Yum

My most favorite combo for color and food- yum!

Giveaway Winners!!

It is time to announces the 3 winners from the last post!!

Renate

runningonink

Soggy Dog Studios

Please contact me with your addess at mealisab@yahoo.com and I will get your skull bags in the mail to you!

I was in a bad mood today- not sure why- just one of those days- but when the mail came my mood turned around because I got the first batch of my holiday cards back from the printer and they look great! This weekend I will be starting to fill my shop with beginning of holiday goodies (I can't believe I am even thinking about this in Oct!)

And this also came in the mail!

I love the The Sartorialist and for years it has been my favorite site to visit each day. I knew that I HAD to order the book! If you like fashion, good photography and just all around great aesthetic you will love The Satorialist!! I spent a good part of the afternoon devouing each page!

And then as if my great mail wasn't good enough- my hubby brought home Chinese food for dinner- I am now happy to report that my funky mood is now fabulous- all is right tonight :)

Another Giveaway!

Its another giveaway on my blog today! After years of blogging and having so many loyal readers and people that I now consider friends I want to say thank you by doing lots of giveaways in the next few months so stay tuned for more!

Today I am giving away three fun and colorful large skull pouches.

Leave me a comment

1-2 words that describe how your week is going- (mine would be-drained!)

I will pick 3 random winners

Halloween Craft- Lantern Tutorial

With fall in full swing I am continuing to post tutorials that are inspired by the season and today is another alternative Halloween project. I think it is pretty evident that I believe that ANYTHING can be transformed with a little paint!

This week I found one of those ugly but cheap plastic jack o lanterns for trick ($1.99) for treating. Since we don't have kids and there won't be trick or treating in our house, I decided to turn it into a decorative little lantern! (but this would be another great kids project if you have little ones that will be collecting candy)

Start by cutting out the eyes, nose and mouth with utility knife. You could get really decorative with this but I am clumsy and prone to injuring myself and wanted to keep it simple!

Give the the lantern a full coast of paint to cover the entire pumpkin- you may also paint the inside at this time if you prefer.

Draw simple doodles all the surface- I chose flowers but you could use simple shapes, words, your favorite pattern- just try to fill the entire surface.

Begin to fill in your shapes with paint. Living in San Diego, fall and winter often don't feel like fall and winter so I decided to painting my lantern with bright summer colors that would match my house and my garden this time of year- its typically blue sky and sunny :)

After your shapes are filled with color, go back and add tiny details in contrasting color so they pop. I LOVE the Scribbles 3-D paint that Duncan makes and it works great for tiny decorative elements in your painting! I decided to outline everything with white dots!

Once you are happy with the surface paint the inside (if you like)

Switch out the ugly elastic handle and add a ribbon for the handle

Add a tea light candle

I decided to use my lantern as a table centerpiece (paired with my painted skulls and messy painted pumpkins)

Updates from the Studio

In my quest to be more organized both in my life and online, I have decided that Mondays are going to be my weekly studio update on my blog- new and different things created, teaching updates and announcements!

With the holidays around the corner (which I CANNOT BELIEVE!!) I have started creating all kinds of goodies- I LOVE this time of year and I am always extra inspired about creating all kinds of stuff! I spent a good part of the weekend working on some drawings for some holiday cards that I just sent off to the printer and will be coming soon to my shop!

I also added another hand carved stamp kit with a holiday theme in my shop and I have already started creating my own holiday paper with it!

I have decided to make my Graffiti Chic online class available to register and participate in at any time. Since I will be offering a Graffiti Chic Part 2 in January, I thought that I would make the first class available for anyone out there who wants to take it! You can view a couple a couple of video snippets below- please visit my website for more information on registering for the class!

IMPORTANT NOTE-If you participated in any of the past Graffiti Chic classes and want access to the site again please email me and I will give you free access.

I am trying to figure out the best way to offer my online classes and while I think it is important to have structure with a beginning and end- I am considering opening up each class for registration at any time once the "official 5 weeks" are over with. This may give those looking for structure the opportunity to create within a time frame but also make the class available for those who like more freedom to work over a long period of time. Let me know any thoughts or opinions on this- How do you work best when taking a class?

Tomorrow I have another SUPER fun and creative tutorial that I can't wait to share and then Wednesday I will be doing another give away so please check back for more inspiration!

