Things are flying...

...in the studio, and it's obvious there's something afoot.  Luckily, you get to hear about it first!

This coming Saturday is the Kootenay Fibre Arts Festival and I'll be there doing mono-print demos on the Gelli Plate.  Best  part?  If you attend, you get to try it too!

Creating a mono-print is great fun, whether on paper

Gelli-print on paper using masks, stencils and bubble wrap

or fabric, (sorry, we're not showing any printed body parts in this family-friendly post, no matter what the poster infers)

Gelli print on fabric using cheesecloth as stencil

and it starts to get really interesting when you add Inktense Pencils

Inktense pencil work on fabric Gelli-printed with fun foam template

and/or the incomparable Art Foamies  (created right here in Creston, BC!) to the mix.

ArtFoamie stamped on Gelli-printed fabric

Want some even better news about this Saturday and the Kootenay Fibre Arts Festival?  When you attend, and register for this upcoming playshop

you'll get your choice of an added bonus.  Choose from a selection of  hand-cut stencils (yes, that's yours truly slaving over a hot stencil burner and sheets of cold house wrap), or an ArtFoamie stamp (Remember above where I told you they're incomparable?  Truth!)

One of eight house-wrap stencils to be given away - each unique

Only on Saturday, April 22 and at the Kootenay Fibre Festival will you have this opportunity - unbelieveable (barely), not to be repeated (this year anyway), and truly totally amazing!  

The benefits are legion.  The playshop is highly entertaining whether you're a fibre freak, a creative looking for a place to play and learn, or an established artist in any medium.  After making some 800+ prints for my own entertainment, I can safely say that it's more fun than you can possibly imagine!  You say you don't have any experience in creating art?  You don't need it!  No skills? They come in the learning package - no extra charge - and heavily disguised as fun.

If you've taken any of my other playshops, you'll know they are stress-busters that promote a desire for more, more and more creative fun.  If you're a newbie, you're going to love it!  This Saturday - come and register.

The Kootenay Fibre Arts Festival...

...is tomorrow, and I've downright pumped.  I get to play there with my Gelli plates, showing newbies the amazing things that can be done with paint, textile and and these wonderful plates.

I've been making samples like someone possessed, playing with the Gelli plate, ArtFoamies, stamps and stencils till the cows came home (we've got seven cows in the back yard now, vying for room with the two dogs, and I've NO idea who they belong to).

I've printed on coloured broadcloth,

 on linen-coloured UFO (Unidentified Fabric Originating-from-goodness-knows-where) ,

 and on white lining.

 As always, I've way too much fun,

 and apparently I've no idea when stopping might be a good idea!

We were asked to bring an epic fail, and I have to say this was my all-time favourite.  This owl takes wonky to new levels.

The Kootenay Fibre Arts Festival is an event not to be missed.  If you're anywhere in British Columbia, Alberta or the Northwestern US, I suggest you get here tomorrow and play.  There will be indigo dying, felting, silk colouring, drop spindling (??!) and far more to try, to say nothing of wonderful articles to purchase and giant knitting needles to wield.  Come and play.  10 am at the Wynndel Hall.  You'll be so glad you did!

I'm pretty certain...

...the fun police will be after me soon, 'cause I've sure got an excess of it here.

I showed you the start of the project some time ago, and have been working on it ever since.

The left half of the pair of shoes just makes me laugh, and I know it's going to go where I can see it daily, just as a reminder.

The combination of crackle paste, paint, hand-crafted leather paper roses, beads and buttons has me smiling.

I've made great use of Art Foamies stamps because their flexibility enables them to print over almost any texture - hurray!

Alcohol inks on some of the buttons, and teeny glass beads mixed into gel medium adds layer upon layer.

I can't help but drool over the paint and texture combinations.

If I need a colour fix, I know where I'll be going for it!

The other shoe?  You'll need to check in at the end of the week for that one...it's also a done deed, and waiting for its chance on stage.  It's as least as understated as is this!

'Kick-ass Colour'  mixed media shoe © Win Dinn

It's done...

...but not over.  The Creative Fix  adult Gelli it Up! playshop is finished for this fall, but Brandy is so hooked she'll be teaching it to a younger crowd.

We had a lot of fun last night, between finishing the gilding technique,

Brandy's gilding technique, backed with vibrant orange speckled paper

Karen's gilding technique, using a plain white backing

scraping the paint from the wax crayon technique,

Janet's colour-ful wax crayon resist print

Faye's wax crayon resist

learning the Thick over Thin technique,

Alison's hooked on this technique

 along with some leaf printing.

Not sure who did this one, but it's a beaut!

Students were asked to bring all their prints with them, choose the 'I hate that print' ones to mask and print over top using pearlescent, interference, duochrome and specialty paints. There were some fabulous results.

I think this one is Janet's

Pretty sure Alison did this!

And just to add some serious fun (definitely an oxymoron) into the mix, they used Art Foamies, stamps and more stamps as well.

Aren't these Art Foamie owls just the cutest?

Some organic stamping on here.

The over-script on this one adds yet another layer.

A repeated Art Foamies motif.

Ladies, it's been a blast - thanks for coming out to play.

The next opportunity for creative play is the Mixed Media I - Playtime for Adults, in Cranbrook, BC on November 8 & 9 at the Cranbrook and District Arts Council.  Will you join me there?

Who has more fun...

...than artists?  I find it hard to imagine that anybody could!

Today I got to play with Art Foamies, thanks to the generosity of Emmie Roelofse, who loaned me some for use in upcoming Gelli playshops.  They're fabulous stamps - quirky, whimsical and easy to clean in soapy water (gotta love that!).

With 30+ stamps from which to choose, the decision-making process took longer than the actual stamping.

Using brayer cleaning sheets, I stamped with Staz On stamp pads,

tested the Handy Art fabric paint that Emmie uses (it may not be strictly legal, but it works a charm on paper too)

and used them with heavy-bodied acrylics,

I switched to Gelli-printed backgrounds and used fluid acrylics,

and then the Gelli plate (I stamped the one on the right after stamping into the paint on the Gelli plate...waste not, want not!).

I'm also intrigued that one's own designs can be made into a stamp...what could be more fun than that?  

Emmie's motto is 'If it doesn't move - stamp it!', and I can see why.  Heaven help me;  I'm terribly afraid that I've found another addiction.