quote of the day

Wake up and visualize your day as a blank canvas. Ask yourself, "Who is the artist today? Blind circumstance, or me? If I choose to be the artist, how do I want to paint my day?"

- Steve Chandler

gingerbread houses

My family made gingerbread houses for the first time ever and I'd have to say it was quite a success! It was definitely more difficult then I thought it would be, maybe because the gingerbread was from a box with an unknown expiration date. Or maybe I'm just not cut our for gingerbread constructing, but I had a great time anyways. 

I was super thrilled that a friend of mine, Ryan, was able to join us that night... well until he showed us all up with his mad skills. ;) His house is the one expertly constructed on the far left (green and red walls), mine is the one in the middle (red door), and Shaunessy's is the far right (with hand-crafted wreath on the door). Mom and Dad built the beautiful trees in the back. 

Gingerbread houses are fun... If you want to give it a go, I would just suggest maybe making your own gingerbread, or use graham crackers, it would be just as fun. :)

Happy Holidays! 

quote of the day

"Be an artist at whatever you do. Even if you are a street-sweeper, be a Michelangelo of street sweepers!"

-Martin Luther King Jr.

empathic civilisation

I am taking a Peacebuilding Colloquium class this semester online and each week we have to listen to a short lecture and record a video response to it, stating what was taught and how our feelings of building peace has changed because of it.

This week we watched this video as part of our assignment. I really enjoyed it, not only because of what was being said, but also because of the way it was being portrayed. What a creative way to get your ideas and feelings out there.

Hope you enjoy.

quote of the day

"When I open my eyes in the morning I am not confronted by the world, but by a million possible worlds."

- Colin Wilson

Found in 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself 

dot art ornaments

{The Dot Art Ornament}

I found some glass ornaments at the dollar store, first of I have to tell you how much I love the dollar store, it's the perfect place for crafters to get their creativity on. Anyways I decided to pick up a few ornaments and see what I could come up with. A few days before I found them I had actually posted about my Australian Dot Art obsession and figured I should give it a try with these ornaments. 

When I got home and started looking on Pinterest guess what I found??? ----------------------->

The woman who makes these is amazing! I would totally recommend checking out her Etsy shop.

Pearle's creations helped me gain inspiration and I couldn't wait to get started. Ok, now nice thoughts only. Keep in mind these are my first attempts so no comparing mine to Pearle's beautiful artwork ok? ;)

I first started with a base coat of a solid color

Then proceeded with the dots

After I was finished I spray-painted the tops silver

and coated the ornament with a glaze finish

Ta da! Here are the finished products:

SWIRL design

WRAPPED PRESENT design

FLOWER POWER design

It was such a fun project, I encourage everyone to give it a shot. But, in the meantime, if you feel so inclined, these and a few other designs are now available on our Etsy shop. Just click on the "Etsy" tab at the top of the page. :)

fall ball promo

Look what Sarah and RJ did!!!

My friends are legit! The "Treasure the Night" themed Fall Ball will be held on a dinner cruise this year; so RJ, Sarah, Kiram, and La Rue drew this masterpiece and with the filming expertise of L. Brent Galotera they made this amazing promo.

 Yay for Fall Ball

art tip of the week

Tip #2 

Find Quotes That Inspire You

I love words and I love when they're put together in quote form. When I find a quote that really speaks to me, I write it down and reread it often. I try and figure out why it stood out amongst everything else I had read or heard all day. Usually there's a pretty good reason. 

Here's a quote I heard on a program called The Aspen Minute from The Aspen Ideas Festival. 

"Art comes from that part of us that is without fear, prejudice, malice or any of the other things that we create to separate ourselves; one from the other. Art makes each of us whole by insisting that we use all of our senses; our heads and our hearts. That we express with our voices, our hands, our bodies, as well as with our minds. And in this modern society, art may be the only force that invites expression from the inside out, where the pure light of the wisdom of the soul is realized."

-Jessye Norman

art journal

{The Art Journal}

I was scouring Pinterest and Etsy for Thanksgiving craft ideas when this one hit me. See, my family has this notebook that we pull out every Thanksgiving called the Thankful Journal, but its just a boring old black and white speckled notebook that looks similar to this:

Whoever was spending the holiday with us that year would take time to write a little about what they were thankful for. I thought it would be nice to share this tradition with other families, in a more artistic way. I found a few ideas on how to make my own little journals, instead of buying one. 

These pins helped inspire me:

 Left: As seen on Maggie Holmes Design       Right: As seen on Wit & Whistle

Luckily I had a few things just laying around out house that I could put together. I used regular white and colored paper for the inside, a card-stock style paper for the outside, pen, sharpie, colored pencils, needle, think white thread, hemp, glue gun, and buttons. There are so many other designs that can be created. I think thats what made it so much fun.

