Archive for the ‘top ten’ Category

I so enjoy reading all my blogs in Google Reader – what a wide range of art that’s out there, commentary, gorgeous eye candy….so much available through the net. Makes me glad I live at this time in history when I can sit at home and just explore. So enjoy this week’s finds!

After years of dealing with No Child Left Behind comes Borowitz with this gem: No Politician Left Behind….seems only fair….

Talking about art fairs, this is an excellent post from Fine Art Studio Online about what NOT to do – and when I did the few shows, I was careful to not break any of these rules – because I HATE it when I’m ignored.

Joen Wolfrom is a major player in the art quilt world, and I own (and refer to) all her books. She has a blog, Playing with Color, and it’s a treasure trove. Just recently it’s all about blue – gorgeous! And to add to that, she gives us hmework to improve our own use of the color – and the pics are AMAZING!

Now here’s an idea that reminds of work by Andy Goldsworthy: Sand Art by Jim Denevan. So fleeting….

Speaking of Andy Goldsworthy, I was introduced to his work about 10 years ago, and I pine for a few of his books to own. I’ve been through everything the library has, and I’ve watched Rivers and Tides several times. The juxtaposition of art IN nature is beautiful. Google some images for him and you won’t be disappointed. This is one of my favorites:

In case you are even more interested, here are some items from Amazon (and yes, in the interests of full disclosure, I make a couple of pennies if you follow the links…).

Since I’ve been working on improving my machine quilting, I loved finding this next site for P. Nosa – and you can see his solar-powered sewing machine….

Now for somethng different – I’m looking for some good websites on the following:

* Basic yoga poses (needs to be for the overweight-can’t-bend-down-person)…..

* Feedback from those of you who have used Fine Art America – how did you do and would you recommend it?

* A good water color class on line…..and

* Great places for sightseeing and food in Oregon – specifically the coast and Portland….

Any and all help greatly appreciated!

I’m not so much of a tech geek as I thought, as it wasn’t until about 4 months ago that I finally realized how Google Reader works. Now I love scrolling through to find new updates, and I’ve figured out how to start a draft of a blog post for Tuesday Top Ten. And there’s more already bookmarked and waiting for new posts. Such an amazing wealth for an information junkie like me!

An update of the classic Elements of Style (to which I still own two copies…): From Cool Hunting, a site with loads of VERY cool stuff…..

Some very beautiful art quilts made with Indian silk by Sue Reno, posted on her blog.

Great photos of women during war from Child of the Moon

Tose of us of a certain age will remember Mad magazine, and for some of us it was forbidden reading material. In case you didn’t know, they have a blog, and today’s artwork celebrates 3000 hits by Derek Jeter. I’ll let you peek for yourself…..it’s worth it…..

From Mamacita at Scheiss Weekly comes this great post on teaching. It really resonated with me, because these are all the things I’ve done over the years to relate to kids at all levels.

Here’s a very cool giveaway from a very talented artist, Marie Segal at Art From My Heart. These little guys are great – unzipped hearts. Check it out and start following Marie – she has some great blog posts.

As artists, marketing is a large part of our life, as you can tell if you follow my Monday Marketing posts. Renee Phillips from Manhattan Arts is an “artrepeneur,” a term I really like. Check out her blog for some really great tips and motivation.

Those of us who post lots of pics of our work on the web need to be aware of watermarking to protect our work. Creating the Hive had a great tutorial this past week on just that. It’s on my list of things to do as I update my Flickr stream.

Interested in seeing what color does? There’s this very cool Color Designer on line that lets you mix colors as primaries, complementaries, and so on. Very instructional…and fun! Visit it and play around – you’ll find it very helpful.

On a more serious note – a video I first saw on the environmental blog A Note From Your Mother: gorgeous, scary, depressing, and amazing…you need to watch it.

It’s Monday again….and it seems like all I did was read, look at emails, and set up buttons and the like. This is the “time-sucker.” So my goal for this blog post is to try and identify what needs to be done each week for marketing and set up a kind of calendar to work with.

