Archive for the ‘The Best Article Every Day’ Category

A long, hard week, but we can always count on the internet to provide something interesting. Enjoy!

A really cool look at some Photoshop work from The Best Article Every Day:

Things maybe you never knew about cleaning and organizing….and might want to – some very clever ideas here!

From the 365 Project, once again some amazing photos:

NYC Has Big Balls by Michael Elliot

This is a dance performed at the closing ceremonies for the 2004 Paralympics. The dance, called the Thousand-Hand Guanyin, is making the rounds across the net. Considering the tight coordination required, their accomplishment is nothing short of amazing, even if they were not all deaf. All 21 of the dancers are complete deaf-mutes. Relying only on signals from trainers at the four corners of the stage, these extraordinary dancers deliver a visual spectacle that is at once intricate and stirring. Its first major international debut was in Athens at the closing ceremonies for the 2004 Paralympics. But it had long been in the repertoire of the Chinese Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe and had traveled to more than 40 countries.  Its lead dancer is 29 year old Tai Lihua, who has a BA from the Hubei Fine Arts Institute. The video was recorded in Beijing during the Spring Festival.

From the TED Blog – 100 Websites you should know and use…..when you want to surf……

A great dance video – will make you feel good all over!

From Buzzfeed, 26 images from the year that will make you believe in humanity again:

Some color for your enjoyment….this is one continuous picture, so click and be sure to scroll…..from The Best Article Every Day.

A lace comeback? Really interesting look at a possible resurgence of interest in lace from Surface Design Association.

And for us fiber junkies….3-D fabric with laser printers.…..

Have a great week surfing – let me know what you find!

I cannot get over just how quickly this year is flying by. It’s nearly the end of November.I enjoy doing these posts because all the great stuff I find is now in one place where I can easily get at it! Here’s this week:

Some hints for pattern writing – something I’m very interested in, as I finish us two new ones.

From The Best Article Every Day comes an interesting look at past and present: World War II photographs superimposed on the present. Quite intriguing.

Also from The Best Article comes their Thanksgiving offering on “humanity.” Wonderful pictures.

Now here’s a mom with a great idea for a gift….not that I believe in zombies. From The Best Article Every Day, which you must read to see the whole transformation process of basic sweets……

From Dumb Little Man – advice about protecting yourself while working from home – not quite what you think!

From Design Seeds, another great color combination – this one is so restful. And I would love a quilt out of this.

I love Morgan Freeman. The Shawshank redemption is my absolute favorite movie. Here he is in a new add for marriage equality – very eloquent.

From the 365 Project, yet another set of gorgeous pictures.

Balluminaria 2012 by Cathy Donohoue

Wonderful little piece of history from the civil rights movement from Letters of Note. Short, succinct, and in your face…..

And…finally, in honor of holiday food season, one of my favorite videos by Vi Hart, recreational mathematician. How CAN you optimize your potatoes and gravy?

Have a great week! Let me know what you find online that’s really cool.

Once again I am playing catch-up with blogs – Waaaayyyy behind! But here’s some goodies.

Absolutely incredible ballet/gymnastics – spectacular moves!

From Origami Joel comes some new amazing masks – and….they’re for sale!

You historians and geographers – and especially photographers – will enjoy this unique look at the United States – across the 40th parallel. Interesting project!

Tulle is more than tutus…..”Instead of painting with paint, British artist Benjamin Shine creates his portraits with tulle — you know, that netting fabric that you see on various gowns or tutus. Shine takes a single piece of tulle and proceeds to pleat, iron, and manipulate it into these hauntingly realistic portraits full of light, shadow, and dimension.”

In light of the new James Bond movie Skyfall opening this week, here’s a classic Bond peek with the ultimate Sean Connery….no pic, because that would ruin it – you have to click!

A collection of Kurt Vonnegut letters reveals this one about war and peace – an interesting commentary, given life today. From Letters of Note:

From Handmadeology comes 10 Awesome Reasons to Buy Handmade Gifts This Year.

