Simply Modern Mom

Archive for the ‘Arts’ Category

Wisdom From Leonardo da Vinci

In Arts, Inspirations on February 11, 2010 at 8:00 am

It was a cloudy and rainy Saturday last week. My cabin fever temperature was around 105 degrees. Time for an excursion. Leonardo da Vinci was at the art museum. That sounded interesting. No photography was allowed in the da Vinci exhibit. Understandable.

Leonardo da Vinci was a genius. More than just in art. He said…

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

I want to plaster that phrase all over my house. He had such great insights into life having lived an eventful life himself. He also said…

“Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.”

“Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.”

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.”


As da Vinci attempted to create the world’s largest bronze horse statue, he had this on his mind…

“He who lets time pass does not grow in virtue: the more I think of it the more I grieve. No man has it in him to be virtuous who will give up honor for gain. Good fortune is of no avail to he who does not toil.”

“Gluttony, sleep and idleness in bed have banished every virtue from the world. So that our bewildered nature is almost overcome by debauchery. Henceforth, it would be well to rouse yourself from sleep, the Master said, because lying down will not bring thee to Fame; nor staying beneath the covers. He who, without Fame, burns his life to waste, leaves no more vestige of himself on earth than wind-blown smoke or the foam upon the sea.”

Is that great or what? What do you think about the quotes?

BTB Tips: Custom Framing

In Arts, Back to Basics on February 1, 2010 at 9:00 am

My years of working as a custom framer I have one advice to give for picking out frames and mats for whatever it is you are framing. Make sure you design the frame and matting to fit the image/picture you are framing. Don’t pick out styles or colors to match where you want to put the picture.

Surprisingly, that is one of the biggest mistakes people make. They know where it is going to go in their house, so they pick out that bright blue mat to match the wall coloring. Ooops. What happens when you repaint the wall? Or when you want to put the frame somewhere else in the house?

Original Artwork Bird Tree Canvases

In Arts on January 11, 2010 at 9:00 am

I can’t help it. I am kind of proud of this one. This was my very first canvas artwork. I have always wanted to do one. Just didn’t know what to do. Now that I finally did it, I love it. And thank you for all your kind words regarding my first original canvas painting. If you know me, you would know that I’m not the painting, drawing artistic type. So this was quite the accomplishment for me.

This is how the Bird tree canvases came about. Yes, uppercase B because we are the Birds. During the process of making over our bedroom, I couldn’t find a canvas print that I liked and large enough to fill the huge empty wall. I am extremely selective about the artwork in our home. Part of it is my love for art. Part of it is my many years of framing art professionally and seeing exquisite as well as horrendous artwork.

Many of you know of my love for trees. So I thought, a few days before the big bedroom reveal, that I could attempt to paint a huge tree. I sketched and sketched and came up with a design of a large tree. But when I went to purchase the canvas, I couldn’t find the size I wanted. I ended up purchasing two medium size ones. Hm… back to the sketchbook for a second design that uses both canvases.

With some inspiration and suggestions from Nathan, I decided it would be two separate trees. But when put together could look like perhaps it is one tree. I sketched the trees onto canvases then painted it. I used magazine pages for the leaves to add color and uniqueness. I had plenty of magazines to scrap.

Now this is my favorite part of the canvases. The two blue birds and the birdhouse. They have personal meanings to them. The birds: Our last name, Bird. Since this goes in our room, there are only two birds. In other words, no kids allowed. Just a little reminder for us to make each other first in our lives. The birdhouse: Our home. Then I Mod Podge the whole thing a few times and sprayed it with a sealant.

Some of you have asked if I would be willing to reproduce this Bird tree canvases and sell it. I am flattered that some of you like it enough where you would want to have it in your house, too. Wow. First, since the leaves came from magazine pages, I can’t make exact replicas of the canvases. Second, it would be quite costly due to the size of the canvases (24″ x 36″) and the amount of time it takes to create it. Then there’s the shipping cost for something this big. Taking these two points into consideration, if you are still interested in purchasing this then email me at tiffany{at}simplymodernmom{dot}com.

Thanks for all your positive feedbacks. I read all your emails and comments. I love hearing from you.

P.S. My watermark logo isn’t really on the painting. It’s on the photos.

Mommy Cards

In Arts on August 24, 2009 at 9:00 am

Mommy cards… business cards… blogging cards… info cards. Whatever you want to call it. I’ve been working on designing my own. It took three days working on it a few minutes here a few minutes there with Kaye or Elle on my lap. After three versions, I finalized with this one. What do you think?

mommy cards

It’s simple with a small touch of design. It matches the colors of my site. And it has my logo on the back. Leaving some room for me to write a note or jot down my phone number for someone. I’m excited to hand these out to friends, family, fellow bloggers, and just about anyone I meet. I also plan on attaching them to gifts or products I sell. I printed a few on cardstock on our home printer. Maybe I’ll get around to taking it to a print shop sometime this week to have some printed professionally.

Logo

In Arts on July 6, 2009 at 9:00 am

fullLogo

This was the first time I designed my own logo. Coming with minimal design and drawing background, it only took me a day to come up with this idea and put it into Illustrator. What do you think?

I read the article, 2009 Logo Trends, that helped me come up with ideas and inspirations.

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