Seth Apter's Blog, page 68

The Week Links: 32

Join me every Sunday when I share some of my favorite links I discovered in the previous week.All previous links can be found here.

And here is Week 32...


Holly Becker from decor8 continues her wonderful series on blog trends with a post about earning money through blogging without guilt.
These photos from Kim Henkel almost have me hoping for a huge snowfall in NYC.
Veronica Funk shares her refreshing thoughts where success as an artist is simply about creating.

Textile love: hand dyed indigo from Judy Wise and holiday shibori from Patty Van Dorin.

Going to order Mixed Media Portraits with Pam Carriker. If Pam's newest book is even half as good as her first two, we are all in for something special.

10 art terms that don't mean what you think they mean from Huffpost Arts & Culture.

I am excited to see the upcoming exhibition of Basquiat's notebooks and artwork at the Brooklyn Museum.

Amazing group of assemblages being exhibited online on Virtual TART from Dale Copeland.

California Here I Come

I am about to leave the winter of NYC (cold) for the winter of California (warm). I am heading out west and have many exciting adventures about to unfold.


First stop is at the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) 2015 Conference & Trade Show in Anaheim. Having gone last year, I know I am in store for an incredible experience. More than 400 exhibitors will be showing their new products for 2015 for the first time. I will be teaching a workshop called Mixed Media Layer Conveyer and am equally excited to be assisting in the workshops of Mary Beth Shaw and Pam Carriker. I will also be putting on several demos from projects on my workshop DVDs from North Light. And I get to take classes, network, and meet up with some of my favorite people. I will be your onsite correspondent for it all!

Following CHA, I will staying on to teach three classes:
Majestic Medallions at Gilding the Lily in Fullerton on 1/16
52 Card Pickup at Make Art in LA in Los Angeles on 1/17
Picture Windows at Make Art in LA in Los Angeles on 1/18
The CHA workshop is full but there are still a few seats open in the other workshops. If you cannot join me, stay tuned for recaps on the blog.

The Week Links: 31

Join me every Sunday when I share some of my favorite links I discovered in the previous week.All previous links can be found here.

And here is Week 31...

I am a sucker for a good year-end review or a top-10 post of anything at all. I have listed just a few of the many reviews that I found on my web travels this past week. If you have one of your own, please feel free to include a link in the comments.


The top 10 art installations from 2014 from My Modern Met.
PaperArtsy shares some of the artwork that has been highlighted on their blog in the last 4 months.
Grace Bonney from Design*Sponge shares 60 (!) links to favorite posts from 2014.
Danny Gregory shares his top 16 moments from 2014.
The 10 most popular Instagram images from 2014 on Somerset Place, the blog from Stampington & Company.
Art memes from 2014 from Michael deMeng.
Top 10 art exhibits from 2014 from designboom.
The top 5 mixed media paintings of 2014 from Nathalie Kalbach.
From The Altered Page (you are here), my top 14 posts from 2014 based on hits.
And also from The Altered Page (that's me!), my top 14 Instagram posts from the past year.

Tools of the Trade

The Creative Pulse

It brings me great joy to be able to share with you all the news that beginning with the current issue of Cloth Paper Scissors January/February 2015, I now have my own recurring column in Cloth Paper Scissors magazine. 

Called The Creative Pulse, I will be focused on issues that affect every artist. My first column highlights ways to find and identify your own signature style.


Upon receiving the issue, I was excited to see that two friends of mine are also debuting columns in this issue. Tracy Verdugo is writing the Art Mojo column, focused on innovative approaches and techniques for painting. Jennifer Coyne Qudeen is writing a column called Make Your Mark, which highlights mark making in your artwork. 
A shout out to Jeannine Stein, editor of CPS, for this opportunity. And a big thank you to all of you who take the time to read The Creative Pulse.

As the Sun Sets...

As the sun sets on 2014...

and I look back on my experiences this past year...

I think about all the new discoveries I have made...

I think about the hills I have climbed that were well worth the effort...
I think about the the fact that I am one year older...

I think about the flashes of synchronicity that seem to seek me out...

I think about the losses that still hurt...
I think about the decisions I made even when things were not clear...
I think about the strength we all have despite the the way of the world these days...

I think about the joy that this community never fails to bring me...
And I think of what the future may hold and about the possibilities that have yet to unfold...
Thank you all for continuing to be such a big part of my journey this past year. I look forward to all the adventures we will have together in 2015.
A happy, healthy, and creative new year to each and every one of you!

Insta Love

One year ago I made the leap to Instagram. After much internal back and forth, I gave it a try. Three hundred twenty six images posts later, I am glad I did. Being such an image-driven platform, I have found it a great match. There is a wonderful community on Instagram and it is a different crew from my peeps on Blogger, Facebook and Twitter.

It has been fascinating to receive instant feedback on my images. Based on number of likes, the following are my 14 most popular images of 2014 on my Instagram Feed:

14
13
12
11
10
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2
1

Top 14 of 2014

At the end of 2013, I decided to look back over the previous year's blog posts and see which were the most popular based on hits. I did so both as a way of creating a better blog based on the review and out of pure curiosity. If you want to look back, click here to go to my top 13 posts from 2013.

In this post, I am counting down my top 14 blog posts from 2014 based on hits. Not surprisingly, many of the top posts were connected to giveaways, online collaborative events, and even a little art. Drum roll please...

#14
More Thoughts on Blogging

#13
An Artist Book in Progress: Part 1

#12
All Sorts of People

#11
Monarch Book Cover

#10
New Stencil Release: Urban Collection

#9
The Week Links: 7

#8The Week Links: 10


#7
The Week Links: 1

#6
NY, NY: V

#5
The Journey is the Inspiration: Call for Contributors

#4The Jewelry Maker's Design Book: Giveaway
#3Gelli Plate Printing - Giveaway

#2Spellbinders Diamond Anniversary: Sneak Peek & Giveaway Day 2
#1Studio Table: The Reveal

The Week Links: 30

Join me every Sunday when I share some of my favorite links I discovered in the previous week.All previous links can be found here.

And here is Week 30...



This GIF is amazing. Wish I knew who to attribute it to...

Loving the work of Anna Schueler, highlighted on ElusiveMu.se.

One artist's process: Rick Stevens in action on The Woven Tale Press.

An artist's idea of peace from Caterina Giglio.

This book on "tips, techniques and trade secrets" of acrylic painting from Gill Barron looks interesting.

Love this brayer background technique from Leandra Franich from PaperArtsy.

Just discovered the intriguing work of Kathy Miller via a post on Tumblr.

Fascinating fabric and food. The worlds of textiles and food collide beautifully for Elizabeth Bunsen.

Artful Resolutions

Twenty-four creatives, including myself, share their artful resolutions on Somerset Place - the blog from Stampington & Company. It is fascinating to read the varied thoughts of so many artists in response to the following questions:
What is your creative/artful resolution for 2015?
What do you do to stay inspired - will you be looking for new sources of inspiration in 2015?
How do you, as an artist/photographer/writer set challenging but attainable goals?
Click here for the blog post highlighting some of the answers and click here to see each and every response. And feel free to add your own responses to these questions in the comment section.