Images from Project de Construction:  Chaos & Calm: Over the Edge Painting Techniques



With Chaos & Calm, the third major class in the Project deConstruction Series, about ready to launch on Julie Prichard's Lost Luggage Network  I have been thinking a lot about being responsive.  I recently received a comment on this blog that was essentially a complaint regarding the quality of interaction within the class.  It always gives me pause when I receive negative feedback, even if it is a single complaint.  It is important to seek out any kernel of truth when someone is not happy and if there are things one can change in response then that should be done as well.

There is such a difference between teaching students in person and teaching online through video lessons and typed in comments.  When I'm in the room with a group of students I can pick up all the body language and facial expressions that indicate when someone just doesn't get it.  I can make appropriate recommendations before someone reaches the frustration point and encourage them to keep trying, making small recommendations for adjustments or changes that might help.  This habit has been honed over decades of teaching and I feel confident that my "in person" students get what they need from me. 

Translating person-to-person interactions is nearly impossible via an online class. Julie and I work hard to engage the students within the network and encourage, support and advise them as they progress through the lessons.  Sometimes we "lose" a student from frustration and then we feel frustrated as well.  Being articulate is so different in written form!  Someone asked a question today about the copyright limits of stamps.  I assumed they were talking about US postage stamps and Julie thought they were talking about rubberstamps!  It was a very funny moment as we both wrote responses each from our different points of understanding!  I am sure the student (the only one who really knew which stamps were truly being referred to) got a bit confused by the two answers, but hopefully she got a good chuckle out of it as well. 

We are refining this process as we develop classes in order to be more responsive to students.  When a "hard-of-hearing" student joined the Color Class we realized that we needed to reformat the PDF so that the pages referenced the lessons in a very direct manner.  The work that is put into the structure of the class and the supporting materials takes weeks for us to refine until we are both comfortable that the techniques work and are ready for students.

Working with Golden Artist Colors has really opened my eyes to customer service.  I know I can refer anyone to the Golden Tech people and feel absolutely confident that they will get an answer to their question about Acrylic paints or products.  But the key lies in being able to ask the question in such a way so that the person hearing the question can get at what you want to know.  Being responsive is a two way street I guess!  It is so much easier to answer technical questions.  What products do this or that?  How come my paint is cloudy?  Why did this happen when I mixed these two products together.  Most technical questions don't come attached to someone's personal viewpoint about what is aesthetically pleasing or harmonious.  It is important for teachers to give appropriate feedback when it comes to design or artistic expression questions but it is not appropriate to make the choices for them.  This is hard for students who are accustomed to "by-the-book" instructions or step-by-step projects.

When we offer positive encouragement statements in the network, they are just our way of saying "we see you", "we acknowledge your efforts"  and "we want you to keep going forward." These little statements are an indication to our students that we are checking in with each comment they make and are present in the process of on-line learning.  I would encourage all of our students to participate in getting their questions answered by asking specific questions and by asking again and again until they get every little part of the question answered.  Rephrase if necessary!  Be partners with us as we grow our skills as online instructors and you grow yours as an artist.

I must apologize for not blogging for the past 3 months!  There has been so much going on in my life that I can only say the days flew by!  Where to begin?  Complex Collage with Julie Prichard  has been up and running for the past few weeks!  This class has been a wonderful collaboration between Julie and I and our students.  The network really works as a virtual classroom with give and take "conversations"  about art in process.  The student work has been really fantastic and I have high praise for all the efforts that have been devoted to collage during the class.  Remember, all of our classes on Julie's network are ALWAYS OPEN for students.
Once you join you can stay as long as you want! 
                                                     
