Manikin Part II

So this is my second try on finishing up my little manikin.  She needed something on her head.  I cut a little hat from foam and glued some ribbons sort of floating out behind.  I decided she would have white hair (I mean this is a retirement community after all).  There..that feels more finished.  

Painting Paper for Collage

11 x 14 canvas on board: background collage

Making our own acrylic painted papers (see below)

Barb McFarland's collage example

I am not new to painting my own papers in collage work.  Since I took Elizabeth Nelson's workshop in Florida some time ago…I have been playing with that a lot.  I also use Gelli plate mono printing and lots of patterning.  Then I store the papers by color in big bags.  But Barb McFarland does her in a slightly different way. 

She starts with large sheets of white tissue paper and big 30# plastic garbage bags which she lays down on a table.  The tissue paper is Hallmark brand.  But almost any kind will work.  Some folks got theirs at the Dollar Store.  This is just the kind you wrap presents with.  Then she wets it down with water (it just about disappears at this point) and then she gently paints the papers with a hake brush or other soft brush with thinned acrylic (soft or fluid) in several colors blending then.  Unbelievably the paper holds together if you are careful. 

Then we put our paper/pastic in the sunshine to dry for an hour.  After that (see second photo) we just peeled the paper off the plastic.  It's amazing…the side facing the plastic is shiny like the plastic and the front side is a mat finish.  Very sturdy actually.  You can cut or tear this into shapes for collage.  

My mostly green background at the top will be a "bird house" theme.  Barb's at the bottom is a "Raven" theme.  She is drawing on the the background with watercolor pencil.  She also likes to use watercolor crayon.   

Collage

Wild Sunrise on Birch Lake  11 x 14 unframed.

This was photoed under artificial light (not the best) but it is a gloomy dark rainy cold day in the north woods of WI.  You get the picture of that?  

So this is the best I can do for now.  
This is an acrylic collage with hand painted papers painted with my gelli plate.  Transparent papers AND opaque paper as well. 

I "think" it is finished but with these abstract ones it is harder to know when it is done that in realism!!!

I find abstract very fascinating.
Am also working on some framing today and trying to get my selections in order to mail in for the Manito Art Show in July.  I have so many things coming up I want to have that "in the bag" and done.  

Then I can start thinking about the upcoming Zentangle CZT training.  My daughter and I fly out of Madison, WI a week from Sunday.   
  

Ginny with Elizabeth Nelson

It has long been a dream to take Elizabeth's paper painting workshop.

This was taken Sunday March 11 on the final day of the 3 day workshop.

What a treat to get to work with her for 3 days. I highly recommend her workshops!

Paper Painting Workshop with Elizabeth Nelson

You have seen this little toucan before in Yupo paper. (I have become quite fond of him!). This time he is on 11 x 14 wrapped canvas with an acrylic painted background. He himself is made of hand-acrylic painted torn papers. When I think he is done, he'll be varnished.

This was my day one assignment (apples).

Again the background is acrylic (splattered) although this time on canvas board (11 x 14). If you could look closer you could see we use music paper, hand written notes, newspapers, rice papers, etc.

Most of Day one was spent preparing these papers! Printing, stamping, splattering, and using layer upon layer of analogous colors.

The subject is painted first and then the papers added afterwards.

This is one of Elizabeth's paintings...part of a show called The Ark which will showcase 50 of her paintings in April.

(More on that later.)

Her paintings are on wood and are about 3 x 4' .

Day 3 is on Sunday although I only stay for the morning as the Hawthorne Park Art show will be tomorrow afternoon.

If you are in the Leesburg area be sure to drop in. I'll have 5 pieces in the show...1-4. Hawthorne Park is 3 miles south of Leesburg. We had advertising in the Orlando Sentinel today.

Congratulations Leslie!

Those of you who follow my blog know that I posted this painting by Leslie Johnson during the winter. She was in my acrylic paper painting class last fall and finished up the painting later.

I just got this message from her today...

Ginny, I just had to let you know that I submitted my artwork from your Workshop last year, the painted paper acrylic collage/painting, to the Eagle River (WI) Revitalization Project, Artscape, and it was selected and sponsored by Ogren Electronics for this summer long event! I believe 40 were selected. They took the artwork from each entry, blew it up to be reproduced on 24” x 51” banners that will hang on Wall and

Railroad Streets from Memorial Day until Veterans Day! The project will also be showcasing the art and artists in full color brochures and on posters and promoted as a walking tour . I am so excited! Leslie

I am so proud of Leslie!!! Well done and I can hardly wait to go to Eagle River to see the banners this summer! Nothing makes a teacher happier than successful students!

