Is it Christmas?

Perhaps not, but Catherine Moes got to use her Christmas gift this past week when she came for a three-hour private lesson, and we had more fun than I suspect is strictly legal.

The beauty of one-on-one is that sessions can be tailor-made to fit the student, and after a short studio tour and a discussion of Catherine's current explorations, it was decided that a morning with the knife would be a great playtime.  Accordingly we got some palette knives in action.

In order to create a feeling of looseness, we utilised only the palette knife, molding paste and heavy gel to bump up the texture, heavy-bodied acrylic paints and a spray bottle of water.  Creating a landscape from our imaginations, we tore right into an abstract painting.

We accomplished a great deal in our short time together, even managing a quick demo session with the gel plate as we waited for the mediums to dry a bit on the paintings.

Catherine was so pleased with her husband's stocking stuffer that I could literally hear the wheels turning in her head as she planned for a return visit.  

I love doing these private lessons - they give me such joy when I can sponteaneously create a coaching session that is exactly what the artist wants and needs.  Being able to encourage mixed media exploration in the arts is why I've been teaching for so long.

If you're looking for your own stocking stuffer, why not email me for details?   I'd love to see you come and play!

Of course, that's not all that went on in the studio this week - I got into more dryer sheets and baby wipes.  Are you surprised?  Maybe you would be when you find out that I made flowers from them.  Using Golden GAC400, I got myself gunked right up, and John caught me in the act.

If  you've been following this blog for the past few weeks, you can likely guess where these might be going!  The deadline is fast approaching to get this Lunacy Gown completed.

Hope your week has been just as much fun - see you on the flip side, and please let me know what you've been up to in the last while.  I love reading your comments.

Stitch, stitch, stitch...

...and paint, paint, paint.  It's a colourful space in the house these days.

There are partially finished projects everywhere.

And when I'm supposed to be nose to the grindstone to finish them, I get distracted by leaf patterns and spend waaaaaay too much time taking photos of them.

Truly, I do want to get this dress finished so I can go play outside since the weather is warming up appreciably...so back to the stitch, stitch, stitch!

How about you - what's happening in your corner of the world?

Every artist knows...

,,,when a project is 'too much', yet most of us happily continue on, oblivious to the doubts that arise.

The Lunacy Dress is just such a project.  It's so far from done it's laughable, and yet....and yet... I can't stop.

With the skirt well-started, I already have a few favourite squares.  Some are already embroidered and some happily await the needle and floss.

As I look at the photos, I can see that I have a penchant for blotchiness - they rather remind me of galaxies in outer space.

I'm making an effort not to look at the list of yet-to-be-done tasks to bring this project to completion by May 6, because contrary to many artists, I don't work well under pressure.  

And because women can't live on embroidery alone, I had a quick play with the gel plate and some leaves that dropped off a croton tree due to distress at a major transplant.  Amazing how some leaf printing can brighten a studio.

Now it's back to the stitching and hang that paint!  What are you up to this week - I'd love to hear in the comments below!  

Wowza - that was fun....

On Saturday I joined Esme Gloster for her presentation of Metal Embossing, and it was a blast.  Was it because I couldn't tell the backside from the frontside, or the new techniques I learned, or the general playfulness of all those peeps?  Whatever it was, I'm looking forward to more.

Esme walked us through three processes to create (L to R) a debossed piece, an embossed piece and a high relief one.  These are each about 3 1/4" square.

My hours of tangled drawing came in handy for the debossed piece...I could do this kind of patterning for days.

The embossed leaf was fun to do; I purposely left it relatively simple in texture since I liked Esme's leaf design so much.

I love the high relief heart, and would definitely like to do more of this...filling the relief portion with wax is key to being able to mark-make on the top of the heart.

Of course my creativity time didn't stop there - I'm also working on a dryer sheet dress for the upcoming Trashion show, so my studio is draped in colour.

As I'm still at the tack-it-together-with-running-stitches stage, it's less than elegant, but I can see there is hope that I can complete it in the next six weeks.  

My original intent was to make it a full length gown, but a try-on by a recent visitor made me realise I'd a long way to go!

Quite possibly it will be a 1950's house-dress style rather than a ball gown.  ☺️

And somewhere in the studio there are more completed journal pages and a gel print to two (well, maybe 20), so I'm feeling like my week has been wildly (in the best sense of the word) creative.  How about yours?

What did you do...

...on the weekend while we were rockin' the Creston Seniors' Centre?  I hope you had as much fun as we did, because we certainly had a blast. This was one enthusiastic group of ladies, and they were ready to get it on!

Some of them brought their own rocks,

they all brought their own enthusiasm for the project,

and the executions were varied to the max. 

Not only was the location a great one,

 the results were awesome.

Everywhere one looked there was colour to the max.

 Laughter was rife,

 and so was production.

 Check out the eyes on this baby!

 From flowers

to colour mass

I'm now firmly convinced that

Are you on your way out to find some stones to paint?  I sure hope so, because it's major fun.   If you want to join the newly-created group here in Creston, be sure to hit the Seniors' Centre on April 13, 2019.  For a $5 drop-in fee, you can rock paint from 10-noon.  Rocks, paints, brushes and inspiring photos are all provided.  Call Marg for additional information at 250-402-6639.