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Surf City Archives |
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| Paula T. Guerin With a rubber stamp in hand, Atlanta, Georgia, artist Paula T. Guerin applies her creativity to journaling, collage and 3-D fare, such as boxes and accordion books. You can click all art images to larger sizes (some are full-sized), for close-up inspection and enjoyment. For example, more than 50 journal pages are illustrated, and scrutiny of them reveals materials, colors and techniques the artist employs, such as stamping, photography, paper-layering and color-washing. Canvas often serves as the base for the artist's collages, and the texture adds interest to their complex palette. The Decorated Page, Studio & Boutique If you can count to 6,000, you'll be able to count all the gallery cards, tags, handmade books, custom journals, altered art and almost any other creation that begins with a rubber stamp and a sheet of paper. Prepare to spend hours clicking around, getting art ideas and simply enjoying yourself in cyberspace. Gail Russakov Veteran art teacher Gail Russakov loves the concept of creativity, and her prolific output is testament to this. From her Florida studio, the artist goes online to share her collages, paper bag and other books, altered art, cards and angel-themed compositions. Her "life collages" are particularly sophisticated, with photo-cutouts augmenting textured and layered papers, and her altered books are beguiling in their complexity. Wednesday Stamper Sure, you have an art project on your schedule for the weekend, but what about Wednesday? Perhaps those words have been your utterance. If so, this site is to the rescue. German stampers are the creative force here, but all information on weekly themes is in English, German and Dutch. Diamonds, Keys, the Gothic Arch, Umbrellas, Toys and Words are among the art-provoking themes that get more than 100 participants in any given week. You can post comments, as well, and just look and admire the art if you can't join folks. Who would have thought Wednesday would be such a blast! Think Monday-Think ATC In Germany, Claudia Vedder, Dani Dietrich and Dani Rogall are artist trading card enthusiasts who wish to "create a project together with you every Monday to fill our everyday lives with even more creativity. We'd be happy to see you participating!" Now that's an invitation hard to resist, ATC fans. Full gallery offerings complete the appeal. The site is in German and English, for ease of use. Heart Prints Card Gallery Artist and host Sue Nelson knows the heartfelt meaning of a well-crafted, personalized greeting card. It's no surprise, then, that she offers a substantial gallery of cards. Better still, the cards-more than 2,600!-are grouped by theme and motif, for easy navigation to card art of especial interest, such as Wedding/Anniversary, Mother's/Father's Day, Friendship and many others, including popular U.S. holidays. Also here are pencil and other tutorials, fully illustrated, and Rollabind projects, a picture tour of a stamp studio, and a few surprises, too. And if you have questions or comments, a message board is at your service. Make a Moo or Two Nellie van Leeuwen offers themed challenges via her blog that invites participants near and far-she's in the Netherlands-to partake of these initiatives. The key to her challenges is a "Moo." A Moo is a wee card of irresistible appeal, measuring about 1.1 by 2.8 inches. That's a size somewhat between a bookmark and an artist trading card. An amazing array of stamp art, with mixed-media accents, is possible at the fixed Moo size, and this site has plenty of gallery samples to entice you. Weekly themes have included Friendship, Your Favorite Color, Travel and Romance. An active message board and links to the sites of participating artists offer further pleasure. |
Dragonhome's Convention Tips Attending rubber stamp conventions can be a blast-if you're prepared. That's what a visit to this site will do for you. It'll help you make the most of your day or weekend visit to events that admittedly can be hectic. Veteran California site operator Judith Perry here discusses everything from convention preparation and a budget to classes, camera use, children, pickpockets and what to wear. ArtCard Ideas More than 50 artists from across North America and Europe are in the featured gallery of postcards made of fabric and rubber stamping, stitchery, layering and other media, materials and techniques. Clearly, fun was in the air with this fanciful group. An online visit will get you rethinking the potential of stamps and fabric, and perhaps some unexpected mail art. Create Fabric Art Tags, cards, shadow boxes, collage and other mixed-media art for those who love to incorporate fabric and sewing into their rubber stamp art. Plenty of illustrations are here, too, and they're clickable to large, "inspectable" size. Blogs, visitor commentary and archives abound, with more art examples for illustration. German site, but the art speaks to all. Vintagestamper Rubber stamping enjoys art with aged accents, fully illustrated, courtesy of Nancy Dooren and friends. Ideas to boost your imagination, as with using vintage postcards and magazine illustrations, are a treat, and themed swaps offer opportunity to share your vision of stamp art. This Netherlands-based site is for all, with descriptives in both English and Dutch, and you're invited to comment on the art and link to it, as well. The extensive archives and seemingly endless array of hyperlinks are sure to occupy your day with reward after reward. Skinny Saturday Not too big, not too small-that's an apt descriptive for the art found here. Everything measures 3 by 5 inches. And it changes every week, too, because that's the nature of themed art challenges. Each Saturday, a new theme is featured and posted, and stamp and mixed-media artists around the world respond with an outpouring of fresh, original art to share with other participants (and curious kibitzers!). All of the details on how everyone does this are listed, and challenge themes have included Beauty, Distress Inks, Make a Wish, Diptyches and Wings, among many others. Arty Girlz A new weekly challenge is posted every Tuesday on this site from Julie and Crissi in the United Kingdom, and everyone is welcome to join. That's an offer you can't refuse! Finished examples are added to an ongoing gallery, for visitor enjoyment, and you're welcome to comment on the art, as well. The Graphicus Gallery Jolly good show! That might roll off your tongue, in a decidedly British fashion, after you explore this site in England. First-rate art abounds in the tailored galleries, where samples are conveniently organized by themes and designers. A simple click on a link will take you to Nature, Oriental, Valentines and Romance, or Autumn, for example, and art that encompasses accordion cards, mandalas, daisy tags and a gardener's notebook. The featured designers may not be so well-known in North America, but their collective talent is up-up to global competition. |