Since I'm . . .

. . . in the throes of packing up for a weekend playshop, I thought I'd show you some of my favourite pieces from the last while.

This was a rain barrel project done as a fundraiser with three other Canmore artists; it's a real blast from the past!

One of my favourite tags

A yummy closeup of a cheesecloth background technique

A cobweb background

Alcohol inks on white textured wallpaper

The Impossible Clock - a collaboration with Bart Bjorkman of Puffin Design

Subtle Colour

Conflicted

We Stand Together

And now I'd better get back to packing up those playshop supplies; with eight registrants, fabric paints, Gelli plates and ArtFoamies, it's going to be magic mayhem!

It was a welcome change...

...from overdosing on the devastating flood news to teaching at the Creston College on the weekend.  There is nothing more uplifting than an eager group of students, flying paint, laughter and the fun of sharing upwards of twenty mixed media techniques.

From an altered book spread

to a painted paper,

to drying cobwebs,

and drizzles and drops,

it was an ever-changing rainbow of colour.

This pair looks like they're having too much fun;  I couldn't resist this photo, as Deni watches Dennis test out some brayered leaf prints - the technique demo resulted from an innocent question about the possibilities from another student - we just never know what's going to come up in these classes!

Here Colin, Deni, Dennis, Coral, Lynn and Lynn show a small part of their hard work in Mixed Media II - More Playtime for Adults.

Since this is the last workshop of the 2013 'winter season', I'll be painting and catching up on posting tutorials over the summer, with the occasional hour of weeding thrown in for good measure, likely.  You can bet, though, that there will be more workshop photos to come in the fall.  If I'm doing one in your area, please come and play with us!

Love those spiders...

or at least, their webs.  Without them, the cobweb technique would never have been created.

Laura Leeder was here on the weekend to learn this gorgeous technique, which I learned from Alice Saltiel-Marshall last fall.  You can see Alice's blog about this technique (and others) here.  I've since incorporated it into my Mixed Media II - More Playtime for Adults workshop.  It's fast becoming a favourite.

Here, I've taped a piece of 140 lb. cold-pressed watercolour paper to a sheet of butcher paper sitting over top of a thick piece of cardboard (plywood or gator board works better than cardboard, though!).

I've started pinning bits of cobwebbing (available from craft and dollar stores around Halloween) across the paper, taking care to keep it thinly spread in an interesting design.

Here, Laura tapes her paper to plywood in preparation for her sheet.  The key is ensuring that the webbing touches the paper completely in all areas.

Once the webbing is in place, water is sprayed and painted on to the paper, and thinned acrylics, watercolours and inks can be lightly painted or spritzed on to the support.  We used acrylic paints (already thinned and in 2 oz. bottles), Dylusions ink sprays from Ranger, and a metallic spritzer or two.

The wet sheet then needs to partially dry to the point where the webbing can be picked off, and then left to dry completely.  If one waits until the whole thing is completely dry, there will be a prolonged period of picking webbing from the painting, hands, pins and teeth!

The completed piece has a lovely sense of depth and texture - I can just imagine this as a background for a painting.

Unfortunately, due to a camera fail (likely due to a 1d10T error), I was unable to capture a photo of Laura's finished piece, a lovely one indeed.  You may want to keep your eye on her blog to see if she writes about her experience!

Just a note that if you're testing this out, and use watercolours rather than acrylics or inks, you'll want to finish off with a couple of good sprays with workable fixative before working over top of it.  However you do it, it's bound to be beautiful.  I KNOW there will be a run on cobwebbing wherever I am this Halloween!

That crazy, wild, Claresholm group....

... did a FINE job this past weekend in the Mixed Media II workshop.  We had so many students and so many starts that we were all totally confused by 10 am on Saturday morning (and we started at 9).  How much fun is that?!

Susan, Jean, Jean, Cathy, Glenda, Billie, Brydon & Alice working like fiends

Luckily, Alice Saltiel-Marshall had been on hand throughout the organizational process to keep us all in line.  She also presented the cobweb technique she'd taught me last fall, and bailed me out on the drywall compound technique too  (somebody forgot to make enough starts)!

Alice wows us with the richness of a cobweb technique.

One of the participants, Meg Nicks of Sunny Raven Gallery, volunteered (well, I confess she was thoroughly strong-armed) to demo gold/silver/metal leaf.  The other artists watched with great glee, and not a little awe, as a dark blue background began to sport rich metallics using three different methods.

Meg dances with gold leaf

The floors, tables and walls were covered with half-started, nearly finished and 'good Lord what stage is that?' pieces (that last one was mine) to the point where we were tippy-toeing around the Seniors' Centre like elves in  a drunken stupor.

We played with drywall compound, raw pigments, fabrics, wallpaper, alcohol (inks, not the drinking kind), papers and paint to the point where we were all inebriated with colour.

You can tell with all the help (add Kerry Hart for all the treasury work and marketing, Judy Dahl and Shannon Clay with even more marketing, and Alice Saltiel-Marshall for organization, marketing and demos) I had next to nothing to do - sounds like a GREAT gig, right?  

Back:  Meg, Jean, Dorrit, Brydon, Linda, Dominique, Betty, Sherry
Middle:  Jean, Marrika, Glenda
Front:  Kerry, Sally, Billie, Judy, Cathy
Lazing on the floor:  Yours truly
Photo by Alice Saltiel-Marshall

It could not have been a better weekend, topped off by fabulous meals from Bill Marshall, and the occasional glass of wine to celebrate.  Many thanks to you all - you are an AMAZING group!

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.