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February 16, 2011 -- Join us!

On February 16, 2011, one hundred collages will be auctioned off in an online fundraiser to raise money for the American Cancer Association.  The collages will be made by a team of artists, me included, donated to the cause.  In the past, Fiberart For a Cause, run by Virgina Spiegel who is also running the One event, has raised more that $205,00 for the American Cancer Society.  The goal of One is to raise $8,000 in one day.

For information on how the American Cancer Society can assist you, their toll-free number is 1-800-ACS-2345 which  connects a caller directly with a trained cancer information specialist who can answer questions, listen to concerns, or refer the caller to local programs.

Please mark your calendar for February 16, 2011 and help make a difference in the fight against cancer.

And, if you’d like to spread the word, visit this page for information on how you can link to the event and spread the word.

If you have any interest in collage – be it digital or traditional — check out this site.   Some of the links throughout the site get a bit wonky and you may need to return to the original cutandpaste.info site by refreshing (since it’s a framed site).   But it’s worth the effort!

The Louvre opened its on-line database in English! The database is called “Atlas” and includes information and high-res images on some 22,000 works of art! It’s an awesome site on which you can spend a lot of time.

I was at the Museum only once, back in July 2004 (wow, time flies)!  It was a gorgeous day, and it happened to be Bastille Day so admission was free, which was a wonderful surprise.

Wilhelm Imaging Research “conducts research on the stability and preservation of traditional and digital color photographs and motion pictures.”  The above book, by Henry Wilheim with contributing author Carol Brower, is available for $41.99 through their website.  However, it’s also available as free 758-page PDF book!  You can download individual chapters or the entire book.

While at the site, visit the homepage.  It is loaded with all types of information of interest to anyone who prints images.

I am absolutely amazed at the amount of information available on the web, and I tend to get lost in bouncing from one site to another.  I’ve gathered up a bunch of sites that have some generous freebies.  In the coming days, I hope to put up a list of several of them.  So much I want to get on this blog, so little time to devote to it!

“In Google Earth, you can get close enough to examine a painter’s brushstrokes or the craquelure on the varnish of a painting. The images of these works are about 14,000 million pixels, 1,400 times more detailled than the image a 10 megapixel digital camera would take. In addition, you’ll be able to see a spectacular 3D reproduction of the museum.”

Here’s the link: http://www.google.com/intl/en/landing/prado/.  What a time we live in!!

ColourLovers is a site about creative inspiration using color and design.  It shows off a large variety of color palettes and patterns.  I particular like the blog, with posts such as the recent  called Vintage Color & Design: The Architectural Review.  The articles sections includes pieces like Color Basics: Dos and Don’ts, How Color Influences Consumer Behavior, and more.

And, yes, I will be posting more images from Yosemite very soon!

Do you ever find yourself wondering what may happen to your artwork after you die?  Morbid as it may sound, I do.  I came across a website for the Senior Artists Initiative and was pleasantly surprised with the guidelines offered.  While the site is geared towards seniors, there is some helpful information for any artist.  Visit the Publications page for articles such as “What do inheritors do with artwork?” and  “Where there’s a will, there may be a Monet.”  Most helpful is the “Guidelines for Senior Artists.”  It’s a collection of articles and advice, nothing too lengthy or extensive, but it covers topics such as writing a will, will substitutes, planning techniques for lower tax liability, and more.   If you’re looking for some guidance on where to begin, the site offers some.  For me, it’s a start.

Incredible Art Department is one of those fantastic sites offering an “incredible” encyclopedic collection of art-educational resources.  There are link collections for art groups, art resources, art periods/styles, school, stores, art-zines, artists, museums, galleries, and more. Textile Arts – Fiber Arts offers history of textile links, world textile, contemporary textile arts, lesson plans, and more.  Art Museums is a one-stop listing to a collection of museums throughtout the USA and throughout the world.  Art Careers provides a portal to more links exploring various options such as graphic design, fashion design, art teachers, and so on.

There is also a large collection of links to public domain art, books, and images.  Some of the links go to collections of other links. Project Gutenberg, for example, is the largest collection of free electronic books (or eBooks).  Read Print is a free online library.  The Online Book Page offers over 30,000 free books on the web.

This site began in 1994 by Ken Rohrer.  Later Judy Decker joined Ken to grow this site into the massive collection it is today.  This site has a special bookmark in my collection – Love it!

In this provoking 27 minutes video, Tim Brown, the CEO of Ideo,  talks about “The powerful link between creativity and play.”  He discusses how the behaviors learned as a kid are useful as designers; how playfulness helps develop better creative solutions, rather than adult behaviors which often get in the way of developing ideas. He talks about children and their constructive play time – building and knocking down, building and knocking down – the working with the hands, doing multiple “low-resolution” prototypes very quickly to test ideas.  It reminds me of the original concept behind the journal quilts and other quickly-made small projects to test various ideas without the burden of a large time commitment.

He also talks that play within the workplace isn’t anarchy, but more of a divergence and convergence — the divergence where the play is and the convergence where things come together and are more serious. He talks about role playing to develop empathy for the situation and authentic experiences.

The talk comes from the 2008 Art Center Design Conference held at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California in May 2008.  The video is another from TED, Ideas Worth Spreading

Mark McGuiness describes himself as a poet and a business coach specializing in the creative industries. Mark’s blog, Wishful Thinking for Creative Professionals,” focuses on merging creativity, coaching, and business. I am overwhelmed by the mind-boggling amount of information he shares to inspire creative professionals, so much so that I have a goal to interview him for an article. Mark has written an e-Book: Time Management for Creative People. He published it under the Creative Commons license, meaning it can be distributed freely on a noncommercial basis as long as it is kept intact with his name on it. He notes that is it subtitled ‘Manage the Mundane – Create the Extraordinary “as it’s designed to help you maintain your creative focus while dealing with your other commitments.” You can download the 32 page PDF here. Should I get the opportunity to interview him, I’ll post about it. Otherwise, when visiting his blog, pour yourself a favorite beverage and be prepared to spend a lot of time reading!

The Disaster Resources for the Public URL was posted by Margaret Geiss-Mooney on the QuiltArt list. It’s a very useful collection of links from The Heritage Emergency National Task Force and I encourage everyone to check it out. The resources include topics such as saving your treasures the right way, storm recovery guide for homeowners, 24-hour phone assistance, and more. There is a downloadable PDF called “Essential Records for Families: What you need to know before you evacuate.” disaster

Fibre & Stitch is a quarterly digital magazine by publisher Sue Bleiweiss. Besides the magazine being excellent, there are over thirty – yes thirty – free projects on the magazine’s website. They are the very type of projects I’d feature if I were still writing the Free Stuff on the Internet books.

Since I’m a subscriber to the newsletter, I periodically get an email alerting me to a new project added to the site. Every time I get a notice, I click over to see the latest. This time it’s a “Quick & Easy Zipped-up Pouch.” Other times it’s been fabric charms, fabric coasters, business card cases, and so on. All of the instructions are PDF format, complete with photographs and clear instructions. I’m into journals, so I particularly like the Padfolio and Mini Wrapfolio. If you haven’t visited the site yet, and if you like good, free projects, check it out.