Chaos everywhere

These days, the studio looks as though it's not been shovelled out for months, and the overflow of my wildly experimental phase is everywhere.

From stacks of altered books and alcohol play (the ink kind, not the drinking kind),

to pseudo grass, more altered books, and 'grass in the making', 

to piles (literally) of monoprint mania, I am frightened I'll never get clear of the debris.

While I love, love, LOVE experimenting with techniques, mediums and different media, I have decided it's time to call a halt.  Today marks the day of studio clean-up, finishing the notes that outline the second and all-new mixed media workshop (debuting in Claresholm in May, and then presented at the College of the Rockies, Creston in June), and a long overdue blog post.  And I promise to prep for the mixed media class that starts next Wednesday at the Wynndel Arts Centre (registration at the college).  Have you signed up yet?

And then?  Back to the chaos, glorious chaos!

What's new, pussycat?

It's been a wild time in the studio lately, learning new techniques and mixing up the old ones, and playing with all the 'what ifs' when it comes to mediums.  I go through periods when I'm not painting, I'm merely the mad scientist in my laboratory (thanks for the metaphor Alice ).

I've been playing with a cobweb technique (see Alice's blog post in the link just above), messing with alcohol inks and smooshing drywall compound to the point where I'm awash with colour, agog with amazement and alert with possibility.

The cobweb technique, via Alice, from an  Ursula Reynolds workshop, is truly amazing, and I'm totally hooked, to the point where it will be one of the first techniques I teach in my level two mixed media workshop.

The results create such a mouth-watering background I've not needed to eat for days!

And while I've known about drywall compound for some time (it's akin to working with modelling paste), I'm enjoying the thickly textured pieces that arise.

When you can take a widely varied piece like this textured one,  throw some colour at it, layer upon layer,

then life doesn't get much better!  (Check out the cobweb technique in burnt umber over top of it all!).

And while I'm not showing you the results of my alcohol play (that's ink, not wine), rest assured they are just as much fun, and something that will undoubtedly turn up in level two as well - watch for the COTR late spring catalogue for further details.

Boot Camp at COTR

Colour Boot Camp has started at the College of the Rockies here in Creston, and I suspect there will be some changes made in the participants' palettes in the next month or so.

 The initial exercise consists of creating swatches of colour to construct a colour wheel for their binder.

Painting fast and furiously they work hard to get a start on the exercises before the end of class.

They learn to create a 'dark dark' by mixing complements together - the results are far richer than any black on the market.

And they learn about tints and shades and take that study home to create examples for their binder and Colour Bank.

I'm always delighted at the end of  the course to see how varied and many-layered their colours become, and how knowledgeable participants are about creating lush, powerful and vivid colour combinations.  Since I'm such a colour pig, it feeds my addiction in a VERY satisfying manner!