New Clutches, Purses, and Accent Pillows in the Store

The day is FINALLY here!!! I'm so excited to let you know that the shop has been updated with a whole new round of amazing clutches, purses, totes, and ACCENT PILLOWS!! All are made from my hand-marbled fabric in collaboration with the ridiculously talented LA fashion designer Jeanie Joe.

New items include the Mini-Barb Purse, Envelope purses, and totes.

And of course we restocked the store with the ever-popular Veronica Clutch and Nina Coin Purse.

And next week I'll unveil TWO new purse designs...so stay tuned. In the mean time, for more eye candy, check out the store!!

Reminder: Pre-order your 2015 "Lessons from the Studio" by Tomorrow

Just a reminder that you can pre-order my 2015 "Lessons from the Studio" calendar for just $16 (plus shipping) through tomorrow, Sunday, November 2. After that, the price goes up to $19 (plus shipping)! Visit my shop or send an email to Cheers "at" BarbSkoog "dot" com.

Calendar Details:

• The month-by-month planning calendar is a compact size (5″ x 11.5″) and is great for kitchens, work spaces, and even for toting around in your purse (which I do all the time).
• It is spiral bound which makes it easy to lay flat on a desk or hang on a wall.
• Each month features one of my marbled pieces along with a tidbit of soulful insight or advice I gleaned from my studio experiences.

For more information and images, check out my previous post.

Marbled Scarves...on a Windy Day!

Joke is on me today. I tried to photograph some of my marbled scarves but the wind wasn't going to let me...so I took some video of them instead. http://youtu.be/WSi47XXberI

http://youtu.be/LHRKxLkEpsI

The Bloom

I've been applying some of the whacky techniques I learned in the alternative marbling workshop I took a few months ago to paper (we worked with fabric in the workshop) and am loving the results. You have to work really fast when using these particular dispersants together or you lose the magical special effects. This piece is an overmarble and I'm posting a close up of it so you can really see "The Bloom" around the edges.

The Bloom is my favorite technique I learned in the workshop ~ and the particular formula was developed/discovered by a combination of our teacher and another student in the class. And this is another reason I love marbling so much...it is an equalizer. Master marblers can be schooled by beginning marblers just as easily as the other way around!

New Clutch Purse: Split Personality

Well, she did it again! The wonderful Jeanie Joe dropped off a new clutch purse last week (along with some more small and large coin purses) and boy-oh-boy is this another beauty!

I'm calling her Split Personality because she has two different faces...and I can't decide which one I like better:

This roomy purse easily holds your cell phone, wallet, make-up, and more. There is also a deep, inside zipper pocket.

Details:

• Cost is $95 + shipping (and tax, if applicable).
• The clasp is shiny silver and easily fits on the hooks of public bathroom doors (very important detail!).
• Each clutch purse is one-of-a-kind, made with high-quality materials, and washable.

Approximate measurements:

• Top of frame is 8 inches (20 cm) long
• Bottom of purse is 10 inches (25.5 cm) long
• Middle of purse is 13 inches (33 cm) long
• Width at bottom is 2.5 inches (6.25 cm)
• Overall height is 5.5 inches (12.5 cm)

~ Head on over to my shop to purchase. ~

Pinch Me

I have been dying to share this news with you and am thrilled I can finally do so!

Above is the cover of a new book by esteemed poet (he's got 12 books and a ton of awards under his belt, after all), Philip Dacey. And if you haven't noticed already, that cover art...it's none other than Symphony I, a collaboration by Rebecca Tager and me for our Triptych Fusion show last fall.

A few months ago, independent press Rain Mountain contacted me expressing interest in using the piece for the cover...and was wondering if I would be willing to work with them. Ladies and gentlemen, how could I respond to this inquiry with anything other than a big, fat YES? So Rebecca and I agreed, a contract was drawn up, and next thing I know, I'm sending image files to the publisher.

But it doesn't end there.

