Loudlife, Designs for Living...and other good stuff

Here's some good stuff!

Art, supplies, and more...

ZNE - We love variaZoNE!

This is a fabulous organization that I belong to for mixed media artists. It is a great, supportive group with lots of activities and not the rigidity that some groups have.

ZNE Galleries

Here is the "Galleries" page for ZNE, go in and check out the fabulous mixed media pieces. Some people's work is so layered and involved that it's just a mystery to me how they achieve those looks.

My first ZNE Gallery

This is the first gallery I created on the ZNE website - and some of the first mixed media ATC/ACEOs I ever made.

ATCs or ACEOs are little 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 cards originally created to be traded among fellow artists (ATCs = Artist Trading Cards) that are now often sold on eBay (ACEOs or Art Card Edtions and Originals) It is a great format for artists to experiment with new ideas, create buzz for themselves, or just to satisfy their muse quickly when there isn't time for something larger.

On eBay I have seen prices for ACEOs range from .99 cents up to $87.50!

A gallery of ATCs made for a swap exploring "My Hometown"

This is a series of ATCs I made to explore the subject, "My Hometown." What a great gift this subject matter was to me! In brainstorming for this project I remembered lots of little details about my past and my family's past. The memories actually gave me a sense of being grounded, a feeling that I had been missing in recent years.

Among ATC enthusiasts there is a practice of "swapping." This, of course, is the "Trading" part of ATC. Large internet groups often post opportunities for artists to be a part of a hosted trade like a "9 for 8 swap."

This means that the moderator chooses a subject matter and announces how many cards each participant will have to offer in the trade - in this case, 9 - and how many each participant will recieve - in this case, 8. When the two numbers are unequal like this it means that the moderator, as payment for the work he/she will do in organizing the trade, will receive one set of cards without having to contribute. Moderators usually have all the cards mailed to them and they in turn divide them up and mail the participants their sets - a lot of work, if you ask me.

One of the fun things about these swaps is that you receive cards from all over the world. I got one from the Netherlands and one from Australia in this swap.

My 3rd gallery - non ACEO/ATC items

This is the 3rd gallery I made on the ZNE website and contains items that are not ATCs or ACEOs. They are what is called "small format art" or SFA on eBay.

One of the other mediums that mixed media artists often turn to is the "altered tag" format. There are some examples of this format in this gallery as well as a couple pieces on canvas and a couple wall hangings.

Gini Lawson, Painter

This is my painting teacher's website. She's a wonderful person and talented artist. Check it out!

Chrysti on eBay

Here's a link to Covet Me, a store owned by Chrysti, a fellow ZNE member. She offers supplies for altered art as well as her own original art.

Bees in My Bonnet

Becky Christian is a collage artist with a real-person attitude. She's also incredibly brave. In 2005/2006 she gave herself the "365 day challenge." This was a challenge to herself to create and list on eBay one ACEO a day, every day, for 365 days. Yikes! When you look at the surface, it doesn't seem that daunting - they're only 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 after all. But when you think of the fact that she had to come up with a new idea EVERY DAY...then it gets scary. I can't even think of something different to make for dinnner every day...