Paint Oaxaca!!! Part 1

I recently returned from a stupendous week in Oaxaca, Mexico with the Paint Oaxaca! group, led by Kathie Vezzani and Ana Elena Martinez.  The teachers were Judy Wise and Katie Kendrick, with a special afternoon's class from our "guest artist," Karen Cole, who was also a member of the group.

Karen Cole sketching at Santo Domingo, Oaxaca

Facade of Santo Domingo de Guzman, Oaxaca

We spend our time making art----painting, making copper repoussé frames, sewing cases to hold out art, making bead and fabric necklaces, cooking, laughing, eating delectable meals, sightseeing, and on and on----and having a wonderful time.  We made new friendships.  We deepened existing friendships.  We learned and shared and were filled up with the beauty of the people of Oaxaca and the lovely landscapes.  And Mexican art, food and music are just the best!

Judy Wise strolling near Santo Domingo

One of the unexpected perks of any Mexican visit, to my mind, is stumbling onto a parade or celebration.  We saw several of theses colorful, loud, exciting gatherings during out time in Oaxaca.  Each one was splendid and happy.  I have no idea what they were celebrating and that didn't matter one whit---I was happy to be part of the audience and share in the fun.

Our happy art tribe

I loved seeing all the lush planters and pots that decorate the streets, shops and homes of Oaxaca.  It was the rainy season during out time there, but I will not complain about warm rain.  We did get caught in a few gully washers, but wading home with your umbrella clutched tightly in hand, was fun and an adventure in and of itself.  A little water does not daunt someone from the Pacific Northwest!

my ex voto painting

In upcoming days I'll post more photos from my wonderful time in Mexico.  I like this trip so much I have signed on for one in Mexico City in March.  And I just had my first Spanish language class last night.  (And oh my goodness, I am not a natural at speaking Spanish.  This is going to be quite a workout for this old brain!)

Prepping Journals

Next month I am off to visit my dear friend Bee again, the artist who lives on Nantucket.  I always keep a travel journal while I am there because I don't want to forget any little detail of my time with her.  We see each other so rarely that each moment is precious.

This time we are going to head down to Wilmington, North Carolina for a weekend retreat with our friend Judy Wise.  Judy is teaching a weekend, two day class in art journaling.  Bee certainly does not need to take a journaling class, but she loves Judy.  I can always use a class, any class, from Judy.  It will be fun to spend a couple of days in class, working together.  I will get to see a new place.

We are to bring a journal to work in and I decided that I would do one of my quirky portraits on the cover.  I finally got it finished this afternoon.  It's not my best work, but it was fun and the face that emerged makes me laugh, so it's all good.

I had paint from here to Sunday, gel medium, gesso and lots of paper towels scattered all around me.  The sun was shining brightly in the window, my chores were (mostly) done and it was a perfect afternoon to get some painting done.

Best of all, it was fun!

I also covered one of my favorite watercolor paper journals with some paisley fabric.  This journal will be my travel journal for my upcoming trip to India.

I tried out all the Distress Stains by Tim Holtz that I have amassed, looking for colors that would work in the India journal.  I had never bothered to make a color sheet for myself before, so it was good that I finally did.  Now I can just look at the colors I own to see what works for any given project.  I like to pre-color my journal pages to go with the cover or some theme I have going.  White pages can stop me in my tracks, but color draws me in.  I find I have a much easier time of journaling if I add color to the pages before I leave home.

I am also getting ready to fax all my info for my Indian visa to the passport and visa service I use.  The Indian visa is a complicated one to apply for and I trust the service to do it correctly.  Me?  Not so much.  I'll let the professionals handle this one.

An Art Break from Africa

waste paper pages to use for collage

I have been taking an online journaling class being taught by Judy Wise.  I have long admired Judy's work and having met her through a mutual friend, I know she's funny, fun, incredibly talented and a great teacher.  The class has turned out to be even more fun than I'd expected.  Every morning I rush to my computer to pull up the daily class.

The assignment for this page was to use repetition as a design element.

I devoted this spread to some of my daily posts, just my normal journal entries.  I used a transfer and did a drawing with the stopper of an ink bottle eyedropper, as per an assignment, to add to the page.  I was amazed at how much fun it is to draw with such items---very liberating.  You just can't get tight, or precious.

On this spread I used some tissue paper transfers of photos and some rubber stamping, collages some papers and smeared paint all over.  The writing assignment was to write about 5 wishes, rather like what you might wish for if you were blowing out candles on your birthday cake.  Judy told us that it would be good to go back, someday in the future, and read what we'd wished for on a certain day in March, 2012.

This page is a "roadmap" of my life so far.  I found this exercise to be surprisingly insightful (to me).  By having to pick and choose items to include or not on my journey to now, I found what was the most important to my chosen path truly surprising.  For example, who would have dreamed that a boy who bullied me in the 6th grade gave me the knowledge that I was strong and that it didn't matter that he heckled me.  It was his problem, really, not mine.  A valuable lesson that has served me in good stead all my life!  Thank you, o bully of years past.

This page is all about my dear, dear friend.  I miss her as she lives far away on an island 30 miles out to sea.  It is about the time of year that I first met her and she has been much on my mind lately.  By using a few photos and writing about our first meeting, I feel close to her.  It was a great exercise.

This is another example of a spread I use for my daily journal entries.  I liked how it developed a travel theme---travel always being on my mind.  I'm either thinking about a previous trip or planning a new one.

This was a painting exercise that turned out to be great fun.  I won't tell you how we were instructed to do it, but let me say, it was not the way I usually approach a portrait.  It is always fun to just put brush to paper and see what sort of a face emerges.  I was not expecting a red head!

I love this quote.  It is a variant of a Biblical phrase and is on the wall of a great book shop in Paris, Shakespeare & Company.  The angel is drawn from a photo I took of a beautiful angel statue in Wendy Addison's shop, Theatre of Dreams.  I was glad I finally found a use for that image as it has long been a favorite of mine.

I've been having a lot of fun.  Thanks, Judy!