“2013: Year of the Giraffe” Recap!

On this last day of 2013, I wanted to re-cap my first year-long online class, “Year of the Giraffe.” The “creativity experiment” was to spend the year approaching the giraffe in many different creative media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, writing, and sewing. Here are just a few samples of the wonderful work created this year!

Thank you to each and every one of you who participated in the class — and those of you who cheered from the sidelines. It was a really special class. Sandra Moreano said, “Carla, I consider you a life time friend and know you feel the same about all of us.” (She’s right!)

This year, the assignments were:

January – “Draw the Giraffe”
February – “The Mixed-Media Giraffe”
March – “Sew the Giraffe”
April – “Once Upon a Giraffe”
May – “Color Me Giraffe” (collage)
June – “Paint the Giraffe”
July – “Sculpt the Giraffe”
August – “Photograph the Giraffe”
September – “Animate the Giraffe”
October – “Multi-Giraffing (various assignments)
November – “NaGirWrMo” (writing)
December – “Timeline Journal the Giraffe”

Please enjoy the following artwork created by participants in the class; click the photos to take you to the flickr listings. (Also, there were SO MANY to choose from… this is just a tiny, tiny sampling. If you would like to see more, go here and here!)

*
*
*

January – “Draw the Giraffe”
_______________________________________

walyerina

Serena Mira Asta

Joan Louise

Lisa Firke

Cheryl Ann

Erin Ibbertson

Planet Dyann

Amber Church

*
*
*

February – “The Mixed-Media Giraffe”
_______________________________________

Stacey Replinger

Lianne Evers

Lynn

Arlene Horvath

lenelave

*
*
*

March – “Sew the Giraffe”

_______________________________________

Sophie Qandil

Catherine

P. McVay

Sasha DeWitt

Hélène Villeneuve

*
*
*

April – “Once Upon a Giraffe”
_______________________________________

Jay Worling

eva-ucgatwork

Carollwc

*
*
*

May – “Color Me Giraffe”
_______________________________________

Carol

Currie Silver

Jutta Müller

*
*
*

June – “Paint the Giraffe”
_______________________________________

Cheryl Razmus

gmvh1

Corrine Bekker

*
*
*

July – “Sculpt the Giraffe”
_______________________________________

Jogglers

Lynn

SJ Willis

Currie Silver

*
*
*

August – “Photograph the Giraffe”
_______________________________________

Crimson43

Sandra Moreano

Anne

Susan Hartl

*
*
*

September – “Animate the Giraffe”
_______________________________________

Click below to watch our collaborative animation!

*
*
*

October – “Multi-Giraffing”
_______________________________________

Jill Kuhn

Deb Nichol

Marlene

becuzilikeit

Lilydendron

*
*
*

November – “NaGirWrMo”
_______________________________________

Birthe

Deb

Corrine

*
*
*

December – “Timeline Journal the Giraffe”
_______________________________________

Jutta

Jill Kuhn

And I’ll end this post with…

… some shrinky-dink giraffes…

Martina

… a belated Christmas Giraffe by Eva…

… and the Tallest Giraffe in the World! (becuzilikeit):

Thank you, everyone, for a super fun giraffe-y year!

xoxo, Carla

 

A Family Book in the Making

Doug:

Wes:

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! We are home in Seattle, and with us this year are Steve’s brother and sister-in-law, Doug and Amy, and their two sons, Joe and Will. Wes is home too, and we’re having the most laugh-filled week!

On Christmas I gave everyone eight sheets of paper, and asked them to create content for a collaborative book project. These are a few of the pages so far.

Brothers Doug and Steve.

A collaborative drawing between Joe and Wes.

It’s been fun working on a single project together! I’m planning to print a copy for everyone using Artifact Uprising. Everyone was really cooperative and gracious to work on “their” present, which was, really, a present to me, too!

Have a wonderful week!

Red Riding Hood

Just checking in on a Monday! Hope you have a wonderful week.

2014: Year of the Fairy Tale

Welcome to my 2014 year-long online class:

Year of the Fairy Tale!

“Grimm’s Fairy Tales” was my favorite childhood book, so I can’t tell you how excited I am to spend a whole year illustrating fairy tales!

During this year-long online class, we will illustrate 8 fairy tales (the class will run in two, four-month “semesters,” with a 7-week break in between). Each month you will receive both a sketchbook assignment and a technique-based, mixed-media project via professionally produced videos.

How will this work?

I strive to make sure that every online lesson includes both innovative techniques and the opportunity for personal growth and self expression. “Year of the Fairy Tale” will be an online community where participants from all over the world share their work, their thoughts, and encourage each other. And of course, I am available to comment on all work uploaded throughout the year.