This is what I’m dealing with: Ebay, Etsy, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Cafe Press, Zazzle, newsletters, a website, lynda.com, flickr, and a blog. I am trying to avoid doing all of this every day, because nothing else seems to get done. I’m brainstorming as I write, with the hope that by the time this post is done, I will have a plan.

Ebay: hubby handles almost all of this, including postal trips. But…if we are going to increase sales, we need more product, and I would like to help with the actual marbling. So…..marbling weekly. I do need to update the About Me page…..

Etsy: the bulk of the organization is done. But…I need to be adding product on a regular basis, which means I need to keep making things. It would be nice to have one new product up each week, if not more often. One of the goals this week is to add some of the major artwork (even though I don’t expect to sell it on Etsy, it is more exposure) on the site, as the pictures are redone. I want to continue with the circles marketing, which, if I have enough products, could be done every day – 15 minutes for this. Plus, I need to keep working…….

LinkedIn: profile is done, and I have registered for several groups for business. I have found already difficulty in keeping up with reading emails each day from the groups and have already deleted one group. This week I will determine which groups look to be the most advantageous. I also need to complete the setting up of a profile of artwork.

Facebook: I read this several times a day. I have a fan page which needs serious work, as well as Art From The Heart, which is to support healing art after the Tucson shootings in January. I have added FB buttons to my blog and this week to my website. I have read the Terms and looked at all the privacy settings. I also went through the photo stream stuff for FB and fixed photos for both the personal and fan page. I need to really think through what is going to happen with the Fan Page.

Twitter: I am finishing a class from lynda.com on using Facebook and Twitter for business, and I highly recommend the site. For #25 you can choose different trainings all available for a month at your schedule. I picked up all kinds of little tips, most of which have already been implemented. But….and this is a BIG but….the time for tweets and what to tweet. By syncing a lot of the programs, my blog appears on Twitter, FB, LinkedIn, my tweets appear in a couple of places. I don’t think I can go further with this – the tweet button is on the blog and soon to be on the website. This is one area that needs some serious scheduling. Since I use TweetDeck (which is free…), I can schedule and keep track of who’s following and what is getting retweeted. So…I’m going to use Sundays for scheduling business tweets for the week, and I will look through the twitter feed once a day to see if there’s some good stuff to retweet.

Cafe Press: I have a site, a free one, so I am limited as to the number of products I can put up. I haven’t looked at this in several months and it needs serious work. To have a store isn’t much money each month, and I could have a lot more products available, but the issue is marketing and driving people to the site. I have some great digital stuff already to go, and I need to start planning around the holidays, reading about marketing through Cafe Press, and so on.

Zazzle: Ditto for Cafe Press……both are not a high priority right now.

Newsletters: oy, it’s been months since a newsletter went out, and I have all these contacts where nothing is happening. I used Constant Contact last year for a few months, until I couldn’t keep up with the demands and school at the same time. I was happy with it, but disappointed that not many people actually read it. I need to go back to a newsletter and offerings at least once every three weeks, and more during the holiday seasons. I need to check out Mail Chimp, which is free, and I have heard people have good luck with it. I’ll try and make this a priority this week.

Website: Most of the changes to the website have been made by my wonderful web lady Suzan. I need to get a couple of buttons set up, and then do something about newsletters and contacts. I also have some pages to add on Digital Marbling (TN), and I need to evaluate “print on demand” for artwork. This is a “need to think about” topic…..

lynda.com: I have until Friday to finish my month of training. I still need to finish Twitter, and I want to get the html newsletter course done. I am not going to continue with Dreamweaver because it isn’t a priority.

Flickr: I have photos up, not all of them with copyrights, and there is a class on lynda.com if I have time. I’m not really sure what I want to do here….

And finally, my blog, Marbled Musings. I went a bunch of months with no new writing, and I’m at maybe three times a week. I need to get back to at least four times a week, and eventually every day. I have plenty to write about…and I need to stay up with my Google reader – as well as comment more on some of the posts. This is probably the biggest area for marketing that I have to schedule.

