Red, White & Blue

Memorial Day Memory

How cute is this?  These kids are all in college now, some graduates.  The little drummer, Kait, (3rd from rt) just graduated from Duke where her younger sister, Erica, on the left, now attends.  Emily, in the striped top, went to SMU in TX.   Tom is finishing college this year and, as you all know, is a US Marine.  Tom is in the blue shorts in the front.  All decked out in red, white and blue in the hats they made...wonderful memories...ready for their own parade....

How I Spent My Weekend

I know you're looking at this photo and thinking...what in the world is that?!  Well, it's the most wonderful new art supply that I found out about during the Art Workshop weekend I spent in Lakeville, Ct. That is a photo of a roll of rosin paper....the kind they use on roofs...cheap cheap cheap!  And what we did with it was amazing.

You can't tell the amazing texture achieved ( in the photo on the right) on the paper which we coated with gesso and then used a myriad of simple tools...like bubblewrap, combs, the end of your paintbrush and much more...to achieve a very textured effect on the surface.  Next came the color....oil pastels randomly placed on the paper...no pattern...just literally scribbled on all over the paper.  Then came the elbow grease, blending all of these colors with a paper towel or rag.  That's just the beginning!  Then begins the embellishing...adding collage elements like tissue paper, rubber stamps, feathers, beads, ribbon....you name it....we used it.  This photo is just a small piece of a much larger piece I was working on.

The subject we were all working on was the Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo.  She was a wild woman in her day....some might say she was avant garde.  She was definitely colorful.  Her face in the photo on the left is from a painting I did of her and posted on my blog a few postings back.  I have several more of her "faces" on my piece (another below).  It was fascinating to see everyone's work and their interpretation of her....what aspect of her life they chose to illustrate.  Since I'm interested in "faces" lately, I chose to focus on hers and the other thing I was interested in was her clothing...so that part is still a work in progress. 

 A little bit wilder here....but this was a workshop to just let go....let your ideas just go and not be afraid to put anything on the paper.  So now you've seen a "preview" of the Frida Workshop....Lynne Perrella is an amazing teacher.  How lucky to have her do one of her workshops so close to home. 


And here is how I started my day....a walk down to the lake, coffee in hand before gathering at breakfast with the most incredible, creative group of women....imagine, 21 female artists together for hours, creating...and we all worked together so well not only sharing ideas but some of our "stuff" as well!
The person who traveled the farthest to get to this workshop....we met first (my sister and I) and she traveled 14 hours for a weekend workshop!  The most wonderful, fun person...I hope our paths cross again, Sophie!  She is from Brussels and lives in Dubai.  She had boundless energy (the last one in the studio at night) and I can't believe how much she got done.   And Janet....the "senior" member....her handmade books were marvelous.  And Brenna, the bride, who didn't want to miss the workshop and her wedding is this coming weekend!  And Lyle....well....she's just a hoot. I can't name everyone but I really enjoyed all of these incredible people!

 That's all for now.  Just wanted to share with you this great weekend I had.  I've never spent that many consecutive hours devoted to art and I came back so inspired.  Can't wait to do it again!