art
The best relationship art depicts the highs and lows of the authentic couple.
Cut and Paste for Grownups
Cut and Paste for Grownups As I spread the creamy paint onto the thick, textured watercolor paper, I feel my breath deepen and my heart rate slow. I guide the wide paintbrush, creating swirls and leaving deliberate brush marks as I cover the page with wavy blocks of bright acrylics.
By Tiffany Doerr Guerzon 5 years ago in Humans
To Put Beauty Into The World
Crafts are not always crafts especially not for me. I’m sure by this point you have heard the phrase “healthy coping mechanism”, may even have some yourself. Now a healthy coping mechanism can be and mean different things for different people. For me a healthy coping mechanism is something that let me put beauty into the world even when I didn’t feel beautiful.
By Kimberly Wood5 years ago in Humans
Vision
My mother sewed and so did my grandmother before her. Curtains, slipcovers, clothing, Halloween costumes, Barbie dresses, the pair were unstoppable. I remember they had scissors for every purpose. There were scissors in the kitchen for food prep, the orange-handled Fiskars kept in my mother's desk or coupons or general use, scissors for little hands, scissors for big. long-pointed scissors for cutting hair but my mother’s most precious belonging were her dress-making shears. They were mysterious to me, shiny, silver, and sharp, I’d watch fascinated as they would glide through fabric with the slightest effort. I was not allowed to touch them and warned they were only for cloth and scolded should I dare to steal them for paper.
By Dawn Olderr-Montalvo5 years ago in Humans
A different perspective of Embroidery
There really is no doubt that happiness and creativity go hand in hand. There is something so meaningful when you grab a paintbrush, a needle, a pencil and your heart starts creating. At that moment your hand is only following orders from the heart; that starts creating art. That art creates happiness not only for you, but others that can appreciate it. I don’t believe people have really understood till this day the power of rolling up their sleeves and creating something with their hands. Art is highly therapeutic. And in today’s society mental illness awareness is highly important. That is why my passion for embroidery continues to be alive and growing inside of me. My desire this year is to open up workshops where people can learn a way to release their anxiety, stress, pain, all by stitching away their negative emotions. How beautiful is it to receive freedom from the inside out just by being creative.
By Stephanie Alvarez5 years ago in Humans
To Weave a Life
The first time I walked into a weaving studio, I knew that this craft would be my calling. Around me, beautiful floor looms made of wood and cast iron click-clacked as students threw shuttles across the warp threads, transforming them into cloth. In the back room, row upon row of shelves held brightly colored yarns. On that first day, I stood in those shelves for a long while, to be quiet and hidden, so that I could absorb the intensity of the moment. I became still and went inward, to be present to the expansiveness of what I was feeling. Even at the very beginning, I knew that weaving was what I wanted to do with my life. In the years since that day, my captivation with weaving and textiles has only grown. Perhaps it is a validation of the surety I felt on that first encounter. It is truly my passion, but I find that “happiness” is too flat a word to describe the impact that weaving has upon my life.
By Abigail Ahlberg5 years ago in Humans
Happiness is ... a papercut
If I spoke to you of powerful cocktails, you might believe my happiness lies in a glass of a well-mixed alcoholic beverage. But you would be wrong. Well, maybe not totally wrong, I love the art and science involved in the making of a perfect Tequila Sunrise or a Blue Daiquiri, but that isn't the kind of cocktail I'm referring to here. What I'm talking about is the potent blend of dread and despair that used to face me in the form of the blank page, and how I chanced upon the sheer, surreal, creative joy of paper cutting.
By Elaine Ruth White5 years ago in Humans
PaperSoul
PaperSoul The collage work as well as the business I created in 2010 is called PaperSoul. I spent many years in the poetry, and spoken word scene in New York City absorbing the essence of my hometown. All the images, faces, and textures I had encountered on a cellular level were not always translating into the medium I was always so comfortable expressing myself in. One Day I went to a local bookstore to pick out a journal as a gift for a coworker, and wasn’t moved by any of them. None of them really represented or reflected the things she was into. So I decided to grab my scissors, glue, a blank cover journal, and printed out some images of her favorite things and got to work. The outcome was a beautiful journal customized just for her. Pretty soon other co-workers of mine were asking for one too. I then decided to start a small business shortly after.
By Kristina Stumpf5 years ago in Humans
The dream continues...
The Dad’s Rags Story As a resale shop owner for many years, I would get boxes of men’s suits and ties and always wonder what stories went along with these items. Was this his lucky suit for job interviews, did he get married in this one and how did he pick his tie or was it his kid that did that part…..some of the ties were just beautiful and made from amazing fabrics.
By Jean Wiesley5 years ago in Humans
My Journey with my Needle, Thread, and Scissors
My love affair with creating things with my own hands began when in the late 1950s. I was young enough to sit and watch my mother and grandmother knit and crochet. Their hands moved quickly, turning yarn into sweaters, blankets, socks, and doilies. I was fascinated, but had no idea then that my interest in creating with a needle and thread would bring me to where I am today.
By Susan Albers5 years ago in Humans
Soul Searching With Scissors
For several years I have found scissors to have a unique significance in my life, as they are, without a doubt, a contraption that I could not live without. Meticulous cutting in my process as a collage artist is essential for all creations I produce. While I have tried using craft knives, I feel that the motions of my hands with scissors allow a more therapeutic aspect. Cutting and curving through the images that I work with soothe my soul, healing me in a way that cannot be compared with any other tool. The process of the scissors sliding and looping as I work allow me to travel beyond the stresses of life and into worlds in which I create within my mind through my collection of pictures and patterns. Not only do I see my scissors as therapeutic, but they are the source from which my creativity is channeled into the medium of art in which I choose to express myself. If I was told that I had to throw all my art supplies away but could keep only one tool, I would without question choose my scissors, as I see them as a noteworthy tool in both my creative and personal healing process.
By Stevi Vaughn5 years ago in Humans
Letters
I have a question that has been eating at me lately. Does anyone write letters anymore? You know, the pen and paper kind? Does anyone still do that anymore? Having that pen in your hand and a crisp fresh piece of paper just waiting to be written on. With all this technology now it's hard to find someone that still writes letters. I know I write letters. I love writing letters. There's an intimacy to it.
By Michelle Hill5 years ago in Humans