Weekly:

* Marbling fabric

* Work on Etsy products

* Sewing and other design

Mondays:

* Add Etsy product

* Add Etsy circle information

* Read newsletters from LinkedIn groups

* Read Twitter feed

* Blog post Monday Marketing

* Google reader and at least three comments

Tuesdays:

* Add Etsy circle information

* Read Twitter feed

* Blog post Top Ten Tuesday

* Google reader and at least three comments

Wednesdays:

* Add Etsy circle information

* Read newsletters from LinkedIn groups

* Read Twitter feed

* Blog Work in progress Wednesday

* Google reader and at least three comments

Thursday:

* Add Etsy circle information

* Read Twitter feed

* Blog – Thursday Thoughts

* Google reader and at least three comments

Fridays:

* Add Etsy circle information

* Read newsletters from LinkedIn groups

* Read Twitter feed

* Blog Photoshop Friday

* Google reader and at least three comments

Saturdays:

* Read Twitter feed

* Blog posting on Specials

* Google reader and at least three comments

Sundays:

* Read Twitter feed

* Schedule Tweets for the week (i.e. Etsy, Ebay…)

* Blog Sunday Stories

* Google reader and at least three comments

Goals for next week:

* FINISH LYNDA.COM

*Update “About Me” page on Ebay

* Update Etsy products, especially note cards

* Evaluate how calendar is working

* See if buttons are added to the website

* Decisions on what will happen with the Facebook Fan page

* Long-term thoughts – what to do with CafePress and Zazzle

* Read and decide about Mail Chimp for a newsletter

* Spend some time thinking about what the website still needs….

Okay, I think I have a handle on this…we’ll see next week as I evaluate how the week goes. And…I’m taking some online classes!

Thoughts??

From JPG Blog, their new contest – Where in the World…….amazing places around the world…makes ya want to travel!

Sunset Over Milky Bay by Marcelo Vicente

Marie Segal’s blog Art from My Heart always has wonderful goodies she either makes or finds. Remember using popsicle sticks as a kid?   Follow her links for some great pictures, including furniture……

Who knew? Polyurethane projects as a new art form…You will always be surprised by the items on Cool Hunting.

From Cool Hunting this week, a cool idea for an artist’s residency – on a lake and sustainable – Rabbit Island.

Also from Cool Hunting, a rooftop garden in Brooklyn, harvesting its first crop: Gotham Greens.

An Inspiring TED Talk on vulnerability with Brene Brown.

Want to see more of the world’s paintings? From Lines and Colors, a post about a project of the BBC to put artwork in British Museums up on line – and it will be searchable. Looks like a lot of computer time looking at art!

I LOVE this idea from Alyson Stanfield’ blog ArtBiz…..taking credit cards at small art shows is always a bear for so many of us. Look what technology has in store for us:

Lots of great stuff on line this week – some very cool eye candy to enjoy!

From Cool Hunting, a site with some unusual items and projects… some original artwork “Field Recordings” by Bryan Graf

Also from Cool Hunting, one of the most unique book displays I’ve ever seen, as part of an art installation. The best pics are on the site, so check them out.

Vicki Welsh does some really gorgeous hand-dyes…here’s her latest batch for this month’s challenge. I could spend all my spare money to her weksite!

From Kate Harper’s blog – Legal Tips for the Starving Artist, and a very good review for all of us.

And even more from Kate – lots of articles on copyright and protecting our designs….I know for me this will be some serious reading this month – need to do it!

How will the price of cotton affect art licensing from Joan Beiriger’s blog – very interesting. I know that we have had to raise our prices for our marbled fabrics significantly.

If you are where I am in looking for gallery representation, then Joanne Mattera’s Art blog is for you. She has an article on gallery red flags that is very valuable….I’ve seen a couple of these flags in the past.

Also from Joanne is this article on Rethinking Artist’s Statements, again very timely for me as I redo a lot of things on the website.

Rayela’s Art (AKA Rachel Biel) is spearheading the fund raising campaign for the Textile and Fiber Art List. This is rapidly becoming THE place to find any type of textile art on line. If you are interested in becoming part of an outstanding collection of fiber and textile art, then visit and donate, even just $10. The eye candy alone is worth the donation!

Again from The Best Article Every Day comes Dear Photograph – a really cool idea to superimpose a past photograph with the current location. Clever!

