Sherri Haab Project PDF
Sherri Haab just sent along instructions on how to make an Alice in Wonderland pewter bezel charm bracelet. Other than the beads, everything you need to make the bracelet is available at her site, SherriHaab.com, including the Alice collage sheet!
Click here for the PDF instructions. (They will download immediately.)
Learn more about Sherri’s DVD workshops: Precious Metal Clay Jewelry and Resin Jewelry.
Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch in Cloth, Paper, Scissors
If you haven’t yet had the chance, pick up the March/April issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors and check out a tutorial by Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch on burning wood glue for encaustic* textures. In “Burned Glue & Paper: Playing with Fire,” Patricia writes that a student suggested she try burning wood glue after watching Patricia’s shellac burning techniques. Take a look starting on page 32.
To see Patricia demonstrate Shellac burning, check out her Creative Catalyst DVD workshop, Encaustic Collage Workshop.
*Remember to follow safety guidelines when working with encaustic.
New Discoveries
I recently finished editing Ned Mueller’s DVD, Making a Painting Work: Figurescape in Oil, and the project couldn’t have come at a better time. Normally I’m not a fan of oils. I grew up in a family of watercolorists. My own interests turned early toward mixed media. Oils always seemed to lack a certain something. But after I spent some time in the galleries of San Francisco, what was originally a begrudged feeling on the medium has turned into a real fascination. I love how tactile oil is. I’d never thought of oil as tactile. Really, I’d never thought about oil much at all. But tactility is one of the reasons I so love acrylic and collage. Mixed media creates depth and touch with collage and mediums. Oil creates it through thickness of paint but also – and this is what struck me – through brush technique. It was incredible to see all these portraits from the 1800s adorned with lush fur collars and intricate laces. They were so real I thought I’d be able to feel the fur and fibers if I touched them. I had been blind to that before.
So oil, I am willing to not wholly dismiss you. I know better now. And I am sorry for being a bit of a snob.
Upcoming Workshops
The DVDs are great, but live is even better. See where your favorite Creative Catalyst artists are teaching. For more classes, visit our live workshops listings.
Learn copper, silver and brass etching with the fantastic Sherri Haab and her equally delightful husband, Dan on Feb 21. There’s still some spots left so act quick. (Las Vegas.) Sherri Haab workshop.
You’ve always wanted to go to Mexico. Now is the time. Judy Morris is taking a group Feb 21-25 to the beautiful Puerto Vallarta. Judy Morris workshop.
Leslie Riley will be inspiring minds Feb 18 to 22 at The Presentation Center in Los Gato. Sixty seven acres in the redwoods. What’s not to inspire! Lesley Riley workshop.
To search workshops in your area, visit to the Creative Catalyst Live Workshops Listing.
Spotlight on Bagby Workshop
Put patterns to work with mixed media artist Anne Bagby
. You’ll create your own stamps, masks, stencils, and paper as you build a truly customized collage. Work fast and free, layering homemade paper and lush acrylic glazes to design an intricate and eclectic figure.
Anne makes all her own collage materials. She combines stamped and painted patterns to create the wafer-thin paper she uses throughout the workshop. You’ll transfer antique designs to hand-carved stamps and cut contact paper masks to guide custom stencils.
Using an experimental process, working simultaneously on five figures, Anne takes risks with the weakest, using the freedom of collage to find creative solutions. You’ll quickly build shapes with paper and slowly unify them with controlled glazes. The borders may resemble tapestry, quilts or printed fabrics.
We Sincerely Apologize
First, we want to wish you a very Happy New Year.
Secondly, we apologize. We are very sorry for the chaos we caused on ArtWorkshops.tv. We are especially sorry that your first day of 2010 began with frustration and disappointment. As you can imagine, the demand overwhelmed our wildest expectation. You have our word that we will fix the problem. If you experienced problems on ArtWorkshops.tv on January 1st, please link to Support and leave your contact information. If you know friends/family that had problems, please forward them this link. We will contact each one of you with your access to the workshops and make it as problem-free as we know how.
Again, we are very sorry!
Masking Fluid Tips
Masking fluid can be tricky to use. Here are a few pointers from the pros.
Harold Walkup, NWS, Watercolor Society of Oregon’s President, recommends storing masking fluid inverted. It help keeps the seal, thus reducing the wad of scum in the bottle. I’ve tried it and it works!
