The Elephant Sanctuary

Hey Everyone. Please read this post to the end.
For a while now I have been reading about the amazing people and elephants in Hohenwald, Tennessee. The Elephant Sanctuary
It is the nation's largest natural habitat refuge developed specifically for endangered African and Asian elephants. Quoting from the site:

"The Elephant Sanctuary exists for two reasons:
To provide a haven for old, sick or needy elephants in a setting of green pastures, old-growth forests, spring-fed ponds and a heated barn for cold winter nights.
To provide education about the crisis facing these social, sensitive, passionately intense, playful, complex, exceedingly intelligent and endangered creatures."

The first time I stumbled on it, I read everything there was to read over there and being an animal lover, cried over it. I think if I had won the lottery, most of it would go towards helping animals. Unfortunatelly, by myself I can not donate enough to them, but what I can do is to tell you guys about them and to ask each of you to write a post in your blogs where you ask your readers to write a post as well. If 100 of you will write a post and 100 of your readers will do the same - that's 1000 people right there in a matter of a day. And if we take this up one more level, that's 1 million. If each donates at least a dollar - do the math. I know that we can not help everyone and everything that needs help in this world, but we should at least try. It will take you no more that a minute to do a post, but that minute can and probably will help save an elephant's life. Let's see what we can accomplish here shall we?

This is Tarra - one of the residents of the Sanctuary


Quote: "elephants are majestic creatures who are highly intelligent, complex, social, and sensitive individuals. In the wild, elephants are migratory, walking 30 to 50 miles each day, and form intricate family structures. They grieve for their dead in a more-than-instinctive way. They show humor and express compassion for one another with intense interactions. The reality of their lives in captivity is that many are in chains up to 18 hours a day. They are enclosed in steel pens -- often alone -- broken and controlled by fear and intimidation."

Please repost in your blogs.
Thank you and btw, I will do more tutorials soon.

And The Winner Is...

Ok, It's October 30 and time to draw the winner of the give away (see previous post). What I did was print out all the comments, then had my girlfriend close her eyes and point at a comment. Her finger landed at NAHANI.
So congradulations NAHANI. I hope you will enjoy it. Please contact me with your information. I will send it out as soon as I hear from you.

Blog Giveaway

(click to zoom)

What do you think guys? Is anyone interested?
This piece measures 24"x18". It came from my slightly darker times about two years ago. People have asked me what it means and I am wondering if the meaning is really that essential since everyone sees things differently. To some - it's just a bunch of masks, to others - just a cliché of despair. Some love it, some hate it.

These are masks, different masks that each and everyone one of us wears at one point in our lives. We take off one, just to put on another one. It is not the masks that are crying - it is the person behind them that is crying because he/she is unknown to its Self. Hence the writing "you don't know".

Now I didn't sit there and analysed the work in my head before making it. I threw it onto the canvas and then looked at it and that's what it revealed to me.

I want to give it away. It had stared at me long enough and I would like to think that I am a little closer to that face behind the mask. It is someone else's turn now. If all this hits home, then leave a comment to enter the giveaway. I will randomly draw from the comments on October 30. Make sure I am able to contact you (sometimes I click on person's name and there is no blog or contact info).

If it is not too much trouble to blog about this post or link to me, it would be much appreciated, although not required to enter. If you do blog about it or link to me, can you please link to my main website http://www.laraberch.com.

Gel Transfers

In this tutorial we will learn how to transfer images into fabric using gel mediums.

Things you will need:
1. Golden medium heavy gel
2. Some type of fabric
3. An image to be transferred
4. Roller


For this particular tutorial I am using heavy gel matte, but you can use regular gel and soft gel as well. Similarly, you don't have to use matte. Gloss will work the same way, but it will give you a glossy finish. As far as images go, I found it best to use an inkjet printout. Do experiment with other images such as magazine cut outs, brochures, postcards etc. I tried all of them, and to me inkjet printouts work the best.
Now for the fabric, I am using old cotton sheets. Begin by applying the gel onto the image. The easiest way to do this is to use your finger. Make sure you cover the whole surface. Don't let it sit too long or it will dry and won't transfer.



When you done, turn the image over and place it with the side that has the gel on it down onto the fabric. Take your hard roller and start rolling. Make sure to roll long enough for the whole surface to adhere to the fabric.



Let it sit for while. How long? Well, I let it sit long enough for me to make myself a cup of tea with honey and lemon. :-) Now, peel off a corner and if most of the colors transferred, peel off the whole thing. There is always going to be some ink still left on the paper. Don't worry about it.



As you can see, there is still some white paper left on the transferred image. What you want to do is get a wet paper towel and slightly dab the white spots.



Rub the wet spots with your finger. Do not apply too much pressure or you will rub off the actual image. Do it until there is no more white left. The second picture below show half of the image rubbed off and half with paper still left on it.



Finish the cleaning up the whole image and then apply the same gel that you used in the begining. This time, don't put too much. Just enough to seal the image. Let it dry.



