Seth Apter's Blog, page 128

Destination Creativity

When artist, author, and all-around-amazing-person Rice Freeman-Zachery asked me to be part of the blog hop for her newest book, Destination Creativity: The Life-Altering Journey of the Art Retreat, I jumped at the chance.


I know that when the subject of creativity comes up, Rice is a pro. And her two most recent books, Living the Creative Life and Creative Time and Space, are among my most favorites. 
Rice and her husband the Ever Gorgeous Earl took a year out of their lives to travel across the United States to attend a series of art retreats. Their experiences are shared in this book as a way to bring the creative energy from these retreats to your home. But this book is so much more than just a personal travelogue. Five step-by-step workshops from well known artists are shared. Stories from retreat attendees are highlighted. Photos from each retreat are included to better present the experience. And Rice shares tips to help anybody start a small workshop retreat in their hometown.
----------------------------------I asked Rice to share a personal anecdote about the book with the readers of The Altered Page:
"I've written about this before, but it's such a huge deal, and so key to the reason I urge people to attend art retreats, that I have to mention it. At Art and Soul in Hampton, we stayed at the Embassy Suites, and in the evenings they have the Manager's Reception, where you get free drinks and bad-for-you snacks for a couple of hours each evening. It was great because it gave people a place to meet after their workshops -- you didn't have to go to your room all by yourself because you knew where to find everyone.
One night there were a couple of us sitting around talking, and someone pulled out her journal, and we asked to see it. She passed it around -- I think it was melanie Testa. Then someone else pulled out their journal -- Jill Berry, I think -- and then we all started showing what we were working on. More people pulled up chairs. I was stitching; others started drawing. Then someone started talking about magazines and editors and then books and publishing and possibilities, and we shared information and contacts and wrote stuff down to remember. It was like suddenly there was this community of people who were interested in the same things you were interested in -- stuff nobody in your hometown would care about at all.
Things like this happened at other retreats, and opportunities and ideas arose -- just like the very best communities, where you introduce each other to your friends and share recipes and power tools. For someone like me who lives in a really isolated-from-other-people-like-me place, this was just the best, bar none. It changed my life, believe it or not; now, when I'm at home and far, far away from all these fabulous people, I know they're still out there, still interested in the same things, still doing amazing stuff. It makes the world seem so much warmer, you know?----------------------------------GIVEAWAY
To celebrate the release of this wonderful book, all of the participants on the blog hop are hosting a giveaway. To win a copy of Destination Creativity, please leave a comment on this post by Tuesday 10/11. It's that easy. Sorry to say that people with addresses outside the United States are not eligible. Make sure I have your email and look for my announcement of the lucky winner on 10/12.
Please visit all the stops on this blog hop to learn more about the book and to sign up for more giveaways!
Monday, 10/3 - Melanie TestaTuesday, 10/4 - Seth ApterWednesday, 10/5 - Mary Beth ShawThursday, 10/6 - Carla SonheimFriday, 10/7 - Lisa Myers BulmashSaturday, 10/8 - Melissa ManleySunday, 10/9 - Deryn MentockMonday, 10/10 - Jen Cushman  

Questions and Answers

I am the Featured Artist of the Month on Billie's Craft Room, a wonderful blog from the UK that regularly features art tutorials, book and product reviews, artist interviews, free downloads, and more. Sending my thanks out to Billie for giving me the opportunity to be interviewed and to showcase my art.

Technique & Tool: Chapter 3

Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.
Style File was the first project posted and links to all 12 posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The second project, Techniques & Tools, the second project, continues now...

