Art You Can Appreciate

Growing up as the daughter of an artist, I guess I have always been open to art and appreciate it at every level. My dad did oil painting most of the time I was growing up, but also dabbled in pen and ink. What he taught me was to see the beauty of not only the painting itself, but to see the beauty of the subject matter, medium used, techniques, etc.

Have you ever noticed the brush strokes in a painting or considered the thickness of an oil paint versus and airiness of watercolor? When I look at Native American regalia, I love to see the choice of colors used, the style (modern or traditional), and the various personal touches incorporated. Appreciating art should involve more than just looking and saying "oh, that's pretty."

While wandering online, I found the most amazing art exhibit that started with a room and furnishings painted completely white. For two weeks, children visiting the museum were give colorful stickers to place in/on the exhibit. Check out the article to see the transformation and the final result.

I created some art of my own this week.  My creative project this year is to do a tatting themed calendar that can be printed or used as a computer background. My calendar for January is now up on my Etsy Madness blog. Time to start creating for February's calendar.

I Love Exchanges!

Tatted ornaments from Barbara

As I took some time off from work, I had a chance to go through all my tatting patterns and supplies. I found an old envelope from an exchange done many years ago. It was organized in an online forum, but it was well before the days of social media communities. We exchanged stationery that had some tatted element. Each person in the exchange sent twelve items to the organizer and we received an envelope with a sample of each person's work. There were cards, postcards, and sheets of stationery. Some had simple tatted motifs and others were fancier.

The ornaments I tatted

This Christmas, I participated in a tatted ornament exchange. It was set up through a tatters group on Facebook. Each of us was given the name and address of another tatter to send an ornament to. I received a red and white candy cane and silvery tree from Barbara. The organizer of the exchange also sent me a cute little tatted wreath.

For Nancy, I tatted an Asian style tree and tatted over a small glass ball ornament. We all posted photos on Facebook of the ornaments we received. It was fun to see the variety.

Exchanges like these are such a fun way to develop friendships and share talents. I've seen several different types of exchanges:

• Cookies
• Ornaments
• Small gifts
• Pins
• Patches

What kinds of exchanges have you participated in?