Since I’ve taken over the Handmade in PA Street Team a few short months ago, it has grown to almost 60 members! While we are still building momentum, I think we are well on our way to having a supportive group of artisans and crafters here in PA.

Alice In Wonderland Journal

One of the many talented members is Jenny from the Painted Lily. Her work features vintage inspired kaleidoscope collages, alongside handmade home decor items featuring her artwork. Here are just some of the gorgeous pieces Jenny has created. Enjoy!

And Her Eyes Met His

What She Found In The Trunk- Journal

Stone Coaster Set- Rich Colors

Happy Summer!

Outside- the fields and hills are bursting with life; settling into growth and being. Inside- we can create places for our own growth and being. Think beauty and light. Think Lauren Gray. I am entranced by her original artwork and her darling wooden creations.

original fine art female figurative painting

Schoolhouse- miniature wood town

Church- miniature wood town

Thank you to The Painted Lily for recommending Lauren’s work via Twitter.

Kate, along with her husband, bring together farm, food and design at The Steel Fork. They also design and create sculptural metalworks using recycled farm machinery – Gatski Metal. Kate is also the mother of two busy little children.

The absurd makes me laugh. It’s these sort of things that go through my mind all the time, and luckily I have a husband who will listen to my absurdities and not look at me like I’ve gone completely insane. It’s who I am, I’m an oddball. So when I found the work of Kevin Cornell on his site, Bearskinrug, I felt right at home. Kevin is an illustrator living and working out of Philadelphia (don’t be fooled by his URL) and his work is, well amazing.

He even held a Draw Your Own Thrilling Space Adventure where he supplied the basic elements and you drew and submitted your very own.

And if you’re looking for more laughs after you’ve spent hours or even days on his site, don’t miss The Superest, where he and other talented illustrators draw characters to outdo the previous character. It’s hilarious!

This week I am so happy to feature Anna of Ettie Ogle Press. Anna’s work is a combination of painting and drawing, with some silkscreening and fabric collage thrown in for good measure. Anna’s work is truly unique and whimisical. You can’t help but smile when you look at her pieces. I hope you enjoy a day in her life!

A typical day for me starts with a mug of strong black tea. This is necessary to avoid zombie-like traits that can occur during the hours before noon. Mondays through Fridays I go to my day job from 8:00am to 4:30pm, where I am a payroll clerk. Although this job is not really art related, and it takes up 40 hours of my week, it does give me the more comfortable lifestyle that I prefer. In my opinion having a guaranteed, weekly paycheck does wonders for the nerves, the brain, and the heart. I do hope that someday my business will be my sole source of income, but good things take time.

During the day I try to find inspiration in the workplace, or at least do some planning and brainstorming between tasks or during breaks. Usually my desk is scattered with lists of thing I need to do for Ettie Ogle Press. I like to give myself tentative deadlines on all my tasks and arrange my lists by importance. Like, what needs to be done tonight? Or what needs to be ready for next Friday?  I also try to always keep myself thinking ahead. For example, I try to keep a vague idea of what Ettie’s next trip will take her before her current trip is even complete.

When get home from my day job I usually like to spend a little time either sketching or looking through art books. It depends on whether I have a work in progress or I am about to start something new. I just moved recently and this is the first time I have had my own studio, which is set up in the spare bedroom. It is a little tight, but with a more cozy than claustrophobic atmosphere. Most of what I do is not bigger than my tabletop, so I don’t seem to run into too many problems.

So far all of the work I have for sale has been created through some combination of ink drawings, gouache, acrylic paint, silkscreen, and fabric collage. Some of the collages are assembled by hand and some are assembled in Photoshop. So if I am not drawing, painting, splicing or printing, I’m usually on the computer. In addition to creating the actual artwork, I also spend a lot of time creating the stories behind each piece and linking them to Ettie’s never ending journey. I find that story telling really helps my creativity flow, but can also create a challenge that I enjoy.

Once I have completed as many tasks on my list as possible for one day I like to curl up in bed with a good book, and maybe some ice cream.

This week’s challenge: slither (read on for details)

What if I made a New Year’s resolution to challenge myself consistently?  What if this challenge involved a weekly prompt to jumpstart my creativity?  What if this creativity led to experimentation with different artistic mediums and styles?   What if this became addictive?

“Contagious” by Paula Mills

Illustration Friday is a site created by Penelope Dullaghan and Brianna Privett. They post a submitted topic each Friday and allow you the entire week to come up with a creative answer.  The choice of medium and style is wide open and you do not have to be an illustrator to join in the fun.  IF is an example of another online creative community offering constructive feedback and motivation for its participants.

“Manifestation” Susan Sorrell Hill

Join me and the HiP community in my pledge to create weekly (in this case, every other week). It’s easy.

• We’ll do this every other week
• You’ll create your piece related to the week’s theme
• Post it on Illustration Friday’s entry page
• And in our Simply Linked form below
• Every other week, I will choose several entries to share with the HiP community.
• And will announce the next theme

The IF challenge this week is slither.

See you in two weeks!

Megan Greenholt has a BFA in illustration/printmaking and a MA in art therapy. Warwick Hills sits by a creek at the bend in the road. An art studio, gardens, animal friends and children are nurtured here.

