Joanne Sharpe's workshop

Here is Joanne (from upstate New York) leading Day One of the two day workshop on "Whimsical Watercolor and Fonts" at The Villages.  FAST PACED would be an understatement!! Some samples of her folded books are on the table.  I think we are headed that way for Thursday!  

This is just a small portion of the day...wow, it went so fast.  Beginning to focus on some of the variations of your own handwriting that one can practice.  

If you look back at the first photo of Joanne you see her holding a fold out booklet (4 parts) that are just plain silly fun.  The theme is a warm-up helping to relax and get into the mood of a "second grader".  A time in our lives when we were up for most anything and still thought of ourselves as artists. The theme was just wild and crazy dresses for the 2nd grader in us.  And a chance to play not only with wet watercolor washes but Tombow pens in wet washes.  

Hard to show here but this is a simple inexpensive composition notebook (like $2-3) from office supply that each of us creating to hold "work samples".  The pages are thickened by using Washi Tape to "bind together" three- four pages thus making it relatively stable.  

So on to day two...wish me luck.

The New Way to Do Art Workshops

I just finished the 3 day workshop with Sandy Maudlin up in Summerfield.  Great time.  

I'll comment more on the art in another blog but I wanted to show the set up that the art group had that was quite splendid.  Never seen it done this way before.

The camera/screen set up made it so easy to follow the artist.  The camera was above her with lighting and the screen off to the side and then there was another identical TV screen off to the left side of the room.  
(No more mirrors!)

We could gather chairs around either screen or even see her from our tables.  (Or you could walk up beside Sandy and watch her too, of course).  

Watercolor and Tape

The two pieces that are now left hanging out there unfinished after two days in Sandy Maudlin's class are stressing me a bit.  The darkest darks now have to go into them and I am not at all liking how either of them are progressing.  You can see the tape "bits" on the second one.  This is a painstaking process of taping, painting, drying, and then doing it over again.  The tape has been removed on the "box of keys" and now the final darks need to go on.

Sandy also did a demo on yupo (not this technique) but one just so people could also see how that technique works.  I LOVE yupo and it was fun to be reacquainted with that technique too.  

It'll be interesting to see if I post the finals on these tomorrow or not.  As I say, I am not really too pleased with how these are coming along.  But it's all a learning thing, right?  

Complete Jane Davies online class this week...

So…this is how the last assignment in Jane's online class sort of went.  Design some "starts" using your gelli plate, masks, mark making textures, and try not to think too much about it.  (That last part was easy.)  She suggests twelve 8" x 8" starts.  Above you see 5.

Hey, it's one week to Christmas.  Let's get real.  Incidentally the pink one at the top left did not make the final cut. I will just cover it over with a new combination of paints later.

After you play around putting gelli plate marks on your papers, you then go back with a paint brush and "tidy" things up.  In other words make the painted marks look more precise and more orderly and more painterly and more intentional.  This is becoming more of an easy task now that I understand from practice why this important.  Casual, loose, and fresh does not mean sloppy.  

Then begin to add some collage work to the pieces.  I added three pieces to the above painting.  I tried to stay in the color family already started but am thinking I'll need to add some spice to it soon.  The pale circles in the burnt sienna paint were there but I made them brighter using alcohol on a Q-tip.  

Speaking of spice…here is a piece of collage that definitely is in the spice category.  Orange against blue has always been fun for me.  So three pieces added to this one and some mark making.  The scribble lines were made by using a Fine Line applicator and some Pyrrol Orange fluid paint, thinned.  Swirly lines, for me, help to relax the painting and getaway from too much linear work.  The softer circles in the background were actually there on the gelli plate but I had to paint around them so they would show up.  I used a Glazing Pen by Sukura for the tiny dots which actually have texture.  This one might be finished. 

This one has some interesting possibilities.  the three vertical collage papers I made myself, of course, and the texture on them is made by lightly sanding the paper while it is on a textured surface…sort of reverse of what you normally do in a rubbing.  The sandpaper removes the paint revealing the texture of what is below.  You have to be really gentle in this depending on the weight of the paper.  Doesn't work too well on Deli paper.  I am thinking of some gold spatter on this one. 

Jane usually critiques these photos on the class blog.  But I haven't gone back to read her critique yet.  It'll probably say…"do more".  

It usually does.  I like the color combinations in this one but I may go back in with more paint and soften some areas on this one.  

Gold and turquoise is a nice combination. 

The class is over now…this is the last session. (6 sessions).  They flew by!  Jane will leave the blog up until mid to late January so folks can continue to post and talk and etc. until then.   I have found this kind of collage very additive and it's so cool to know I have this to play with anytime I want to relax and make art!!!  I will probably frame at least two either from summer class or this one to put in the Hawthorne Park show in March.  I may ask my blog readers to help me decide which ones as it gets closer.

Greg and I are leaving for a week in South Carolina for Christmas so I may not be posting again until after Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone. 

