Art Classes at the Hudgens Center Duluth GA

Snellville Area Artists: Art Classes at the Hudgens
By Darla Dixon, Artist
Clay classes include Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced Pottery Wheel and a special pottery class for home schoolers. Visit our website today to find the right class for you!

Yet another reason I love Squidoo

You might be wondering what Squidoo is, it's a site where you can make pages on any topic you're interested in, and you can make money for yourself or for charity...Read more

Art & Words New Blog Entry

By Darla Dixon, Artist
Absolutely no shape to it. The other dress made me look like a floozy. Too much shape to it. Would it be too much to ask to find a dress that is somewhere in between tree trunk and floozy? LOL! Posted by Darla Dixon, Artist at 3:52 PM ...Read more

New blog

I may still post here from time to time, but I am posting more on this new blog:
http://darla-dixon-artist.blogspot.com/

For whatever reason, my thoughts seem to flow better there, and I have been blogging a lot more because of that.

Watch a mural evolve

Michelle Black of A Color Affair in Loganville GA will be painting a large scale mural at Trip Elementary School in Grayson, Georgia. Trip Elementary is a newly built school in Gwinnett County, GA. Michelle is donating her time and talent to the school. She worked worked with the librarian for two months on this project. Michelle invites us all to watch as the project progresses.
She'll post pictures every night as she hand paints the mural.

Follow the mural on Michelle's mural website
Follow the mural on A Color Affair's Facebook page

Painting a brighter future

Here I am painting yesterday. Photo by Sharna Fulton.
Notice the messy apron. I invited kids to paint on it.
An artist should have a messy apron, right?

Yesterday, I was in my tent at the Snellville Farmers' Market. Artist Sharna Fulton, creator of Chloe Pink (TM) joined me. We both created paintings that were silent auctioned. 100% of our painting proceeds helps our local food bank, the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry.

It was fun to have another artist with me to commiserate about the heat and humidity! It is really a challenge to be in a festival tent in 91 degree Georgia heat. I try to drink a lot of water and Gatorade, but even that is a challenge, because the Farmers' Market ends at noon, and that's when we end the art auction. The acrylic paint dries fast and there's little time, so I have to paint very fast and furiously most of the time.

Sharna Fulton painting at the Snellville Farmers' Market.
Photo by Darla Dixon

Not a lot of time for chatting. I've been at the Farmers' Market for two Saturdays, and I haven't had time to walk around and buy anything from other booths at all.

The painting I did last Saturday raised $55 for the food bank

It's all worth it though. Together, Sharna and I raised $110 for the food bank yesterday. It will go a long way. The director of the food bank told me that they have had to operate without cash for quite some time. Families in need really struggle in the summertime. Many families really depend on the free or reduced lunch provided in public schools and when school is out for the summer, kids eat a lot. Some of the people who used to donate to the food bank are now seeking assistance themselves. It felt good to be able to help.

What's on tap for Saturday, June 19th's Snellville Farmers' Market? Well, it won't be festival tents, I can tell you that. I think I'm done painting tents. I am thinking about something pop art with a cat or cats. Cats are usually popular, and I want the painting to bring a lot of money for the food bank.

Links:

Snellville Farmers'Market
Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry food bank & more
Sharna Fulton - Chloe Pink Cartoon
Darla Dixon (me!)

New reality show is like Survivor for artists

I just finished watching the premiere episode of a new reality show called Work of Art: America's Next Great Artist. It's sort of like a mix of Survivor and Project Runway.

Tonight's challenge was to create a portrait of another competitor which showed the person's inner self, not just what one sees on the surface.

Some of the artists didn't include any image of the portrait subject at all, explaining with some arteeste-speak: "I wanted to capture my impression of the essence of the person."

Hmm. Uh-huh.

I guess you'd need to see the show, but I got the feeling that the "abstract" or performance artists (at least those in this program) weren't confident in their ability to render a likeness of their subject, so they turned to the "ethereal" impression of the essence route. [If an architect doesn't know how to properly design a building that won't fall down, can he just capture the essence of a safe building?!? See my earlier post, "Are Artists Lazy Airheads?"]

After that, the artists have the nerve to look down their noses at the amateur artist who did try to create a portrait. At least his portrait had a human image in it. It may not have been a great likeness, but it was human.

It wasn't just some blue sky/leaves (although Amanda's painting was beautiful for a notecard and I would love to own her art) or a series of dots connected by lines that another artist created.

I thought Nao's dot artwork was intriguing - despite myself, but I agreed with the art critic that there is no 'portrait' in it. The art critic said maybe there is a portrait in it in the artist's mind, but there's no portrait or understanding of the existence of a portrait in it by any viewer. The dots and lines were representative of the pattern that Nao saw Miles (another competitor) make around the workspace.

I noticed that the artists that were unable (or maybe just unwilling) to try to put any human form in their works were the among the least able to accept criticism.

Will I follow the series? I'm not a big fan of "reality" TV in general, because I don't believe that most of them aren't largely scripted. However, I do plan to watch Work of Art.