As the editor and I emailed each other back and forth, I shared the story behind Symphony I and Triptych Fusion. She then asked if I would write an appendix for the book, explaining the art of marbling in general and the birth of Symphony I specifically. Would I? How could I pass up another opportunity "to bring marbling to the masses"? Of course I would. The editor gave me free reign on length (when does that ever happen?) and style and I ended up writing less of a technical piece and more of a personal essay about how marbling came into my life and how I engage with the art form. And I have to say, I think this is my favorite piece about marbling that I've written yet.

Which is fitting considering Church of the Adagio is a collection of Dacey's most cherished poems. In his own words:

Church of the Adagio is my first miscellaneous collection since my 1999 book, The Paramour of the Moving Air. Five books have appeared in the 15 intervening years, all with special themes or foci: Thomas Eakins, New York City, sonnets, short poems, and “fives” (a format of five five-line stanzas per poem). It’s therefore been a long while since I could choose poems for inclusion in a book solely because I had a special fondness for a poem or took a certain pride in having made it. Variety is a keynote of the book--variety of style, subject matter, form, and tone. I hope the ultimate effect is kaleidoscopic or cornucopian.

If you haven't read Dacey yet, you're in for a real treat. Wrapped up in his unwavering command of language of structure, you'll find his work to be contemporary and accessible, playful and witty, engaging and emotional without falling victim to over-romanticizing or over-dramatization. In other words, my kind of poetry.

Church of the Adagio will be released on July 1. You can pre-order at Rain Mountain or on Amazon. And if you'd like to get a sneak peak at a few of the poems, you can do so here.

Yesterday's Work ~ Today's Joy

Marbled nature ~ specifically, marbled magnolia leaves. These are much bigger than the last round of leaves I marbled and they are more browns and mustard yellows than the lovely red...but I had just as much fun working on them. I once again finished them with a light spray of glossy acrylic spray in hopes of preventing them from continuing to dry out and crumble. Only time will tell if that works.

They Did Two Ketubahs!

The wedding day came and our friends could not decide which marbled mat they wanted for their ketubah so they did what any good, non-traditional couple from LA would do ~ they had TWO ketubahs. Hey, if one is good then two must be great, right?! So they now have ketubahs adorned with Options B and C...exactly the two favorites you all picked!

As I mentioned previously, I gave them a total of six marbled mats from which to choose. They were able to narrow it down to three, which I posted here. And below are the three that didn't make it to the final round ~ though not because they didn't like them. I'm pretty sure if they had enough wall space for six ketubahs, they would have taken all six!

I learned a lot about marbling on mats this size ~ what you can and can't do, what looks better, the time involved to marble one, and more importantly, how much fun it is! If you're ever in need of a special gift (for a wedding, anniversary, new baby, etc.), you may want to consider a marbled mat. This is the fourth time I've marbled mats for people (this official document, two poems, and an engagement photo) and I'm always delightfully surprised at how beautiful it looks ~ not only the mat but how it enhances the piece it's framing! It truly is a one-of-a-kind gift!

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

I am simply thrilled that friends of mine asked me to be a part of their wedding by marbling their ketubah. But rather than marble the actual document (check out some of the amazing decorated ketubahs), I suggested that I marble a mat which can then be framed. They loved the idea. Thankfully so, too! You only get one ketubah and the thought of messing it up and not being able to fix it was nerve racking. If I screwed up a mat, I could at least go out and get a hundred more to work on. After talking to them about color schemes and art direction (which pieces of mine they liked and wanted me to emulate), I set to work in the studio. I have marbled on mats before but none this large ~ 16" x 20". I was used to marbling on much smaller mats ~ 4" x 6" and 5" x 7". With these smaller mats, there is actually not a lot of space to marble on so the design has to be more simple. But faced with a heck of a lot more surface area on the larger mat, my options were quite endless. Translated, this means I had a TON OF FUN exploring what I could do to give them not just a marbled mat but a really cool piece of art.

Earlier this week, I presented to them six marbled-mat creations and asked them to let me know if the colors were right and if they were liking the designs I was creating. My intention was to then tweak things and do one more round.

