Y is for Yellow (Summer!)

I am re-running “Y is for Yellow” over the summer (June 22 – August 3, 2018). This online class was originally a year-long class, with the end goal of working on and developing a cohesive series. As a shorter, summer program, I think participants can decide to approach it two ways:

1.
Focus more on the series aspect of the class. Spend the six weeks going through the stages of researching & playing, resting, focusing & deciding, working (in tandem with a few others for support and accountability), and finishing!

2.
Focus more on just playing in the studio with the drawing and mixed-media assignments. There are 26 drawing assignments and 10 mixed-media assignments… so much content! But you are invited to pick and choose the assignments that speak to you the most and leave the rest for self-study later.

Here the eight mixed-media projects (following are screen shots from the lesson PDFs):

B is for Picasso Blue Period Paintings (watercolor and gel medium):

C is for Cut Contour Collages (mixed-media):

D is for Drybrush Dares (acrylic painting):

I is for Improv Paintings (mixed-media):

K is for Klee-Inspired Color Grid Paintings (layering in watercolor):

L is for Loose Landscapes (acrylic painting):

Q is for Quintessentially You (your choice of materials):

S is for Somewhat Surrealist (mixed-media painting):

T is for Taped, Textured Trees (mixed-media paintings):

Y is for Yellow Kitty (photograph and mixed-media):

I hope this gives you a good overview of what to expect this summer! Please consider joining the fun… great lessons for families, too! The cost is $99 and you will have forever access to the lessons; click HERE for details!

Hippo Postcards

Here are three hippo postcards that I’d like to send to three of you. The first three to comment, gets them!

Or make one!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo, Carla

Moveable Books

The 365 class is keeping me busy this year! Last week’s Friday lesson was called “moveable art,” and we made some abstracted folded book/sculptures… and yesterday I found Steve’s fun Lensbaby lens and took a few photos….

I hope you are having a glorious day!

Y is for Yellow (Summer!) Open for Registration

Y is for Yellow (Summer!): A 26-Lesson Class
Instructor: Carla Sonheim
Drawing, Painting, Mixed-Media • $99
Class Dates: June 22 – August 3, 2018 

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Hello!

In 2016 we ran a year-long class titled “Y is for Yellow.” We are re-running the class over six weeks this summer, with the all of the videos for each original session dropped every other Friday… it is a lot of content! But by giving it to you all at once, you will be encouraged to pick and choose the lessons that are particularly interesting to you this summer, and leave the rest for later (you have forever access!).

Summer Schedule:

Lessons A – J
Friday, June 22, 2018
10 Drawing Assignments • 4 Mixed-Media Lessons

Friday, July 6, 2018
Lesson K – R
8 Drawing Assignment – 3 Mixed-Media Lessons

Friday, July 20, 2018
Lessons S – Z
8 Drawing Assignments – 3 Mixed -Media Lessons 

If you missed “Y is for Yellow” the first time, please join us now! (And if you have a busy summer, don’t worry! You can always do this as a self-study class.) If you previously signed up for “Y is for Yellow” and would like to join in this summer, email me and I will put you on the list.

Below is the original class description and video for this class! 

Thank you!

Carla

Welcome to my 2016 year-long online class:

“Y” is For Yellow!
(And no, we won’t paint everything yellow! 😀 )

In this class we will march through the alphabet as a fun way to move through our year (“P” is for Picasso! “C” is for Collage!), while tackling the more serious question,

“How do you create a body of work?”

As mixed-media artists we are always trying new media and experimenting with new techniques — which is awesome! But what can happen is we don’t take the time to focus long enough on the things we really love so that we can create a cohesive series that is uniquely ours.

I have found a lot of value working in series over the years; choosing and sticking with one media/subject matter for a period of time really has helped me… and I will share with you what I can about the process.

Are you ready to work hard in a fun environment? Let’s refine, focus, and create a body of work this year!

 

Praise for Y is for Yellow:

“In my opinion, you are a gifted instructor, who actually makes art fun, and I look forward to learning more from you.” — Jo

“Your style of teaching is warm, genuine and clear.” — Sheri

“Carla and her co-teachers inspire not just making art but also a sense of community among the students, of whom many have been making art for quite some time and others are new to it. This sense of community shows itself in the way everyone shares art — within a closed group on Facebook — and comments in a wonderful, supportive way.” — Corinne

 

For details, go HERE!