Which brings me to what else has been going on these last few weeks.  I had the pleasure of participating in an exhibition of my work in France during May!  Wow, it was wonderful to say the least.  We flew into Milan, Italy and spent a few days visiting the Northern part of Italy near the lakes.  It was a mixture of Italian/Swiss architecture and a totally different climate to Southern Italy.  After meeting up with some friends we spent another few days in Reggio Emilia and surrounds.  Visiting a lot of small cities and villages, discovering a few castles with intact motes and others used as playgrounds for the community.  One of the best things about travel in Europe is the use of old spaces.  Lots of structures are hundreds of years old and in everyday use!  I have lots of pictures to prove it!  We drove across Italy along the Autostrada overlooking the Mediterranean Sea!  So beautiful and the color of the water is not to be believed!  AZURE blue.  Absolutely unbelievable.  Clear blue skies meet gloriously blue sea everywhere your eyes could look.  We drove through Nice into the the Village area known for a cluster of cities perched on hills.  It is not far from Antibes, Cannes, and Aix-en-Provence.  We made "base camp" in Callian, France where the exhibition was planned and enjoyed two weeks of getting to know the surroundings.  The exhibition went remarkably well and over 800 people stopped in over our stay.  I happily sold a couple of pieces and generally enjoyed my time.  Once the exhibit was down we packed up and headed back to Italy but this time went up into the base of the Alps and across wonderful miles of open fields and trees.  NO billboards in site for miles and miles and miles!  Such a pleasure. 

One of the things that was happening just before the trip and while I was gone was that Julie and I had mapped out the structure for
our next class in our Project deConstruction Series.  Julie was working on things while I was away and holding down the fort in Complex Collage during the days when internet access was minimal.  Well, I'm pleased to say that after a lot of processing and efforts on both our parts we got it done!  CHAOS & CALM:  Over the Edge Painting Techniques is on its way to you in the next few days! 

How do we come up with these classes?  Well, that is a good question and I must say it is a true collaboration.  Julie and I met in a class I was teaching a few years ago.  As a Working Artist for Golden Artist Colors I teach a lot of classes about using Acrylics.  I meet a lot of students and enjoy most of them immensely.  Julie and I really hit it off and one thing led to the next.  She started teaching online classes and then another thing led to the next and here we are today.  When Julie needs to grow as an artist she usually fires me off a suggestion or two and that gets my brain going and then the ideas start flying through cyberspace until we work things out.  Then the curriculum gets fine-tuned, we each get our assignments, we get together to finish up filming, Julie works her magic on editing and all the tech stuff and Voila...you have another class.  Most of the time Julie wants to learn something a bit out of the box so that ends up really pushing me to refine some techniques and develop ways of communicating them to students via the online network. I get to bring my years of teaching experience, curriculum development and materials knowledge into the mix and with Julie's tech skills, good humor, and work ethic and unending desire to learn more about art techniques we are a good team.  And we aren't neighbors.  Julie lives 2.5 hours away!  The joys of internet!

Just so you don't worry, there is another class already in the works!

 

Good morning!  I've been cooking a lot this past week.  Chopping, washing, prepping for a big festival meal on Monday night.  At some point along the way I grabbed my camera and started taking pictures of what I saw along the way.  When we really look at what is in front of us we can experience a whole new world.  Search out the details that are everywhere in sight.  Stop long enough to notice the change of light or move something into that light to see it differently.  I was cutting leeks and all of a sudden I found this amazing pattern inside.  and such a wonderful range of colors...

                                           

As I threw the sliced leeks into the pan I saw this...I think it would make a great abstract painting!  Look at how beatiful those patterns in the leak show up against the black pan!


                                            

I can't say where I learned this understanding, but it is so much a part of me now that it has become my "normal" state of seeing.  I walk my garden looking for the smallest changes.  The apricot tree now has swelling buds of fruit, ever so small on its branches where only last time I wrote there were flowers...9 days!

                                

That's the back door of my studio, so I get to enjoy watching the apricot tree go through it's transformations all spring!  Not to mention the battle between the squirrels, the birds, and my husband as the fruit ripens...It is the most wonderful thing to eat an apricot that has ripened in the sun.  Look carefully at how that the once pink petals have turned papery and the rising green mound of fuzz which will be an apricot starts to emerge!  I love nature.

