Today I would like to share the process of making a balloon blush. As for the material, I used play doh's bins that were used up in order to use recycled goods.

First, decorate the surface with cubic stickers to make fancy the play dough container and make it easier to hold. Then, use wire to make a holder that will hold the easily blown balloon. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the play dough and attached this wire.

Below is the finished balloon blush. I made a floral pattern with this brush.

This balloon brush, designed and developed by me, is helpful when stamping in various forms.

Below are examples of works created with balloon brush.

  When I first started living in the United States, what surprised me was the fact that I use a lot more disposables than I thought. It seems that there are almost no places that do not use disposable products, such as various parties, events, coffee shops, and stores. The amount of garbage thrown out like that is truly unimaginable. Maybe that's why, living with the harsh experience of  recycling, I was frightened to see things that were once used and thrown away. So I brought home disposable cups, plates, and forks, washed them, and used them again. It is incomprehensible that some disposable plates are used once and then thrown away because the gilded decorations are gorgeous and beautiful.

  ​In fact, it is practical and convenient to use disposable products. It's cheap, you don't need to wash the dishes, you don't have to break it, and you don't have to worry about hygiene. Disposables from various companies come in a variety of shapes, colors, and designs, so it's hard to resist the temptation to try them out.

  However, such easily purchased, used and recklessly dumped garbage causes many environmental problems. In our area, there are also many issues related to recycling and landfilling.

  ​The article Long Island faces garbage crisis (Albany needs to act) details the landfill problem in Long Island, where we live.

  ​Long Island has a garbage crisis. Its 3 million residents generate about 7 pounds of solid waste per person per day – nearly twice the national average. Roughly a quarter of that is food waste. In total, the region produces about 1.4 million tons of food waste each year. Long Island’s last landfill in Brookhaven will close in 2025, and all that food waste will have to go somewhere. (except by article)

  ​The problem of landfilling is not limited to food waste. Disposable products that we use inadvertently in our daily life are also included here.

 When I felt that I was aware of environmental issues locally, it was when the supermarket set a price for single-use plastic bags. The bag price, which is added at $0.05 per piece, helps buyers to hesitate and use their own bag at least once. I also keep my personal shopping cart in the trunk of my car to avoid using bags at all. Just bring the entire shopping cart to my  car and place it in own personal shopping cart in the trunk. I know doing this won't help much, but I can still forget the guilt of $0.05.

 ​In addition to this, schools have also begun to educate students about the environment. In the case of my daughter, at school, there was a homework assignment to make flower pots using discarded disposable products. My daughter made flower pots out of the disposable plastic cups she used for the party.

  A while ago, I accidentally discovered that the beans I planted here are growing beautifully. The cup was made by my child, reminiscent of the shape of a butterfly.She rolled the butterfly's antenna into a circle and glued the small plastic materials she had collected onto the cup.

 ​And they made wings out of damaged or unused toys and glued them together.

  ​After making it, I took it with me to school. Soybeans were planted with soil at school. And the bean has just sprouted. I think it was a valuable and important educational experience for the children.

  Minimalism was born in 1918, after World War I. After the war, Germany had to rebuild the devastated city quickly. Bauhaus is a design school that was held out of this demand of the times. The most influential person from Bauhaus was Wassily Kandinsky. During his tenure as a Bauhaus professor, he focused on his most basic forms. He believed that pure and straightforward formative elements such as dots, lines, planes, and circles could impress people. It was the beginning of abstract painting and the beginning of constructivism. At the Bauhaus, Kandinsky's mathematical clarity became a spiritual philosophy, making the design simple.
Afterward, minimalism became an art movement in Western art, along with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s.

  In modern times, it is well known to the general public as the concept of freedom to stop excessive consumption by minimizing everything in life and reducing unnecessary things. In the field of art, visual design leads the way, and just like Kandinsky's philosophy mentioned above. Minimalism is completed by doing works that satisfy various requirements by simplifying them to the minimum elements. It meets the design requirements with the simplicity of lines and planes. A close example can be seen in the simple and beautiful products of the Apple company.

