10 Week Review!!!

I might know what I'm doing!!

Finally, I feel like I have figured out where I am going with my artwork. 

I'm going to keep my writing short because I am adding my full artist statement to this post. 

I hope that this makes some sense, if not PLEASE ask me questions and leave comments below!

Really, the more I hear from you the more I can grow :) 

Artist Statement for the Stable Table:

Gracie Lathrop

Wednesday Oct, 31^st 2012 11:00 AM

Acorn Gallery

The Stable Table

For this body of work I’m using different types of furniture to draw attention to function, and integrity. I’ve been very meticulous with choosing materials and designs that each contribute to these ideas. In a few of my pieces I am taking away the integrity that the original has by duplicating it out of a material that has a shorter, less durable life span.  I am also looking at pieces that are newer and lacking in integrity and calling attention to that, specifically by making it useless right off the bat.  By playing up this integrity and lack there of, I wish to bring back the attention to detail and craftsmanship that has been seemingly lost in much of our manufactured goods today.

This pedestal table is an ideal piece of furniture for this subject. Pedestal tables have a long history dating back to the Colonial period and remaining popular today. The function of this table over the centuries has varied but is commonly used as a dining table, desk, bedside table, and more depending on the size and shape. The diversity of uses has allowed this design to grow in popularity among nearly all classes. Because of the diverse function and seemingly constant popularity this style table has a strong sense of reliability. It has become a design that is trusted and honorable. 

         However, with this piece I have taken that honor and truthfulness away from this iconic table. It still mimics the design and structure of a pedestal table but is missing the function, rendering it useless. The use of latex has allowed me to strip the table of its history and reliability. Latex is a material that can be cast in nearly any form imaginable. Once it has dried and taken on the form of the object it can then be pulled off and viewed on its own but still referencing its past. While latex is a great tool to use for reference, it degrades rather quickly. The material is something that is not consistent and is hardly reliable.

Drawing again on integrity, stability, and function I have chosen the color turquoise.  Pulling inspiration from Urs Fischers Untitled piano piece I was wanting to use a color that was neutral enough to allow the viewer to see the form while also adding to the play on the tables function. Turquoise is a high trending color amongst interior and fashion designers making it very prevalent in many of the new manufactured goods such as clothing and house wares. But despite the surface popularity turquoise has a deeper meaning in which it references stability and balance.

The many elements of this piece create a push and pull between integrity and hypocrisy of furniture. Playing with the classic designs and pieces that are universally recognizable juxtaposed with materials that do not stay true to the pieces intended function.  Similar to Bruce Naumans Untitled stairway I am interested in “subverting the function”. By undermining the materials and sabotaging the function this once reliable table has been instantly rendered useless making the viewer more aware of the functions and integrity of the mundane objects that surround us daily. 

My artist statement and table went under review Wednesday and it went swimmingly! 

Thankfully I recieved lots of positive feedback ranging from things that are successful and places I can improve. While I am SUPER excited about this table I know it isn't my final product. 

I plan on using this same idea and process later on once the weather warms up again. 

I will change a few details concerning the paint application and a few other things that will give the table a more finished, show worthy aesthetic. 

I hope that some of this art mumbo jumbo makes sense! 

And like I said earlier, PLEASE leave me responses, comments, criticism WHATEVER :)

PS. I haven't forgotten about missing Tuesdays post, you will see one later this weekend to make up for it :) 

ModaMama Giveaway

Today is your lucky day! 

Not only did you get a post straight from me (here)

but I'm also sharing a pretty sweet giveaway that I am a part of at ModaMama!

here are some of the other super creative and fun blogs that are also a part of the giveaway. Please check them out, and TOTALLY go enter the giveaway!!

Taby of A Closet Intellectual is offering one custom made Owl Pillow designed to order with your choice of color preference *as much as she is able*

Gracie of Kitchen Table Art is offering a lovely item from her Etsy shop.  It can be customized to say whatever your heart desires!

Katy of Paper From Heaven is giving away shop credit to her Etsy store. I love these holders because they're so versatile.  I'm want one for holding my make-up brushes. 