Speaking of nature, the next time I post I will have some spring garden pictures to show...The rose buds are formed and growing each day, the iris stalks are rising from the ground by inches a day and the amaryllis flowers are making their presence known.  The garden already smells fantastic as the orange tree is in full bloom and the fragrance is so intoxicating.  The once a year show of the  pink jasmine on the back shed is in full glory and smells like heaven.

                              

Just remember to stop and look at what is around you.  Inspiration is everywhere, color is everywhere.  You just must stop to really see!  Have a wonderful day.  Don't forget to check out my online classes with Julie Prichard at www.julieprichard.com.  We are offering some amazing classes and a new one starts in just a few days!

Today is the last day of winter and tomorrow Spring officially arrives!  That is an awesome place to be.  I'm heading into a 2-day workshop in Ventura (about an hour's drive) at Vita Art this weekend. That event plus the launching of Julie Prichard and my next online adventure "Complex Collage"  today makes me think about my years of teaching and how it comes into play now with my art.

Most of you probably don't know that I have a Masters in Education and spent an entire career teaching all ages and stages of people from 2 through adult.  My work as an artist is my "second" bloom so to speak.  Maybe not as glorious or energetic as when the first bloom of roses occurs each spring, but certainly more tempered and constant.  How & why  I got back to teaching through art is really what I want to talk about.  Being an artist is really quite lonely.  You work in a space without other people and with little regard for time.  It isolates you from social interactions that are pretty much necessary for our growth as humans.  I mentioned I'm headed off to France for an exhibition in early May.  It is exciting and I can't wait for the next few weeks to pass by.  When I first exhibited in France 5 years ago it was "pre-Golden" and pre-teaching.  But while I was there, the local art community asked me to share some of my mixed media techniques with them and I ended up teaching 3 sessions inside of 10 days.  Despite the language barrier ( of which there were many varied languages to deal with), it was an exciting experience.  On my flight home I decided I needed to be teaching again somehow.

As I sorted through 3 weeks of mail a small postcard from Golden Artist Colors floated out..."Looking for Working Artists in the Los Angeles Area"...was that serendipity?  Was it "be careful what you wish for?"  Anyhow, I contacted the appropriate people, sent in my work, met Patti Brady director of the program, and got trained.  These past five years have been amazing!  I've met so many wonderful people, written three books, taught scores of classes, and done 70 or so lectures.  Busy!

Each time I create a new class or tweak an old one I return to my early understandings about what makes learning effective, what do students really need to know and how can I teach them in a fun and exciting way.  Being a good artist doesn't make one a good teacher and visa versa.  I don't think that my personal art is going to hang in any great museum one day, but I do know how to share what I know about materials, techniques, and applications with you.  Active learning is how most people absorb information best.  Putting things right to use.  I find that if I talk too much people go to sleep!  Fair enough.  If you find a teacher who can put you right to work, grab your imagination, and build a language of operations that you understand you are blessed. 

When I am in front of a group that happens for me.  I understand people, can read when they are confused and when they are able to go on their own with support.  I can recognize when I need to slow down, review, or update.  You all tell me those things by your eyes, bodies, and demeanors.  I utilize what I know about sound educational practices to make our workshops together fun and jam-packed with info.  If I err it's always on the side of being too ambitious.  Those of you that know me will nod your heads.  I want you to get a lot for your buck!

When Julie and I decided to partner in Project deConstruction the focus changed because there is no "live" group of students for me to "measure" the success or failure of the lesson. I can't "see" students who have lost looks on their faces or who simply need more time.  We are both "over-achievers" when it comes to content.  You will get a LOT more than you thought possible.  But we need you to interact with us through the network.  This "network" thing is a way for artists to not be isolated and for artists to build and develop a rapport with other artists, regardless of their skill level.  Art is subjective, constantly evolving, and filled with perambulations that allow you to express yourself in so many wonderful ways.  Julie structured her network in a way that is brilliant for you.  Once you get in, you can stay and work as long as you need to.  By sending us photos of your work and participating in the discussions you can get the feedback you need.  The video doesn't go away.  How great is it that in this world you can acess personal learning at any time of the day or night, ask questions, and get answers as needed, get feedback on your progress?  Teaching has come a long way and I hope to be out there working with all of you for a long time to come!

