By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Do you have an artistic passion, a creative idea, a book in you that you have been trying to write?  Think, if you were in a quiet working environment that provided room-for-free on 60 beautiful acres of prairie and pastured land and you had no financial or professional obligations to pursue your passion… Can you imagine how well your creative juices could flow?
There is, in fact, such a place in the middle of Nebraska. Art Farm is a tuition-free safe haven to explore one’s artistic aspirations. Since 1993, it has provided housing and expansive studio [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Is someone on your gift list a serious dog lover?  If so, you will love, love, love the work of artist Amelia Santiago. Amelia has successfully combined her love for animals and being an accomplished artist into a career that she is very passionate about. She creates exact replicas of the family pet into fine art needle felted animals.
All sculptures are made with 100% wool. Amelia examines as many photos as she can to “get to know” each pet. She studies them closely to really capture their personalities when creating their needle-felted likeness. On average, [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Last year Anne-Marie wrote about attending local art fairs in Chicago and she shared where to find some of those artists after the fair season in a two part series here and here. This is one of many passions that Anne-Marie and I share. We love and appreciate artists that are not only creative and talented but also have such a devotion to what they do. When Anne-Marie and her family came to visit us at our cottage in Muskoka, Ontario, I wanted to introduce her to one of our local art fairs. The Muskoka [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Is your teen going off to college in another city or state? Are they already missing there 800 closest friends? Here are some great wall art that will keep you (if you are friends with them on Twitter or Facebook) and their friends close.
Social Print Studio can make a 20″ x 40″ print of all their friend’s and family’s profile pictures (you may want to make sure they still really like them all). Simply choose your format, connect with Facebook (you will need to know their password or sneak onto an unattended computer, but you [...]

Decals. There not just for decorating bikes and lockers and school binders anymore. Decals are all grown up now. Graphic wall decals are such an easy, quick and affordable way to add flair and color to a room. They are great for dorms and apartments too and since the decals are easily removable and reusable. No mess, no fuss and perhaps no tools required for installation either. All you need to install these is a smooth clean surface.
We’ve been watching the growing crop of cool offering of decals for home décor and thought we’d give you a round up of [...]

Want to increase your odds of having your letter be opened? Address it by hand. If you want undeniable certainty that it will be opened first, address it in calligraphy. Hand calligraphy, that is.
I recently met with Katherine Glattard, an architect by trade and a calligrapher by passion. I’m in awe of her work. Of course, these days, most of us use a keyboard or a cell phone to write our communications. There is no charm in that. And now, when I must write the rare handwritten note, I find my handwriting awkward and confused, as if it fell prey [...]

There was a day when designers, artists and other creatives were limited to the Zazzle and CafePress marketplaces to offer their creations on demand. But today, previously unattainable production processes have now become available for many types of designs. Technology is to thank again for providing multiple online avenues on which the designers can sell a whole new category of goods, such as items made in 2D laser cuts or in 3D manufacturing with materials such as steel, felt, wood, acrylic or fabric.
With on-demand marketplaces such as Shapeways, Ponoko and Spoonflower, designers can design, manufacture and sell some pretty intricate [...]

How befitting that, today, Valentine’s Day, I would choose to tell you about a wonderful and playful illustrator by the name of Valentina. I thought I’d pay her homage on this day meant for lovers as I have a mad crush on her work, which is, in fact, a tribute to a true love for life.
You want to pay attention here, because I’m quite sure that we will be seeing Valentina Ramos‘ work in all sorts of places very soon. Certainly, it deserves to be. As gifted illustrator, she is making her mark with her own unique style, something that [...]

Every now and then comes along an artist that offers a really new perspective. Alexa Meade, all of 23 years old and not even officially trained in art, is one such remarkable person. And when we say perspective, we mean that she completely toys with our notion of depth and volume as she paints 3D objects (people, mostly) into 2D tableaux.
“Alexa Meade has innovated a Trompe-L’Oeil painting technique that can perceptually compress three-dimensional space into a two-dimensional plane. Her work is a fusion of installation, painting, performance, photography, and video art”.
“Rather than painting a representational picture on a flat canvas, [...]

As mentioned in my last edition, I relish attending the summer’s art festivals.  I have such admiration for the artists who spend much of their summer on the road… So what happens once the season is over? In a continued effort to provide independent artists with more visibility, here is a little shout out to give them some extra exposure to reach art lovers outside of the art fair sphere.