upcoming summer events

I will be participating in the 4th of July Artisan's Marketplace at the Marblehead Festival of the Arts - 

http://www.marbleheadfestival.org/events/artisans/artisans.html

Also, at the end of the summer, August 27th, I will be hosting an artist trading card workshop for LynnArts. The following is the preview announcement as written in the monthly newsletter from LynnArts, Inc. -

And don't miss this....

LynnArts is pleased to announce the first of the 2009 artists' workshop series: 

 

 

 

Artist Trading Cards

 Meet Greet Trade Create!

Thursday, August 27th, 7-9pm

 

Artist Trading Cards are the new creative craze; miniature pieces of original artwork being created and traded!  LynnArts is introducing its first ever A.T.C workshop, hosted by one of our very own artist members Robin Samiljan.  Come enjoy the evening with other LynnArts members and local artists, trade the cards you have previously made, and stay to create new ones.    

 

This workshop is free to LynnArts members. All others are welcome, $10 admission. Space is limited, and pre-registration is required.  Handouts will be  provided.  For more information or to register please call Jennifer at LynnArts, 781.598.5244, or send an email with your name, phone number and membership status to jenashworth@lynnarts.org. 

 

break time = more card making time!

I have been enjoying a break from classes (until June 6) and rather than starting a new larger painting I decided to make more cards. The cards are like simple practices to me and can lead me to new ideas. I still want to finish the demo leftover from the workshop I taught at the beginning of the month but I am waiting to figure out what the next step should be to make that painting feel right. Making the ATC's may lead to figuring out a solution for that painting.

I am attending a 1 day encaustic workshop on June 10; painting with wax has been on my mind ever since I tried to do it last winter and failed! I am going to be collecting items to bring in to the workshop and think ATC's will help me with that as well.

Calla Lily 2

Last weekend I performed my Georgia Okeeffe monologue and I was comforted by using my paintings as props. I finished the yellow calla lily before my monologue and had a second painting, calla lily 2, and had it on my easel (unfinished) as a prop. Although I had Georgia on my mind when I started it, today it was all about painting what I saw and felt, in my own interpretation.

I had trouble figuring out the best angle to paint the flower but my motivation was in the use of color and in the up close perspective. 

Calla Lily, 24 x 18

After spending time wanting to figure out how to make my painting feel more alive, I decided I had to finish it before my performance this weekend. When I paint I always reach a point when I tell myself to stop looking at the object and just paint what 'feels' right. I had to stop trying to copy Georgia Okeeffe's style and use my instincts to make this work.

I will start another lily painting, smaller, for when I do my monologue, and this painting was my 'practice'. If I don't concentrate during my performance I wont care because the painting I do will be more a prop than an actual artwork. 

Remembering Georgia (work in progress)

School is dictating my art making! I have not had time to figure out what else I need to do with my demo from last weekend probably because I have been consumed with my homework, so that painting is on hold for now.

This coming weekend I have to do a 7 minute monologue, me being Georgia Okeeffe. I did research on her personal life and decided to focus on her earlier art and specifically on the year 1924 when she and Alfred Stieglitz had a joint show, the same year they got married. 

I did a painting of a calla lily as a way to connect to her art process but also something I will use as a prop this weekend when I am doing my monologue. I will actually paint during the monologue, add richness to the background, but the painting is close to finished now.

When is a painting done?

I have had the painting from the Saturday workshop out in my house, leaning on a wall, and I have spent the past few days living with it. I do not think it is finished! Sometimes when I do a demo my paintings are challenging, especially if I don't capture a flow in my 2nd and 3rd layer of washes. I look at this painting and it just doesn't feel right to me. 

I have not had time to focus on what is missing but I do know I am happy with the composition. Ever since I have been playing with collages in my artist trading cards I keep thinking about how the cards can be used as a small study that can lead to a bigger art work so I am planning on adding collage elements to this painting. I want to add some fun - maybe gold glitter, yarn, even my ink stamps of ferns in the foreground. I have been adding embellishments to my art cards and just yesterday at the reception I went to I met a jewelry artist who suggested I use copper wire to wrap around embellishments that can then be collaged into my artwork. All these new ideas keep my mind busy and I am still working through what changes I want to do with the watercolor from Saturday but I definitely see collages in my future. 

fresh eyes, "Trees and Moss"

I am pretty sure the changes I made last night did loosen up the trees and foreground and I don't want to over work the paper. I think for me this was another tree lesson where I wanted to introduce wash techniques to my students and not focus on more details in the actual composition.  Without an actual landscape image to work from, I was not able to get deep into creating this landscape. It was a good practice.

A day of painting, work in progress

When I teach a one day workshop I am always guided by the skill level of the students that have signed up for the class, the experience of the group dictates the lesson I teach. Using masking tape as a resist is my beginner lesson; it's a good way to practice layering with washes and to think about composition in terms of basic shapes.

Today we did my favorite, "the tree lesson". I am going to need to decide tomorrow if I want to add some orange tones to the mountain in the background. I didn't want to make my composition complicated but I did want to add more details than just wash layers.