Loving the Chaos

I completed the next two lessons in Dina Wakley's Ordered Chaos class. These are a few of my favorites. Yes, they are still out of control, but we will be going back to bring order to them. I hope....

Chaos Is Good

When I discovered that Dina Wakley was offering a new class called Ordered Chaos I thought, "I can relate to chaos." I immedialy signed up.  I had so much fun creating these even though I was covered in paint up to my elbows. I even got paint on my face. I can't wait to see what's in the next class video.

If your interested in signing up for the class, and don't mind getting your hands dirty it's being presented by Jeanne Oliver and is worth the cost.

These are a few of my pieces creating chaos.  Enjoy!

Still Catching Up

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Today I realized I've only posted one of my projects from my Wanderlust class.  Below are a few of my favorite art journal pages created for the class. I still have some catching up to do, but look forward a few of the techniques that are waiting to be completed.

Mixed Media with Finnabair

Wow! I can't believe March has come and gone so soon.  It was a  very busy month and I feel like I'm playing catch-up not only here, on the blog, with my art.  With that said I'm going to start at the end of the month, since the most exciting event happened then.

The last weekend in March my sister Fran and I had the privilege of being able to participate in a live class given by the talented Finnabair. She is an extremely talented artist and a great teacher, walking the class through the mixed media process step by step.

Our class was an 8 hour journey into the world of mixed media, and it felt like we used every art medium known to man. After many hours and layers of gesso, mat medium, paint, wax, and many other items the final layer was done.  It was so worth have our fingers stuck together and having to peel off the glue and paint.

This was the first step of the process. Modeling paste, laces, and burlap.

It was a long and exhausting day, but so worth it. I love the way my piece turned out. 

This is our class photo.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 5

Photo transfers. That was this week's assignment. Not good, photo transfers never work for me. I've tried this many times using different techniques and have never had success.  Leave it Donna to push us that one step further from our comfort zone.

After thinking about it, forming a plan B and scouring the internet for pictures it was time to give it a try.

Woo Hoo! It worked! I couldn't believe it. I love how these pages turned out. Thank you Donna. I will be using this technique again in my work.

Inspiration Wednesday - Weeks 3 & 4

I've really busy lately and haven't had a spare moment to post, so today is catchup day.

Week 3
This week our pages were supposed to look 'painterly' meaning that brush strokes and the red under coat are supposed to be showing. I wasn't crazy about this technique but the idea behind Inspiration Wednesday is to get out of your comfort zone so I jumped right in.

Donna's pages were of three lemons. I just couldn't do three lemons so I added my own inspiration, tequila and salt.

Week 4

As you can see we're still painting lemons, this week with another twist.  The lemon and the shadow on the first page was made with washi tape then painted. the lemon on the second page was brown craft paper then painted.

So now I'm officially caught up on my Inspiration Wednesday posts I can move onto my Wanderlust pages.

Inspiration Wednesday - Week 2

When Donna said we were going to paint a mug I laughed.  SHE was going to paint a mug. I would be lucky if mine resembled a mug.

Much to my surprise painting the mug was much easier than adding the light and shadows. After walking away from the finished pages and coming back later I've decided that I like my pages. I'm happy that I tried and did better than I thought I would.

On to week 3 and lemons....

Wanderlust - 2017

This year I signed up for the Wanderlust classes offered by Kasia & Jamie Avery from the UK.  Every week a new class will be posted demonstrating a new or existing technique to complete a project.  Twice a month there will be guest designers from around the world teaching the classes. I'm looking forward to the challenges this course will bring.

I've decided to use the Dylusions large art journal for the class. I fell in love with this book at first site. The paper is thick and sewn together so I won't have to worry about pages falling out during the year. At first I was intimidated by the size, but once I got the first layer of paint on the page didn't look so big.  I believe I made the right choice using this size journal.

Here's a look at my first project.  Three of the pictures, (top left - Bubble Ring, top right - Green Flash & bottom left - Solar Eclipse), were taken by my friend  Steve Mattan.

Inspiration Wednesday - Good News Bad News

Happy New Year!!

The good news is I'm starting a new year of Inspiration Wednesday's with Donna Downey.

The bad news is this will be the last year Donna will be teaching this class.

The good news is Donna has promised to make this a challenging year.  We will be spending a lot of time out of our comfort zones.

This week we used stencils, modeling paste, and glazing.  I did get to use my new stencil from Donna's Artistry Series, and I can't wait to use it again.  I think on canvas next time.