Today I taught a lesson at Stanwood Elementary School on how to build a snowman using arbitrary complementary colors! It was indeed a kick! I worked with Ms. Bloom in the library and what a great group of students we had!! Very well behaved and excited about being artists working to bring in money for the Stanwood Camano Food Bank.
They bought right into the idea of orange snowmen in blue hats, red and green snowmen....and even violet ones with yellow accessories!! Oh! we also got the white on white with the Husky colors.....They were just great to work with and I would love to go back! Having snow last week had them ready to create these imaginary snow people.
To see them LIVE..go to Laurie's Boutique in downtown where ..for a donation..you can own one for your gift giving this holiday season!
Gallery By the Bay offers some very cool art classes along with web building, portfolio making....you name it.... Gayle can teach it..or she knows someone who can!! For this one she brought in a very accomplished mosaic artist to teach us how to do it! We had a great afternoon of fun and came away with an awesome project. I still have to grout mine, but I'm sure I'll do just fine???? I loved the idea of moving all the pieces around until you like what you see...a lot like I do collage....she, Carmen, had some really beautiful tiles and glass pieces. It always helps to have great supplies!
I'm thinking about offering a surreal collage card making class there in late January...in time for Valentine's Day. Everyone needs an awesome card or two for that!!
Last Wednesday afternoon was spent at Stanwood High School working with National Honor Society students....decorating shopping bags for Laurie's Boutique. The idea?? to have the students turn the bags into artsy bags that customers would really want..and for a donation to the food Bank... could have!! I took in lots of my "stuff" that I use in my mixed media work..buttons, yarns, bells, old jewelry...and glitter!! It was awesome! They had a great time and the bags are wonderful.......they are at Laurie's now and will of course still be there fo rthe art Walk on Dec 3rd. On the 30th I'm working with 4th and 5th graders to make more!! We'll be using paper additives, and I will have a lesson on simple design and color..it should be a kick!!
Handbuilt canvases to my specifications....goes along with getting my own studio. I thought it was time to devote some time and energy into making my art just what I want it to be ..where I call the shots from the space where it is created to the very foundation on which it is painted. Now I have smaller canvases in the sizes that I like to paint. No longer do I have to relie on what Mac Pherson wants to build in Viet Nam....I have a local source and these canvases are wowsie!!! The wood is beefier..they are a bit heavier, the corners are better, and the canvas thicker. I love them!!!
There are eight of them to get me started and all are long and lean...4 in a 1 to 2 format and 4 where I added an extra 2" to the length..just for fun! I will get started on one next week..the studio is in a mess at the moment..new floor goes in on Thursday!
Look under my links page for info on how to contact Graydon the canvas maker!!
Yet another series using the 8" by 8" gesso board panels. These have a 2" cradle which allows them to stand off the wall like my other larger paintings. The cradle is painted black and these designs do not go over the edge. Bottom to top you have Desire, Delight, and Dream. What I find very exciting about this set is that they can be displayed in a horizontal format or vertical and..they look great by themselves as well. It took some time, but I finally figured out that no matter how I design it someone wanted to hang it another way..now I'm planning on that and attempting to make them look"natural" from all directions. My plan is have them in the new abstract show at Gallery by the Bay in January...we'll see what the jurors say!! Until then I get to look at them...Desie is my fave!!
Helen's Originals showcases abstract acrylic mixed media, printmaking with monotypes, dry point and gyotaku, figurative collage, and informative blog entries.
