Sketchbook blog

Several years ago, I wanted to experiment with acrylic paints beyond the surface of a stretched canvas.  This is when I began exploring gourds and wood crafts as grounds. My wood arrow craft from my Klimt class, with reference work behind. If you are a student in my Skillshare craft workshop, you may have many questions about where to buy these items and what paints work well on these surfaces. I cover some of these questions in our Klimt or Matisse class videos, but this blog provides a great place for me to provide more details. Where to buy gourds: I have bought pre-cut, craft-ready gourds from the following US retailers: Welburn Gourd Farm Meadowbrooke Gourds Amish Gourds I always buy my gourds cleaned, which means that the dirt has been scrubbed off the surface.  But many folks enjoy growing and cleaning their own gourds.   Please make a note of shipping times as delays could set you behind your original project timeline. Also, pl...

2017 is right around the corner. My wish for you this year is that you find LOVE and JOY in the new year. Thank you so much for being a part of this artistic community on my blog.

I sort of went crazy in October, November, and December with my Art-o-mat output. I finished my seventh ever batch of Mini Masterpieces for Art-o-mat by early December. This group featured bits of Paul Klee and Joan Miro' . Usually, after I finish a batch, I treat myself and my daughter (Clarice, who has also been working on her Art-o-mat production) to an Art-o-mat purchase.  I snagged this Mona Wu block print at the machine at Krankie's Coffee.  I was so happy because I have been hunting Mona's work for a long time. Krankie's Coffee hosts a beautiful machine whose glow brings you right in. Yum!  I <3 Krankie's! So did all these kids, who got to go there after a WFU Football game.   Krankie's is the only place I know that's cool enough to handle 5 teens who want to do the Mannequin Challenge over and over! Stay tuned and I'll report back with more Art-o-mat batch progress!

A Christmas Carol Just wanted to share some handlettering fun from my sketchbook on this beautiful Christmas day. Guess which family has been watching every version of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol -- that's right, the Arnold family!  And our favorite is Scrooge  starring the incomparable Albert Finney as Ebenezer Scrooge. photo courtesy of Movie Geek Every lover of the English language will enjoy this 1970 film.  The libretto is outstanding, and only adds to the quality of Dickens' diction.  If you have never seen the film, I know you will doubt this claim.  So, here's a sample below of the intro to the song "I Hate People," sung by Scrooge (Finney) early in the movie. Poppycock! Balderdash! Bah! Scavengers and sycophants  and flattering fools, Pharisees and parasites And hypocrites and ghouls, Calculating swindlers, Prevaricating frauds, Perpetrating evil As they roam in the earth in hordes, Feeding on th...

Today, I want to share with you the last of three prizes for my  Skillshare workshop  starting on Wednesday, December 28.  I will publish the winners on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017. Giveaway #3:   Your choice of a Gear Keychain or a Floral Necklace I handpaint these little guys into bottlecap necklaces or keychains.  You can see more from my series of Art-o-mat crafts here  or here . Notes about the Workshop: To be eligible for this prize, you must sign up for either or both of my  Matisse  or my  Klimt  class on Skillshare.  Then, you need to sign up for the joint-class  workshop .  Finally, you must complete a project post your progress in your class's project space. Please let me know if you have any questions about the workshop.  You can always email me at nicole(at)nicolettaarnolfini(dot)com See you soon!

Today, I want to share with you the second of three prizes for my  Skillshare workshop  starting on Wednesday, December 28.  I will publish the winners on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017. Tomorrow, Christmas Day, I will announce the last giveaway for those who complete the workshop. Giveaway #2:   4 Original Watercolor Postcards painted by artist Erik Davis These four originals are painted on cold-pressed watercolor Strathmore cardstock and are suitable for framing (or mailing)! To see more of Erik's work, check out his website , his Instagram account, or his Facebook page. You can read more about this working artist in a previous post . Notes about the Workshop: To be eligible for this prize, you must sign up for either or both of my  Matisse  or my  Klimt  class on Skillshare.  Then, you need to sign up for the joint-class  workshop .  Finally, you must complete a project post your progress in your class's project ...

I'm really excited to announce the first of three prizes for my  Skillshare workshop starting on Wednesday, December 28.  I will publish the winners on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017. Today, tomorrow, and yes, Christmas Day, I will announce a new giveaway for those who complete the workshop. Giveaway #1:   "In Their Own Words" limited edition print by artist Dennis Wells Photo courtesy of Dennis Wells Artist website To see this work at much closer range, please on the photo above. You can read some of the text on Dennis' website . Dennis is a fellow Artist in Cellophane.  This means that work both make art for Art-o-mat .  (If you don't know about Art-o-mat, check out this outstanding article by Andrea Cordonier .) Dennis' print is a 8" x 10", limited edition print, signed and numbered.  Dennis' original pen and ink work will arrive printed on high quality cardstock and is suitable for framing. Here is one small example of a quote...

I'm very thankful for all those in this artistic community:  my circle of artist friends and art lovers, and my readers far and near. I am sending out my November newsletter to subscribers very late this month.  Subscribers will receive a link to a printable of the above quote by Picasso.  To make up for my tardiness, I added a special bonus in this blog post:   In the short film below, you can see my original hand-lettered sketches before I digitized them. Enjoy!

Very early Tuesday morning, I delivered 200 Endearing Young Charms to worldwide Art-o-mat headquarters, USA. This delivery included one batch of 50 keychains and 3 batches (of 50 each) of bottlecap necklaces.   I've never done 4 batches at one time.  This is my 13th Art-o-mat batch ever. (photo courtesy of Art-o-mat ) Clark loaded up his truck the next day to take a huge delivery to the Cosmo in Las Vegas. I have been staying up late at night, packing more handmade items that I painted on the weekends. Alex has helped me keep the creative juices flowing. Just a couple early process shots A couple necklaces went to some special people. Clarice and I will work a local craft fair next weekend, so I've been making more keychains and necklaces to sell. Then we'll get another Art-o-mat batch or two together for December delivery. Here is Peyton's necklace that he won on my Instagram ch...