“5. You’re helping the environment.  It’s always a nice feeling to ‘go green’ isn’t it?  Handmade items aren’t made in a waste-producing factory and shipped halfway around the world using fuel and energy.  Buying handmade (especially really locally) can greatly reduce your carbon footprint on the world.”

Patterned paint rollers – who knew? These are really cool!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Vi Hart, recreational mathematician, and I use her videos regularly in my college algebra class. Here’s a cool Halloween one….a few days late…..

And finally, Google Doodles of 2012…

Have a great week!

I keep getting behind in my surfing!

The 365 Project always has great photography, and here’s another great set of examples.

Seven by Arielle

And some more photography – this time taking pictures with smoke. The Art of Smoke Photography. Kinda cool – would like to try this.

Here’s a cool app for photography called DScan from Cool Hunting – let’s you shift reality – methinks I need to get this for my iPad…….

From The Best Article Every Day comes this wonderful graphic that puts another slant on a recent political controversy:

Here are some really cool ideas for around the house, again from The Best Article Every Day.

This next is just a feel-good video….

And…for those of you wishing we were still following Neil Armstrong to the moon, here’s a great look at what it takes to get to Mars….amazing what we can do……

I very much admire Leah Day and everything she has done for the quilting community when it comes to free motion quilting. Her Sunday posts are un finishing UFOs – unfinished quilts and the like, and her photos of two pieces she completed are just spectacular, and they are motivating! Every time I look at something she has quilted, I am inspired. I too am finishing up projects – three in fact that just haven’t made it on line, and it is certainly freeing. Take a look at her amazing work. You need to go to the link and see this stitching up close and personal.

This next is a letter from a mother to her 16-year-old daughter on the day before her execution in Prague in 1950. It is incredibly moving, especially given the political circumstances. Letters of Note always has something of interest, and this is heart-wrenching.

 And finally, are you stuck creatively and can’t seem to get moving? Lyric Kinard has a great series on her blog called Baby Steps, little things to do that can just get you started moving ahead. Try one or two and see what it does for you.

Have a great week – let me know what you find online that’s cool, unique, weird, different……….

Well, it has been a while, what with projects and a few days in San Diego. I have loads to work through on my blog list, so I am thinking there’s at least three posts here!

First up, from the 365 Project, some amazing photography yet again. In honor of beach time in San Diego……

Beach Sand by Michael Elliott

From the ArtBizBlog and Alyson Stanfield comes some organizing ideas. I just happened to see her Evernote mention, and I have just started using that on my iPad, so I want to go into this post more in depth….organizing lately has been off, to say the least!

Studio Art Quilt Association (SAQA) does an auction of artwork every year as a fund raiser. This is the first year I have contributed a piece. One thing members are doing to promote the auction is doing 6-piece “collections” around a theme. I pleased to say my “Hotwired” has made it into two collections.

Here are a few more samples of SAQA collections, put together by Kathy York.

Here’s a quick video from Freida Anderson with some fusing tips, something I am just getting in to:

Jane LaFazio interviews Leslie Riley. I’ve admired both for a long time. Jane is a very successful water color, mixed media, and art quilter, and Leslie Riley is quite the motivator. Enjoy the interview!

Alisa Burke has a fabulous post on tools for sketchbooks and frequently asked questions. Lots of “I wants” in this list…it’s probably a good thing I don’t do a lot of sketching……

Thanks to Rachel of Rayela Art and The Textile and Fiber Art List, here’s a cool look at a new tool called PicMonkey for editing pictures easily. Rachel did some fun playing around with pictures of her own.

Here’s a wonderful sense of humor video from YouTube about European shopping bags. Some very clever designs!

A very “enterprising” story of a 10-year-old who has started her own sewing business. You go, Lizzy!

And finally, a piece of honesty and courage from an Eagle Scout from The Best Article Every Day.

Have a great week! Let me know what you find that’s cool.

I missed last week, and it is taking me a long while to get through everything!!

Dominos and Vincent Van Gogh – very clever!

A new marketing blog I discovered last week – some very interesting ideas that I need to reflect on, as I am in a very dry, inactive period right now.

