February Update

It seems that circumstances have been plotting against me over the last few weeks. I'm back to teaching in the studio, which means I no longer have a dedicated area in which to play. I'm off to a trade fair this weekend, so I don't suppose I'll be able to do much catching up this week either!

I've managed to keep up to date with watching the videos however, so when I do get a minute (well, an hour or two in all honesty!) I'll be ready to go.

Art Three Ways - Week 3

Three different versions of one picture with Wilna Furstenburg as our tutor. We were asked to draw a picture and take an image of it before we coloured it in, then another after it was coloured but before we added the final touches. These were printed out onto copy paper for later use.

 Picture 1 with a little more work and a relevant poem added. We were supposed to use the brush to write our journal piece, but I found it easier to use my fountain pen - particularly as it has sparkly ink!

For the second picture, the copy of the line drawing was glued to a canvas board and painted again using more drawing ink and acrylic. I also used a silver paint pen to highlight and add more garden poetry and used Inktense pencils for definition.

The coloured image was used for the third piece; this was copied twice and glued on to my journal page, then more drawing and colouring was done. I decided not to include text with this piece. We were supposed to include moulding paste to add texture, but I quite liked it without. I may do a bit more work on this piece at a later date.

I found this exercise quite difficult at first, particularly drawing with a brush and ink. I don't have much confidence with my freehand drawing, but I found it easier after a while, and I'm pleased with the results.

Denise

Making Magic - Week 2

This week we were asked to 'let go' and experiment with layering colour, papers and paint to create something magical! Our tutor, Mary Ann Wangerin, gave us an evocotive video showing how she created her work, based on a quote by Roald Dahl and using a butterfly as her focus.

I decide to go with a quote from Peter Pan and use a Arthur Rackham fairy for my focus.

I've included some textiles again - I'll try to do that each week if the project allows. I've also layered hand painted paper and layers of acrylic paint - still using up the bits I have left over, but I have started on one or two of the new tubes I got for Christmas.

Still no letter stamps, but I've decided to use my handwriting where possible to try to improve it a bit. This week I've used a silver Sharpie.


Denise

Wanderlust Week 1

I'm already a week behind, but here is my first week's project. We were asked to think of three words to describe what we wanted to achieve this year and use them in an exercise using paint and photographs. I'm still waiting for the canvases I want to use to arrive, so I've used an 8" x 8" canvas I had lying around for this piece. This was my third effort - I'm trying to use up some old paints before I get some more, so my colour palette was a little restricted and the first two came out too dark. It was suggested that we stamp the words on to our work but I only have small letter stamps and they wouldn't have worked, so I had to result to a Sharpie in the end! My graphics are never the best!!

I've promised myself to include textile in each piece I do, and this week I've included scrim in the background.

New Beginnings

For Christmas 2016 I received a subscription to Wanderlust 2017, an online art course. Follow my musings about the course and my progress here. The course begins on 6th January, so come back after that to see how I'm getting on.

Denise