Sharee of Mom Fitting It All In is offering a $15 gift card to Starbucks.  Oh, I could totally use one!

Lena of LenaB Actually is offering ad space and a $15 GC to ModCloth!

PS> This giveaway ends on the 30th!! So don't wait go enter nowww :)

My Blog is Blooming!!

Well, my brain is kind of fried of creativity at the moment. 

Today (Wednesday) I have decided to do nothing related to art.

(Other than paint on layers of latex once every 3 hours)

I feel like I've been creative non-stop since my July sculpture class. 

Today after I got home from class I made some fabulous shepherds pie and sat down to watch a marathon of The Big Bang Theory. 

I started that at about 6 and it has gone swimmingly for the past 2 hours :) 

So for this Thursdays post I decided I would rather skip the projects and just talk. 

Recently, as I am sure most of you have seen or heard me talk about, my blog and Etsy shop have taken off with in the past few days! 

I've had more orders than ever for scarves, pumpkins, tin signs, and custom designs. 

Not only have I grown through the Etsy store but I've also been featured on a few blogs for my blue island and my pumpkins! Through these features and other blog stuff I've gotten to meet so many amazing women that are willing to help me navigate the world of blogging! 

I just wanted to give a quick shout out to a few of the women that have really taken a chance on me and shared some much needed wisdom for the blog and the store. 

Bonnie and Trish at Uncommon Designs have been some of the biggest influences in my blog life. 

Bonnie is a member of the church I grew up going to and so my family and hers have had a connection for a long time. However, I never had a personal relationship with her until about 6 months ago when I found her blog and started asking her for advice. 

Uncommon Designs  is a truly great blog where Bonnie and Trish share their craft projects and tutorials, while also posting inspiration from fellow crafters. 

They host many link up parties allowing people to share their blog and projects easily. 

I truly doubt that if it weren't for Bonnie and Trish at Uncommon that my blog would have every gotten off the ground. I know I have so much more growing todo but looking at where I have come over the past few months in SO SO amazing!

Here are a few of my favorite projects shared by Trish and Bonnie

  The fabric leaves - one of their tutorials

And these Linen Kitchen Towels from their etsy store

Another amazing women who has given me some much needed advice on how to up my "likes" on facebook and sales on etsy is Allie from dilly dAllie.
I found her through working at Razzberry Fizz, we sold a few of her objects in the store and I was always amazed by the craftsmanship that each piece showed.
To be honest I started out pretty jealous that because of school I couldn't be the one crafting things for the store, but out of my curiosity a great friendship has started.
I reached out to Allie to ask her questions about how she has gained such a loyal clientele through her shop. She graciously responded with more than I ever could have asked for and has willingly answered many questions.

These are a few examples of my favorite work of hers from the Fall!

Another blogger that has been HUGE in my blog life is Ashley Ann at Under the Sycamore.

While her blog isn't what I would consider craft oriented she is one of the biggest reasons why I feel like I can share my life openly with my readers.
I've only correspond with her once, but that doesn't mean her words haven't affected me.
The posts that she shares with the public are so touching. I really feel like I have learned so much about being a Godly wife and mother just from reading her stories.
(Don't worry I don't plan on having kids for a good long time, but I know that when Reed and I do start a family that I will be referring back to some of Ashley Anns posts).
I tell people all the time that when I grow up I would love to have the heart for my family, the Lord, and art the way Ashley Ann exudes it through her writing.
She is also one of the reasons while I felt the need to invest in a better camera.
I want to document mine and Reeds life to the best of my ability so that I can share it in the future!
I have so many favorite posts from her but this is just one that has stuck with me for a while :)

In this post Ashley Ann opened up about sharing her supplies with her kids.
As an artist I know how precious supplies can be and how hard it is to share them.
I hope that when I have children of my own that I will be able to encourage them and teach them to appreciate creating as much as I do!


Find her post here

Annnnd finally the last blog I'm going to thank tonight is Claire from Polka Dot Pretties
Claire and I haven't gotten to know each other extremely well, YET, but I will be working with her in the near future for a few fun surprises :)
She has a super sweet blog that covers everything from family, baking, crafts, and tutorials.
I am super excited to be working with her and can't wait to share with you what we come up with!

