Tuesday, August 14, 2012

oops i did it again...

(in my brittany spears voice)
oh baby, baby
i tried something else new!
watercolors!

unfinished and messy 

i signed up for a weekend class at the richmond visual arts center called "crashcourse in watercolors". christopher wynn was the instructor. http://www.wynncreative.com/wynncreative/Home.html
he is featured in the summer issue of the american artist watercolor magazine. i love that he quit his job and sold everything he owned to travel for almost a year. what a great thing to do in life. there's so much to see out there. anyway, he made a joke in class of how i planned to go back to oil painting after class was over. it is a difficult medium to work with. when i started i attacked the paper as if i was painting with oils. big mistake! i wish i'd taken a picture of the first attempt. i was able to recover somewhat. but when i say i overworked that paper, i overworked it! i didn't finish this piece, don't know if i will. but i do have some expensive watercolor paper left so i will try again.

it was a fun class. a little rushed. but it was called "crash course" right? i actually learned a lot! i love seeing journals and sketchbooks with little watercolor drawings in them. i'm really happy i finally tried it. i bought some cheap brushes so it was frustrating seeing so many little brush hairs all over my painting.

so as i was getting in my car once class was finished, i realized i had my camera with me and regret that i didn't ask to take a picture with mr. wynn. i've never met an artist who was featured in a magazine before. i tried to find that issue in the barnes & noble there but couldn't find it. i could have asked for his autograph :)

so what will i try next? i've never done ceramics or sculpture. we shall see. i've decided not to take classes at the university this semester. my student loans are outrageous already. i don't need to add more to it right now. but i will continue to learn and experiment and practice and stay involved somehow. so for the upcoming fall and winter, i will:
     -sign up for another artistic crash course or workshop
     -visit a local drawing group meeting & maybe join them
          i know of 2 in the area that meets every tuesday
     -finish the sewing projects i wanted to do, especially the apron
     -take lots of pictures of baxter to use as a subject for my next oil painting
     -and paint that picture of baxter!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

tried something new

i signed up for a screen printing class taught online by an artist who's blog  i found http://www.howtomakeart.com/
the art of screen printing is new to me. it was fun and messy :)
i think i have an issue with not wanting to be wasteful. so if i'm not confident with what i want to create, i avoid it because if i mess up, that's wasted ink, paper, paint, etc. so instead, my art supplies sit and collect dust ??? crazy isn't it? screen printing might be good therapy for me, there is a lot of trial and error in the process.
well, at least i've always wanted to make my own tshirts and now i can say i made one!