Holiday Paint Out: Community

I'm doing the Holiday Paint Out over at Creative Catalyst Productions, and this is my first entry. The prompt was the word "community" and I thought about Thanksgiving. I was trying to evoke a sense of being around a table but your perspective is up through the flowers. As I learn to draw better hopefully I'll do a better job at capturing gesture and all of that. But until then, basic human shapes it is!

I used a mix of Anne Bagby 2 (Pattern & Form: Advanced Collage Techniques) and Jane Davies (DVD release set 2012) for the papers.

To see the steps, click "read more" down at the bottom.

Weekend Wax, "First Rain"

Here's my weekend's attempt at beeswax collage. I always forget how slow beeswax collage is compared to collage where there's paint and mediums flying. So yes, there was a little fight with the new skill set but it was completely worth it and I'm hooked.

 Click read more at the bottom to see the step by step.

Anne Bagby inspired Christmas Card

Anne Bagby was just at our studios filming her second DVD workshop, and while she showed us a bunch of really cool new techniques, I began thinking about what I could do with the ones she taught in her first DVD at Creative Catalyst Productions, "Paper, Patterns, and Glazing." This is a take on her complicated paper. The technique is fantastic within serious collage work and also excellent for an afternoon of holiday fun.

So...

when an artist hands you a drawing she's just filmed and tells you to put spray fixative on it b/c, "Oh it's easy," and then you fast forward a day and she paints on that drawing and all the pencil lines disappear b/c you did not in fact do a very good job with fixative? That's what we call totally not awesome.*

*But thank goodness Anne was TOTALLY (totally) nice about it.

My Year 1

Anne Bagby Sketches in a Brow

Anne Bagby has taken a lot of workshops from great artists. One, Alex Powers, told her class that it takes 10 years of painting to start creating original work. Most of the class found it discouraging but not Anne. I'm with Anne. To be able to start creating original work in only 10 years, well, that sounds like a cosmic deal. Ten years we can do.

Anne Bagby is On Her Way

We leave Creative Catalyst Productions in about an hour to drive to the airport and meet Anne Bagby. The studio is prepped. The cameras are ready. The cats can't wait to meet a new human and we're all really excited.

I've been in love with Anne's work since we have the opportunity to film her last DVD workshop, "Paper, Patterns, and Glazing"and am unbelievably happy that we have the opportunity to spend even more time with her for this second DVD.

Art and Soul Recap

It's been a week now since we've gotten back from Art and Soul Retreat in Portland, OR. What a blast! I remember being impressed last year and this year was no different. It still blows my mind (in a great way) that there are places where people can come together from all over the country and just be creative together. Talk art together. Do art together. Meet people who share the same passions. Such talent and spirit in one place. I kept looking at all these women-both instructors and students- and being really inspired by them. Such incredible people.

We filmed three artists: Ann Baldwin, Anne Bagby and Robert Dancik. We filmed Ann Baldwin a few years ago in a live workshop. It was great to work with her in studio. She is a hilarious woman. I always learn so much from her both when I'm filming and then again when editing. She somehow makes Golden products a little less terrifying.

Anne Bagby does the type of art that I long to do. She stamps her own paper and then uses it in these spectacular collages. Both her and Ann Baldwin can wield Golden Fluid Acrylics like no other. Anne Bagby also employs Golden Glazes. I came home and ordered a few myself and am getting obsessive about checking my order's status.

We filmed Robert Dancik on our last day and what an amazing instructor! He works with a product that he helped create called Faux Bone. (Go to Robert's site to learn more.) Robert kept saying how easy Faux Bone was to work with and I kept thinking, "Yeah, yeah, sure." He proved my skepticism wrong. It *is* really easy to work with. It's sort of magical actually!

Spending the day with each of these artists was amazing. They all did a wonderful job on camera and their DVDs will be real assets to those of us wanting to learn how to become better artists.

Finally, we took part again this year in Vendor Night. Holy Moly! I LOVE vendor night. It is one of the few times I as an employee of CCP get to interact with the people who buy what I help make. It's so rewarding! I am very lucky in the fact that I'm really proud of what I do and the company I work for. I'm normally pretty shy when it comes to talking to new people. I freeze and mumble and will probably trip. But I love talking about what kind of art people are making. I love meeting the people who have CCP workshops and hear that it's really helped them. Plus, it's just seriously neat to be around that much creativity in one place!

Is it too early to countdown to Art and Soul 2008? Definitely not!

(Pictures from Vendor Night: our booth, Claudine Hellmuth, Lesley Riley, Traci Bautista. Not pictured are Sherri Haab whose booth I kept going back to for fantastic resin molds and Robert Dancik's booth.)