Excited to Teach in the Polymer Clay Adventure!

I'm so excited to be teaching a video workshop for the Polymer Clay Adventure in 2015! Here's a peak at the 'Cups and Saucers' we'll be creating together using polymer clay and Pebeo Fantasy paints, then incorporating them into a mixed media painting. To find out more about this amazing online retreat, click here: http://bit.ly/PCATristina2015

HAPPY ARTING in the New Year!!! :D  Tristina

On The Bench - Repurpose Feels Soooo Good!

I have found a local non-profit repurposing center, Trash to Treasure, where folks can donate any manner of items which are then available to schools, art academies, other non-profit organizations and the general public for purchase and repurposing. While there recently, I picked up several used canvases with either completed or partial artworks on them for pennies! I love these because they lend HISTORY to the layers of my collage paintings. Here's what I'm working on now with 2 of the 11in x 14in canvases I rescued...

Comment below with your favorite repurposing projects. Can't wait to see! :D

HAPPY HOLIDAYS and HAPPY ARTING!   Tristina

Bakehouse Art Complex Miami Visit

Had to share with you some of my favorite artwork by incredibly talented artists at the Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami, Florida, where I visited yesterday.

Lots of yummy sandy texture going on in this painting.

Olivier Dubois, 71in x 79in, acrylic and mixed media

That's all thread! Karla Caprali

Excellent illustrative style in B&W. Elba Martinez & Edwin Villasmil

Happy Art Spotting!  :D  Tristina

BAG Gallery Brunch - Small Works

I adore when Galleries hold Small Works exhibits! Just something about the small dimensions that invite finding the perfect gift or artwork to fill that special cubby hole while saving the pocketbook. The Broward Art Guild's Small Works exhibit and brunch today was a perfect example of excellent local artwork readily available at reasonable prices to encourage brightening a home for the Holidays. Below are some of my favorites from the show.

3 Paintings from my Bullseye series and a small painting from my 

She Wondered series below right.

Yay, both of Lynn Greenberg's paintings sold!

I really enjoyed these pensive pastel works.

Nice mixed media - collage and painting combination.

Exciting with the polka dot feathers!

One of my encaustic wax students! Great transfers onto the wax surface. :)

Fun artwork with image transfers and paint on fabric. AWESOME!

Spectacular colorful photography!

Wow, look what you can do with a book! That carving must have been meticulous.

Hope you seek out working artists to support in your community this Holiday Season and enjoy the original artwork in your home or smiles from lucky folks to whom you give the gift of ART!

HAPPY ARTING!  Tristina :D

Art Basel Miami - Inspired by Others

Being inspired by others is a wonderful gift to receive. 

It was my pleasure to be invited to Art Basel Miami by my artist friend Tatiana Cast (www.TatianaCast.com). She was excited yesterday to show me one of her favorite venues; Aqua show in Miami Beach. What a fabulous, intimate show in the Aqua hotel on Collins Avenue, and the works were sensational and inspirational!

View of Collins Ave Art Deco hotels from the Aqua Hotel 2nd floor open-air patio.

At Aqua, I saw the work of Dawn Southworth, through Rice/Polak Gallery, Provincetown, MA (www.RicePolakGallery.com), who had many personal sketches adhered to an ironing cloth or collaged onto tar-paper. Here are my 2 favorites from the Aqua show...

The rawness and personalness of these images inspired me to get back to drawing today simply for the enjoyment of it, grabbing a few minutes to sketch over morning coffee. Wow, just that simple act has rekindled in me an imagery I have enjoyed painting in the past (hair-on-fire people) and this tinkering allowed me to discover, through a happy accident, creating the spider like squiggles you see in my sketches below.

Oh, the serendipity!  Personal experiences such as this today have many times so plainly demonstrated the brilliance behind Picasso's quote, "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working!" Just through small consistent action, we can stoke the creative fire. What are you drawing, painting, photographing, or writing today?

Here are more of the Aqua show artworks that I really enjoyed...

Alejandro Salazar, California, www.Gallery-300.com

 

This image is carved out of a freakin' telephone book!!!

Alex Queral, www.ProjectsGallery.com

Derek Gores, Florida, www.ThinkSpaceGallery.com

Fred Tieken, Arizona, www.PerihelionArts.com

Happy Arting!  :D Tristina

Art Basel Miami - Beach Scope Show

Enjoyed contemporary artworks at SCOPE on Miami Beach during Art Basel today. Here are my favorites...

Just Published My First Book - Artistic Calligraphy

Wow, I didn't know how exciting it was to create an online book from my artwork until my art coach, Brainard Carey (www.theartworlddemystified.com), advised me to create a Blurb book. Now I'm hooked! Just in time for the holidays, a unique gift. 28 pages of stunning colorful Asian inspired artworks with beautiful Haiku poetry to accompany each painting; and if you're in South Florida, we can meet up and I'll sign the book for you! Check out the preview below and order the book online at Blurb.com by following the link under the preview. Thanks for your support of living artists! :-D

Artistic Calligraphy by Tristina Dietz Elmes | Make Your Own Book