From roaming around Claires blog I've found some awesome tutorials, here is one that I am going to have to try!! A customized camera strap!




I know that was a lot of writing, but I felt like I needed to thank these women and let my readers know some of my back ground storie.
Blogging isn't easy, it gets hard to balance with school.
However, once I get started it is a huge release and hopefully it is something that I can continue to grow  through!

Thank all of you so much for your constant encouragement! I love reading your comments here and on facebook. Ultimately if it wasn't for you then my blog wouldn't be going in the direction its headed!!

Painting Class

This semester I am taking a few studio classes along with art history, art and philosophy  and working with a few Life Science students to add art work to the new science building on campus. 

Because I am taking so many non studio classes I wont have too terribly many projects to share with you other than painting and sculptures. 

So here is my work from my beginning painting class! 

These first 2 paintings are done on 5x7 canvas board using unidirectional mark making. 

Each is of a still life set up in class and we had about a day for each of them. 

I've hardly ever painted with oils and I was very hesitant to learn ( Just love my fast drying acrylics!). 

However, these 2 paintings where a good start. While it was frustrating to mix some of the colors it really taught me so much in how to SEE color! 

In both of these I chose to paint a white eyelet pillow and a white and black pot lid. 

However, for the painting on the left we were not allowed ot use black and we were told to really look for the colors and to not have any pure white or pure black anywhere on the canvas! 

This was hard, but as you can tell I was able to find some color :) 

This was the 3rd painting in the class. We spent about 2 class periods on this 11x14 canvas. 

Again it was another still life where we were asked to not use any pure white or black. 

Even though I was painting a black cloth, black suitcase, and 2 white jars I obviously found some color coming from the warm and cool light that was falling over the space. 

Now this is our first real project. 

We finished it about a week ago.

This canvas measures 18x24 and we had to build them ourselves!

I forgot to document that process for yall but hopefully I will have another chance to share it before the end of the semester!

Basically, we buy pine board cut them to the appropriate pieces nail and clue them together

and then stretch our canvas across it using stables and then finally cover it with gesso. 

Once it was built we moved to a new colorful still life. 

Again, we couldn't use pure white or black but because most of the objects were a bright vibrant color it was some what easier to see the colors through out the objects. 

 Here is the still life I chose. 

Fake sunflowers, 

a champagne bottle

wooden box

fake apple 

yellow table cloth 

and a plastic striped cloth. 

This image is a close up detail of some of the striped cloth and apple (unfinished). 

And the image on the right is the studio!

Its crowded and covered in paint. 

In the bottom corner is my pallet. 

I actually really enjoy using a pallet (mine is just a sheet of glass with taped edges) 

but it makes mixing and saving the colors so much easier!!

TA DAAAA

My finished painting. 

It is now hung in the hallway at home. 

(thats why the lighting is kinda off... sorry about that)

I've enjoyed this class. 

Sometimes it can be relaxing, once I get in to the painting and the stress of the drawing is done. 

I hate that I wont have the chance to take another painting class here at Clemson

but I think I'll continue working in this style at home :) 

PS. I just wanted to say thank you again to all my new followers! 

And to all of the Fabulous blogger ladies who have featured me on their blogs recently! 

You can check me out on Just A Little Creativity 

and What Meegan Makes! 

Little Blue Table

Here is that little table that I showed you in our kitchen tour 

It had a huge transformation but I didn't get to take before and after pictures... sorry

This table was found and given to us by a sweet family friend. 

She warned us that it needed some love but trusted that we could handle it :)

I am so glad she had faith in us cause I love this table now! 

This is the best before and after shot I could get. 

I was lucky enough to come home one day and find Reed working on it 

and he doesn't understand my obsession with photographing everything I do 

which means he didn't take progress pictures :) 

The table was kinda drab and was a bit rickety.

But Reed sanded it down and used LOTS of glue and screws to make sure nothing came out of place. 

The photo on the right cracks me up. 

Look at all those clamps!!  

After sanding, glueing, and filling in a few holes we stained it with a beautiful golden color. 

The legs to the table were a lot more tricky.