Perfectly4med is an interesting blog of work – either zentangle patterns or work completed for a certificate. This is a detailed look at how this piece went together – very interesting.

My introduction to Gee’s Bend quilts happened when I went to the International Quilt Market and the quilts were at the Houston Museum of Fine Art. It was quite the experience. Here’s an article about one of the women.

Untitled by Anna Williams

I’m interested in Helen Keller – always have been, and especially more so since the Zinn Education group has been showing us materials about Helen that are left out of the history books – kind of sanitizing this amazing woman, so we don’t know she was a socialist and women’s reformer. So here’s an interesting letter from Letters of Note to Mark twain.

Also from Letters of Note – a look into the development of Star Trek, from the point of view of Gene Roddenberry and….Isaac Asimov. Very interesting.\

From The Best Article Every Day comes two clever take-offs on Sunday in the Park with George. Here’s just a peek…..

From Brain Pickings comes a very clever series of graphics illustrating some pretty obscure words. If you enjoy words, you’ll love this!

Fanfaronade: swaggering; empty boasting; blustering manner or behavior; ostentatious display.

From Cool Hunting comes some very interesting art: Taboos, Tatoos, and Native American Beadwork from Eri Imamura. “… marries disparate elements of mythology, Native American beadwork and tattoo culture to create life-sized textile sculptures. Collectively, they deal with man’s delicate relationship with nature, his propensity for materialism and Japan’s collective suffering following the 2011 earthquake.”

And, finally, from TED: How a Lonely Girl Earned 1.6 million friends:

Have a good week – let me know what you find on the web!

Another interesting week – and the blogs are getting ahead of me – but I keep finding so many interesting ones! What did you find this week?

An interesting look at how we use fonts, especially in the fiber area, from SewCalGal.

A look at urban exploration, with an interview from the 365 Project, called “Capturing Decay.” There’s something really beautiful in decay.

FortyThreePhotography.co.uk

Here’s a really lovely story about passing on our skills and love to a new generation.

From Letters of Note comes an interesting exchange of two lawyers concerning trying to collect a debt. There’s a whole new meaning to “Middle East…..”

From The Creativity Blog comes AWE: Arts from Waste Experience – a very clever idea for sustainability. Really good article, with some great ideas.

This next from The Best Article Every Day is weird in a cool way – just study it for a few…….

Once you’ve finished with that, then get the tissues from this posting from The Best Article – a beautiful story in three pictures.

Timely, from the 365 Project: Tips for photographing sunrises, in preparation for the solstice.

From JPG Magazine comes a selection of “grin” photos. Fun stuff here!

The Man at McDonalds by Phonesvanh Siharat

I finally, Jaws turns 37. I remember seeing the movie and flying back to my teaching job on Maui. I didn’t spend a lot of time in the ocean that year. And then, at Cape Hatteras one year, we are actually swimming with sand sharks. I hate sharks. Love learning about them, but hate them.

Find good stuff this week!

I think I’m really glad that blog posts slow down over the weekend, because it gives me a chance to get caught up on my reading! I go through the list about once a month to delete those I don’t find as fascinating any more, but the problem is I keep adding at a rate faster than I can keep up with! Reminds me about all those lessons on exponential growth……

And….this is post 700! Who knew?

From the Best Article Every Day comes this little gem, and please click on it, because to show you a preview would ruin its sweetness.

This next is part of a TED talk, and the video is superb. Subtitled what goes on in your garden when you aren’t looking……

From Letters of Note comes a wonderful letter by ray Bradbury (who will be sorely missed) about the initial writing of Fahrenheit 451. What a great example of creativity!

From 365 Project comes more fabulous photos. Love the colors and reflections in this one!

Huge Bike by John

From Cool Hunting comes a really great idea for a family getaway!

I discovered Ranae Merrill in one of the episodes of The Quilt Show, and oh my, is her work wonderful! She makes doing a spiral quilt absolutely simple. Who knew?

