5 Questions: A rabbit girl art

When I was very small, my Dad used to recite the poem Wynken Blynken and Nod to my sister and me at bed time. When I was pregnant I wanted to make it a part of the Peanut's childhood too.

So I painted her a small picture illustrating Wynken Blynken and Nod for her room. I was quite pleased with it, but I would have loved to have done half as good a job as Arabbitgirl's collage of the same name; It's so full of whimsy and has the dream like quality that I was working for in my own painting but didn't quite reach, I love it and am currently coveting it with a passion.

And that's what Karen Preston, the artist behind arabbitgirl wants her work to be known for; beautiful, day dream inspired, digital collage prints. Browsing through Karen's shop is an invitation to step outside of the mundane and marvel at the sublime concoctions that Karen has included there.

With subject matter that spans fairy tales, the circus and vintage engraving collages as well as pencil and digital drawings, Karen's art has an innocence juxtaposed with a delicious edge which brings your eyes back again and again.

In addition to arabbitgirl.etsy.com you can also view Karen's work on Flickr as well as on Trunkt.org . Karen also writes Life & Art of a Rabbit Girl a blog where she shares her work in progress, snippets from her personal life and some of her favourite Etsy items.


What got you started?

I suppose being born got me started. I believe that we all come here with a preconceived plan.
I have always felt a need to create. Its just something I have to do to be happy.


Do you listen to music when you create? If yes, what's on your play list right now and why?

Sometimes I listen to music when I create. Right now Tom Waits is on my playlist. His music can bring me to the place I need to be. It's so full of magic. I like to fill my work with the same type of magic his music holds.

Do you have a Etsy Shop that you drop in on to see what’s new?

There is no one shop I drop in on. I often browse through the vintage shops.

Which Children's book character would you be and why?

Oh boy thats a tough one. There are far to many children's book characters that I love.

Charlie Bucket - because his eyes and mind are so open and impressionable his adventure so fantastic.

Willie Wonka- because he is so confident in his craziness.

A Who in Whoville- because they are always kind and generous and know the true meaning of Christmas, and they know all the words to that great Christmas song.

Pippi Longstocking- because she is brave, she has a monkey for a pet and she makes her own rules.



Rock, Paper or Scissors?
Paper

Did you see something that you simply must know more about? Click on any of the pictures in this feature to find out more! As always your thoughts and comments are welcome, plus they'll put a smile on my face. If you want to make me jump for joy, head over to Arabbitgirl's shop and buy one of her amazing prints, I swear I'll do a little dance.

Mrs B's 31 days of Halloween

Mrs B's 31 days of Halloween Is on it's 3rd day and I have high hopes that I may win one of her fabulous giveaways today!

What's on tap today?

A vampire style belly dance vest! from Wings of Sin. I'm coveting, I'm coveting.

Skele-pins from Yarnigras! These are the perfect accessory for a creepy day at work, a night out or on a preschool playdate

Also on today's halloween activity list is a guest blogger: Halloween as experienced by someone who wasn't allowed to celebrate it as a child and another scary blog stop on the haunted blog tour. You can see it all on Mrs. B's 31 days of Halloween day 3

A Thousand Words Thursday

you can barely see it, but the tiny white speck at the top of the
mountain there, is the new windmill they've installed
on Grouse Mountain.
Yay for greener energy!

Tutorial: How to Embelish a Collage using Handstitiching Techniques

A round the time that we were heading into our first season of baby showers, I started to make mixed media cards that could double as nursery and bedroom art for my Mom friends. Because the Peanut was still under 1 and not too interested in making cards for her friends yet, I also made cards for her friends too. Most of these cards were stuffed animal inspired and I began including simple stitching as part of the work which led to opening up a shop on Etsy.

The stitch that I use most often when I make hand made cards is the simple back stitch, to learn how to do the embroidery back stitch you can learn how from this youtube tutorial by Lolita charm, her tutorial is simple to follow and I happen to love her manicure.

