Wednesday, April 26, 2017

What Happens When Creative Women Inspire and Collaborate


What happens when creative women inspire and collaborate? 

Painted Sounds! 

Inspiration  

On March 16, 2017 several members of the CNY Branch of the National League of American Pen Women met and shared poetry and art with the intention of inspiring each other. Our goal was to create a new piece of art or poem based on a piece another artist or poet had shared. We had two months to create the new piece or pieces. It was great fun to share our words and images, but even nicer to see another Penwomen's eyes light up when they responded to something that lit the spark of creativity in their souls.


Unveiling!

On May 18, 4:30 pm at the Genesee Grande we will be unveiling new work inspired by our fellow artists and writers. You are welcome to join The CNY Branch NLAPW at our reception and have the option to stay for dinner (buffet menu and prices are on poster below). 

If you are interested in being a part of our celebration please RSVP to Janet Fagal 315 685-0429 or email jfagal@gmail.com by May 11.
I hope to see you there! And if you are there I hope you will be inspired!



Tuesday, April 25, 2017

We're baaaack...............


Arts on Genesee is back! And you'll find me there with paintings, prints, cards, silk scarves, alcohol ink designs, tote bags and what ever else I can whip up in Windy Hill Studio between now and then!

Hope to see you there!

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Introduction to Watercolor Workshop in Watertown




"Cherry Blossoms"

Watertown and North Country Friends

I will be teaching an Introduction to Watercolor 1-day Workshop for North Country Arts Council on May 6,  11:00 am - 3:30 pm.

You can read more about it below, and click on the attached link for registration information.


Class Description

The best way to learn the beautiful, luminous technique of transparent watercolor is to begin with the basics. In this class you will learn the properties of watercolor, color mixing, wet-on-wet technique, dry brush and creating texture and atmosphere in your paintings. All supplies included. 
There will be a 30-minute lunch break half way through the workshop. Pot luck lunches are encouraged.
The class is for Beginner/Intermediate students, Adults and Teens 15+”
Class fee: Non-members $67.50, NCAC members $60.70
Pre-registration is REQUIRED. Registration deadline is May 4th.


http://www.nnyart.org/site/events/watercolor-the-basics/



Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Adventures With Alcohol----------Ink

"Yellow Flower" alcohol ink on ceramic tile

Adventures With Alcohol----Ink.   I'll bet I had some of you at "alcohol"! 

About two weeks ago I had a conversation with fellow artist and Penwomen Wendy Harris about the need to change it up every now and then. To step away from our usual media and method of producing art and do some thing DIFFERENT.

Wendy currently has a show of abstractions at the Edgewood Gallery in Syracuse. These paintings, in a variety of acrylic-type paints on various surfaces were definitely a step away from her usual and she was wondering how they would be received by the people who were used to seeing her pastel landscapes. In my opinion the paintings are magnificent! And I believe they were well received.

But the point I am trying to make is that artists (my self included) from time to time need to step away from their comfort zone and try something new. When I was teaching, especially the children's classes, these experiments in different media seemed to happen organically. I seemed to always be able to adapt something from the classes to my own work. Now I need to make the effort to make the change.


Enter: the Alcohol Inks

A few weeks ago I has attended a demonstration by an artist using alcohol inks on ceramic tiles. The random mixing and separating of colors intrigued me. And the colors themselves are so intense. So I immediately went out and bought all the supplies needed with the intention of experimenting as soon as possible. It's funny how as soon as possible can be put off for a couple of weeks. At this time of the year I am gearing up for shows and sales in the Thousand Islands and Sackets Harbor vacation areas and it's hard to put away the tried and true images and media to make time to "play". The to-do list for Windy Hill Studio is always jam-packed in March and April. 



But after seeing Wendy's experiments with a new medium, I decided it was my turn to play around with something different. So over the weekend I set aside the to-do list and tried my hand at alcohol inks. The inks were dripped, dropped and blown with a straw and what ever happened, happened. Some were very interesting and others were --hmmm how shall I put it--"a lesson in what not to do". But hey, you just wash away the ink with rubbing alcohol and start over.

I photographed my favorites and am sharing them here. I'm hoping to have a little more time in the next few days to experiment some more and see what happens.

Who knows??? Maybe my piece for Penwomen's Painted Sounds will be done in Alcohol Inks! Somehow I'm seeing Bobbie's flowers and Mary's "Untangling Dark". Hmmmmmmmmm