I miss having a specific topic to write about; something I had when I was a columnist for HMN. So I've been thinking about how I could bring that back into my life. Seeing how much fun many of my blogger peers are having by doing features of other artist and bloggers, I decided to expand the scope of my own blog to do a weekly feature.
Once I'd decided to write features, the second point to consider was what topic to focus on. I wanted to try to develop a bit of a theme, or rhythm. I love discovering new things; that's one of the joys of sharing in the online art community. I find that one of the best ways to discover new things is by doing a search with a random keyword. I've been doing this for years with Google when I've been bored. Lately, Stumbleupon has automated this little hobby of mine. It's surprising, the things that pop up that you normally would never think of looking for otherwise. So I figured, "Why not do the same with my favorite online handmade venues?" I think it's worth a shot and I'm bound to come across some interesting finds. I plan on sharing the best of what I discover with you weekly. This should be fun!
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For my first feature, I chose the search word "moon". Blame New Moon; everyone I know has done nothing but talk about this movie for days now and I guess the word "moon" was the first that popped into my head when I sat down to think over my feature for this week.
Right off the bat, I found two wonderful artists with moon related themes that I thought were worth sharing. The first is a studio aptly named Purple Moon Gifts run by Kirsten Tippett who has been making and designing jewelery for over 17 years. Kirsten runs two types of studio. One displaying finished jewelery pieces and the other supplies for jewelery making. What caught my eye in relation to my search word today were these adorable little moon face beads.
It's wonderful to sit around and admire the finished work of talented artisans, but it's also a bonus to find a great supply shop to feed our own creative drive. What I love about supporting artisan run supply studios is knowing that behind all those beads and findings is a real person, not just some overstock depot. So if you are in the market for really cute jewelry making supplies, PMG Jewelry Supplies is a great place to check out.******************************************************************************************
My second choice this evening goes to naokosstoop. A wonderful little studio on Etsy run by a Brooklyn based illustrator named Naoko Stoop. The style is not one that I've encountered before, but I've totally fallen in love with unique and graceful beauty of these illustrations. This particular print is from a collection of illustrations called the Brown Paper Bag Collection. This one is called Moon No6.
This studio offers a lovely collection of prints, original drawings and note cards. A definite worthwhile find. I wouldn't be surprised to find myself returning to this studio the next time I'm looking to find a really cute and original illustration.
So that's it for my first random word search feature. I'm hoping to be able to do one every week, so check back often to see what other fabulous finds I've come across.
Leave me a comment. I'd love to hear from you!