A demo by Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson

Elizabeth made a visit to Leesburg Art Association for a demo today.

What a thrill to finally meet her. Although I had seen her DVD and watched a movie about her life and work so I felt like I already knew her.

You might remember that she is a "paper painter". She paints her own paper and then tears it into "brushstrokes". The painting is all paper pieces except for the background.

I have my fingers crossed that the club can book her for a workshop next year!

Special tribute to Leslie Johnson

It's every teacher's hope that their students will not only learn something but also have fun in a class. Today I had such a lovely gift.

One of my students from a class on paper painting that I taught in mid September up in Wisconsin was kind enough to share her finished painting.

The unfinished painting is a photo I took during the class. She's come a long way, baby!

Isn't it spectacular!!!? I am so proud of her.

You will remember from early posts on this technique (based on Elizabeth Nelson's work) that we painted our own papers (in acrylic) and using the papers we make a collaged painting.

This was done on 11 x 14 canvas board.

I sure would like to see Leslie do another one!!!

Paper Painting Peppers

Say that 5 times fast! :-)

I did this as a demo of the underpainting at my class on Sept 15. But for the actual paper painting I worked on the dairy cow. Now, I've begun to add some of the papers to this one.

I filled in all the dark in the background and now have just started the green peppers on the left top corner. That's probably as far as I am going to get here in WI. I am starting to pack up the studio now and get ready for the annual trek back south to Florida.

I am thinking of continuing on during the Fine Art Open House in Florida on November 5th. If I get some interest in the technique I may set up a 2 morning class. There are a number of people who paint with acrylics in our park. I'll take some extra canvas boards and rice paper.

We plan to leave northern WI either Wed the 13th or Thursday the 14th of October. October, can you believe it!!! We have a pretty solid shut-down schedule as we do this each fall. My hubby has the lakefront closed down now, pier in and boats winterized. Now we will start on the summer porches and yard furniture. Then move into the house. We drain the pipes and shut things down tight. We are a team! Nights are like 31 degrees here now and our leaves are all falling down! It was pretty but it didn't last long!

I'll probably post a few more times before we leave and maybe get out my sketchbooks during the last weeks.

Paper Painting Today

The paper painting and acrylic class I taught was today in Woodruff, WI. I taught 5 gals and we so enjoyed being together in a cozy place on a cold and rainy Wednesday!

Here we are mid-morning watching Elizabeth St. Claire Nelson's video as part of our preparation for the technique...which new to everyone!!!

One person started her Christmas card with birch trees, wreaths and a lovely cardinal...and the other painting will be a big pot of beautiful plants with leaves of all colors! They all did a great job and we all had fun!!!

Paper Painting Class

One always has SUCH a variety of subjects and styles in any class. This one was no exception.

The pumpkins are in underpainting stage with the pumpkin in the far back the only part with paper on it.

Lots more happening on the bear painting...directly from a photo of one in her back yard recently. (Remember we are in the north woods of Wisconsin!)

The eagle is a local guy too...and she has "just" begun to put the paper on this one.

Feelin' Spicey

I was in the grocery yesterday and when I went by the peppers they just knocked my socks off with the color.

There is something about fall harvest, isn't there? Pumpkins, gourds, apples, pears, vegetables. Wow.

If I bought these for a still life I figure it would have cost me about $10!

So, cheapskate that I am, I arranged them right there in the produce section and photographed them.

This is a promo for having a camera so small it fits in your purse! You never know when something will come up!!!

Garage sales is another really nice place for photos of old rockers, antique toys, and beautiful tea pots without having to spend a cent!!!

I am thinking of using these in my Wed class for paper painting. More to follow on that.

Demo for workshop

This nice sleepy looking Holstein will be my in-class demo on Sept 15 at my workshop. The hard part is stopping the fun and waiting to do it in class!

I've paper painted the vertical fence posts and two of the horizontal ones..a tiny bit of the white and shadow on the lower nose and am experimenting with a dark blue for some of the blue/black shadows to the right of his face on the body. But that is all I've done.

