A Trio of Canvases

I've been taking this wonderful online class with Roben-Marie Smith, whom I first "met" in Wanderlust 2016. I fell in love with her style, and jumped at the opportunity to take her Paper to Paint class. She is such a wonderful and supportive teacher!

I wanted to share my trio of canvases with you "City of Light", and give you a few peeks of my work in progress.

Notice how I create layers with different colors and shapes in the next 3 photos. Amazing how much the piece can change as it is worked, and sometimes I am not sure when to stop. I've had times when I wish I hadn't added that next layer on - does that ever happen to you?

I toned it all down with a whitewash layer, and painted on some meaningful words. 

Next, I took a photo of the Eiffel Tower I shot while visiting Paris, and put parts into my composition. I also found an old postcard to use as my third focal point.

Using a variety of materials...

I stamped some of my favorite images onto dictionary paper and placed those into my composition.  These stamps are designed by my friend Andrea at Snapping Monsters. I went in and added some more color with pastels.

Then, I painted the canvas edges to finish these off. 

City of Light trio

Another bright and colorful project from me...maybe this is my way of combating the dark and gloomy days we've been having as we move into winter. 

I hope you've enjoyed this peek into my class with Roben-Marie. I highly recommend that you look into taking a class with her! Thanks so much Roben-Marie!!

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Lucky me! Classes with Dina Wakley!!

I was really lucky to take four classes with Dina Wakley just over a week ago at the Papercraft Clubhouse. What an amazing artist! I learned so much and had a ball!! Here is my experience in pictures...

...and that's not even everything I did, but you can see I had so much color fun!

hmm, do you think we have driven Dina to the brink?

Thanks so much for everything Dina! I loved the classes and have brought back so many ideas to work on.

Feeding my Muse

I may have taken on a bit too much this January in my quest for learning. You see, I love to learn about crafting and art, and new techniques and products I can incorporate into what I love to do. So, in my search for inspiration, I have signed up for 3, yes, 3! online courses that all start this month. Two of them are year long courses. I am excited...and hoping I can keep up!

Creative Jumpstart 2016 with Nathalie Kahlbach

I've been doing this every January for the past couple of years, and always am inspired by what Nat and the other artists create. This class has been especially good for me to learn about acrylic paints and mediums. I am ready to "jump" back into this!

Samples of my work inspired by CJS

Next up, Artfully Inspired Life 2016 with Joanne Sharpe

This will be my second time with this year-long course, and yes, I did finish my art journal, just 2 days into this year...not bad! I love color, and this course is full of color! I also wanted to work on my own handwriting and lettering, and I have learned so much from this, I now feel confident to add it to my own work.

Samples of my work inspired by AIL

My third year long course is brand new to me - Wanderlust 2016. I was inspired to sign up when I saw the list of teachers for this course! I am excited to begin this journey into creativity.

I love to take courses in person and meet new creative friends, but the next best thing is doing this on-line. So, will I stop there? Probably not, although I tend to sign up with some courses and finally get to them months later, but that is the wonderful thing about the web - I can do this at my own pace and in my pj's if I want to! 

A couple of other friends I always have on my radar to learn from online are May Flaum and Ashli Oliver. I love what these talented crafters are up to, and yes, I need to catch up with their classes. Oh, I can see it is going to be a gloriously creative year. I hope it will be like that for you too, and maybe we will meet up in class somewhere!

Light and Dark

In my class with May Flaum, Find the Art in Your Journal, she challenged us to think about our "light and dark" sides. I started by painting one page black and one white, then using a Balzer Deaigns stencil, I painted the woman in the opposing color.

Next i journaled about myself, what I see as my positives and negatives. Deciding these thoughts were ones I did not necessarily want public, I painted over them. I carried a bit of the color over to the opposite page. Not sure if I like it, but hey, an art journal is a place to experiment.

 

A bit of detail...and a reminder that I am made up of all these things.

I went for the bright colors, but wonder if somehow I could have stuck with the black and white? Trying something new.

Colorburst!