Well, they loved what they saw. They loved all six of the mats and didn't want me tweaking anything!

So now the pressure is off me and on them; they have to pick the one mat that they would like to have frame their ketubah. Turns out, this is easier said than done.

After narrowing it down to three, they still can't decide. And this is where I turn to you...

Can you help them out a bit? Which mat do you like best? Let me know by leaving your vote in the comments!

Option A

Option B

Option C

And next week, I'll post the other three that didn't make it to the final round. There's one in there that I am madly in love with!

Totally Cellular

I mentioned earlier this week that the large and small coin purses Jeanie Joe and I have created are selling like hot cakes. Well, I should also mention that this is the last clutch purse we have immediately available! We call her Cellular.

This roomy purse easily holds your cell phone, wallet, make-up, and more. There is also a deep, inside zipper pocket.

Details:

• Cost is $95 + shipping (and tax, if applicable).
• The clasp is shiny silver and easily fits on the hooks of public bathroom doors (very important detail!).
• Each clutch purse is one-of-a-kind, made with high-quality materials, and washable.

Approximate measurements:

• Top of frame is 8 inches (20 cm) long
• Bottom of purse is 10 inches (25.5 cm) long
• Middle of purse is 13 inches (33 cm) long
• Width at bottom is 2.5 inches (6.25 cm)
• Overall height is 5.5 inches (12.5 cm)

~ Head on over to my shop to purchase. ~

Papers from the Arts Crawl

I am usually bone tired after a doing a demo, especially after the South Pasadena Arts crawl which is three hours long and goes until 9 p.m. Afterwards, I have to tear down, drive home, unpack everything from the car, wash up tools and tanks, and put everything back where it belongs in the studio. The last thing I do is put my papers under heavy boards to flatten. Then I hit the sack and sleep right on through to the next day!

It's usually a few days later that I get around to really looking at the papers I made during the demo. I always think I do a "hack" job while demoing mostly because my full attention is not on the tank. And because takes me longer than normal to create a piece because I'm talking through the process and answering questions along the way, the bath starts to get very dusty and very cranky. I try to tell myself to be chill about it all...that people don't notice the dust spots and disintegrating paints and unclean lines the way I immediately do when I pull a paper from the bath. After all, I'm going for purpose here, not perfection. I'm simply trying to share the magic of marbling with others and raise awareness of the art form. Mission accomplished.

When I eventually get around to looking at the demo papers a few days later, I am always pleasantly surprised by what I find. Sure, the flaws are still there but that's not what hits me first. What hits me first is exactly what people watching my demo see when a piece is pulled from the bath: pure, uncomplicated beauty and the joy of making it.

And that trumps dust spots any day!

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And then there were Two

The photo above is the new line of large and small coin purses made by the fashion designer Jeanie Joe using my marbled fabric. I posted it to my Facebook page last week and within an hour, I had sold three of the five in the picture above plus one I had not even photographed yet. You have no idea how happy I was to send them off to new homes where I know they are going to be loved as much as I love them. One person said it was the perfect "pickle purse ~ you know, for band-aids, ibuprofen, things you need when you're in a pickle." That is awesome.

While the talented Jeanie Joe is making more, I have added the last two large coin purses to my shop.

Details:

• $35 + shipping (and tax where applicable)
• Each coin purse is one-of-a-kind, made with high-quality materials, and washable.
• Large coin purses measure 5" long at the base, tapering to 4" at the top. They are just over an inch wide and about 3.5" tall. Credit cards fit comfortably in them. And, as noted above, they are the perfect "pickle purse."
• The black coin purse has a silver clasp.
• The earth-tone coin purse has a brushed bronze clasp.

 ~ Click on images for large photos. ~

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The Marbling Fun Never Ends

Marbled cork coasters! Adding this to the list of materials we marble on in my Beginning Marbling and Introduction to Marbling classes this spring! So. Much. Fun!

Bookmark-a-Cause

I am so, so excited to share with you my latest project: Bookmark-A-Cause.