Enjoy your week – send me cool stuff you find on line!!

While retiring is going to be a joy, there are definitely some things I am going to miss about teaching. So here goes:

1. The Kids. Even the class from H*** this year had its good moments. The kids keep me young, they keep me laughing, and they’ll believe just about anything you tell them. Case in point: Nicole a year ago asking me where zombies go when they die. Despite my trying to get across to her that zombies don’t exist, she kept asking, saying “Hypothetically.” So I finally answered “They go to algebra heaven.” And she was fine with that answer.

2. The challenge of teaching so many different subjects and learning so many new things. Over the years it’s been high school American History, AP US History, psychology, literature and writing, grammar, earth science, basic math, middle school social studies, elementary gifted programs, middle school math, and finally high school math. I’m a walking Jeopardy board.

3. Mathematics, particularly algebra and geometry. After some dismal experiences in high school, I have relished understanding the ins and outs of algebra and geometry, and I will miss the opportunity to continue to improve my explanations of how algebra really works.

4. The Kids. I am in touch through Facebook with so many former students, and I just love watching them grow and have families.

5. Student theater. I did this for 15 years, thanks to one of my first mentors, Sue Ann Loudon. From Carousel to Oliver to Music Man to Peter Pan and numerous small plays in between, I loved every moment, and I have the pictures and tapes to prove it. But that’s a job for someone much younger.

6. Conferences, especially when paid for by the school districts. I loved my time with the art partnership with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. A great time at the ASCD conference both in Baltimore and Anaheim – and if the principal had approved our plan for taking kids to the Getty, so many more would have benefited. To think it all started with the National Association of Gifted and Talented in Portland, and included being in DC the night of – and day after – the 2000 election for the International Dyslexia Conference.

7. The creativity of planning a successful lesson. When it goes right, there’s nothing better.

8. Being “on stage” and having a good time with the kids during lessons. There’s all the voices and chants and little dance moves, the quadratic formula to the tune of Jingle Bells, and all the videos.

9. The “Big Projects.” All the plays, World Peace Day in April 1972, Model UN in 1973, the Shakespeare Festivals with 150 kids, the Learning Lab, and many more.

10. The Kids and making a difference in their lives. It took me a long time to realize that this is what I was meant to do.

This is from the front page of the blog “A Word from Your Mother:”

“The world is a dangerous place to live;
not because of the people who are evil,
but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
~ Albert Einstein

Very powerful words to introduce an extremely powerful blog about our planet. Normally I have ten different things, but this time I want to introduce you to A Word from Your Mother and ten different entries that you should read if you are at all concerned about our planet. There is some very troubling stuff on this blog, but I firmly believe that we need to understand as much as possible about the potential fate of our planet and the sentient organisms inhabiting it. Our history has been woefully uninformed on many of these issues. Be prepared to be worried, upset, and more knowledgeable. With knowledge comes action.

First up, Indigenous People: Not Only Plants and Animals Face Extinction. “According to the latest estimates, there are only approximately 370 million indigenous people, spread across 70 countries, left on earth.” There are loads of great links to human rights and the UN Declaration of Indigenous People’s Rights.

Chief Seattle sums it up well:

~ Chief Seattle

Next, a video from TED, Ideas Worth Sharing: America’s Native Prisoners of War.

OMG – One More Generation – Saving endangered animals for the next generation, an organization started by children. This is just one of the many interesting and important organizations you can get to on the sidebar of the blog.

Monsanto – a company most of us have never heard of, or if we have, we connect it to rugs. Unless you read Michael Pollen (Omnivore’s Dilemma), Barbara Kingsolver (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle), and watched Food Inc. Then you’re aware of what’s happening with our food sources, and potentially our farmer’s markets. This entry, Do You Know What You Are Eating and Breathing? takes on Monsanto. This is part 1 of 10. Again, be prepared to be troubled.

Mother Earth Still Has a Few New Things to Show Us is more uplifting.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind is an entry looking at the Gulf oil spill. Take a close look at the issue of plastic in our environment.