Susan Bourdet, Bold and Beautiful: Backyard Wildlife in Watercolor and Inspiration From the Garden, has several tips:
1) First, use an old or inexpensive brush to apply masking fluid. 2) For smoother edges, work from the inside of the shape outward. You’ll have more control. 3) Soap up your brush before starting. It will be easier to wash out excess masking fluid. 4)Wash your brush often to prevent globs drying on the bristles. 5) And finally, don’t shake the bottle before using the fluid. It creates small bubbles. It they are transferred to your work surface they will pop and permit small points of color to penetrate the mask.
Be sure to check to see if you need to soften the edges of the whites after the mask is removed. Otherwise the white may look foreign to the rest of your painting.
Eye Demo from Craig Nelson
View a quick clip from Craig Nelson’s Painting a Portrait in Oil from Life. Nelson uses just a few strokes to set the models eyes in place and establish highlights. Nelson uses just a few strokes too create a beautiful portrait of a sitting model in less than an hour. It is his “Quick Studies” method as applied to a life subject. Enjoy!
Un-warrented concerns?
Last Tuesday my critique group met for a casual Christmas get together. Talk around the table drifted across many topics but there was one of special interest to artists. It concerned atomizing pigments and health issues. One artist said that anything atomized presented a health hazard. He wears gloves while working in pastels and only when suction removes all pastel dust. He leaves the room when ever oil is brought out. And of course he does absolutely no air brush, even with a ventilator.
Is this paranoia or good sense? Does this mean NO atomization or only no atomization of cobalts and cadiums?
One of my favorite tools is the mouth atomizer. I love the effect it creates. I’m bummed.
Lynn
OUR GIFT TO YOU
For one day only, January 1, 2010, all Creative Catalyst workshops on www.ArtWorkshops.tv will be free to view online to newsletter members only. Register now (by creating a login and password) on ArtWorkshops.tv and be ready for a full day of free viewing. It’s a great way to get 2010 off to an inspirational start.
Note: You will need a broadband internet connection.
Barbara Nechis Interview (Part 2) Now Available!
Head over to the audio interviews section and listen as Creative Catalyst’s Lynn Powers interviews watercolorist Barbara Nechis.
This interview has been posted with part 1 in case you missed it!
ArtWorkshops.TV News
Now there is a low cost way to “test drive” any Creative Catalyst DVD before you buy it. Rent and watch Workshop DVDs,on ArtWorkshops.tv, instantly on your computer, from $7.95 & up for 24 hours.
You can try ArtWorkshops.tv FREE with Carla O’Connor’s, THE SETUP.
Join the ArtWorkshops.tv Newsletter, at the bottom of the home page, for special offers, new videos and discounts.
Happy Painting,
Jim
Arleta Pech’s, “Pure Color Glazing”
Arleta Pech’s systematic glazing process provides complete control while avoiding a heavy handed look.
In Pure Color Glazing in Watercolor, you’ll learn to create clean, mud-free color in realistic watercolor florals. Arleta shares the theory and practice of glazing with an introductory exercise.
After a quick discussion of photography, she selects and modifies reference material to improve her composition. She then enlarges her line drawing and transfers it to watercolor paper. In a single pass, Arleta blocks in the background, using multiple dark colors but maintaining the transparency that is watercolor’s hallmark.
Using the process she calls “pure color glazing,” she builds beautiful hues and delicate grays as her painting emerges, one layer at a time.
Jacqueline Sullivan, “Acrylics: Textures and Layers”
Jacqueline Sullivan believes a good design works in any direction. In this acrylic workshop, she demonstrates glazing and texturing techniques that make your paintings dynamic and organic, no matter which way you turn your canvas.
Jacqueline teaches you to work intuitively. Her design tips and thorough knowledge of acrylics help you master your materials and concentrate on your art.
She builds layers that combine spontaneous and controlled textures using tissue paper, molding paste and some surprising household materials. You’ll learn to modify your acrylic colors with mediums to ensure that your textures and transparencies work in perfect harmony.
Artist News and Notes
Barbara Nechis’s DVD, Watercolor from Within: Transparent Layering is near release. If you’d like to be notified when we begin the pre-order special, Send Susan an email, and she will add you to her list.
Robbie Laird, Flowing Florals: The Informed, Intuitive Approach, was in Oregon last week as a juror for the Watercolor Society of Oregon show. Congratulations to all WSO winners!
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