Adventures in Pretty: February 2012

The Magic of Light (& Art Workshops in Seattle)

Things are busy around here-I'm preparing for classes, teaching classes, and creating art, jewelry, and scarves to sell at Artfest. The kitties however, are balancing out all this activity with power naps on the hour, every hour! : )

There are just a few spaces left in March's workshops. If you'd like to join in the fun, email me right away to save your spot.

Sunday, March 4th-A Gypsy's Journal

She has a secret. When she goes for walks in the woods, she transforms into a Gypsy, and travels many lands before coming home for tea. Along the way she has delightful adventures. She keeps a journal of these tales hidden in the oldest tree at the edge of the forgotten orchard. At night, after everyone has gone to bed, she reads her adventures aloud to the fireflies and faeries.

Upon your journal pages, you’ll let your imagination float free and spin new stories. To get our creative juices flowing we’ll start with a few creative writing exercises. Let your stories unfold with layers of stamping, collage, and swooshes of paint. I’ll demonstrate a variety of tricks for combining media from start to finish. In addition we’ll look at fun ways to add in unexpected details with beads, wire, ribbon, fabric and buttons. Learn how to stay loose and keep the intuitive juices flowing. There are no rules, just joyous creating from our imagination. Join us and express who you secretly might be if...

Info and registration

Saturday, March 10th, Beginning Watercolor-Testing the Waters.

This hands-on class is the perfect introduction to watercolor. You’ll learn how to set up your work area and arrange your palette. We’ll discuss different types of paint, brushes, and paper. You’ll get to compare student and professional grade paint, cold and hot press paper, and different types of brushes. Learn how to do dry brush, wet in wet, solid washes, and graduated washes. Discover how to mix and layer colors, and how to mix a whole color wheel from just three colors. This is a fun introduction to watercolor!

Info and registration

Enjoy the photos and have a great week!

For today's blog post, I gathered together some of my favorite photos taken over the last year, that all feature light. The sun is out this morning and the tulip bulbs are breaking through the ground and beginning to stretch their leaves up. Spring is not here yet, but the birds all seem to be chirping, "Soon!, soon!, soon!".

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Friday, February 17, 2012

Nature Journal in Watercolor --art class in Seattle

I am so looking forward to the class I'm teaching on Sunday! My first love was watercolor (well first came the 48 color pen set...). I know a lot of people say that watercolor is hard, but don't you believe them. It is a very expressive medium and with a few tips you'll be delighted at how fun it is.

Nature Journal in Watercolor

Have you ever been out in nature that was so breathtaking, you wanted some way to record the moment? Watercolor is the perfect medium for capturing your emotional response to these delicious moments. In this class you'll learn easy and fun techniques to create visually rich pages mixed with journal writing. Discover what supplies to bring and how to set up to make it easy to paint next time you are on location. You'll learn how to use composition to tell your story, mixing soft and hard edges, and how to create the illusion of trees, grass, and rocks. Plus you'll go away with several ideas of how to mix in journal writing with your paintings. You'll work from your own reference photos of landscapes, animals, plants, flowers, water, or stones. This is a perfect class for those who have taken a Beginning Watercolor class or equivalent, and want to expand their skills. Join us and have fun using color and mark making, any place close to your heart!

If you'd ever like to join us-you'll find all the class info here.

And here are some of my own watercolor journal pages.