Wynndel Art Centre

It's mixed media time at the Wynndel Art Centre, and yesterday, the second of three Wednesdays there, was a blast.

 Val and Dena work on some of their starts here - they're very intent.

 I fell in love with the above subtle background which began with a dryer sheet palette paper transfer, and morphed into this lovely richness.

  Shelly and Laura work through some of their pieces, with their book palettes nearby.

 Kendra's adding levels of paint to her drywall compound start and it's really starting to sing.

 The room was bursting to overflowing with wonderful palettes, transfers and skins in progress.

Some of the results were approaching edible;  it's a wonderful thing to see so much colour in a room!

Playing in Kimberley

Well, didn't we have a fabulous time in Kimberley this past weekend?  Eight or more 'starts' each, ten voracious students, twelve hours of frenetic energy and some twenty plus completed paintings happened in the Kimberley Arts Centre 64.

I made every effort to keep things relaxed and enjoyable, but within half an hour at least one participant was going up the wall.  I have to tell you, I was concerned the energy in there would blow the roof off the building.

Ilene hits the wall...

Holly, Carol and Wilma fly at it.

 The texturing implements got a tremendous workout,

the floor of the dance studio was soon covered with technique starts,

and participants began to enjoy the process, and the results.

Holly with her first finish

 They painted, and worked in their 'palette-paper' books (perfect for altering - thank you Tammy at the Creston Museum for these treasures),

Starts, in process & book

cut and glued and worked like demons.

Joy, left, Christine & Judy, all intent on their process

Christine worked so hard & fast I couldn't get a photo that wasn't blurred! 

And many thanks to Christine Besold, who did all the organizational work on the Kimberley end - a masterful job even before she hit the workshop!

Some of the more than 20 completed pieces

And more

I was astounded and amazed at the ease with which the participants dropped their ideas of what 'should' happen, the speed at which they worked and the exceedingly imaginative ways in which they used the techniques they learned in their artwork.

And on a side note, the Lazy Sunday B & B is the perfect place to stay in Kimberley - just half a block from the Arts Centre, and the owner Noreen Shaw is the quintessential hostess.  Do contact her (lazysunday@shaw.ca) for an artful sojourn.

Happy, happy, happy...

Have I told you recently how happy I am these days?  On Mother's Day, I think it's definitely appropriate to do so. Not only do I have the best children in the world (slight bias there), but my husband, extended family children, their spouses and baby girl are totally wonderful too.  Add to that a very sunny day, a lot of play time in the studio, and I'm....well, you guessed it....very happy.

On Friday and Saturday, after recovering from a hectic week, I got to play in the studio - missed the Farmers' Market (sorry, Jen), long walks and all the sun we had, but it was worth it to be back mucking around in our sunny basement, and I've got eight new painting starts on the go (along with three to finish from last month).

Plastic wrap base, packing tape transfer band, overlaid with palette paper transfer

This one looks very pale compared to my usual intense colour so I'm interested to see how it will develop.

Wax paper over wash , over-stamped

 I love the variations created by the plastic wrap technique - they are all so interesting, and each one is unique and uncontrollable (John would say that describes me perfectly!).

Plastic wrap smooshed into wash, dried & lifted

 This is another quiet looking start - want to bet I can ramp up the colour?

Plastic wrap smooshed into wash, partially dried & lifted

 Nothing subtle about this one - in fact, I may have to tone it down to make it usable.

Two layers of  paint washes, both with 99% alcohol dropped in

 This is also something unique for me.  Meg Nicks of Sunny Raven Gallery in Canmore gave me a bottle of  Sludge (not kidding) last weekend when she attended the mixed media workshop in Claresholm.  Sludge is the recycled residue in acrylic paint factories and is very neutral in colour because it's all colours mushed together.  This is a colour I would never use, since I am addicted to clear, vibrant tones.  I can see, though, that it will be working it's way into future paintings, too, as it is such a wonderful background.  Thank you, Meg!

Wax paper squished into heavy body paint and over-stamped

 In my workshops, one of the favourite techniques is the use of cheesecloth to mop up paint.  This start below is a variation of that trick, as the cheese cloth is 'painted' on to the support with a heavy wash of thinned paint, left to dry, and then removed.  The beautiful and 'holey' pattern remains to intrigue the viewer, and one can use the removed cheesecloth in other paintings.

Paper towel pressed base, overlaid by cheesecloth-wash which was dried & removed.
(The cheesecloth is now yummy too, and  can be used elsewhere)

 The two canvases below are waiting to have some colour added, and I can imagine how anxious they feel as they anticipate the application - everything is better with colour.

Doesn't look like much yet, but these two canvases have been painted
 with gloss gel and will be the start of two more techniques

 This past week, there's been an ongoing discussion amongst my artist friends about the tidiness (or not) of their studios as they work.  I thought I'd post a photo here of mine in the throes of all this activity.  If you'd like to share your studio space photo, please send one to me at windinn@shaw.ca before the end of May  - I'd be happy to post them all in a June blog post.

My studio this morning

You'll note the paint shirt in the right hand side of the painting.  After viewing some photos of yours truly taken by Alice Saltiel-Marshall  at the workshop, I was appalled to see how boring my paint shirt was looking.  This week, whenever I had leftover paint on my palette, it went on my paint shirt.  It's actually starting to look quite decent, and I look forward to 'finishing' THAT canvas.

Today I'm wishing you happy days, and a life filled with colour.

Something old...

and something new today, although as for the rest of the saying, I've got nothing.

At the Dinn household, we're cleaning out cracks and crannies in preparation for a garage sale later this month, and I stumbled across one the of the first mixed media pieces I did, at a time when I knew absolutely nothing about mixed media.  It was fun to unearth this one, and even now I l like the feel of it.

Reach for the Soul  14 x 11 Mixed Media  by Win Dinn (ca. ?)

It's interesting to compare it to a piece I recently finished - still using papers, strong colours and with a hand-made stamp (cut from a halved cork) added to the mix.

Roadside Crosses  12 x 12 Mixed Media by Win Dinn

 I'll be taking a break from this blog for about a week as I organize myself for a demo at Fisher Peak Gallery in Cranbrook, BC, this Friday at 11 am.  From there, I'm travelling to Claresholm, AB, where we'll rock the town with a mixed media workshop. It's been organized on the Claresholm end by my good friend, Alice Saltiel-Marshall, and I'm so looking forward to visiting with her amidst the chaos of the workshop.

Along with a fun weekend, I have some other good news to share this week - I'm delighted to say that on Facebook, Sue Fitzmaurice of Trying God's Patience has added some of my paintings to her wonderful works.  Sue is the accomplished author of Angels in the Architecture, as well as having the best page I've yet found on FB (TGP).    

Mixing it up...

 I LOVE the mixed media workshops.  They're exciting, filled with energy and creativity, and they make me work like a fiend to stay ahead of the participants!

We started our first day yesterday with one of my favourite mediums, flexible modelling paste.  A thin layer of paste on a matboard, stamping with various texture tools, and we each had a piece drying in no time.  While they dry overnight, they show lovely cracks and crannies, even without colour!

Each of the participants received a law book to use as a palette, and were encouraged to go at them throughout the day.  Here are a couple of the resulting page spreads!

We did 10 different 'starter' layers,

 added many more layers, and embellishments.

I can hardly wait to see what these wild women will do next week!