Art Unraveled 2008 with Katie Kendrick

Another Art Unraveled class, this time with Katie Kendrick. She lives on a peninsula across from the Sound in Washington! What a great place to live! I'm actually GOING there the first week of September with my Sister Renae from Utah.

We painted a first layer on our boards and continued painting until we saw something appear.

I was seeing NOTHING..... so I kept painting, adding layers and textures to what was there, adding some circles, painting over the least interesting areas, around shapes that were made, turning it every direction, looking at it.... forgetting to photograph it after some of the changes, but you get the idea. I couldn't find a direction that looked like anything. The shapes were so disconnected and I really didn't know where to go with it. So I just continued on. The bottom right part of the picture below almost looked like a bowl to me if I turned it upside down.

Once Katie pointed out the possibility of a face, I saw it too. I wasn't trying to make a person or face as I prefer abstract to realism, BUT, all of a sudden, there was this face, and a body below. The bowl became the back of the head, but I think the big blue circle eye is a bit strange! The whole thing is a bit strange. I am thinking about adding a smaller light circle inside it to make the "eye" look smaller. I added the map section in the large circle and tried painting over it. That was unsuccessful, so I just kept painting over it until it looked better to me.

A blue half-circle didn't look right to me so I extended it and unknowingly it became her arm. After looking at it for some time, I even see where there are three fingers. It looks like she is gripping a bar or something. It's just to the right of the white place and under the yellow area. I could always define those too.

This one isn't quite finished, but close. I think I might redo the blue "bird" at the bottom. It looks like a funny duck. In the second picture (above) you can actually see a section that LOOKED like a hen if you turn your head sideways. I painted over that shape, but not very well. One of the things to try redoing later. It was a great way to go about painting and Katie was a GREAT teacher!!!

Art Unraveled 2008 with Raina Gentry

I forgot to take my camera so I don't have any in progress photos. Darn! I love seeing how something starts and progresses in layers. I only have two pictures of this class with Raina Gentry and it isn't finished yet.... They are the same, one is upside-down for a different view. Only a few layers have been done so far. Raina lives in Prescott and teaches out of her studio too, so I hope to get up there for more classes with her. I was looking at the piece from a distance and I enjoy the shapes upside-down as well so who knows what it will really end up being.

The "V" from my previous post was used here as a gel transfer that was unsuccessful due to the gray background and no real contrast, BUT, it isn't done yet. I can either paint over it or any number of things! It definitely needs more layers and depth.

I highly recommend taking a class from Raina if anyone gets the chance at a future Art Unraveled event. She was a great teacher, the class was very organized, her process was a great approach to the "blank canvas" and she made it around the class to help and offer guidance to the students in addition to having two really nice helpers!

Shemer Workshop

I took a workshop with Elaine and Lynda recently at the Shemer Art Center from Nancy Christy-Moore. We started by tearing and arranging assorted rice papers onto a 1/4 sheet of watercolor paper, gluing them down with acrylic matte medium, and setting aside to dry. The next step was painting with watercolor, but I didn't get to it on this one.

A second one was started on any old previously painted piece. We added the rice papers, glued and dried, then painted with watercolor. The next step which I didn't get to was using some gesso to do some negative painting around some of these colored areas. I thought I'd study it a while first, and maybe someday I'll get around to it, as I am not very good at negative painting. As I look at it now and then, I am seeing some colorful angelfish and underwater plants that could be defined, but who knows? I also didn't try the part of using clear or colored crayons over the layers as they developed, but it was very interesting to see.

This was a third piece I started. I had to try one with a resist, by writing with a clear gel pen Lynda had brought for us to try, then painting over it with watercolors. This ended up being my favorite, and I plan to work on a few areas a bit more, and then it should be done. We also tried out some plain mat boards as frames and most of the pieces looked so much better.