Six Days 'Til SEWN

Six more days until the start of Mary Ann Moss' newest online class, SEWN.  It's going to incorporate patterned paper, sewing, flights of whimsy, imagination and perhaps a bit of pixie dust, just like all of MA's classes.

I haven't had much time to paint many of my own designed papers, but I've done a few, sampled here for your perusal.  The ones I have done, I like (mostly).  I have NO IDEA where all the shenanigans of this class will lead, but having taken Mary Ann's other classes, I know it's going to be fun, fabulous and extremely creative ride.

I have rummaged through my paper stash, found my washi tapes and my paper-only sewing machine (with LOTS of needle threaders, as I can barely thread that darn machine on the best of days!), assembled glue and scissors and my paper cutter and now, NOW I'm reduced to doing a blog post about how excited I am.  And counting the days....

tick tick tick.....

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!

My assignment for lesson #2 of my online class in watercolor journaling from Joggles was to go to a coffee shop and sketch and then color something. I chose to go to the mall, rather than to go to my usual haunt. Yes, chicken that I am I wanted to avoid all those folks I know while I sat there sketching! It worked out well as I was totally ignored, except for Nonie, who read the paper and kept me company. I enjoyed this assignment and found the lid of the cup to be a real challenge to paint. I wanted to get the shadows in but didn't want to lose the "whiteness" of the plastic lid.

Jane LaFazio, the instructor had some good criticisms of the little painting---she would have had me leave out the "graining"of the wood on the table and she, herself, would have left out the table all together. I can see that I got a little precious with the inked in graining of the wood, but I do like that the cup is grounded and not just "floating" in air. It is very helpful to get this teacher/student feedback from the assignments. I'm really glad I'm taking this class!

I'm Taking an Online Watercolor Journaling Class

I decided to take an online watercolor journaling class to get ready for my upcoming trips to Hawaii (February) and China (end of April). The best way to improve your art is, of course, to practice. I've been having a lot of trouble getting myself motivated to make some art, any kind of art, so I decided that if I spent some good hard cash on a class, I was much more likely to actually put pencil to paper and DO something

I found this class, taught by Jane LaFazio on the Joggles site. (Joggles has a whole slew of interesting classes. Check them out!) The class is called "Sketching and Watercolor: Journal Style: on Location" and is in six parts. You get a lesson a week. I like Jane's art and her teaching style is one that resonates with me. Our first assignment was to draw a key or key ring so I pulled out my bunch o'keys and got to it. Maybe not my best effort but a pleasant way to spend an hour or so on a Friday night.