Art and Soul Report, part 3

Wabi-Sabi Wonder

My demo for the Wabi-Sabi class

I began the above demo in my hotel room the night before the class. I poured Golden self-leveling medium randomly over a wood panel and let it dry overnight, speeding up the process some with the hair-dryer. This process leaves strong texture on the first layer of the piece.
In the class demo I added tissue paper and reinker color, mixed with acrylic glaze medium.

Like the previous class, these students were eager to get to work, I mean play. I was a little nervous to find that I had a fellow instructor in my class, but Lesley Riley was warm and friendly and happy to have a chance to return to student mode.

Wabi-Sabi Wonder gets underway

Lu Ann and Betty start several pieces (the class used 6" square panels)

Lesley's beginnings


Sylvia starts a series of pieces

I brought many Ranger reinkers for the class to use, as this item was not on their supply list. At the noon class break I found a new color at the Collage onsite store: Watermelon. This color gave Kathy the break-through she needed on the piece below, in progress.

Kathy discovers Watermelon!

This class was a delight and the day breezed by. I got some closeups of students' work.

Kathy with the finished piece. This was her first venture into non-figurative work and she found it very freeing. Working with her on this was a joy.

A soul-filled piece, elegantly composed



The piece above with its soul-mates

A sparkling arrangement of pieces that go perfectly together

This delicate interplay of light and dark is truly wabi-sabi!

Janet and I share a love for all things medieval. Her love for fairy tales is reflected in this magical piece.

The use of text perfectly complements this rich and dreamy piece.

Robin got this wild and wonderful texture with self-leveling medium

The beautifully aged look of wabi-sabi

This lovely piece reminds me of fall, the quintessential wabi-sabi time. The lines were made with a rubber combing tool.

This gorgeous abstract shows how bright colors can be used with text, dark accents and texture to suggest aging. It reminds me of houses in Italy.

Pati fell in love with the wabi-sabi concept and style and it shows here!

Sylvia's minimalist, zen-like series is powerfully moving

Bette achieved lots of fascinating depth with her lights and darks

Joanne combined warm and cool colors in this stunning work. The text says, "She left the shop." A great suggestion of a story hidden in the work.

Marty used alcohol ink to create the circles of light above her dazzling mountain.

Lesley's rich and beautiful series just seemed to pour out of her!

Lu Ann's work shows how much depth and inspiration can emerge in a monochromatic work.

The only commentary I'll add for a while here is that we were amazed how well all the pieces went together. The word that keeps coming to my mind as I review these pictures is, "Wow."

This was truly a magical and wondrous day for me! I hope any students reading this post will send me pictures of the work I didn't get in close up. Thanks to all of you--your enthusiasm and achievements make me so happy!

As a postscript to the Wabi-Sabi Wonder report, I ran into Lyn and Pati in the hotel lobby a few days after the class. Lyn showed me the changes she'd made to one of her class pieces. Before she had not been satisfied with it, calling it her "problem child." You'll see below, there's no problem any more!

Problem child rehabilitated, and how!

Pati told us she was so changed by the Wabi-Sabi class that she found all of her subsequent work reflected her newfound love of the style and philosopy. Below is a background she made in another class. She likes the so-called background so much she's decided to leave it as it is.

Much more than a background, this is a beautifully realized piece.

Pati's "door" here is simple and complex at the same time. She learned from instructor
Katie Kendrick how to use beeswax as the perfect finish. (Click on Katie's link to see photos from her classes.)


I don't know Pati's name for this piece. I call it "The Door Will Open."