I fell in love with this adorable handpainted ceramic bunny by new Etsy store GeneralTrash. The minute I saw it, I had to have it. Now it sits on my desk and fills me with peace and inspiration:
The artist writes:
A ceramic statue hand painted by me!
The body is fully painted in pink and cream tones, and the eyes are black with silver glitter which really makes this little bunny stand out! Something cute and small for your desk, standing only 3 and a half inches tall.
In cubist artworks, objects are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form—instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context. Often the surfaces intersect at seemingly random angles, removing a coherent sense of depth. The background and object planes interpenetrate one another to create the shallow ambiguous space, one of cubism’s distinct characteristics. (Source)
Recommended reading: A Sum of Destructions- Picasso’s Cultures and the Creation of Cubism by Natasha Staller (Yale University Press, 2001).
See my cubist sock monkey on ETSY
I love being part of NORTHWEST TREASURE CHEST that focuses on Etsy store owners from the Pacific Northwest: BC, Washington, Oregon, Idaho…
“NW Treasure Chest” is an Etsy Treasury Team. The goal of this team is to promote Pacific Northwest artists and entrepreneurs who are Etsy sellers, by creating “Etsy Treasuries”. We strive to creatively and collectively promote Pacific Northwest artists and entrepreneurs. Our team supports our local economy by supporting our PNW Etsy neighbors.
The rule for being a member is to support each other by making 3 treasury lists per month (usually to a theme) featuring NWTC members (but you don’t include yourself). Here are my treasuries so far: LINK. It never ceases to amaze me the variety I find when I revisit the stores!
For example, today’s theme was TRANSPARENT. I chose 12 items from 12 stores that caught my eye and named the treasury: Through the sunny transparent cellophane of NWTC
As of today- here are our members:
POST STREET LOVE SOCK MONKEY on ETSY
Bird Brains – the intelligence of crows, ravens magpies and jays by Candace Savage (Greystone Books, 1995)
I adore the bird form. The simple shape. The thrust of the breast. The essence and purpose. And of all the birds, my favorite is THE CROW. Don’t even get me started on how crows have played important parts in my life chapters. To review this book (which I have used in my arts and my crafts over and over again since 1995) I simply made a sock crow tonight. This book is LOVED.
If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be clever enough to be crows. - Rev. Henry Ward Beecher
To purchase one of my sock crows go to my ETSY STORE!
Speaking of crows, my most favorite Barbie in the world is THE BIRDS edition. Reluctantly, I still have it in its original packing:
Love Katarina
Self Portrait in a Velvet Dress: Frida’s Wardrobe- fashion from the Museo Frida Kahlo,
Chronicle Books 2008
Frida advocated the idea that there is no great difference between a beautiful or attractive object and a work of art. She created herself, thus, as a work of art- through her appearance, especially in front of the camera, but also in the artistic perfection of all her household belongings, such as sheets embroidered with her initials, table runners, and bedspreads. (p. 45)
Book Contributors:
Carlos Phillips Olmedo is director of the Blue House Museum.
Denise and Magdalena Rosenzweig are textile restorers.
Teresa del Conde is an author and art historian.
Marta Turok is an author and anthropologist.
Have you seen this monkey? CONTACT: http://tfdpresents.com/contact/
Last seen at the DJ booth at Celebrities Jan 22
THE FLAME AND THE DAME- TFD PRESENTS
TFD is the number one event production team in Western Canada, creating large-scale dance events for Vancouver’s gay community.
–
Jean Claude Flame Dame was created for TFD Presents by Post Street’s Katarina Thorsen.
Throughout childhood I enjoyed making things, drawing and painting, collecting and arranging objects. As children, each autumn we collected seeds and berries to make specimen boxes, each item being arranged and labeled in box lids. It became a favorite activity, and I spent many hours ordering my collection until I was happy with its appearance. The memory of this childhood enjoyment is one of the reasons I believe that today I prefer to work with fabric rather than paint. Manipulating fabric allows me the same freedom of lifting, replacing and reorganizing. (from Introduction)
I adore Janet Bolton‘s work, which is deceivingly simple and primitive. I bought this book way back from Dick and Jane (then in Kitsilano, now in West Vancouver) . I was moved by the crooked lines, the traditional craft, the hand-sewn images, the daring lines . Her work since inspired me to come up with the sentence that I use to describe my sock art: “The visible stitch is the mark of the artist.”
Simple Times- crafts for poor people by Amy Sedaris
But why go to the trouble of giving a handmade gift? Is it the fact that it’s much cheaper than buying something that a person actually wants? No, probably not. Does it have something then to do with the fact that making a gift is a good way to get rid of the odds and ends you don’t have the energy to toss out? For argument’s sake, let’s say no. How about the idea that crafting a gift gives the illusion that you are “artsy” or doesn’t require you to leave the house to shop, or is a good opportunity to practice doing something you are hoping one day you will be good enough at to turn a profit on? (p. 191)
