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Behind the Book Reading from Violet by Design
Thursday, June 12, 7-9 PM
KGB Bar
85 West 4th Street
NYC
Win-It Wednesday: Graffiti Girl
Thank you all for sharing your lust and disgust for royal high school titles in the comments last week -- it was great to get all the perspectives. Homecoming Queens or not, each one of us deserves a tiara! But the winner of Stephanie Hale's Revenge of the Homecoming Queen, as chosen by random number generator, is Alli! Send me your address, A.
This week, I'm giving away a copy of Kelly Parra's Graffiti Girl. I got a chance to read it last fall, and it's just such a lovely tale of one girl's quest to find the true artist within herself. (There's also a pretty hot love story.)
To be entered win this book, comment below and tell me the most artistic thing you've ever done--be it creating a scrapbook for your best friends, a mural for your neighborhood park, or a birthday card for Grandma. ("Art" is so subjective.)
I'll say that my best artistic endeavor so far was probably writing the Violet books. That counts, right?
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Comments (32)
ummm... I'm not a very artistic person. I guess the most artistic thing I've done is to write a poem for someone I had a crush on a couple of years ago, and stuck it in their locker. It was really juvenile, and I left it anonymous, so I don't know what ever became of it.
Posted by Ink | April 23, 2008 4:39 PM
The most artistic thing that I've ever done was making a voodoo doll for my best friend's birthday last year. She loved it. I thought it looked exactly like the person that we planned on voodooing. We never used it but it was still pretty artistic.
That book looks good. Another for my long, long list.
Posted by Hillary | April 23, 2008 4:52 PM
The most artistic thing was my Arts specialisation during my college time!
Posted by Marlayne | April 23, 2008 4:59 PM
I am by no means an artist, but in 7th grade we had to do a still life chalk painting in art class and my apple really rocked! The bottle next to it looked really distorted and I just explained it away by saying it was alcohol and alcohol distorts lives. The teacher totally ate it up and I got an A.
Posted by Lenore | April 23, 2008 5:15 PM
The most artistic thing I've done...
Hmm...
Well there was the time that I took photography, stained glass, I crochet, I paint a little, I scrapbook. There are simply too many things to pick one.
However, my latest project was a baby blanket for my friend. It was soo cute, I crocheted it in 3 colors, and she loved it!
Posted by Meredith Foster | April 23, 2008 5:36 PM
Hm, well, I've never bought a dress for any of my formal events because I've made each of them. All in all, I've made about 5 dresses. I like them loads better than any dress I could have bought--they fit me perfectly, they're how I want them, and they're so much cheaper!
Posted by The Compulsive Reader | April 23, 2008 5:37 PM
the most artistic thing ive ever done was just last week i won second place for patrons choice in the teen art explosion contest at east reginal library so yeah
Looks like a cool book!:)
Luv ya
Katie
Posted by Katie | April 23, 2008 5:37 PM
Most artistic thing I've done. Hmmm. A friend of mine and I have recorded CDs together! We're The Wands/Literatures: we sing songs about Harry Potter, and about books we've read for school :D We've even done local shows and have sold these CDs and stuff. So much fun!
Posted by Amy H. | April 23, 2008 5:44 PM
artistic...hmm. i write a lot of poetry and i enjoy drawing too (tho not as much as i used to). i also like to come up with cool graphic things (great terminology, huh) on the computer :D
Posted by The Book Muncher | April 23, 2008 5:47 PM
I'm terribly unartistic. I sketch little things for friends, and hey seem to like them, but they're really pretty terrible. I'm currently experimenting with Conte crayons, art markers, and charcoals.
Posted by Liviania | April 23, 2008 6:11 PM
my most biggest artistic endevor is probably making 24 scrapbooks for each senior on my asb. its an ongoing thing i have going right now and they need to be done by May 22. o dear...that's coming up pretty soon isnt it?
Posted by Grace L | April 23, 2008 6:40 PM
As Kelly's critique partner, I consider myself exempt from this contest, but just want to say it's a wonderful read, and congrats to the lucky winner!
Posted by Tina Ferraro | April 23, 2008 7:09 PM
I write alot of stuff, so that must count?! lol Otherwise than that, I'm a photography buff. I can't go anywhere most of the time without having my camera.
Posted by Megan | April 23, 2008 7:20 PM
I was always more of a words guy than a visual guy. Sad but true, I draw exactly the same as I did when I was twelve.
However in junior high, our school (Virgil J.H. in the middle of scenic Los Angeles) had us all draw tigers one year for a yearbook contest. And yep, my tiger was one of the ones chosen. I was pretty excited 'cause my buddy (who was a good artist, and continued to improve, unlike me) didn't get his chosen.
Petty twelve year old fun!
That, and one year, I did a blow-up collage of Peanuts panels for my wife's birthday and a Bushmiller Nancy one for my sister. Sort of Lichtenstein light. My sister has lugged hers all the way across the country...
Posted by JoeKinski | April 23, 2008 7:46 PM
I made the most awesome playhouse for my kids last fall. I tested out every cool painting technique. Cut fancy doors with the jigsaw. Ordered spooky hinges to give it a haunted house feel. Really, only a picture could describe how overwhelmingly awesome it really it. I even shingled the roof.
Posted by PJ Hoover | April 23, 2008 9:32 PM
I don't do much artistic stuff, but recently I've been making collages in art class... I cut up magazines for them, and the background is usually black and white and I'll create some sort of picture, with a word or two to describe it.
