TTTPL Graphic Composition Two

Here are a few more photos from a Tending to the Pilot Light session focused on victory over the blank page.

How often do you sit down all ready to do some project and suddenly find yourself staring at the baleful, blank, uncompromising expanse of the white piece of paper or canvas, the bolt of fabric, the assorted tools of your craft, the raw materials around you - only to have your intent, your creative juices squeezed right out of you.

Sometimes it happens even before I start... it's as if there is a virtual blank page in my mind.... looming, pristine and unblemished in front of me... just daring me to make my mark, to create something FANTASTIC, something worthy/beautiful/meaningful/compelling/_you fill in your own creative block here. Writer's block, artistic paralysis, loss of inspiration/muse... etc.

The exercises we played with over the last few weeks were in direct response to this phenomenon. And the key word is "play". Breaking down the seriousness, pressure, the dramatic musts, shoulds and aughts around creativity is the only way to get past these roadblocks. Not every piece has to be a MASTERpiece.... the steps we take in the direction of a "finished" piece are just as important as the result. It is in the DOING, the ACTION of creating that we find our direction, our peace, our true selves.

Breaking down the page...

I am really excited by some of the work I've been doing lately.  Using old book pages as a base, I've been painting through punchinella, using lace as a monotype texture, employing texture and pattern stamps and painting through pre-cut stencils.

This work is very rewarding and is not with the intention of creating a finished piece, rather to create richly textured backgrounds that may become part of a greater whole in the future.

Here are a few examples:

(click to enlarge)

Here is a link to my dress-a-day blog where I used these techniques to make a bunch of recent pieces:  http://mackomics-studio-dress-a-day.blogspot.com/

In other news:

Next weekend - Art in the Park! Go to South park and enjoy great variety of fine art and creative mixed media!  I'll be at the info table during most of the AM hours, so stop by and say hi!

The Lawrence Art Center's summer catalogue is out and online... I'll be teaching a number of classes including teen and adult offerings.

I have a new feature on this blog: Student Resources.  I will be populating this site with online and other resources I use for my business or for classes taught here at MacKomics Studio or at the Lawrence Arts Center.  Click "Student Resources" up on the right of the blog under "Pages".  Scroll to the class you've taken and find all sorts of goodies!

Have a great week.  This Thursday, we will be doing some drawing and doodling in Tending to the Pilot Light..... tips and tricks to get that pencil moving on the page!

Liza

Fascinating Fascinators at the Lawrence Arts Center

I just wrapped up my first class at the Lawrence Arts Center a couple of weeks ago and would like to share some of the wonderful accessories my students created over the course of eight weeks.

Each week was centered around a type of fabric or a specific method.  For example, one week we worked exclusively with ribbons, another with cotton fabrics, and another with all recycled materials.

Here are some of the projects completed ....  I've seen some of the final projects in process and personally can not wait to see these beauties once they are finished!

 Final project: working on composition for the final project - buttons, feathers, rolled ribbon rosettes

Final project: working with vintage velvet petals and burnt edge organza

Final project: trying out the angle of the feather accent on the final project

Designer headband made with feathers, rolled ribbon rosettes, glass beads and netting from a fruit bag

 Beautiful petite hair accessories made with a cotton yoyo and a satin ribbon rolled rose

 A super luxe burnt edge organza accessory

 A stunning buttons, beads, organza and feather brooch and below it a multi layered pleated rose with a velvet yoyo and button accent accessory

 A study in contrasts, complex burnt edge organza and designer fabric/vintage button pieces

 Three cute headbands for a toddler, using felt, ribbon and cotton yoyo techniques

 Using many of the felt techniques from class, one student even made a full sized holiday wreath!

 Combining techniques to make an elegant Mother-of-the-Groom hair accessory

Clever use of recycled materials to make unique hair combs

Two of my students sporting Fascinating Fascinators! The Dr. Seuss hat on the left was a great hit at the School Library Fair it was designed for!

I really enjoyed teaching this class.... and I believe the students had a good time too!

This is being offered again at LAC - click on this link to view the summer catalogue: http://issuu.com/artsinaction/docs/aia2012?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

TTTPL Art Journals Week Two

Good afternoon, happy Sunday to you.

This Art Journal endeavor has taken on a life of its own.  I had envisioned a project where we worked on parts, set them aside and then revisited every month or so.  Clearly, the enthusiasm has propelled this into a multi-week consecutive process.  My students have asked for yet another week of the same initial phase of this project.  This means that anyone who has not yet started their art journals at MacKomics Studio has another week to get in on the action! 