I have made no official new year resolutions, instead, I am pursuing a creative path, and have signed up for several online courses. The most ambitious so far, is a year long course with Joanne Sharpe, the "Queen" of color! Check out her website, Whimspirations, to delight in her bright, vibrant work with paper and fabric. I am taking the course Artfully Inspired Life, working with my art journal and focusing on lettering and design, and COLOR. So, I thought I would share what I have created so far.

I had to start by cleaning off my desk, and setting up my workspace. A couple of my trusty standbys...coffee and music. Cover page...can you find the 3 owls? What are the bright globes in my tree...whatever your imagination turns them into.

Table of Contents...a work in progress

My Mantra...I've started taking yoga classes and really like them. (Working on a healthier me) Through the yoga and other life events, I've become more focused on mindfulness, and want to embrace this more fully.

First week done, ready for journaling. Sheila, I was inspired by your Etsy CampfireDesigns logo for my fire. Reminds me of the many campfires we've enjoyed. Time ahead to work on the rest!

I took a class with Joanne at CreateNJ last summer, which opened my eyes to the possibilities of lettering using my own handwriting. Honestly, 6 months ago I would not have believed I could do this! The class is still open, you can join at any time, so maybe I will see you there!

I LOVE COLOR!

Creative Jumpstart 2014

 

Happy New Year! If one of your resolutions is to be more creative in 2014 and learn some great creative techniques, why don't you head over here, and join me in Creative Jumpstart. I took this last year and learned a ton of techniques, and am looking forward to more from some GREAT instructors.

 

Back to Class!

Signed up for round two of Creative Chemistry (102) with Tim Holtz, and plan to share some of my versions of what I learn right here on the blog. These are great classes to learn so many techniques from Tim. I can't wait to play. Now to slow the Earth to make a 30 hour day!

Christmas in July - Sneak Peek

I just finished designing a Christmas "This and That" album for my Stampin Up demonstrator, Michelle, for an upcoming class. I thought I would share a few sneak peeks with you.

Traditional colors in a contemporary design, with my own twist.
Oh, what the heck, there's a lot of green in this, so it's also going over to Simon's green challenge here.

Adventures with Tim and Mario!

Lucky me! I got to take a class with Tm Holtz in Connecticut this past weekend. So I thought I would share my adventure with all of you. A three and a half hour drive to get there got just a bit longer as my "co-pilot" Mary took us toward NY City, but Tm was calling and we were drawn in the eastern direction.

Tim has a new "configurations book" and this is his awesome sample for our class!

Can you tell who is happy to get to class? Love my tag the store made for us! And this steampunk style sample on Tim's display table.

Box lunch on the ocean with Doris (and Mary)...pretty breezy and brisk, but the ocean, beach...hey!

Tim's getting the classroom set up for our class.

Ok class...

This lucky fellow, Chester, was celebrating his birthday - we sang to him and he won a fabulous prize! Notice those paddles with the numbers - whoa are they dangerous! During class when Tim describes a product we are using, you raise your paddle if you want it, and helpers fill your bag...surprise at the end :)

Paper, configuring our boxes...

New friends across the table, Lori and Susan.

How cool is this? We put a lantern that lights up in our box!

Tim keeps coming around during class to help us.

Canvas book binding, tissue tape...

Boxes all lined...

Making our own typeface letters with grunge!

Sneak peek of my cover play with inks and paints...

Look at all the stuff we got to put in our boxes!! So generous!!

Tim and Mario are so gracious in signing stuff for us, photo shoots...

Tim signing Doris' book ( I had both of them sign my tag)

Signing Laura's book...
Mary, where are you?? We need to get a photo of all of us! (She was in the check out line)

A classmate finished her book!

Here's the crew- Mario, Mary, me, Tim, Doris and Laura...Thanks for a great day Tim and Mario!!

A little shopping on the way home...at the store who had the class...and a few bags later...

Ended my weekend at IKEA... I needed something to put all my new stash in!! (Well, I really did plan to go to get some furniture to reorganize my craft area...but that's another story!)