I have to be honest with you, but I really didn't think the tree would win. I thought everyone would be getting tired of my trees, so I purposely only put in one (and it did take some restraining on my part) to try and mix it up a bit, but apparently you haven't had a enough, so the tree it is!
Tree
27%
10
Daffodils
16.2%
6
Fawn
16.2%
6
Nest
8.1%
3
Topiary
8.1%
3
Sprouts growing
5.4%
2
Floral design
5.4%
2
Umbrella
5.4%
2
Iris
2.7%
1
Flower vase
2.7%
1
Bubble flower
2.7%
1
Tulips
0%
0
Multiplying Bunnies
0%
0
total votes: 37
Now that we have the subject, we need the color scheme. Keep in mind that our theme is Spring, so let's see hear some great Spring color combinations. We will need a color for the tree trunk, the leaves,the background and the base clay. Leave a comment with your recommendations, and then I will post a poll so everyone can vote for the final colors. Thanks so much to all of you that have been participating and following along. It's been a lot of fun to hear your input! Don't forget to send me pictures of any work that has been inspired by this project, it's themes and suggestions. I would love to feature it here on the blog!!
With all my recent posts about collaborations and collectives, I have decided it would be fun to do a collaborative/collective project with my blog friends/readers. I recently posted a blank tree design on my flickr and asked for color combination suggestions and I got some great ideas. I am now planning on a small ACEO series and I will be incorporating some of the suggestions. So.... I thought it would be fun to create something with suggestions and inspiration from my blog friends. I will ask your opinion for each step of the process and together we will create something cool. I may include polls or I may just ask you to post your ideas in the comments. In the end, anyone who participates will be put into a drawing for the finished piece! I also think it would be fun to have other artists follow along and use the suggestions to create something as well. Then you can send in your pictures of your items and we can create a collective mosaic of all the finished pieces. Maybe I am being a bit ambitious, but I think it would be fun even if only a few people participate.
I think the easiest project would be an ACEO. The size is not overly ambitious, but there is a bit more to work with than a pendant, and not everyone wears jewelry, so I won't have to worry about if the winner will be able to use it. The finished piece can be added to any Art Card Collection or framed as wall art if you are not a collector.
The first decision that must be made is the subject matter. The sky is the limit here, so give me your ideas and your inspiration. Just post a comment with your suggestions and what inspired your idea. Depending on how many suggestions we have I will pick the top 3 that I like and then we will have a poll on which one we all like. I will then sketch a couple of ideas and let you pick which one we will use. This process will go on like that until the ACEO is finished. I would also love it if you created something along with me in the medium of your choice using the decisions we all make. Then we can all compare our finished projects at the end!
This past week Etsy put out a call for a collective project to create a fish representative of the classic children's book Swimmy, by Leo Leonni. Etsy founder, Rob Kalin, sees this book as an inspiration and sees how it correlates to Etsy. He said this in a recent Storque post about Etsy's future direction:
"So our vision is to be the eye — to be a kind of organizing principle. We do not want Etsy itself to be a big tuna fish. Those tuna are the big companies that all us small businesses are teaming up against."
So if Etsy is the eye, all of the surrounding fish must be the artists/sellers. An Etsy artist, thebirdsandbees.etsy.com, sent Rob a little black Swimmy fish that she created after reading the article and this inspired the idea to ask Etsy artists to create their version of the surrounding orange fish in their medium of choice to create a larger art piece at the Etsy Labs. They offered up a basic template and parameters and left the rest of the up to the artists.
I was pretty excited to create a fish because I have been very busy over the last couple weeks filling several wholesale orders and I have been craving the chance to create something just for fun. This was my chance. There was no pressure of whether or not is would sell or if anyone would like it. I also didn't have to think very hard about what it would be like since there was a template. I decided to keep it simple and just fill in the details of the scales and fins and add a little interest to the eye. My process creates a relief, so I really wanted to play up the texture of the fish. Since the fish will be combined with the fish of the other artists, I wanted to make it as recognizable as a Block Party Press creation as possible. Here is a slide show showing most of my process:
I will be shipping my fish up to the Etsy Labs tomorrow and will post a picture of the finished collective piece once it is posted. The idea of a collective piece can be very inspiring. I know I loved the idea of having my work included with a bunch of other artists to create a larger piece. The call for "fish" inspired me to create something I may not have created if I hadn't read the article. A call for art or artists can help you when you are in a slump to help you get out of your head and to give you a starting point. I find often times when you have a starting idea, the rest seems to fall into place fairly easily. You don't even have to submit your creation. You can just use the idea and run with it, although submitting for the right project can be very rewarding and some even offer money, prizes and or notoriety (if you are into that sort of thing). You can find local, national and international calls for artists in art and craft magazines, book publisher sites, museums, through your local arts council or art center as well as on the internet. I found quite a few on artshow.com , theartlist.com, & artdeadlineslist.com. I would recommend that you research any call for artists before submitting a piece, and always read the fine print.
If you are an Etsy seller, take some time this week to create a fish for the Swimmy project. It doesn't have to be elaborate, but use it to showcase your medium of choice and to be included in something larger than your own art. Plus, it's just fun! There is a Flickr Group, Underwater Diorama , established to showcase the individual fish. Here are some of my favorites so far:
