I am currently working on a new painting of David Bowie's "Aladdin Sane" album cover. This is possibly my favorite album cover of all time. The angles of Bowie's face and the glam makeup are a dream to recreate. The painting is just starting to have definition, so I thought I'd post my progress. It has lots of layers of transparent paint built up to create the design. So far I've used gauche only, but I will probably be adding watercolor and acrylic soon. Come back soon for the finished project!
Possibly the biggest task facing a new aunt is the problem of how to find a way to amply spoil their little niece or nephew. The path I've taken to niece spoiling is that of geekery. My goal is to make my niece things my sister can't find in stores. I want my niece to be surrounded by handmade crafts that will inspire her own creativity as she gets older.
I've been making myself one of a kind t-shirts since high school. This started with spray painted bar codes and moved on to faces drawn with Sharpie (Andy Warhol's face was my fave). In college I experimented with both screen printing and acrylic paint on t-shirts. I finally decided to try stenciling with fabric paint. The results have the look of screen printing, but it is much easier to mix custom colors and the clean-up is MUCH simpler. I stenciled almost every plain piece of fabric I could, from t-shirts and tanks to towels and underwear. It seemed natural that when my sister had her baby, that baby would need a bunch of cool stenciled clothes.
New baby clothes are coming to Oryx Ink! My niece has grown into some of the clothes I made her and can now model. I love this Sailormoon onesie. I've loved Sailormoon since I was a kid. Since my sister and I used to watch it together when we were younger, it seemed like the perfect baby gift. Sailormoon is printed using a hand cut stencil. The design is printed on a Gerber onesie. I love the bright pink for Sailrmoon, but other colors will be available too.
I absolutely loved making this butterfly dress for my niece. The fabric is pink cotton, so it's breathable and comfy. The ties on the shoulder makes the little dress adjustable so she won't outgrow it so fast. The butterfly was hand drawn using fabric markers. The butterfly is based on a Blue Mountain Swallowtail, but I added the orange to make it more colorful. I am currently working on another butterfly design based on the Common Blue Morpho.
Both of these pieces will soon be available on Oryx Ink. Each piece is made to order, so colors can be changed to your taste. I'm also happy to make custom orders if you have a specific design in mind.
The 2013 Kansas City Maker Faire was a blast! All sorts of artists, crafters, builders and performers came together to show what we can do. It was amazing to see the different ways we all find to express our creativity. Whether it's a car covered in dentures or a homemade R2-D2, we can all make something that is unique.
The Eepy Bird performance was fantastic. I got to watch their set up before the show, it took almost three hours! That time was worth it though, because the fountain they made was great. As a crafter and artist, I also found their explanations of how to make your own fountain very interesting. I love how they attached sprinkler heads to the coke bottles to make new designs. It's great that they continue to experiment to find new and exciting ways to use coke and mentos to make performance art.
Eepy Bird Setup
I also got to see some amazing droids at the R2-D2 Builders Club. This group of people build full size astromech droids. Some are even better that the ones in the movie because they make sound and move. I am definitely going to have to download the plans to build my own R2. The plans are free to download, plus they have all sorts of tutorials and help on making your own droid.
I love seeing Star Wars enthusiasts turning their passion into works of art! Star Wars is one of my favorite themes in my own artwork, so seeing someone making an actual working robot was awesome.
The figurative sculpture of E S Schubert's was absolutely stunning. His work is both beautiful and thought provoking. The realism coupled with abstraction shows both the beauty of the human form as well as our flaws. His work also has a painterly quality not often seen in sculpture. After seeing his work at the Maker's Faire, Schubert has become one of my favorite artists. I plan on visiting all of his public installations around the Kansas City area.
Possibly the coolest invention I saw at the Maker's Faire was the turntable spirograph made by Robert Howsare. This is such a cool way to repurpose something to make artwork. It was fascinating to watch the arms of the spirograph move and form an intricate pattern. Howsare sells the prints made by his turntable on Etsy. I'd love to see this same apparatus used to etch a plate for printing. I think these patterns would also make a gorgeous fabric.
Being a part of the Maker Faire was truly inspiring. After seeing lots of other artists' experiments, I have so many new ideas for future projects. The breadth of work shown really demonstrates that anyone can find something to be passionate about and can make something that's personal, beautiful and creative. Visit the Maker Faire website to find a Maker Faire near you!
The 12 arm mobile I made at the Kansas City Maker's Faire is now hanging and ready for viewing! Come see this huge 8ft mobile. The Oryx Ink ReMobiles booth is located outside directly across from the Eepy Bird performance. The Kansas City Maker's Faire is at Union Station today from 10am to 5pm.
The "All Terrain Armored Transport" watercolor painting by Oryx Ink is now available on Etsy! Two sizes are currently available: 8"X10" and 9"X12". Since this painting is made to order, the colors can be chosen to match your decor. You can also request a custom order for a different size or even a different vehicle!
Oryx Ink has new products available on Zazzle featuring the original watercolor painting "Sunset on Ko'Olina Lagoon". These new products include mugs, tiles, postcards, clocks, iPhone cases, mousepads, ornaments and bags. Most of these products have customizable features such as size or shape.
Sunset on Ko'Olina Lagoon
The painting used depicts Ko'Olina Lagoon at sunset and is an original watercolor. Ko'Olina Lagoon is a series of four manmade bowl shaped basins on Oahu's leeward coast. The third lagoon, called "Nai'a," is shown in the painting. Ko'Olina is one of the best places to watch sunsets on Oahu.
