What's Coming in 2017!

My calendar is beginning to look pretty booked up for 2017.  Starting in January, I will be traveling to a few places I haven't been too in several years,  January through October, I will be teaching several classes & workshops that I am really looking forward to.  Subjects include: Watercolor, Screen Printing, Paper Collage, Abstract Acrylic, Gelli Printing and more!  Plus I will be taking a few workshops this year as well. I love to learn new things.  It's going to be a fun, productive year!

Image is of a gelli print I made a few years ago. These make the most awesome backgrounds for greeting cards, art journals, ATC cards, etc. 

Blind Contour Drawing

I recently challenged the Friday painting group to have a little fun with me.  Way back when, I had an interesting assignment that allowed us to use a model in class.  A model who was dressed in a silk kimono, sitting a wicker peacock chair.  The assignment was to draw this image using only blind contour drawing.  In other words, do not let your eyes move from the model.  No looking at your paper until you were done with the whole drawing.  I simplified my challenge to just one thing.  Either a sunflower, a lotus seed head or a small group of rosehips.  Each participant could draw all three or just one, but they had to draw without looking at the paper.  Here is one of the drawings I made:  I did the rosehips first and followed it with seed heads.  The next step was to add splashes of color, which I have not done yet. 
In my original challenge, our next step was to create a collage using magazine pages and I think I might do a collage instead of splashes of paint for this as well.  It's a long time since I've done a collage and it might be fun.  Next week we will exploring watercolor painting without the aid of a drawing.  We will be focusing on flowers, specifically the sunflower. 
If you live in the Salt Lake City valley and are over 60, I would like to invite you to join the group.  We met at the Taylorsville Senior Center every Friday from 9 'til noon.   

Kandinski Circles

I recently found a new project that inspired, motivated and relaxed me all at the same time!  Kandinski Circles.  I painted these with watercolor but you could color these easy designs with just about anything.  A great art journal project or a wonderful way to spend a rainy afternoon with the kids.  They're simply circles drawn inside of circles and colored in.  When drawing these move your hand to the end of the pencil and loosely move your wrist to get some interesting shapes/circles.  Follow up with crayons, watercolors, pencils, markers, acrylics, etc.  Relax, listen to music, talk to friends, and just have some fun!

A New Blog

My local watercolor guild here in Sandy Utah is interested in having an on-line presence and sharing their work in one central place that is easy enough that all can participate.  I have been working on getting the blog set up and will be adding more fun things soon.  Please take a moment to go explore the home page, along with an experiment for textures page and get signed up to follow us by e-mail.  The guild's new blog address is:  Sandy WC Guild  (Click the name and it will take you to the blog). 
This blog isn't just about watercolor, it will feature many other things.

All water/wet media will be included, along with monthly challenges for our show & tell (which I hope we will start doing at our local monthly meetings beginning 2014),  (you can play along with these challenges too and post your results on your blog!  Simply leave us a link in the comments.) There are additional pages that share experimental results at the moment, but I will be posting techniques for: stenciling, carving textures, acrylics, inks, book reviews, etc. etc.  The possibilities are endless.  Please join us and don't forget to leave comments! 
Feedback is always monitored due to spammers, so your comments will not appear until they have been approved.  You may also share a link to your own website or blog in your comment.  We would love to venture over and take a peek at what you are creating. 
If you are interested in sharing a technique you have created, or a link to a good video you think would help inspire us, please leave the link in the comments and I will check it out.  If you host free tutorials, we would love to know about them, if you have written a book, a pdf zine or an e-book, again we would love to know about it. 
I recently set up a Facebook Group as well, but to keep life simple for me, I will be posting only to this blog and to the Sandy WC Guild blog.  No sense in duplicating my efforts. 
Not sure I shared this work in progress (above) with you all yet, but this is an enlarged area of berries in a bush taken from a photo I took up in Idaho at a fish hatchery.  I got kind of carried away with making the little streets on the leaves to make them look like maps viewed from space.  So, OK, I'm not always "photo realistic".  :-D

Paint It

 

