Homework.

Jeanne Olivers website sometimes offers free teasers.  I had downloaded this awhile back, but had not watched it until today.  Its was made by Dana Wakely.  Scribbling figures by tracing fashion model poses.   I enjoyed it.    Reminds me of things I did a few years back, but now they have her influence and seem more modern.

Im stuck at home today applying cold compresses to a spider bite on my face.  Yuch.   A good day to play around. 

This is what I did this morning based on her video. 

Online class - Nature's Art

On a whim a few weeks ago, before my life got turned upside down with moving things from the country to home - and thrift stores - I signed up for an online workshop "Nature's Art".   It is taught by a woman from South Africa, who picks up branches, twigs, driftwood and leaves that she uses as canvases.    I like to paint on leaves.   So, why not on branches and twigs?   Thinking I'd still  have the place in the country to retreat to and take long walks picking up things along the way.  

Well, that didn't work out.   Not going to the country for long walks often.   Rarely is more like it.   

 But at the beach the other day, in the backyard I found a little bit of a palm frond and thought I'd bring it home to paint on.    Here it is.   The natural fibers in the piece lent themselves perfectly to wind/water swept hair... 

The second is another little bit off the palm trees that line the main street in front of the house.        I've only watched a couple of the many videos available on the workshop so far, but have it available anytime.   Ms Bain does a lot of preparation on her pieces.  Filing, sanding, scraping, etc.     These did not require much except a stiff brushing and then some gesso.     It was kinda fun to do these.   She suggests leaving them in the woods or on the beach again so someone can find them.     I think I'll just put them out in my garden to watch them weather.    

 I wish I'd turned the second one sideways. Today it looks like a bird's head with open beak.    Hmmm...  I may paint over the girl and go for a bird yet.    

Revisiting an old stencil project

Years ago I went to Art and Soul in Asilomar with some art friends, including Roberta, Sally, Nancy, Rosemary and Char.  Did I miss anyone?     The first workshop I attended was the one by Albie Smith.

She led off the day by showing some previosly made art journals to give us inspiration.     It was a huge class and we were jammed close together.    We started by making background papers, one after another.  I chose my color scheme based loosely on one of her samples that attracted me, and was out of my comfort zone.   Albie had supplied the materials, so that made it easy to proceed with everyone having the same papers and paints available.   I think it was paste paints we used for backgrounds.

We had to lay the papers out all over the floor in this big room so they could dry and then we could work on the backs of papers.       After both sides were painted we had access to a wonderful stash of stencils.    Working with colored gessos, we pounced our stencils, washed them off in the sink, and went to find another one.       She encourages us to over stencil.   She also had some really good stamps we could use ( like the big leaves shown here).      It was a madhouse and I felt very pressured to get things done so we would move on the folding and making the book and doing the binding.      

When I got home I added my own cut stencils and some of my friend Jackie's that we traded back and forth.     She made a collection of goddess figures. She cut ;them in small, medium and large sizes.    I made the elephants and the religious figures in assorted sizes..

Since stencils are so big on the art scene right now, I thought I'd show this as a reminder that it's nothing new - it is just evolving by clever marketing and involving the internet art groups.  They have caught on to making it more interesting by offering so many ways to use them and so many different looks can be produced using the same stencil.   I'm glad they are back and HOT!    I like using them.     Now that I look back at this handmade book,  it makes me want to create another one some way, without doing the binding.   The stitching and binding look pretty good, but I found the painting and stenciling the most fun.     I stayed with a limited palette and like the sort of batik like jungle look.

Not all of the pages were so busy, I used the busier papers for the covering for each signature in the journal.  There were four signatures consisting of three folded over sheets of painted paper inside each one.   I forget the terms for the structural details.     We had to work so fast to get this all done in one day, I didn't really learn what I was doing, I just did it in a rush.     That was a lot of work, but the results were awesome.  To see everyone's books out on the table at the end and to see how different each one was - such a good experience.    

Some of these photos were taken at the workshop.   I understand Albie is not teaching right now.    Check her blog to see what she is up to now.    Soon as I got home I ordered colored gessos from her source and also a bunch of stencils.     I was so glad she shared the supply information so we could find them.