A Broken Promise

I made myself a promise when I left my job five months ago- that when I worked at home I would always get up in the morning, get dressed, make myself presentable and walk downstairs to my studio as if I were walking into work. As you can see in the photo above, that all fell to the wayside, along with not working at night, on weekends and being more balanced in my life. While completely happy and in bliss that I am FINALLY working as a full artist, I am also struggling BIG time right now with finding a healthy groove. I am learning things about myself that I never knew when I worked jobs for other people- the biggest is that I never really cared that much (sorry old job!). Now that I work for myself, I care too much. I finally have the opportunity to do what I have loved since I was a kid- to create and make things for a living and I am finding that my heart and my passion are wrapped up in everything that I do. While really fulfilling- it is truly exhausting. So with the start of a new week I am taking control of the promises I made, giving myself permission to break a couple of them and find new ways to take better care of myself and my new lifestyle!

Studio SALE!

What started as a frustrated hour of looking for my wood burning tool ended in the decision to get rid of some work! While my studio is actually really organized and clean right now (the burning tool was in front of me the whole time!) I have concluded that I have been holding on to SO many of my creations and I don't know why- I guess I'm sentimental!?! So I have decided to have a big shop sale starting this weekend.

I am getting rid of lots of stuff (sniff, sniff, tear)- class samples, purses, even originals to make room for fun new holiday stuff, new work, new ideas and new directions with my creative life!

So check my shop starting tomorrow for all kinds of goodies!!!

This is Jack

This is Jack- the stray kitten (now senior cat) that followed me home twelve years ago and he immediately melted my heart and I had to give him a home- adopted straight off the streets of Portland, Oregon. Up until meeting young Jack, I never considered myself "an animal person" let alone a cat person but this guy really changed my life and has been my sidekick through IT ALL! Now that I am working from home I have found much of my conversations are with Jack and throughout each day I share ideas with him, take candid photos when he is not looking and chase him off my husbands pillows before I make the bed (like this morning). I have resisted blogging about Jack for a while, I did not want to be viewed as a crazy cat lady but I can't resist it any longer- Jack is such a HUGE part of my daily life and it is time for me to declare that my name is Alisa Burke and I have been for a very long time... a closet, crazy cat lady! So now that I have come clean and have my secret out in the open you may be seeing more of Jack on my blog and maybe even in my art- after all, he is my muse :)

To celebrate Jack's appearance on my blog I would like to encourage artists out there to check out A Place to Bark website for an opportunity to help raise funds via art auction to finish their shelter!

Halloween Craft- Messy Pumpkin Tutorial

I will be posting lots of tutorials in the upcoming months and today's tutorial is a little inspiration for decorating fall pumpkins! This is a great projects for kids and adults!

Start with a pumpkin or gourd and cover the surface with paint.

Blend paint on the surface of the pumpkin.

Begin to add layers of MESSY swipes of color- letting each layer dry before adding the next layer.

Add layers of drips, splatter, marks and text.

Use stencils, stamps, even collage on the surface- use your pumpkin like you would a mixed media surface.

Try painting on different sizes- challenge yourself to fill the entires surface of the pumkin!

GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

How great all of your comments were!!! I really loved reading about all of your inspiring symbols- very interesting how we all seem to have simple things that represent meaning! Ok so these names were drawn at random through Random Generator!

KathrynAntyr, artgirly, Jessica Turner you are the winners! Email me at mealisab@yahoo.com to coordinate!

If you did not win, no worries I will be having a giveaway EACH WEEK so please check back for more fun stuff that I will be giving away- next week- SKULLS!!

Canvas Crowns Giveaway Today!

As promised I am doing a giveaway to celebrate the latest issue of Somerset Workshop. I have a whole section on what else? CANVAS! And I am pretty proud of it because it looks beautiful- huge kudos to everyone who worked on it but also because it really takes me a lot of time and thought to come up with new projects especially ones that involve only a few materials- paint and canvas. (If you have never tried to limit your supplies or your tools or even color when working on a project...try it. In my opinion it will challenge you to be really creative!)

In this issue, one of the projects that I demonstrate is a canvas crown. While I don't typically play favorites, this is one of my all time favorite projects that I have come up with. I am SO inspired by crowns and have always been intrigued by both the symbolism and their decorative nature through the ages. When faced with the challenge of coming up with some new projects made from canvas (that weren't in my book) I knew I had to create my own version of a crown!

So to celebrate I want to give away three canvas crowns to three of my readers! Here are the rules-

You have until Wednesday morning to leave me a comment

Tell me what object is symbolic to you and why

On Wednesday I will 3 draw names from comments and each of you will get one of the crowns in the picture above!

Updates from the Studio

It 2pm on Monday and I am still in my pajamas, I have black paint smeared all over the left side of my face and have been working non stop since early this morning- so much for my vow of creating balance in my life!! But I am happy to report that the weekend was a good one and despite my around the clock creative activity, I am feeling quite energized and full of inspiration!

