Sponsor giveaway: Suzanne Urban
Posted by Amy on Tuesday January 10, 2012
Contemporary folk artist Suzanne Urban combines illustrations and paintings with witty musings to create badges, pins, prints and original paintings; all of which are available for sale in her Etsy shop. No stranger to the art world, Suzanne already has an extensive portfolio of work in newspapers, greeting card companies, corporate graphic departments and publishing empires!
To spread some joy around, Suzanne is giving away a set of three badges (one was painted with coffee!) and a 5“x7” print with added collage wording and color worth USD$35.
Just leave a comment in this post (and feel free to share a joke or two) to be in the running! We’ll pick out a random winner after the 17th of January.
The giveaway has ended and the winner has been picked by random.org – bonbon! :) Thanks everyone for joining in!
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Grant Snider
Posted by Amy on Wednesday January 4, 2012
It’s midweek already! And if you’re already suffering from post-new-year blues, let Grant Snider’s incidental comics cheer you up! And get this, he’s studying to be an orthodontist while drawing cartoons on the side. Talk about double lives! I know the next time I’m waiting at the dentist, I’ll be conjuring up some story about the hidden super powers of my favorite dentist (who is almost 70, by the way!)
Oh and Grant has a poster shop too!
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Review: Let's Make Some Great Art
Posted by Amy on Friday November 18, 2011
So I have a confession to make.
When I first saw Marion Deuchars’ book Let’s Make Some Great Art, I was originally looking for a creative gift for a friend’s kid. But the more I flipped the pages, I was hooked. I wanted one all for myself. Besides, why should kids have all the fun?
Title: Let’s Make Some Great Art by Marion Deuchars
Paperback 224 pages
I don’t have any children (not yet anyway!) and I’ve always been amused when I see parents pack an activity kit for their kids to take along for trips – be it a vacation or even a short jaunt to the mall. Because I’m just like that as well – only I pack for myself. I make sure I have a notepad or a sketchbook and a pen ready for when inspiration strikes, a book if I find myself in situations where my attention is at large, and if nothing else, there’s always my iPhone (that acts as a digital sketchbook and notepad, more often than not).
The thing is, I would totally carry Marion’s book with me, if only I didn’t raise eyebrows while I try to paint a smile onto Mona Lisa or ink my thumbs to create little animals between its pages when I’m waiting at the checkout line. Created by Marion for her kids, the book is a fascinating one, veering of being part history book and lots of art-making techniques and tips in between. I find the most wonderful of all though is the creative spirit and energy that is in the book, brought alive by Marion’s free-spirited drawings and lively tone.
From Pablo Picasso to Mondrian, Leonardo Da Vinci and Andy Warhol, Marion’s quick, breezy explanations (save for the one of Van Gogh, which I thought was rather bizarre!) along with her beautiful illustrations add lots of meat to the book. Page turning exercises, invitations to make your mark on the page and even a useful guide on what materials you can gather to use on the book makes this THE activity kit for artists of all ages.
It also depends on how you look at it, but I find that I learned new things while I went through the book. While I always kept an open mind when I went through books for children, Marion’s book just blew me away by how “grown up” and yet relaxed it is. Already I see things in a new light, and this in turn helps me think creatively – a skill that I have learned (and am reminded) from time to time that can be applied in many areas of my life.
And if indulging in my creative side does manage to raise some eyebrows? I say bring on the crayons.
You can get a copy of Let’s Make Some Great Art by Marion Deuchars over at Amazon.
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If you like reading my book reviews, you can see more over here. And with that, have a lovely weekend folks! :)
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Happy Halloween!
Posted by Amy on Monday October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween everyone!
I hope you’ve donned on your alternate personas and put on the creepiest smile you can muster and enjoy all the candy that will come your way! :)
{Illustration by Hyesu Lee}
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