Participants were asked: 'The one technique or tool that you cannot live without is... ' I have added links of my own choosing to each contribution below, sometimes to products, sometimes to videos, sometimes to the artist's own work, and sometimes to something unexpected. Even the contributors do not know what I will be linking to!
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Kathryn Dyche Dechairo

While I love using brushes to paint I feel most connected with a piece when I put down my tools and use my fingers. Maybe it is reminiscent of finger painting as a child but the process feels much more instinctual that way. Nothing beats the feel of paint on my fingers as they move across a textured surface.
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Jill Zaheer


My brain. There's always something that you can find to color with, layer with, create on - but without my brain - there's no thought or emotion to draw from.
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Jeanie Thorn


There are two tools I could not live without: the first is my ability to problem solve and the second are the design principles that I learned in school and continue to learn while making art. Both have come to my rescue many times.
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Annie Kerr


Being out and about. Too much desk time makes my work grind to a halt. Nearly all my creative work arises from wanderings and wondering, the wilder the better.
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donna louise rodgers


My eyes and really seeing, being observant. I can hold pictures in my head until I have some other tool to get the mark onto a surface for others to see what I see.
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David Hayes


My hands. I use them in everything I create. I'm not happy unless I can get my fingers and hands into it...whether it's my drawings, my paintings, my collages...my fingers have to get involved...I have to Feel it! This is true even with my photography.
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Stacey Merrill


My eyes. I jump around with materials and techniques, but much of what I make is really just reinterpreting what I see.
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Cyn Richardson


My hands! I've used them to sculpt, carve, manipulate, feel the texture of things, recreate the texture, or a shape, or the size of something. I can make art with-out man-made tools as long as I have my hands.
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annie!

My imagination!
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Cathy Minerva (aka MinervasMadness)


My mind! Enough said...
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Karen Lee (aka The Colourguru)


In a very practical sense - my fingers and hands. Having had joint issues the last few years that have restricted some of my movement and in particular the ability to 'pinch', I realized how much I valued being able to 'smoosh' into paint, to smudge charcoal over titan buff paint and to life ink and watercolour that has travelled a little farther than I want it to. As far as supplies go - a Black Stabilo Marks All Pencil. Nothing is blacker or so versitile. Love it!!
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Next 'Techniques & Tools' will be posted on Sunday, October 9th

Ice Ice Baby

Sending thanks out to Jen Cushman for inviting me to be featured in Susan Lenart Kazmer's newly redesigned Ice Queen E-Zine. Click here to read my interview and see my newest artwork. And while you are there, spend some time reading the daily, themed posts on this fascinating site.

Art Trunk

Beginning Thursday, October 6th, Art is...You will hold it's 5th annual east coast art retreat in Danbury, Connecticut. On Sunday, October 9th, I will be one of the more than 30 artists and shops that will be participating in the Art Trunk - a full day of vending.

I will be selling original art...


handmade mini books...


 and nearly 100 bags of cool, assorted art supplies - many one of a kind. 
More information about the entire event, including location and hours, can be found here. I am excited to meet many art bloggers for the first time and I would love to meet you too. 

Your Blog, Your Way: Part 6

Sixth post in my series on Create Mixed Media.
Today's topic: Comments
What did 46% of survey respondents answer to the question "The most typical reason I do not leave a comment on a blog post is..."? Click here to find out.

Technique & Tool: Chapter 2

Welcome to the 5th edition of The Pulse -- The State of the Art -- a survey in words and pictures of the online artist community. The Pulse is a collaborative project that aims to introduce you to new artists, help you get to know familiar faces even more, and allow you access into the creative hearts and minds of a very talented crew of individuals. More than 130 artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented in a series of online posts which will run every Sunday.
Style File was the first project posted and links to all 12 posts can be found on the sidebar of my blog. The second project, Techniques & Tools, the second project, continues now...

Participants were asked: 'The one technique or tool that you cannot live without is... ' I have added links of my own choosing to each contribution below, sometimes to products, sometimes to videos, sometimes to the artist's own work, and sometimes to something unexpected. Even the contributors do not know what I will be linking to!
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Wen Redmond

Paint! In all its forms! I create ALL my fabric and papers. They start out white and I dye, paint, print, digitalize, and go mad with color. Working with color and texture has always been a source of jubilation for me.
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Lisa Sarsfield

A ruler. A simple 30 cm ruler is invaluable when I'm creating a collage as I really like the soft rippled edge I can create, which happens to be my favourite technique.
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Lisa Scadron

Layering, which requires patience. I discovered layering by beginning again, after years, on a previously painted canvas. Instead of scraping away the old work and starting fresh, I found that adding paint and other media on top of the old surface created a richly textured piece. As I stumbled by "accident" into layering as a technique, perhaps honoring accidents/mistakes is more accurately my favorite technique.
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Deb Eck

My bonefolder. I use it for smoothing things, opening things, tearing and folding paper (of course) and lately I have been using it when I make cast paper too. It is in my hands more than any other tool I use.
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Julie Shackson

My camera. I use it to inform all the other media I work with. Sometimes I use the photographic image itself, but more often it is a jumping off point into other media.
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Julie Prichard

Golden Acrylic Paint
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Diana Trout

Quite a question for a mixed media artist! I'd have to say watercolors because of the flexibility. I could draw with them and paint. Can I have a brush (or two) as well?
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Sharon Read

The tool I could never work without is my trowel. I have had the same trowel for over half my life and it is used for mixing, applications, creating texture, propping things up, scraping, smoothing, lifting, and mark making.
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Laura J. Wellner

Just a pencil. Whenever I get "stuck" and need to get back on track with what I want to accomplish, I always go back to the pencil on paper to work it out and as long as I have a pencil or two around with some paper, I'll always be making art.
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My sewing machine; or at least a needle and ----------------------------------------------
Jane Royal

Derwent INKtense pencils. Just add water and it's like painting with a pencil! They're especially good for traveling.
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Next 'Techniques & Tools' will be posted on Sunday, October 2nd

Spotlight: Patricia Oblack

In the first year after starting my blog in 2007, I had a regular feature where I spotlighted other artists that inspired me. It is fascinating for me to look back at my choices and to read what I wrote, as some of these artists that were new to me then have become good friends since. Many of the names will be familiar to you and some will likely not. If you like, you can read my original posts for the following eight artists: Bridgette Guerzon Mills, Judy Wilkenfeld, Janet Jones, CW Slade, Barbara Kleinhans, Scott Gordon, Erik Saak, and John Copeland.
I bring this older feature from my blog up today as there is now another artist that I want to spotlight in the same manner: Patricia Oblack. Patty's paintings speak to me. All of them. The colors and textures of her abstract work captures something so organic and elemental. 

In Patty's words:
"Early, in 1954, I picked up a pencil and sat in front of the TV with Jon Gnagy's New Television Art Book and my stack of white envelopes, ready to learn to draw. I learned how to shade cones, cylinders, and cubes, while hearing about the principals of perspective. Jon believed that everyone has a time in their life when the Art Spirit is dominant, I suppose I was right on target and the seed was sown.

Crayons,  colored pencils, tracing paper and coloring books, gave way to pen and ink and I begged my mother to purchase art lessons from Art Instruction, Inc. in Minneapolis, Minn. around 1962. You know the one...with the draw the pirate contest. I won, I think everybody won, but my Mom paid the $500.00 and in a few weeks a huge box arrived, with an oak adjustable drawing table, (which I still own) pads of paper, pen tips, charcoal sticks, watercolors, brushes, a Deluxe Bear Brand compass, a wooden T square and my first palette knife, which continues to be my favorite tool. I finished every lesson and mailed off the homework to be critiqued, by H. Okins, my instructor. After the first year, I received a Certificate of Accomplishment, andwas urged to keep going. Another student of the school, was Charles M Schulz, I was in good company. From that humble beginning, I continued through my whole life, painting, and drawing, constantly moving forward, on my journey through art.

