A Watercolor Workshop

On February 18, 19 and 20 I took a watercolor workshop with a wonderful watercolorist, Maggie Mc Clellen. Painting someone else's subject in their style and mode of painting is always a learning experience, especially when the style of painting is a little different from your own. I always enjoy it, even if it does stretch me. For a painter you can't complain about 3 days of doing something you love. The first day we watched Maggie's manner of painting as she demonstrated painting an old fishing boat. Then we attempted to do the same. At the end of the day I had my version, and Maggie had hers. And that's why she's the teacher and I'm not! Still, for a first time, it's an acceptable painting. If you are not learning anything, why attend a workshop?

My boat painting

Watercolor 15X22

Maggie Mc Clellen's painting

Watercolor 15 X 22

It's Always Exciting

First Place

It's always exciting to win an award. Today I won First Place in the Small World Category at our local art show.  A Small World painting may not exceed 25 square inches and must be framed no larger than 8 X 10. The subject must be 1/6 or less than actual size. All my little 30 in 30 Days collages paid off, the judges said they had a hard time choosing between the four that I entered. I feel blessed! 

The King

 King Fisher # 1

Watercolor, mixed media 11 X 11

This  was my first attempt at doing one of Karen Knutson's "wire drawings". See her work at www.karenknutson.com. It's supposed to be a combination drawing, zentangle, with added collage and paint. Well, I got the collage and paint part OK but I didn't like the busy background (permanent ink) behind the bird. I tried to tone it down with gouache, then naples yellow, finally I used white acrylic. See the next picture. I also modified the background colors.

 King Fisher #1 modified

I liked this one much better, I like the bird but thought the background could be better and I could do without the messy acrylic behind the bird.

The King 

Watercolor, ink, and collage 11 X 11

I'm happy with the way this one turned out. I left the circle behind the bird just the white of the paper. The viewer can decide if it's a sun or a moon. I used the "old fashioned" method of collage, just cut and paste for these. I used "Yes" paste to start with so whatever I didn't like could be removed. When I was finished I went over the pasted pieces with matte medium so they would be permanent. Other than the drawing done with ink there was no zentangle going on. I like the idea and I will probably do some more and try to incorporate some of the zentangle or wire drawing. 

Day 30 Over the Moon

Over the Moon

Collage 6 X 6

The last day of the Challenge! I made it! There were many who signed up but not everyone made it to the finish. It's not easy and I congratulate everyone who made a commitment to do a piece of art every day. It's huge! Even if you worked everyday but didn't complete a piece that day it's still a commitment to be in the studio and put the effort in. The real challenge now is to keep up the effort, do the work, and get better at what you do. Don't take the next week off, but keep on. (That's me giving myself a pep talk). 

I've done another little valentine for today. It's sort of says what I'm feeling about everyone who has been reading my blog. I'm over the moon for you! Thanks for putting up with my chatter and my collages. I'm blessed.

Day 29 Safari

Safari

Collage 6 X 6

The large patterns in the papers of this collage were made by stamping with a hand made stamp. The small ones were from a store bought stamp. The patterns and colors made me think of African textiles so I found a postage stamp from Zambia in my ephemera collection to add to the collage. That's how I came up with "Safari". The papers are all altered National Geographic pages. 

Day 28 Paris Memories

Paris Memories

Collage 6 X 6

My 30 day collage odyssey has almost come to an end. I'll be ready to put away the papers for awhile and pick up a paint brush. I do love the design aspect of collage making, some things work better than others. This one doesn't quite work as well as I hoped. Every collage is a learning experience. What could I do to make it better, what other colors could I have used are a couple of questions I ask myself. Learning good design helps in all kinds of art. 

This collage was made from a placemat, a French map, bleeding tissue and acrylic paint.

Day 27 Rainy Day

Rainy Day

Collage 6 X 6

We are having record rainfalls in south Florida this year. It's the wettest January that I can remember. In the last 24 hours we have had 5 or more inches of rain and it will rain most of tomorrow, they say. I keep reminding myself that at least I don't have to shovel it. As this collage came together it looked like the rainy day we are having, so I found a transfer of a girl with an umbrella to finish it. I'm looking forward to the sunny week end that is promised. 

Day 26 Horsing Around

Horsing Around

Collage 5 X 6

I made this one a little smaller to fit into a 5 X 5 opening in a mat and frame. It's made with hand painted tissue, altered magazine, security envelopes and a part of a page of a poetry book that has been painted. It was that scrap of poetry that sent me in the direction of finding a horse to use as an acrylic transfer. The marks were made with a watercolor stick then sprayed with fixative. Using watercolor sticks makes it easy to erase until I get the marks that I like, then I fix them before coating the collage with gloss medium.

Four more days to go...stay tuned!

Day 25 Why Not?

Why Not?

Collage 5.5 X 5.5

Day 25, Why Not? is colorful and a little whimsical. As I was putting this one together I was indulging in a little dark chocolate therapy, Doves Dark Chocolate, to be exact. They always have something written on the inside of the wrapper, mine said "Why Not?" I thought, why not put "why not?' in my collage. I finished it off with some stamped notes to go with the notes in the paper, a stamped circle to go with the circles in the green paper, and considered it finished. I think it's a fun one. The papers are hand painted, printed and the pink from an envelope. 

