Open House and Class at Queen Bee Cottage and Online Class: Shameless Self-Promotion

 

At Queen Bee Art Cottage

If you are a Washington State-er come by the Queen Bee Art Cottage in Olympia this Friday, December 2, for an exciting Open House. I'll be showing and selling work along with other vendors at this inspiring retreat center.

I'll also be signing up students for my Queen Bee Cottage encaustic class, "Mind Your Own Beeswax", meeting Saturday, January 17 from 10-5:30. Contact me for more information about the class.

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What an interesting learning experience preparing my first online class has been! I've been wanting to teach an online class for a couple of years, and have finally achieved my goal. 

"Camille "    Acrylic paint, alcohol ink,stamped text, collage on panel

Learn how to make a collage like this from a previous "failure"

The first step was obtaining a video camera, external microphone, etc. and learning to use them. The next step was finding my invaluable helper, Julia, who assists me in the filming. Then I learned that  Windows Movie Maker is completely useless on my computer, even though WMM comes with my computer. So after purchasing Adobe Premiere Elements, I was able to edit and add music to my videos. Now, I have bought a new computer as the video editing process may have hastened the end of my old second hand computer.

Was it worth it? Yes! I am very happy with the way the class videos turned out and with the techniques and processes I teach in "Layers of Memory and Imagination." I'm so pleased to be included in the online classes offered by Creative Workshops. I hope you'll check out the promo and class description and see if this class is for you or someone you know!

 

My first online class debuts in January!

 I am so excited to announce that my first online class begins January 16 through Shabby Cottage Studio and Creative Workshops! I have really appreciated the site owner, Gail Schmidt as she has patiently waited for my class to be completed. I also couldn't do this without my artist friend, Julia Gardner, who has been helping me film each segment of the class.

The class, "Layers of Memory and Imagination", is aimed at both beginners and those who want some new inspiration and techniques.Here's the description from the website:

You’ll learn to create magical collages in an exciting and productive workshop!  I’ll guide you through:

 

 Mixing luscious layers with re-inkers, acrylic paint, and glaze medium

 Using alcohol inks, stencils, handwritten text, a variety of papers

 Three fun methods of adding photo transfers to collage

 Choosing the best images for your collages

 Composition tips for making your chosen images pop and for creating a balanced collage

 Combining paint and papers to add mystery to your pieces

 Enjoying and building on so called “mistakes”

 Sealing your collages with a variety of mediums and adding finishing touches

You’ll come away from this class with several gorgeous collages and all the tools you need to keep creating collages incorporating your memories and your imagination.

 

 

You can see a short promo here. I hope to work with some of my far-off artist friends in "Layers of Memory and Imagination"!

50's-60's Inspiration

Realities     Encaustic Collage on Panel

 I don't get network TV, relying on Netflix instead, so I'm always behind in watching a series. I have been watching the acclaimed series Mad Men, about ad executives in the late 50's and early 60's. I've been impressed by how well the series captures the ambiance of the times. 

I was in junior high and high school during the times the series covers (at least what I've seen so far.) I was a precocious reader. While I was still in jr. high I read The Saturday Review, Theater Arts, Show, and Realities (pronounced the French way.) These now defunct magazines were full of gorgeous images and writing that covered literature, theater, cultures of the world, art, and more. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy brought world-renowned artists, writers, and musicians to the White House. Some of the best Broadway plays of the century were written and produced during this period.

While there was a certain amount of kitsch during the period I'm talking about, it was also a time of innovative and powerful design trends. I did a couple of new encaustic collages yesterday inspired by the color schemes, art, and design of the period. I plan to do more soon.

 New Society         Encaustic Collage on Panel

Above: a precursor of Bob Dylan's Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat with Abstract Expressionist color and design.

Student Work from Saturday's Class

Bright colors, texture, and incising in a work that reminds me of the Abstract Expressionists

 Students had fun with their first encaustic pieces in Saturday's class. I wish the pictures were less blurry, but I am happy to be able to share them with you!

Many layers of color in this Universe

 

A colorful and loose riot of flowers

Especially for Halloween

Incising, bold strokes, and contrasting color--it makes me think of a hill on a rainy day

 

Incising and shellacking create a mysterious Victorian piece

 

A snowy landscape done in a loose, whimsical style

Encaustic Class Samples

Underground (Demo of painting,collage, & shellac burning

)

I did these demo samples in yesterday's "Mind Your Own Beeswax" class. It doesn't show up here too much, but I used my absolute favorite encaustic paint, R and F's Celadon for the upper part of the collage/painting. I make most of my own paints with encaustic medium and powdered pigment or oil paint. This color, though, is one I can't do without buying.

Surfacing ( Demo of collage, teabags, painting, and tea)

The Shape of Things to Come (Demo of incising, scraping, painting, and teabag)

Portland, 1938 (Demo of painting, incising, collage, and shellac burning)

I found an old book page with an ode to Portland. I included this in the demo sample which was made mostly to show students various techniques. Now that I look at it, I seem to see an undertone of part of Portland's past. A self-congratulatory city then, as now, but with fewer reasons. Portland until the sixties was mostly all-white, racist, sexist, etc. I like Portlandia better...

Next post: Student work from Saturday's class.

Simple

A simple Wabi-Sabi piece for today

Was It Murder??

"Cafe Solitude" by Serena

Is it possible that Van Gogh, our model for the starving, unappreciated artist was actually murdered, rather than died by his own hand? That's a theory outlined in a new book on Van Gogh. Find out more about it here.

I'm interested in reading this controversial book and the question of murder or suicide makes me think about the stories we take for granted. What would it mean for us as artists if Van Gogh didn't kill himself, but was rather going about his work of painting and trying to recover from a nervous breakdown? What if he didn't intend to give up in despair?

Vincent Van Gogh with Cut Ear

In 2009 two German art historians who had studied Van Gogh and Gauguin's friendship extensively, declared their belief that it was Gauguin who perpetrated the famous ear slicing of Van Gogh during a fight, and both artists agreed to hush up Gauguin's involvement. You can read more about this story here. If this is true, then it calls into question Van Gogh's self-destructiveness.

Did Gauguin Do It?

We'll never know for sure about any of this. But I think of how entrenched the story of the desperate genius starving in a garret has affected our view of artists. Artists are often encouraged by others to remember that Van Gogh only sold one picture in his lifetime, the idea being that most of us are doing far better than that. Or maybe that we'll be famous after we're dead.

 
What if Van Gogh had just kept plodding along and eventually made a modest living as a painter? Would the world still have recognized his genius? Would he have made a better role model for those of us plodding along steadily? What do you think?