Quote Love Special Edition!

  http://egdopegdoh.tumblr.com/post/532046184

The internet has created a monster when it comes to quotes! Quotation sites often take their quotations from other sites, cutting and pasting without checking the source. This spreads mistakes so fast that it becomes hard to figure out who really said what!

I try to make sure that the quotes I use on my Inspired Stones have been attributed to the correct speaker, especially if I get the quotes off of the web.

I have made mistakes in the past—thankfully acknowledged by an astute customer or two!

To sum it up with a great quote from Yogi Berra -
"I never said half the things I said" 

(which I found on the net attributed to Albert Einstein)

Amen. 

Here are a list of interesting, informative sites to check quotes you find!
 The first two sites are smart, substantiated and very interesting.
The Shakespeare website is sharp, funny and straight to the point!

Quote Investigator

Fake Buddha Quotes

shakespeare didn't say that!

xo Karen

Art Date with Gaudi

This week, I revisited some of the photographs I took while in Spain. I found myself immersed in the world of Antonio Gaudi's art and architecture again. And what a wonderful world to be in! His organic and original work is awe-inspiring and has permanently effected my imagination. 

Gaudi was a Spanish (Catalan, more precisely) modernist architect born in 1852. His brilliant mind was influenced in part by oriental and gothic art as well as art nouveau and organic shapes in nature. He wanted his architecture to reflect the role of the the creator.

Gaudi deeply respected nature, and this was evidenced in many of his designs. For example, he said of his work on the residence Casa Vicens:

" When I went to take measurements of the site, 
it was totally covered by small, yellow flowers, which I adopted 
as the ornamental theme of the ceramics." 

Casa Vicens

I'm posting some photos of Barcelona, and I've also included a couple images of my Gaudi inspired stones and drawings. If you want to learn more about Gaudi or his buildings, click on the links!

I hope you enjoy! 
Karen

Sometimes Gaudi would use 3 sheets of colored glass so as to achieve the right color for his church windows
(Sagrada Familia)

So far, I've been touched by the shapes of his windows and made some  Gaudi inspired stones!

sketches of details of the outside of Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia at night; haunting and surreal

Undulating forms and colors at Park Guell

the wave-like walls of Casa Mila

Art Journal - Part 1

In the next couple of weeks, I'll be sharing some brand new stone designs with you guys! I've been having a really great time creating new works. I've been absorbing a lot of great art lately (Beardsley for example) which has inspired me to go on and make fresh designs myself. I'm going to split the entry into two pieces - one for right now, and one for next week! Enjoy, and hope to see you soon!

Karen

Black ink and washes are one of my favorite things to do!

It's always been one of the most comfortable mediums for me to work in.

The Inspiring Pencil

photo credit: dalton getty

OK. I love pencils.
Shading, cross-hatching and blending.

Pencils take most of us on our first drawing experience and assist us in the first printing of our names.

Doesn't everybody love to sharpen a pencil and take that first satisfying mark with its perfect end?

Well, here are 3 artists that see pencils in a very different way from most of us!

 Dalton Getty ,above, carves into the lead at the tip of pencils.  He works about 1 1/2 hours a day on his carving, using very ordinary tools. It is his patience that astonishes me. This alphabet took him 2 1/2 years to complete! Please click on the above link to see more incredible examples of his work.

Kato Jado and Mizuta Tasogare carve into the body of the pencil. Intricate designs delicately sculpted into the wooden shell. Please check out more of their pencil art in the link provided.
Thank you for your pencil art inspiration !

Carve, draw and write on!

Karen xo

Winnipeg Festival Fun!

The five days of the Winnipeg Folk Festival are always some of my favorite days of the year. It isn't just about music - it's about people (new and old friends), about the discoveries (the food, the artists) the crazy outfits, the dancing, and about the sense connectedness to everything and everyone while there. I'd like to share some of my favorite photos with you.

Loads of great moments:

 

Melissa McClelland 

Besides the obvious musical greatness- k.d.lang, Blue Rodeo...here are my

 new musical discoveries:

 

Dan Mangan

Tom Fun Orchestra 

and 

The Crooked Brothers 
check out the links!

wishing you much joy this summer,

Karen :)

 P.S. The Artrocks Blog will be on holidays for the next month - I hope you will join me in the fall for new adventures in art and simple pleasures!

