Play Days in May

Julie Prichard's online class at Sally's

Tuesday, May 20, Diane Chen, Nina Reebe got together at my house to try our hand of Julie Pirchard's 1st class assignment that had been posted the previous day. We had watched the video at home and I had taken notes. Now, it was time to pick up the brush and see what we could do.

Diane and Nina working away

Here's Nina in the middle of her first canvas. We really did have fun with color!

Nina's Palette

Scratch, scratch, scratch

Nina really got the hang of the method and the "drips." You can see all the scratches she made in the paint while it was wet.

Nina's and the drips

This was the first time Diane and Nina had meet and we hit it off splendidly. I think Nina finished the most canvases. We experimented and had suggestions when asked, for each others work. It was really a lot of fun working together.

Diane with her "Grotto" painting
a week before Julie's Lesson 2

Diane thought this canvas looked like a Grotto or Lagoon. The next week in Julie's Lesson 2 class, it was almost all about what Diane had painted using similar colors!

Another of Diane's canvases

Neither Diane nor I have started lesson 2. I have viewed Lesson 2 but spent the weekend at Liberty Station taking a wonderful 2 day class with Chris Cozen. There were 16 of us learning everything we every wanted to know about Golden's Gels of every sort and how to make transfers with theses products.

Chris Cozen's Transfer Class

Memorial Day Weekend, Chris Cozen taught a transfer class at the Pat D'Arrigo ARTS Center at Liberty Station. We had access to every acrylic color that Golden makes and every gel they have created. We were given a little canvas book that she had already gessoed the pages so it was ready to be worked on. Plus, she had two already created boards with one having Golden's Crackle Paste and the other having Golden's Molding Paste, for us to paint and transfer two as we learned and experimented.



Here is a slide show of photos taken during the two day class. There are photos of Chris' Canvases with beautiful transfers. I can't believe how much trouble I had putting this slide show together. I think I learned a lot and it will be easier the next time I use this.

The only person I knew before this class was Josie Rodriquez (local artist extraordinaire). I had taken two classes from her at her home/studio when I first started dabbling in Altered Arts. Her husband, an artist/teacher in his own right, was our host.

Part of the 16 students and Chris Cozen

I met new friends and learned that a lot of them are book artists and friends of Kathie Gillaspey's. Everyone was very interesting. There seemed to be a lot of "serious" artists in this group. One of the lady's had just won either 4 awards including 1st place or 4 First Places in a show that can be seen at our Antheneum downtown, La Jolla.

I sat next to a new friend named Dominique who I think I have taken classes together at Stamping Details. We both thought we looked familiar to each other. She was very helpful. She paints many things, one of which are murals. She was a lot of fun.

I thought the facilities at Liberty Station and the Pat D'Arrigo ARTS Center were marvelous. Liberty Station is amazing. I can't believe how developed the area is that used to be the Marine Recruitment Base on Rosecrans in San Diego. The area has been totally re-developed and is so beautiful.

Across the table from me was an interesting artist from Tijuana named Angela Gonzalez. Her medium of choice is oils and she draws. She is now branching out and exploring acrylics. We hit it off spendidly and she will be coming to my home to paint and do transfers this Thursday.

Art Meet Up at Jackie's

My Bottle Doll

Lastly, is the bottle doll that I made at Jackie's. She had me over to create a doll of my choosing from one of her bottles. I had missed the Art Meet Up at her home when everyone gathered at her home. So, it was just me and her upstairs in her art rooms! ready to play.

When I left her, I had painted the head but not attached it to the bottle. It had been a plastic cheap doll head I had gotten at Zinnia's in Pasadena a year before. At Jackie's direction, I had cut off all her hair and painted her head white and then put a glaze over it.

I had Jackie's wonderful doll in front of me as a sample. (Isn't she wild?) But, I couldn't figure out what I was going to do with my doll head and what other embellishments I was going to adhere besides Jackie's "neck" that she found for the doll (thank you Jackie) and the branch around her neck and the wrapping paper that I cut out bird motifs to glue to the bottle.

Jackie's Bottle Doll

Remember, with me, "more is better. . ." My husband, Ernie and his friend Richard, came by my art room and peeked in and were "lost for words . . . " as to describe the creation I made with Jackie's bottle. . . What do you think?

Jackie also has a personal blog called The Art In You. I hope you will visit and see what is happening in the San Diego area with all her many friends.