Art Supplies and Eating in St. Paul/Minneapolis

“Artists are just children who refuse to put down their crayons.

~Al Hirschfeld"

There's nothing better than taking a road trip to the Twin Cities.  What do I like to do when I get there, you ask?  I like to explore, but I also have a few favorite must-travel-to stores.  For art supply stores my favorite is Wet Paint, located in St.  Paul.  I walked away with two items in the picture above:  A Caran d'Ache gouache watercolor set and a spiral-bound multi-journal book of watercolor/multi-media paper.  As of right now, I don't have any experience using gouache watercolors, but I'm going to learn, and I have a great new journal to experiment in.  I also just liked the colors and thought they'd be useful for other mixed media projects. 

If you're an artist spending some time in the St. Paul/Minneapolis area, I definitely recommend you visit this charming little art store.  And I dare you to walk away empty handed.  You can find anything and everything here, and if you have any questions the staff are friendly and quick to help.  Wet Paint has been independently owned and open since 1976 and has a special place in my heart.  (My grand-parents and parents once owned an independent art supplies store.)

On this trip, I also set out to visit a Dick Blick store in Edina.  I walked away with a few fun items: two Pearlescent Liquid Acrylics (Dutch Blue and Hot Mama Red...haha), pens, a bamboo pen and Hake brush.  There was also one other fun item that I found at Dick Blick...my very mini sushi magnets. 

Aren't they adorable? I already had the mini scottie dogs shown above, so when I saw the tiny little pices of sushi, I had to have them. They even have the rice on the bottom of each magnet. (You can't see that in this picture.) I put them over the little cardboard packet they came in because it's so cute with the chopsticks, wasabi and ginger at the bottom. Mmm...the thought of sushi is making me hungry just typing about it.

I also did get my sushi fix that night.  After my boyfriend finished working, we went to a great Sushi/Chinese buffet called 98 Pounds in Bloomington.  There were quite a few people there at 7:30 PM and the sushi chefs kept the sushi bar fully stocked as people walked away with sushi.  They had a decent selection of different roles as well as your regular sushi with rice.  We had a few good hits of wasabi along the way and definitely did not leave hungry.

For lunch that day, I went to a favorite spot on France Avenue called Q. Cumbers. It's a huge salad bar buffet that has every veggie and add-on you can think of to put ontop of lettuce. They also have a mouth-watering selection soups and other hot items. I had a bowl of Tomato Artichoke soup that was very good! Oh, and don't forget the homemade bread with rosemary butter. I remember visiting Q. Cumbers when I was much younger with my family (probably about 8 or 9 years-old).  With that said, Q. Cumbers has been around for awhile. This reasonably priced buffet is a great healthy alternative to eating fast food.

Now I'm home and exhausted from shopping (and eating, obviously...haha), but I'm inspired to sit down and create with my new goodies this weekend!  Happy creating!


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Other posts about Wet Paint: 
My Trip to the Twin Cities & the Saga of the Pentel Pocket Brush

Fleur de Trois

"Beauty, to me, is about being comfortable in your own skin. That or a kick-ass red lipstick."

~Gwyneth Paltrow

There's nothing like sitting down and letting it all out on paper.  That's what I allowed myself to do last week.  I turned on my iPod, opened up my home-made journal, picked out a few acrylic paints, gathered a few pens and colored pencils, and sorted through the pile of magazine clippings that I've been collecting.  I let my music take over and quickly forgot all about time.  How did it feel?  It was amazing (and the first real time I've used my craft table since moving to my new apartment last August)!   

Before I started anything, I used a brush and primed my blank pages of my funky homemade journal with Gesso. And although you can't tell from the picture below, I used a sponge stamp for the large fleur de lis on each page, so there is a bit of tack and texture to those areas of the paper.   

