TODAY, TOMORROW AND BEYOND

Today, while it might be wonderful to be creating art, I have seemingly failed.  Tried while at work to do Walter Reiss's fun ceramics class, but was just too distracted.  Between working and looking out the window across the sun-filled canyon, I just could not stay focused.  Tomorrow, I will be in the studio playing with mixed media most of the day (much more my speed, I think.) Beyond?  Well, next week Suzette and I will again be teaching a full studio workshop and the creativity will stimulate and flow.  And then?  With creative juices afire, it will be as Buzz Lightyear puts it, "To infinity and beyond!"

POSTAL ART

Just a few of the many wonderful pieces of postal art received

One of the myriad ways in which Suzette and I express Mixed Media Playtime results is through postal art.  During each of our Sunday Studio Workshops we get the names and addresses of each participant.  Everyone then draws a name and sends one of their fun pieces to that person.  This is a wonderful, playful way to share our artistic experiments with each other that just happens to brighten many a postal worker's day.  It also commemorates the day of retreat into artful play, which many a student deems "better than therapy."

YA NEVER KNOW

...and they are soft as a baby's skin :)

Suzette and I are always looking for new ways to use things.  This is especially true of recycling items, but sometimes it's just a new use for something commonly used in another way.  Don't know if it is due to the new grandson, but lately I've been using a lot of baby wipes in my art work.  Seems to me the uses are myriad.  Dry one and then print an image on it--either transfer or straight digital print--is one way.  Torn or whole, these images can then be used in a lot of different ways, adding texture and interest to a piece.  Or use the wet wipe in painting in the same way you might use a finger.  These are just two of the ways. This gives you new options with paint. See what you can do!

Birthday Wishes

Suzette here. Today is my twins 15th birthday! I always like to make them a special card. This year everything seems so rushed...the Sawdust Preview Party is next Tuesday and we are not yet ready!! So late last night I ran to my studio to do a quick photo transfer onto backgrounds I had prepared during our last Sunday Studio Workshop. We are always encouraging students to make lots of backgrounds, and this is one good reason why! When you need to rush a card, you have a surface to work on!!

Now back to getting things ready...Opening day of the Sawdust Art Festival is June 24th! Hope to see you there! For more on hours, classes, special events, and other info click Here.

Judge a Book by It's Cover...

Suzette here. While getting things ready for this Sunday's workshop, I paused to go thru the 'book' I made last year. I had used a number of 6"x9" pieces during one of our two day workshops that ended up being a good record of many of our techniques. I had worked the front and back of each piece, which made me think of them as pages. The only way I could think of containing them as a book was to put them in a box. I just happened to have the right size box at hand. I collaged layers of paper to the outside, added a few more details, and had an Art Box Book. We hope to devote one of our Sunday workshops to demonstrating various ways to make Art Books and Boxes. We will show the results here when we do!

WHY, WHY,WHY?????





We both subscribe to an on-line daily newsletter from a popular craft magazine.  Today's premier article is about stenciling.  While Suzette and Cherril have been using stenciling in their workshops for quite a while, it seems it is "making a comeback."  But most of the recent articles tout spray paint as the way to do it.  Why?  Expedient, perhaps, but both wasteful and environmentally unsound.  So, again, we ask, Why?  Using dry brush methods with acrylics works great.  So...Why?

NO spray paint!

To play with this and other methods, join us in our mixed media Sunday Studio Workshops!

TRAVELS WITH...



What bits can you see hidden here?


Many of us do not have time for travel or just don't travel far from home.  Sometimes, though, it is fun to add a bit of the exotic to our mixed media work.  Cherril's daughter's mother-in-law (who she just loves, btw) just returned from three weeks visiting artists and artisans in Japan.  Before she left she was asked to bring back any dropped pieces of paper or other "bits" that she might encounter in her travels.  Boy, did she!  Cherril can hardly wait to include some of these pieces in her work.  Do you have anyone traveling to far-off places?  Or are you?  Possibilities abound!!  Bring your bits to one of our Sunday Studio Workshops and play with us.