Protected Area of the Week from ICUN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) –  world’s oldest and largest global environmental network – a democratic membership union with more than 1,000 government and NGO member organizations, and almost 11,000 volunteer scientists in more than 160 countries. Take a look at what’s disappearing from the planet.

And finally, (I know, it’s only 8…) a reminder from Randy Newman…It’s a Jungle Out There.

It’s Top Ten Tuesday again….seems like it was just a day or so when it was Tuesday…that’s what happens during the school week – time usually goes so fast! Some interesting stuff this week gleaned from the blogs I read each week. Enjoy!

The Top 75 Art Blogs – some interesting stats here  -I am hoping to discover a couple of new ones to read.

Alyson Stanfield of ArtBiz always has great ideas and hints on her blog – this one in particular – photographing your art on  a wall so potential buyers can see what it would actually look like.

Tara Reed at Art Licensing asks the question Do You Need a Password Protected Portfolio? Something I had never thought about, and it’s certainly worth pondering.

BBC has done some spectacular work on the planet and the environment. We were enthralled with Planet Earth and then fell in love with Galapagos. This site has some amazing photography.

I am rapidly falling in love with Daily Grommet. This time it’s heated or cooled stadium seats…..

Dumb Little Man – once again so much stuff I never knew existed…it would have bee wonderful to have had this note-taking ability when I was doing my thesis (as it was, thank goodness for word processing…).  Eight Awesome Tools for taking notes.

I love Vicki Welsh’s dyed fabrics. She posts some incredible designs and combinations of colors. Hop on over to her blog ad then her Etsy shop.

The Best Article Every Day has at least one bonus each week that I love. This one is about the poster at the bottom of the article….which I particularly loved this week, as it seemed like my algebra students didn’t really want to do any math this past week.

I am slowly becoming a fan of science fiction movies, and I must confess a Trek fan for a long while (although not as obsessed as I probably could be…).  Also from Best Article Every Day, 5 big budget films that understand actual science.

And again from The Best Article every Day – 25 websites to download free photos. We all need this for our blogs. Send me some good stuff to surf!!!

Another week has gone by, and I miss my time on line! I love finding great stuff, whether it be eye candy of places, people, or fiber, or marketing resources. Here’s a few from this week.

We do things differently these days, thanks to the internet. The NY Times this Sunday had an article called Suddenly, The World’s Their Market. Good stuff – taking advantage of the power of the internet.

Finding time – a problem for all of us….Here’s help from Dumb Little Man.

Spending more and more time shopping on line….who knew a store just of batiks?

Crescendoh – Doing Good through the power of art – another interesting outlet to pursue. Check it out.

For us arm-chair travelers…20 Spectacular Roads

More eye candy – Venice from above.

John Marshall – works in fabric. Really study these – some wonderful techniques.

Great article from Melody Johnson that bears repeating – mounting fabric on plexiglass.

Kathyanne White – creating and printing unusual surfaces – a video on YouTube from SDA.

And finally, one of my favorite blogs to visit – Sarah Ann Smith from Camden, Maine. She gives great explanations of her work and her travels.

Let me know what goodies you have found on the web this week. Happy exploring…and don’t forget to become a subscriber!

This has been a great week for goodies on the web. Great eye candy and inspiration.

* I subscribe to Dumb Little Man, and every now and then they have something that really resonates. This week it was “How to Adopt an Attitude of Gratitude.” The article is based off this quote from Tecumseh: When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food, and the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies with yourself. ~Tecumseh You can read the article here. Great words to live by.

Bien Mur

* Speaking of Native Americans, I picked up a great book at Bien Mur, the art gallery at the Sandia Pueblo in Albuquerque called “Native Wisdom for White Minds.” This is full of wisdom from indigenous people around the world, set up as a saying a day, so you have inspiration throughout the year. The book is available from Amazon – search on the left (disclaimer – I’m an affiliate, so if you order, I get a few pennies.).

