Getting Etsy-ed Out!

It's official: I now have two store fronts on Etsy.com. One is for my wearable art (right now, that just means felted hats), and the other shop is for my fine art (paintings).
Since it takes me ages to upload pictures and add virtual merchandise to my shop, it might take me a while before I can say I'm in full-swing business, but let's just see. Wish me luck!

Fabulously Handmade Art at Etsy

Okay... so I've joined Etsy.com (see my shop with its one test painting in it... more to come soon!). Etsy is an DIY ecommerce platform where you can sell your handmade wares (art, clothing, jewelry... anything you make with your own hands), and sell online. It's an easy setup for someone like me. While the contents of my own shop are a bit slim at the moment, I've got an extensive list of favorite items being sold by other people:

Portrait Drawing on YouTube

Are you one of those people who get inspired by being around other artists? if so, here's a quick fix for you: a 25-year-old Brazilian portrait artist who calls himself marcoseiji on YouTube. He scribbles away on paper, making it all look so easy. Check out his user profile, with his many vids, including this "composite" video. Then, there's the video of EclecticAsylumArt, another YouTube artist, drawing marcoseiji's portrait.

Criss Angel BeLIEve Show Wows

Visiting Vegas means a trip to see Cirque du Soleil. I saw the premiere of the new "Criss Angel BeLIEve" show, which will be in preview mode until the Gala Première on Halloween night. Like other Cirque shows, it was spectacular, incredibly clever, and artfully done. There are eye-popping effects done with video projection and Criss Angel, the headliner magician. The sets and costumes were beautifully designed, right up to the last detail, consistant with Cirque's ever-precise mastery of fabulous visuals and pulsating rythms. The story is a wonderful, magical journey. Here's the link to their neat wallpapers.

Play With Color

Does your portfolio boast color? If color is the favorite part of your designer day, you will enjoy playing with color combos at kuler (get it? ... kuler... color...), one of Adobe's online toys for creative folks like myself. If you want to base your colors on a photo, you may do so by uploading it. The tool automatically suggests a color theme, but you can edit that, as you see fit. You need to log in, if you actually want to save any of your color sets.

Optical Illusionist: Installation Art

Swiss-born installation artist, Felice Varini, has been altering spaces since 1979. His work creates the illusion of someone having marked up the spaces he designs with giant markers and stickers. Check out his portfolio (page takes a while to load, but is worth the wait).

Orb Watch Design Concept

Travel through time and space with these sleekly designed watches. The ORB bracelet--designed by Serbian student in Torino, Italy, Djordje Zivanovic--cleverly indicates time by the movement of coloured lines that circulate around the smoothe plastic bracelet.

Watch out for this talented designer!

Contemporary Character Design and Art

"Enter the playground" ... these words beckon at Pictoplasma's friendly, colorful and interactive "Colour Me! Playground", where one can scribble and doodle the day away (after signing up).

Once you get past all the "Enter" screens, the friendly CMYK colors greet you with their uber-modern cheer, and sound effects make the drawing experience all the more... well, colorful.

My Favorite Design Magazine

My favorite design magazine, hands down, is a slick, glossy-paged, paper one... For a couple of years now, I've subscribed to Communication Arts. They entertain me with their fresh ideas (or rather, the fresh ideas of contributors). My precious mag is delivered but only once every two weeks... perfect for me, as I have trouble focussing on the more than one task at a time in my otherwise busy life. Heaven forbid that I should have to eat up more incoming content than I'm able to digest! I love the faint smell of the ink on the pages, when I first open the package (yes, it arrives packaged, like a gift), and relish the time I spend with it on my couch.

Fodder for later.

Keep Your Creativity Flowing

Do you suffer from creative boredom? Do I? Well, sometimes. Are ideas slow to come to you? The can be to me, at times.

Well I found a resource full of ideas at the designer mag, How Magazine's web site. It's chock full of creativity exercises... Creative exercises are not only for artists, but they're just good for the soul--any soul--in my opinion. If you are a CEO or an accountant, or the coach of a hockey team, you also need to "think outside the box" at times, here's your chance to re-engage in the "ideas world". Now go to it, and save the world from drudgery!

Prankster Art

An elaborate illusion: these guys spent time (and probably money) to paint the picture of a piece of paper on the wall, so as to fool their buddy into thinking it was a real piece of paper. They sandblasted the wall to make it look real... and by all accounts, they succeeded in their mission. Check out this crazy video of two guys' artwork prank.