CLASS WITH DINA WAKLEY

I finally got to take two classes with the awesome and very talented Dina Wakley at the Whim-So-Doodle in St. Petersburg, Florida.  If I had a "bucket List," this would definitely be on it!  Anyway, the classes "Random by Design," a class on how to achieve a random look using layers of paint, stamps, masks and stencils, and "Composition Basics," a class about achieving good composition by using the rule of thirds, proximity and continuance were a lot of fun and very enlightening.  I love how she breaks everything down into simple to understand steps using the "Principles of Design" that most of us learned in a high school art class or college. Many artistic journalers today follow the "there are no rules" principal.  Which is OK but it doesn't work for everyone.  Some of us need a good foundation of rules in order to make artistically pleasing art whether we follow those rules intentionally or by intuition.

ABOUT THE CLASS...At one point, Dina had us ink up our fingers with watered down acrylic paint, grab the paper with our wet fingers where the horizontal and vertical lines met in the design and set aside.  Done!  Leaving a beautiful contrast of paint in a pleasing position on the paper…adding interest and color to the piece.  (see the pink marks on the left side of my journal pages?) I loved everything about the classes but next time, I will take gloves.  I am a neat-nic….was one as a child and I still am as an adult.  Will my nails ever recover?  They look awful!

NEW ACRYLIC PAINTS...The Whim-So-Doodle is an awesome shop…they have everything.  I ended up buying many stencils and of course all of Dina's acrylic paints and writer tips that are new to the market.  Dina had them express shipped to the shop just for use in the class and we were glad that she did…they were big hit with everyone.  The shop had a big glass jar filled with them and by the evenings end…the jar was two thirds empty. I bought one to go with each tube of paint…and I wasn't going to buy another art supply. Who could resist?  Not ME!!!!

ABOUT THE TIPS...These little gems screw onto the end of the tube and have a fine line tip with a screw on cap. What makes these special is the cap…it has a needle in it that inserts into the fine line tip when the cap is screwed into place…this ensures that the paint tip does not clog.  The fine tips allows you to doodle, draw, and write with acrylic paint…almost giving a dimensional paint look. The yellow lines in the pictures below were drawn with a paint tip.  Don't you just love it!

Writer tip on tube acrylic

detail of writer tip

Until next time….

Hugs,
Ginny

JUST ONE LITTLE WORD

I recently joined a challenge suggested by one of my on-line classmates, Ann Kristen Krier, to pick one word to summarize my intentions for the year.  This word would be used to remind me of things that I need to resolve or work on in my life.  It is like making a News Years Resolution but only expressing it in one little word.  We were to paint our word using the techniques that we learned in Joanne Sharpe's "Letter Love 101" class.

My one little word to focus on for the year 2013 is "BE."  I can't take complete credit for this as I originally had another word picked but when Joanne Sharpe posted her word for the challenge, "BE"....it hit me right between the EYES!!!  This word says everything that I wanted to say...Be tolerant, Be generous, Be grateful, Be happy, Be kind...I could go on and on!  Plus, this is a word that can change meaning throughout the year when I need to add or subtract things that I need to "BE."

I used Tombow and Alcohol markers to paint my word onto Strathmore 300 series, 140 lb watercolor paper.  This paper takes the Tombow markers and water beautifully!!  I then glued this to a canvas painted with Luminart Silks paint.

There you go...my one little word for 2013...to hang on the wall of my studio and to remind me to be more centered throughout the year 2013!!

Won't you join me and paint YOUR one little word as a reminder to resolve what matters most to you?

Until next time!
Ginny

JODI OHL ON-LINE CLASS

I signed up for another on-line class, "Painterly In Pink" by the very talented artist, Jodi Ohl.  I really wasn't prepared to take another class since I haven't finished all of Joanne Sharpe's classes but this one offered $30 worth of Luminarte paints and I also needed the paints for Joanne's "Bling It On."  So....I couldn't pass up a bargain like that...now could I?  Plus, I have one year in which to complete the course.  This seemed doable!

"Painterly In Pink" is about drawing and painting faces using Luminarte Silk glazes.  Jodi taught us how to draw the faces first in pencil and then glaze them with color.  We could be as realistic as we wanted or make them whimsical.  This is a class for all artistic levels and is a great one if you wish to learn how to draw faces.  To see Jodi's beautiful art or to learn more about her classes, visit her blog, Sweet Repeats.

Anyway, I was off to a great start....I drew my girl in pencil, painted the background of my canvas, glued the pencil drawing to the canvas and then it happened....the painting looked finished without the face glazed.  To add color by glazing the face would only fade it into the background where it would be lost.  At first I thought that I would go ahead and add the glaze and see what happens and maybe make adjustments as I go along but the very first brush stoke of paint on her face told me that I was making a BIG MISTAKE!  What to do???  I posted my canvas on the class Facebook site to get feedback from my classmates where my suspicions were confirmed....DON'T PAINT THE FACE!  Jodi was very kind and said "that sometimes happens" and that I may have found my style.  I definitely will explore this further as I love to draw faces in pencil and I also love to do collage.  It just may become my style.

Made some of my own collage papers

Finished canvas

I guess that part of being an artist is knowing when to stop.  At least I feel pretty good about that but now I still need to paint a face with glazes.  Back to square one!!!

I'll keep you all posted on where this takes me!

Hugs!
Ginny