The best five of my 10 x 10 collages

It's going to take me a few days to "come down" from 4 intense days of class.  Jane Davies is a fun, energetic teacher who totally enjoys making art and sharing with others.  Her blog is on my side bar.  It is amazing to me how much thought and work and thinking and redesigning goes into an abstract!   All the papers are hand painted in acrylics.  Each person makes their own.  

I can't say enough about Dillman's resort and they made us all feel at home and kept the workshops running smoothly.  Good weather all days except today where it poured most of the day.  But it stopped by three so it was dry for loading stuff back into cars.  

Think I am brain dead tonight!  More reflections in another post.

Abstract Studies in Jane's workshop

So how this works is that we are now combining some of the "elements" from day one (shapes, colors, lines, etc) with some techniques like mono-printing from deli paper, veiling with white paint, overlapping and transparent see-through elements.  Scraffito and scraping (with an old credit card) were used in most of these.  

I don't LOVE any of the above but they are learning studies that will remind me of the way Jane suggests working in multiples. All are 10" x 10". 

We are now preparing to work on collages by making our own "hand-painted collage papers" with a variety of ways to think about these from size to colors.  Not quite the way I usually think of collage papers.  I'll post some of mine tomorrow.  

Jane Davies' class at Dillmans

Dillman's Classroom Monday September 14

Isolating "elements" in a design.

I look at these 3 ( out of maybe 10 I did today) as the three I like the best.  They are not finished, of course.  I also see them as mildly amusing.  That I could spend all day working on these and come up with something so simple and "unfinished".  Hmmm.

I was to find 3-4 elements and change them up differently on each 10 x 10" square.  Try showing them differently.  Mask them with a "veil" of white paint in areas.  Looking forward to tomorrow…as I float along trying to make sense of all of this.  

To be continued….

Getting ready for the Jane Davies workshop at Dillmans

tissue paper prepared for collage….see below.

Notebook decorated for notes for Jane's class

Jane's book

Putting things together for Jane's class now.

Watched her video this morning again…gosh so many ideas in it!

Decided to try the crinkled tissue paper just for fun.  You paint a piece of art tissue with black acrylic paint and let dry.  The tissue must be on white plastic garbage bag.  When dry it peels right off.  Then you crinkle it and roll a brayer over it with whatever highlights you want on the crinkles.  (I used gold.)  Fun.

There will be a special dinner given for the artists at Dillman's tomorrow night.  Lots of fun ahead.  

Hawthorne Park Watercolor Workshops

"I've Always Wanted to Paint in Watercolor"

3 Workshops offered to the Fine Arts Club at Hawthorne Park, FL

Monday afternoons 1-4 pm Nov 9 and 23 and Dec 14.

the Nov 9 workshop is designed for the complete novice…color mixing, paper, brushes, and beginning techniques.*

Bring $5 for paper and brush.

Deadline for sign up is November 2.

Sign up on the Quad or email Ginny at ginny.stiles@gmail.com

This workshop is for Hawthorne residents only.

Supply List:

• a 2B pencil
• a kneaded or vinyl eraser
• a water container (large cottage cheese or yogurt)
• $5 cash for brush and paper

The brush we will be using is a #10 round synthetic brush that I will supply (no substitutions.)

I will supply paint for the Nov 9 class.

Workshop is based on Brenda Swenson's book Steps to Success in Watercolor.  I highly recommend it.  $10 paperback.  Check it out at Amazon.com

Class syllabus:

Nov 9: Introduction to materials and techniques.  This is a pre-requiste to the other two workshops if you are a novice. We will paint a small painting today!

Nov 23: Composition, Values, Colors: We will be painting a still life today.

Students will be asked to bring their own watercolor paints on this day.

Dec 14: Using hard and soft edges, working with light and shadow, using and saving white spaces.  We will be painting a Christmas Card today.  

*Experienced watercolor students are welcome to join the workshops on the 23rd and 14th.  Bring your own supplies. 

The Gelli Plate workshop in Minocqua today

The Gelli Plate workshop today!

The workshop was sponsored by Lakeland Art League of Woodruff-Minocqua.  AND co-sponsored by iStencil.com.

Thanks to iStencil for demo stencils AND for door prizes.

Special thanks to iStencil.com

Using iStencils

One of the lucky folks who won an iStencil (Patti Parrish stencil)  Door prize!!!

Day two of Gerald Brommer workshop

This design format is called "Shapes Within a Shape"
11.5" x 11.5" on 300# Arches paper

"Radiating Center of Interest"

"Compressed center of Interest" variation on a T format

The second day of Gerald Brommer's watercolor and collage class went so much smoother for me.

Gerald started out with about an hour lecture on about a dozen different design layouts to use for non-objective AND realistic paintings.  He had lots of examples.  

We spent the rest of the day experimenting with these.  I brought my own packets of tinted papers which included Gelli print, magazine scraps, as well the the papers I tinted yesterday in class.  Since I used red/orange combinations yesterday I wanted to try other colors today.  

