Admiration for Tara Axford

I cheat on X if I have to. This is one of those times.

Tara Axford is a mixed media artist who lives in Australia.
I have admired for some time.
  The things found in nature are so different than here. 

Her observations & resulting art strike a cord. 
She collects things on her walks then creates "pocket finds". 

 A stroll through her IG is eye candy.

This is one of her "pocket finds". 
Take a look at her watercolors.



I have a bin of "Natural Items" I use in photographs, 

for stencil ideas, in monoprinting.

I could spend all day arranging still lifes from my box of natural finds.

Almost to the finish line of the A to Z. How is everyone holding up?

Playing with Water Color

Watercolor is a thing I have played with for some time. 

I am by no means proficient. A class showed up that combined watercolor, 

perspective drawing & architecture. I jumped in.

It is through Domestica. Had never heard of them before.

Alex Hillkurtz is the instructor. Image above is his. Link to the class here.
The video content is crystal clear. His explanations of supplies, techniques
& execution are very good. He did a live talk on Instagram
that supported the class content. Alex lives in Paris.
 There were attendees from all over the world.
We ARE all in this together!

I picked this picture from our gorgeous old State Hospital grounds
for my first run through.

The resulting thumbnail quick sketch.
That's all I've got so far.

 I would love to be comfortable sketching then 

adding color to scenes in my journal when I travel.

That means I need to spend more time at it.

A post from last year's A to Z included Candace Rose Rardon
Her sketches are so accurate and sweet.

If you have a minute scroll down & look at her images from her travels. 

A couple past forays into watercolor in my journal.  

 

On a whale watch in British Columbia years ago we saw grey whales breach. 

My minimalist sketch from a photo. 

Have you found more creative opportunities popping up lately?

Artists everywhere are sharing, teaching, & doing more during this time of isolation.

A silver lining however thin. 

 

April Workshop with Pendragons Take Aways

This blind contour drawing of a lily and some yellow flowers with added water color 

& suminagashi on top was my favorite piece from a work shop I attended in April.

The Pendragons is a calligraphy guild I belong to based in Kalamazoo Michigan. Every spring they bring in a well known artist to do a 2-3 day work shop for us. This year is was Sharon Zeugin.

So many ways to write or "create" a word. Lots of exercises where we stretched, 

bounced, or somehow manipulated words & phrases.

A favorite tid bit from the work shop for me was what Sharon referred to as her

  Rorschach rectangles.

 A small rectangle of stamp material, about 2 X 4 inches. Paint water color in lines accross the surface. Place on your paper. You never know what result you will get 

which is the fun & magic of it. 

Fun to break out lots of tools & colors to play with.

Off to my favorite framing store this week. Arnie's in Houghton Lake. There is a stash of art work I've had set aside to frame for quite some time. My two art pals & I are making a pilgrimage to get our stuff done. Then will come the fun of where to put it in the walls.

Play Day

It's summer!  So much energy, so much day light. Spent some time in the studio yesterday just messing around to generate ideas.

 Found this cool idea using aluminum duct tape (sticky back) mesh tape (for drywall) then adding a little acrylic paint to age the surface. On Pinterest of course. I can think of all kinds of fun to have with this.

 

Also pulled out the folded pens and water color to warm up the hand for some ideas using letter forms. 

Went to friends on a small lake near by for the Fourth. This sun set picture has wood block print all over it!

Japanese Wood Block Printing

Summer school continues for me. Last week I took a three day class with Mary Brodbeck through the Glen Arbor Art Assoc. close to my home. Her 35 minute documentary "Becoming Made" you see at the top of her page is a wonderful 35 minute film that really gives you the feel of the technique & history of Japanese wood block printing, Moku Hanga.

I have wanted to learn this technique for some time and Mary was a great teacher. Only 5 of us in the class, which was a nice number. Our surroundings on historic Thoreson Farm, pictured here, were inspiring.

We were in the long sprawling building you see at the far right of the top picture. Fortunately we had gorgeous weather as we were somewhat exposed to the elements.

Using rice paste (Nori) and tubes of water color paint is a real bonus with no nasty smells and easy clean up of the medium. Color variations and opacity are limitless. Carving the Shina wood blocks takes lots of time, but it is an addictive and meditative task!

Mary's prints are gorgeous luscious things.  She did an artist in residence in Glen Arbor several years ago that generated this print of the farm.

I didn't want the three days to end. But we were all happy with the results of our first efforts in the ageless art form. I definitely see myself doing more & more of these types of prints. Thank you Mary!