I love learning about art...all kinds of art. I take classes when ever I can and where ever I can.
I lived in Florence, Italy to study Advanced Drawing and Art History, I have gone to Providence, RI. to become a certified Zentangle teacher. I went to both of Cassie Stephens' Art Scouts...the one in Ohio and the other in Tennessee. This past summer I went to Savannah College of Art and Design for a teacher retreat... it was amazing and I highly recommend you going as well. I have also gone to New Orleans and New York City for the National Art Educators conventions. I just love traveling and I love taking art classes.
I recently returned from Raleigh, North Carolina where I attended the Art of the Carolinas which is put on by Jerry's Artarama.
I had an amazing time. It was just so fun to forget about teaching and taking professional development class for a change and just focus in on my own art work. It was just the greatest feeling to allow myself some time to do my own thing. I went with a very good friend and my bookbinding teacher Ginna Cullen, which also made it wonderfully special. We stayed in a remodeled Hilton and it was just grand. I love the way they made the lobby a nice place to hang out and talk with your old friends and meet new ones.
My first class on Thursday morning was with Joe DiGiulio - Energizing your Abstracts
Joe is a fun and inspiring teacher...unless you do not bring you art supplies and then he changes into your old college teacher who got onto you for... not bringing your art supplies to class! I enjoyed this class and would differently recommend it if you need to loosen up some on your paintings.
Looking at a blank canvas looking back at me is a little scary....So...
we started off with some background glazing on canvas, which eased us into our work.
Next we just added on another color.
We moved on to practice paper...
then painted our practice paper.
We had a lunch break while our work was drying. Hubby does wood working from trees so I took these photos of the beautiful hotel lobby to get him inspired to make me a table and planters!
Fingers crossed!
My practice paper started piling up all over the floor.
Thursday night I had The Fine Art of Printmaking with Amy Nack.
Amy is a Speedball representative.
We saw Amy in the lobby one night and invited her over to join us. She is an amazing person and has
an amazing studio located Boise, Idaho called Wingtip Printmaking Studio. The studio is named after the shoes her father use to wear. After a while another Speedball rep showed up and it turned into an epic party in the lobby!
Amy Nack
I even loved my scrap prints!
Day 2 Friday... I had Joe again for Geometric Abstracts in the morning.
Love, love, loved this class!!! I could be spontaneous yet controlled at the same time!
On Friday Jerry's Artarama opens up a mini-store in the ballroom of the hotel and OMG... the line is super long but the prices are worth it. There is canvas and paint at 50% off. There were professional artists in line buying all their canvas for an entire year!!!
Friday night was Inspired Florals with a Palette Knife with Kim Maselli
The class was amazingly...hard! I do not paint usually and I have never painted with a palette knife. There is a learning curve here people!!! But I loved every second of it. I am sure I put the paint on way to thick but it was sooooo much fun. I do not paint much because I am allergic to acrylic and synthetic materials. I have a very strong chemical sensitivity so it was had to be in the room with and the fumes. There were also people using oil paints so I was a little light headed when I left but it was still worth it. Not sure I will every paint like this again but I am so glad I tried it.
She had asked everyone to bring floral photos...somehow I missed that... so I used this photo from Pinterest as my inspiration piece. As you can see I need more practice!
On the second one I just made it up. I figured how could I go wrong if no one know what the original photo looked like! (although my head knows....and that's not it)! But overall I was pleased with my first attempts at palette knife painting.
Saturday I had Geological Abstracts with Carol Nelson
I think this is awesome! We use textured paste to create texture and I just loved every minute of it!!!
We first created out own rocks and add-ons using air dry clay.
Then we added modeling paste to the boards to create texture.
Again the teacher had asked to us to bring photos of rocks and the side walk and again I missed that piece of info. I got this photo off a Google search for "sidewalk cracks". I did not realize there was a need for photos for sidewalk cracks but apparently there is because there where 100s of pages sidewalk crack photos...
This is the photo I chose to go with.
This is my finished piece. I can not express how much I loved this class. I plan on teaching this process to my 5th graders. I did not have a class Saturday night do I just hung out in the lobby with my old friends and all my know ones. It was a great night!
Sunday morning I took How to draw better in 6 hours with Mike Rooney. Mike splits his time between N.C. and Key West... I want to live that was too!...Some day
We first had to draw our hand.
Then we had to draw upside down. The paper was upside down not ourselves !
Now this was fun...we colored the entire section of our paper with a midtone shade and then erased away until we found he image. I love this style of drawing! The class did help me draw better in 6 hours and I will be visiting Mike on our next trip to Cudjoe Key.
Great fun was had by all...
This is my good friend and teacher Ginna Cullen, you know that friend that says "hey lets go try they and you follow them". Love you Ginna!
THE END
Great Work! Those are really amazing.
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