Going Around in Circles: The Diva's Challenge

8.5 x 11 on copy paper

Despite the crazy date on the calendar…I am actually in my right mind (most of the time).  :-)

Anyway, the Diva's on vacation in the US in the west in the heat. She is apparently feeling like she's "going around in circles".  

So that is the prompt this week.  I'd already put a predominate circle in this design and I thought adding a few more would be appropriate, considering.  Onamato in a circle?  Whew.  Who would count the number of circles in THAT one!?  

Rainy in the north woods again…rained most of Wednesday.

Not to worry.  Lots of to do inside today.  And Mary Myers and I had a lovely lunch talking watercolor for hours at the Northern Gallery and Cafe in Minocqua.  Hoping for dry weather now as my daughters are coming for a "girls' weekend" Fri-Monday.  Can't wait to see them!  

The Blueberries

The Blueberries

Quarter Sheet of Arches 140# Cold Press

watercolor

Lots of fun finishing up Kathy Kovala's wc class today.

The Sumac branch continued plus a value sketch lesson

wc on1/8 sheet of wc paper

A lovely Saturday working in Kathy Kovala's wc class.  The morning was spent discussing the design and compositional elements important in all paintings.   We didn't get back to painting until just after lunch.  I am still not done with the sumac as I need to put in the shadows and finish up some of the branches.

I and thinking I won't put a background color in.   That will make it more of a "botanical" feel.  OR I might just paint in a faux mat.  Still trying to decide.

Value sketch for a bunch of blueberries

(see tomorrow's post)

Tomorrow (the last day) will be a full day of painting.  We will begin the blueberry study emphasizing the importance of pre planning.

Then there will be a study of water lilies.  Hopefully there will be enough time!  

We have had several extremely hot summer days in the Minocqua, WI area (like the whole midwest).  But it is now raining steadily and it appears to be bringing the temperatures down with it.  Good sleeping weather!  

Kathy Korvala's watercolor class called "Rock and Roll"

Sumac leaves will start turning up here in the north woods as our teacher, Kathy, well knows.  So it's a great subject matter.  We are working on 1/8 sheets of 140 cold press Arches paper.  Just nice small studies.  Kathy gave us the image to work with.  Each of us traced it onto tracing paper and then from there onto the wc paper.

So then comes the "rock and roll" part which entails a lovely technique of wetting each leave and dropping beautiful paint into the leaves.  Then with movement we gently move the paint (using gravity) around to mix the colors without using a brush!  (Well, the water goes on with a brush.)  Quin burnt sienna, Antwerp blue, Quin Gold, Auroleon yellow, Scarlet Lake, and Permanent Rose.

Tomorrow we will finish this piece and start working on blueberries which are also beautiful this late summer!  

Such fun…a great class sponsored by Lakeland Art League of Minocqua, WI.  

Gelli arts fun: decorating a mail envelope

This is a white cardboard mailing envelope about 10 x 12.  They are the best kind for decorating with the gelli plate as they have no bubble wrap inside and the cardboard takes the paint so well.  When I have several things going I will grab these from my stash and just go ahead and decorated it and then file it for use later.

Here is the back side of the same envelope. This is one of the new iStencils.  Just love it.  I put this on top of the gelli prints using a small make up sponge dabbed in paint.  You can also use a sponge roller.  

Greeting Cards with Gelli Plate

when folded it is about 4 x 8 size card

card stock with acrylic paint and ink

This scroll like print technique on the gelli plate is one of THE most effective and beautiful prints.  I use Martha Stewart craft combs but Gelli Arts also makes their own tools.  You can also make a similar one by cutting out the "rake" or comb out of plastic coated playing cards.  Yippy…a good use for the decks with all the missing cards!  Note: When I do a mono print like this I use a sticky note as a mask for the rectangle in the middle.  

The inside of the card (with gelli print envelope in background)
hand printed washi tape holds the birthday check
Printed by using thinned acrylic paint in an eye dropper then out lined with ink
watercolor background

One of the nice things about the eye dropper technique is that the acrylic paint dries with a raised surface and acts as a resist to the watercolor which is added "after" the printing is done.  

