Art Is You, 2014

Here I am, once again in shock that it has been over a month since I've posted. Don't have any reasons that make sense to me; I guess I just have to accept that like so many of my blogger friends, I'm just not a three times a week blogger any more. Or at the moment. But enough of that. I am here and ready to share a bit of my experiences at Art Is You, 2014, in Stamford Connecticut.

I love AIY; I've attended for the last three years, and this was definitely the best so far. I registered for five classes and I loved all five. I'm usually pleased with my choices, but there are often one or two classes I like less than the others. On the way home my friend and travelmate Cheryl asked me which was my favorite and I honestly couldn't answer. To borrow a phrase from The Last Crusade, I chose wisely.

Day 1, Rethinking Dinner with the talented and fun Cheryl Strait. As promised, I will never look at dinnerware in the same way. We used spoons and forks to create jewelry, and I had a blast pounding, sawing, filing, drilling and torching.

 Cheryl was VERY generous with her time and her tools. I'd never used a jeweler's saw before, and it was easier than I thought it would be.

Our class kit consisted of what we'd need to make earrings and a bracelet or two.

I sawed off the handle of the spoon to use on the bracelet. The earrings feature the tines of the fork. The round pieces started as chunky buttons that I pounded the @*%! out of.

The next day I changed gears totally. The class was called Soft Sculpture Puppets with Lisa Lichtenfels. Ordinarily I have no interest in dolls or puppets, but I have always been fascinated by soft sculpture pieces and jumped at the chance to learn how it's done. Lisa is very famous in this world (I didn't know that when I signed up), and aside from being talented, she is a lovely human and an excellent teacher. Check out one of her sample pieces, Albert Einstein.

 Two other samples which demonstrated how to create an old and a young face.

Pretty amazing. Here is my sweet old-ish lady.

Lisa guided us through the process step by step. It certainly isn't easy, but it sure was fun.

We used pins....lots and lots of pins....and fiberfill to form the features. At this stage it is just plain frightening.

Once we began the sewing and removed the pins the heads looked much less creepy.

The addition of the puppet body and hair made all the difference. Now, I very much doubt I will be attempting this again, but just in case, our class kit included a DVD with every step explained in full.

Day 3 was Sacred Hearts with Lesley Venable. I was so looking forward to this class and it didn't disappoint. I got to solder all day! What's not to love?

Day 4, Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves with Andrea DeMeng. This was my second, and I'm sure not my last class with Andrea. I love her style, and her teaching is on point. She is so organized and her suggestions are spot on. We did fairly large collages and everyone did an outstanding job. Here is my....well, not a gypsy, no tramp, not a thief.....I believe what I have here is royalty.

The last day, Embedded Heart Shrine with Laurie Mika. My third class with Laurie. You think I like her? Nope. LOVE her! I know I can (and sometimes do) work with polymer clay at home on my own. But I just love her projects and the energy in her classrooms. 

 The coolest thing about the heart....it hangs on a hook in the niche and can be removed to wear as a pendant. Laurie even provided the chain for us to use.

One last thing about AIY, and another reason I feel this year was the best. Every attendee receives a handmade name tag (which is really like a little purse to hang around your neck, with room enough for a hotel key card). We were encouraged to make charms as a trade, and by the end of the week, the lanyard was completely covered with charms from art friends new and old. It's now hanging in my studio right above my computer, along with those from 2012 and 2013 to remind me always of wonderful times with my "tribe."

 

Many thanks to Sallianne McClelland & Ellen Legare, the extraordinary organizers of this event. They get us, and know how to create an environment that nurtures us. See you in 2015 ladies!

A Documented Life -- It's All About the Text(ure)

The current prompt in The Documented Life Project is to include some book pages. Having just experienced the wonders of painted paper collage, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I found a photo of a pear (to go with the apple I did in the workshop) online, and spent a good part of an afternoon painting all sorts of text pages with every shade of green and yellow. You know you've gotten a lot out of a workshop when you find yourself immediately including the techniques learned in pieces done outside of the class. I found myself remembering the tips Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson gave us, and as a result, this page came together with far fewer problems. And I really like it a lot. Thanks, Elizabeth!