The rest is just acrylic paint at this point. I was not planning to paper paint the red of barn but we'll see on that. The grass I think will just stay paint but I will sprinkle some colorful torn paper flowers into the grass and pick up some of the red there. She is painted on YES canvas board 11 x 14.

AND I think the painted coffee filter paper is going to work just fine...it seems to tear nicely and has good coverage! Info on the class is in the previous post (Aug 10).

Supply List for Paper Painting Workshop Sept 15

I promised my potential students that I would post the supply list on my blog after Aug 1. Oops. I think it is after August 1.

So, anyone in the north woods of Wisconsin (in the Minocqua, Rhinelander, Manitowish Waters, Boulder Junction, Woodruff etc. area)...you are welcome to join the class! September 15, 9-3.

Cost is $25 for the day plus $6.50 for materials.

(If you have some of these materials, of course, you may use your own!) The class fee is less if you are member of Lakeland Art League.

Pre-registration is required by September 9. Call Leslie Johnson at 715-453-1652 or you can reach her by email at RICHJLESJ@CHARTER.NET

It will be held at the Woodruff, WI Community Center on Highway 47 just north of Ace Hardware and right next to the post office.

Materials needed:

· Photo references/ newspaper for covering floor

· A small jar of gloss gel medium (you need gel that is thick,not drippy like most collage glue.)

· A few brushes ¼ to ½ ” flats

· Acrylic paint (Liquitex Basics are fine or whatever you already have.)

· An 11 x 14 Yes Canvas board recommended. I’ll bring some ready to use for $4.00 each.

· Kinwashi Rice paper to paint. This is about $2.50. You can buy from me at class. Option: white coffee filters

· Other random papers: sheet music, wrapping paper, pretty postage stamps, even some magazine and newspapers with interesting print or designs. Some people shop garage sales and pick up old children’s books to use the colorful illustrations to tear up!!!

· A large black plastic trash bag to cover the table* this is important for painting the rice paper!

· If you would like to paint along with me, I will have an outline to trace.

So the class is an extra $6.50.

You will have to buy the gloss gel yourself. Cheap Joe has it for 8 oz for 7.55. Probably 3 people could go together with that much! (p. 72. Liquitex Gloss Gel WL5708) Michaels might carry this. (LAA members $20 + $6.50 and Guests: $25 + $6.50 for board and rice paper.)

Many people like to work with the board tilted up. If you have a small table easel bring it along.

Ginny Stiles email: ginny.stiles@gmail.com

Coffee Filters Anyone?

I am going to "mentor" a workshop on paper painting (ala Elizabeth Nelson style) on September 15. This is somewhat presumptuous being a complete newbie myself...but it's fun and you learn a lot when you try out stuff and then teach it to others!

I thought I'd shamelessly plagiarize Elizabeth's famous cow painting as subject matter that is not too difficult to draw.

I want to make the paper we paint on for the project as economical as possible for a short workshop I am trying out the possibility of using coffee filters as the painted paper. They seem to take the acrylic paint very much like the more expensive rice papers...not quite as nice a texture and of course being so small a little fussier to work with. I laid them down in an enameled pan (or an acrylic sheet) and painted at least 4 at time and then put them out on the clothes line.

So now I have the paper ready and I need to move on. More later.

Paper Painting Demo at Art Show

Here I am today in Manitowish Waters doing a Paper Painting Demo from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 pm. I am finishing up the "Sock Monkey" painting. My "Bucket of Sunshine" flowers if at the right.

I had several others there for people to see. I had my business cards and flyers for the class I am teaching in September. Mornings are not as heavily attended at afternoons and evenings. But I had a lot of interesting folks stop by to visit.

One lady informed me that Rockford, Illinois gave sock monkeys their birth. And I discovered she is absolutely right!

John Nelson, a Swedish immigrant to the United States, patented the sock-knitting machine in 1869, and began manufacturing work socks in Rockford, Illinois in 1890. The iconic sock monkeys made from red-heeled socks emerged at the earliest in 1932, the year the Nelson Knitting Company added the trademarked red heel to its product. In the early years, the red-heeled sock was marketed as "De-Tec-Tip". Nelson Knitting was an innovator in the mass market work sock field, creating a loom that enabled socks to be manufactured without seams in the heel. These seamless work socks were so popular that the market was soon flooded with imitators, and socks of this type were known under the generic term "Rockfords". Nelson Knitting added the red heel "de-tec-tip" to assure its customers that they were buying "original Rockfords". This red heel gave the monkeys their distinctive mouth. During the Great Depression, American mothers first made sock monkeys out of worn-out Rockford Red Heel Socks. (from Wikipedia)

Moving Ahead One Step More

The red previously at the bottom of this paper painting had to go. Nope. I didn't like it.