 

I’m 55 + 1 Day Old

Yesterday was my 55th birthday and I had the best birthday ever. It was a glorious sunny day, Steve made me a bird book, we had lunch with friends and cake with our grandchildren, I had my blood drawn and enjoyed so many Facebook birthday wishes… thank you!

Truly, I had the most enjoyable day. There is just one thing I would have changed:

Steve was in the back working on my other birthday gift (the 365 prompt) and I was putting away some groceries. When I opened the cabinet, I noticed a huge “pool” of something sticky on the shelf.

The substance covered an area about the size of a large man’s boot print. I thought it was syrup, but both the bottle of syrup and the bear-shaped jar of honey, which were sitting in the stuff, had their lids shut tight.

Huh?

Even though it was my birthday, I got a rag, wet it, squeezed out the excess water and tackled the spill.

It wasn’t easy. The stuff (I still wasn’t sure what it was) had kind of melded into the shelf and it took quite a bit of scooping and scrubbing and at least three trips to the sink to rinse off the rag and start anew. I even had to pull out the pot scrubber to get some stubborn parts up… on my BIRTHDAY!

Once the shelf was clean I had to tackle the bags of pecans and walnuts and raisins that had gotten drenched in the stuff. I carefully ran the bottoms of the plastic bags under the running faucet and even had to scrub them a little with a sponge to get all the sticky off.

And then I had to wash off the syrup and honey bottles.

The whole thing took about five minutes.

But otherwise, a perfect day!

😉

Repeat Session! Intro to Abstract Painting

Hi Everyone!

Karine is re-running her very popular class, “Intro to Abstract Painting,” beginning Tuesday, May 29, 2018! If you have signed up for “Intro to Abstract Painting” previously and would like to be part of this repeat session, just email me at carla[at]carlasonheim.com and let me know.

Thank you! And the rest of you? I hope you can join us!

Carla

//player.vimeo.com/video/87719252

Intro to Abstract Painting
Instructor: Karine Swenson
2-Week • 6-Lessons
Repeat Session Dates: May 29 – June 8, 2018

Have you have ever had an interest in abstract painting? Would you like to paint with more freedom or feeling?

In this class we will explore a variety of mark-making techniques with an emphasis on finding what works for you as an artist. Karine will demonstrate drawing and painting intuitively, and share with you a few of her favorite abstract painters and help you understand some of the concepts behind non-representational painting (painting without recognizable imagery).

She will encourage you to try new things as a way to experience breakthroughs and encourage you to work quickly. You will be finding ways to develop your own way of applying paint and to compose the visual space.

During this class, you will work on many (up to twenty) small sketches and 3 to 4 paintings.

Click HERE for a list of supplies needed for this class.

Join us! Click HERE for more information and to sign up!

 

#Things 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7

Sometimes I start something and, well….

My idea for this blog series — creating “word posters” from your suggestions — IS NOT HAPPENING right now… so sorry! But I can share some notes I took on some of your previous suggestions, and I will:

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#3 – Awkward Frogs and Busy Chickens, suggested by Julia

Awkward frogs are one thing, but busy chickens are another.

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#4 – Moving, suggested by Sara

Moving is something that I apparently love to do.

(Not the body-motion kind of moving, but the house-location kind — the former would be a little too close to exercise and, well, I think you know where this sentence is going….)

But moving to a new house? Where I will be able to shed all of my piles of stuff and it will be neat and fresh and sparkly? Something with a view perhaps? Or a studio space where I can close the door?

Yes. (Zillow here I come.)

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#5 – Why I’ve believed six impossible things before breakfast, suggested by Beth

I love this. It opens the mind and Lewis Carroll was brilliant to write it.

But I can do the Queen one better. Here are SEVEN impossible things that I believed before breakfast this morning!