Speaking of The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims, I have been enjoying the currect episodes, on all kinds of new techniques, plus a class on color. Really outstanding material. Here’s just a selection of classes:

A great tutorial from Quilt Play on making some cool-looking “tree” blocks with paper piecing – called red herring blocks. I need to try this, as I can really see them fitting into a project I’m doing.

From the Bill Moyers blog comes the Peace Map, a way of looking at how peaceful countries are around the globe. Very interesting graphic, with some surprises – and some not-so surprises.

More eye candy, especially if you are in to hand dyes. Vicki Welsh does some amazing work, and she has a new gradient – rolling fog. I want me some of these!

Have a great week – let me know what you find on line! Newsletter is coming in a week, so sign up in the block on the upper left if you want to receive “Out of the Marbling Tray.”

I LOVE LOVE LOVE surfing the web – so many resources, and just down-right interesting things to see!

Some more amazing eye candy from Joan Leschenault and the Perth quilt show in West Australia. I really like look at FMQ designs in quilts.

Want some things and don’t know how to make them happen? Maria Brophy shares this inspiring look at positivity. Hawaii, here we come!

Look at the studies in triangles from this week’s JPG Magazine.

Light Traingle Swimmers by Claire Smith

From The Best Article Every Day comes a really creative use of stock images to tell a story. Every single frame is different, and yet there is a cohesive story. Very clever!

For you origami afficianados, here’s a post from origamijoel with the work of another origami artist, Eric Joisel. Isn’t it amazing what can be done with a single sheet of paper?

There is a really fascinating documentary called “Between the Folds” that is well worth the watch.

40 Famous Photographs – some you’ll recognize, some will be new, but they all tell a  story.

 Another entry from 365 Magazine – love the lines on this one!

Under the Westside Highway by Michael Elliot

I tried to find credit for this next, “The Beauty of the Night,” but can’t find anything through Google. This is a gorgeous set of photographs in a powerpoint. When you click the black and white, it slowly turns to color. Gorgeous!

This is really cool – the Sydney Opera House as an art installation. Lighting the Sails by Urban Screen. Incredible idea! Take the time to view the video.

If you’re doing some form of artist trading cards – or would like to – here’s a free online publications that just might help you: ArtTrader Magazine. They look really interesting, and you can download past issues.

What did you find on the web this week?

Another interesting week on the web…..

Do you know about Tophatter? This is a new auction site on line – live auctions, a few times each day (actually, a lot each day). It’s just getting started, but seems to be a fun community. You can check it out and get emails about the various auctions – watched a hour’s worth on Saturday, and it was quite fun.

From the 365 Project, another set of amazing photographs.

Curious Cat by Sassik

Cool eye candy in a quilt show from Perth, West Australia, from Joan at Leschenault:

sorry - no credit given on the post, but AMAZING free motion!

Ever wonder about how they get all those clowns into a car? Here’s an article that actually explains the physics behind it…with a good dose of mirth!

From The Best Article Every Day comes “How to Fail a Test.” As a math teacher, I absolutely loved some of these.

For a “feel good” piece of fun, this wedding proposal:

From Alyson Stanfield comes another good post on working on our art: 6 Things Nick Cave Said That Made Me Pay Attention:

The best piece of advice for me? Evolve. Continue to grow. With that, I just emailed an artist whose work I really like and asked her about some private study to help me grow.

If you’re looking for the big ideas surrounding us, then go to Big Think for a load of provocative ideas. Here’s a screen shot of the last few articles:

From Cool Hunting comes a look at furniture designed from reclaimed parts of old buildings. Some very clever ideas for repurposing!

In case you need motivation to accomplish something you think is hardly possible, amidst all the naysayers, comes this final video…..perfect for my state of mind right now. I have to believe in myself, and when it comes to my own issue, I just don’t. That’s changing now.

A couple of days off to visit friends in Sedona, so I’m playing catch-up on blogs. I have some great sites and info to share from this trip, so stay posted for some new artists.  For this week so far, an amazing video by a “destination photographer,” Shawn Reeder, on Yosemite. Go check this out!

A very cool look at old/out-of-date art supplies: The Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies.…..I still have a bunch of these…..

