kellyparkerdesigns

collage pins

2006-08-09T12:49:00.000-04:00

i have been making collage pins and i published a piece on how to make them on www.squidoo.com do a search for collage pins or Kelly Parker Designs

here are a few of the pins.

New collages and pins

2006-08-09T12:33:00.000-04:00

well i have been hard at work trying to promote my art. i have picked up 3 shops and 2 families for private lessons. i have also wrote a curriculum for 2 classes at the local art center and i will be in an art hop in october, so i have been busy making art and writing classes.

here are some of my newest collages. i have also been working on stretched canvas and have 3 collages complete on that substrate too. i think i like the stretched canvas better just because i am not sure i like the wire. i have heard both sides of the story though, some like the wire others don't. what do you think, wire or no wire?

Bailey and I in local art show

2006-05-13T08:46:00.000-04:00

My daughter Bailey who is 9 years old did her first acrylic painting and entered it into the Woldumar Nature Show in Lansing MI in May, 2006. She won 1st place in the 12 and under division!! This was a great show and I was so excited for Bailey.

Here is a closer look at Bailey's painting titled "Underwater Adventure".

Here is a picture of her and me holding our paintings. I entered 3 pieces - 2 landscape oil paintings and a chickadee print.

sketches

2006-04-01T10:16:00.000-05:00

well here are some sketches i am developing for some paintings. i have been working everyday so to get a small sketch done seems like a big accomplishment for me this month!! This week is spring break so i am hoping to have time to start some paintings. These sketches are done in colored pencil.

I also have my work in a gallery show right now for my graduation exhibition. I have over 30 pieces in the show and i have sold 4 pieces so far!! When i get some time i will upload some of the pictures from the opening show.

Recipe book - Debbie

2006-03-27T16:23:00.000-05:00

well i finally finished Debbies book for our round robin altered recipe book. here are the pages i made for her box. the actual recipes are on the back.

the purple/blue background has the recipe for Pudding Rolls and the green background has the recipe for Dump Cake and next one is for Rosemary Cookies.

Postcrossing postcards

2006-03-20T12:42:00.000-05:00

well my creative outlet has been to get more collages done for my etsy store which i have!! Along with that i have been sending postcards around the world at www.postcrossing.com it is a fun project. Here are 2 of the postcards i have received so far.

The top one is from The Netherlands and the trash bins are artist made for the store front it sits in front of.

The other card is from Sardeana, Italy.

i'm back....new ETSY store

2006-03-06T15:17:00.000-05:00

well, it has been a while...i have been working non-stop as a substitute teacher recently, which is good for my back account by not my art. i do have to say that i took some time and opened an etsy shop at www.kellyparkerdesigns.etsy.com so if you get a chance check it out. i have sold several pieces in the first week and i am excited. now i just have to make more art!!

i have been getting ready for my senior art exhibition at Olivet College too. i made my invite and now they will be going in the mail this week. we have an opening reception on March 26 so we will be hanging our art the weekend before that. i am looking forward to the show. it will be the last thing i have to do for graduation, although i have my diploma. i officially graduated in Dec. 2005.

well i am home a bit early today from teaching and i am off to paint and collage....see ya soon.

February 21, 2006

2006-02-21T12:15:00.000-05:00

well it has been a while since i posted but i have been working and i have been attending meetings regarding art things so i guess i have been somewhat productive.

here are the lastest pages for Sherry Goshen's altered recipe book.

February 5, 2006

2006-02-05T14:41:00.000-05:00

well here is the postcard/poster i am working on for my student art exhibition. Along the left side my name with run up and down and along the bottom will be the words - paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints. This collage will be my postcard for invites to the exhibition and also 1/4 of the total poster. The other 3 artists will have a 1/4 page to add to make an 11" by 17" poster. We decided to do the color wheel so my colors are yellow-orange, yellow, yellow-green, and green. The picture of the child is one of me when i was about 2 yrs old then i drew in a couple of brushes, i wanted to add some other art items like a palette but was unsure where to do that...maybe i will come up with something else, although when i get the words in, there won;t be much room for anything else. In the right hand corner at the top a 2" wide by 3" long square will be taken out for the information on the exhibition reception. i will post the finished poster and postcard when they are done.

Do you READ?

