Mixed Media with Jane LaFazio - a 3-week RECAP

At last, I am finding & making & taking the time to catch up on this blog ... my "creative adventures" have not slowed down, not one bit, but I have ... so forgive me for posting plenty of new material now. I know that can be overwhelming, but I have so very much to share with you!

I was fortunate to just squeak in under the registration wire for another six-week session of MIXED MEDIA WITH PAPER AND CLOTH, through the La Jolla Athanaeum (I love spelling that word; don't you?!), taught by local artist extraordinaire, Jane LaFazio. You might recall that my artistic journey, as far as acrylics and mixed media / collage work really began just this January - with Jane, and a classfull of beautiful, amazing artists - of all levels of experience (though I believe I was the very very very novice of the group).

So this round began for a new group of us on Monday, April 13th ...

Jane showing us how to wet the paper and apply (Ranger) Adirondack Color Wash to create a background that we would begin working with next week.

don't know why it posted UPSIDE DOWN :-) ... but these are my 2 backgrounds

and Jane, in the mirror, showing us how to create GEL SKIN TRANSFERS ... to work with throughout our upcoming weeks together.

I AM SO GLAD she challenged us to work with these -- I had good success with my first attempts, and it opened up big doors of possibility for me !!!

Week Two: Monday, April 20

Jane first tells us where to take our backgrounds -- we were to apply tissue paper transfers with matte medium to our painted backgrounds -- and if we needed to soften the color/s, we were to use some Titan Buff (Golden acrylic) to the surface ... as Jane did here.

then Jane shows us what's next: applying a shape to the background by TRACING the outline with a permanent ink pen. Jane will be using a kimono shape (which is also what I ended up choosing).

then Jane goes around the room, looking at everyone's work thus far; I love how enthusiastic she is about our process, and how much problem-solving she helps us work through (when necessary).

and then, the super fun part of Session Two: making PASTE PAPERS with Al Rodriguez of San Diego Book Arts ... man, was this a fun experience !!!

Unfortunately, I had a major migraine on Paste Paper Day (week 2) and had to leave class 30 minutes early. It didn't help that temperatures had reached 94 by 11:30 am and the heat just brings on the migraine that much heavier. Woe was me !!! Still, I was able to produce about six sheets of really cool paste paper to work with in Session Three.

Week Three: Monday, April 27, 2009

We're halfway through our sessions with Jane, now. It's time to put those first-class backgrounds to work with our paste papers from class-two.

but first, an exciting discovery: SPOONFLOWER fabric. Jane had some fabric printed using her own art - here, her RABBITS, with the original watercolor journal page.

http://www.spoonflower.com/welcome

the always fun & effervescent Kenneth & his bride, Rachel - sharing their papers with the class. and BTW, they have their own Art Studio 'coming soon' down at Liberty Station - we can hardly wait to see their new digs !!!

Here's a link to Kenneth's BLOG - he is a very gifted photographer, and he participates in BEST SHOT MONDAY, a gig that I also participate in ... check it out:

http://kennethgreenephotographyanddesign.blogspot.com/


Jane, showing us the silhouette that one of us wants to use - the original artwork was done by Jacqueline, another local and very talented artist, who likes to work with encaustic (wax) finishes, too.

and this is the darling Jacqueline ...

SO THERE YOU HAVE the first three weeks of our class ... April 13, April 20, and April 27.

-- Princess Magpie

My Artistic Journey, in a Nutshell

Long overdue, this posting is ...

On Saturday March 7 and Sunday March 8, I attended two full days of workshops with Golden working artist CHRIS COZEN ... and all I can say is ... who knew?!

I used to have one of those {because I didn't know any better, OBVIOUSLY} attitudes about ACRYLIC paints ... like, 'that's for children', OR 'that's cheesy', or, well, you get the idea.

I have many people to thank for my awakening:

FIRST, my friend ANN DEAKERS, who first (re) turned me to local artist JANE LA FAZIO. I say "re-turned", because I first met Jane some years ago at a Pampered Chef party ... and then she invited me to her home to do another one! I then ran into Jane at an event at Quail Botanical Gardens, where I bought some of her lovely painted cards.

SO when Ann told me about Jane's WATERCOLOR JOURNALING workshop, I signed up with friend Cynthia (Fall 2007) and away we went. It was challenging, it was eye-opening, it was incredible. But that was only the beginning!

NEXT, friend Ann forwarded me a link to the blog of artist KELLY RAE ROBERTS. Wow, what a find. I ordered a few of KRR's art prints {which are still waiting for frames - one's a gift for my daughter Kristina, although she doesn't know it ... yet!} and over the months, I became so enamored of KRR's work and her blog-style, I couldn't resist ordering her first book: Taking Flight: Inspiration And Techniques To Give Your Creative Spirit Wings {which you can purchase thru Amazon, or Barnes & Noble, or directly from Kelly Rae, which will include her autograph}. When her book arrived, WOW. I was so enchanted. But what were all these materials and mediums she was talking about? Her supply list was all-encompassing, and I didn't know what 75% of those things were / were for ... Talk about intimidating !!!

SO then, as my Scrapbooking and Stamping / CardMaking SUPPLIES began to expand to include materials for COLLAGE WORK, I began my quest. The quest to discover "life beyond ModPodge" {as a young girl, Mom would plop me down at a TV tray, with a box of paper and ribbon scraps, and some glitter, and a bottle of glue - or Mod Podge - and I'd create collages to my little heart's content}. And by the way, ModPodge is alive & well, folks, and easily adapted to your art projects.

OKAY, so then PAPER SOURCE opened up right here at The Forum, in Carlsbad, a mere 6 minutes door to door {dangerous stuff, that} ... and it was there that I picked up a beautiful book by mother-daughter duo Sunny and MaryJo KOCH.

