They're Here: My DVDs from North Light

My New Wabi-Sabi DVDs from North Light

Last August I had a real adventure. I flew back to Cincinnati to film two DVDs at the North Light studio. I've made my own videos for online classes, but this was the first time I'd been filmed by professionals. Everyone was so friendly and fun to work with that I was able to overcome any apprehension and really enjoy the process. 

 

Here's where we filmed. You can see my "mark" on the floor.

The DVDs have just come out and I am thrilled with them! Aside from having to watch myself and see that in fact I am not as young as I feel, I was very pleased with the photography, sound, content, tone, and well, everything! 

The DVD above features a wabi-sabi walk for inspiration, working with photos for color and texture inspiration, using acrylics, using re-inkers, The Great Cover-Up, and more. 

The DVD below moves on to encaustic techniques and inspiration, using plaster, and using cold wax and oil. Both DVDs contain an informal interview with me and my editor, Kristin Conlin. You can see the interview on YouTube and find out my first career aspirations known only to a few before now! 

 

The DVDs are available from Amazon and will be available soon from Create Mixed Media, North Light's art site. They'll be available there also in the form of an online video from Artists Network TV, also on the Create Mixed Media site.

A Few Spots Open at This Weekend's Workshops

I'm so looking forward  to this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday when I will be teaching at the fabulous Collage store and classroom in Portland's Alberta Arts District. There are a few spots left for the 2-day class on Friday and Saturday and for the Sunday class. 

In our 2-day class, Strata of Time, we'll explore the rich range of texture and color offered by painting with cold wax and oil. We'll use a variety of tools to shape our wax and oil mixtures. We'll also experiment with plaster, oil pastels, mixed media, and more! To find out more go to the description on the Collage website.

I will be signing copies of my book at Collage on Saturday evening. Come join us for refreshments and art talk! 

  

 
Sunday's class is called Visual Haiku. We'll create wabi-sabi pieces inspired by traditional haiku. Our media will include re-inkers, alcohol inks, acrylic paint, vintage papers, specialty papers, and recycled elements. For more about this playful class, go to the description on the Collage site.

Last Day of Blog Hop with Pam Carriker

Visit my book blog, Wabi-Sabi Art Workshop with Serena Barton, to see Pam Carriker's wabi-sabi piece inspired by my book! Through tomorrow you can post a comment on the book blog, telling me what you are working on, to enter the giveaway to receive two signed 8 x 8" prints of my work! (See below.)

 

My Book is Real!

I got a special package in the mail today. In my hands is now an advance copy of my book! You can get a free preview of the North Light book at the Create Mixed Media website! They are featuring this in honor of Craft Month. I am thrilled with how the book looks and that my dream has become a reality.

Stories of Cold Wax Painting

My love affair with cold wax painting continues. The pieces I'm doing now are completely experimental and intuitive, which is amazingly fun and occasionally frustrating. I painted last night and transformed my piece quite a few times before I was satisfied. Here it is:

Continuity

 

 

 

 

You'd never know it, but this piece has red, blue, burnt sienna, green, yellow, iridescent gold, ochre, celadon, buff, white, and black in it.
  

Some things I've learned about cold wax painting:

Use colors  you love for the first couple of layers of wax and oil paint--you will likely want to scrape back to them later on.

I work best with large-ish panels so that I can make bolder strokes or excavations.

Adding texture to the layers as you go will result in interesting texture on the top layer even if the old color doesn't show through.

You can paint wet on wet with a few colors but then it is best (for me, anyway) to let the piece dry before adding more so I don't get mud. I find that translucent colors work best for wet on wet.

I need inspiring music to keep my changes and additions brave enough.  

There are thousands of ways your piece could go at anytime in the process. Just do a lot of pieces and you won't  be overwhelmed.  
 

Resurgence

I did this piece in the last Art of Life group, my monthly women's art workshop. The group members made me stop at this point and I'm glad they did.

I'll be teaching a class in cold wax called "Baby, It's Cold" at Art and Soul Retreat in Virginia Beach on April 27. I'm looking forward to seeing what the participants come up with.

Pictures from "Wabi-Sabi Wax" at Art and Soul

I spent a second wonderful waxy day with students at Art and Soul Retreat in Las Vegas. Here come a lot of pictures! The students were so bold--all off them took my advice to experiment and work on several pieces at once. What great results! Isn't it amazing how different everyone's are?

 

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A fun day with Wabi-Sabi

I had a wonderful time teaching "Wabi-Sabi Wonder" at Julia Gardner's studio in the Troy Laundry Building on Saturday. All the participants in the workshop were experienced artists. They were excited to experiment with painting and mixed media work with a wabi-sabi aesthetic.They were all such delightful and interesting women--I hope I get to spend time with them again!

 

One of my demos--done with a painting knife

  

 

 

 

 

A Peek at Portland's Past

The other day I stopped by my beloved Muse Art/Design and was surprised to see that the large antique shop next door had disappeared. Instead of the antique store name above the empty space I saw this for the first time:

From the font used in the sign, I'd guess the late forties, but some of you may have a better idea. I looked online for information about this long gone business. I found that there is a current business by this name in NE Portland but I don't know if there is any connection.

Anyway, when I saw the old signs I conjured up visions of neighborhood kids lining up for cool ice cream cones and sundaes on a hot day and fathers stopping by after work to pick up a quart of ice cream goodness. Ice cream isn't in my food plan, but I can just about taste it right now--delicious and just like homemade. 

While in a sort of wabi-sabi mood, I took these pictures of the fence between our back yard and our neighbors'. We all keep talking about replacing the fence but not doing anything about it. Aesthetically speaking, I love it the way it is.