Come visit me in Lockport! :)

old houses

I stumbled upon this cool website a couple of weeks ago, and it continues to fascinate me.
100 Abandoned Houses is a project that documents run-down and derelict homes in and around Detroit. The pictures are beautiful, but there is an urgency behind the art: abandoned houses are becoming a problem in that city.

photo credit and thanks to http://www.100abandonedhouses.com/

The idea of an abandoned house makes me think.
Some of the houses have an elegant beauty but are surrounded by sadness.
It makes me think about why it was deserted, and who used to live there. How did they obtain their cracks? I wonder about the families that congregated for Easter meals between the walls.
One can imagine the stories and the faces and the houses standing proud and stunning in all their glory.
Why was it left empty?

Check out someone who changed this interest into a project called 100 Abandoned Houses.

I wish you a Happy Wednesday! and Happy holiday weekend!
Karen xo

All prints are available for purchase at 100 abandoned houses.

April 6th, 2011

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." -PICASSO

It isn't just writers that get Writer's Block. Writer's Block can happen to all different types of artists, although probably with more fitting names; I can say with confidence that the painter's version, whatever you want to call it (Painter's Block, probably) definitely happens to me.

Writer's Block, in its many cursed forms, is said to be caused by "lack of inspiration". While in some cases this may be true, more often I find it to be caused by anxiety and doubt. It's thoughts of failure that stifle creativity.

A great example of this at work is the old experiment where self-diagnosed "bad drawers" were told to copy, to the best of their abilities, a Picasso line drawing. The first time they tried this, most copies were not great results.

(drawing on the right-side of the brain)

They were asked to draw the picture one more time - but this time, with the original drawing flipped UPSIDE DOWN. Voila - the drawings rendered were exponentially better!

(drawing on the right-side of the brain)

When the picture looked like a person, the subjects (artists) got caught up in that spiral of doubt - "Artist's Block". The left side of the brain (the logical side) was in control, criticizing the work every step of the way. But flip the picture upside down, and they're no longer drawing a person, but a bunch of lines! This helped the artists easily and subconsciously switch to the more creative right side of the brain,  which made it easier to perform the artistic task at hand! Pretty cool!


Life's problems may not always be so easily solved, but thoughts of this experiment are something to carry with you. Next time I'm faced with a big problem - be it artistic or otherwise - I know that the first thing I'll try is looking at it upside down.

Happy Wednesday!

Karen

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

How do YOU define visual art?

Is it just a painting in the Louvre, or can it be more than just that? What do you think of artists like Damien Hirst, a man famous for, among other things, putting a dead shark in a tank and naming it "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living"?

Could the shape of a really nice coffee mug or the way the sun hits the trees in the morning or the dust jacket on an old book be art?

Hundreds of years ago, art was only allowed to be a religious expression, but nowadays can describe anything that expresses the human condition. Art can represent something real or conceptual. It should affect the senses, your heart or your mind. It's funny to read the Wikipedia article on Art because of it's calculated, scientific description of something that isn't really supposed to be calculated or scientific.

-Erika Iris Simmons

I found this art a while ago and it inspired me because of the idea of taking a vessel of music and working it  into a visual art form struck me as fascinating. Yes, it's John Lennon made out of cassette tape. Here's what the artist had to say about her work:

"In this series I showcase a number of portraits of musicians made out of recycled cassette tape with original cassette. Also included are portraits made from old film and reels. The idea comes from a phrase (ironically) coined by philosopher Gilbert Ryle, a description of how your spirit lives in your body. I imagine we are all, like cassettes, thoughts wrapped up in awkward packaging." - Erika Iris Simmons, artist.

After stumbling upon this artwork of hers, I quickly came across this piece. She took the sheet music for a song and made it into a visual of what this music feels like to her.

What beautiful art.

Click here to check out Erika's flickr page!

Happy Wednesday,

Karen.

February 16th, 2011

Oh, Winnipeg!

Recently, I've been taking my camera with me everywhere I go. I love the shadows on the snow and the silhouette of the bare trees.

Last week I was downtown on a very cold winter's day. On those crisp days the sky is usually a brilliant blue. I stopped to record what I saw - a gorgeous blue sky serving as a backdrop to the old buildings.
It was beautiful!  What capped the moment was when an older business man, who saw me taking the picture, stopped to say "that is pretty, isn't it?!" That frozen moment wasn't passed by!

 The residents of Winnipeg often have conflicting emotions about their city. A photo blog by Bryan Scott has taken that love/hate relationship and made it into an interesting visual journal of Winnipeg. There are some really striking pictures of the places we pass every day. Check it out - http://www.winnipeglovehate.com/.