This next is a panorama view of Paris from a bird’s-eye view on the Eiffel Tower. Pretty amazing…I watched for about 10 minutes before I started to get dizzy. I SO want to get to Paris. Be sure to try all the buttons on the bottom.

Ever had one of “those” weeks, especially as a female? The Bst Article Every Day has it captured perfectly….and this is just the beginning………

An arts advocacy organization – the Western States Arts Advocacy. From their website:

“Celebrating the Western Imagination through the Arts
The Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) is a regional non-profit arts service organization dedicated to the creative advancement and preservation of the arts.
WESTAF encourages the creative development and preservation of the arts regionally and through a national network of clients and alliances. WESTAF fulfills its mission to strengthen the financial, organizational, and cultural policy infrastructure of the arts in the West by developing and providing innovative programs and services, technology solutions, funding opportunities, advocacy and cultural policy work, and other services.
Founded in 1974, WESTAF is located in Denver and is governed by a 22-member board of trustees that comprises arts leaders in the West. WESTAF serves the largest constituent territory of the six U.S. regional arts organizations that includes the state arts agencies, artists, and arts organizations of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.”

R.I.P. Maurice Sendak, whose influence shows in some surprising areas…..one student was diagnosed as color-blind because he could always see where the wild things were. His books will live on. It’s a good video, worth the time.

“In this unexpectedly candid 2004 interview, Sendak reveals some of the early childhood memories and surprisingly dark influences behind his work. Shaped by immigrant parents and the tragedy of the Holocaust, Sendak provides frank insight into his complicated psyche and a rare window into the soul of an acclaimed artist. He also discusses how he shaped the character of Max, the mischievous lead in his blockbuster book, and what he might have been like as an adult.”

From Joetta Maue comes an interesting post on a fiber artist, Ernesto Neto, an artist I’m unfamiliar with, and one with some very interesting fiber work. See the person inside?

Belated, yes, but some amazing photos from JPG Magazine on Earth Day.

Carbon Footprint by Debbie Hartley

Eye candy from Joen Wolfrom, as she tours a quilt show in  Brooking, South Dakota.

And finally, if you’re a fan of Monty Python, then you will appreciate this exchange between John Cleese and a newspaper who misquoted him, from Letters of Note. Love the sarcasm!

Enjoy your week – let me know what you find on line that’s unique and different!

A really interesting artist, I saw his portfolio on Behance. Alberto Seveso…..doesn’t it look like the most luscious silk?

From Bill Moyers comes a really interesting graphic on social media as our main source of news.

From Cool Hunting comes TED-ED – what looks to be some REALLY great lesson plans and ideas for teachers to really expand what’s happening in the classroom.

From Joen Wolfrom – the most used colors in the world – Tones.

From Letters of Note comes a very timely letter from one of my favorite authors,  John Steinbeck. Very interesting in light of what is happening in current affairs in Arizona. “American Democracy Will Have Disappeared.”

Also from Letters of Note, the incomparable Harper Lee, with words that ring true today:

“Early-1966, believing its contents to be “immoral,” the Hanover County School Board in Virginia decided to remove all copies of Harper Lee‘s classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, from the county’s school libraries. As soon as she was alerted, Lee responded perfectly by way of the following letter, written to, and later published in, The Richmond News Leader.
Also sent, as mentioned in the letter, was a contribution to the Beadle Bumble Fund — a project set up by the newspaper in 1959 to highlight/compensate for “official stupidities,” and which subsequently gave away copies of the banned book to all children who asked.”

From the 365 Project, another set of gorgeous pictures.

End of the Rainbow by Richard Tyson

4 No-Cost Etsy Shop Promotions from Handmade-ology….since I didn’t get much on yesterday’s marketing post.

From Cool Hunting – really cool tables from the Milan Design Show. Love the texture and grain lines in this first one.

And finally, some pictures from a place most of us know nothing about…..except as a country in the news, Iran. These are gorgeous. From The Best Article Every Day…..

Be sure to look at all the pictures – Iran looks to be a very beautiful place.