  This style of minimalism that removes the unnecessary and straightforward aspects is beneficial to the environmental movement that saves the environment being destroyed by a massive amount of consumption. Especially in electric cars and natural gas car companies, this design eliminates unnecessary accessories and becomes more straightforward day by day.

 ​Below is a description of my experience with the Model 3 and Model Y on a test drive at a Tesla store. As I test drove the Tesla, I noticed minimalism fits into the car, becoming more interested in electric vehicles field. 
​
 First, I would like to show you Model 3. 

 ​Press the button to open the door. A window can be seen in an open state without a window frame. Car key is as follow as below, it looks like a hotel door key.

  ​A computer screen is installed in the center of the car's interior, where everything is controlled by touch.

  ​The interior of the car was simple itself.

 Next test drive is for Model Y. 

  ​Personally, from the standpoint of preferring SUV, Model Y was more portable.

 The top of the Tesla roof is like a whole transparent screen, as shown below, so you can see the sky through it. It is as if you are traveling through time in a capsule that has no boundaries between the outside and the inside.

 ​All functions are via two buttons and the center screen.

  Tesla chefdesigner Franz von Holzhausen (1968) has joined since 2008. In Model 3, which created a sensation at a low price, a wonderful combination of electric car and minimalism was completed. Minimalism is a subtractive design. When Franz came to Model 3, he boldly removed the grill. We can experience minimalism itself through cars. Production costs would have been reduced because of the removed grill. Soft and radiant curves fill an empty space with nothing in it with new beauty. not empty at all. ​We also learn that the philosophy of Wassily Kandinsky that the dotted line itself can be beautiful enough is correct.

​Turkish photographer and environmentalist Fahri Tunc posted a fossil-like photo on his Instagram one day.

But, surprisingly, it wasn't a fossil, but one of the scenes where the flamingos that inhabited Lake Tuz in Turkey dried up and died out. Lake Tuz(salt Lake), a closed basin lake in the Central Anatolian province of Konya, is the second largest lake in Turkey. 
 
On the Tuz Lake, one of Turkey's most beautiful rivers, beautiful pink flamingos dance and show their beauty every year.

 Go to the related article!

 But now, neither the Turks nor the tourists who go to see the beautiful pink dances of the river can see the fantastic performances they present to  humans. And even the hope of seeing them in the future was gone. 'Cause now the lake is gone with them, too"

 My heart aches every time I see articles like this. Because nature presents humans with so much beauty and energy, but humans do not like and appreciate the gift, but unpack the wrapping paper and throw it and trample it.

Even me, one of those people, has nothing I can do right now. So what can professional painters do? 

The EcoArt Project is about 600 painters who felt the seriousness of environmental destruction and climate change could unite and express their voices. They meet regularly to hold symposiums and hold exhibitions. In addition, the artists themselves present art using recycled or scrap materials to deliver a message of environmental protection to the public.

 ​In fact, they announced a new initiative to fill these empty stores with free pop-up exhibitions focused on climate change and sustainability, as retail space across New York is vacant due to pandemic-related business closures.

 Artists wishing to participate in this kind of activity go to the home page below and click Sign Up.

 When signing up,  you need an artistic resume/bio and a portfolio consisting of at least five images. If there is a video such as YouTube channel, please write a link. Also include  references such as your major shows and publications. And also you can check that you are self-taught artist like me or studied at art school. In the description, write down your motivation and plans for why you want to work through this project. 

 And you choose whether the work you upload is related to the environment or not. In my case, my older sister is an environmental activist, so I have been interested in the environment for a long time. Therefore, I uploaded related images after selecting my databases. Also, by artist's career, select whether it is an Emerging, Mid-Career, or Establish artist.

 After filling in the information, click Submit and wait for the result. I received the following mail. 

The following is an example of a showcase page screen to be published. 

 ​Wouldn't it be great if the environment could be protected as easily as this click? I feel a heavier responsibility in the future. I myself should set a good example for the environmental movement.