Art of the Possible

Ideas for Thanksgiving Stamping

Create a memorable Thanksgiving this year.  Place makers, particularly those that feature the menu, are a thoughtful touch at the table.  Napking rings can be embellished with leaves stamped, cut out and tied on.  Or decorating candles for the festive table with stamped paper and ribbon (just remember to remove the paper before lighting the candles--don't make the holiday too memorable!).

Not the one doing the cooking this year?  Lucky you!  Why not make a Hostess gift that shows just how lucky you feel.  Arrange in advance to do the place markers or to make Thankful tags that can be filled out by those in attendance and either sealed up to be read in the future or hung from a decorative branch for all to enjoy.

Don't forget the mantle, the sideboard and the door.  This season affords many opportunities to decorate.  Rubber stamps and ink are mighty tools for creating holiday mood!  Have fun with this.

Tip for October--Things Aren't Really The Color That They Are

We all do it.  We assume that we know what color things are.  We've been taught since we were little that apples and fall leaves are red, frogs and spring leaves are green, the ocean and blueberries are blue.  But is it as simple as that?  If we pick up a marker and color something the color it is supposed to be, it won't look as natural as it could.  Why is that?

The next time you're in the supermarket, pick up an apple and really look at it.  Or when you are raking leaves (sadly, that's coming up all too soon), stop to really look at some leaves.   You will find that an apple is often a mix of reds with an undercoat of yellow.  Leaves have streaks of creamy gold highlighting their reds.  The ocean can flicker from balmy blues to steely greys to pacific greens under wavering sunlight.

So how do you capture this in your art work?  The first skill of art is observation.  How can you
represent something without looking at it first?  So look at real life objects as if you have never seen them before.  Before your mind can yell "Apples are red", let your eyes discover the colors that are really there.

The easy answer is to use more than one hue when you are coloring a project.  Take the sample abovre, one of our Stamp Club projects for September.  The frog was colored all over in yo yo yellow before being touched up with green galore.  Or in our October club project, pictured at the left, I colored the leaves all over with more mustard before highlighting with close to cocoa.  You'll be amazed how real and beautiful that simple step will make your projects.