Wonderful Workshop Day!

Back on Martin Luther King Day, I attended a 4-hour hands-on workshop, sponsored by my region of our state organization (NYSATA).  Actually, I didn't just attend; I was the chief organizer of the event.  Because of that, it was quite a busy day for me, and I didn't get to finish the projects that were presented.  I took home the partially completed work, and finally, over the course of the past week, I finally finished all three projects!!

The workshop presenter was Phyllis Annett, a School Specialty Art Consultant.  I first met Phyllis at our state convention several years ago, and because we share the same relatively uncommon name, we've chatted every year.  Which is how we came to put together this busy workshop!

My favorite project from the workshop was the flower pictured at the top of the post, though her sample was much more complex and elegant than mine.  We painted watercolor paper in bands of color, and when the paint was dry, we painted over it with a tempera varnish to seal.  When that was dry, we tore flower petals and leaves to assemble into a flower, and glued them onto a piece of mat board.   The painted and glossed watercolor paper was easily manipulated so that the leaves and petals could be bent and curled.  Phyllis (the presenter) used Model Magic for the center of her flower, but I just used fringed scraps of my painted paper.  Here's a closeup of the center. 

 

 Here's the table where we  painted our paper.

The two incredible pieces directly below were the presenter's examples.  I did my center differently because while I loved her flowers, her Model Magic centers made me think of golf balls!

 And here's a couple of pieces made by some workshop attendees.

And I love this - it's someone's painted paper that petals have been torn from.  I saw it on the floor, and I thought it looked like a mysterious landscape on another planet!

We also did a project which uses layer of acetate, drawn on with Sharpie Paint Markers, inside a box.  The layers are separated by 3 D-O's.    Participants came up with great ideas for their layered artwork, but I had left this project for last and with limited time, just did layers of colors and swirls and such. 

 Here's a closeup.  I think this project would be more effective if there were slots cut in the top of the box to allow light in between the layers.  Maybe I'll take a mat knife to my box and try it out!

Look at this!  Another workshop attendee was making a dragon lair!  I absolutely love this, and would love to see how it turned out when completed.

The third project (yes, four hours, three lesson ideas to try out, and all materials provided for us by Sax/School Specialty!) was fun and easy.  Small rectangles of black mat had been pre-cut in various dimensions, and we used the paint markers again to create a dimensional piece, by stacking small pieces of mat board under some of the pieces when it was glued together.  OOPS  this photo below is actually sideways!

Here's a couple of closeups showing the levels/layering. 

I loved all the unique ideas and solutions to this project by the other workshop attendees, so I want to share some here.  Look at this one, below.  It's an absolute WOW!!

This one below looks like a fun whimsical solution!

And I'm especially intrigued by this solution below:

And this one, which takes the rectangles and makes them into circles by the way they are colored.  I used to have a set of botanical tea mugs with covers, and these remind me of those mug covers!

And the dimensional approach to this one is very cool. 

This one below was colored with Colorsticks around the images,and I really like the vivid  turquoise color contrasting the  black, and the images drawn with paint markers. 

An interesting 4 seasons piece, made more interesting by the diagonal placement of some of the elements.  I don't think it was done when I photographed it. 

Another solution/approach:

And finally, this person took the clear acetate from the second project, and incorporated it into the third project.   Very cool.

Doodlemania!

It's no secret that I'm a compulsive doodler.  I've blogged about doodling on other occasions, HERE, HERE, and HERE, for example.  There are more if you choose to look for them. I'm getting ready for a little art display in a local library, and thought it would be fun to mat and display a few of the more elaborate doodles.  So I started digging though some old little sketchbooks.  I got a couple of mats cut with six windows, figuring I could pull at least a dozen doodles to put in them.  The two above didn't make it into one of the mats, at least not yet.  Here's what did:

And here's another six.  The six below remind me somehow of the circus.  Not sure why, but I think I'll call them 'circus doodles'. 

 I realized  I had so many pages of doodles that I  will need to cut some more mats!  And these are just the ones that are in three little sketchbooks.  There are more...  Anyhow, here's another batch of 6:

 Occasionally I just leave a doodle in black and white, like the two below.  Then I have friends and acquaintances insisting that I should get a job designing for adult coloring books.  But here's the thing - I doodle WHEN I WANT TO, and not to anyone's specifications.  I don't think I'd be happy doodling if it was for a job. 

 Sometimes two disparate doodles seam to belong together.  That's what happened with the two below.  I was surprised to find how much I liked them next to each other.

 A lot of my doodles have been done at meetings and such. Case in point, the one below, done at a Temple Board meeting.  A few little notes sneaked into the doodle. 

 I came across these old doodles from union meetings, from my time when I was union president and/or on the negotiation and grievance committees. I bring a little pouch to meetings loaded with a batch of colorful Flair pens, black Sharpies, and an odd assortment of other fun pens and markers and such.  And of course a little sketchbook. 

And it appears I did a LOT of doodling at those Temple board meetings.  Others on the board would make sure to sit next to me so they could watch me doodle while we argued about finances and the religious school and such. 

 I think  this doodle below was from a speaker or workshop at an art conference.  I don't recall who the speaker was, but I like a lot of the words I wrote down. 

 If you are interested I've also written blog posts about the value of doodling.  Yes, it's a good thing!  To find any of these posts, just go to the labels on the bottom of the blog and click on 'doodling'.

Sharpie shoes! Doodles for my feet!

 I've been doodling on shoes again...

I've had these ankle boots for a year, but I also have a pair of black clogs, and a pair of black knee-high boots, so these boots were sort of redundant.  They are very comfy, but I thought they were were kind of blah, so they deserved a makeover. 

I bought oil-based silver Sharpie paint markers, and tonight, while watching some brainless TV, I went to town on the boots.  I'm looking forward to wearing them!  I have no idea how the Sharpie will hold up if/when I wear them in rainy or snowy weather.  Hopefully, OK?

Last summer, I did this to a pair of ugly but comfy orthopedic sandals, with a white Sharpie oil-based paint marker.  I think it really helped.  Now I actually WANT to wear them instead of hiding their hideousness in the closest!

I've doodled on other stuff, such as this purse below, with regular Sharpies.  The purse is several years old, and the Sharpie has held up well.   I have a black purse I'm bored with.  Maybe it will get the silver Sharpie treatment next.  But it has a gold clasps, so maybe I'll use silver AND gold, so it will go with more. 

And then there's iPad covers.  This one below was my first iPad.

 And this is my current iPad cover, done with black, white, silver, gold, and bronze Sharpies.

And this one was a gift for an old friend.

 

I've decorated bowling shoes with Sharpies, both for me and a colleague.  Thank goodness I doodle a LOT better than I bowl.  I may roll lots of gutter balls, but hey, at least my feet are gonna look good!  I decorated the bowling shoes probably 8 years or so ago; it took me until this summer to realize that I could doodle on other shoes, too.

Hmm, I wonder what I can doodle on next?  My car is already decorated, and my husband would not be happy if I attacked his shoes....