For each of the 8 working months you’ll receive:

• a PDF with that month’s Fairy Tale/Reading Assignment
• a Sketchbook Assignment (each month we’ll pick a focus: the figure, the face, animals, architecture, etc.)
• a Step-by-Step Mixed-Media Project (throughout the year we’ll work with watercolors, acrylics, pastels, charcoal, graphite, collage….)
• Professionally Produced Instructional Video(s)
• Special Blog Posts exploring each fairy tale’s rich visual history, guest artists, and more
• Instructor Feedback on all uploaded or emailed work

Our virtual “classroom” includes a private blog and closed Facebook group.

Each Reading & Sketchbook Assignment will be released 10 days before the Mixed-Media Assignment. Class begins January 20, 2014.

I’m really looking forward to immersing myself in fairy tales this year, and hope you will join me!

• Cost: $198 USD

• All levels welcome and encouraged to join in (new artists will have the option of also joining a separate facebook group especially for beginners!)

• Registration fee is good for people living in a single household (a great class to do with your kiddos!)

• If you have any questions at all, please email me at carla[at]carlasonheim.com.

• BONUS! The first 50 people to sign up will receive a set of 8 digital fairy-tale-inspired greeting cards (PDF) suitable for printing and sending.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TODAY!

Once you register, you will receive a confirmation email immediately. I will log you in to the class with your Paypal email address unless you indicate otherwise. Thanks so much!

Payment plans available on a case-by-case basis. Email me at carla[at]carlasonheim.com.

The Season of Giving: A portion of all orders placed before December 25, 2014, will be donated to Rainbow Network, a non-profit organization working with the people of Nicaragua.

 

2014: Year of….

Finally!

I’m excited!

Click here for more info and to sign up!

New Paints

“Brown Flowers,” click to enlarge.
* * *
A few years ago I tried a friend’s Holbein Acryla Gouache paints and haven’t been able to get them out of my head. So I bought some the other day!

I had no idea what colors to get (my lack of art training showing here), but I picked three primaries I thought might work and a few others: Crimson, Light Yellow, Prussian Blue, Pale Peach, Sepia, and Titanium White.

I hope you have a great week. The “Year of…” class registration will open this Thursday. 😀

“Abstracted Minutia” Drawing Tutorial

Hello!

One of the labs in “Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists” is called Abstracted Minutia, in the chapter “Inspired by Nature. Following is a more elaborated tutorial than found in the book:

1. Gather some dried leaves, flowers, pods, shells, feathers, rocks, seaweed, grasses… anything you find out and about that looks interesting to you.

2. Next, gather some paper and drawing and mark-making tools. I’m using charcoal, various types of graphite, and just one or two colors of PanPastels; I like to keep my palette limited to mimic my subject matter. The paper I usually work with is Fabriano Artistico 140# hot press.

3. Start arranging your items into an abstract design. Try not to think “flower” or “leaves, but just look at shapes, textures, and colors and place them in a design that doesn’t read as anything necessarily.

4. When you’ve settled on a design, get ready to draw it:

Keep your hand as loose as possible when making your marks, especially when using charcoal.

Vary your pressure for darks and lights; smear charcoal areas to soften.

Don’t worry about copying the design exactly. Use your pod setup as a starting point, but then let the drawing tell you which elements you might want to leave out, or if there are areas you would like to add more to. Here is my finish:

Have fun with it, and play with your materials!

Photos by Matisse Lorance Berthiaume

Moon Flowers

Tags

art, artstronauts club, flowers, moon

I wanted to mention a project that my friends Teesha and Tracy Moore are starting called The Artstronauts Club!

Teesha writes:

It is our goal to have this meeting place that continually has new sources of inspiration in the form of online workshops, interesting videos, relevant articles and how-to’s, downloadable art and art supplies (like collage sheets, patterns, wrapping paper, etc.), tips on new art supplies and books, random quirky stuff and a forum to share ideas and your own art.  We will delve into anything and everything that enhances your creative life.

She and Tracy will be the editors of this new subscription based site, but they have a huge network of teachers, artists, musicians, and other creatives that will contribute work to the site (including me!).

I haven’t had time this month to contribute yet (STILL working on the launch of the next “Year of…” class — sorry to make you wait!), but I did quickly create these moon flowers just for fun. Here are some details:

(They are scanned twigs, digitally manipulated, and collage)
Congratulations Teesha and Tracy — the site is wonderful and rich — and I hope you will consider peeking in and joining the fun!