How Could I Resist?

I couldn't, could I?  So I've created a video for you this week on five different ways to use resists in your artwork...

Make sure you subscribe to my channel while you're there checking it out - there are lots more tutorials to see!

Here are some teaser photos to whet your appetite...

And we had studio play time again this past week with Lynne Mizera,

Gay Allen,

and Linda Macullo joining in the fun.

As usual, I was having such a blast that I mostly forgot to take photos, although I did catch this lusciously crackle-patterned piece of Linda's in progress:

I was on a Christmas tag-making binge while we were chatting and giggling and now I can't even find them to take photos.  It must be time to clean the studio again or Christmas will be on us before they surface.

May your creative week have been as much fun as was ours, with your inspiration time taking you to new and crazier levels. 

Colour drooling...

 is always part of my day, and it was a constant over the weekend.  With Alice Saltiel and Meg Nicks (along with their hubbies) in situ, I got my fill.

We got a foil demo from Meg as she worked on this piece

Meg's foil demo

Foil demo close-up

 and I turned my test blobs into flowers. 

Alice's request to start with (before Meg and Paul arrived) was a spate of paper painting.  I somehow missed getting photos of any of hers, so I took one of mine.  We were going to do this every evening as we finished for the day, but that plan flew south with the geese.

After long days in the studio, it was time for a glass or two!

Meg starts happy hour

Meg is the queen of texture as you can see from this work in progress.

I (again) neglected to get a photo of this lovely plastic wrap background when finished, but it was awesome.

A too-pale combination background of cobweb and plastic wrap begged for a redo, so I slathered on some paint and did a plastic wrap of my own.  I wonder what will happen with this background...

We leaf printed up a storm (Bill included),

Alice and Bill are leaf printing

Lear printing on top left - first print on the gel plate
Top right direct printing with painty leaves
Bottom centre - ghost or haunt print from gel plate

Had I been the least bit on the ball, I would have dozens of photos; the production was prodigious and the experimentation wild.  I'll be testing techniques for months as I integrate all that learning!

And on another note, I get to tell you that the winner of the draw on September 15 was Angela!  Given she's halfway around the world, I suspect that one of the 8.5. x 11" pieces will be on the way to her soon!  Thank you all for playing along, and feel free to send any more love quotes you find; they will come to a good end, I suspect!

Happy week all you artsy people - feel free to drop a comment and let me know what's up in your art world! 

I'm a great sneak...

when it comes to studio time.  And in spite of all the purging to downsize, I have very craftily (artfully?) managed to get in some play time with friends.

Five of us gathered one morning, and in no time at all turned the studio into delicious Tag City Mayhem.

Gay, Linda, Carol, Dena with her head cut off

With access to years of supplies gathered for teaching mixed media, there was no shortage of fodder, and with a bucket (lower left) of inspiring tags garnered from online friends, no shortage of inspiration either.

Dena, head reattached, Gay and Carol

Carol was a tag-making machine, and I suspect she took home the most...wowza, can that woman create at lightning speed?!

Aren't these delicious?

Dena is enamoured to the max with text/words/verse/script, and I believe that all of her tags incorporated verbiage in some way.

I was all over that NOW tag!

Gay's words for the day were to the effect of 'Oh, WOW!, as she found an array of gears, organics, and other embellishments to add to her pieces.

Linda, an extraordinary quilter, transferred her design skills into some gorgeous tags for her family members.

I must say that because I was, once again, nattering waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much, I accomplished little in the way of completed tags.  The one on the left is the way I feel in the midst of all of this decontamination, the centre is what I hope to achieve, and the right one is what I'll need in copious quantity to celebrate at the end it all.  (Well, actually, the one on the right is for John, who's a red wine drinker, but the former makes a better story.)

However, I was inspired to do some quick tags through the rest of the week as I plundered my way through the gargantuous stash on the way to downsizing glory!  I think this one is VERY apt.

And I truly think that all this hard work will...

I hope that you've had as much fun with your week as I had during that morning.  Tell me about it in the comments below, please - I'd love to hear!

Guests...

...in the studio are always fun, and this past weekend proved the rule.  Louise Olinger, a consummate watercolour artist, and her sister Kelly LeBlanc spent three days playing with me, and we got up to the usual chaos that ensues when one is hooked on play.

Kelly's been tearing into the Gelli prints - can you tell?

Louise has prints everywhere

The scene before Saturday (day 2) start

Stacks of prints

Louise paints while Kelly prints on fabric

The intent truly was to do mixed media for the weekend, but we got so far into the Gelli printing that somehow we finished nothing at all.  The up side of this, though, was that we were blissed out on colour, texture and pure, unadulterated fun!

I hope you've have as much enjoyment in your studio this week...if so, we're both on the right side of overdosing!

A friend in the studio...

...is always welcome, and the recent visit of Meg and Paul from Canmore was no exception. Meg and I spent Monday painting together while the other halves did an antiquing tour south of the border.

I love having other artists in the studio (or working in theirs) because it's so educational to see the way they create.  Meg showed me a trick to iron skins on to a painting (involving the use of release paper - we found that palette paper does not work as well!).

I got a sense of her process for creating one of her beautiful organic pieces from early on in the work.

I watched her experiment with Derwent Graphitint pencils on a new range of vellum she was testing for the Sunny Raven Gallery art supply section.

Meg's artwork  is richly organic, invariably including images or subtle iconography related to Mother Nature.

And while our circadian rhythms are vastly different (here's Meg working well into the evening),

we know that any chance we can get to play together will be a wonderful time.  Thanks for taking the time from your schedule to play here in Creston, Meg and Paul!