I really like all 3 of these but probably the first one posted is my favorite.  We will get critiqued tomorrow morning so I'll let you know which ones Gerald liked.  

Only one more day for me, as I signed up for 3 of the 5 days.  But I feel I am getting a good workshop!

A good instructor!  

Collage Exercises with Gerald Brommer

The T Design

The Bridge Design

The crucifix design

Gerald Brommer

What a treat to take classes from such an experienced painter as Gerald Brommer!  I've admired his work for years and when I had the chance to at least get in 3 of the 5 days of this workshop I jumped right in.

It's a 40 minute drive up to The Villages for the workshop each morning but I am not sorry I signed up.  Gerald is 88 now and doing his LAST round of teaching before retiring.  I think he is doing one more class in Myrtle Beach and then heading back to CA where he lives.  

He is beginning us with his famous collage techniques by having us dye lovely oriental papers in watercolor to use in various ways.  The first day he is working (obviously) in teaching us the elements of good design by work in abstract elements with only two colors. When Gerald critiqued my work he said the "T" was his favorite one and that is why I put it first on the blog.  He said he would hang that one in his home!  Wow.  What a nice thing to say!  

The work is on 300# wc paper and is only 7.5" square.  We will be graduating to larger pieces this morning.  And he'll be adding more design elements as we go along.  I am sad that I am only able to take the first 3 days but our schedule this week would only allow for that.   More to come.  

Zentangle Workshop Today (Nov 7)

What a great group of gals....I had 15 for the workshop this morning.  We started right at 9:30 and ended at 12:30 without a break.  (I work my participants hard!)

Thanks to everyone for coming and I hope you had a good experience.  Happy tangling!

The Re-Do

One really nice thing about the iPad as a resource for photos is the ability to go back and look at a painting and use some of the original painting for the re-do. Naturally, the original is no longer in my possession. Neither is the original photo unfortunately. But with the photo...I could make a reasonable stab at the re-do.

Basically, as I noted in the previous post, white oak acorns do not have "stems" and so they had to disappear and the leaf lobes needed to be deeper. So we'll give this a try!

Meanwhile we are being drowned in Northern Wisconsin. Whew. RAIN RAIN RAIN. High of 59 today. How's that for the first day of summer! No sunshine in sight until "maybe" Saturday.

If this sounds like a little weather whining...well, so be it!!!

Our bathroom remodeling is really moving along, however, since we are not tempted outside. I may post a few photos of that. Painting is painting?

John Lovett's Workshop Day 5

On Friday we worked on several ideas...John took our questions and suggestions and tried some different genres of paintings to show how his technique transfers to those subjects.

This is my painting (1/8 of a sheet of Arches 140 cold press). We masked off the birches with tape before we started and then effort was made (as always) to identify an area for the center of interest. John's loose technique of drips and splashes using his "ugly brush" were used.

The technique of misting off some areas (vignettes) of the painting with "veils of gouache" still was used and also I added some gouache mixed with watercolor to sprinkle in light greens and reds to add some color into the underbrush and "infer" plant growth with leaves.

I used acrylic burnt sienna permanent ink with a plain old fashioned nib pen and then sprayed lightly with water to help the ink bleed slightly. Some marks in lighter colors were made with white charcoal and pastel pencils.

I asked John to demo making tiny people (1-2" high) to place in paintings. Here are the samples he did for us.

All 17 of the participants had a good experience and it was fun to meet folks from all over the country! I came home exhausted which is a good sign. I have unpacked into my studio again and hope to get in to do some painting this weekend.

One of my "quotes" from John indicates that he feels a good painting should have "subtle confusion" in it. In other words...some mystery for the viewer to unveil for themselves. Lots of things to remember as you paint.

John Lovett's workshop Day Four

John adds something new and interesting to his demos each day. He repeats those things we ask him to do over so we can watch again how he makes his choices.

In my first painting the sky is actually painted in tinted gouache in order to feature or highlight the transparency of the buildings in the painting. The painting is a quarter sheet of Arches 140 cold press (as are all the paintings except the following one which is an eighth sheet).

I also used gouache to make the clouds in the sky in the second painting.

I looked at my notes this evening I had written:

1. Draw minimally but carefully

2. Use dark darks in the center of interest

3. Plan the center of interest early

4. Use gouache and gesso for vignette effects

5. Start by blocking in shapes

6. Use hake brushes dry for smoothly effects

7. Shake and drip in colors you need to reinforce

8. Forget local color

9. Re-arrange objects to please your painting.

Here are my paintings for the workshop so far...I have another one in the works that is not working out so well...hmmm.

This one is almost exclusively with that "ugly" brush I mentioned last Monday evening. It's hard to get used to. But John says that half of a painting is learning how to correct things so I haven't given up yet.

John has a wonderful website with all kinds of helpful tips on how he approaches all kinds of subjects. Click here to see it.