Art Blog - Judith Ribbens

Thanks for choosing my watercolor, "Hibiscus", as a feature this month… Continue reading… 0 comments

Wow! It's been a long time since I posted. I hope to remedy that this year. It's January, 2012 and I have much art news. For the past 1 1/2 years I've been writing a novel--a murder mystery and it's nearing publication on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle. I'm working on the illustrations for the cover and inside, still doing the last minute polishing of the text and will be programming in HTML, which I still have to teach myself. In the meantime I sold a few tiles at the small annual Christmas sale hosted by Kele Alpaca Farm in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin. The big news is that I will be adding more photographs to my site. This past year I have taken a workshop online to help me learn to work in Adobe Lightroom… Continue reading… 1 comment

Very creative activities are happening this year!! Sometimes when the creative Juices flow it's not painting, collaging and photography that happens. Years ago, just for fun, a friend and I began a murder mystery, intending it to be light-hearted and funny. We lost interest back then. Two years ago my interst revived enough to write four chapters and detail the cast of characters. The plot got stuck. This year I began having some rather grim dreams. My imagination is not always on lovely flowers, colors, and painterly subjects. This time my dreams told me I could come up with some hair-raising images… Continue reading… 1 comment

It is February, 2010, and I'm snowbound for a day or so in the middle of a small blizzard. Not a ba-a-ad blizzard, just one of those winter storms where, if I drive, I'll lose any sense of serenity I have. Ice under the snow, you know. This is the time of year I go deep, so to speak, meaning, I look at my life and what I'm doing and seek a deeper spirituality, a deeper Meaning. This has been my practice for many years now, enforced back in 1981 by the need to look at how I lived in response to the family I came from, and what was happening to the family I had created. It's been a long, slow, process, painful at times, other times quite freeing. I've been "peeling the onion" of numerous layers and still haven't quite gotten to the core. Will I ever? I don't know… Continue reading… 1 comment

Among the most wonderful art experiences are the sculpural designs done for the Einstein Project of Green Bay. The Einstein Project is a non-profit group organized to provide science projects for teachers and students in elementary and secondary schools in this area of Wisconsin. To raise money, they have a design contest and artists are invited to submit designs for decorating the surfaces of creatures such as frogs (or toads), dragonflies, bugs, and best of all, butterflies. The resulting wonderful creatures are displayed in and around Green Bay all summer long, and in October are auctioned off to raise money for the organization. I have participated in this for several years and have added the EINSTEIN GALLERIES ONE and TWO for your enjoyment… Continue reading… 0 comments

Artists have made reproductions of their work since the printing press came into wide use. Methods such as wood block, serigraph (screen printing), and intaglio are still done by artists. But they are very labor intensive and cost as much or more than some originals. However, in recent years the giclee printing process has become affordable and widely available. A selected piece of artwork is computer scanned and reproductions are so true to the original color it is amazing. Not only can these be scanned onto flat surfaces such as paper and canvas, but they can be reproduced on curved surfaces such as mugs and steins, and onto cloth such as T-shirts and sweatshirts. I now have 20 images available for reproduction… Continue reading… 0 comments

Did you ever really want a piece of art work and find the price was way beyong your budget? So have I. Here are some ways you might be able to afford art for your home, office, cave?, or wherever you live, work, and play. Did you know that art can be reproduced through the giclee (pronounced zhee-clay') process in incredible faithfulness to color? This computerized printing process creates wonderful prints on canvas (yes, canvas!), or linen paper, or you name it. My works have been reproduced on linen paper and canvas, on ceramic tile, and on the usual postcards, greeting cards, mousepads, etc. Print prices are a lot less that the original, although it's nice to say you own the original… Continue reading… 2 comments

I always wanted to be surrounded by flowers, so when I moved into my own home, with a large yard, flower-planting became a priority. Well, one thing leads to another for any artist and that led to photographing all those wonderful blooms. Today I uploaded five galleries of flower pictures. What better way to share the delights of my garden than to offer them to one and all. My "style" is very straighforward--show the flower in its best possible light and its strongest presentation right in the garden whenever possible. However, I did include a picture of some dried roses, and some pictures from bouquets I can't resist buying for myself, especially in the long Northern winters… Continue reading… 0 comments

The dance mural for Let's Dance Studio was commissioned at Christmas 2008. Pam Stiles asked me to create a mural and she and I agreed on syllouettes of dance couples, with the men as black syllouettes and the women each a different color. Kevin, the owner, decided he wanted a background of a city, and agreed to provide lessons to me for this addition. The image shows the finished wall with live dancers having fun posing in front of it. There is a mirror on the adjacent wall with serves to double the original 39' of wall space. SEE THE DANCE MURAL GALLERY FOR MORE IMAGES The process was long and detailed. A small mockup was done first to illustrate the idea of the syllouettes. Then another set of mockups was done to illustrate the city effect… Continue reading… 0 comments

This policy has been created after much exploration of how this is handled on other sites, and after talking to other artists. I have confidence that my art is well done and pleasing to the eye. This is a result of comments from people where I have shown my work, both on the internet and off. But, occasionally, a piece of art work just does not fit what the purchaser intended or look like what was envisioned. If that happens, the buyer should contact me within 10 days of receipt of the piece to talk about returning it. Ten days is time enough to decide whether or not the art piece just doesn't fit the buyer's perception of what he/she is getting. The painting must be returned within one month of purchase, and MUST be damage-free. All returns MUST be insured… Continue reading… 1 comment

OK, Now I get practical! Here are some things to know about shipping and handling. HANDLING : Before I send any work, I inspect it to be sure it is in perfect condition. If there is any problem, I will notify you and correct anything needing it. If there is one thing I know, it is that pictures, frames, mats, glass, etc., can acquire all manner of unplanned and annoying flaws, especially when they are constantly circulated from place to place between shows and storage. SHIPPING : First, I will not ship glass on pictures larger than 16_20. This is for safety reasons and because glass adds a lot of weight to any artwork. You can take the work to a framer and they will add glass easily and without a lot of cost… Continue reading… 1 comment

I came to art late. Years after my schooling, when I finally began to paint, my mother produced my kindergarten report card. She had saved it for years. My teacher, Miss Grimm (she was not "grim", she was very sweet and kind), had written that I had a talent for art. But I was put into schools which had no art classes whatever and I was 39 years old before I could find my way into a painting class. This statement is a tribute to those who taught me, both in art classes and in my studies in expressive arts therapies. By inclination and by training, I have become open to many and varied means of art expression… Continue reading… 2 comments