“Intro to Realism” with Karine Swenson; Online Class OPEN for Registration!

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Intro to Realism
Instructor: Karine Swenson
Two-Week Class • 6 Lessons
Class Dates: October 10-20, 2017

In this class you will learn techniques to help you strengthen your drawing and painting skills.

The emphasis will be placed on finding ways to develop your own unique style while getting closer to visual truth. Just as each person has unique handwriting, your own way of drawing and painting will become your strength.

Each of you will pick your own 3D object — a toy, a tool, or something that interests you — and render it multiple times, building from quick sketches all the way to a color painting. We will work with color and value and pay close attention to light and shadow to create dimensionality.

I look forward to working with you!

Karine Swenson

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Class Itinerary:

Week 1

Lesson 1
We will spend some time choosing our subject matter that you will draw and paint throughout this class. Then you will light it, photograph it, and do a couple of quick drawings of it! You will also draw your hand in this lesson, an ever-available subject and a great way to sneak a little drawing practice in wherever you find yourself.

Lesson 2
This lesson will be devoted to drawing — both quick study, and slower, more careful study. The drawings are part of the process of learning to see more and to develop better hand/eye coordination. You will do several drawings of your hand and your chosen subject.

Lesson 3
In this lesson we will do more quick studies and then work on and finish a value study in charcoal of our subject to prepare us for our painting.

Lesson 4
Paint!!! Today we will work with a very limited palette, and use our value study from Lesson 3 to help us navigate our first painting of our subjects.

Lesson 5
We will begin the final painting of our subjects. You will be able to expand your color palette (a little!).

Lesson 6
The focus of our final lesson will be to explore the finishing touches, how to know when you are finished, and what you can do to make a painting you like.

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Class begins October 10th. For details, click HERE!

 

“Joy Stuff: The Art of Noticing” with Lynn Whipple is OPEN for Registration!

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Joy Stuff: The Art of Noticing
Draw, Paint, Write, Print, Appreciate
Instructor: Lynn Whipple
Five-Week Class • 10 Lessons • $165

Class Dates: October 3 – November 2, 2017

Joy Stuff is about noticing everyday wonders and celebrating them through our art.

Joy Stuff is a delight-filled sketchbook practice and a nourishing and beautiful place to putter and to draw.

A Joy Stuff sketchbook is a creative place to write, print, paint and appreciate!

We will start by making yummy handmade papers with a Gelli® Plate — which are so much fun because they yield unexpected and exciting results — and then use those papers to design spreads and pages in our sketchbooks! We will draw out in nature, play with color, use cut paper in collage and soak in our favorite surroundings. We will be inspired by our everyday heroes and share tiny gifts. We will smile, breathe deep, and notice the lovely little things!

Life becomes richer and more fun when filled with Joy Stuff! 

Big LOVE!!

xoxo
Lynn

For details about the lessons and to sign up, click HERE!

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Some of Lynn’s wonderful Joy Stuff artwork:

 

“Meaning Making: Inspired by Poetry” New Online Class Open for Registration

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Meaning Making: Inspired by Poetry
Instructor: Lendon Noe
2-Week Class • 6 Lessons • $85
Class Dates: September 19-29, 2017

Sign up today!

Do you ever feel as if you don’t know where you are going with your artwork?

This class is about finding inspiration and adding meaning to your artwork through literature and poetry!

All of my life, I have leaned on my favorites (Emily Dickinson, Rilke, William Carlos Williams, Pablo Neruda) to add extra depth to my artwork. I don’t try to illustrate these great writers; instead, I try to create visual metaphors — and would love to share my working methods with you!

This class begins by looking at some of our favorite poems, poem fragments, and even single words that affect us. We’ll ask questions of the poem and the poet. What colors do you feel? What is the shape of your longing?

We will create beautiful painted papers using my favorite surface treatment techniques and will literally (as well as figuratively) tear into our papers, making fragments that will become the foundation for our larger pieces.