Day 24 Before She Flew

Before She Flew

Collage 6 X 6

The text that I found gave me the title. It's nice to have that taken care of because sometimes it's hard to come up with a title. This collage has some interesting paper sources. the image on the left was a copy of some paint left over on a disposable palette paper. It was interesting, so when it was dry I made a color copy of it and prepared it for collage by coating the copy with gloss medium. The lower brown piece is a cone coffee filter. I love the texture of the seam. Above that is some painted tissue, the music and more painted tissue. The bird is a copy of one that I found in my stash, the text from a book of poetry that was painted and the top piece from a Geli Plate print. The papers are made up ahead of time, most of them months ago, then I look through them to decide what will make up my collage. There's more to it than meets the eye. 

Day 23 Attitude

Attitude

Collage 6 X 6

While digging through my papers I came across one that I had made on a Geli Plate. I made a copy of it, not wanting to use up the original. It had this quote on it about attitude which is always a good reminder. Sometimes one must do an attitude check up and do some adjusting. I call myself Joyful Artist, not Grumpy Artist although some days the later would be more appropriate. Truthfully, I'm more joyful making art than when doing just about anything else. Like anything, it's a choice, any attitude is. 

Other papers used were painted tissue, altered magazine pages, packaging and printed papers; I also used acrylic and Inktense. 

Day 22 A Happy Place

Beach Palm

Collage 6 X 6

Whenever I need to get away either physically or mentally I go to "my happy place". It's usually a nice beach with a palm tree for a little shade, a gentle surf, and no crowds. Lucky for me I live a short ride from such a place except I'm likely to find it's not at all secluded, especially this time of year. It's OK, there's plenty of room for everyone. This collage is made from painted tissue and copy paper, the inside of a security envelope and acrylic paint and gloss medium. 

Day 21 Love Letters

Love Letters

Collage 6 X 6

It's getting to be that time of year again when I start thinking of Valentines to design. Of course they've been in the stores since the end of Christmas but that's not me. This one is different with the black lacy heart, but black lace is supposed to be sexy isn't it? I found an old letter from a friend that had in it, "I wept through the whole thing," It made me think of watching my grown children getting married. I can't say I wept but I may have brushed away a tear or two. The rest of the papers are from printed material. Everything is sealed with gloss medium and on a #140 substrate. 

Day 20 Breathe

Breathe

Collage 6 X 6

January is 2/3 finished and so am I! Only 10 more to go, I still have ideas and paper so I will forge ahead. In the meantime I have to remember to breathe! Stop and take a big breath, stretch and remember to have fun. Even when you love what you're doing you can tense up and forget to fly. Two butterflies are encased, one is flying free. Fly free and enjoy your day.

Day 19 Strata

Strata

Collage 6 X 6

This is another piece with a calm color scheme. It still has the hand painted copy paper and the altered magazine pages like yesterday's collage but this one also has a piece of painted and stamped tissue in the middle which gives it the translucent look. I added the blue-green stamping for more interest. As always with my collages everything is coated with gloss medium before it is heat fused to the 140# substrate. Acrylic is added to the torn edges and then the piece is sealed with more gloss medium. When it has had time to cure I will coat it with acrylic UV varnish. It can be mounted on a wood or canvas panel or matted and framed. 

Day 18 Organic

Organic

Collage 6 X 6

This collage is made with hand painted copier paper and altered magazine pages. I like the quiet neutral background of the hand painted paper and the organic shapes and patterns in the altered papers. I also like the contrast between the sharp cut edges and the fluid torn edges. I think this is going to be one of my favorites. 

Day 17 Under Construction

Under Construction

Collage, 6 X 6

While driving down the street close to my home I looked over at a building being constructed. The grey cinder block and scaffolding made a grid pattern with a cloudy grey background. The workers all over the building were wearing bright neon green or orange shirts. It was quite a contrast to the dull background. I thought I'd try to make a collage using that idea. I found I was rather limited in my selection of neon green but these book pages were close. It was one of those times when you say, "Why don't I have my camera with me?" But, maybe it's better to go with your imagination and memory. 

Day 16 Vortex

Vortex

Collage, 6 X 6

Vortex is done in the  confined space composition style. It's another type of composition that I don't attempt very often. These 30 day works give me a chance to experiment once in awhile with things that are not tried a tried and true. The background is brown paper bag on which I have rubbed some gold acrylic paint. The collage itself is made up of tissue paper that has been hand painted randomly with gesso, acrylic paint, and gloss medium. There are a couple of small pieces of acrylic skin as well. All things that I wanted to try and see how well they would heat fuse. Most of it did pretty well. It was a fun exercise.

Day 15 It's Party Time

It's Party Time

Collage, 6 X 6

I'm half way though the month and the 30 day challenge. That's one reason to party. It's Friday night, the sun came out after a 2.5 inch downpour with tornado warnings, somewhere it's someone's birthday, anniversary, or promotion. What are your reasons to party?  I think this collage has potential to be one of my greeting/note cards. I may jazz up the black, it looks a little somber for the message but otherwise I like the color scheme.

Party's over, it's time to get back to the desk and start another collage for tomorrow.

Day 14 Dance Like No One is Watching

Dance Like No One is Watching

Collage 6 X 6

I think this one will make a fun note card or birthday card. There's nothing quite as exhilarating as putting on your favorite music and dancing your feet off, even if you don't dance well. It releases anxiety, tension and stress and I, for one, don't do it enough. Children do it with abandon and don't care who watches or how good they are. As artists I think we need some of that freedom to express ourselves through whatever medium we choose. So, not only dance, but paint, color, cut and paste, or draw like no one is watching, looking or judging.