Friday before last, I featured a very talented digital collage sheet artist; MagpieMine. In the feature I mentioned that I'd come across Maggie of MagpieMine through the Totally Tutorials Exchange program.

For the most part, I use original paintings for my mixed media projects, embellishing with hand stitching and beads to make my simple subjects pop. When I saw Maggie's entry for the tutorial exchange I was immediately excited by the possibilities. So much so, that after I entered my tutorial idea for her exchange, I went back and purchased some other sheets from her shop. As luck would have it, Maggie picked my entry for the exchange and I now have an abundance of fantastic digital clip art to work with.

For this tutorial, I will show you how to use a simple back stitch and beading to add more dimension to a 2 D collage. The final artwork can be matted and framed to fit into any fairy lover's decor. Mine will be a baby blessing gift to my new niece.

For this project you will need:

Your choice of digital Collage Sheet from MagpieMine, I used the Elves and Fairies in the Woodland sheet.
Heavy watercolour paper or card stock
x-acto knife
Glue Stick
Beading Needle
Embroidery Floss
Seed beads
Scissors

Lets get started

Cut it out

To start, print out your collage sheet. It is best to print onto artist quality paper. Once printed use the x-acto knife to cut the image. I use an x-acto blade to cut out the image because the blade allows me to get into the more detailed areas for a crisper edge.

use glue stick to apply glue to the back of the image

Once cut out, apply glue to the back using a glue stick. Because I'm gluing a smaller, organic shape, I use a scrap page to apply the glue onto with a small stick to help hold my fairy down without getting my fingers all sticky. The scrap paper gets any of the extra adhesive, keeps the front of my image glue free and keeps my workspace clean and easier to work on.

place cutout onto collage background

After gluing the back of the fairy, put her onto the background paper. I've used a piece of watercolour paper because it's sturdy and can withstand having holes punched in as well as having wet media used on it (in case you wanted to paint onto your project before adding your fairy.)

get the collage ready for stitching

Once she's been placed on the background paper, make needle holes for stitching. When using embroidery stitches on paper it is easier to have pre-existing holes for placing your stitches along, it saves time and you can put a little more thought into where you want your stitches to go.

work in progress lit from behind to show where stitching will be placed

I wanted to add interest to her wings on this fairy, so I chose to follow along existing lines in her wings. Using a needle, I poked holes along where my stitching was going to go. I use a thimble to help with this part of the project to save the tips of my fingers and thumb.

lay out threads to see which colours work best with your subject

Once the holes are poked into the image, it's time to choose which floss will work best with the fairy. This stage can also be done during the earlier stages, but I prefer to do it after I've got my layout put together.

If I were using a background that incorporated other designs, an image or colours, choosing my thread at this stage is very useful as all the picture elements are together. For this fairy I've chosen a combination of gold and silver floss.

begin stitching from the back of the work

Following Lolita charm's back stitch instructions, start stitching on the backside of your work. I start my stitches in the second to first hole and stitch backwards from there.

hold the end of the floss for the first few stitches so that
you don't pull it all the way through

continue stitching until the area you want embellished is done. You can finish off by sewing a knot in the backside of the work or by using the techniques in Lolita Charm's back stitching tutorial.

To add beads to the fairy, punch a single needle hole where each bead will go. Choose a needle that will fit your beads. Sometimes beads will have varying sized holes; it's a good idea to try more than one to see if most will fit over the needle.

sew beads onto front of image

Again, you will begin your stitch on the back side of the work.
Pull the thread through while holding the tail end of the thread in place. Add your bead to the thread and then put your needle back into the same hole you came up in. Move on to the next hole and repeat until all your beads have been applied.

All finished and ready for framing

Once finished, trim any extra threads and if you prefer, you can apply decorative paper onto the back of the work to hide the stitches in the back. Because I'll be matting and framing this fairy as a nursery decoration, I'm going to leave the back unfinished.

here is another example of this technique using another of MagpieMine's faries on a coloured background:




I'd like to thank Magpiemine for her super collage sheets and of course you can also visit her on Etsy to get started on your own projects.