From today, July 13 – “Nature is the storehouse of potential life of future generations and is sacred.” ~Audrey Shenendoah, Onandagan writer

Jane Dunnewold

* “What’s Trite, What’s Not” from Existential Neighborhood by Jane Dunnewold. Jane is an amazing fiber artist and I was licky enough last year to follow along on her daily photo inspirations. Is life trite? Here’s a provoking thought: “And there’s the paradox. The activities that keep me centered, authentic, and real could easily be dismissed as trite. It’s all phrasing and context. How much outside influence have you bought into lately?”

* Making Mondays – and Your Week – More Productive. Well, who doesn’t want to! There are seven questions to help guide you to more productivity – all of them worth thinking about.

iStock

* Self-Inflicted Time Management from Time Management Ninja (great name!). If you have issues with any of the following, read this post!

• Missed Deadlines
• Late Fees
• More Work Due to Undone Tasks
• Lateness
• Disorganization

Productivity501

* The Myth of Multi-tasking from Productivity 501. I thought it was just because I was getting older – I really thought I could multi-task well. Age has shown me I can’t… “It turns out that humans are amazingly horrible at multi-tasking. Many people feel like they are improving their focus by multitasking when they are really doing the opposite.”This is a good read.

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John Pugh

I have spent the day so far at the computer, cleaning out old emails, answering emails, updating links – all the stuff you put off doing. However, there has been some amazing stuff I’ve discovered on the web this week – loads of eye candy! So sit back and enjoy!!

* This first is an amazing marbling video by a Turkish master. I was stunned by it – so different from anything I have seen, and so masterful in technique. I should live long enough to be able to do this!

* The Guild of American Papercutters – not a great website, but the gallery has some really amazing photos. I fell in love with papercuts when I watched a master in Shanghai create a lovely cutting of a girl, with just scissors and his own eye for detail.

* A wonderful artist – Harrison Howard from San Diego – vibrant paintings, some interesting Asian influences. His shell series are quite wonderful. I tend to really like vibrant colors (I think the school is “colorist?”), and these really do it for me.

* Clark Little surf photography – words will never do these images justice. The waves, the curls, the movement – you will drool at each image.

* Human Computation – another YouTube video. You know those made-up words we use for encoding to prove we’re really human? Luis Ahn explains how we are helping to digitize books each time we type them – really fascinating!

* The Scribbler – just downright fun to play with – your own scribbles, and you can upload them into an online gallery.

* Art Licensing Info – an interesting resource as we start doing more marketing. Free download e-book on getting started with Twitter.

* 3-D Street Art – more street painting – really great stuff, with how-to photos. Couldn’t figure out how to get a photo to post!

* China’s Olympics Light Creative Flame – interesting article.

* The Power of One – a fabulous video – we can all be instruments of change for the better. Check out additional videos.

Copyright 2009 by Linda A. Moran, all rights reserved.

As I’ve been reading blogs lately, I’m reminded of people I really admire, living and non. The kids asked me to name my heros, and of course they didn’t know any of the names. One even said “Were they around for George Washington?” Nothing like continuing to feel even older! So here goes:

* Helen Keller – actually saw her on television in the 50’s, and have read about her and Anne Sullivan. Remarkable.

* Eleanor Roosevelt – “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” A great first lady, world ambassador, and far-thinking woman.

* Albert Schweitzer – world-class humanitarian; gave up a music career to become a doctor and set up clinics in Africa.

* The Founding Fathers – this was an amazing collection of brilliant minds at one particular point in history; they did what no others have done.

* Nelson Mandela – prison for 25 years for what you believe in.

* Thomas Friedman – NY TImes columnist who makes economics make perfect sense – I actually read him regularly, and The World is Flat” is a must-read.

* Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ghandi – nonviolence should be the only answer.

* Barbara Kingsolver – her writing makes you want to become an environmentalist, she cares so for the world around her.

* Agnes Smedly – a little-known American woman who was on the Long March with Mao and worked with Margaret Sanger.

* Dorothea Dix, Margaret Sanger, Jane Adams, and Abigail Adams – just amazing women who fostered women’s rights and women’s causes – when it wasn’t popular to do so.

Okay, so there’s more than 10, but by grouping them, I could include those who have made a difference for me.

Other Top Ten’s – Martha Stewart, Inspirational books

First time reader of Marbled Musings? Check out what you can find on this blog.

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