Supplies and activities available the past two weeks and next include:

Paper: tissue, sheet music, handpainted rosettes, scrapbook-patterned, doilies, vintage imagery (1910-1970), maps, books, mini commercial die cut, fine art, cardstock, velum, handmade

Other: see-thru colored plastic, metal frames and brads, jewels, ribbon, buttons, stickers

All sorts of glue and mod podge, fancy edge scissors, glitter, image transfer files, fabric, markers, paint, colored pencils, art pens, metallic powder paint, pastels

Table top die cutter to make custom envelopes, library pockets, and various flower shapes in the paper of your choice.

The tables are not sufficient to hold all the materials so we've cooped the work tables on one side of the room just to hold all the bins!

The pictures below depict work begun this week and alterations to work begun the week before.

Here is a completed front and back:

Here is a front and back from last week with some beautiful additions.  The inside surface of these covers are shown just below.

 Here are the inside covers of a few pieces completed last week:

I can tell from these photos that a few projects got out the door prior to picture taking so I'll be making some calls and updating this post when they come in!

Speaking of updating posts, there is one more completed Vignette Jewelry Brooch update and one Open Cards Crafting update - click the links to get the latest!

Last week, I started the post with pictures of books I've checked out of the Library to bring inspiration to this project.  The first one, Painted Pages by Sarah Ahearn Bellemare,  I chose specifically for its approach to creating an artistic journal page. 

In an attempt to emulate this style and thereby teach my students.... I created three successive pieces.  The first picture is a scan from the book so you can see what I'm talking about.... I really appreciate the use of white, the simplicity and balanced layout of these pages.

As you can see from these examples, I get super excited about the materials and then just put too much on the page.... the piece below has an image transfer, stamps, three different grid papers, paint, magazine image, gel medium, gesso, wallpaper sample, cancelled stamp, colored pencil, sharpie, metal frame and brads... I really need an art-intervention here!

So, I started out with the same materials and actually had to cut out part of the image since it was going down the same path as the one above.  However, I believe it is closer to the graceful simplicity from the examples in the book.  It still has a cancelled stamp, colored pencil, gel medium, stamps, a tag, image transfer, decorative tape, paint and two kinds of grid paper!

So, I decided to actually do an exercise from the book... there is no collage here, but I think I got a lot closer to my goal of serenity.  This is a little piece, just about 6 by 6 and I'm pleased.  What do you think?

So... in other news... my Fascinating Fascinators class at the Lawrence Arts Center is swinging into its last two weeks and we have finished up two weeks of upcycled projects and are moving into our final projects.  Here are some pictures of the fun pieces I prepared for the upcycled portion of the class.

I started with a random selection of materials I regularly save for art projects or the Earth Day recycled art event (more to come on this later!)

Here is the a casino-ready fascinator made from fruit bags, playing cards, tiddly winks, and one die all attached to a plastic hot chocolate lid cut to make a shallow cone shape.  This accessory lies flat on the head.

This diminutive red one was created by cutting circles from hard plastic packaging and applying heat to transform the shape.  It also contains a red circle cut from a metallic coffee bag, "feathers" cut from a warped badminton birdy, the backs of playing cards, a few beads and lots of hot glue.

This clear one also employed heat on a circle cut from hard plastic packaging.  I cut a spiral into the circle and bent it into a rosette shape as it softened in the heat.  The "leaves" were made by layering two pieces of plastic cut from one of those flexible zipper pouches new sheets are encased in.  In between the layers, I placed cancelled stamps and some large webbed fruit bag netting.

This mini "pill-box" hat was made from a strip of hard plastic packaging taped into a circle.  I unwound a new (1) bath scrubby and cut a length from it, opened the tube (yes, they are tubes of netting...) and inserted the plastic circle.  I used invisible thread to secure the inside to itself and then just tied a knot/bow in the center.  The spiral decorations are paper clips.  

I cut additional pieces of hard plastic packaging into feather shapes and then applied some heat to warp them slightly.

This next piece is fairly elaborate... the plastic hot chocolate lid base is covered with fabric flower petals and then scrap netting, pieces of a broken christmas decoration and another bath scrubby were used for the top.  The wings were cut from hard plastic packaging and scored with scissors to give them more dimension.

I really enjoyed preparing these examples for my students and tried to only use materials COMMON to any household... the fabric petals may have been stretching this definition a bit!

I've asked my students to bring in all their creations this week, so hopefully, we will have a gallery of their fabulous fascinators to show in the near future.

One last question: I've started this little piece and wonder whether it should be a brooch, barette, or just part of a larger fascinator compostition... what do you think?

If you haven't checked in recently, I'm up to 63 dresses over at Dress-a-Day!  Click the link and leave me a comment!

I hope your weekend is going great and that the week ahead brings you fulfillment, happiness and plenty of rest.

Take care

Liza