Shades of green and a bright red were my choices of colors, and I went crazy and got my fingers and hands all messy.  On the left side, I wanted to mainly collage and play with mixing the beautiful greens.  Adding the bright red color was actually a pleasant after-thought once I glued down the magazine clipping of the lipstick/hand/and number 3.  I used a red acrylic paint on a rubber stamp for the fleur de lis in the upper left-hand corner.  Below is a picture of the left page of my journal.

On the right page of my journal...I wanted to write...write...write.  So I let my iPod take me away and Dido and Nine Inch Nails also helped me purge what I felt about the images I selected.  The fleur de lis turned out great on this page.  If you look close, you might be able to see the tack behind the use of gesso on this side better.  I outlined the fleur with red acrylic paint and used a red marker to journal my thoughts.  I also used a red colored pencil to do some shading on this page.

Yes, it felt great!  As you can see, I love to spread out and just let loose!  And the use of my great new Ott Lite helped me see what I was working on without straining my eyes.  I also worked on the backgrounds for a few ATC Trading cards.  I hope to tackle those in my next upcoming project...stay tuned!  Happy creating!

If you enjoyed this blog post, you might enjoy this post:

My Homemade Journal - Learn how to make your own very own homemade journal with just a few supplies.  I learned how to make this journal with the help of of a very crafty artist/blogger named Samantha Kira.  I think I made this one for under $5.  Visit my post to see my finished product and to watch Samantha Kira's step-by-step You Tube video.  You may already have some of the supplies at home!

Inspiration

For months I've been itching to get back to my blog and everything that falls under that creative umbrella that is missing in my life right now. (i.e. mixed media art, water coloring, journaling/writing, scrapbooking, & etc.) After all, I'm a firm believer that creative people need an outlet, a way to express themselves. For someone who has kept a steady journal since the age of 5, I've found over the years that I need to express myself. When I stop creating, I feel it; I yearn for it, and eventually I become blocked and wish for it to happen. Silly? Yes, it is!

2009 was a very busy year for me, a year where I rediscovered myself, and I grew up quite a bit on the road and in the air with my job as a Junior Business Analyst. Spending a total of 184 nights in a hotel since October of 2008 in larger cities such as Oklahoma City and Little Rock will do that to a girl from a much smaller city. During this time I'm continuing to hone my Technical Writing skills, but there's nothing like leaving the methods behind and being spontaneous. This is what I've missed while becoming a grown-up with a career, and now that I've had a break from the constant travel and insane workloads (for now), I realize that I need to create. I need to write for fun. And the yearning and need for me to share this with others is still present. So, one of my New Year's resolutions is to work on expressing myself. I'm hoping that 2010 will see me get back to writing (for the fun of it), creating, and sharing things about myself as a writer/blogger/artist/traveler!

With that said, starting today there are no more excuses for leaving my watercolors untouched, my blog un-updated, and my journal blank. It's time to pick up my paint brush, to get to my keyboard, and to have a pen handy at all times.

For all those artists/writers/bloggers out there that feel blocked. Just get down to business and be creative! Don't worry about what others might think. Don't worry if you mess up. Just have fun! And if you're like me, it will just make you feel much better!

"Over-preparation is the foe of inspiration."
~Napoleon Bonaparte

Where Have I Been?

My goodness it has been a long time since my last blog entry! Where've I been, and just what the heck have I been doing? Well, in the beginning of October I started a new job as a Jr. Business Analyst and my job requires me to travel every week. With my new job I'm living in Oklahoma City during the week and on Friday's I fly back home for the weekends. That makes my commute on Monday morning a whopping 884 miles! Needless to say, I've been pretty busy trying to adjust to this new lifestyle! BUT I am loving the new challenges in my life and am so lucky because my friends and family have been very loving and supportive of my new career. (Remember guys, I love emails during the week and I promise to write back.) I was long overdue for a new career path, and now I get to use my Technical Writing skills.