Believe in the power of practice and diligence, recognize that work well done is worth doing well from start to finish, at every stage of the process.  Find a good mentor and grow yourself!  I hope you join Julie and I in Complex Collage! 

                                                                      
The rains have been good to SoCal this year and the garden is reaping the benefits of it now!  Everywhere I turn there are hits of color that harbor a glorious spring.  This morning I walked out to be greeted by tall heads of bright magenta and red ranunculus blossoms and clusters of deep purple primroses with their bright yellow throats beckoning a visit from a winged creature.  Its a bit like someone spilled my paints out into the garden and hoped someone would notice them!  Well, cant miss those colors:  Quin Magenta, Dioxazine Purple, Quin Red, Hansa Yellow and Diarylide Yellow.  Wow!  Welcome spring.  The palest pink blossoms are beginning to emerge from the apricot tree right outside my studio and the hummingbirds have taken note.  They were flitting from one branch to the next gathering fuel.  Each shade of green is making itself known and the rose bushes are filling out with their red-tinged new leaves teasing me.  In a month or less they will be all abloom.  My favorite time of the year is when the first bloom hits the roses.  Hundreds of flowers all at once!  Only once a year, but well worth it.

Speaking of colors, have you checked out the new class Julie Prichard and I have offered?  PRETTY PAPERS!  You get the whole thing at once!  PDF, Videos, step by step instructions on how to make your own decorative papers using Interference and Iridescent paints!  It is an awesome opportunity to capture color on paper in a unique and fun way. You'll never have to worry about not having the right piece of collage paper for your cards, artwork, or tags again!

I've had a busy few weeks and I'm home for a few days now.  I have had two arthroscopic knee surgeries in the last 3 months and I'm hoping for a full and complete recovery in time for the trip to Italy & France in early May.  I'm taking 12 pieces with me to hang in a 12 century chapel at the top of a remarkable hill city called Callian!  We will be there for the village Fete (feast day) where the entire village celebrates their Patron saint by having a festival with traditional dancing and food, drums, and music!  It is going to be awesome.  I've created a number of fabric wall hangings using new techniques using Acrylic Paints with fabric.  Check out my latest book Mixed Media & Color for the instructions.  I can't wait to see these bright contemporary wall hangings on the rustic stone walls of the Chapel where the exhibition will be!  It is exciting.

Time to go put the knee up for a rest.  I'll tell you more later.

I don't really know where the last thirty days went...but I sure was busy!  Since I last posted I've done 7 lectures and taught 3 full day workshops and 3 1/2 day workshops.  That's a full plate by anyone's standards.  Most of my workshops so far have really been focused on "mixed-media" applications.  It's thrilling to know that this lively, energetic, and consistently changing art form is very much on people's agendas these days as they set out to learn and make art.  My classes at The Art Colony were so much fun.  The cast and crew of this family run business are all great people and they enjoy a lively interaction with their local and snow-bird customers through a series of workshops through-out the "season" in the Palm Springs/Palm Desert area.  I enjoy the break from my damp cool temps in Pasadena in February while I'm out in their sun-filled environment.  It's like a mini-vacation from winter.  While I was there I did a few lectures as well with the College of the Desert Acrylic Painting Class as well as at the fabulous and friendly Palm Springs Art Museum.  Be sure to check it out when you go to the desert.  It's got great exhibits both permanent and rotating.  It's theater presentations are nice as well. 