2006-02-04T14:45:00.000-05:00

i read anything i can get my hands on and i have to say that from January 1 - February 4, 2006 i have read a total of 10 books already. it would be more but i tell myself i need to make art but i usually only read when i am too tired at night to make art. i don't watch much tv so i read in the sun room by the fireplace.

some of the books i have read are -
The Passion of Artemisa by Susan Vreeland
Art Stories
Falling for you
Millionaire Vampire
Dark Lover
Grave Sight
Master of the Night
Hunters' Moon

looks like i have a thing for Vampires....LOL. i have always loved books about vamps!! can you imagine living for hundreds of years...think of the art work, artists, history, and more you would get to see. this intrigues me so much! i have read most of Susan Vreeland books too. she writes about artist' lives, her books are very good if you get a chance to read them, do. of course this list doesn't include the many art magazines and art books i have read either. maybe i should keep track of those too!!

Somerset Studio
Artist Magazine
Celebrate your creative self
Collage discovery

and i can't forget the books i have read to my kids this year so far....too many to list! just thought i would post my thoughts on reading...DO IT for yourself, for your kids, and just for the adventure of getting away!!

January 28 - February 3, 2006

2006-02-04T14:28:00.000-05:00

been working on paintings, getting backgrounds ready. i think i will try an acrylic background under the oil painting. the acrylic dries faster and i can start the painter quicker that way. Finished "Blue Bottle" but i keep getting a nasty glare on it, probalby because it is still a bit wet and shiny.

January 29, 2006 - my constructive art thing today was cleaning the basement. i have a nice orderly and clean basement to work in now. So i moved all my painting equipment back to the basement now it is ready for me to paint instead of just storage. Also, went to the hardware and bought some of those daylight bulbs. I think they will be a big help in the basement for lighting, that has been a big deterrent to me. now to just get some heat down there, it is really chilly.

January 30, 2006 - my creative thing lately has been to find a job that will let me be creative! i have interviewed with the local community college and have been put on adjunct status. they should be calling me to teach for the summer and fall classes. i am really excited about this.

Then in the evening, i went to a Studio Art Tour meeting. We plan on organizing a tour in October but would like to do a tour about 4 times a year with artists and businesses. I hope this pans out it would be a great venue for artists in the area.

January 31, 2006 - i meet with 3 other students from OlivetCollege. We are planning our graduation art show. we have about 10 weeks where our art will be on display at the college. We are all making a collage of our art and putting it together for an 11" by 17" poster and i am using the same image for postcards. i am working on this now so when it is finished i will post it.

February 1, 2006 - worked on my artist statement and bio for the show. i will post those too. i had an idea to post my resume, bio, statement and other info to a blog for viewing...still working out those ideas yet. It would be like a portfolio online. What do you think?

February 2, 2006 - had my second interview with the local 4-H extension office. i will know on Monday if i have the job.

February 3, 2006 - subbed at the high school today for the math teacher. I was having second thoughts about it....i hate math but it worked out well and i am up for another math class. i really enjoyed working in the high school.

well thats it for the last week. i will post my 1/4 of the poster soon. i have to have it done by Monday!!

January 23 - 27, 2006

2006-01-27T12:48:00.000-05:00

thought i would post today. i have been working most of the week, had an interview, and took the kids to see the Harlem Globetrotters. The Globetrotters were pretty good, but i remember them doing more tricks and more of a show for us, of course that was 20 years ago! But my kids liked them.

As for ART -i am a little early for the week but i have been working on putting a Coin Envelope book together, i will post that when i am done. i was working on an oil painting and wanted to post what i have done so far. it is not finished yet but as soon as it dries a bit i will finish it up. the picture is not very good and i haven't oil painted in almost a year. i really need to find a better spot to paint too. right now i am painting in my computer room/work area and i have found i need more easels. LOL...i usually have 2 or 3 paintings going on at once. so i will be moving to the basement i think....anyway here is the painting. any comments would be really appreciated. thanks

January 18 - 22, 2006

2006-01-22T20:10:00.000-05:00

Lots of work to post today. I have been working on my Recipe book for an altered book round robin. I decided to make my own book and when it comes home i will bind it all together with a few more recipes that i will incorporate later. The book measures approximately 6" by 6". Here they are - left to right -

Inside back cover
Twinkie cake recipe
Twinkie cake 2
Pudding Rolls 2
Pudding Rolls recipe
Inside front cover
Front cover
Dump cake recipe
Dump cake 2

January 17, 2006 Tuesday

2006-01-17T13:36:00.000-05:00

Well, today i made 5 ATC's. Three of them are for a swap on my yahoo group for Valentines and the other 2 i will send to someone for a RAK.
ENJOY!!

I think i may only post once a week for the daily devotions. i can load all the work in one day that i complete for the week. I want to have more time to make art...as you can see from the previous posts i don't always have time to make art every single day but some days i have lots of time....i think posting once a week would take less time away from creating and take the pressure off of me to make sure i update the blog everyday. How do you manage your time?

behind in posts but...

