Fall in Love and Bring Joy & Fun Into Your Life!

Be sure to visit Jo's Studio  http://www.etsy.com/shop/josstudio to

"fall in love, and bring joy & fun into your life ♥".

by Jo's Studio

Hiya, my name is Kara Joann and I am the creator of jo's studio. I am a creative by heart and love anything that is fun and unique. I went to school for graphic design and then I started jo's to share my passion. At jo's I can make just about anything that involves paper and design, like calendars, crafts circles, business cards, invites and art prints.

With my design background, I also love to make logos web banners and badges. A new thing that I am starting to get involved in is fabric covered buttons, I think they are so darling. Soon to arrive in my shop are fabric covered button hair ties, earrings, id badges, magnets, cufflinks and more.

I make all of my creations on my laptop in my little corner of the house or on the dining room table. Since, I am always moving where I am creating I keep things organized by having a bookshelf and file cabinet full of labeled boxes and folders.
 

 
It really helps me find things fast and keeps me from losing stuff. I draw my inspiration from many things, but I spend most of my time surfing the web or walking around craft stores. There are so many great ideas out there that give me the drive to want to create.

Kara loves animals, thunder storms, the smell of rain & fresh cut grass, shoes, canvas shopping bags, finding new music, flip flops, mascara, clean sheets, strawberries & bananas.

Visit Jo @ http://www.josstudio.com/

Our Beautiful World

Enjoy a visit to Bedermann Art http://www.etsy.com/shop/BedermannArt where you will find inspirational photographs with vibrant images. "Everything I create is original, my photography is completely unique with some photos enhanced using Photoshop to bring out a stunning quality".

by BedermannArt
My favourite quote is "Love is shown by what we do, not by how we feel" (Author Unknown).

I have always loved photography, and when it went digital, I knew I had to try it. I bought a cheap camera and loved it. I experimented with Photoshop and other imaging programs and decided this was for me. I made the purchase of a great Canon SLR camera and through trials and triumphs here I am, continually learning and improving.

I can completely forget about problems when I am out in nature, concentrating on the perfect image and correct camera settings.

People loved my work and I was asked to show my photography in a few local Art Shows.
Lots of compliments and purchases and so I thought I'd give Etsy a try! I also have a gallery at Betterphotos.com DonnaBedermann. My workshop is just a computer, camera and lenses, and the beautiful world!

My Etsy shop has my Fine Art Photography as cards, 5x7,8x10 and square 6x6 and 8x8 prints, they are beautifully printed with lovely details.Some are enhanced to bring out an artistic quality clearly seen in the image.Please enlarge the photos to see the details. They are easy to pop into a frame, and there you go, original Art!

"I Like My Studio To Be A Disaster"

Spring has sprung and as Lauren shares "spring is a time of rejuvination and my cup is overflowing with ideas". Stay tuned for the addition of original paintings and some prints as well in her wonderful Etsy shop

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/LaurenSatlowski

 where you are sure to find something you love.

by Lauren Satlowski

My name is Lauren Satlowski and I'm a lifelong artist from Detroit. About 5 months ago I moved to a rural area of Northern Michigan and am experiencing a major shift in my work triggered by this dramatic change of scenery, for example my experimentation with abstract compositions. I have explored a wide array of subject matter and techniques throughout my education but I would best describe my work as surreal, figurative, colorful and contemporary. I am a drawer first but have mainly been working with paint for the last five years. I also love working with my hands and crafting items out of things I have lying around my studio.

For as long as I can remember I have been a collector. I collect everything I find that has some visual or sentimental interest to me and have a difficult time throwing anything away. My studio is full of boxes filled with folders full of magazine scraps, photos, old drawings, boxes of tiny plastic animals, beads, glitter, tiny disco balls and marbles, doll parts etc. This library of source material is vast so organization is vital. My organizational methods are unexpected, however, because I don't group items into categories. I group items intuitively based on their relevancy to me in that moment. I group and regroup them through an elimination process based on my reaction to them. With a project in mind, or even just a group of keywords describing my feelings, I sort through the items intuitively and the categories end up ranging from "things I'm not interested in at all right now" to "things that will become part of my next project". Sometimes a project idea defines the elimination process and sometimes the elimination process defines what will become the project. It's a process I have developed and adjusted for myself over the years and I find it makes creative blocks almost nonexistent.