We will play a game of forced connections between image and idea to enhance your creative thinking. We will work with ink, pencil, pens, stamps, white gesso on Rives BFK paper. We’ll also incorporate collage, image transfers, text and drawings into our pieces.

I hope you can join me!

Lendon Noe

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Class Itinerary:

Week 1

Lesson 1 – Poetry-Inspired Artwork
In this lesson we will create two sonnet-structure papers and six paper pieces using the words dense, dark, and thick — inspired by Sonnets to Orpheus by Rainer Maria Rilke.

Lesson 2 – The Image Found
Today we are going to turn to our poets for imagery. We will make a list to increase our fluidity and flexibility, and then I’ll show you one of my favorite techniques for gathering images from real objects (like fruit and flowers) using a photocopier. Warning, this is highly addictive! When we get some images we like, we’ll collage them to our background papers, beginning to layer.

Lesson 3 – Image Transfers
We will spend a moment reviewing image transfer vs. collage and then I’ll show you my favorite image transfer method.

Week 2

Lesson 4 – By Your Own Hand
Today I will encourage you to draw. I know some of you might be reluctant but there is nothing like adding something from your own hand to make a piece uniquely yours. We will practice using a tracing paper pad and try lots of drawing tools and techniques to loosen your hand and hopefully give you a little more confidence. Then I will show you how you might collage a tracing pad drawing to one of your background pieces and/or draw right on your developing pieces.

Lesson 5 – Text!
We have looked to our poets for structure and for images now how about the words themselves? Can we, should we put the poetry directly into our art? We will consider two ways of working with text – including scribbling and using text as form in a piece.

Lesson 6 – Making Connections
Today we will consider ways to finish our pieces. We will edit our papers (which may include tearing away parts or using gesso to vail over some of your work). And we will consider ways to connect pieces of paper other than just using glue.

Sign up today!

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Lendon Hamilton Noe is a native of Jackson, Tennessee, where she has been a Professor of Art at Lambuth University, Head of the School of Arts and Communications, and Chair of the Visual Art Department. She taught primarily, drawing, painting and design. She graduated from Rollins College in Florida, earning the BA in Art and English Literature. She studied in Denver at the Rocky Mountain School of Art and then returned to Tennessee and completed an MS in Art Education at UT Knoxville. She completed her MFA in Painting and Mixed Media at Vermont College. Her work includes oil painting, original prints, mixed media, and installation. See more of Lendon’s work at her website: www.lendonnoe.com.

Lynda Barry & Dan Chaon Workshop

Hi!

Last week I attended a writing workshop at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, with Lynda Barry and Dan Chaon: Writing from Workbook 52. It was terrific!

We worked hard. We wrote a lot, and we also DREW a lot!

Here are some of the index-card “attendance cards” Lynda had us do each day (a self portrait in some situation or other). My class name was “Ms. Scribbles”:

In Space…

Turning into an animal…

Dancing with a bear…

And something we had done the day before, as Batman…

 

Lynda Barry is super funny and we laughed almost non-stop! On the last night of camp, she showed Dirty Dancing, and the next day we had to draw ourselves dancing with Patrick Swayze:

Thank you to Professors Peanut and Frightwig for a great week!

 

 

 

Summer Blog Posts #15

The last post for this batch: Something FOUND, Something WRITTEN, and Something MADE.

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Something FOUND

elefante by Patricia Tewel

Something WRITTEN

I tried to incorporate all 30 of your two-word suggestions from the last post into a cohesive story. 😀

Thank you, everyone!

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“It’s not a big deal,” he said.

“Yes, it is.”

At 54 she had had her share of baking disasters, but she couldn’t remember ever having made such an icky sticky mess before. Her thoughts had been elsewhere… on tomorrow’s long flight.

The full moon hadn’t helped either.

He came over and stuck his finger in the sugary ant trap (with a lemon twist, no less!), tasted her disaster, then gave her a sticky kiss. “I’m turning on the talking fish*,” he said and left the kitchen. She tried to smile.