Although some of the competitors are fairly unlikable (and I think they cast them for this purpose), there are enough artists on the show that I do care about finding out how they fare, and the works of art they create will be interesting to see.

The season will continue on Wednesdays at 10 pm on Bravo. Compared to many things on TV these days, this program is pretty good.

What would be a good anniversary gift?

Lots of wedding anniversaries come up in June. It can be hard to decide on a good anniversary gift.

When a couple's been married a long time, they probably already have many knick-knacks and really don't need any more to dust. A pencil portrait of the couple when they first met is a nice idea for an anniversary present.

I've done portraits that were double portraits - meaning, that I drew the couple on the left side of the paper as they looked when they became engaged, and on the right side on their 35th anniversary. Another idea is a portrait of all the grandchildren, or even a portrait of the couples' pets!

If the couple is approaching their first anniversary, did you know that the traditional First Anniversary present is paper? So that makes a pencil portrait drawn from a photo (drawn on paper, of course!) a perfect 1st anniversary gift!

Art auction to raise funds for local food bank

ART AUCTION in conjunction with Snellville Farmer's Market:

SNELLVILLE GA: On Saturday, June 5th and Saturdays through October, Snellville artist Darla Dixon will be under a white festival tent, painting a colorful picture of the surrounding scene.

Dixon says the art will be different from her usual style, which is typically pencil, realistic, and black and white. "I'm either going to work in acrylics or oil pastel. I haven't decided, but I expect it will be very bright and colorful. I'm going to do pictures of the scene in front of me."

An exciting part of watching original art unfold is that even the artist herself is not sure what the art will become, until it's done. What the art will be depends on what the artist sees.

Visitors to Snellville's first Farmer's Market can watch the art be created on the spot. Art lovers can bid on the original artwork by silent auction. All proceeds from the art auction will go to the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry (the area's local food bank.)

The Southeast Gwinnett Co-op helps those in need with more than food - they also help with utility bills and prescriptions when the resources are available.

Dixon says, "Many people who used to donate to the food bank are now seeking help themselves after job loss. The need is greater than ever. That's why raising actual money for them is so important."

Darla Dixon will be at the Farmer's Market from 9 until noon. The Farmer's Market starts at 8 am and ends at noon. The Farmer's Market will be located by Snellville City Hall at Main Street and Oak Road.

Donation drums will be available and the public is encouraged to support the Southeast Gwinnett Co-op food bank with donations of canned goods, peanut butter, or grape jelly. Paper goods like toilet paper and paper towels are also appreciated.

Daughter unaware of sarcasm

[Text messages]

Daughter (age 16) : "Can you check me out of school tomorrow?"
Me: "Sure, why not? Let's take the rest of the week off, and go get tattoos."
Daughter: "YAY!!!!"

Artist Frank Frazetta has died

One of my favorite artists, Frank Frazetta, has died at age 82.

He died Monday morning, a day after suffering a stroke. He had been out to dinner with his daughters on Sunday. I'm happy that they were able to spend that time together.

If you've ever looked at fantasy books, you've seen his artwork. You've probably seen Frank Frazetta's artwork many times without realizing it. If you haven't seen a lot of his artwork, you need to know in advance (in case you are sensitive to nakedness) Frazetta would paint the human body without clothing - a LOT. They're fantasy pictures, after all, and the women are especially not the type you typically run into at Wal-Mart.

He was the master of evoking the majesty and excitement of a scene, and that really sold books. It makes me glad that he lived to be 82 and he spent his life doing what he wanted to do.

Hobby Lobby Coupon

Printable Hobby Lobby Coupon for 40% off one item: CLICK HERE

Down the lane in Georgia

Here's a photo I took today of my son after preschool. It was a lucky shot, and not the greatest photo quality because it's just a cell-phone photo. I'm happy that I caught that moment of happy childhood imagination before it disappeared.

Where I live in Georgia isn't all this rural looking, and this looks like an old farm road but it's not - it's just a gravel access road behind a building. If you would follow the lane with me, we'd end up in a large parking lot!

However, the colors were even more beautiful than this photo shows. Georgia is all green and blooming right now, and I love the dappled light on the lane. Georgia is a beautiful place to live.

Hobby Lobby Printable Coupon

Here is this week's 40% Off printable Hobby Lobby store coupon! LINK

Portraits from photos - links

Gwenn Seemel Painting portraits from photos
Painting portraits from photos. 26 March 2010 - Comments (2). I always work from photos to create my paintings. Though I think that a life drawing practice ...

www.gwennseemel.com/index.php/blog/comments/portraits_from_photos/ Pencil portraits from photos Sites
Website Valuation Reports available on pencil portraits from photos sites. Check what your pencil portraits from photos site is worth.

www.peekstats.com/tag/pencil+portraits+from+photos-sites paintings-from-your-photos.com Blog » 2010 » April
April 1, 2010 on 7:00 am | In artist pencil drawing, artist portraits online, glasgow artist, paintings from your photos, pencil portraits from photos, ...

paintings-from-your-photos.com/blog/2010/04/ Portraits Photos >>> ruzgarinoks.com
Custom oil paintings from photos - account artists - portraits from photos - bells portraits - pet portraits ancestors & babyish portraits-- starting at $59 ...

ruzgarinoks.com/portraits-photos.aspx Joanna Culley Pet Portrait Artist, Sunvale Avenue, Haslemere ...
I paint dog portraits, cat portraits and horse portraits locally, throughout the UK and internationally, creating the pet portraits from photos or from home ...