I had a couple days home and then repacked and headed out in my supply filled car to do some filming with my cohort in mixed-media madness, Julie Prichard.  You already know about our on-line collaboration Color: Beyond the Basics which began in January and now serves over 150 artists worldwide.  We are in the process of wrapping up another HUGE class which will debut after a mini class finishes.  The mini class is called PRETTY PAPERS.  You'll learn a lot of wonderful tricks and tips we promise. This is a bonus class in that you get the whole class all at one time along with the PDF and all the videos.  We don't like our students to be bored and we want to keep you all on your toes as well!  The big class will follow Pretty Papers and is promising to be totally amazing.  We had two heavy days of painting and filming last week and it's looking great.

I said goodbye to Julie and drove over to Poway (near San Diego) to spend the weekend with my fabulous friends at Stamping Details
where I was teaching all last weekend.  We spent three 4 hour sessions working on mixed media pieces and all day Sunday was devoted to using OPEN Acrylics by Golden Artist Colors, Inc. for fabric applications.  This workshop was based on my new book:  MIXED MEDIA & COLOR by Design Originals.  It was an amazing day filled with a riot of colors and lots of lively conversation about the possibilities that new products open up to the artist.

I made it back home late yesterday afternoon and fell into bed!  Boy did that feel great. This morning after all the stuff was unloaded and the basics of life were returned to normal (groceries, laundry, bills and mail, etc.)I am finally at a point where I can say I spent these last 30 days immersed in mixed media, with great productivity and success! Amen. 

Oh, I forgot to mention that I did finally finish all my pieces for France (I'm participating in and exhibition in May)and I'm quite satisfied and pleased.  So now I will look at my calendar and see where the next road trip will take me.  Talk to you soon!

It's winter over most of the country, but here in Southern California, we can never decide what season it is.  After an awful week of constant rain the world outside thinks it is almost springtime.  In fact, it is almost springtime here.  I walked out into my garden today and the tips of my narcissus and daffodil bulbs are starting to pop out of the ground.  In 10 days or so my ornamental plum in the front yard will be a riot of bubble gum pink blossoms.  I only just finished getting the roses cut back for their 3 mos of rest, so everything else must feel compelled to pop into action!  That means my favorite time of the year is just around the corner.

Spring means discovery and its vitality is compelling.  Each day you can experience a change that speaks to growth. 

As far as growth goes, I want to talk about how exciting it is to see the students in our Online class COLOR: Basics & Beyond working on their color understandings.  Julie and I had hoped to inspire students to coak out of their colors the full possiblities in each bottle.  We have them doing all kinds of mixes, check for transparency and opacity and examining how the colors shift and change.  We have over 125 students enrolled and still going.  There are great dialogues going on within the network and some fantastic problem solving as well.  When collaboration blooms we can feel good about our efforts. 

Speaking of collaboration...As an artist and a person I love collaboration.  I am not sure everyone feels that way, but for me it must stem from my years as a teacher.  It seems that a good idea only gets better when you put it out there to get worked on or with others.  Should we be doing more work in collaboration with other artists?  I say YES!  I am enjoying my collaborations with Julie Prichard as we plan our classes.  I have several artist friends that I regularly collaborate with and enjoy creating exercises in which one artist begins and another completes or acts on the pieces.  For me art is about problem solving and what better way to do this than to try to work on something someone else has begun, respecting yet differing from their style. 

If only we could find a way to convince our educational system to recognize that art is the key to keeping minds flexible and keen, that it fosters creativity and problem solving skills and can be done in a team as well as individually!  If only we could really see what is there in front of us. 


                                        

                                                        How many shades of gray does it take to convey shadows?

                
                                                                If you were purple wouldn't you love to be this shade?