Supplies:

 Each book is about 5.5x4.5"  

and has 16 pages

 

We'll have a few available to buy in our Etsy store soon, so don't forget to check back.  

daily doodle

"People are friends.....best friends....not food."

Drawing by Brad B, avid shark activist. Promoting shark and human harmony across the globe.

all the rowboats

I just ran across this today while watching this other video (which is art in itself... kinda).

Love Regina Spektor

Love street art

Love this

Artist, Garry Donnellan, spent 12 hours drawing this portrait of Regina to celebrate the release of her album "What We Saw From the Cheap Seats." What a creative way to promote and market her music.  

halloween town

My family decided to decorate for halloween with a twist this year. 

Painting pumpkins is a quicker and much less messy way to enjoy the Halloween season. 

 Grey Roof & Purple with Moon: Shaunessy (little sister) 
Blue House: McKae (me) 
Purple & Green Houses: Jaki (my mom) 

daily doodle

"Mike Wazowski" (Said in Boo's voice) by Shaunessy Joyner

I recruited my little sister, Shaunessy, and her friends to help out a bit with the blog. Here is the first of many daily doodles from these aspiring artists. So stay tuned for more. 

This particular piece was expertly done with a broken wrist. Now that's talent. 

kape't gatas mona lisa

I'm not quite sure where this is or who created it but it's the Mona Lisa made out of cups of coffee and milk, or as it's called in the Philippines, "kape't gatas" (I thought that was appropriate to include seeing as RJ sent me this picture). 

Anyways this is legit and I feel it deserves recognition.

So kudos to you, coffee-mona-lisa-maker. 

daily doodle

  

Turphin

Turtle + shark fin = Turphin

australian dot art

Last summer I visited a friend in Seattle. 

While he gave me with an awesome tour around the city, 

we went to an art museum. 

I realized it was my first time ever being in one. 

I loved it all, but there was one piece that really caught my attention. 

It was Australian Dot Art painted by whole groups of people

on huge animal hides. 

The one I saw looked similar to this one.

I loved the idea so much, I decided to come home and try it myself. 

Here are a few pieces I was able to finish during that summer. 

 "When the Stars Go Blue"

 "Star-Spangled Banner"                   "Just Keep Swimming"

spotlight

{RJ Gualberto}

Our dear friend, RJ Gualberto, is one very talented person and we are so grateful that he was gracious enough to accept our request to spotlight him here on Art in Circulation. And we couldn’t be more excited about him being the first one.

RJ is a student here at BYU-Hawaii from the Philippines. He is double majoring in Painting (2D Fine Arts) and Graphic Design.

RJ started crafting his artistic skills when he was just in grade school, he had his first sketchbook by the time he had graduated elementary school. Back in fourth grade he noticed that his uncle had a secret sketchbook hidden away but RJ didn’t let that deter him, he snuck in and studied that coveted sketchbook and tried to imitate what his uncle created. It was his uncle’s works of art that first inspired RJ to be what he is today.

The inspiration didn’t stop there; today there are many artists that inspire him. Mainly the ones that come up with new ideas and new ways to paint, he likes to try and incorporate some of their ideas into his own works of art. One of those artists is, the painter, Carl Heinrich Bloch, who creates Renaissance themed depictions of Christ (Pictured Right: Bloch's Gethsemane). Although Bloch is not a member of the LDS church, many of his pieces are used by the church. RJ actually first discovered Bloch's work in an LDS Church magazine. 

Just as Bloch has a particular style, medium, and topic, RJ is particular as well. He loves to draw and paint the expressions of the human face, mainly with the use of oil paints.  His works are inspired by the traditional process of drawing and painting of the old masters and he is now, still exploring that technique along with contemporary concepts of hyperrealism. Jeremy Geddes and Brad Kunkl are two contemporary realist artists who have also inspired RJ to pursue his talents. He states that he feels more confident painting on large scale canvases and claims it's more fun as well. He likes to challenge himself in each painting by trying something new or working on aspects that are difficult for him. Constantly moving toward improvement.

When asked what one part of his craft he would like to one-day master, he promptly responded, “Drawing.” Out of every aspect of art he feels it is the most important, for it is the skeleton of every painting. (Below: The Iron Rod [charcoal on paper]).

