Playtime is the best...

...time, don't you think?

Good friend and fellow artist Laura Leeder stopped by this past week for some playtime in the studio.  We'd been wanting to experiment with different uses for gesso, and we tore right into it.

Laura washing over a stenciled gesso floral...look at those wonderful colours!

The top leaves on the journal spread have been pounced through a stencil with gesso,
and then washed over with a pale acrylic.

This sienna-toned magazine page was stenciled with gesso,
and then washed over with quinacridone orange acrylic.

These images were stamped on to watercolour paper with gesso,
dried and then washed over with acrylics.

A credit card was used to push gesso through the stencil
before applying a wash or two.

Gesso was thickly applied and then distressed with a heat gun.
Washes of alcohol ink and ultramarine acrylic inks were applied.
White gesso was patted on with a paper towel over the black
gesso...nice pattern, right?

A house wrap stencil was used to apply the design,
and then it was spritzed with  Dylusions spray.

Laura's piece at the end of the session...I
suspect there will be more layers!

It was a most entertaining morning, and I hope we can do it again - soon!!

Summer's the time...

...for friends, fruit, feasting and frivolity.  This week had all of that and more.  A friend, Louise Olinger, came to play in the studio for four days, and we had a blast.

Our studio time was excellent as we worked on paintings in progress,  new ideas and general craziness.

Time on the deck in the hot sunshine was at least that entertaining as cherries arrived on the scene.

Louise takes her passion for colour to an amazing extent.  Not only did she manage to colour coordinate her dress with the house, but she dyed her hands to match as well.

 John, of course, wanted to get in on the colour act, so he quickly improvised a chapeau.

While all this was going on, the dogs (JoJo left and Daisy right) kept guard on the exit to the garden. They're perfectly aware they're meant to stay on the deck if they're off leash, and occasionally provide their own gate to comply.

And just to ensure that the summer colour hit every aspect of our day, the food was ample insurance.

I neglected to get Louise' permission to post her work before she left, but I can certainly show you some of my stencil play (all over really unhappy Gelli prints).  

 They're much improved now, and will make great backgrounds for ATCs or tags.

I love working with acrylics - nothing is ever beyond rescue!

I hope your summer is at least as much fun, and as colourful.  Happy playing, all!

Edited to add some of Louise' work:

Fabulous, right?

It's playtime...

...in the studio again, as I experiment with Gelli plates, hand-cut stencils, and subdued colour.  Yup - you heard me right.  I did say subdued.  It's OK, though - we've checked and the world is not coming to an end.  It's just that I'm working towards a couple of projects, both of which will require me to tone down my usual riotous colour to a dull roar.

I've been printing with soft, thin layers on the Gelli plate.  I love the way my hand-burnt stencils give such a textured look to the prints.

I've added layer upon layer of muted colour,

with additions of tiny amounts of metallic paints,

until I have a raft of them.  As always, I'll never know whether what I see in my mind will work in reality.

The stencils are a delight to play with, whether underlying the heavier commercial stencils or used on their own.

In fact, if you're in our neighbourhood, you can learn how to make your own this next week.  My stencil class, (called Burn, Baby, Burn) is happening on Thursday morning, February 18 from 9 am to noon. You'll learn how to burn your own stencils and even how to design them in this playshop.  It's at Puffin Design, and pre-registration is a requirement.  For more information about this and some other fabulous workshops, you can pop over here.  Please come and play - you KNOW it's going to be a blast!

In Kimberley...

the art group is WAY beyond obsessed.  Every time I teach at the Centre 64, I'm stunned by the response of the students - the manner in which they pick up and test new techniques, the enthusiasm they show and the fun they generate.

The Gelli plate playshop brought so many stunning pieces to the table (and the floor) I couldn't stop taking photos.  From the gilding technique,

 to textures plates,

 to fun foam stamps,

and they still couldn't get enough of it.

They used ArtFoamies to the max,

they masked,

and they stencilled.

They printed on every conceivable surface from mat board to dryer sheets to card stock to printer paper, and I wouldn't have been surprised to see the walls done up by Sunday afternoon.

You can tell some of them took their work very seriously!

Watch their space;  they'll be up to more shenanigans in that wild art group!  And if you'd like to get in on some of the fun, please join me at The Arts Station in Fernie at month-end!