For example, I had this really cute background pattern and I cut it out into a heart for Valentine's Day and I cut up letters to make "LOVE". I did the same thing for "PEACE", with a flower, and one for "LUCK" and another for "ADDICTED" (it was a collage of junk foods).
I know that probably doesn't make any sense, but maybe you understand =P
Te amo,
Chelsie
Posted by Chelsie | April 23, 2008 11:06 PM
I made a scrapbook of my sons for my mother-in-law one year. Had a blast doing it and she loved it. :)
Would love to read Kelly's book!
Posted by Amy Knupp | April 24, 2008 12:23 AM
I am a pretty artistic person. I paint, draw, and take photographs. I even went to school for art for awhile. So I am not sure what my most artistic thing I've ever done would be.
Posted by Kat | April 24, 2008 12:27 AM
Oh, I am pretty much a writer, so basically everything is artistic about me; notice that i am humble about it.
The most artistic thing to do was make a Birthday card all by myself with pretty paper and that and write on it an acrostic poem saying Happy Birthday read vertically. My freind certainly loved it.
Posted by Harry~DayDream | April 24, 2008 3:32 AM
Hmm, what about art by accident? Once I was trying to draw a charcoal drawing of a boy walking. Since I'm not a very good artist, it ended up looking like a sad boy with his head hanging down. Totally not what I planned but it looked really cool - the dark figure against a stark white page made the book look so lonely. My mom framed it and still has it hanging up! :-)
Posted by Em | April 24, 2008 1:02 PM
Oops, I meant to say it made the BOY look so lonely...not the book.
Posted by Em | April 24, 2008 1:03 PM
It's a tie between my photography, graphic design and writing. My three favorite things to do and they all won some kind of award - but my ultimate favorite has to be the photography. There's just something about aligning the paper, making test strips and then watching the image emerge that's so enchanting.
I have a set of photos from the Botanical Gardens in Chicago that won 1st prize... so I'm guessing that's the arsty thing. ;]
Posted by Maria Almeida | April 24, 2008 7:31 PM
omg iloved you book! do you have any major plans for the next one?
Posted by lisa | April 24, 2008 9:04 PM
omg iloved you book! do you have any major plans for the next one?
Posted by lisa | April 24, 2008 9:04 PM
I paint, so I have oodles of oil paintings on canvases and canvas boards. That counts, right? =p
The painting is fun, but I hate drawing my picture first and making sure everything is sized right and what not. =(
But I've just started trying out adding texture to my painting I'm working on with a palette knife. =)
Posted by Kelly | April 24, 2008 9:32 PM
After a horrible break up with a college boyfriend (of 2+years), I found solace at a friend's house where I spent that Christmas away from my family. It was too hard to see everyone after the breakup. For whatever reason, creating a little art helped me process the whole thing. I sequestered myself and decoupaged two (large) wine bottles (Reunite Lambrusco) that had special meaning. I cut out meaningful sentences from our letters to each other and emails..., I added photocopies of photos and mementos along with all kinds of fun paint and such... In the end they was so beautiful I couldn't break them...
Posted by daydream | April 25, 2008 12:46 AM
Thanks to Melissa for running the contest, and thanks for everyone's interest in GG!! :) :) Can't wait to see who wins!
Posted by Kelly Parra | April 25, 2008 11:36 AM
Um....I'm not really artistic, but for Christmas I knitted(Is that even a word? Or artistic?) a doll for my friend, and ended up turning it into a demented voodoo doll for her.
Posted by Caty Morse | April 25, 2008 1:07 PM
I'm not really that artistic but I used to help my girlfriend scrapbook (sp?)
Posted by Andy | April 26, 2008 11:31 AM
The most artistic thing I've done was a couple years ago when my friends and I were "graduating" from junior high and moving on to high school.
We made a scrapbook about our years at the Junior High and some of the pages like the "Romance" one and the Homework one were hilarious.
And the page I did actually looked decent (0_0) considering how artistically challenged I am.
Posted by Reader Rabbit | April 26, 2008 12:53 PM
My most artistic endeavor is my hair! It's naturally blonde, but I've been dying it for the past two years. I've been dark brown, light brown, auburn, bright red, strawberry blonde, pinkish-purple, brown with rasberry-colored streaks... I'm very proud of it because with all of the natural colors (brown, red, etc) I made it look so natural that people thought it was! Especially the auburn and strawberry blonde (that's my current color)--people are always complimenting me on my hair.
I dye it myself, with the three-dollar hair dyes from the store. (Eight dollars for the blonde highlights I put it to add dimension.) It makes me laugh because people compliment my hair and ask me where I got it done, and when I tell them I did it myself, they scoff at me and say things like, "Oh, I could tell." (Ummm... no they couldn't!) But I've never payed more than fifteen dollars for my hair dye and my hair still looks better than their sixty dollar hair fry job!
Ah, but such is the life of an artist. You just have to smile at the people who like your work and laugh at those who don't. =)
(Oh! P.S. This one's a secret: sometimes on Craigslist, I create beautiful love scenes off of little thoughts and inspirations I have and post them in the Missed Encounters sections. I hope that in doing so, I can inspire more people to believe in love [and maybe inspire myself in the process!])
Posted by Stephanie W | April 27, 2008 11:47 PM
I have done a lot of things artistic, I love drawing and love making things. I once made a teen room out of a shoe box. It included clay, poster paint and magazine clippings,(for the little posters on the walls.) I still have a picture that I took of it. I love my little teen room in box, it is by far my most artistic creation.
Posted by Tempestt Patterson | April 29, 2008 10:54 AM