OWOH Winners!

The winner of the tatted hearts and butterflies is Gayle-Page Robak of Canada. Gayle works with mixed media and digital art. You can view her blog here!

The next winner is Rebecca of Rebecca's Rainbow Kisses. Rebecca is from Massachusetts and is the mother of 4, including a set of triplets. I have a cousin with triplets and know (second-hand) how much work that is! Rebecca also makes wonderful clay art dolls and beautiful jewelry, among other things.

The final winner is Calej from the Philippines. Calej expresses her art through many different avenues. You can see them at Calej d'Art.

I had a great time visiting blogs again. Although this was the final OWOH, it appears there will be a new event next year along the same line but with a different name. Lisa has a signup for the newsletter about the 2012 event, which is called Our World Our Art, so check it out if you're interested.

I barely made it through all the blogs, mostly because I was home sick today. I do wish each participant's art was listed with their link. There were many I had no interest in, such as scrapbooking and paper art. There are only a limited number of mixed media that I like but I would have looked at them to find out. There were a few art journals I liked but not nearly as much as were offered. I was disappointed sometimes to see that artists with wonderful pieces offered a doorprize completely unrelated to their work. I didn't comment on every blog, only the ones where I would like the doorprize. There were some that I didn't want the doorprize but I wanted to comment on other things that I liked so I went to another post in the blog. I started out reading everyone's story and then ended just skimming through since I just wanted to make a quick visit before it ended.

I noted a distinct difference between generations. Younger bloggers go for quicker art and trendy stuff. Older bloggers are involved in an art they've been attracted to for years, even if they just started in it. They are more involved and more serious about it. The work tends to be more elegant and professionally finished.

I loved the lampworked beads. I have no interest in making them myself, but I love looking at them, touching them, and imagining ways to use them in my tatting or other lacework. I also love the art dolls. A few were not to my tastes but most have me itching to get my hands in the clay. I have the tools. I just need the time to play.

I admire artwork and photography but have to admit that most of it was not to my tastes. I love good photography but don't buy it because I don't feel an attachment to it. I usually manage to take my own photos of the things I do feel an attachment to and I guess that's the dealbreaker when it comes to buying someone else's work. Now I do find a lot of stuff on Flickr that I like but it's the kind of stuff I want to use in a blog, not hang on my wall.

There was all kinds of jewelry although it didn't seem like as much as last year. Lots of papercrafts. Lots of altered books and mixed media as applied to altered books or paintings or such.

Very few had to do with fiber in relation to the total. I was a little surprised at the number of people who were in love with the dragons and seahorses. I like them too but they were very popular in the comments. I like that - it helps encourage people to learn this art so if you're looking for a way to get younger members in your guild or group, these might be the kinds of projects you can target.

I'll probably do this again in the new venue. I like exposing tatting in as many ways as I can. I added a few links to my bloglists and hopefully started a few new friendships. I've won a few doorprizes myself and will show them when they arrive.

Next post I'll show what I've been busy at.