If you are in northern WI on Aug 3, come and see the technique demonstrated at my workshop…see the details on the side bar on the blog and then scroll to my July 10 post for a supply list.  

A Day at the Races

55 Chevy at the Byron Race Track 

We spent Friday in Illinois helping Greg's son with his 55 Chevy and getting ready to make "passes" down the drag strip.  Over 600 cars registered for the event.  A very fun day.  Lots of father-son bonding going on over greasy car parts.  :-)

I had fun recording some of the cars that were there.

Supply List for my August 3 Gelli Plate workshop

8/3/16 Gelli Plate workshop:

The class will be held 10:30-2:30 at the Manitowish Waters, WI Community Center on Hwy 51.  Class is free for members of MAL and $10 for non members.

You must contact me to reserve a place in the class before August 1.  

ginny.stiles@gmail.com or 715-588-2326

Bring $ on the day of the class.  

Please go to gelliarts.com and watch the first demo video so you know a little about what will be covered in this workshop!  

The plate and brayer can be purchased at dickblick.com

You will need to get your order in by July 22 to be sure of delivery in time.

(amazon.com probably carries them too.)  

✔ An 8 x 10 or 6 x 6 Gelli Plate 

 and a 3” soft rubber brayer.*

✔ An assortment of colors of Acrylic paint (decorative paint from WalMart or Michaels is fine)

(be sure to bring white & black)

Any good soft body or fluid acrylic is good.  If you have glazing medium to add to professional grade acrylic or a “retarder” to help the paint stay wet that is helpful but optional. 

✔ 20-25 sheets of copy paper

note: you can recycle paper that you have such as advertising papers or overruns from you printer.  

*dickblick.com

I also have a recipe for a home made gelatin plate from Karen Gleisner. See below.

I frankly am not much for the home made ones for two reasons: one they do not last very long and second, they are not ALL that much less expensive to make than to buy!  BUT if you would like to try one, I am including the recipe.  Folks often use 9 x 13 pans for this and you must remember to have them perfect level when you let them set up.  Please note that you do not put the gelatin into hot water like regular gelatin.  You add the boiling water AFTER the gelatin is dissolved in cold water.  

Texture Tools:

Tops of things work nicely for circles…Wine corks, 

small jar lids, 

larger drinking straws, 

bubble wrap, 

plastic shelf liner, plastic 

small yogurt cups, 

10" pieces of string, yarn, thread or ribbon, 

plastic spoons, palette knives, toilet paper tubes, small paper cups, 

flat rubber jar lids.  

You can press leaves for a few days and use them.  Also small feathers work.

Small soft sponges of a variety of shapes or cut into shapes.  

Triangular make up sponges (highly suggested!) 

old credit cards 

netting from fruit bags

plastic canvas

saran wrap, 

old marker caps

potato mashers

sponge rollers,

drink lids

Q-tips

stencils of all kinds are great

rubber stamps (self made are the best): I will demo this in class.

Old toothbrush

Important things to bring:

✔ A  waterproof covering for a table 

✔ 2 Large plastic white garbage bags, one to tape to the table for your waste paper one for under your plate.

✔ cottage cheese or yogurt container for water

✔ 15-20 sheets of thin waxed deli paper

(I will have some of these to share if you don’t have any)

✔ a roll of paper towels

✔ a cheap pkg of baby wipes 

✔ A small container of rubbing alcohol for clean up.

✔ 5-6 sheets of newspaper 

✔ glue stick

✔ scissors

✔ hand cream or thin plastic gloves

✔ Elmer’s White Glue or gel medium and an old brush

✔ Lunch

Karen's homemade gelli plate recipe.

Make Your Own Gelatin Monoprint Plate

You will need a non stick container with a smooth bottom for your mold.  I used a mold for making mosaic stepping stones, they come in different sizes.  Measure for how much liquid you need to fill 3/4 to 1 inch thick.  Adjust the following recipe to your mold size.