Wow, I don't think I have blogged two days in a row, but I wanted you all to know to look out for my New book from Design Originals:  MIXED MEDIA AND COLOR.  It is beautiful, colorful, and filled with ideas.  For those of you who want to work with fabric, consider that most if not all of the techniques are useable on Fabrics of all kinds.  So check it out.  I spent a long day working the booth for the CHA retail show today.  It was crazy good with lots of fun people of all ages stopping by and working at the booth on our mixed media projects.  We worked with only 3 colors and the results were awesome. I'll leave you with an image from the book!  I cut this stencil and used Interference colors mixed with GAC 900 (Fabric Medium).  Enjoy and goodnight.  Be good to each other.



                                            .

I'm getting ready to head to the CHA Supershow tomorrow.  I know I'll see many friends and others that I see only once a year at these special events.  I'll be in the Design Originals booth.  They are the publishers of both of my books, Altered Surfaces and Transfers & Altered Images.  This year I have a new book coming out.  It is filled with new techniques that can be used on all your favorite surfaces AND on fabric!  Yes, Fabrics as well.  Look for it soon...Mixed Media and COLOR! 

This weekend is the launch of my online class Project deConstruction with my friend and colleague mixed-media artist Julie Prichard.  We are so excited about this project.  We have over 100 students enrolled and once things get rolling, we know that more will join in.  Just from our pre-class discussions and threads we already have quite a dialogue going and people are starting to really think about color.  This first class (one of many we have planned) is Color: Basics and Beyond.  We wanted  help people to put aside all the fears they have about choosing color and really get them to understand what color is all about, how the colors relate to each other, and what they can do with color!  Julie and I will be available through the network to interact with our students and we are expecting some amazing art work in the process.  Don't disappoint us!    

I just want to mention my friends from Poway at Stamping Details. DiAnn & Michael Ogawa and all the crew from the store will be at the CHA Show all weekend in Anaheim.  If you go, please stop by their booth and say hello!  They are an amazing group of people and I look forward to my teaching weekends there.  In fact, I'll be there at the end of February!

For my workshop schedule please check out my working artist page at Golden Paint.

Well, wish me luck.  The rains are finally starting to slow down, my bag is packed for tomorrow and  all is right in the world...at least for the moment.  Talk to you soon!

So much has happened in my life since I last wrote.  Lots of emotional stuff... which definitely influences the way I see the world.  It's not appropriate that I share the details, as this is not really the forum for my emotional life.  But my emotional life does indeed influence how my world sees color. 

I was recently in Florida visiting my family.  I love going to Florida so I can once again truly appreciate the sky.  There is so much of it with so little pollution that the clarity of blues and whites and grays is so in your face it is breathtaking.  I've lived in many place throughout the US and the sky is always how I measure how right things are in the world.  Of course the sky changes, weather and seasons affect its color and line and emotion.  The bright happy blue can flip to an ominous roiling gray tinged with shades of green in the flash of a few moments in time. 

My first visit to Florida in November was a happy one, a family event which brought people together from near an far, favorite cousins from Canada visiting Florida for the first time in many years.  The sun was out, the sky was gloriously blue with huge puffy clouds.  All was right with the world.  Florida is funny, though, because it can be raining on one side of the street and sunny on the other.  Just like life.  I returned to Florida twice within a month, the second time more solemn.  It seemed as though nature knew things were going to shift.  The skies became cloudy, gray, and dim.  Rains fell, and everything was solemn. 

Why am I writing about this?  Because emotions color us and our world.  I have painted through grief before and found solace in grayed down blues and hazy surfaces.  I've discovered myself painting doorways when I had not planned on it.  Art and color are expressions of who we are and how we see the world.  They heal us and protect us when we are not able to tolerate the glare of bright raw color. 

I find that I need to put away my favorite transparent colors and seek out the solid weighty pigments found in ochres, umbers,and siennas at times like this.  I don't really want to see everything, it is better for some things to be obscured and visually unavailable.  References are sufficient, in your face images don't seem appropriate.  I mediate my bright colors with micaceous iron oxide to grey things down and lend grit to their surfaces. 

I'll know when it is time for the bright colors to return.  Maybe it is a good thing it is winter, things all around are ready for a rest.