I think this book would be a welcome addition to any child's (young or old) library.  While it is clearly designed for the beginning artists who want to explore the many options afforded by mixed media, it carries some of the projects into an intermediate level, but still remains doable for all ages.  At first I was skeptical only because I am an experienced mixed media artist, but the further I investigated the projects shown in the book, the more inspired I became.  The book is full of useful information, inspirational projects and easy to follow instructions.  Published by: Capstone Young Readers publishing company, it is precise in its instructions, has great photos for guidance and I am impressed with all of the information this one compact book supplies.   The mixed media projects include: Creating "Color Fields"-(which are modern day abstracts), making your own scratchboards (I remember these from elementary school and I loved creating designs by scratching off the black surface), indirect & direct painting with oils, and Chinese Brush work.  This book touches a bit on surrealism, plein air (outdoor painting), mosaics and so much more.
I'll be adding this book to my Granddaughters library for Christmas.  I'm going to love doing these projects with her.  Share your time, share your art. 
PS.  If you do art journaling and want to learn about a variety of supplies and techniques, this is a beginners book that would help you incorporate many forms of mixed media into your journals.  From: watercolor, to oil pastels, to acrylics and applying textures, this book covers what you need to get started. 

Please note-I am an affiliate of Amazon and I do receive a few pennies for every book you purchase via the link.  It adds up and allows me to purchase a book or two each year.  So thanks for clicking on....

A New Series of Paintings

I really can't say this is a new series of paintings since I've been working on them for months, but after applying about 50 layers of glazes, I was finally at the last stage. 
(Since the canvas was so large, I had to do this stage in my bathtub!)
This is the first pouring of the final over-glaze, but I think I will need to add a few more pours.  Waiting for it to dry before I make the choice to add more or not. 
I'm loving the final result, it actually looks exactly how I originally pictured it to be. 

Making Progress

I started adding some of the shading before I left for our trip to Boise but didn't have a chance to post an updated pic until now. Besides making progress with this painting, I'm also making progress with my non-smoking. While on our trip to visit friends, we made a side trip over to Jackpot, Nevada to try out some of the slots. The minute we walked in the casino we knew, they were all smoking environments. I was pretty pleased with myself though, I refrained from walking up to the first person I saw to beg a handout. LOL!

Moving right along

Well, I've switched from watercolors to acrylics for this painting and will try my hand at watercolors on something different. I've already got my eye on a water lily pattern that I can adapt. I picked up some 140lb paper yesterday too. I think that will also make a difference. You can see, I've almost gotten the canvas based in and I will be starting the shading next, then adding details. I can see lots of potential for details with this.
I'm making headway in my pursuit of breaking my smoking habit, down from a full pack a day to only 3 cigarettes. I can see not smoking at all soon. It hasn't been easy and I certainly don't want anyone to think it is. I have to make decisions every minute it seems, or at least every hour whether or not I have the will to say no to myself and not run to the kitchen to grab something to eat. I haven't felt hunger pains for years, but every time I do, which is often, I want a cigarette to take those pains away. Quitting smoking and being on a diet, really bites but I have noticed I am not suffering from sinus problems anymore. Now that's a really good thing! :-D

Watercolor

Well, I started painted the canvas and I must be doing something wrong. I think I am painting as if I were using acrylics. Even though I am watering the paints and have a wet brush, I am still painting in my usual style. I think this will end up being re-painted in acrylics, lots of details added and a new approach to using watercolors will need to be found. Maybe flowers would be easier. :-D

A Good Start

Well, I'm almost at the end of my 2nd week of quitting a bad habit and painting is definitely helping, not only to substitute a good habit with a bad, but it gives me so much pleasure to see a painting evolve. I base coated my canvas with gesso again and after it dried, I transferred the drawing to the canvas and added the mask to the areas that will remain white. I'm waiting for the masking liquid to dry but in the meantime, I need to decide if I want wacky bold colors or soft pastels. I'm leaning for the bold, because I never do bold except in my folk art painting and since this is a learning experience, I will go bold.

Designer Papers

In the Latest Trends yahoo group, I will be introducing a new monthly challenge, called: Designer Papers. This one will be the January challenge, based on the "Hand Decorating Papers" book by: Marie Browning.

The 2008 line-up of challenges/swaps and on-line games will include some new things like: Home Decor, Monthly Charm Swaps/Challenges (not necessarily all will be charms!), a new Monthly Experimental Technique Challenge with a host of other fun techniques to try.

We also have a sister group (The Artists Circle) that will be exploring some new techniques in February, based on Sherrill Kahn's "Creative Embellishments". This group specializes in conducting workshops for the beginners. They are currently finishing up a 12 tag booklet with a variety of embellishing techniques.

We also have two workshops that will be conducted on their own group sites, Paper Transformed by: Julia Andrus and Celebrate your Creative Self by: Mary Todd Beam. Deadline for sign-ups is Dec. 31st and you must own these books to participate in the workshops.

