Up very early, found the coffee maker ready, pressed start, and was shortly joined by Lillian, another early riser. We found some bagels, shared breakfast and nice conversation, and waited for everyone else to make an appearance. It didn't take long. I think we were all excited to begin.
I planned to show the group some of the techniques I learned in the Lynne Perrella workshops I took last August.(To learn more about that, go to my August blog posts). So, first thing to do, was cut up some red rosin paper. You can find rolls of this stuff in Home Depot, and believe it or not, this paper, which is normally used to protect flooring during construction, makes the very best art paper......once gesso is applied.
We had to do this first, so there would be plenty of time for it to dry completely before we could add color and collage elements. At this stage, everyone added lots of texture, with stamps, stencils, bits of cardboard, netting, string, sponges, bubble wrap.....you get the picture.
Gina shows me her gessoed fingers
Once everyone was finished, we set the paper aside to dry, and immediately got into Val's wonderful journal project. This was her gift to us all, and included chipboard covers, coin envelope inserts, and a bag full of fun embellishments.....chipboard pieces, maps of Florida, a tiny bottle full of sand, etc.
Mind you, these are my leftovers! There was a bag full of goodies.
We all set to work on our journals, decorating the coin envelopes and covers. Here are some shots of a busy studio:
Linda and Patty working on their journals
Jen, Gina, Marita and Sue take time out for a photo op
Look all the way in the back, right in front of the window. That's a huge cage, and inside is Pancho, Elena's
blue macaw. Noisy fellow.
Jen and Juliet, Pancho behind them
Val gathered us together to demonstrate the "drunken scotch" technique, which she used on the frame on the cover of her journal.
It is a very cool technique, and I've mentioned it here before. Basically you apply glue to a piece of chipboard or grungeboard, drop some alcohol ink on top, then blast it with the heat gun to get a bubbly, rusty look. Here's how it looks on my journal cover:
We used the frame to make a shaker box. There are tiny beads inside. The shells were contributed by Elena. The bird is one I made of polymer clay, but that's for another post.
Here are some more pages from my journal (which when completed was bound by Val with Elena's Bind-It-All:
The cover with some mementos hanging from a chain.
Close up of the danglies. I found the leaf outside Elena's house, and covered it completely with crystal effects. The key was done with the drunken scotch technique. The rectangular tile was done in our polymer clay class (more on that tomorrow), the little fish charm I added at home, but the tiny fish hook was done on the spot for everyone by Gina. The glass bottle full of sand and shells was in the goodie bag Val gave us, and the shells were from Elena.
The inside front cover. A bit of the map of Florida, with Key Largo highlighted under a clear bauble. The bird was done with the inlaid embossing technique (more on that later).
Val gave us each a library book card which we used to have everyone sign in:
I decorated the rest of my pages as the mood struck. Used paper on some, paint on others, some stamping, stenciling, and collaging of some beachy Graphic45 paper. Here are just a few of the pages:
This is the inside of the back cover:
And the back cover itself:
Jacquie had brought some delicious sweet and savory pastries from a wonderful Miami bakery, and we just kept eating them throughout the morning, right into lunch time. No one even thought of stopping to go out for food. Too much to do, too much fun being had.
In the afternoon, Jen shared with us some of what she's learned taking online face drawing classes. She is REALLY good at it. First we sketched faces by looking at pictures from magazines. Here are my two attempts:
Then we were able to pick a face from a magazine that Jen had covered with a light coat of gesso. You could still make out the features, so it was a great way to practice. Wonderful technique, Jen!
Here is Elena working on one of her sketches:
When it was time for dinner, we drove to a local restaurant, Marlin, where Elena is very well known, and we feasted on a never ending array of Cuban food....not to mention some very good margaritas. Thanks to Manny, the very generous owner.
And the very best......