I have updated my Etsy Shop with a handful of skulls that I have painted will all of my doodles and designs from my sketchbook- SO time consuming but super cool! I think they are perfect with Halloween around the corner or if you like skulls as much as I do (I collect them!) they are great little piece of decorative art for a bookshelf or mantel.

I will be teaching a workshop inspired by my book Canvas Remix at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido on November 14th.

For details or for all of their education programs click here-ARTCENTER.ORG

Had a wonderful conversation on the phone with Traci Bautista last week about the plans for our upcoming Graffiti Weekend at the Art Bar- details are almost ready to post and I cannot wait to collaborate and teach with Traci and Lisa!!!

Somerset Workshop has hit the stands and it looks FABULOUS!! If you are looking for brand new canvas projects- look no further than Workshop! I worked really hard to come up with some super creative ways to use canvas!

And last (for now) I have been trying to get organized with all of my planning (I heart planning- just ask my husband!) and have all kinds of fun stuff in the works for my blog in the upcoming months. I have decided that I really want this to be a place of more than just me writing about me and want it to be full, REALLY full of tutorials, giveaways, video, creative tidbits, philanthropy and more stuff that everyone out there can apply to their own creative lives!

I want to kick off my new "blog format" with a giveaway tomorrow! And I will be giving away 3 canvas crowns inspired by my Somerset Workshop article! So check back in the a.m. for giveaway rules! Three people will each win a totally one-of-a-kind, unique canvas crown!!!

One more thing! I am almost finished with the HUGE task of updating and making changes to my website-www.alisaburke.com so if you happen to visit it please refresh your browser so new stuff shows up!

Coming This Week

Been working one of a kind, hand painted skulls for my shop this week more later...

A Strong Craving for Good Art

Today, amidst the million of things that I had to do- I all of a sudden had a STRONG craving for some fine art and thankfully 10 minutes away is a fabulous museum that was showing a few of my favorites (Picasso, Miro and Calder). So I dropped everything and we spent the afternoon looking at amazing work- something that I really needed to do.

Every time I enter a museum or gallery it is a moving experience for me and something I do not take for granted. The first time I saw an original painting by a "master" in person was in Paris-

it was a van Gogh and I cried- I remember standing so close to the painting that my nose almost touched it and I just stood there for a very long time staring at the thick brush strokes, mesmerized by what I was experiencing. At the time I had read The Letters of van Gogh for a class and I related to something in his process- an unstoppable need to create art regardless of success. Seeing his work up close spoke to my heart and inspired me like nothing else. Since that experience, that feeling is something that I actually ache for and there was even a time when art history was just as important to me as making art. In college there was something profound about learning to paint while at the same time studying the masters, learning about their lives and the meaning of their work- that to this day is a huge part of my creative foundation. In a world where it feels like just about everything "has been done" and inspiration is so accessible online, where we all air our creative processes so freely (which is wonderful but strange at the same time!) it is a comfort to know and understand where we came from, the artists that paved the way and discovered what we may often take for granted. Today I needed to see really good art, I needed to find a different kind of inspiration, get goose bumps, a few tears and rediscover over and over again why I love making art.

Redefine Your Memories Tutorial!

Redefine Your Memories

I've been busy in the studio working on all kinds of new and creative stuff and I thought I would share a little tutorial that will be a part of an upcoming lesson in my Anti Scrapbook online class. I have been working really hard to come up with some unique ideas and ways to redefine the concept of preserving memories and giving significance to history in a REALLY creative way!

This project is all about using clothing. I think that we all hang onto clothing that has significance- a sweatshirt from high school, baby clothes, wedding dress- all very likely hanging in the closet never getting worn or used. For this project I used my wedding dress and felt comfortable doing this because a)I did not pay a lot of $ for it b)I have not worn it since! But if you are not comfortable using something like a wedding dress start small with a favorite something else that you have been hanging onto simply for sentiment.

I spread the dress out and used silkscreen ink mixed with water began to splatter and paint all over the dress.

Journal all over the dress (in permanent pen, fabric pen and/or paint)

I used the journal I kept during my wedding and honeymoon as a reference for my the written memories.

Build up layers and layers of messy text.

Optional- create a focal point with a word or quote, your favorite lyric, etc.

I added my own personal motto "redefine creativity" as a focal point.

Continue to build layers with text, paint, and color until you are satisfied.

When you are finished, stage a photo shoot and use the photos in your mixed media and scrapping projects!