Easter is a confusing concept for kids

After I picked him up from church preschool, our 4-year-old son gave a very impressive retelling of what he learned that day about Easter - He talked about God dying on the cross and rising from the dead, and said that's what Easter's all about.

He didn't have it all exactly right, but I thought it was impressive that a child his age had retained so much information. So I tried to get him to retell it later in the day when the whole family was together.

His older brother is in First Grade, and he piped up and excitedly explained that Easter is about hunting for eggs and getting lots of candy.

Our 4-year-old quickly reasoned that both his teachers and his big brother must be right, so he combined the information:

"God has a BIG Easter basket."

Well, why not? He's God, after all. Who am I to argue?

My friend Julie sent me this link that has directions on how to make a craft project using plastic eggs that can help explain the Easter Story to kids: LINK

People looking for artists

Here are some online postings of people looking for artists. (I know I have a lot of artists reading this blog, so I though I would share this)

sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/crg/1666515036.html Need an artist????????????????????? - Yahoo! Answers
im looking for an artist who has very bright groov… ... im looking for an artist who has very bright groovy coloures and dose patterned abstract work. ...

answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100329111632AAfBHwH Fine Art Illustration Required – Book Illustration Freelance Job ...
72 readersLooking for an artist who is willing to draw/illustrate an eight (8) page superhero backup story for Advent Comics. Looking for a smooth art style ...

Looking For An Artist who Can Artist Draw for T-Shirt Printing Company
Looking For An Artist who Can Artist Draw for T-Shirt Printing Company (san jose downtown). Date: 2010-03-29, 7:05AM PDT ...

designjobslive.com/.../fine-art-illustration-required-book-illustration-freelance-job. php Digital Artist Needed! - RPG RPG Revolution Forums
I am looking for an artist who can draw faces for the characters. There are quite a few... at this point, however, 10+ are needed. ...

www.rpgrevolution.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=40505&view... simple flash game by Aralis
Flash Game Art for Truck game by ifty420 Hi, Looking for an artist who is available to make me similar art to this... create Online card Game (FLASH) ...

Printable Hobby Lobby Coupon

Here is a link to this week's Hobby Lobby coupon.
There is a new option now, you can either print the Hobby Lobby 40% off one item coupon, or you can shop online and use their discount code shown on that page to get the discount.

Looking for an artist?

Links to people who are looking for an artist for projects. Some of these might be paid projects, some might just be someone wanting to collaborate for free. I'm not recommending any of these as art commission jobs, just thought I would pass the information along.

Smack Jeeves Forums • View topic - Writer looking for artist (Fun ...
Looking for an artist to illustrate, help with character development, and story input for a fun manga. Idea is in very early stage and would involve a lot ...

Looking For Artist - Kitchener / Waterloo Services - Kijiji ...
looking for an artist to draw a few simple pictures of maps with landscape etc. if you are interested please e-mail. thanks. Read & reply to this Kitchener ...

Fenian Girl by Clapsan by =Eddy-Swan on deviantART
Or are you looking for an artist to commision? Check out the link below!! List of commissionable artists with thumbnails!! :iconeddy-swan: ...

Looking for.... A shade artist?
This is going to sound very strange, but I'm looking for an artist who is good at shading artwork. My shading techniques are always far off for some reason. ...

Looking for artist
I am looking for an artist who can create nice line drawings and computer icons. The individual must be good with Adobe tools or ...

25th and 50th wedding anniversary gift ideas

What do you get a couple to help celebrate their 25th or 50th wedding anniversary?

Not everybody can afford to send their parents or grandparents on a cruise for their golden anniversary, but you want something special. A custom pencil portrait is a great idea for their 25th or 50th wedding anniversary gift.

I've drawn pencil portraits of couples how they look now, I've drawn portraits of how the couple looked back when they were dating or engaged.

I've drawn portraits that combine both these ideas. One 25th anniversary gift portrait I did showed the couple at the beginning of their marriage on the left, and how they looked at the time of their anniversary on the right. In the center, I drew the couple's hands and some flowers from some of their wedding photos. Their wedding song was "We've Only Just Begun" by The Carpenters, so I hand-lettered that in script across the top. It was a really nice idea, to show 'then' and 'now' in one portrait, and bringing their wedding song into the portrait had extra sentimental meaning for the couple.

I've drawn couples from separate photos, if you don't have photos of the couple together at the beginning of their courtship, that can be recreated by having them drawn so they look like were together all along in the anniversary portrait.