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.

Wasn't that a party?!

Well, if you ever want to laugh until you drop, you just need to go play with the Claresholm Art Club.  They have more fun than is strictly legal, learn at an amazing pace, and keep each other at the top of the game.

The mixed media workshop this past weekend was marvellous.  We covered 21+ techniques, four drying tables (constantly changing), conversational topics that ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime, and the Seniors' Centre from one end to the other with wonderful ephemera, luscious paints, found objects and laughter.

We played with dried leaves and flowers

Dried leaves and flowers to be added to the sandwiches

plastic wrap and paint dropping

'Sandwiches', plastic wraps, gesso paper and medallions

 gel mediums

Washes over gel medium 

and gesso, among other things.

Gesso (or 'brayer' or 'leather') paper

We dripped and splashed and smooshed (and I'm pretty sure someone was throwing paint, because I'm much more colourful than when the weekend started).

Dominique plays with smooshes and drips

 We were intent,

Jeanne painted like a fiend all weekend as she and Meg chatted

and addicted.

Meg may have gotten slightly addicted to the clear tar gel medallion technique

We added metallics to starts and pastes,

Don't these starts/layers make your mouth water?

layered and stamped and played,

Kerry's lovely finish

and some of us actually finished a piece or two.

This may have been Kerry's too (or Shannon's?) - comment below to correct me!

There were more variations on each theme than I considered possible!

Gesso paper samples

Magazine transfers were each uniquely fun.

Magazine photo transfer

 The drying tables were a constantly changing montage of painted/transferred/gelled/wet mat boards.

One of the four tables that were constantly covered with starts, techniques and drying pieces

 Each technique had its own stars...

A lovely diffused plastic wrap technique

 and turned up in a myriad of ways.

Layer upon layer of wonderful experimentation

 As always, workshops energize me, give me tons of ideas, and I learn much more than I could teach.  Thank you to all the participants who so willingly stepped out of the box and into the far reaches of the mixed media universe.  You ladies ROCK!

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).    

Fun and...

games are always part of my studio life.  I saw / heard / invented (doubtful) another kind of play that has had me intrigued for some time, but just purchased the necessities last week - for under $20.  I bought a package of 10 foam rollers and the roller thingamabob that goes with them, and then cut out some shapes in the rollers with an Xacto knife.  I won't tell you how many blades I had to use - apparently foam is tough on sharp blades!

The results were really entertaining, and I can think of a ton of ways to use the them, from background right on up.  It's interesting to see how the look changes depending the amount and thickness of paint used, on whether they are placed on a solid white background,

Hand-cut foam roller ' stars stamp'

versus a coloured background, 

Hand-cut foam roller 'leaves stamp'

a multi-coloured background,

Hand-cut foam roller 'hearts stamp'

a patterned background,

Hand-cut foam roller 'leaves stamp'

  a text-filled background,

Hand-cut foam roller 'circles stamp'

or even photos.

Hand-cut foam roller 'zig-zag stamp'

I always have so much fun with experimenting that it can be a challenge to actually create a painting - maybe that's why I love instructing so much.  

I still have five more foam rollers to design and cut, so goodness knows what might come out of that! Do YOU have any ideas?  Comments, suggestions and outrageous ideas always gratefully accepted.

White on White

Over the years I've done a number of white pieces, because I'm endlessly fascinated by their appearance in different types of lighting.  The photos below are taken in five different types of light.  The first four are strong light from different directions and the last is normal room lighting.

Convergence, lit from below

Convergence, lit from the left

Convergence, lit from the right 

Convergence, lit from above

Convergence, 16 x 20 mixed media by Win Dinn

The strong look engendered by focused light really dramatizes this dimensional painting, but my preference is for the natural light that brings a softness to the flow of paint and fabric.  What's your favourite?