The ‘Daily Artisan Spotlight’ is a regular feature on Mindless Pursuits intended to provide insight and exposure to the tons of talented artisans working today. Please comment and give them some encouragement and check out their work! If you would like to be considered for the Spotlight, click on the ‘Free Press’ link above!

What is your shop? 
Cabo Designs (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5180140)

What is your art/craft?
I produce Watercolor Paintings I also have hand knitted accessories

Describe your style in 2 words:
Floral

What is your favorite piece and why?
As you will see, I love the bearded Iris and enjoy all flowers.

What is the most memorable piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Learn to add darks to my paintings, they were not getting enough contrast, but I think I have accomplished that now.

What is the one piece of advice you’d give?
Keep learning and studying about your craft.

Today we’re going to look at the evolution of an idea as it proceeds from being a vaguely abstract thought to being a painting hanging on a wall. While the idea didn’t end up being completed quite as I originally envisioned it, I think seeing how it progressed may give some ideas on painting workflow to others.

It all started off with an idea I had while driving home from a doctor’s appointment last week. I was thinking about my usual painting subjects (landscapes and flowers) and was wondering which I wanted to do next. My cherry blossom paintings are my most popular, but after doing a few more during the week, I was tired of the home decor style painting and wanted to do something different. Unfortunately, I also knew that my skills had not progressed yet to be able to do a more realistic painting of them.  Regardless, I knew I wanted to do something that evoked the light, gentle feeling of cherry blossoms. I also had this random thought of a young girl sitting on a swing, looking a little sad as the cherry blossoms danced around her, carried on the wind. The result was the sketch above. Read More

As part of the kickoff of the monthly featured artisan feature, I am happy to bring you the second featured artisan: Sarah of Small Shiny Objects. Sarah creates beaded jewelry and other beaded gifts that she describes as ‘comfortable elegance.’ In Small Shiny Objects you will find necklaces, earrings, bracelets, crystal suncatchers and a couple of crafts from her little girl Laura! Most of her jewelry is made with a combination of semi-precious stones, Swarovski crystals, czech glass beads, and silver or gold-filled wire.  The occasional vintage piece makes it in there as well, when it suits her fancy. While she does not have a blog, she is frequently on the Etsy forums!

Now let’s see how Sarah responds to this month’s 20 Questions!

Sarah’s 20 Questions:

Let’s start at the beginning. What is your earliest crafting memory?  
My mother and grandmother would always find something to do with the materials we had at hand, whether it was crafting dolls out of wooden clothespins and cloth scraps, or cutting out ornaments from old wallpaper samples.  It was always something new! Read More

I have completed my latest painting and I am very happy with it! I’ve been working on my birds by painting them onto practice pages and have been determined to have them match the rest of the impressionistic view of flowers that I like to  paint. I feel I have succeeded in doing so and that they make a perfect complement to the pretty cherry blossoms in this painting.

I have crackled the background to give it a more ‘rustic’ feel that I think suits it well. It’s also my largest painting to date at 20″ x 24″ and I’m slowly building towards the 36″ x 48″ painting I have planned for next week!

I’d love to hear your feedback on what you like about this painting, what could be improved and what other paintings you would like to see me tackle. I’ll pick on idea of those submitted and make it a post of photo progressions so that you can see how I build up the layers of my paintings!

Today I thought I’d begin introducing my readers (hopefully to come) to my creative process. As with anything, the creative process starts with an idea. Oh, in some cases the idea may be more about finding motivation, such as in the popular “what can I make that might make me some cash” or the frequent “what can I make that will keep me entertained” and of course the distress call of the lonely artist: “what can I make that will impress the opposite sex?” We’re going to put those ideas behind and start at the next level of coming up with an idea, which is to begin finding ideas for projects after the motivation has been established. In my case, the creative process begins with a simple notebook. This notebook, in fact:

Read More

 Places, everybody! Places! Welcome to Fantasy… wait….wrong location! Welcome to Mindless Pursuits, the official blog of Keith, your humble host and arts and craft fanatic! I am pleased that you have decided to stop by and check out my new blog. That’s correct: I said ‘new’ as I have a previously existing blog that covers all sorts of facets of my life, and not just crafting. That said, my more personal blog tends to be all over the board as to topics and content and I wanted to have a blog that had a tighter focus on just the art and crafting elements of my life. Thus, this Mindless Pursuits blog was born!

In this blog, I am planning to discuss the projects I’ve completed, the projects I’m working on, how my approach towards project ideation and construction occurs for different craft types, and try to provide insight into different techniques and approaches. I am also hoping to provide the occasional view into the lives of my fellow artists and crafters and to provide insight for fledgling entrepreneurs into how to market and sell their creations through my own experiences as I move forward. Mostly though, I hope to provide some fun, entertaining and interesting commentary of the arts and crafts I so deeply love and enjoy working on!

 So how about some quick facts on the handsome guy pictured above? I am 39 years old and the very proud father of two little girls, ages 6 and 9. I’m single and live with my 4-year-old cat Lexi in an apartment in the ever-changing seasonality of Minnesota in the United States of America. While I wish painting and crafting could be my full-time job, I’m far too new at it and so I spend my days working in information technology as a technology architect for a large national retailer.

What artistic endeavors do I undertake? I love to paint. Mostly flowers as they make me happy but I also love to work on landscapes and am occasionally returning to my roots as an abstract painter though I choose not to share much of those creations publicly. I sew and love to make everything from costumes to formal-wear to accessories. I also cross-stitch, crewel embroidery, paint enamels on glass, pottery (though I have no kiln to fire anything in), wood-burning, scrapbooking and knitting! I love to learn new creative skills and so am continually trying to expand my repertoire!

I hope that provides a good introduction to me and where I am planning to take this blog. I plan to update often, so keep an eye on this space!

Welcome to Mindless Pursuits, the official blog of Keith, your humble host and arts and craft fanatic! I am pleased that you have decided to stop by and check out my new blog. That’s correct: I said ‘new’ as I have a previously existing blog that covers all sorts of facets of my life, and not just crafting. That said, my more personal blog tends to be all over the board as to topics and content and I wanted to have a blog that had a tighter focus on just the art and crafting elements of my life. Thus, this Mindless Pursuits blog was born!

In this blog, I am planning to discuss the projects I’ve completed, the projects I’m working on, how my approach towards project ideation and construction occurs for different craft types, and try to provide insight into different techniques and approaches. I am also hoping to provide the occasional view into the lives of my fellow artists and crafters and to provide insight for fledgling entrepreneurs into how to market and sell their creations through my own experiences as I move forward. Mostly though, I hope to provide some fun, entertaining and interesting commentary of the arts and crafts I so deeply love and enjoy working on!

 So how about some quick facts on the handsome guy pictured above? I am 39 years old and the very proud father of two little girls, ages 6 and 9. I’m single and live with my 4-year-old cat Lexi in an apartment in the ever-changing seasonality of Minnesota in the United States of America. While I wish painting and crafting could be my full-time job, I’m far too new at it and so I spend my days working in information technology as a technology architect for a large national retailer.

What artistic endeavors do I undertake? I love to paint. Mostly flowers as they make me happy but I also love to work on landscapes and am occasionally returning to my roots as an abstract painter though I choose not to share much of those creations publicly. I sew and love to make everything from costumes to formal-wear to accessories. I also cross-stitch, crewel embroidery, paint enamels on glass, pottery (though I have no kiln to fire anything in), wood-burning, scrapbooking and knitting! I love to learn new creative skills and so am continually trying to expand my repertoire!