WHAT A DAY!



Matilijas are in full bloom right now

 Who would ever have thought this day would be so fantastic?  Awakening to dark gray that soon turned to rain, I never dreamed that the skies would turn to such a clear blue with visual all the way to the white cliffs of Catalina.  But turn it did and just in time for our Sunday Studio Workshop of Mixed Media Playtime.  A full house of students, about half of whom were new, came to play with the many fun techniques.  Suzette and I had fun as always and think our students did too.  Now we wait for our Postal Art to arrive after secretly picking the names of the one to whom we would send our own special gift.  Life is good.

Playing with Images

Suzette here. A few weeks ago my daughter and I went to the Long Beach Outdoor Antique and Collectible Market. I 'shopped' with my camera, taking photos of items I thought would make interesting image transfers. I have recently found a technique for transfering ink jet images onto mixed media backgrounds that works for me. We have been teaching it in our Sunday Studio Workshops. Below is the original photo which I tweeked abit in Photoshop, printed, and transfered onto a mixed media background. This is so much fun! And full of surprises--although the technique works, it's not always what you expected.

AIN'T WE GOT FUN!

My spirit sure did love the play!

Yesterday's Sunday Studio Workshop could not have been on a more wonderful day.  Running out to Trader Joe's to get some food in the house before it started, I was met by the glorious sight of white cliffs on Catalina across a deep blue line of shimmering sea.  And the day just kept getting better.  It was a little smaller group than usual, but rich with playful creating.  One student emailed this morning, "These workshops should be renamed RETREATS!! they are so good for our soul."  I couldn't agree more.




Sometimes you just have to play... While working in my studio one day, I got the urge to give the repurposed cans I use as brush holders a collage makeover. Using medium and transparent papers over layers of paper, I now have containers that reflect what I do as well as hold my brushes. It's one more way to use up all the papers I can't seem to throw away!





CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER

Waddayathink it is, Hank?

The sweet, tense moment of concentrated attention as the child explores...this is something the artist, too, recognizes.  Curiosity is such an essential ingredient to the creative process and children seem to have it in abundance.  To play with the eyes and mind of a child is to know the freedom of artistic exploration.  To me, this is what art is all about.  Without it...well, something is definitely lost.  With it...it's Mixed Media Playtime at its finest! We're looking forward to another fun play date this Sunday. Yippee!!

I'm getting ready for our next workshop on May 1st by using up left over paint...(we save everything!!). It's so much fun to use what is in front of me without having to make color decisions of my own. So I made backgrounds using our favorite dry brush painting techniques and recycled mark making 'tools'.

We have two more Sunday Studio Workshops here in Laguna Beach before the Sawdust Art Festival begins: May 1st and May 15th. Contact me for more details:
suzette7@cox.net



These are the backgrounds...images could be added, or more layers...

 




These are the tools I used to stamp and stencil the marks. The letter stencil and rubber stamps are the only purchased items. The other things have been repurposed for mark making.

 


This is my box of my favorite stenciling tools...all things that most people throw away!

If you'd like to learn more, come to one of our Sunday Studio Workshops in Laguna!



ART THAT'S SMALL

Suzette here. I checked out 'ART THAT'S SMALL AT CITY HALL' on Monday. I enter this show every year. The size limit is 12"X12". I was happy to see the many mixed media pieces that were submitted this year, including a few by students of our workshops! If you are around Laguna and have some time, go to City Hall and enjoy a 'little' art!

This is my entry--Oh, Pears...---mixed media still life.

Beginnings

Mixed Media Playtime-Workshop at Play

We like beginnings.  Cherril and Suzette have been talking about doing things like blogs and books for a while with no result.  Well, we have taken the first step now with both of these things and look forward to them enhancing both our art and our workshops.  Watch for lots more.  Middles aren't so bad either. :)