2C. Cold water

Sprinkle with….

8 packages Knox gelatin

until dissolved.  Then add…..

2C. Boiling water

Mix well.  Gently stir in…..

8oz. Glycerine

Pour into your mold, touch any bubbles to get rid of them.

Let the gelatin set up in the refrigerator until firm.  Carefully unmold.

You can remold by melting the plate in the microwave and pouring again.

Karen Gleisner

Drawing pens and the Tangle Cornerz

So the discussion on drawing pens is endless online.

All of us who sketching using pens are constantly looking for THE perfect pen.  

My blog friend, Susan, and I are talking about our favorite pens but most especially pens that use ink as in fountain pen or dip pen. 

BUT there are a lot of disposable pens with different tips that are great too and of course it all depends on the surface on which you want to write, what kinds of lines you like to make (thick, thin, wet, dry, archival or water soluble) and what kinds of ink you like to use. 

They must be inks for fountain pens, however and not Indian ink or  Acrylic ink which would ruin a fountain pen.  SO MUCH to think about here.  Who knew?   

In my inventory above, the Lamy pen is a fillable fountain pen.  It is the only one I own at this point.  And the "dip pen" of course dips into ink and makes unique lines but not really suitable for outdoor use to my mind.    People who know pens also talk about "flexible or stiff pen tips".  I mean it gets REALLY technical. 

Some pens are really expensive and some quite reasonable.  My Lamy ran about $20 I think.  Dip pens are cheap.  And the disposable pens run $2 to $10 or so.  My favorite are the Microns which I use for Zentangle and which are nice because they come with so many different widths from 005 to 08.  If you don't mind carrying a fist full of pens around.  I usually settle for an 05 and a 005 when doing outdoor sketching.  

Sorting through "some" of my pens I am looking at pens that make black lines only at this point.  I have a lot of metallic, and colored pens for other uses.  What I am looking for here are pens that I would use to sketch with and that is just black lines.  The sketch above was done with the Pigma Pen.  

The Jet Pen company puts out a good list of fountain pens they recommend from their inventory.  

Here is my Zentangle tile for the Shading Facebook group.

I used an 01 Micron for this.  The challenge tangle is called Cornerz.  

Zentangle back to the future.

8.5 x 11 on copy paper
wc, ink, colored pencil

This is my 15th calendar page.

As my daughter says, "why don't you just get some gridded paper and skip the dates?"  She has a point, but somehow I just like the fact that is actually a calendar!   Back to the future?

Journal Prompts 26 and 27

9 x 12 Strathmore Visual Journal

acrylic paint

Black Gesso added to above

The prompts were to post about gardens and to post about the 4th of July.  So I decided to post the two together…a red, white and blue garden!  

So Now It's Summer in the North Woods!

Cabin fun this summer.

5 x 7 Strathmore WC sketchbook

 

 

 This is the view up the path from the pier.
The blow up chair is my son Rick's floaty chair.  
Lake water has been close to 80 this week and we have been blessed by the weather gods with perfect weather since the 3rd of July.  What fun.  

 My two youngest grandsons (9 and 10) have left a wet trail where they run down the pier, jump off the trampoline and catapult into the lake.  These kids sleep really well!  And eat us out of house and home!!!  
We'll be sorry to see them go tomorrow.  

Coon's Franklin Lodge Children's Play Area

Moleskin (large) 8 x 10

This is Coon's Franklin Lodge about 10 miles north of Minocqua, WI.  My outdoor painter's group met there yesterday morning just before a storm rolled in (see storm clouds on horizon).  I was able to get the sketch done but had to add color later in the studio.  

We get so few sunny bright mornings that I took a chance and drove the 30 minutes to get there to join the "gang".  But we got rained out by 11:30.  Sigh.  

We continue to get such cold and rainy weather up here.  I awoke to 50 degrees and windy (but sunny) on Friday of the 4th of July.  Am so hoping that warmer weather will soon come as I have a ton of company coming that wants to enjoy the lake!!!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!