Thursday, March 22, 2007

Full support for every gender.



I can't believe it, this tuesday is fun day again! A whole month has passed already! Hopefully I am going to do two responses to the group art project this month. As I'm sure you remember, the two project options we had were either 1-"Total opposites" or 2-" Bargain basement". Actually this piece works well for both depending on what you pay for your under garments. I did the card of the jock strap awhile ago and had always intended to do the female version, so what better time than with the project total opposites. Even though there are many similarities, they are so opposite according to gender as well as the body parts they are intended for. As a card design they work well as a card of support with a touch of humor. Possibly from a close friend or family member in support of ones life style, but also for the numerous life occasions which gladly call for support. Most of those occasions probably also welcome the giggle the card hopefully causes. As all of my cards are, this design was done in a mixture of pen and ink and watercolor. The grainy texture in the background was done by sprinkling salt onto the wet paint. the salt is rubbed off once dry. The texture comes from the salt absorbing the wet paint leaving "spots". I used table salt for a fine texture, but if your going to try this, try different salts such as kosher salt, sea salt, and rock salt. Each one gives a different effect.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

You Animal !!!


There isn't much to say about this new design. Again it's a mixture of two creatures like in "Hey there tiger", but this time I'm showing the beast within! I hope it's a big hit with the Bears and Cubs in the gay community. Actually I hope it's a big hit with everyone - No matter how timid we are, there's a little animal in all of us! Grrrrr!

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Hey there tiger!


Before getting into card design I used to concentrate on fantasy art. You know, faries, creatures, and a world you could only imagine.
One of my favorite ways of starting a painting was to take two animals and combine them into a new form never seen before. The options are endless and incredibly fun. I have always loved the beauty of the human form, so many of my "creature creations" started there. I've done half man - half goat, half man - half iguanna, and one of my card designs, half man and half tiger. Picking the best qualities from the animal like the beautiful shaggy fur around a tiger's face, the cat eyes, and the dramatic stripes, I give you... "Hey there tiger!"

Thursday, March 8, 2007

I'm telling the world


This card was created shortly after my web site www.knordesigns.com was created. I had hired a young woman to do the job but after a very long and frustrating year and a half we parted ways with only the home page done! My older brother then steped in and showed me the computer talents I never knew he had. He had my site up and running in about three weeks! FINALLY! I was so happy and excited I wanted to tell everyone and this card was born. I felt there are so many times in life like this, I decided to keep it in my card line. I hope it will be able to be used for a new job, a new adress, an art show, coming out, the options could go on and on - so I won't.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

A new card for a new home


My nephew and his wife just bought their first home! What an exciting time in their lives. I don't always need my group for inspiration, often life sends its own artistic challenge. I need a "congratulations on your new home" card.
I came up with a group of fun, wacky, playful figures I call "colorful friends". They are done in the gay pride colors and represent the importance of the circle of friends in our lives. With that said, I feel family can be friends just as much as friends can become family. This makes number four in the series. So here's to a home always filled with colorful friends!

Ooops!


Can you tell that I'm not all that computer savy! I tried to include my finished "19" in my last entry, but I quess that didn"t work out. Lets try again. Just incase anyone wants to think along and possible incorporate group projects into their own work, we have the choice of two this month. Pick one or try both! Project #1: "Total opposites" Project #2 "Bargain basement"

My solution to "19"

We had a great night on Tuesday! At first we all hated the project "19" but it was amazing what an array of work it produced. Surprisingly few people took the same approach. Our group was about 10 people. We never get 100% attendance, its close to impossible to pick one date that would work for everybody so 10 was a good turn out. Just a few examples of the way a project causes a diverse body of work: One woman went with roman numeral 19 (XIX), she punched a faceted series of X and I and painted each angle a different color and tone so as the piece was moved every angle was a different color. One man did a series of leaves altered in the computer and collaged with drawn and painted elements, and yes... he did 19 of them. Another woman did a painting of her dog and cat on a tiled floor, they were viewed from behind each drinking from a bowl side by side. The larger dog created the straight up and down of the number one and the smaller cat with it's head in a good sized bowl created the number nine. It's always so fun to see what people will come up with! For myself, I always try to make my designs work into a card idea for my new buisiness (www.knordesigns.com), and since Febuary is love month...it was a Valentine card. I divided the page into 20 squares, and put a heart into only 19, hope you like it!