2006-01-16T16:20:00.000-05:00

Well it has been a week since i posted...i do have a piece of art work to post and some pictures of my chickens. I thought they would be fun to paint. The art work is from January 9, 2006 and the photos of the chickens is from January 12, 2006. On January 10, i didn't do anything but lay in bed, was not feeling well! On January 11 and 13, I subbed as an ELA teacher and an art/geography teacher. On Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, i spent time with my family. The kids were home from school for MLK day, so we went shopping and bought art supplies! I bought more watercolor paper at Michael's and a small pad of canvas paper, then off to Barnes and Noble where i bought 4 art calendars that started out at $12. and i bought them for $2. What a deal for an art teacher!! I will be tearing them apart for the pictures.

favorite support for art work

2006-01-08T11:43:00.000-05:00

Beth asked what my favorite support for oil pastels is ? Well...i have to say, this is one of the first times i used them and i used the canvas paper cause i found it at a scrap place. LOL...now i do have some from Micheals but i was afraid to "ruin" it...i know, i shouldn't think that way but now that i have worked with the "scrap" stuff i feel confident enough to cut and color, paint, collage away on the "good" stuff...LOL. So you will see more oil pastels on cavas paper along with other techniques with this very cool support!

As for other favorite supports, here is what i use -

Support for collages - i use water color paper (120 to 400 lb), canvas panels, mat board and cardboard that has been covered in gesso.

Oil Paintings - i use stretched canvas covered in 3 coats of gesso.

i have a tendency to buy stuff then hang on to it cause i think my art work isn't good enough to do on something that is a bit expensive. So i have decided to just get out that canvas paper and try some different techniques on it....i am thinking, i will try some things on canvas panels too. Who knows maybe i will find the perfect technique!!

have to mention here that i get all my art supplies at www.dickblick.com they have the best prices on canvas and paint that i have seen. not affiliated just a very happy, long time customer.

happy creating!

January 7 and 8, 2006

2006-01-08T11:17:00.000-05:00

Saturday -
Well i spent the day in CPR training. Boy what a long day....I needed to get adult, child, infant CPR along with the new AED training and First Aid. Then to top off the day, we had tickets to a comedy show with Heywood Banks at the school last night. The show was a great success!!

So this brings me to the art for the day....nothing, zilch, nada, but i did get the CPR cards so that i can now have my records sent in to make me an official art teacher!! WOO HOO!! never thought i would get this far. i started taking classes 2 years after i graduated high school paying for them as i got the money or could get finiacial aid. Of course i was working full time so i could only take night classes - took me 20 years to get my AA. Then, of course by now i am married and have 2 kids, well you know what happens then, anyway when my youngest started into first grade, i started back to college full time in the education program. Took me 2 1/2 years to finish my BA in Education with a Visual Arts major going to school in the summer too. i am now officially graduated and applied for my teaching certificate from Michigan. i will get to walk in May for the graduation ceremony, i am looking forward to it.

Sunday -
well today, i am working on the computer. Later this afternoon, we will be going to a Student Ambassador program meeting, my son Sam is 11 and going to Europe in the summer. i am so excited for him and he is too. We still are not sure how they go his name....we think through his MEAP scores, cause none of his teachers seemed to know about the program. But anyway, we attend a meeting every other month until June so that we (parents) and the kids can get to know other members of the group. There are about 30 - 35 kids that will be going along with 2 teachers. They will be going to Paris and London on the Tale of Two Cities tour.

So that brings me to art for Sunday - nothing yet but i am holding out for after 8 pm when the kids go to bed....

How do you find the time?

2006-01-06T15:27:00.000-05:00

Someone asked how you do you find the time to make art every day....well i have to say that i don't make art every single day in the form of "art". Some days all i may do is backgrounds or write in my journal about the day, other times i make art all day long. Today happens to be one of those days where i was extremely productive in several ways - i took a walk this morning and i am getting ready to go out again, i picked up the yard, painted backgrounds, did 4 small oil pastels and hauled in some wood for the fireplace among several other things. This happens to be just one of those days that i actually feel like doing things.

Just so that i don't sound like that is all i do everyday is art...LOL i have 2 kids, a husband and several animals (cows, rabbit, dog, chickens) that have to be taken care of everyday but today everyone was gone to school or work and i got to stay home....no substitute teaching this week!! Yeah, now i know that will change...next week already i have a day to work. This weekend i will not be making art, Saturday i have CPR training all day and on Sunday, my son has his Student Ambassador meeting for his trip to Europe this summer and my daughter has a birthday party. Well, off to take a walk and get dinner ready....i don't know about you but is laundry and everyday thing, it is around here....maybe i should make art from the laundry, can you imagine the faces on my family when they came home!! ;-)

until tomorrow...

