KANUGA REPORT!

This was the final result of my demo for Kanuga.  It went very well and I think I will have a full class when I teach a workshop next year.  I stressed out unnecessarily.  Everyone was very supportive and I  have lots of new friends!!  This is a terrific place with lots of energy, friendly folks and gorgeous scenery.  I call it "art camp" and every creative adult should experience immersing oneself in art surrounded by like minded interesting people and being fed three great meals a day!  The perfect vacation!

FINALLY!

Yahoo!  I finally came up with the image I will demonstrate next Tuesday night at the Kanuga Water media Workshop.  This is a process I can complete in the hour and a half allotted.  Now I can relax and figure out how to pack all the art supplies and keep within the weight limits imposed by the airlines.

NO GRASS GROWING UNDER MY FEET!

I am working on my Kanuga presentation.  I am thinking I will collage a drawing onto the altered surface and then paint from there.  I am trying different variations of this idea.  This drawing was done on some sort of Japanese paper I have.  The drawing was done with a coffee stirer and ink.  I really liked the results.  The surface of this paper is very soft  and is difficult to collage down because it starts to fuzz up a bit.  I put it over a surface that I had used ink and bleach on.  The bleach causes the ink to turn brown and yellowish. It continues to bleed through with interesting results.  I like this piece the way it is and don't think I want to add color to it.

This piece is tissue paper with a sharpie ink drawing on top collaged onto a piece that had very colorful, high gloss collage on it.  I love the random color that shows through the tissue.  I will definitely paint on top of this page.

This page had a red ink drawing on tissue collaged over a collaged background.  I am leaning toward this idea but need to see how the red line works into the painting.  

This was an experiment to see how a drawing on newsprint would work as collage material.  I was surprised to see it allows the background to subtly show through and works well as collage material.  I added the magenta ink while it the sheet was still wet so it bled.  I'm not sure I like that result but I can add paint on top and modify the effect.  

I need to finalize my ideas so I can stop stressing over this demo.

SLIDE SHOW OF KANUGA!

After a few days of recovering from my week at Kanuga, I am off again to Portland for the week.  I am giving a 3 day workshop for the Oregon Art Society on Wednesday through Friday.  It's filled!!  I finally have a slide show of the beautiful grounds of Kanuga in the gorgeous North Carolina mountains.  Tomorrow I will try to make a slide show of the art work created in Mary Alice Braukman's workshop.  Enjoy!!!

FIRST PIECE FINISHED!

I rephotographed the finished painting and this is as good an adjustment as I can get.  It actually is a much more muted painting.  It was lots of fun to create.  Today I managed to insert the box into the gallery frame canvas.  For a first try it came out very well.  I LOVE this technique.  Can't wait to go home and try it again.  I have a few more things to do to it before I photograph it.  I am thinking I will make a little video showing the process.  Stay tuned!

Tonight we had a chance to go around to all of the different classrooms (they are spread out all over the place so lots of walking)  and see what everyone is working on.  What fun!!!!  I know a few new people I want to take a workshop from...PLUS...I saw a fabulous way to distort and drawing.  Cant wait to try it!  All in all, a very exciting day.

TEXTURAL PAINTING STEP #1

This is the painting that I started on illustration board.  After applying all sorts of mediums and grounds,  letting it dry, I added color.  Photographing the painting in full sun was a mistake.  I cannot color correct the photograph to come very close to what it actually looks like.  I added collage elements after this step and photographed it but I will show that tomorrow after I retake the photograph in better lighting conditions.

Tonight there were 5 demonstrations going at the same time!  I was able to see how Sue Tregay puts together her fabulous new series of "free range children".  She has a layered process using exciting color and engaging drawing for a very entertaining result.  You can find a link to her blog on the side of mine. Check it out! 

Mike Bailey also did a very engaging demo.  Besides being a consumate painter and educator, he is very entertaining!  Mike is giving a workshop here this week at Kanuga.  

I was also able to watch Carrie Burns Brown share some collage ideas.  I love her video and it was wonderful to get to meet her in person.

Tomorrow I am going to learn how to make an insert into a stretched gallery canvas !!! Exciting times.