Always Learning

Whether I am taking workshops or teaching beginners I feel that I am always learning. Sometimes the lesson is something old revisited, sometimes something new that I am not sure what to do with, but always useful even if you have to wait for inspiration.


A project that I always get my students to try is drawing an upside-down picture - something they can't recognize so they can only try to reproduce what they see with no preconceptions.

 

 Try something like this yourself if you have never done it before - or even if you have! I got this idea from a class I took many years ago when I lived in Edmonton.

Something else I use with my students is Alphabet Art. I developed this when students were having trouble with basic shapes - the old 'I can't draw a circle' excuse.

Although the letters are adjusted they are recognizable. Try this exercise too and see what you can come up with. More pictures done this way can be found on my Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mellowood-Studio-and-Art-Gallery/120412094734638?ref=hl

Today I picked up the painted papers I did at a workshop with local artist Win Dinn (see last entry for contact info). These papers will be used in some of my mixed media art but I plan to keep some until next spring when I take 'Painted Paper 102'.

Wonderful colors which are making my mind spin and my imagination soar. These papers are made with mulberry paper and as they needed to dry before I could bring them home I thought I would try some different papers at home. Rice paper - it looked and felt like the mulberry (or so I thought), Artist's tissue paper - flimsy, it will probably rip, Parchment paper - hmm -let's see. Well, the first two worked reasonably well, the third not at all. BUT, I learned something didn't I?

Mostly Blue

 Here is the mixed media piece I did using the painted rice paper, some cheese cloth I used to mop up left over paint and a 'skin' I made last year. Color and fun - What more could one ask for?