Everyone who has seen RJ and what he has created thus far, knows that he is certainly going places. In the future, RJ wants to use his talents to teach kids who want to fulfill their dreams of being an artist. He mainly wants to focus on kids that are high school aged.  He feels that this is the time when we decide to stick to, or neglect, our gifts. Creative outlets for art study are, at times, hard to find and pressures on these youth make it harder. He wants to inspire his students to pursue their talents, not lay them by the wayside for something the world deems more profitable.

Along with this inspiration, we asked RJ what other advice he might have for aspiring artists. He told us that if you truly want to be a full time artist you can’t expect 100% success right after high school, but he encourages them not to give up. Keep practicing. Keep learning.

For kicks and giggles we asked RJ one last question: “If you could master any other type of art form what would it be? (Ex. Dance, Photography, Clothing Design, Music)” He stated that he would like to learn more about the Multi Media aspects of art. Such as Animation, Video, and Graphic Design (which goes perfectly with his major). We at Art in Circulation believe that he will succeed in this goal as well as every other goal he may set for himself.

RJ, without a doubt, is going to go on and do great things with his talents and his life. Just like his uncle, RJ will inspire many with his breathtaking gifts and wonderful personality.

                                                     Mahi (work in progress)                                       To This End Was I Born (Oil on Canvas 30x40")

night market

A few weeks back a group of us took a 6+ hour trip to Siem Reap. Our first night there we got to walk around the Night Market and it was such a blast. There’s nothing better than a little shopping when everything’s super cheap. While we were there, little Li Nah, (one of the darling, 6yr old, girls from the orphanage) got a hold my camera and started taking pictures of everything. I found this one later and think it’s absolutely beautiful. Look at all the colors!!!

Here's a little self portrait of the there artist as well.

She's a born photographer for sure.

layover in korea

Look what I made in Korea!

On the way to Cambodia, we had a 3hr layover in Incheon, Korea. While we were there, we visited a little traditional Korean shop in the airport. At the time they were having a free ink printing activity. So Aria and I made a print of Korean characters.

Cool huh?

dont wake me up

Saying goodbye sucks.

Plain and simple. 

I leave in the morning for her Humanitarian trip in Cambodia so we thought we'd make a little video in memory of our Simply FABULOUS summer. 

... don't wake me up...

daily doodle

Today's daily doodle isn't really a doodle

The question is...

is it Art?

Yao claims that it is, he says that it shows that you can't judge something by it's outside.

I say it's just supposed to be an optical illusion... not art. 

But, who are we to say anything?

(found left in the printer... by: Anonymous)

quote painting

Yay for our first Pinterest project!!!

{The Quote Painting}

Found on: A Beautiful Mess

My roomates made one of these a few weeks ago and it turned out so legit. Kenzie had been given the painting from the old lady she works for (she lives in a mansion and switches out the hall paintings every so often). It was a painting of a pond with tons of green foliage around it. They ended up using the quote: "Breathe it all in, Love it all out."

When Sarah and I visited the Give & Take the first time, I found a random painting on canvas and decided to try one of my own.

I used the quote: "I refuse to sink" which I thought was fitting due to it being a painting of the London Bridge.

I used the address letter-stickers my roomies had left over and then made the rest with cardboard. Then stuck them on the painting (for the makeshift letters use small pieces of tape rolled up or the double sided kind). Once they are all aligned the way I wanted them, I carefully painted over them with whatever color fitted my fancy at the time. We chose white, like in the pin. Once the paint was dry, I simply removed the letters and whaalaa. 

BEFORE

AFTER

What I would do different: Make sure to have stickers for all the letters and if not, use just plain paper. The paint seeped under the cardboard way too easy, making the finished product look quite sloppy. 

We thought about selling this on Etsy, but I personally think we need a little more practice first. Hopefully we'll have time to make more, and they will be available. But, if you absolutely love this one, let us know and we'd be more than thrilled to sell it to ya. 

daily doodle

Our daily doodle today is by our coworker and dear friend Mami.

She is such an amazing, talented person!

Mami and her husband Mark are expecting their first baby in Decemeber, 

so they decided to go move to Japan to be closer to her family.

We're all super sad about it, but so excited for her and her little growing family.

We love you Mami!!!

art tip of the week

Tip #1

Visit Your Local Give & Take

Here at BYU-Hawaii they have recently set up a Give & Take for students and community members. Donation bins are set up all around campus where clothes, household items, etc. can be dropped off. Sarah and decided to visit the other day and see if we could find any treasures. 

Needless to say, we succeeded...

In place of the things we took we donated a few of our own. Don't throw nice things away, there are tons of crafty people who might love them.  If it is not a possibility to give, giving service is another great alternative. We got to spend a little time sorting and hanging clothes for the next treasure hunters. We had a great time. :)