And that’s it for this week – let me know what you find surfing over the next few days!

Tuesday again – I haven’t been very active in blogosphere this week, but I still have goodies.

Valentine’s Day! Here’s something very different from Oceana North America: a sea valentine. Read all about it –  just looks like a rose.

From the Best Article Every Day comes this bonus: (just in case you were wondering……)

Get your read on! From The Best Article Every Day comes The Greatest Books of All Time.

“Reading is the nourishment that lets you do interesting work,” Jennifer Egan once said. This intersection of reading and writing is both a necessary bi-directional life skill for us mere mortals and a secret of iconic writers’ success, as bespoken by their personal libraries.  The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books  asks 125 of modernity’s greatest British and American writers—including Norman Mailer, Ann Patchett, Jonathan Franzen, Claire Messud, and Joyce Carol Oates—”to provide a list, ranked, in order, of what [they] consider the ten greatest works of fiction of all time- novels, story collections, plays, or poems.” How many have you read (not counting English majors…)?

A nice video about the Mennonite Relief Committee from Lancaster County, beautiful country, from the AQS blog.

From the 356 Project, the top 20 for week 90. I’m quite taken with the filters here.

Lagoon Love - Kim Suzanne Kelley

From OK Go – this is so cool – and reminds me a lot of the musical “Stomp.” These guys are brilliant!

From The Best Article Every Day comes amazing photos of the”old and the dead.” Sammy and Marilyn, two of the greats. I love the black and white photos – I think they are more effective than the color ones, but the Mother Teresa-Princess Di is absolutely beautiful.

I know it’s not 10, but I’ve been fighting a sore throat for over a week now, and I’m headed to bed. Enjoy what’s here!!

We’re planning to go to our first film festival in a few weeks – the Sedona Film Festival. A friend has a rough cut of his film in the festival, and we’re just downright curious to see lots of indie films, as we are slowly discovering the joys of these gems. Cool Hunting spotlights Sundance and some new films.

From JPG Mag, the best of their Tritych challenge….

One - A Few - More by Cheryl Andrews

On thinking back to the “way things were,” a reflection on “type.” Kind of interesting to look at “the way we were.”

Upside Down, Left To Right: A Letterpress Film from Danny Cooke on Vimeo.

Totally appropriate for me right now, as I am listing some deadlines  for shows I would like to enter. From Alyson Stanfield’s Art Big Blog comes “Calls for Entries.” I have become very selective with the show deadlines I add to my calendar. Where possible, I try to enter anything that is not juried, especially if I have work already completed. I also look closely to see if I can use existing work for a show. Trust Alyson to be extremely timely!

Wish you had a manual for your new toy? Manuals too hard to read and understand? From The Best Article Every Day comes the best phone manual – I LOVE the creative marketing and design!! Be sure to check out the Bonus on The Best Article – very clever!

Out of the box from Vitamins on Vimeo.

Also from The Best Article – a few good laughs…….How to Properly Place Employees: (I could probably do this for teaching…..)

1. Put 400 bricks in a closed room.

2. Put your new hires in the room and close the door.

3. Leave them alone and come back after 6 hours.

4. Then analyze the situation:

a. If they are counting the bricks, put them in the Accounting Department.

b. If they are recounting them, put them in Auditing.

I spotlighted OrigamiJoel a while ago, and here he is talking about the papers he uses for folding….and adding paint. Love this guy’s work!

I don’t normally read the NY Times, but I discovered Nicholas Kristof’s column on Change.org and thought it was great. Here is a column of questions to Melinda Gates after she returned from Bangladesh, about what individuals like you and me can do to change the world.

Since women’s health has become a political hot button, read Margaret and Helen’s take on the Komen fiasco. I LOVE these ladies!!!.

I discovered this wonderful blog, “Letters of Note.” Wonderful letters from all assortments of folk, but my favorite so far has been this letter from a former slave to his previous master. Absolutely exceptional and beautiful, and “in your face” in an craftily literate way.

Have a great week – let me know what interesting things you find on line.