3 - 4" by 4" landscapes

2006-01-06T15:21:00.000-05:00

well i just completed 3 more of the 4" by 4" landscapes on the canvas paper with oil pastels, No. 2 pencil, and acrylic paints. The backgrounds are painted with acrylic in several colors swirled together, when dry, i sketch on a landscape then color with the pastels between each section of color, i rub them together with my finger to blend them. Then i use a pencil to put in some details such as the grass in the far left picture.

DD for January 6, 2006

2006-01-06T09:35:00.001-05:00

4" by 4" landscape - It is done on canvas paper with oil pastels. Needed a quick fix with art today and i have been wanting to do an landscape for a while now. i am an oil painter and i love to do landscapes, just haven't had the time to paint in a while, so this was my alternative for today. i think i will be doing more of these!

a few more....

2006-01-05T13:50:00.000-05:00

well here are 3 collages. the collage on the left is titled "Love" and the collage in the middle is titled "Play". the one on the right is titled "Sisters". All collages are made on 120 lb watercolor paper. the background is watercolored then layered with various papers, lace, tape, and photocopies.

more collages

2006-01-05T13:30:00.000-05:00

i was on a roll the other day. feeling creative and ready to go, so here are some more collages to check out.
the collage on the left is titled "Ok to be different". i am telling my kids this all the time. fortunately for me, they both walk to a different drum!! the collage on the right is titled "she had luck". this piece is for my sister in law, who has all the luck in golf...LOL.

collages that i have created for 2006

2006-01-05T13:21:00.000-05:00

well here is my first offering for 2006. i am a bit ahead with 7 collages instead of 5 but i had done the backgrounds before the new year then had to find the images and papers to put the collages together. they are 8" by 10" and made on 120 lb watercolor paper with paints, markers, photocopies, and various papers. the collage on the left is titled "B - boy" and the collage on the right is titled "Dads and Sons".

New for 2006

2006-01-05T13:14:00.000-05:00

well here i am...posting to a blog. never thought i would take the time.

started with a yahoo group that is devoted to making art every day in 2006 so i will be posting my ramblings and art here. i am looking forward to making art every day, so much so, that i have made a pact with myself...i am posting it here so that i can hopefully be prodded to make art every day. here it is -

My goal is to take a little time each day and work on art. I want to work on something each day, be it a collage, a doll, an altered book, a print, a drawing, or an oil painting, doing some kind of art each day is the goal. I'm focusing on quality and quantity for this project, I am thinking of working in a series. I have many ideas and I want to try to put them together into a series from which I can work. I have started gathering words and phrases to use for 2006.
Some of the ideas I have are to create ancestor collages and to use “mom sayings” to create one of a kind pieces of art. I will use the calendar idea in such a way that it will reflect each piece as I finish it with the date for the purpose of keeping track of 365 days. I love to work with numbers and words and this will allow me to use both in each collage. I want to be able to work in several areas combining new and varied techniques to complete at least something everyday whether it is a project that has already been started or a new project.
I want to work on mastering some of my skills and refining others such as drawing and colored pencil. I will be working with several sizes of canvas panels along with paper to create my art work (4” by 4”, 8”by 8”, 4” by 6”, 6” by 8”, 5” by 7”, 16” by 20”, 9” by 12” and some ATC size). I want to work on combining the materials I have and techniques into collages that are unique and a part of me. I have lots of art books with techniques that I would like to explore this year.
I will take one of my many art books and work with several ideas each day to create a piece of art. I want no restrictions on what my theme will be or what I will be working with each day, whatever is at hand will be used and whatever is near the work table is fair game for collage fodder.
I also plan to keep a journal throughout the year to document my process and progress. For me this will be a large accomplishment…I have tried several times to keep a journal and it is hard to do. It is hard for me to express my thoughts on paper in writing so my journal for 2006 will be expressed with written ideas for art work and small drawings of what happened during the day. I want to make this my first commitment each day.
This is the commitment I am making to myself be creative each day in 2006. I know it sounds like a lot of work but in order to have art in my life each day I know I will have to commit to doing it every day. I have no set rules other than I want to work in my journal each day. This exercise I hope will keep my creative muse working towards my goal of making art everyday.

thanks for reading
Kelly
check out my other work at www.picturetrail.com/kellyparker