else that might use stamp artistry, paper and other art tools and materials. In all, you'll find more than 70 albums of art and almost 1,400 examples of Vollrath's immense talent. The site is intelligently arrayed, for easy navigation, and art examples click to larger size, to aid study and enjoyment. Pat's Stamping Place Tutorials and technique get their due at this Connecticut-based site, which offers a subscription newsletter, and you'll be able to access a number of free tutorials, as well. Recent examples have included Watercolor Crayon Overstamping, AquaPainted Rubber (Background), Watercolor Crayon Painting and Milkpaint Tutorial. Galleries feature hundreds (!) of cards, ATCs, swap art themed by technique, featured artists and other collections. Site operator and artist Pat Huntoon also shares her blog, which she frequently updates, to keep you current on technique. Bombshell Stamps With the descriptive subheading "Vintage Art With Attitude," this suburban San Diego, California, site has a mission to explore "classic tattoo style, '50s pin-ups and good ol' American Attitude" with scrapbooks, cards and creative gifts. Besides their stamp designs, Bombshell has a newsletter to plug you in, and a free video library of rubber stamp information. Choose a topic, click it, sit back and watch the video tutorial. Replay it, as needed. Topics have included an introduction to static cling, how to clean your stamps, and how to mount stamps easily. |
SAR (some assembly required) The art of paper engineering flourishes here, with an emphasis on rubber stamps, stencils, die sets, traditional embossing materials and pre-cut paper. The illustrated sample art with each is especially attractive, and you can click multiple examples for each format, to free your imagination, delight the eye, and guide the hands. Several entertaining card projects have downloadable instructions. The Eiffel Tower Pop-Up Card, for instance, shows how to make a flat collaged travel card that opens with the tower boldly standing up from the card. Nice! A blog and a newsletter-both replete with art information and illustrations-are real bonuses. GG Designs Comprehensive-with an online catalog, newsletter and blog, too-this company specializes in designs that begin as images hand-carved in soft-block materials (often called eraser carvings). The look is distinctive, and if you're not yet a carver, you can turn to this catalog for satisfaction. The extensive array of Christmas designs with a carved appearance is impressive. If you dig awhile throughout the online catalog, you'll find beautiful stamped cards, tags and other art illustrations that feature company designs. Site navigation isn't the easiest, but persistence generates rewards. Glitz-Oh!® Girl Corinne Stubson is one busy, busy artist! A gallery showing of her art is proof of that, and a visit will put an "A-ha!" on your face. To start, look at the more than 250 art images in the Round Robins section, the 100 or so artist trading cards, then the 475 (!) handmade books and journals. Or try book sculptures, altered art and the beeswax collage, book art and tag outpouring. The book section has handy organization, as with star, Coptic-bound, piano-hinge or glue books, among others. Appetite fully whet, click to the companion artist blog, for in-depth commentary from Stubson. |