The pear is entirely made up of painted text, all torn. Elizabeth's mantra of "no scissors, ever!" kept repeating in my head. The background is mainly painted, with just a bit of paper along the sides. Next, I'd like to try an animal portrait, and then, maybe, a human. We'll see about that.

Extraordinary Paper Collage Workshop!

Last weekend I had the very great pleasure of spending four days at the beautiful Hudson River Valley Art Workshops, located in....you guessed it....the beautiful Hudson River Valley in New York State. The classes are held at the Greenville Arms 1889 Inn, a lovely country inn. My friend Pat and I were last minute attendees, getting in due to a cancellation. Very lucky, and the room we got was a cottage with a front porch, a fireplace inside (which we actually needed and used one chilly night), and a whirlpool tub in the bathroom. For more information, click HERE.

(Our front porch. Can you get any cozier?)

Pat and I took advantage of the porch. The perfect place to enjoy some pre-dinner wine.

(The entrance to the studio, just opposite our cottage).

Our teacher was Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson. I kind of feel as though calling her a collage artist is like referring to Picasso as a doodler. Elizabeth is an art school trained painter and her collages are, well, painterly. She paints her own papers to get just the right shades, she tears them uber carefully and with just paper (and NO scissors, ever!) creates pictures with shading, shadows, volume and dimension. Elizabeth did a blog post on our weekend. Her husband Doug is a wonderful photographer, and the blog post contains his documentation of the workshop, as well as the surrounding countryside. He took way more (and way better) photos than I did, so do check out the blog by clicking HERE. Besides, you'll get to see Elizabeth's amazing work and her teaching schedule.

We had homework! Before the event we were to do an under-painting of an apple on a 12x12 canvas board. This is the photo I used for reference:

And this is my under-painting:

We spent a day painting all sorts of paper (rice paper, deli wrap, old text pages, music sheets, etc.) with a full range of all the colors we'd need to do our apple collage. We painted A LOT of paper. Elizabeth told us that no matter how much paper we painted it wouldn't be enough. You know what? She was so right. Most of us wound up doing a little more painting to get just the right colors.

Elizabeth came around and marked each photograph to help us know the order in which we should be collaging.

A work in progress:

Elizabeth had a few excellent suggestions to make my apple look rounder. I really appreciated the individual attention she gave to all 18 of us. I should mention that these workshops are never overbooked. We each had our own large table and there was plenty of room to move around.

My completed apple:

I had time to do a second canvas, but I didn't have a reference photo, so I just did a quick sketch and under-painting of a couple of birds, and tried to apply all the techniques Elizabeth taught. 

Here it is as a work in progress. Everything collaged except the birds.

More or less finished (photo taken under different lighting conditions, so color is a bit off):

And here is Pat's fabulous apple. A very NYC apple, don't you think?

I'm looking forward to reviewing the remainder of the 2014 class schedule as well as those already scheduled for 2015. I'd love to go back!  Did I mention that Mark, who owns the inn with his wife Kim is the chef, but more importantly, he is a chocolatier. His chocolates are for sale and sometimes appear as dessert after dinner. Need I say more?

A Documented Life -- Recycled Art

This week's prompt in The Documented Life Project is to collage something you've recycled. I decided what better to do than recycle bits and pieces and leftovers from old art projects, including those I've done and some I've received.

I used a piece of an old magazine cover as my base. As I arranged the elements I tacked them down with Elmer's Extra Strength glue stick (it doesn't muck up the sewing machine needle). 

Some of the circles are fabric, others are paper. 

There are bits of old tags, circles punched from postage stamps and some cut from envelopes. See the piece on the top left with the ribbon? It is the top of a tag that had otherwise gotten damaged. Over on the top right, those animal heads were on postage stamps, I believe from Australia.

The brightly striped circles were cut from paper that was originally an envelope, handmade by a friend who sent me some "stuff." And I do believe that is Queen Elizabeth in the center of one of the circles. (Also from a postage stamp).

I'm sure I've said this before, but I love using things made/sent by my friends in my own art. Even just a scrap of paper or fabric, or a bit of ephemera handed to me at a workshop will make me think of that friend every time I look at the finished piece.

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.