Through several successful art related businesses, I have painted on walls, furniture, pottery, fabric, wicker, and glass. A chest of drawers, based on a Neoclassical Commode from 1770 is in London, England and two chests recreating Charles Wysocki's early American style are somewhere in France. I've painted realistic folded curtains on hardboard, Jack Russell dogs and race horses on terra cotta pottery, orchid botanicals in watercolor, and on clay tiles for table tops, pine boughs on truck cabs, kites, birds and clouds on ceilings, and also antique furniture, refinished with milk paint.

Today, my work is abstract on hardboard, continuing to be self-educated, I am ever as always moving forward. My work has been shown from coast to coast in many galleries and recently a painting was shipped to an office in Hong Kong, during the Olympics. 

Today and for the past 8 yrs., I have woven strings of color onto board with the same palette knife from childhood, creating surfaces of deconstructed relief, crumbling stucco, and contemporary fresco. My paintings have been highly influenced by Jackson Pollock, Anselm Kiefer, Joaquin Sorolla, Pierre Redoute, Tosha Tudor, Marjolein Bastin and Marcia Myers. In studying their work and other contemporary artists, I began what was to be the backbone of my current style with a surface I can't walk away from."

I can't walk away from them either.

Stackoholics Anonymous

Stack Attack

Stacks. We all have them. They seem to take on a life of their own and grow before our very eyes. Why deny them? Embrace them instead. Today is the day. Welcome to the Paper Stack Project. 

Stand tall, be proud, and join the list of artists and bloggers who are admitted stackoholics. Take a picture of your favorite stack or stacks, post to your own blog, and email the link to me so I can add you to the link list. And visit your fellow stackoholics for inspiration. Please check back here often as I will be updating this list continuously as more people post. The links are numbered so you can keep track of what you have seen.
001 Blissful Things
002 See Jane Run
003 Insights and Bellylaughs
004 Art by Canace
005 bohemiannie! art
006 Dabblings
007 A Colorful Journey
008 Two Dresses Studio
009 My Time Out of the World
010 The Land of Lost Luggage
011 Faerie Acres
012 The Art of Cheryl Connell
013 Artfully Ooglebloops
014 Clearer Reflections
015 A Pale Novel
016 WJC's Digital World
017 Sheep Rustling
018 River Garden Studio
019 dosfishes
020 The Rhinestone Contessa
021 World of Joy
022 Sparkleblue Faery
023 Dandelion and Daisy
024 Cerulean
025 Faery Rocks and Things
026 printmaking without a press
027 JazWorks
028 A Paper Bear
029 Art Beneath the Cottonwoods
030 The Distractible Scrapper
031 Magpie's Nest
032 LaWendula
033 Kelly Kilmer
034 Altered Book Lover
035 QuinnCreative
036 life as a five ring circus
037 4 rooms and the moon
038 Marit's Blog
039 Painted Heart Studio
040 Art from the heart
041 Often Medieval in Mood
042 Ingrid Dijkers
043 Art Camp for Women
044 turn UP the Sound Lulu
045 I am Rushmore
046 Four Corners Design
047 DharmaKarmaArts Blog
048 Ro Bruhn Art
049 An Artist's Journal
050 What's Next???
051 fibra artysta
052 Altered by the Sea
053 Loving the Smell of Wet Paint
054 Oma's Patch
055 Sun Soul Art
056 057 Hidden Art

In the Queue

I am lucky enough to be receiving an advanced copy of Mingle, Stampington's newest magazine set to hit newsstands in October. Mingle is all about hosting artistic gatherings, celebrating community, and exploring creative retreats. As soon as it arrives, I will be writing a review, posting a preview, and hosting a giveaway. In the mean time, click here to read more about the inaugural issue.------------------------------------------
The Paper Stack Project goes live this Wednesday, September 21st. There is still time to join the 70+ artists who have already signed up. Read all about this online collaborative project here.------------------------------------------
The newest project from The Pulse began yesterday and continues every Sunday. Participating artists share their very favorite artist techniques and/or tools and I add a special link to each contribution. ------------------------------------------