mail art

I have had a little bit of time to do art in the midst of all the craziness and busyness.  

I'm making mail art invitations to my first ever art show!  This is so exciting.

It is going to be at Simon's Tavern in Chicago.  The bar is owned by my good friend, Scott.  He and I have known each other since we were probably 12 years old.  

I've been posting some of my viking art the past few months.  That is a taste of what will be there.  I cannot thank Scott enough for this opportunity.

Please stop by Simon's Tavern, in the Andersonville neighborhood, in December to have the best glögg in town.  He makes red and white glögg and it is so delicious.  Don't take my word for it.  You have to try it!

I have one more painting to go before I am done!

The cards above were inspired by Mindy Lacefield's online class, True Free Spirit.  This is a class I adore.

Have a great weekend.

Pumpkin Patch

Hi everyone!

Pumpkin Patch 2013, an annual, autumn, festival in the Village of Egg Harbor, WI, is here.  The local businesses put out some fabulous displays that they make with pumpkins and squash, among other things.  The photos below are of the display, done together, by Greens N Grains and Spa Verde.

The chicks above were done as a collaborative effort by Andi (from Spa Verde) and me.

This is our giant chicken with jumbo eggs made out of pumpkins, for "Egg" Harbor, of course!  Photo credit for this one goes to Kathleen of Spa Verde.

For a really fun tutorial on pumpkin painting, check out Alisa Burke's blog.  She has been painting pumpkins for years and they look super cool.

Have a great weekend.

Joyland

Hello everyone.  I'm so sorry to have been absent for so long.  Relocating to a new state has taken more time and energy than I had anticipated.  I just recently joined the wonderful Artful Readers Club, which is a reading group for artists.  And already I am falling behind.  I just realized now that there are official blogging dates.  I will catch up.

I did manage to do a sketch of Stephen King based on the title of the book.  I had every intention of doing a painting based on the sketch but I don't know when that will happen.

The rainbow is actually something I saw while driving across the country.  The image was stuck in my head.  We saw it while driving in Montana.  It does not relate to this book.

Yes, I need to do a review of the book too.  I am enjoying it.  I will post that in the next couple of days soon.  Thanks for being patient.

I heart glögg

During the month of September I have been in the process relocating to Wisconsin.  Therefore, I haven't had the opportunity to do much art yet, but I did do 3 small, 6" x 6", mixed-media paintings recently.

The hearts in these paintings are based on Scandinavian woven hearts.

Glögg is a Scandinavian mulled wine which is popular around Christmastime.  

Thank you for stopping by.

John Cleese on creativity

Hi everyone.

I don't know if you're like me in that you like to learn about creativity.

I thought I'd post a video since I'm traveling.  I don't have a lot of art to share this week.  I hope you enjoy the video.



John Cleese - a lecture on Creativity from janalleman on Vimeo.

Audiobooks

Happy September everyone!

Lately I've had a tough time focusing on reading books.  I want to be painting and that makes it hard to find time to simply read.  That's why audio books are perfect for artists.  We can do both things at the same time.

When I was over at Tracy Moore's studio making an art journal, in his class, he said that he often listens to audio books while creating his journals.

Rhomany is a wonderful artist in the UK.  I've been watching some of her YouTube videos lately.  She has great art making videos.  I especially like her vlogs.  

In watching Rhomany's You Tube channel, I find that not only does she listen to audiobooks, but she's in a reading group for artists.  At first I thought they were all doing audio books but, apparently, that bit is optional. The group she's in  is called the Artful Readers Club.   They create art related to the book they're reading too.  Brilliant idea.  

(Update 09-02-13:  I find that it is NOT too late to join them.  I hope you will check out their club.  I just joined up.  It is run by Darcy and she has left a link in the comments!)

I took Rhomany's advice and bought Joyland by Stephen King, over at Audible.

I'll make Joyland my book for September.  I agree with Rhomany in that I dislike the cover art for this book.  Since it is Stephen King, it probably won't hurt his sales!

The next three books for me will be Bonehouse, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, and Yes, Chef.  I'm not sure yet in which order I will read them.  Who knows, I might read more than one per month, but I'll start with this as my goal.

In addition to making a piece of art inspired by the book, I'll write a short review of the book and post it here on my blog, along with a photo of the art.

If you have any audiobooks to recommend, please leave me a comment!  I'm always looking for suggestions. 

Thanks for the inspiration, Rhomany!

Thanks for stopping by.  

Tropical Whimsy

An Instagram friend called this style Tropical Whimsy.  I love that description!

My boyfriend, Ben, is holding up a painting I painted last week.  I made it for my friend, Virginia, and her family, to give as a gift.  They came up with some very interesting and creative ideas for the components they wanted in the painting.  I would never have dreamed up a coconut scepter, for example.  But they did!  I thought that was so cool.  That is why it is so fun to collaborate!  Thanks Virginia!