Our on-line Bingo game starts New Year's Day, so, if you haven't become a member yet of The Latest Trends, come join us for lots of creative activities, good friends, good conversations, gift certificates to our wonderful sponsors websites and great fun!

October Challenge Finished

At least I think it's finished! LOL! Let's see I needed to use watercolors (background), I needed to use a transferred image (gel medium transfer of little girl), I needed to use fiber or fabric (ribbon), I needed to add a found object (feather) and one thing of my choice, which would be the white acrylic on a diamond foam stamp. O.K. It's finished and titled: "Missy"

Playday in the Studio!

Today was a playday in the studio and I decided to have some fun with one of the techniques from Julia's new book, Paper Transformed. On page 53 there is a technique called: "Pearly Mottled Paper". I have to say this was probably one of the easiest techniques I've ever done. So easy in fact that I had to experiment alittle on my own. I decided to see what would happen "if". I followed Julia's directions except for two things: The card that looks like it is on fire, was dusted with the gold powder, then I spritzed again, and swiped it with a paper towel to see what would happen. I didn't like the entire card swiped at a angle, so I re-applied the gold to some of the areas and left the swipe marks in others. The second thing I did was the purple diamond card. I again followed Julia's directions, but this time while the card was still wet, I used a damp foam stamp to remove some of the ink, leaving behind the diamond pattern. These are awesome backgrounds and I will be using them to create some pretty unique and innovative charms for the challenge!

October's "Just Having Fun" Challenge

The rules for this challenge are pretty easy, you must use watercolors of any sort, you must use a transferred image and you must use either fabric or a fiber. You can add one found object of your choice and one other item of your choice. So, today I went to the studio to have a go at this and I must say, it was definitely a fun experience. I used tube watercolors, then highlighted some areas with watercolor pencils. For the item of my choice, I used white acrylic paint on a diamond rubber stamp, to give this some texture and interest. It will be cut up into ATC's before I add the image transfers and fibers, for a future swap! I'll be posting the finished version in a day or two!

Graffiti Challenge

Trish on art ventures has posted another challenge, this time it's graffiti. I thought about this for awhile and while cleaning up the studio, I found a linoleum block I had started cutting, but never finished. Well, I got my wood working tools out, and finished it up so I could use it for the background for this challenge. Looks very ancient huh? I'm very pleased with the way this turned out. I will add some caveman type graffiti to it next, maybe some hand drawn doodle art too!

Wallhanging I re-discovered in Studio!

Well, It started snowing today and that means I have a desire to go play in the quilting room. I cleaned up, re-organized, took pics of some hand-dyed fabric I will be posting on my other blog, 4 sale. But, I also discovered several wallhangings and quilts that I had started, and put away, months ago! This pic is of one that I handpainted the geisha's and hand dyed the shibori silk border fabrics. I really love this piece and must find time to get it done. It would be a wonderful addition to my asian bath!

Playing Around

Today I just had fun in the studio, playing around with mono printing, brayers & a few stamps. To learn more about these techniques, which are very basic, but loads of fun, check out the new yahoo group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheLatestTrendsinMixedMediaArts

Altered Jeans

Hubby gave me a pair of his old jeans to play with this week, and after trying out several different things, bleach pen, gesso, and soft scrub with bleach, I decided that the soft scrub gave me the effect I was after.
The gesso didn't stay as white as I wanted it too, so for future denim projects I will get out the soft scrub! One tip...leave it for several hours or else you will not get much bleaching action, and wash it before moving on to the other steps. I'm working on a denim jacket also, and I made the mistake of not leaving the soft scrub on long enough. I ended up re-stamping the whole thing with white fabric paint!

To get the alphabet on the legs, I used a stencil, with a stencil adhesive to keep it in place. I then used a washable latex black can of spray paint, and masked out the overspray areas with plain copy paper. The stencil was repositionable, and cleaned up real good with just water! I believe I saw this in Cloth,Paper,Scissors but it could have been in one of the Somerset Magazines??? I just had to try it!!

Today I cut the jeans into managable sizes to use in other altered clothing for patches & pockets. The backside of the jeans were not painted, so I also have scraps of plain denim to play with again.

New Red Paint

I repainted the picnic hamper and I'm much happier with the new look. It looks old and vintage to me now! It's a keeper!

Hand-dyed Fabrics

Several people have asked to see some of my hand-dyed fabrics, so I thought I would show you a few that I made using some techniques that I have been developing. These are all Kona Cotton fabrics using Procion MX dyes from Dharma Trading Co. I haven't been able to make myself cut these up for projects yet, but soon!