1. That I will meditate for five minutes today like I’ve been told to do (and which will change my life).
2. That I will make it to drinking my coffee without checking my email for “drawing emergencies.”
3. That I will take a shower and get dressed before noon.
4. That I will get at least one thing completely done on my to-do list today.
5. That I will find my to-do list.
6. That I will vacuum on a regular basis, starting today.
7. That I will make a word poster like I promised.

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#6 – Siamese cats, suggested by Nancy

I would like to write a poem
about these Siamese cats in my head

But they are meowing

In unison

And there are quite a lot of them

Maybe 3,643
Give or take a few

So…

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#7 – The sky was yellow and the sun was blue…
– From Scarlet Begonias by the Grateful Dead, suggested by nlharty

When you think about it, this makes as much sense as the other way around.

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I promised you 10 so three more to go! Please comment with a topic (it can be just one or two words, or a sentence, a quote, etc.). Thank you!!

Registration OPEN for a New Class with Tracie Lyn Huskamp

Birds & Butterflies
Collage + Painting
Instructor: Tracie Lyn Huskamp
2-Week Class • 6 Lessons • $85
Class Dates: May 15-25, 2018 

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Birds and Butterflies inspire our imagination and capture our hearts!

In this fun, nature-inspired class we will begin by gathering photos of birds and butterflies. Next will make acrylic paintings on fabric with a step-by-step technique that makes realism surprisingly simple.

From there we will embellish our realistic butterflies and birds with stenciling, bits of old lace, stitching, buttons, pearls, sequins, beads, or vintage rhinestone jewelry, and then put it all tougher with found collage ephemera to make intimate, personal, and fun pieces of art. Once we start assembling our collages, the sky’s the limit for the different things you can do.

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For a list of supplies needed, click HERE.

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Tracie Lyn Huskamp holds a B.F.A. in Graphic Design from Wichita State University. After graduation, she worked as a Product Designer/Illustrator creating mass-market products. A number of her designs sold in Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Costco, Hobby Lobby, Lowe’s, and Walgreens. In 2007, she left her corporate position to focus full-time on her own art. In 2009 her book, Nature Inspired, was published by Quarry Books. Her work has appeared on the cover of Somerset Studio Magazine and in Somerset Memories, Artful Blogger, Quilting Arts Gifts, and Life Images. Tracie licenses her artworks to manufacturers of fabric, calendars, stencils, scrapbooking, stationery, home goods, and bath. She shows in various galleries and recently participated in an invitation-only exhibit hosted by her hometown, the City of Wichita, Kansas. See more of Tracie’s work at www.thereddoor-studio.blogspot.com.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CLICK HERE!

 

 

#2 – Lost in the Forest

Lost in the Forest, suggested by Barbara Fox

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This is how I feel these days. I’m walking in a forest, and every tree is in my sight, taking equal attention. One is not much bigger than the other or, if it is, I am studiously ignoring that one.

For example, today: One tree is making little animals. One tree is trying to clean my studio. One tree is maintaining Anne’s class. One tree is putting up Tracie’s class. One tree is meeting with the web guy. One tree is writing an email to Jason. One tree is coming up with reasons not to make this little writing thing into an illustrated essay, like I promised.

Even though I am lost in this forest of my work life, it is, for the most part, enjoyable. I like to hear the birds sing and feel the sun peek through the branches.

It’s lovely, actually.

But I also feel a little bit scared, if I’m honest. Which way is the right way? Aren’t I just walking in circles? Is there a right way, to … somewhere? And if so, where?

Or is this the journey, to be in the forest, wandering around, enjoying each tree as I stumble upon it?

But I can’t help but wonder: Are there any big trees that I need to pitch a tent near and camp out for awhile? And does the path lead to a cottage made of candy? Without the witch?

I suppose it’s a combination of both, like everything: Work on being able to enjoy the moments but also move along the path to where I’m going. (I don’t have to know where the path leads, but that there is a path I can’t deny, even if I think that all I am doing puttering in the forest.)

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Please comment with a topic (it can be just one or two words, or a sentence, a quote, etc.), and I will pick one and either make a word poster like I intended or wimp out and just do a little bit of writing, like I did today. I am doing 10 of these….

Fox & Owl

Happy Sunday, everyone!