I feel like I'm returning from a distant planet...

 ...and truly, perhaps I am!  I've been in New Grandson followed by a trip to Recovering Body and a return visit to Covid Bluesland.  I'm here to let you know that I'm on the way back, with some photos of things in progress.  I know - you're thinking 'when will she ever FINISH anything?'.   Well, I did finish an experiment with sloppy drywall compound on a piece of canvas and can see some possibilities there.  Does that count?

I'm in such a 'what-if?' mode right now that I'm recycling an incredible amount of painty test tube babies.

And I did finish a page in my black and white journal this week,

and I'm working on several others as well..

Some brainstorm had me wondering what house wrap would look like melted and gessoed, so I did a piece of that just to satisfy my curiosity.  I've always liked the threads in house wrap, and the way it melts is fascinating.  I do worry occasionally that I'm a bit of a pyromaniac.

Of course I had to paint it then, and watch the colours play on the warped surface.  The colours made me think of the American flag, so perhaps some stripes and stars will get added to this.  Is that blasphemy to my US friends?  I hope not!

I've got another piece on the go - a start to a series entitled 'In Your Absense'.  The colours in this piece remind me so much of my sister, lost to cancer nearly two decades ago.

This was another piece that was great fun to watch - all those streams of blue wandering into the Kroma Crackle crevices were delightful.  I'm going to have to do another piece just for the sheer pleasure of videoing the seepage.

Oh - I finished something else.  I wrapped a gift and mini/book card for our new grandson; his Covid-safe shower is this weekend. The wrapping paper is hand-painted in the colours chosen for his room.  I do feel somewhat hugely guilty that the mini book/card is not colour-coordinated to match.  😉 Luckily it's well hidden in the envelope I made.  

As for the contents of the package, the match is a pretty reasonable one - you'll get to see that in the coming weeks, I'm sure.  While you wait for that exciting show and tell, why not let me know what you've been up to in the last bit.  I'm in huge need of a catch-up on your lives, artistic or not!  

This week in the studio...

... looks less like a travelling salvation show and more like work in progress, although that may be deceiving, too!  As always when I'm in town, it appears as though someone dropped a bomb in my digs.

I got into cutting some new stencils to use on the Gelli plate,

and couldn't get myself to stop.

I've a couple of Victoria pieces on the go, this one started with a sheet from a tax package in the Fernie workshop.

 This one has been added to since the demo start at Kimberley, and hopefully will be completed by month end.

The lovely black and white transfers came from this gorgeous book that John scored for me in his travels.

I've been doing some more on my visual gratitude journal, so these two are essentially complete...only 20 more to go before mid-April and putting-together time.

 This pile will eventually become M for music/Mozart and munchies maybe!

The tic-tac-toe pieces await another layer, totally ignored by The Head, who seems to have gained some colour since last week.

A timey-wimey background ( you Dr. Who fans will get that one) waits not-so-patiently for the skins-in-progress to be finished.

 And a couple of drywall compound demos wait for something to make them sparkle.

Since it gives me heart palpitations to look at all the in-progress 'stuff', I'll stop there, ending with the hope that you and yours have enjoyed a happy Valentine's Day.

The No-Fear Gang

Fear?  No such thing in The Arts Station this past weekend!  Those ladies took to the playbox like they never got out of their childhood.

Jordana and Kathleen tear into it

Becca and Anna are intent on their play

The floor of The Arts Station was covered from one end to the other with a stupendous range of starts,

Clockwise from bottom centre - plastic wrap, music skin, plastic wrap, alcohol drop, who know's what, more alcohol (can you see a pattern emerging? - wine was a big topic on the weekend) and a UFO on black.  In the centre, an artist's 'sandwich' made with mulberry paper and strips of painted dryer sheets.

each one a uniquely different interpretation of the techniques covered.

Love that blue/green tartan start and the beginning of something fishy!

I know I added 15 pounds to my weight with all those colour calories exploding in the room.

Every time I turned my back there would be another layer of mouth-watering colour on something,

 or another start (or ten),

or someone praying for release from the agony?

Becca gets right into it - on the floor!

Want to see some close-ups?

Luscious, mouth-watering brayer paper (aka leather or gesso paper)

Oh those palette paper transfers!

Drywall compound goes upscale

Plastic wrap technique

Another version of brayer paper

And a version of the drywall compound that happily repeats a complex pattern

The artist tissue technique goes soft and abstract

Layer upon layer - one technique over the other

Plastic wrap technique, with a palette paper transfer over top

Doesn't this say jazzy to you?

Collaged mammoth meets tea and coppers

The palette paper transfer on a start just energizes it all

I suspect that their mixed media play days will not stop here - they're all too much addicted to the 'What if?' possibilities now!

Kathleen, Jordana, Anna and Becca display a small amount of their weekend output

Of course it wasn't all fun and games - I had to eat real calories in Fernie too!  If you're visiting there, I highly recommend the Tandoor & Grill Restaurant at the Stanford Inn (The Arts Station had arranged my accommodations - lovely place)...the food is beyond amazing;  I'm now totally addicted to their mushroom pakora and the vegetable curry, along with the chicken tikka masala I had the last time I visited.  It would be impossible to recommend this restaurant highly enough!

So here's to lack of fear, and calories in Fernie - bless them all!

Rockin' the fun...

was this groups' motto, I think.  And as I mentioned in my last post, rebellion was the order of the day - both days.

I'd say do this - and invariably they'd do the opposite.  After our painted papers dried,

Painted paper,  waiting to dry overnight

I mentioned they could be wrapped around a canvas, in stages, by first securing the paper with medium to the front of the canvas, waiting for it to dry, and then doing the same on the sides, around to the back.  No more than ten minutes later, I saw one of the brattiest ladies (you know who you are) covering the WHOLE of the canvas, front and sides with the papers, and managing it without any issues at all.  Don't you just hate it when students prove you wrong?  And don't these look amazing?  They don't need anything else to make a wall shine.

I thought I'd show you a few more 'in progress shots', which I suspect were taken the morning of day two.

 

Don't these just get the creative juices flowing?

It's wonderful to see so many pieces so well on their way to completion.  The hope was that each participant would take home a completed painting, and by the looks of their drying areas, most of them would be carting home their own gallery-full!

A lovely cobweb piece

Using a foam roller wrapped with elastics (or maybe string)

  

A clear tar gel drop & resist technique

A gesso drop technique

Utilizing self-leveling clear tar gel, tinted with paint

Drywall compound, over-painted with washes of colour.

 

Paint, stamps and more stamps

Paint, string wrapped brayer, and over-stamping

Love those layers of paint, splatter and elastic-wrapped foam

Paint, elastic-wrapped foam roller, gesso drops, fabric and goodness knows what else! - YUM!

The participant who created this luxurious background was not too fond of it, until she had a happy accident with a broken skin, which just made it sing.  Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a photo of that stage, but I love this one without it too!

Here I am, elegantly attired and perfectly composed, pontificating, while nobody pays any attention - typical for the weekend!

Did I say we had fun?  More than you can imagine!  Check out the playshop page for one coming to your area, or email me to discuss the possibility.