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Featured on Crafts Unleashed

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 by Alyice

Over the course of the next few months you can find me posting craft tutorials, quick techniques, and product reviews—complete with detailed photos—over at Crafts Unleashed.

When I signed up to be a Guest Designer for Crafts Unleashed, I was told that I would have to use the products sold by the main company, Consumer Crafts.

Made sense.

Create projects using products the company actually sells so that consumers can see all the wonderful things that can be done with those products.

What I didn’t realize, however, was how vast a selection Consumer Crafts has or what great prices! When scouring the website (as I hadn’t received my catalog yet), I found myself in disbelief.

Could these prices be right? Was this really a store for consumers like me? And finally, where has this website been hiding?

I’ll definitely have to do my share of shopping there.

At any rate, check out my posts next month and tell me what you think, “k”?

Keep Creating

Posted in Find Me Online | No Comments »

To Believe In Yourself Is To Love Yourself

Thursday, February 11th, 2010 by Alyice

When I first started painting on a regular basis, I purchased a folding table—thinking that I wouldn’t have to worry about spilling paint or glue onto its surface. Boy was I wrong! All the paint spills, splatters, and globs of glue drove me crazy! Yet, try as I might, I couldn’t remove the stuff; especially since the tabletop was made of vinyl. So I began covering the tabletop with plastic trash bags.

That was all fine and dandy, but then one day my husband chose to host a barbecue for his co-workers and he wanted to use my table. Talk about embarrassing!

It was at that moment that I decided to do something about that table.

At first, I thought about being cautious, but then I realized that every time I sat down to paint, I freaked out. I worried that what I created wasn’t going to be “good enough” or that there would be flaws and imperfections or that others would ridicule my style of art or that I’d never sell a single creation—whether it be a tutorial or the actual artwork.

Those fears debilitated me. They were inhibiting and stifling and caused me to spend more time “wanting” to create art than actually creating art.

So I decided to break free by grabbing whatever supplies I had on hand and I told myself that it wasn’t about creating something beautiful or perfect. And it wasn’t about creating a composition, a theme, or even a scene. It was simply about the act of creating. It was about finally allowing myself to break free and just be in the moment…to create without inhibitions.

Copyright 2010, Alyice Edrich
Mod Podge Tabletop © Alyice Edrich, 2010
Sorry about image quality. Too much snow to go outside and lighting in studio is horrible.
It’s much more vibrant (and appealing) in person.

I pulled out my Mod Podge®, paint brushes, white gesso, acrylic paints, tissue papers, left over birdies, and my hand painted square inchies. And for the next few weeks, little by little, I added to that table—until the entire surface was covered.

It might seem strange to have the text appear in the middle of the composition the way it does—and at the time, I actually thought it was another piece of scrap that I was just too lazy to cut into squares. But looking back upon the completed piece, I can see that it was my subconscious speaking to me.

“Don’t Forget Love” could mean a lot of things but I think, for this particular project, what it means is:

Don’t forget to love yourself enough to do what makes you happy.

Who cares if someone doesn’t like your art, someone else out there does. And who cares if after you create something, you decide you don’t even like it, because again, someone else out there might. But more importantly, remember how good you felt creating it.

Love yourself enough to follow your dreams. Love yourself enough to create what feels right to you at the moment of creation. And love yourself enough to grow and improve as an artist.

In the end, all will be well when you don’t forget to love yourself, first.

Today, I use that table religiously when I create art. But instead of placing a black trash bag over the table, when I create, I use a clear trash bag. That way, I can see the art underneath and subconsciously remind myself to love myself enough to do what makes “me” happy and to not be afraid of the process—or the outcome.

Keep Creating

Posted in Artist's Life | 1 Comment »

Let Us Swap Art

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 by Alyice

I’ll be honest, I enjoy using Swap-Bot for art swaps, but searching the database can be quite daunting—and then when I finally find a swap I want to participate in (not really into the ATC, art supply, and digital world swaps) I cannot because I do not have enough “qualified” swaps.

To which I say, “Bah Hum Bug!” because unless someone lets me into one of those types of swaps, I am never going to have enough qualified swaps. Argh….

Then there are the group swaps. I found a few online but the problem with them is how many people you have to swap with at one time—and some of those people are International.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem swapping with International artists. I think it would be so cool to receive a piece of art from someone across the globe. But, having to send art to more than one person, at one time, can get rather expensive; especially when they’re overseas.

I’d much rather swap one-on-one, and do one good swap a month (or at the very least a few times a year) then do one big swap with ten people, at once, and and it not be my best work.

So I thought to myself, “What if I include an open invitation on my blog to swap art with artists? Would they bite? Would they be interested?“

Maybe, maybe not. Yet, it can’t hurt to try. Right?

But here’s the thing, if we swap art with each other, we have to raise the stakes a little. Because, as taboo as it sounds, swapping art is only fun when you swap art with artists who create art you actually like—and when the perceived value is equal.

Are you game? Have I peaked your interest? Want to do a little one-on-one art swapping?

The art swap rules are simple:

I’ll swap one piece of art with another artist once a month, but reserve the right to do more than one swap a month or skip a month completely—if the occasion calls for it.
Both artists must agree beforehand to the swap. In other words, no surprise swaps showing up at my door in hopes that I’ll reciprocate—because I won’t.
Both artists agree to the type of swap. We can challenge each other to try new things, or we can simply stay in our comfort zone and create what we’re familiar with. We can swap something we’ve already created or we can agree to create something new. The choices are endless as long as both parties agree.
Aside from allergy alerts, (i.e. I cannot receive a swap that was created in a home where someone smokes as I am very allergic), both artists agree not to make ridiculous demands on what can or cannot be done to the artwork. Remember, you are not purchasing a custom piece of art, you are sharing your talents with another artist.
Both artists must agree to post the received swap item on their blogs, complete with photo(s) and a link back to originating artist’s blog. A review of the artwork is optional, but both artists agree to refrain from posting any negative comments about the swaps. Remember, the swaps are supposed to be fun—to either challenge us to try something new or to simply share our love of art with another.
The majority of the contest rules, on this blog, apply to both parties in the swap; especially the release and hold harmless clauses.

If you think it would be fun to do a private art swap some time, drop me an email.

Let’s Swap Art…

Posted in Art Swaps & RAAKs | Comments Off

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AlyiceEdrich.com
I'm a mixed media artist and freelance writer. Need web content? Want to commission or license art? Let's Talk.

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