Happy Wednesday,

Karen

February 9th, 2011

Rome, 2009  photo credit: K. Dangerfield

Last week I told you about the new Art Project by google. Such a neat tool to learn about the museums of the world and "see" where masterpieces you know are housed and taken care of.

Art in person is a totally different thing...

I am a huge fan of Canadian artists Lawren Harris and Emily Carr. I remember the feeling of pure awe I felt when I saw my first Harris painting in person on display at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. I'd seen and studied The Group of Seven in so many books that I thought I knew exactly what to expect. Yet I was still startled by the size and magnificence of the painting.

 My first Carr was a the Vancouver Art Gallery. I  had always admired her portrayal of nature, trees, and native culture. The one thing I didn't understand was the actual force of Emily Carr's work - until I was standing in front of one of her swirling, living paintings. It was all-consuming to me.

Before heading to Europe a couple of years ago, I had prepared myself for the deluge of emotions I foresaw myself having upon seeing the art I had studied and loved all my life. I also thought of what it would be like to see so many wonderful masterpieces in such a short period of time.

It turned out to be an experience of pure joy for me. I didn't faint - just drank it all in (My son, however, may have had a bout of the Stendhal Effect while in Florence!).

On our last day in Rome a couple of weeks later, we breezed through the Dora Pamphili palace, walked through the Villa Borghese to the Galleria Nazionale D'Arte Moderna of Rome before going to the Zoo. At the Modern art gallery I saw paintings by Picasso, de Kooning, Van Gogh, Monet, Modeglianni, Kandinsky, Schiele, Degas, Rodin, Mondrian and Miro. All of this truly made my head spin, but it was only when I rounded the corner to a medium sized room with a few paintings on the walls that my son heard the inevitable screech of joy (yes, I actually screeched). I had unexpectedly encountered my first Klimt in person!   

   

"The Three Ages of Women" is a large, beautifully emotive
painting that depicts
three women at different stages of their lives. This painting  highlights Klimt's inspired use of gold and mosaic style.It was awesome.

Like watching live theatre, being at a concert or listening to an author's reading, it changes the art because you become a part of it. As I stood in front of that painting and saw the actual colours that Gustav Klimpt had chosen to express his emotions, saw his brushstrokes, witnessed the strength of the size of the canvas - this is when the the art became an experience.

Happy Wednesday,
Karen

P.S. To read a little more on Klimt, Click on the "Awesome Blogs" on the right-hand side.....

February 2nd, 2011

Detail of Van Gogh's "The Starry Night"

Google recently launched a new website that lets the world explore the planet's greatest art museums right from their computer. It's really neat! It uses the same setup as Google Street View, which most people are already familiar with (If you don't know what that is, you should check it out as well. Click HERE to do so). I think it's a great resource and a neat thing to explore!

 To see the museums, go to www.googleartproject.com and start walking through the rooms! (My favorite so far is the Palace Versailles)

Karen :)

P.S. Maybe these works of art will inspire you to go for a tour of  your local real-life art gallery! Nothing beats art in person...(more about this next week!!!)

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

Clementine, 2011

A friend sent me this video, and I thought that I'd share it with you guys. 

Isn't it purrrrfect?

Karen xo

P.S. Click here for all the "Simon's Cat" videos

How do you wake up in the morning?


I know some people wake up to their favorite music. Some have a two "snooze-button-limit". My son has an iPod dock that allows him to wake up to any song he chooses. I prefer to wake up to CBC radio every morning. I like to re-emerge from my slumber by listening to an engaging conversation.

When I am really lucky, I wake up to something interesting. When this happens, it helps kick-start my day in a positive way (ooh, that rhymes!).

The other day there was a man talking about his hit blog and subsequent book. The idea for the whole thing came out of a really hard time in his life. It wasn't a "this too shall pass" story - it was a much more human story of how we all suffer difficult times in our lives, and how we cope and manage to overcome them. 

This blog came from a man's difficulty with hard times and how his decision to focus on the little things helped get him through. By concentrating on the easily-overlooked moments that tend to escape us, he helped himself cope with the bigger picture.


Some things on this blog are silly, some are funny, and some are a bit profound.

 Here are my favorites from his blog: (1000 Awesome Things blog)

#808 coming home after a long day to the smell of someone cooking dinner


#944 your pillow

#371 seeing "old" people holding hands (that one is relative!)

#411 when your computer heals itself


#601 getting through it.

#538 that one person who laughs when you tell a bad joke

Here's hoping we can all appreciate those little moments!