(prints by Stephanie Corfee)

When I joined Etsy last fall, I thought it would help my sales immensely. After all, it’s the premier place to buy handmade, right? What I didn’t expect was to be so lost in numbers. With many sellers being there for years, they had formed friendships and joined teams. I noticed those teams and friends stuck together quite tightly. That’s when I made the decision to get more involved with the people who are already supportive of me. I am thrilled to announce I am the new team leader for the Handmade in PA team on Etsy!

While I am still working everything out, I have had half a dozen requests to join since last week! I am really excited to have taken this on and hope you all will be too! My goals for this team are quite simple:

To encourage, support and promote each other through twitter, our blog, and of course, etsy.

I am also looking to organize a craft show this summer for as many members that can be a part of it. Sound good? If you are interested in joining, please convo me through Etsy. There will be a slight jurying process, just to make sure you are an active seller on Etsy. I am hoping to organize a team chat very soon. Any ideas or suggestions are very welcome! I am also looking for people to help me with organizing and planning team events, posting on our team twitter account, and blog. Thank you everyone for your continued support!

This week I am thrilled to share with you the artwork and life of Karen Faulkner. Karen is an artists that creates pretty and colorful watercolor artwork that will brighten up even the dreariest of days. I hope you enjoy a day in her life!

First and foremost, to start off my day I need coffee. Starbucks Guatemala brewed in my Cuisinart machine. My kitchen remodel was just recently completed, so it’s quite exciting to come out to a space in which I selected everything myself and really love to be in. I keep fresh flowers around always…sunflowers are a favorite when I can find them.

Once my children, ages 15 and 10, are off to school I spend my time checking e-mails and hopefully finding some purchases from my Etsy shop. I’m nearly 700 sales and it’s so exciting to me, having started out in June 2008 with a “‘well, let’s give it a try and see if I can sell anything.” I take a lot of time and care in packing and shipping, making sure the artwork is protected and doing my best to get orders shipped within 24 hours if at all possible.

I used to work in marketing communications and have a BS and MBA in Marketing. I enjoyed that for years and still take an interest in it and also in graphic design as a hobby for dabbling. However, I love painting and sending my finished originals and prints to lovely, friendly people near and far. It is fulfilling in a way I never imagined I would have found at this stage of my life. I try when I can to sit down in the morning to paint; it works out best for me when I’m fresh and the morning light is coming in the windows of my easterly-facing studio space.

Scanning images, adding new listings, blogging and all that online upkeep takes up more time than you might expect. I tend to do those tasks on the gloomy days when I’m not inspired to create.

A good day for me would also include lunch out with a friend or something fresh and organic I’ve made for myself, an hour or more hike or bike ride on trails that I can get to right from my house without the SUV, and music (Coldplay, David Gray, Rob Thomas, Ingrid Michaelson, John Mayer, and Kings of Leon are always in my rotation).

I have a friend or two who are always available by e-mail and/or text message, which makes working at home alone less lonely. The social interaction is about the only thing I truly miss about working in an office environment. All in all, the way I spend my days painting what’s in my heart and sending it out into the world feels right to me, like I’ve found what I’m meant to do. Thank you for coming into my world for a bit. I appreciate the opportunity to share on Handmade in PA.

span>Michelle is a graduate of Albright College with a B.A. in Visual & Apparel Merchandising. After years in the fashion/ retail industry, she is now a WAHM. Michelle is a self-taught jewelry designer and owner of Michabella Creations.

Handmade bracelet by unaodd

Little bird earrings by skylarkstudio

Wool Baby Rattle by sqrlbee

Rooster by Six Sisters

Birds of a Feather by The Painted Lily

Do you have any bird designs you’d like to share?

The show features work from 33 artists including Kevin Bittle, Dee Jenkins, B.T. Ritter, Susan Auchincloss, Steve Shaw, Patricia Hutchins, Dorothea Sarteschi, Elamin Ajamu Rahman and David Washington.

Christina Heintzelman, co-owner of Gallery Blu explains the upcoming show:

Our gallery features local and regional artists and also gives a home to emerging local artists. For this upcoming show, we are featuring artists who live in Harrisburg and most of them actually live within blocks of the gallery.  We have fiber artists and photographers included in the mix with the oils and acrylics.

2010 started with a very special show “The Magnificent Minds Project” coordinated by Syngred Briddell and which featured the art of people with mental illness.  Some of that show was then placed in Senator Robert Casey’s office.

And here’s a preview of what’s to come in the gallery.

• May and June – “Juneteenth” honoring the Emancipation Proclamation and featuring black artists with a special forum lead by artist, Ophelia Chambliss, in June
• July – “Pride” featuring art from the LGBT Community
• September “Graffiti Then and Now – From Cave Paintings to Urban Scrawl”
• October ” Photography as Fine Art”
• November/December “The Artists and Their Music” see how music informs the artist and vice versa.

Happy Anniversary Gallery Blu! We’re looking forward to celebrating another great year with you. Be sure to stop out this Friday and show your support during this month’s 3rd in the Burg.