Not to worry, I haven't forgotten my love for art! I've already found an excellent Hobby Lobby in Oklahoma City, and I picked up some small ATC paper packs. This will be something fun and easy to doodle on in the hotel room at night. I'm also packing my Pentel Pocket Brush Pen this week too. I'll get back to doodling, posting, and reading my favorite blogs very soon! And even if I can't scan and post my art during the week, I plan on blogging more about my travels. I promise to be back soon!

~Jenifleur

"A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery while on a detour."

~Author Unknown

Good Charlotte - My First ATC

So this is my very first Artist Trading Card. I've titled it Good Charlotte.

Behind the Scenes: The paper is watercolor paper from my little handmade ATC journal. For the background I used my Winsor & Newton half pan watercolors. The images were copied and clipped from odds and ends I collected. I used a pewter sunshine charm that I bought at Michael's for .88. With a needle and a bit of blue thread, I did some stitching at the top and added a shinny green ribbon to the at top and bottom of the card to make it glimmer.

If you make ATCs and have a website, please leave me a comment. I'd love to visit your page! Making these little trading cards may become an new favorite pastime of mine.

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Good Charlotte,
Where do you want to go?
What do you want to do?

You glow everywhere you go,
and everyone expects sunshine from you.

Now it is time to take up your light,

carry it at your side,

and don't fritter it all away
to those who don't give at least a bit back.
Save the rest for yourself.
Because you are the one who appreciates it the most.

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Scanning for Collages and for Scrapbooking

It has been a super productive night for me! What did I accomplish? Well -- tonight I scanned some small pieces of clip art that I've gathered. I'm planning to make a few ATCs with the things I've scanned. I will be sure to post after I've done a few. I'm only as far as watercoloring the background for one and having the basic layouts determined for two of them. And let me tell you, it is a challenge to work in the small space of 2.5 X 3.5 -- but this is a challenge I'm ready for! I love tiny so Artist Trading Cards are right up my alley!

I also went through a disk of scanned pictures of my family. These are very old pictures of my grandparents, family, and baby pictures of my mother. I tried to go through them and write who was in the shot for for each numbered picture -- but it was pretty tough. I need to sit down and ask my mom if she knows all of the people in them. Since she is the baby of the family, she may not. So I may have to ask my Uncle since he is 16 years older than my mom.

Here's one of my very favorite pictures. It is my Grandpa's High School Graduation picture. Isn't he cute? I might add that of our family he was the first to graduate from Bismarck High School. This is the same High School my mom graduated from and then I followed later. So I was the third generation to graduate from good old BHS.

Going through this one disk of very old pictures has got me excited to get scanning the rest of our pictures. It will be quite the project! A good one to tackle over the winter, for sure!

Here's a quote to leave you with...but let me just say that I'm not referencing my grandpa here. Just thought this quote was cute and maybe something he would have said to us because he always liked to make us laugh.

"Families are like fudge... mostly sweet with a few nuts."

-- Author Unknown

A Long Overdue Update!

It has been forever since I've posted on my blog. There have been more than a few reasons why. The biggest reason has been my computer being "out of order." I hope to have it back tomorrow, and with a new hard drive it should work like new -- I'm hoping! Right now my brother is graciously letting me borrow his computer to check on my email.

What have I been working on lately? I started to make a few Artist Trading Cards (ATC) and came up with a theme for them. When I have my computer back, I need to work on scanning some of my clip art that I plan on using for my ATCs. I also found a book that I'll be ordering from amazon on Artist Trading Cards.

I've also bought more Creative Memories products to start my "Christmas present surprise" for my mom. All I can say is that it will be super cool! I promise to post it when I'm done for all to see. One of my next major projects will be to scan our family pictures. So much to do! So much to do! :)

Hope everyone has been having a great summer! Hard to believe it is almost over! But you won't find me arguing too much. I love fall and fall weather. The best time of the year, in my opinion!

Just thought I'd post a quick update to let everyone know that yes, I'm still alive and I will be back to blogging and catching up on reading all my favorite blogs shortly! :) I've missed you all!