He shuffled into the den and settled into the couch next to their softly snoring dog. He loved their dog, but he missed kitty purrs too — they had had to euthanize their 12-year-old cat last Spring, and she had been so sweet, so funny…! Bone, the dog, sighed loudly, the betrayal not lost on this sensitive soul. “Don’t worry, I like you too,” he said, scratching Bone’s ear and turning his attention to the home fire on the screen.

She was scraping the dessert into the trash when suddenly she was furious. At what? Or who? Her lost friends? Her husband? The fact that it was almost fall and it was nearly time to make the house blanket ready (one of her least-favorite tasks)?

She made her decision.

“When are we going to replace these ugly tiles?” she nearly yelled. “And what’s with these stains on the counter?”

He stood calmly at the doorway. “It’s time to get packed so we will be on time in the morning,” he said, hoping this minor smoke screen would do its job. (Why his water spills keep turning brown, he didn’t know, but he was pretty sure that an effort to defend himself right now would be futile.)

It had been so long since she had gotten so upset; still, if he were given three wishes he would use them all to eradicate these unhappy time wasters.

As fast as the irritation arose, it disappeared. She was grateful for her husband and his tolerance of these irrational flareups… menopause really did suck … and she decided to accept his invitation and fall forward into his outstretched arms.

The next morning he waved goodbye as he pulled away from the curb. “Travel safe!” he called out, and she was gone. “Airplane runs are always too early,” he grumbled as he turned onto the freeway and headed for home.

But then he felt a stab of excitement… he would get an early start to his day… get some breakfast, read the paper, work….

All was well, wonderful things were happening.

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*”Talking fish” is their private joke — a nickname for television newscasters.

 

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Something MADE

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Have a wonderful rest of summer! Thank you again for reading these posts and I’ll be back with another batch soon enough. 😀

Summer Blog Posts #14

So I checked my calendar and the next time I get on an airplane is August 12th. So I plan to do three weeks of M-F posts until then: Something FOUND, Something WRITTEN, and Something MADE.

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Something FOUND

Miranda Skoczek (via The Art Room Plant)

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Something WRITTEN

clear head suggested by lynnholland

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The last time I felt clearheaded I was in my 20s.

In recent decades I have felt more cottonheaded.

I am a Cottonhead.

Many people can’t remember their dreams, and I can’t either, mostly. But it occurred to me the other day that I can’t remember what I was thinking 15 seconds ago, so not remembering my dreams really makes perfect sense.

Writing things down helps me remember what I was thinking during that last paragraph, so there are tools Cottonheads can use to cope.

It’s not so bad, really!

I’m sure I’ve thought of some benefits before, but I certainly can’t remember them and, if I wrote them down, I don’t remember where.

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Something MADE

Color Wheel

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Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you tomorrow!

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Please help me decide what to write about for the last post, #15! Comment with two words — they can be anything, nouns, verbs, names — and I will pick a set for tomorrow’s post. Examples: “rose bud,” “likable fleas,” “pow wow,” “Smith Tower” etc.

Summer Blog Posts #13

So I checked my calendar and the next time I get on an airplane is August 12th. So I plan to do three weeks of M-F posts until then: Something FOUND, Something WRITTEN, and Something MADE.

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Something FOUND

http://mirocomachiko.com

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Something WRITTEN

time flies suggested by kat

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When I was in my early 20s I named my publishing company “Time Flies Publishing.”

My catalog consisted of a mini “Fun Book” meant for children, photocopied and folded into a “book” from a single sheet of paper.

I’m embarrassed for my younger self… if I were 12 and had named a publishing company like that, it would have been cute. But 24?

Every time I hear or read that phrase, I remember this association from 30 years ago.

Time flies!

 

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Something MADE

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Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you tomorrow!

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Please help me decide what to write about tomorrow! Comment with two words — they can be anything, nouns, verbs, names — and I will pick a set for tomorrow’s post. Examples: “good karma,” “down town,” “um, no,” “well fare” etc.