You're done. You can use this techniques on various surfaces such as fabric, wood, cardboard and more. If you're going for a worn out look, just rub off more of the image. Don't get upset if you don't achieve the desired results on your first try. You have to get used to the gels and get the feel of it. After that it's a snap. I've ruined a quite a few images before I got the hang of. Different surfaces yield different results. Also, before printing out the image, make sure you bring up the contrast in your editing program. (I will do a tutorial on that as well)


As always, if you would like me to do a different tutorial, leave a comment. If I am able, I will do it. For those of you who have tried this tutorial and absolutely loved the results, consider making a donation (paypal). You can give as little or as much as you want on my main website

Design Your Own Color Palette

If you're one of those people that have trouble picking the right color scheme for you project, one way to do it is to turn to nature (or take a class on color theory). I've recently seen an interesting post Beautiful Color in Nature: Frogs and Toads. where the author makes up a color palette from images of animals - frogs in particular. Looked easy enough, but when I set out to do it, it wasn't that simple. So here is what I'm thinking: Take one of the pictures below and make a color palette. It is interesting to see the different combinations that will come up from the same picture. Post the result in your blog and let me know, or send it to me and I'll post all of them side by side. The easiest way to do this little project is to use a color picker in photoshop.

Antiquing Paper

In this tutorial we will learn how to make things look old and wrinkled. There are a lot of methods to do this, but I prefer coffee. I like the color (as you can see by now, I like earth tones - the brighter the better).

Things you will need:
1. Cheap instant coffee
2. Tray or a plate or anything that will hold the desired size of the paper you are going to antique.
3. Gloves (if you are allergic to coffee)
4. An image (I'm using plain paper)


Pour water into the tray. Warm water dissolves the coffee faster, but cold is ok too. Add coffee. The amount depends on how drastic do you want the final result to look. I usually like to put as much as possible for a strong effect. Mix it up.


You can see that there is still some coffee that didn't dissolve in the lower right corner. Don't worry about it. We don't want a uniform look.
A WORD OF CAUTION: first time I did it, I mixed everything with my hands. The mixture was so strong that it probably got absorbed into my pores and needless to say I felt like crap afterwards. My heart was racing, i was shaking a little and so on. Perhaps I was imagining things, but I'm just letting you know that you might want to use a spoon or gloves when mixing this stuff.
Back to our project. Place the paper (or whatever you're using) into the water. Let it get wet completely. Keep it in the water until you have reached your desired color. What I did was wrinkle it like so:


Then I took some more coffee and sprinkled it all over the paper.


The grains will start to dissolve, leaving black spots. The less you let it sit, the darker the spots and vise versa. Pour the water out. Here you can stop or continue further. With the back of a spoon I created folds by going over the paper.


Then I sprinkled more coffee on it.


Then I placed it on a paper towel and rolled over the spots with the back of a spoon.


Now, if you want to add some more wrinkles, just crumble some areas like so:


Let it dry and you have your old and worn paper.




You're done. You can use this techniques for various items such as letters, images, photos. You don't have to do as drastic and messy. Just decrease the amount of coffee and time in the water.


If you would like me to do a different tutorial, leave a comment. If I am able, I will do it. For those of you who have tried this tutorial and absolutely loved the results, consider making a donation (paypal). You can give as little or as much as you want on my main website

What Do I Think

I want to thank everyone who responded with their thoughts on "Black Square" by Malevich. I agree with eveyone else's opinion.
I do not see anything except for a Black Square. It doesn't make me stop. It doesn't make me stare. I think the reason why this piece got so famous is for its novelty and simplicity (simplicity is not always elegance). It was a BOLD move to push this as a work of art. Excuse my language and no offense to Malevich (may he rest in peace), I think the black square sucks. I guess one of the reasons I like collages is for the details. One element flows into the other and leads yet to another. I don't get tired of looking at collages whereas this Black Square puts me to sleep.

What Do You Think

Kazimir Malevich
Black Square, c. 1923
Oil on canvas. 106 x 106 cm
State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

I have always been curious if others consider this a work of art. In my opinion, media sometimes promotes the weirdest pieces. Just because something is famous, doesn't mean it is good. This is not to say that this work is bad. Nor am I saying that this is good. I want to hear honest opinions about this. Imagine that this is not Malevich. Instead, imagine you found this at a garage sale and the artist is unknown. Would you buy this? Why do you like it? Why do you hate it? Do you see anything in this work except for what it is - a black square? Let's hear it!

Question

Guys, I'm a little new to blogger...I was hoping you could answer a few questions:
1. When I leave a comment on someones blog, how do I know whether there was an answer posted without having to go to that person's comments page everyday?
2. How do I read new posts in my favorite blogs without once again visiting every blog separetely?
Please forgive the stupidity of the questions :-)) I am switching from livejournal where these things are automated...
Help!!!

Review

Found an artist that I would recommend: Leighanna
Her figures and collages are nostalgic, gothic, almost creepy but at the same time illuminated. Just thought I'd mention her :-)