Vintage Collage-Works: Artful Ideas with Antique Ephemera is the title, and I was again ENCHANTED by the possibilities lying within those pages. Wow, wow, wow. But again - an extensive list of supplies & materials, and me, ignorant about what most of them are, or how they're used, or what they're used for.

And thus began my journey. I googled "mixed media art class san diego" and I came up with - get this - the name Jane LaFazio. At the top of the list! So I sent Jane a quick e-mail, asking her what this MIXED MEDIA term really meant, and she said I should sign up for her upcoming 6-week class through the La Jolla Athanaeum.

I jumped in, feet first, and the rest is blogging history! {if you haven't seen my blog before, the entire six weeks was 'journaled' herein, complete with photographs}

I learned so much, but mostly what I learned was that there is SO MUCH MORE to be learned!

But instead of being intimidated, now I am INSPIRED and INTRIGUED and EXCITED.

Thanks to Yvonne, who was in my first 6-week MIXED MEDIA with Jane LaFazio, I sought out workshops with Golden working-artist CHRIS COZEN ... because the idea of learning how to do IMAGE TRANSFERs was so exciting to me.

a smattering of the work I did in the Chris Cozen {Golden product} workshops, March 2009

Thanks to STAMPING DETAILS in Poway, California, for hosting 5 workshops with Chris earlier this month {of which I attended four}. More eye-opening, more stretching, more possibilities opening up. You might say that I'm no longer "on the fence" about art and it's place in my life :-) ...

"On The Fence" {a tribute to my mother, Edith} - this piece was made, start to finish, during the Chris Cozen weekend at Stamping Details in Poway, March '09

Big sigh. Contented sigh.

-- Princess Magpie

Parting is SUCH Sweet Sorrow, aka MIXED MEDIA CLASS SIX

As with most things in life, the BACKSTORY is often what makes something come "alive" for us. Our resident former-set-designer walked us through a piece of her past with this as the visual guide ... wow. I can't even describe the impact it had on me.

So on my drive to University Heights on Monday morning, I'm listening to the 101.5 {FM} on the radio, and they're talking about Shakespeare. They kept getting it backwards -- the whole Juliet-fakes-her-death scene -- they kept saying Romeo faked HIS death, and upon finding him, SHE killed herself {first} ... when we all clearly know that SHE faked HER death, he found her and, not knowing, killed HIMSELF; upon awakening, she finds HIM well & truly dead, and then - plunges that dagger into her own belly. YIKES.

But the general mood at the end of our Mixed Media with Paper & Cloth, a la Jane LaFazio class that same day ... was SUCH a "parting is such sweet sorrow" snapshot.

We had all thoroughly enjoyed the lessons, the instructor, and each other {that was the SWEET part}. Yet it was now over, and there was a real sadness {that would be the SORROW part} to the morning.

come on ... do tell ... can YOUR art teacher do this?! Bravo, Jane!

JULIET
Sweet, so would I: Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing. Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

In keeping with today's Shakespeare theme {I just love the serendipity of it all}, I give you Marti's Rose - her "folk art rose" -

"What's in a name?

that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet;

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes without that title." {Juliet speaks again)

Everybody loves a clown ...

especially Noel's creative "circles project" clown series !!!

One of our classmates, Althea Brimm, has an upcoming exhibition at the "home" of our beloved La Jolla Athenauem, which is the entity we took THIS class through:

LA JOLLA ATHENAEUM, at 1008 Wall St (between Girard Ave & Herschel Ave) in La Jolla, CA 92037 (858) 454-5872
www.ljathenaeum.org

Rotunda Gallery: Althea Brimm: Keep This Coupon

April 3-May 9

Reception THURSDAY, April 2 6:30-8:30 PM

Althea Brimm's recent collages are made up of ephemera, “exquisitely rusted and stained by time.” Ephemera, by definition, is something that lasts only one day. So, Althea tells us, she is proud to say this work has lasted more than one day—and counting. Althea lives in La Jolla, and her work has appeared in The Athenaeum Biennial Artists' Books Exhibitions. She has also exhibited at the Santa Ysabel Art Gallery. Her work has spanned many mediums. She graduated from the University of Rochester in New York and moved to La Jolla in 1961.

Althea, left; and Liz, explaining what this class has meant to her

And classmate YVONNE has invited all of us to participate in the local ATC group that meets the first Friday of each month down at Liberty Station ... what is an ATC, you might ask? ATC = Artist's Trading Card. It's a miniature "original" {usually, although not always} in 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" format -- that one TRADES with other artists.

Yvonne, always sharing good information with us

SAN DIEGO ATC GROUP meets First Friday of the month, 6-8 pm at the Expressive Arts Institute, 2820 Roosevelt Road, Suite 204 {upstairs}, in the D'Arrigo ARTS Building, San Diego CA 92106.

So what else did we do on our last class date this week? We laughed, and we shared, and we were inspired & encouraged by all the work done by our roomful of fellow artists / artisans.

Howard & Lauren chat at the art class version of an office water cooler;

the collage scrap box !!!

Kenneth & His Harem - Photoshop 101 :-)

{spot those socks - I think he borrowed 'em from Jane, maybe?!}

Reggie sharing one of her fabulous collage pieces ...

Jean's FRUIT series -- done with actual apples, oranges, etc ... I was so intrigued with these ...

And Nancy just "knew" there was a BUNNY on this collage backround ...

Sure enough, there's her LOP ...

So until we meet again in another class, another workshop, on the street, in a cafe -- my artistic friends, I bid you adieu ...

-- Princess Magpie

P.S. and PLEASE consider signing up for Jane's next 6-week session, Mixed Media with Paper & Cloth - again, through the La Jolla Athanaeum ... I did !!!