Doodles Unleashed Workshop: Week 2

I am so very excited to take another awesome workshop by Traci Bautista called "Doodles Unleashed".  Traci is the author of the new book Doodles Unleashed. You may know her from her book called Collage Unleashed. I already bought Doodles Unleashed online and am waiting impatiently for its arrival.

What is even cooler about this workshop is it's a FREE course offered by Strathmore Online Workshops. 

Strathmore is an art paper company. They make many of the papers with which I work. Traci is recommending for this workshop the 400 series of Strathmore papers made for specific uses such as mixed media (which is a thicker paper able to take the abuse of mixed media work). I like the acrylic paper in the 400 series, which has a nice faux canvas texture that also holds up well to mixed media use. 

The image above is my Spontaneous Watercolor Background from Week 2 of the course. We were encouraged to play with the watercolor like mad scientists. This was my third attempt at getting it how I wanted. The first two were overworked and muddy. I will probably keep them and chop them up for other uses. [Image above: 11"x15", watercolor paper, © 2012 In My Head Studios]

I took a bunch of photos of this piece for future reference. I like to get in really close and get the details photographed. I love the macro setting on my camera. It's awesome. These images are good for making note cards and promotional materials. Also I print these photos for use in an art journal or other collage project. I like to make the most use of my work in this way.

Below you can see the close ups. Don't you love the splotchyness? That big splatter of orange hit that wide brush stroke perfectly. I was thrilled when that happened. Never underestimate the power of throwing paint at your work!

I'm practicing painting circles with a small round brush. For some reason this ability eludes me. I am happy with these circles because I remembered to keep my brush loaded with paint. (You can't paint without paint on your brush!!)

Love the splotchy splatters! Yes, I got paint all over myself.

I waited for the first applications of watercolor to dry so I could go back over them with contrasting colors without making a muddy brown mix. When I say "waited" I mean I impatiently shot the heatgun at it until it dried.

I highly recommend signing up for this class if you like to doodle, experiment with paint, or want to increase your skills in these areas. Traci takes doodling to another level with paint. Doodling is a really important part of our creative development.

So get outta here! Go! Run right now to sign up for this class! I'll see you in the forums!

 

- Vickie 

p.s. I have not received any compensation, product or otherwise from Strathmore or Traci Bautista. I'm writing this to present cool stuff - not to make a profit off blogging. My opinions are my own. I am not affiliated with Strathmore or Traci Bautista.

"Memories Under Glass" Class

A few months ago Marilynne Lipschutz from Studio 34 emailed me through Etsy to ask if I would like to teach a class at her studio about microscope slide glass pendants. To be honest I was totally shocked. I had kind of stopped making them because I really do not enjoy one part of the finishing process very much. But I love to teach so I said yes!

Many conversations were had about supplies and how the whole teaching thing works at the studio. Marilynne is super nice to work with! We settled on how to go about this and scheduled a practice class so we could see how it would go.

Me, my mom, and my twin sister. Cannot tell we're related at all, can you?

I asked my buddies Augie, his very kind girlfriend, my artsy friend Stefani Tadio (see her pendant here), and my twin sister Valerie (and Marilynne sat in, too) to come to the class. I’ve known Augie for about 20 years. We met in high school in Fairport. He’s one of the funniest people I know so he spent the whole class being a smart ass and it was hilarious! We all had a ball! Lots of laughing to stave off my very serious case of the nerves. It took longer than I thought it was going to to teach five people how to put together soldered pendants. But that was one of the reasons we did the practice class so we could know how long to make the class. Everyone’s pendants came out really well.

So if you are in the Rochester, NY area and want to learn how to make a soldered pendant the classes are scheduled for Monday, April 12th from 2-5 pm and again on Tuesday, April 27th from 6-9 pm. Studio 34 is located at 34 Elton Street in the Neighborhood of the Arts. Cost: $35 + $15 for supplies. Call Studio 34 at 585-737-5858 to register.

I would love it if you joined us! It’s going to be really fun!

“Memories Under Glass” Class Description:

“This class will teach you how to create your very own photo or artwork keepsake Microscope Slide Glass Soldered Pendant. Learn about soldering iron safety and care, some basic stained glass techniques such as cutting glass, the use of copper tape and solder flux, and a little wire working. You will complete one double-sided pendant in this class. We will also discuss working with paper and photos for collage using the 1 inch by 1 inch canvas.

You will need to bring TWO photos or your own artworks that measure no bigger than 1 inch by 1 inch. The pendants are double sided so you need two images to use. Examples of things that can be put in pendants: pictures of your kids or pets, paper of any kind, real lace, and tiny pieces of original artwork. The two pieces of art or photos should not be thicker than 1/16th inch when sandwiched together back to back.”

