A peak at my workspace

I love to see where others create.  I feel as though I get a better sense of who they are as an artist.  so I decided to show you my work space.  This is actually in my office and not in my studio.  My studio is in the basement which is dark, damp and always dirty.  I like my office as it is sunny and cheery.  I can't make large pieces there but its perfect for working in my art journal.  I also tend to work on my journal on a daily or almost daily basis if I have easy access to my supplies in a place I spend lots of time.  I write "clean my office" everyday on to do list.  It never happens! On the wall behind my desk are postcards and reproductions of art from artists who inspire me.  There is also some of my own work as well as photos that make me happy!

more art journaling!

Plant friendships in the spring time...

Art Journaling with Cathy Walters - Wild and Free Art Journaling

Playing with my imagination... Storytelling and expression.  I am always surprised what ends up on the paper, either through paint or through words.

Wild and Free Art Journaling with Cathy Walters

May 18, 2016
Mixed Media
Acrylic, Stabillo, Water-soluble wax pastels, matte medium, Uniball Signo pen

Abstraction

I find that creating in the abstract to be calming and meditative.  It's where I find my zone.  This piece is created using collage and monoprinting on a Gelli plate.

 

Postcard Swap

The iHannas postcard swap cards are done and ready to be addressed and mailed.

Post cards in the making

Working on some new postcards to go out across the world in May. Join me in this adventure with iHanna

 

Final Pieces for 100 Drawings on Cheap Paper with Jane Davies

Jane Davies surely knows how to delight!  Her workshops are inspirational, challenging and full of fun techniques and advise.  For the final project - lets call it my last 10 we were instructed to write our own assignment.  My assignment was to create a collage and then narrow the information down to just 25%.  This was difficult for me as I hate to let go and cover up what I had done.  I loved the collages that I had created.  They were fun, vibrant and full of stuff but there was no where for the eye to rest.  So with wild abandon I took white paint to all 10 pieces, leaving just a small portion of the collage that I felt was most interesting.  I'm not sure I am happy with the results.  I still miss what I covered up and it pangs me a little when I look at the "before" photos.  This is exactly what I needed.  Bravery!  sigh....

My favorite completed piece.

Scroll to the bottom to see the other eight.

Adding line over collage

Adding line

Details before the white paint!

Work in progress - the mess I make!

Big Fat Art weekend retreat with Jane Davies

I was so fortunate to be able to take 3 days and join the Big Fat Art workshop at the Northeast Art Workshops in Gloucester, MA with Jane Davies.  If you like to play with paint, make marks with wild abandon, experiment in a new and interesting ways I highly recommend taking one of Jane's online or in person workshops.  She's a fun, entertaining and incredibly talented teacher and artist. This workshop had us painting large and on the wall which I really enjoyed.  Recently, I have been working small (9x12") for her 100 Drawings on Cheap Paper online workshop so I found it liberating to get big! Her workshops fill up immediately so follow her website closely and see if you can get on her mailing list.  To sample her teaching style you can find many of her free YouTube videos online.

After Day One
Speed painting, shapes and lines

After Day Two
Veiling and transparent paint
More lines, shapes and texture

After Day Three

Finding those areas of interest

This is a work in progress and is far from finished.

I hope to find time to finish the pieces from this workshop in the next couple of weeks.  As I let them sit and even now as I write this, ideas are popping into my head as to what the next step will be.

Painting like this is all about bravery.  Brave to make new marks, brave to cover up and make drastic changes.  Having faith that new and more interesting things will happen.  

The whole process is incredibly scary to me.

100 Drawings (but really they are paintings)

These works are a part of a series for Jane Davies' 100 Drawings online class.  Each week we work on at least 10 (though I'm lucky if I get to 7) paintings.  She gives the lesson on a pdf and on video.  Discussion, observations and critiques happen on a private blog.  It's hard not to compare my work to the many talented artists taking the course.  We definitely are a mixed level group.  The comments are thoughtful and inspiring.  What Jane really wants us to do is observe our pieces;  really see what is happening in the pieces as it relates to variation of size, color, texture, value, hue. Leave out the judgement or process as we observe and write about our work.  That's not as easy as it sounds.

Variation! - just put it down and vary everything

  

Color, just color - it doesn't matter if it looks good or not

As we play and explore, creating more and more, we begin to see those subtleties of the work.  The two pieces below are about color and stripes.  I've added a lot of texture as that's what I was drawn to do.  I haven't heard back from her if I strayed too much from the assignment but I don't really care.  My intention is to do many more of these as it was a fun way to play with color.  Mixing, creating texture and finding all those variations of value, tone and hue!

Stripes and Color