Order within Borders- Art for All Ages

Do you wish you had an artistic bent so you could decorate your own objects? Do you work with children and want to occupy them with some simple craft?

Traditional Tuesday – Gzhel Porcelain

Traditional Tuesday examines a beautiful old porcelain technique developed near Moscow in the 1800's. Although Stoneware had been produced in this region since the 1400's, it wasn't until 19th century that the Russians perfected Chinese porcelain techniques in Gzhel. This traditional legacy continues today.

Why Make it Yourself? Travel theme – Handmade

When it comes to darning socks, almost no-one does it anymore. Cheap items and time poor couples with high disposable income, have relegated simple repairs to low priced essentials, to the pages of history books. Shouldn't we be overjoyed that we are freed from the yoke of menial tasks?

Tree Painting Tutorial from Zachary Rau

Blog - Reform School — Zachary Rau. If you want to make your own Christmas decorative pieces for next year, here is a guide to painting a coniferous Christmas tree Blog - Reform School — Zachary Rau.

Phoneography and Non-SLR Digital Devices Photo Challenge: Editing and Processing

Doodling with a pencil or paintbrush can assist in tapping into the right side or more artistic side of your brain as the logical left brain gets silenced. I developed a new logo for my artwork a day or so ago, whilst doing just that. As there was blobs of crappy mistakes in the original…

Upcycling: Folk art – Tole painting on metal jug

  Despite the intense heat of the last few days, I did manage to produce a small item of decorative art. An old metal jug/watering can needed a facelift.  A simple daisy flower painted with a technique of using progressively lighter overlaying shades of acrylic gouache, some blended dry brushed leaves and some flyspecking with…

Hand Painted Flower – DIY Dry Brush / Overlay Technique- Free Pattern

A quiblog pictures 004ck but effective way to decorate a small object is by painting a simple garland of hand-painted flowers. "Oh! But I am not a painter I hear you say!!" Well, that's ok, because you don't need any specific skills for this technique. It is VERY forgiving! And it does not have to be perfect.

Completing a Renaissance Baroque art project – Another UFO down.

When you live at least four decades and more, you tend to accumulate a lot of 'stuff'. Particularly if you are into craft, as I am. At some point, it becomes overwhelming and this is when you need to have a good look at your stash and perform a swift and sometimes cruel cull. But another less painful way to clean up is to complete some Un Finished Objects, hitherto referred to as UFOs. And do so with a determination akin to that of a Tasmanian devil hanging on to its prey.

Weekend project – Rosemaling

A Telemark Rosemaling project in acrylics, I started years back, as evidenced by the badly formed C scroll, was completed yesterday. Apart from the C scroll it was reasonable pleasing to the eye and even more pleasing to the soul, to remove one more piece from the "To Do" list.

Hindeloopen painting -a Traditional Decorative Art

HIndeloopen art is a type of traditional decorative painting originated in the northern province of Friesland, The Netherlands. It is a form of folk art painted by the maritime community of Hinderloopen, (a small town on the Zuiderzee). During times of bad weather when there was no fish to sell, sailors/fisherman would turn to painting as a way to pass the time and make some money.

Traditional Norwegian Painting – Rosemaling Rules and Telemark Technique

Rosemaling - the traditional painting of Norway! Ah, the joy of painting. So little time and so many pieces of wood to paint.... the folk artist's lament! Determined to get something painted this week, I traced a pattern on a base painted plate. I will share a few of the secrets to successful painting here. For more on the history of Rosemaling, click on this link: