A - Z Challenge - A is for Art.

My cousin Wendy is taking part in a blog challenge this month. Blogging from A - Z. One post a day, every day except Sundays. You can find out about it here: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/p/what-is-blogging-from-to-z.html

I have just read Wendy's post for today which is A is for ancestry. Wendy is keeping to a family theme for the whole month I think. However I don’t think you have to do that, I think you can just have a different thing every day. A bit like I did way back in my Yahoo days.

Anyway, I don’t want to actually join the challenge as I am pretty certain I will fail. But, I thought I might join in from time to time. So today is the letter A.

My theme is Art. I want to know what art means to you? How do you define what is art and what isn't?

That definition is something I have always had a problem with. When I was at secondary school we had lessons called “art”. We mainly drew things and did some painting. I was hopeless at it. To this day I still cannot draw. Although, that said, I guess everyone that can make a mark on paper can draw. It is in the eye of the beholder if it is good or not.

Because of those “art” lessons I have always thought that art was about drawing. I do know that many other things come under the heading too but I am thinking about drawing and painting right now.

So, what makes something art? For me I think it is when something is a true representation. Something that looks real. I really do not like abstract stuff. As for some of the stuff that looks like a 2 year old may have done it, well I just don’t see how that can be art.

I guess it is all to do with how we actually define that word isn’t it. “Art is a visual expression of an idea” according to the dictionary. So I can see that my limited view of it being just about paintings isn't quite right! I know that really

I think my problem is where do we draw the line? So a beautifully handmade quilt is art. An intricate piece of handmade jewellery is art. A lovingly hand knitted garment is art. A hand embroidered doodle is art. Hand crafted paper flower bouquets are art.

I can agree with all the above. Here are a few examples. Do you think they are art? **

Handmade Chainmaille by Victoria Sol:  

Hand Embroidered doodle by Kim's Handmade Cave. 

Handmade paper flower bouquets by Dawn the Funky Flower Girl

Hand knitted Cushion by The Feminine Touch

Needle felted Hamlet Hamster made by Jenny of Mythillogical

What does not in anyway constitute art for me are things such as “My Bed” by British artist Tracey Emin. I mean come on, how is that art? It is just a horrid example of what a room looks like when it is left uncleaned for a few days! She is clearly a sloven not an artist. This “room” was sold at auction in 2014 for a little over 2.5 million pounds!

If there are any takers out there I can create you a piece of art like that in no time at all. It isn't art. It's bullshit. Actually wasn't there another so called artist who actually painted with shit? Don't get me started!

What are your thoughts? What constitutes art for you? Do you have any examples?

I am going to finish now with a cherished piece of art from my own home. It was painted by my Dad and I love it.

** The above examples of art are by some of the members of the Etsy team that I belong to. Craft Britannia.

Jilly. 

Show and tell for the end of March

Well here we go, time to show you all the rest of the things that I have made in the second half of the month.
More hanging pillows.  This one says Hope.

The next one has the word Dream and it is not currently for sale.  It will probably be a gift for someone.

This is another version of the dream hanging cushion and this one is for sale.

I have made another ribbon taggie blanket.  This one is in 2 kinds of Minky fabric and has white towelling on the back.

This is another one of my tote bags.  I like the colours in this one.

Some more hanging hearts.

A couple of brooches.  First a new kind, which is kind of shabby chic so the stitching shows as do the cut threads and they form part of the design.

Some new felt heart brooches in mint and pink which apparently are the on trend colours for spring.

The weather here is rotten, really rotten.  It is cold, wet and windy and today we are even supposed to get more snow. Lots of the country is already buried under snow.  We seem stuck in winter.  Sping is definitely running late.  When I think of spring I think of tulips and daffodils. So to cheer myself up I came up with a tulip design.

First of all I made a cushion for my bedroom.  I was so pleased with it that I then made a wall hanging for Fabrilushus.

This is the cushion.

 Here is the wall hanging.

Well, I originally wrote this around 2 weeks ago and it just never got published. Thank fully since I wrote it spring seems to be finally on it's way. 

Show and tell

This weeks "Show and Tell" goodies all of which are for sale in my Fabrilushus shop.

First up, decorative hanging hearts.

The ones above are just decorative and are stuffed with wadding.  The 2 below are filled with English lavender which smells divine.

The one above is actually in a really nice gold fabric but I can't capture it in the photo.

Some burp cloths.  They are both made with the same spotty fabric but one has a baby pink towelling back and the other is quilted and has a bright pink jersey back.

Detail of quilting.

Those are obviously for girlies.  I also made 2 new ones for the boys.  Love this first one. It has gorgeous soft Minky fabric on the back as does the second one.

The ABC one has smooth Minky where as the other one has dimple Minky.

I have made more of the decorative hanging pillows.

I love this next one.  It is a cushion made with a disappearing 9 patch block in the centre

I have just tried my hand at a bib.  This has pink towelling on the back and a velcro closure.

Of course there were more new brooches this week.

Lastly for this week I have another hanging pillow.  This time with the word Welcome.

That is all for now.  I am already working on next weeks items.