We sat there for a while contemplating if it was worth sanding each and every spool.

We eventually decided that it wasn't and so we roughed it up and added some paint. 

I just love this color! 

You can't really tell in the picture but its that blue that I use on everything. 

I've decided its my blue. No one else's, just mine :) 

I really love this table. 

It fits perfectly in our baby kitchen, and if we ever have a need to have more than 2 seats we can pull it out and fit a few more chairs. 

So many items in our home have been gifts from friends and family. 

Thank you for each and every one of them. 

Reed and I hope that we can make these items last for a long time so we can always tell our company how much grace the Lord has poured out on us through others :) 

Burlap Craft!

I decided to try some burlap crafts that I've seen around recently.

This is a Burlee. 

(Basically a burlap door hanger.)

So here is how I made it!

I bought some burlap at Walmart for about $2 a yard.

I then made a little template of the shape I wanted the burlee to be

And cut out 2 matching pieces and hot glued them together. 

I then cut out ANOTHER template of a buck. 

I wanted to pull together the styles of Reed and I, so, I used the buck silhouette and used my blue as the back ground. 

After I painted the blue I stuffed it with some plastic bags. 

Annnnd to hang it I used the burlap ribbon and tied it in a sweet bow. 

Sooo I painted the details I was thinking. 

This is gonna hang on our door, as a welcome to our house.

I then glued the top together and the bow on and 

TA DA!! 

I don't have a great picture of it on the door yet. But hopefully we will get one tomorrow when the sun comes out :)

Hey and also don't forget about the Etsy shop. I've added a few new things recently!

 

 

2 months later... House tour #3!!

Alright, so its been a little while between posts about the house. 

And to be honest it wasn't because I forgot, it was more of that these rooms just couldn't have much done to them... Basically this isn't something I was dying to share. 

But with out further audieu here is our TINY kitchen!

For the picture above I'm standing in the back corner. 

I'm not joking, I'm literally in the corner.

This is how tiny our kitchen is. 

And Please just don't pay attention to the mess. 

I figured it was clean enough for friends to come over so its clean enough for my blog buddies. :)

Obviously we didn't have a lot of cabinets or counter space so Reed and I had to get creative. 

I shared this on a previous post so I won't go in to much detail. 

You can check out the full post on our rolling island here!

This has turned out to work perfectly. 

The wheels are a little stiff at times but it adds the perfect about or storage for our daily gotos 

and makes a huge difference when it comes to counter space! 

Now this is another project that I need to talk about. 

If you are a fan on facebook then you probably saw me mention this guy a few times. 

I just realized tonight that I never actually wrote my post about it. 

Be looking for it soon :) 

I'll link back to this one once I share the process of revamping this darling table! 

And another view of the table. 

The placemats, napkins, napkin rings, and some of the "center piece" where wedding gifts :)

The chairs are some that my mom and I re did for Reed about 4 years ago when he moved in to his first apartment :)

 Now this is the side of the kichen that is a little questionable. 

I had big plans for it. 

But life happened and this is how it stayed. 

(This photo was taken in the corner shoved up against the stove and rolling island, again tiny kitchen!)

I was planning to make a curtain to hide the "pantry" and we were gonna get some really cool cabinet for the microwave, toaster, and coffee. 

I would still love to do those things but right now its kinda low on the totem pole, oops. 

I think I mentioned back in the wedding planning days that I was blessed with a shower thrown by my church family that stocked our pantry.

Well, ladies I think you did good! 

This is still full after almost 5 months have gone by!! 

I've added very little of my own but we have used so much of what yall gave! 

Reed loooooves all of the recipes and I am very grateful for them also, I would have been totally lost with out all that yall did!!  

And this is just a random shot, but Reed has every spice known to man. 

Well not really but he has a pretty impressive collection I think!

Thats our kitchen!

Nothing fancy or worth showing off but I figured I just left yall hanging by only showing 2 rooms. 

Only 1 room left on the tour!

Yep our house has 4 rooms. 

But its all we need!!!

PS> We would appreciate some prayers for our little house. 

We are struggling with some mold issues, but are attempting to work them out with the rental company.