For over a year I've been trying to figure out a way to tie my artwork into a charitable cause. When I ran Hope's Flame ("candles for those who believe a little hope can go a long way"), a portion of all of my sales went to one of three non-profit organizations I passionately supported. It was an easy and natural fit ~ candles and charity. But with my artwork, simply saying a portion of sales went to a great cause felt very forced. People buy art because it speaks to them, not because they want to support a charity. And my artwork is a different price point than my candles. People might by a $10 candle just to support a cause but they are not going to buy a $150 piece of art just to support one.

This summer, a friend of mine had a book published and she approached me about making bookmarks she could give away as gifts. I mocked up a few ideas but in the end she decided not to do it. However, I was left with a handful of great bookmarks and as I started to use them myself, I felt pulled toward the ones I made using canvas.

And that's when it hit me ~ hand-marbled bookmarks + non-profit organizations = A WIN! I had found a way to align my work with a cause. And it felt very right.

I love marbling on canvas but it does have its challenges ~ the larger weave makes it difficult to marble a delicate or more intricate pattern or design. Instead, I tend to marble what I call "movement" designs ~ images that create a sense of fluidity. I also do a lot of overmarbles to add depth and texture. As a larger piece, I'm never a fan of my canvas creations, but when I cut them down to bookmark size (2"x8"), they are fantastic. As the saying goes, "the devil is in the details," and wowzer, if that isn't true with these bookmarks. Sometimes I find myself staring at my bookmark instead of reading my book!

My first round of 100 bookmarks will be available at the South Pasadena Arts Crawl this Saturday, March 8. They are $5 and proceeds benefit SPACE Arts Center in South Pasadena. I'll have them at Book'em Mysteries Bookstore (1118 Mission Street) where I'll be doing my marbling demonstration from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. They will also be available at SPACE (1506 Mission Street).

And I would be terribly remiss if I didn't mention that all the canvas is being donated by Artist Brand Canvas, a family-owned and operated company selling stretched canvas to artists for over 43 years. All their materials are American made and their wood is sourced from a company using sustainable practices. And remember how said marbling on canvas has its challenges ~ well, their canvas is the ONLY canvas I have been able to marble on 100% successfully. It is such high-quality ~ with no fillers or crappy chemicals that interfere with the binding process (which is the main problem with other canvas...the paint slides right off!). I'm not getting paid by them  to say this. I truly believe in their product and am THRILLED they are part of the Bookmark-a-Cause family!

January Header

I just love seeing my pieces from many different angles, distances, and perspectives. In this case, getting *very* up close and personal with this piece, which this month's header comes from, feels so different than stepping back and looking at the whole picture.

This piece is from one of my favorite series that came out of my summer session: the Amoeba Series. The series started as an exploration of creating interesting backgrounds on which to overmarble. When I teach, I like to show my students how surface tension and the order in which the paints are thrown affect color. I do this by laying down the same color over and over again. This way they can see that the one color comes out in various shades, making it look like you threw four or five or six different paint colors even though you only threw one. The more often I demoed this and the more I perfected a particular technique, I started to see something interesting...the end result was what I can only describe as cloud or cotton-ball like. And this is what I was exploring when I created a ton of backgrounds sheets.

Since the background themselves were so intriguing and could stand on their own, I knew the next step ~ the overmarble ~ needed to be understated yet dramatically complementary. I did not want to cover up or hide that gorgeous background but whatever was on top needed to be strong and stand on its own as well.

A few weeks later, I was playing around with dispersant to see what kind of unique shapes I could make and that's when I decided to combine the two techniques ~ and the Amoeba Series was born.

The pieces in this series are so thought provoking to me and I had a hard time picking which one I wanted to use to create the header this month ~ especially because of the different look and feel it creates when the original is resized and cropped. It took me a while to warm to this header ~ I was so into the background that I didn't give much thought to the overmarble (the "amoeba"). But now I am in love with the fluidity and the texture of the overmarble ~ I want to ride those waves and rivers and see where they take me!