Monday, April 12th from 2-5 pm
or
Tuesday, April 27th from 6-9 pm

Studio 34 is located at 34 Elton Street in the Neighborhood of the Arts.
Cost: $35 + $15 for supplies.
Call Studio 34 at 585-737-5858 to register
You will need to bring TWO photos or your own artworks that measure no bigger than 1 inch by 1 inch.

Photos for these photo pendants right here were taken by Teri Fisk at Pumpkin Patch Photos

I’ve Got Class. No, Really!

I've been working on my art journaling this week. If you have not started doing this already, I really recommend it. It’s fun and a great way for us visual types to learn about ourselves. I can’t say I’m really good at it yet. Something just hasn’t clicked for me with the process. I’m missing something. So when I found the book, The Creative Entrepreneur, I knew it was the right one for me. It’s full of visual journaling prompts and interactivities. My brain is soaking this stuff up like water!

I blogged recently about this book. As I did some digging for links for that article, I came across a class the author is offering about art journaling. Usually the class is $39, but it was on sale for only $19 as a Summer Camp Special. I signed up post haste!

The class is called “PowerFULL, Magical Visual Journals” and is described as “Life changing ways to create with a purpose. Learn how to create a visual journal from the plainest of blank books and turn it into your own unique tool to navigate your life and work.”

The class includes a 90 minute self-paced mp3 tutorial, full-color course workbook loaded with examples and visual journal prompts, and access to a private workshop discussion forum moderated by Lisa Sonora Beam (the author).

Wheee! Just what I need to take that extra step! I’m so excited!! In fact, I’m too excited still to even look at the materials! So I’m waiting for my brain to stop saying, “Wheeee!” so I can look at this stuff with some mental clarity. C’mon, brain, don’t fail me now!

Kristen, the Etsy Twitter Team Co-Leader, is also a Creative Entrepreneur Junkie. I let her know about the super good deal on the class, and she signed up, too. I look forward to sharing notes with her and looking at her work. She is extremely talented. She’s the brains behind the whole Etsy Twitter Team operation, actually. She comes up with the best ideas ever.

If you’re into this kind of thing, why not join us? Let me know if you sign up, too, and we can share our experiences. Remember – you cannot make art in a vacuum. It takes community!

“Little House” Collage

I posted earlier about my class with Claudine Hellmuth. I learned a lot from her about resist techniques. All the parts for this collage are finally put together! It’s a Little House!

I really love how this turned out. At first I was doubtful that I had cut all the parts correctly and it wasn’t going to come together. But it did! It involved hammering in about 50 silver eyelets. That was actually more fun that I thought it would be. Guess I had a little aggression to get out! Ha!

On the house at the top and the “M” I got a chance to buy and use Tim Holtz’s Distress Crackle Paints. They are amazing! It crackles as the paint dries in a lovely porcelain way. Really nice product! No more waiting for double or triple step processes to get crackle! Now I’m going to have to buy more colors! Can you tell I like it by the number of exclamation points I use?!

The bird image is printed directly through my ink jet printer onto the Sticky Back Canvas! I love that about this canvas. So many possibilities!

I told my niece that we would make a Saturday Play Date and make one of these together. I think she would like to learn about how I make things since she says she wants to be an artist like me. I want to encourage that as much as possible. She’s pretty good at drawing for her age.

Now I have to find a prominent place to hang this in the house. Might have to move something for it. We have a lot of artwork hanging in our house!

click images to see bigger over at flickr

Collage Class Parts in Process

Claudine Hellmuth tweeted on Twitter that she was offering a low cost online class for several mixed media processes. I am a hard-core fan of her work and books. I jumped at the chance to take a class from her!

The class was mostly mixed media resist techniques. The good this was that I already had most everything I needed for the class right here in my studio. I did have to order her Sticky Back Canvas and it was totally worth it. This stuff is the bomb. You can put it through your inkjet printer!! Canvas through a printer!! Did you hear that? That’s the sound my heart makes when it contains so much joy! As an added bonus it’s sticky on the back! Stick it to other canvas, stick it to itself, or paper, cardstock, the wall, anything!! The surface does not have a full coat of primer so it will absorb tea staining and glazing.

In this class, I learned how to make embossing powder resist the applied paint, how to make toner image transfers, gesso resist painting, and altering scrapbook paper to the color you want it to be. We also did some watercolor and used text from an old book.

It’s all in parts like this because it will be transformed in to a house shape when put together. And I’ll show you that when I get them all done and connected!!

(Don’t you love the suspense I’m creating here with my work? Ha!)