My weekend was full

of screaming and tantrums galore. The Peanut has reached that stage where a total meltdown is a millisecond away at any given instant. Do you want to go to the playground? Yes? OK put on your shoes...... and we have tantrum, full on throat tearing screams, earsplitting nerve grating tantrum. My sweet little Peanut Butter Pie has become that kid.

She's also become the kid who will get into the worst possible mischief as soon as my back is turned. Yesterday brought a "I have something special for you Mommy; come and look" which turned into a whole jar of sugar sprinkles spilled on the floor in front of my drawing table. Later I heard an excited "look at me Mommy" and turned to find a new roll of paper towel unrolled in a carpet down the hall and into her bedroom and back. Both of these happened while I was in the process of making breakfast and then dinner. Keeping track of what she's got in her hands where she is and and how she'll manage to push her boundaries is... well there are no words because at one and the same time there's frustration, laughter, exasperation and joy and a billion other thoughts and feelings...

On that note, I can't even begin to tell you how pleased I am to have AnyMommy's blog on my reading list. I've been following anymommy for quite a while; her posts are full of all that stuff I mentioned above; written with more eloquence and grace than I am able to muster most days; and she does it with four beautiful children to my one little peanut.

I look forward to Stacey's posts because she makes me laugh and cry and squeal with glee sometimes all in the same fifteen minutes. AnyMommy is, as her blog title refers a mommy blog about a Mommy who didn't always want to be a Mommy, who refuses to sort laundry and only recently caved and started pre-treating before washing among many other but not so recent things.

When I found Anymommy she was pregnant, living with her three children in paradise and dealing with poop in the public swimming pool.

5 questions: Revisiting Deadworry, home of the Octo-Owl

Last winter, one of my first features was done on Deadworry, a small independent print shop out of Fort Walton Beach Florida. I was taken by the cute and creepy themes that April and her partner screen onto their shirts, bags and dresses. The name of the shop is an anagram of shop owner, April's favourite, and one of my favourite artists, Edward Gorey, if you have time I recommend The Gashlycrumb Tinies.

Since I've started to do my pre-holiday window shopping and we are again planning on going Hand made with our gifts again this year I thought I'd share Deadworry with you all again. I'm eyeing up a few of the t-shirts for the Teen Boys on our list and possibly one of their cool totes for my cousin if I draw her name this year.

Deadworry's full line of Indie shirts, dresses and stuff to have before you die! can be found on their deadworry.com, Shanalogic.com, and Funky Finds, They have also been featured on My It Things. If you're interested you can also befriend them on MySpace.

I'm still digging the cute on the verge of creepy graphics that are screened onto the apparel and bags that are in the shop. They remind me of Mr Gorey's intricate line drawings and dark themes, which is enough of a reason to recommend them all by itself.

What got you started?

I was very interested in the t-shirt making process as a kid so I went to work in this huge factory that made collegiate wear. It was an awful place to work but I was there for five years and working for "The Man" made me tough. I decided to start my own company with my boyfriend in 2007 and we've been printing our booties off ever since

Who has influenced your work the most?

I've always admired Warhol for being the most famous screen printer and making a boring production skill into art.

Can you describe the palette you use to create with, what colors do you always reach for?

I'm really liking grays and blues right now. I tend to lean toward monochromatic schemes...I am trying to break out of that box though so this spring I'll be adding some bright new colors to my palette.

What life or art lesson have you learned that has shaped your work?

You are the only one that's going to make it happen. You can't depend on others to do the hard work for you.


Which Children's book character would you be and why?

Well, I used to be Piglet - afraid and timid...but now I'm the ever optimistic Pooh ready to take on that Honey Pot!
Did you see something that you simply must know more about? Click on any of the pictures in this feature to find out more! As always your thoughts and comments are welcome, plus they'll put a smile on my face. If you want to make me jump for joy, head over to Deadworry and fill your closet with a few of their awesome shirts or grab a tote or three!

Thousand Words Thursday

it's strange what people leave on the bus...

in other news I am working feverishly on my tutorial which sill go live on Tuesday!