Monday, August 19, 2013

Beautiful Faces and Dream Houses

About a month ago, I spent a wonderful weekend creating art on large (for me) canvases with a great teacher, Cindy Wunsch.  My friend Pat had taken a class with Cindy at last year's CREATE retreat, and I was happy to sign up for these two classes after seeing Pat's work.  And how's this for an endorsement.....Pat took these two classes as well. 

Some of Cindy's work:



Cindy's style is colorful, whimsical, and exhuberant.  Me, not so much, but I embraced her techniques and forged ahead.

Cindy, explaining something.  She was very thorough and prepared.



On Saturday we tackled faces.  I am no big fan of stylized faces.  At least not when I do them.  I actually like many I've seen, but they're just not me, so I am never too pleased with any I've attempted.  I received a lot of positive feedback on my redhead, but I do not love her.  Sorry, Red!  I did love the process, however, and even found a place for Red in my home.

 
 
What the photos probably do not show, is the finishing.  When the class was over, we didn't take our canvases with us.  They stayed behind, and Cindy gave each a nice thick coat of resin.  Not only will that protect the highly layered and textured work, but it just made the colors pop.  And as these workshops were a joint effort between Michele's Little Bird Studio and The Ink Pad, participants were given the option to pick up their pieces (once dry and cured) from either location.
 
Here is Cindy applying the resin, with Michele watching carefully.
 
 

 
Most people either did a second face or some stylized birds for the next canvas, but I just went in my own direction and did this collage:
 
 
On top of the many layers of collage elements went the circles.  Inside the largest is a stamped image from LaBlanche.  The other three fish are Wendy Vecchi stamps.  I stamped them on white tissue paper with embossing ink and applied white powder.  Once on the canvas I colored them.
 
On day two, the theme was Dream Houses.  Much more up my alley, and I created more of a dream shack than house, but it suits me.  It is near the ocean, and sits on stilts upon a foundation of books.  But let's not get too analytical.
 
 
 
My next piece was a cityscape, done on a long narrow canvas (12x24), which I love!  Lots of paper piecing and stenciling went into this one.
 





11 comments:

Heidi Bound said...

I saw these beauties in person and the pictures don't do them justice! My fav for sure is that cityscape but adore them all---yes, even RED!

Anonymous said...

These are AWESOME Eileen!!!!

Dorothy said...

How fun!! Looks great!

LaStamper said...

I love to see artists stretch their comfort level and your results are inspiring!

Marjie Kemper said...

Looks like a great set of classes. I'm loving your 'shack'!

Unknown said...

I know you just left, but you need to come back and teach me how to do these. You know, I really LOVE your Red girl. And I didn't think I'd like these stylized faces. And the cityscape? I have to make these.

Seth said...

What a great set of classes these must have been. You created so many pieces of wonderful work. Love that shack the most!

Patzee said...

Who knew stepping outside your comfort zone would have such great results! Now I have to make a tall skyscraper canvas, too!

andizee said...

Gr8 job!!!

Elena said...

Okay, so now I have a good reason to go back to New York! I would LOVE to do this with you! I love the redhead but the one I love the most is the dream house. Can I live there with you????? I promise I wont snore!

Lori said...

Fabulous! Interesting that she covers the canvases with resin! Looks like an awesome class with awesome techs! Poor Red...lol... I think she looks great!