Summer Blog Posts #12

So I checked my calendar and the next time I get on an airplane is August 12th. So I plan to do three weeks of M-F posts until then: Something FOUND, Something WRITTEN, and Something MADE.

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Something FOUND

Marian Bijlenga

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Something WRITTEN

watching seagulls suggested by paulette

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We live near Elliott Bay in Seattle and so seagulls are a big part our our daily soundtrack.

Sometimes I wake up early enough to hear them squawking in unison… or, more likely, they wake me up.

Most of the time during the day, though, there is the consistent, pleasant sound of a seagull talking to us.

Sometimes the sky is quiet for a time, but it’s never long before one of them needs to squawk.

I can hear one right now… and I see two, no three flying across the sky… from where I sit.

If I need cheering up I can walk down to Ivar’s Fish Bar and watch scores of seagulls doing cartwheels in the air for french fries… and I know not to worry, because “seagulls are dainty eaters” (as the sign at the restaurant says).

Recently we needed the sound of seagulls calling for one of our 365 class videos. Steve put the recorder out on our windowsill for nearly an hour, but not a single seagull!

Instead we had to pay $20 for a digital recording to get the video out on time.

I’m not sure how they knew.

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Something MADE

Seattle skyline.

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Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you tomorrow!

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Please help me decide what to write about tomorrow! Comment with two words — they can be anything, nouns, verbs, names — and I will pick a set for tomorrow’s post. Examples: “it’s okay” “fun stuff,” “wow factor,” “Jake boyfriend” etc.

Summer Blog Posts #11

So I checked my calendar and the next time I get on an airplane is August 12th. So I plan to do three weeks of M-F posts until then: Something FOUND, Something WRITTEN, and Something MADE.

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Something FOUND

Nice bear by Ashley Percival Illustration

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Something WRITTEN

missing person suggested by Lendon

 

 

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A part of me got lost today,

So perhaps
I am
the missing someone.

I know I will be found.

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Something MADE

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Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you tomorrow!

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Please help me decide what to write about tomorrow! Comment with two words — they can be anything, nouns, verbs, names — and I will pick a set for tomorrow’s post. Examples: “hard breath” “toe green,” “grasp lightly,” “carrot cake” etc.

Summer Blog Posts #10

So I checked my calendar and the next time I get on an airplane is August 12th. So I plan to do three weeks of M-F posts until then: Something FOUND, Something WRITTEN, and Something MADE.

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Something FOUND

“Southampton’s barrage balloons floated gleaming in the moonlight like the ghosts of elephants and hippos.” — Elizabeth Wein, from Code Name Verity

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Something WRITTEN

playful rhino suggested by Dia

When I saw this prompt, I somehow mixed up “rhino” and “hippo” in my mind, and thought of this children’s book effort from 2013 (created in that year’s online class “Year of the Giraffe”). I’ve never done anything with it — too shy!! — so why not publish it here for everyone in the world to see? (HA! But I feel I’m among friends here….) 

And apologies to Dia… there isn’t actually a playful rhino here!

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(a portion)…
Another time my giraffe wanted to visit the hippos.

Unfortunately, I’m afraid of hippopotamuses. They’re kind of big, and not at all gentle like giraffes.

But I was too shy to tell her that, so instead I said I that had heard that hippos were really giant grey balloons, and that if you poked them with a pin they would pop, shrivel up, and become fuzzy grey blankets.

The giraffe believed me and we went on with our day.

That night, however, she had a conversation with a giggling hyena, and the next day the giraffe was unhappy with me.

I tried to tell her that hyenas laugh at everything, but that just made her more upset.

I felt bad, but what could I do?

Hippos were indeed balloons, and if you didn’t glue them to the ground they would float in the air like big grey clouds in the rainbow-colored sky.

…

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Something MADE

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Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you tomorrow!

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Please help me decide what to write about tomorrow! Comment with two words — they can be anything, nouns, verbs, names — and I will pick a set for tomorrow’s post. Examples: “giraffe love” “blue green,” “don’t lie,” “jay walk” etc.