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Throwback Thursday: Magical Moments

I always find myself in a moment of reflection at this time of year. As we transition from 2018 to 2019, I feel fortunate to be as contented with this past year as I am excited abouty the upcoming one. Many changes have occurred for me in 2018, both personally and professionally. As is always the case, there have been experiences to remember...and those that I would rather forget. But as a whole, I continue to be energized, mesmerized, and captivated by this adventure we call life. I have many plans for 2019, some that I have already spoken about, some to be revealed soon and some that even I do not know about yet.

Art remains my anchor, my beacon, and a stabilizing force for me. I feel so very fortunate and am endlessly grateful to all of you out there who have become such an important part of my life. Thanks for your visits to all of my sites, your comments, and your emails. Thanks to those of you who have purchased my artwork and taken my classes. Thank you for using all my various products in your own artwork and projects. Thanks from the bottom of my heart for your endless support, inspiration, energy and generosity. I would not be the artist I am today without you all!

There is magic to be found in the lives we are living and I look forward to sharing many more magical moments with you all in 2019.

**Throwback Thursday borrows my favorite posts (sometimes edited) from my previous blog The Altered Page. Magical Moments was first published 1/1/14.

New Release: IO Stamps

If it is January, it means it is once again time for the craft industry to unveil their new products. And that means you will be seeing a series of blog posts from me in the coming weeks with my new offerings. 

Today I am excited to share my newest release from Impression Obsession: two brand new stamp sets. Hot off the presses, they are deeply etched, red rubber cling stamps made in the USA.

MISLABELED

With just the right amount of quirk, Mislabeled includes 6 label stamps, all with text surrounded by borders. I mean, there must have been times when you thought you needed a stamp that said Yellow Egg for your journal. Am I right??

WRITER'S BLOCK

Maybe the only time you might actually want Writer's Block, this set includes three square stamps filled edge to edge with grungy marks and words to inspire: vision, believe and story.

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This release is in addition to my recent, December release of three other sets: Links, Journal Jargon 6 and Hieroglyphics.

All the stamp sets are available for purchase and shipping now. Check them out - along with all my prior stamp releases - in my online shop.

Voyage

12 ARTISTS - 12 BOOKS - 12 MONTHS

Over the years, I have been involved with many, many, many artist collaborations. I always find working with other artists to be inspiring and invigorating. And the collaborative process changes the way in which I create. A new year brings a new collaboration and in 2019 I am embarking on a project with 11 other artists. Each of us is creating a handmade book and then we will all work on a spread in each book over the course of a year. Every participating artist is choosing their own theme and mine is VOYAGE.

I worked on the inside cover and a few pages inside to provide some inspiration and direction for the artists to find.

All the participating artists will be posting pics on social media using the hashtag #artx12. As I receive and work in each book along the way, I will continue to post images as well. Who knows? Maybe you will even be inspired to start your own collaboration.

January: First Friday Online Open Studio

Welcome to my online studio. I want to invite you to join me (virtually) on the First Friday of every month in 2019 when I highlight new artwork and recent favorites that are available for purchase. Have a look around, let me know if you have any questions, and click the link on the title of any artwork that you want to buy or simply learn more about.

GRAPHICA SERIES

BREAKING WAVES (sold - thank you)

MORNING LIGHT (sold - thank you)

ROMA (sold. thank you)

SPARKS (sold. thank you)

TANGLED UP IN BLUE SERIES

IN THE DISTANCE (sold. thank you)

A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING

RUNNING WATER

CLOUDY MORNINGS

ECLIPSED

New Release: StencilClub Mashup

I am genuinely excited to introduce you to my newest stencil release from StencilGirl Products. Why so excited? Because these 3 stencils are mashups that Mary Beth Shaw and I created together. They are exclusive to StencilGirl StencilClub but more on that later.

Mary Beth and I decided to create this mashup in such a fun way. We each chose our favorite elements from stencils that the other artist created. Those elements were then digitally altered and updated so that they are distinct from the original design. Once they were cut, the real fun began. Here are some journal pages that I made using all 3 stencils.

There are 3 stencils in this release: one large at 9"x12", one small at 6"x6" and a mini at 4"x4". These stencils are for the January release in StencilClub.

As a member of the club, you receive 3 exclusive, artist-designed stencils each month. Along with that comes a video from the designing artist demonstrating a technique using the stencils, a PDF of instructions, membership in a private Facebook group, access to all past, exclusive StencilClub stencils, and a 20%-off, one-time-use coupon for all of the stencils on StencilGirl. The cost of membership is $25 monthly and you can see details and/or sign up here.

2019: New Year...New Blog

Goodbye to 2018 and welcome to 2019. And welcome to my new blog. My online life started on August 10, 2007 when I uploaded my first post to The Altered Page. Back in the day, long-form blogs were the way to go. People had the patience to read, many supportive comments were left and responded to, and a community was born. Some of my strongest artist friendships began in those early years and continue to thrive today.

But, as we all know, social media continued to develop and micro-blogging sites began to become popular. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram - to name a few - started to change the face of the online community and make social exchanges more user-friendly and speedier. Why read 5 paragraphs and click through to leave a comment when now you could simply see a picture and click thumbs-up?

I have come to embrace the quick forms of social media in my life as an artist as they allow me to connect with my community while not taking all my time away from actually creating. Seems like many other people agree as more and more long form blogs have been neglected and closed. But at the same time, I continue to love the depth and breadth that my blog was designed to encouarge. And truthfully, I have always found that I came to truly know people via blogs in a way that has never been equaled by FB or IG.

So what's a guy to do? Why not keep both?

The decision to move my ongoing posts to my website rather than continue on my original Blogger platform hasn't been easy to make but comes down to one simple concept: control. With so many constant changes to the algorithms of many social media platforms, it seems like years of work in developing a community can come crashing down in an instant. For example, it took me many years and much effort to create a Facebook Business Page with 14,000+ followers. But it seems like it only took Facebook one minute to change the algorithm so that only a fraction of a fraction of my followers now see any of my posts. Not going to chance that on my blog. Combining it on my website gives me and only me the choices.

If you would like to folow my blog and receive posts in your inbox, click here. While I may lose a good number of followers in the transition, you know what? I am ready to be Seth Apter online rather than The Altered Page. Truthfully, cannot even remember how I came up with that name except for remembering that all my first choices were already taken! 

I begin this new year and this new blog on the same path as back in August 2007. Taken word-for-word from my very first post is the following --just as true now as it was then:

Right now, I have 3 goals in mind for this blog. First, to share my art and receive feedback in return. Second, to share artists, websites, stores, books, ideas, and creations that I have found. And third, to share great art finds from the museums, galleries, and steets of New York. Thanks for coming along for the ride.