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Surf City Archives |
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| Go Make Something Welcome to the world of projects and instruction, where learning new techniques is pursuit No. 1. How-to instructions cover everything from the basics of stamping and mixing media to altered art, polymer clay, wax techniques, art dolls, aging and distressing, glue books, iris folding and many, many others. Eye-pleasing galleries and illustrations abound, bringing instruction to life. Templates and other printables add depth to many projects. A blog and mail art interests take the learning process ever further, almost guaranteeing a great time, whatever your stamp, collage, papercraft, clay and other interests may be. The site map is especially strong, with a clear, extensive listing of the many crafts offerings that might lure you. Lara Berch Tutorials As the name states, tutorials are the focus here, and you'll learn about wall art, collages and other art expression. Instruction on distressing and painting complement the stamp arts, as with crafting a wooden frame for your collages or scenic stamping, and illustrations make the tutorials more effective. The collage tutorial stands out as a mini-course in pertinent techniques. The New York City artist who maintains this site has a blog, too, with lots of commentary. She welcomes images of art made with her tutorials that you send to her for display on her blog. Coloring Outside the Lines It's time to hit the klieg lights and give an appreciative nod to Nancy Curry, the maestro of this gallery-intensive site. More than 20 icons are clickable to themed, mixed-media art sure to please the eye and inform the mind and spirit. Do you spark to tag art or inspiration decks? What about transfers, dominos and journals? Or watercolors and resists? Click away! (A site slide-show option allows you to sit back and enjoy the images.) And to share in her success, artist Curry has more than 50 select pieces of art that have graced the printed page or been featured in her workshops. The Creative Zone In Seattle, Washington, Judy and Michael Jacobs celebrate the world of paper with their site, and you're almost guaranteed enlightenment, education and enjoyment, in equal measure. Museum-level artist books and sculpture abound in the online gallery, and the site section on tips has details on papercrafting techniques and tools. Even the online store is an education, as retail fare-published books and miniature artist books, for example-get a thorough discussion. Stamper's Corner The subtitle "Art rubber stamping ideas" lets you know that support for your imagination is at hand. Themed categories such as Asian, ATC, Animals, Celebrations, Celestial and Vintage are but a few-there are more than 50-and many are sure to be of particular interest, and all the illustrative art clicks to much larger size, for easy study. Additional member galleries feature dozens of artists, each with more than 20 samples. Plan on spending hours and hours at this sample-filled site. Third Coast Rubber Stamps A packed site section on techniques and projects and a huge online gallery make this Houston, Texas, site shine. Projects like the CD Clock; Technique, Batik!; and Fall Leaf Goddess list crafting directions, and accompanying art brings projects to deeper understanding. The Customer Gallery is especially strong, as it has art from dozens of contributors, and image samples are eye-friendly big. Really big. Diane Maurer-Mathison For more than two decades, Diane Maurer-Mathison has been teaching and writing books about paper and the paper arts, and her Internet site provides further access to her and her creativity. One site section gives an overview of seven of her more recent books, while other site sections look at accordion-fold books, collages, frames, silk scarves and note cards that she makes available. The supplies list for marbling and other paper technique provides insight into her major interests vis-à-vis handmade paper. Stone House Stamps The emphasis is on Oriental paper at this Texas-based site, and a wealth of cards and other art in the extensive galleries brings the art of stamping to glorious reality. More than a dozen galleries-and scores of cards-showcase the talents of contributing artists like Lea Everse, Sija Teijgeler and Irene Giesbers. All art is clickable to much larger size, to enhance viewer enjoyment. Several illustrated projects are here, too, to keep you happy and on the learning curve. |
Paula T. Guerin With a rubber stamp in hand, Atlanta, Georgia, artist Paula T. Guerin applies her creativity to journaling, collage and 3-D fare, such as boxes and accordion books. You can click all art images to larger sizes (some are full-sized), for close-up inspection and enjoyment. For example, more than 50 journal pages are illustrated, and scrutiny of them reveals materials, colors and techniques the artist employs, such as stamping, photography, paper-layering and color-washing. Canvas often serves as the base for the artist's collages, and the texture adds interest to their complex palette. Gail Russakov Veteran art teacher Gail Russakov loves the concept of creativity, and her prolific output is testament to this. From her Florida studio, the artist goes online to share her collages, paper bag and other books, altered art, cards and angel-themed compositions. Her "life collages" are particularly sophisticated, with photo-cutouts augmenting textured and layered papers, and her altered books are beguiling in their complexity. Wednesday Stamper Sure, you have an art project on your schedule for the weekend, but what about Wednesday? Perhaps those words have been your utterance. If so, this site is to the rescue. German stampers are the creative force here, but all information on weekly themes is in English, German and Dutch. Diamonds, Keys, the Gothic Arch, Umbrellas, Toys and Words are among the art-provoking themes that get more than 100 participants in any given week. You can post comments, as well, and just look and admire the art if you can't join folks. Who would have thought Wednesday would be such a blast! Think Monday-Think ATC In Germany, Claudia Vedder, Dani Dietrich and Dani Rogall are artist trading card enthusiasts who wish to "create a project together with you every Monday to fill our everyday lives with even more creativity. We'd be happy to see you participating!" Now that's an invitation hard to resist, ATC fans. Full gallery offerings complete the appeal. The site is in German and English, for ease of use. Heart Prints Card Gallery Artist and host Sue Nelson knows the heartfelt meaning of a well-crafted, personalized greeting card. It's no surprise, then, that she offers a substantial gallery of cards. Better still, the cards-more than 2,600!-are grouped by theme and motif, for easy navigation to card art of especial interest, such as Wedding/Anniversary, Mother's/Father's Day, Friendship and many others, including popular U.S. holidays. Also here are pencil and other tutorials, fully illustrated, and Rollabind projects, a picture tour of a stamp studio, and a few surprises, too. And if you have questions or comments, a message board is at your service. Make a Moo or Two Nellie van Leeuwen offers themed challenges via her blog that invites participants near and far-she's in the Netherlands-to partake of these initiatives. The key to her challenges is a "Moo." A Moo is a wee card of irresistible appeal, measuring about 1.1 by 2.8 inches. That's a size somewhat between a bookmark and an artist trading card. An amazing array of stamp art, with mixed-media accents, is possible at the fixed Moo size, and this site has plenty of gallery samples to entice you. Weekly themes have included Friendship, Your Favorite Color, Travel and Romance. An active message board and links to the sites of participating artists offer further pleasure. Glitz-Oh!® Girl Corinne Stubson is one busy, busy artist! A gallery showing of her art is proof of that, and a visit will put an "A-ha!" on your face. To start, look at the more than 250 art images in the Round Robins section, the 100 or so artist trading cards, then the 475 (!) handmade books and journals. Or try book sculptures, altered art and the beeswax collage, book art and tag outpouring. The book section has handy organization, as with star, Coptic-bound, piano-hinge or glue books, among others. Appetite fully whet, click to the companion artist blog, for in-depth commentary from Stubson. |