In short my studio can become a huge mess fast. For the most part I really like my studio to be a disaster. I need that reckless abandon. In between projects I'll clean up and regroup my supplies and image library and start from the beginning with a clean slate, but as I'm working things quickly become chaotic. I like to wallow in the clutter and sit on the floor with it spread out all around me. I have an easel, a drafting table and a large flat worktable but I often find that my favorite way to work is sprawled out on the floor like when I was a kid laying on the carpet with a coloring book and crayons all around.

Do What Makes You Happy

by JMTolman
I'm a 20 year old illustration student. I sell paintings, prints, and painted jewelry to help pay off my tuition. All of my work is based on synesthesia (I "see" music in color), horror movies, pop culture, cult films, and odd books. My shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/JMTolman/  helps me pay off my tuition! My studio is my bedroom, due to lack of space, thus I must be organized. I have a cabinet full of supplies- paints, inks, brushes, paper, etc have their own shelves. I keep a stockpile of large boards/paper/scraps in my closet.

The most important piece of advice I can give is to find something you're happy to do, despite circumstances. Right now I am in a very tight spot, but I am still happy because I get to do something I've wanted to do my whole life.

Other places to find her :
FREE PAPER TOY! http://sapphirekat.livejournal.com/93906.html


Site: Sapphirekat.livejournal.com
Email: Sapphire.kat [!at] gmail.com
Twitter: twitter.com/JMTolman

Sandra Darling

http://www.SandraDarling.etsy.com/
http://www.sandradarlingvisualartcreations.com/

by SandraDarling

My background and training as a visual artist came from not only "a good art school education" but the greatest teacher of all - Life! I grew up in North Queensland which is both coastal and tropical; a precious and unique place where the rainforests meets the sea. It provided me with a rich tapestry of geographical as well as social exposure, and gave me my foundation as a young adult discovering my place in the world. I originally trained as a painter but I have always had an interest in all art forms and I expanded my canvas (literally and metaphysically) to beyond this medium. Since then, travelling to Europe, Asia and across Australia has enriched my outlook of the world and people around me.

It was from here that I found my platform for a visual language that has led me on the journey that has bought me to where I am currently at today. Through my art work, images rich in layers and textures, I explore all that is intrinsically human and in particular feminine. The quote "the present is just a moment passed" sums up our fragile and changing existence and I think it also gives a glimpse into the world of what my art work explores.

My Art has always investigated issues of the psyche and how we portray and protect ourselves through layering and masking our true inner self as a means of adapting and protecting our wellbeing in the world and environment around us. As well as this, how we make our mark on an ever-changing and transient world, through our habits of memento; a vehicle of grasping time, place and proof of our existence, methods of remembering and establishing our collective heritage. Being an avid collector myself, I enjoy researching to discover the origins of objects and their history and then apply this knowledge to contextualise my own work.

My influences are first and foremost everything I see, feel and experience, but I've always had a great love of the Decorative Arts and Crafts; the Art Nouveau and Art Deco period; the great 20th Century Artists; and I have a great admiration for the artists of the Renaissance period, my favourite from this period probably being Botticelli where images of mythology and flora are in abundance.

I see myself as a bit of a Bowerbird (distracted by “sparkly things” since 1968) picking and choosing what applies to me.

My best advice for anyone looking to buy art as an investment is to buy what you love, because a happy heart is the best investment you can make, and the eyes are the window to your happy heart. Immerse yourself in what pleases you whenever your can as I personally believe that it is the journey and not the destination that is the so called meaning of life in this crazy world!