I think I am at a spot now where I can stop for awhile. I would like to put the handle on the bucket too. Will be a challenge to do.

I have done 3 of the sunflowers but all rest need paper painting yet. That will be fun to do at the demo on July 16. I also have that "sock monkey" to work on. So plenty to accomplish in the 10:30-1 pm slot!!! There are folks doing demo's all day Thurs, Friday, Sat (15,16,17) at the Manitowish Water's Art show on Highway 51. The show is open Sunday too but I don't remember if there is a demo that day. (see hours off to the right under "events".)

Stop by if you are in the area.

I have a few sketches to do of our church here in the north woods...a gift to them for the cover of the new membership directory.

The grandsons arrive tomorrow evening to say for 8 days. So there won't be a lot of art work accomplished during that time. I hope to do some sketching which I haven't done for awhile.

Thinking Sunflowers

A brisk day in the north woods (for almost July!). 58 and windy at noon but at least the sun is shining today. My hubby likes these days...he feels like being outside trimming branches and sawing logs. And true, it's not bad weather as such. It's just so disappointing when you know it should be 85 and and it should be hot and delightful out in for boating or down on the pier!

I turned my attention again briefly to the sunflower challenge in acrylic/paper painting. I love all the colors except the red I chose for the table and that has got to go away.

Purples, blues, yellows. Then red? Nope. I was thinking more "orange" when I set out and it is indeed really an orangey red..but I don't like it. So this will a problem to be solved as I work my way down. Right this minute I am thinking of a pale blue table...very washed out blue in the sunshine and then shading over to purple blue in the shadow behind the bucket. That's what happens when you add something at the last minute in the underpainting without thinking it through.

I have done the bucket (except for the handle) and have started up at the top with the top two sunflowers. I see that I will need to do most of the leaves first so that the flowers will pop out on top of them. So am now going through my stash of green painted papers to see what I have. Because it is a fairly complicated painting it will take me longer to do this one.

My hope is to solve the table color issue and then to leave the sunflowers to do during the demo so I only have to bring papers in those colors.

Finishing Up the Portable Labyrinth

You can probably tell, I just put on the coat of gloss/varnish as it hasn't quite dried in a few places yet. I think it'll take a day or two actually. I will put the fan on in the studio and that should help a little.

I decided to use paper paint the outside of the labyrinth as a sort of interesting dark. The effect is watery and it kind of makes the labyrinth look like an island. I like that! I didn't start out with that thought but it sort of emerged!

Indeed a labyrinth is a kind of "island" of tranquility and thought and a journey. I also like the contrast between dark and light.

Schaper and Camp's book refers to the inward and the outward journey.... preparation for the journey and also reflection afterwards. My friend, Phyllis, wrote for prayers this morning...her husband may have breast cancer!!!! Oh my Lord. I have certainly heard of this. When I had breast cancer 15 years ago I read everything I could find, of course, and indeed that came up. But you don't hear about it often. So Joe's name moved up on my prayer list. He's having surgery soon but it's the lab reports I am praying about, of course.

Sunflower Underpainting

This is the acrylic underpainting for one of the paper paintings that I plan to use for the demo in July. (I think). I have always liked this photo I took of a pot of fresh picked sunflowers.

Compositionally I probably need to pull one of the flowers out and let it touch the right side (as in the photo. I see that now that I have looked at it online.

I stopped before I put in the red in the photo. I couldn't decide if that bright red added or detracted from the main subject matter. But the more I look at it, the more I think it might be a good dash of color...if I keep the red on the warm side for the foreground...hot red...orangey red.

I have never done a floral in paper painting. This should be interesting!!!

Gray, windy, 58 degrees in the north woods on Monday. Sigh. Not raining at present. Just gloom! But the music is playing and the coffee is hot and I have cookies baking in the oven. So never mind!

AND I have some lovely fun painting to lure me away into the studio later.