So, What's in a name, greenstarstudio?Green's been my favorite color for a long time; my first love (Kermit the Frog) was green; the first car i ever REALLY wanted (a lime green beetle) was green and for years one entire room of my home was green... not painted green, but covered, as in "no exposed wall" covered, by green objects (candy wrappers, Frisbees, feathers, trinkets, book covers, toys, game pieces... COVERED). Over time, green came to also relate to certain way of working-- a more eco-conscious way, which is what I hold myself to.
The Star has been my "power symbol" for years; you get a gold star for a job well done; it's the thing that marks "you are here" on a map, they're the things i want to look at every time I'm anywhere near a planetarium; successful people are called "stars", but mostly, its because I relate to the shape as a person (two little pointy feet, two little pointy hands and one pointy head) and to me its says "stability".
When i first cast out to do this professionally (back when I was still in school), I just threw the two words together with "studio", because Illustrators always seemed to have "Studio" in their company name. I chose to run the three words together as one word and to write it in all lowercase, because that's how my name is spelled (danamarie, and my dad "invented it" and everyone always butchered it... which i never really understood caring about until i had my own "baby" to name)... so i named my baby "greenstarstudio".
it was only a few years ago that i realized that greenstarstudio had the same number of letters as danamarie (greenstar) hosler (studio). Thus, i AM a greenstar, afterall. FREAKY!!!
I know…Out of Hand is just one of many Holiday craft shows happening this weekend! What’s a girl or guy to do? Here are 5 good reasons why you should take time to stop by on your crafty whirlwind around town:
1 Its not too big! About 30 crafters in two rooms
2 The food is organic and oh, so good, catered by Neopol of Belvedere Square
3 Shh…don’t tell anyone …one of the well known local artists has a clearance sale that's awesome! Lips are sealed!
4 There is plenty of easy parking in the adjacent parking lot
5 I saved the best for last; there are seated massages!
And if that’s not enough, BEST members Danamarie Hosler will be there with her Knitimals & OoAKies and Shelly Daly with her beach stone jewelry (just so you know, neither are the artist referenced in number 3!). Rick Shelly, of glass bug fame, and other wonderful, mostly local artisans will be offering up their very best work for the holiday season! Hope we see you there!
Written by: Shelly Daly
That's my little family... as Plush. 
Like for example, the extra careful attention paid to Mason's double coat. You can't really see it here, but the legs have two layers of fleece "fur" that actually move and wisp like Mason's hair. She captured his two tone ears and really got his majestic tail. And there's gorgeous stitching on the body to accent his blond highlights and dark brown lowlights.
Hubby's wearing his favorite colors & cool stripy socks (he's always got cool socks on). She totally captured his giant, wonderful smile. The jeans look SO real. The gold stitching on the pockets and fly front are impeccable. She even used reclaimed denim & other materials because she knew we'd want it that way. 
me? well, i'm easy. All I need is a t-shirt with the neck cut out (check), a comfy pair of jeans (check) and a pair of crocs (double check.. how cute are they!?). She got my two tone hair & my favorite colors... and notice my smile is more of a smirk than a big full on smile? 
The show "Custom Kokeshi 2009" Showcases artists from all over the world, and further explores the idea of the art toy/doll, that so many of us Indie Crafters, Fine Crafters and Artists are so intrigued by. The show is part of a larger show about Kokeshi, being sponsored by the Japanese American National Museum, in collaboration with the Los Angeles Toy, Doll & Amusements Museum. And while it may be the other side of the country for many of us, if you're planning on being out in California anytime between now and October 4th, I would highly recommend paying it a visit. 
day 11: the scaffolding has been fixed! and just in time... I'm almost done with the body landscapes and ready to tackle the faces. (this is the fun part). 
then the scaffold company comes along and puts up a scaffold for me to maneuver around on. on the first day of work, i'll need to prime the whole wall; this is a coat of essentially the same kind of gesso you'd cover a canvas with before you paint--- it fills in all the little holes and pits and puts a flat coat over the surface, which, in theory, allows the paint to stay on the surface and not get soaked in to the brick... 
on the 2nd day, i sketch out the basic shapes of the image-- no details yet, but just enough information to be able to lay in flat color. i've premixed most of the colors i'll need, so i can just roll those into the spaces i've drawn out; it's like a giant color by number! a lot of people have asked how i figure out where to start the drawing or how to plot it out on the wall. well, there's probably an easier way, but basically, i take the sketch and lay it over the photograph of the building in photoshop; i re-scale the image until it lines up. Then with the help of a little basic math, i make a scale, and figure out how many inches on my scaled down drawing equal how many feet on the actual building. I can use the scaffolding itself to figure out how many feet tall or how many bricks tall the spaces between levels of scaffolding are and fold my drawing into rows that correspond to each level of scaffold. After that, i just climb up and use a light colored paint; i don't hesitate much or worry too much--- i just pick a curve or a line and put it on the wall... the rest just falls into place, one level at a time. If there are any unclean lines or things that dont connect, i can clean them up as i paint... 
3rd day: more flat color... 
4th day: yet more flat color (and starting to correct some of my drawing)... 
5th day: more flat color, more drawing correction and getting ready to put the main background color in (its a very pale blue)... 
6th day: this is what it looks like now. There are selected bricks that i've painted over with a slightly different color blue, so the surface will have a little more depth and "shimmer" from a distance... 
...next week (barring bad weather) i'll start the details; with all the flat colors laid in and the background color having corrected all of the shapes, i'm ready to give my figures faces and to paint in the scenery & landscapes that will fill the lower halves of their bodies. After that, it's just a matter of adding a few details, outlining the figures and correcting any drips or color oddities. And then, i seal it. So, keep your fingers crossed for good weather and good muscle health (these murals aren't easy on the back and bones!). xo, danamarie
