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My ARTistic Life
Creativity and Sharing from Helga at
ARTchix Studio
Issue #3, March - May 2007
Click images to enlarge
| About
My ARTistic Life (Our New Newsletter) |
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Cover of Issue #3
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Sorry, this
issue is no longer available. But luckily you can read it here (see
below). |
| About
Our Cover Art |
Collage by
Helga
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While in San
Miguel de Allende, my Mom and I
took a class called Windows to the Soul by Rebecca Peterson
(mexrebe@yahoo.com). It was a wonderful, creative day for the two of us!
Check out the
gorgeous shrine my Mom made below. |
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Letter from Helga |
Me with a
gigantic, surprise Valentine’s Day
balloon in Mexico |
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Dear Art Friend,
Hope all is well and happy in your world. Here in ARTchix-land, life
is muy bien!
Earlier this year, James and I spent 2 weeks in beautiful San Miguel de
Allende, Mexico, with my parents. We had an amazing time!
I was really quite enamored with this city. The food, people, shopping,
art, architecture, ahhh, it was heavenly! There is so much for us
artchixies to do there: art classes of all kinds and fun cooking classes
(all in English), plus art galleries with unique artwork by local
artists, stunning colonial architecture to photograph and some awesome
shopping! Check out some of my favorite souvenirs on page 5.
I just love to travel...it’s a big part of my artistic life. Seeing new
sites, enjoying a different culture, living new experiences...that is
what gets me motivated to play and make new art.
So, I will continue to share my fun travels with you when I can. Perhaps
what inspired me will inspire you in a new and totally cool way.
I’m off to Guadalajara, Mexico, for my birthday in April so you can bet
that I’ll have some fun goodies and tidbits to share with you in May.
Wishing you a wonderful, art-filled day,
Helga
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My
Inspiration |
| I felt so inspired by San
Miguel de Allende. Beauty, creativity, and vibrant colors surrounded me
every day. Here are some of my favorite photos. I hope they inspire you
too. |
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Shrine by my Mom,
Karen Strauss
My Mom made this incredible shrine in the class we took together in
Mexico. Isn’t it amazing?! We had so much taking this class
together. It was a wonderful bonding
experience for the two of us.
I love the way she wrapped the little twig with wire and beads and
added a cute birdie. Also, the image of the pear with the woman’s
face looks sooo cool! My Mom rocks (as you can see). I’m so proud of
her. |
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Wowza!
Doorway
I walked by this door every
day. For a few days, these pretty streamers were up and I was just
blown away! |
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Neat Rooftop
Love these potted plants lining
this rooftop! Now I want to do a collage of a house with lots of
plants like this. |
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Cool Sink
This was the sink I looked at
every day. It made me want to play with black and white stripes and
checkerboards in my collages! |
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Blooming Window
This balcony overflowing with
colorful potted plants really caught my eye!
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| My
Art Studio on the road |
| You never
know when inspiration is going to strike so I find it’s best to
bring a few art essentials when traveling. I just throw the items
below into a zip lock bag, pack it in my checked luggage and then I
can relax knowing that I can collage anytime. Then while on the
road, I like to gather receipts, labels and ephemera to make quick,
impromptu collages. You can find most of these items at
www.dickblick.com. |
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Watercolor Crayons
I couldn’t live without my
watercolor crayons! They’re perfect for making quick backgrounds.
And I also like to use them to draw shapes and highlight areas in my
collages. |
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Fiskars Scissors
I like to bring these scissors because they’re easy to use and
they’re good for cutting out
medium and small items.
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Sakura
SumoGrip Pencil
& Kuretake Brush Pen
The squishy grip on this
mechanical pencil is extra comfy & it’s great for sketching ideas.
The brush pen is perfect for blending my watercolor crayons. |
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Moleskin Watercolor Notebook
I love the extra thick paper in
this notebook. And it’s small size makes it perfect for traveling. |
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UHU
Glue Stick
I use this glue stick for just
about all of my paper collages...at home and on the road.
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| My
Souvenirs |
| The
shopping in San Miguel de Allende is not to be missed! Oh, I was in
heaven! Here are some of my favorite purchases: |
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Handmade Paper Flowers
I bought these incredible, handmade, brilliantly colored paper
flowers in the Mercado de Artesanias. The artist carefully
wrapped each bouquet in different colors of tissue paper. They
looked sooo gorgeous! I carried them around that day with a huge
smile plastered on my face. |
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Nest
Bracelet by Lisa Simms
My Mom and I both fell in love with this bracelet of silver nests
and pearl eggs by Lisa. We had a pair made as precious momentos from
our trip. |
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Handpainted Ceramic Faces
I now have these ceramic faces proudly displayed in my studio. I
bought them from Casa Maxwell, a delightful, huge maze of a
shop. |
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Mexican Calendar Girls
by Angela Villalba
Love the images in this book! I bought this at an excellent artsy
bookstore: Libros El Tecolote. |
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Handmade Mermaids
I collect mermaids and there seemed to be cool, unique,
handmade mermaids just about
everywhere I looked! |
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Favorite Products: Español |
Being in
Mexico has made me want to salsa with these fabulous
products! |
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1)
Latin America Transparency Sheet
(#T416)
James and I took all of these
photos in beautiful Granada, Nicaragua. It’s another gorgeous,
artistically inspiring city with colorful, colonial architecture.
But it doesn’t have the art classes and tons of stuff to do like San
Miguel de Allende has.
I made an awesome journal cover with just the large door and an old,
handwritten letter behind it. It looked really cool! |
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2)
Mexico Charms
(#AB971)
My next project: make a charm
bracelet with these cute charms + my trip pics in round photo charms
! |
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3)
Milagro Legs
(#AB904)
Some believe that carrying
these legs can help protect you while traveling. Hmm...maybe I’ll
make a little ATC with these to carry with me on my next trip.
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4)
NEW! Mini Loteria Game
(#AB1076)
I’m in love with Loteria
(Mexican bingo). This mini size is perfect for jewelry & ATCs!
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Gallery |
| These
gorgeous Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) were all created for our Bottle
Swap. Aren’t they great? I thought it was really neat to see the
Fairy in a Bottle,
Ocean in a Bottle and
Nature in a Bottle collage
sheets that I designed come to life in these lovely collages. |
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ATC by
Kimberly Moore
The label on the egg looks
so neat! |
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ATC by
Jill Noblitt
Love the mysterious feeling! |
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ATC
by Stacha Reed
Love the repetition & beadwork! |
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ATC
by Linda Kunsman
Yay, love the Mini Me effect! |
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ATC
by Kim Thuleweit
These bottles can be pulled out of the little pail. Great idea! |
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ATC
by Kim Sparshott
Really like how the tiny bottle is wedged in around pretty sequins,
shells, beads & glitter! |
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