Halfway through Art & Soul

Art & Soul - Hampton started Thursday, so we're halfway through and the time is just flying!  I am having SOOOOO much fun!  Thursday I took a class called "Fluid Romance" from Kari McKnight - just awesome.  I learned a ton about paints - which colors are opaque, which are translucent and which are almost transparent - and, best of all, how to use that knowledge and make it work for you in your painting.  Kari taught lots of layering techniques, too, from making images go "deep" into your collage work to creating three-dimensional layers, so what you see below is not intended to be a finished project; it's the canvas on which I practiced the techniques Kari taught.  Awesome!  Such a great teacher and a super nice person, too!

My practice canvas from Kari's class

I took evening classes on Thursday and Friday from one of my all-time favorite teachers, Lesley Venable.  Thursday night was "Tied, Tagged and Twisted."  We learned a transfer technique, some stamping and stenciling techniques and lots about how to work with fluid chalk - something that had always given me a hard time.  We practiced these techniques on plain tags - they weren't plain when we finished with them! - then tied and stitched them into pretty little booklets.  Friday night's class with Lesley was "A Trio of Transfers."  We learned how to create transfers using Contact paper, plastic wrap and a product called Transfer Ink.  We practiced on tags and a small canvas board.  Everyone's projects were beautiful!  Another super nice person and a great teacher.  Lesley comes with an extra bonus - her husband Tom who is a baker extraordinaire and who supplies all of Lesley's classes with homemade cookies and brownies.  What a neat couple!

Fronts of my tag book pages

Backs of my tag book pages

During the day on Friday, I took a class called "Through the Rabbit Hole" with Ingrid Dijkers.  This one was complicated AND complex, and nobody finished, BUT when these books are done, they are going to be amazing.  They're called "tunnel books" because each page has a successively smaller hole with things peeking through - lots of fun!  I'll put a picture of Ingrid's here so you can see what I'm talking about.  She has some of the most beautiful journals I've ever seen.  If you ever have an opportunity to take a class from Ingrid, be the first in line to sign up!

Ingrid Dijkers' "Through the Rabbit Hole"

Today I took "Cover to Cover" with the incredible Misty Mawn.  I learned the coptic bookbinding stitch!  I'd seen it before and thought it was so beautiful, but all so complicated I would never learn it.  Wrong!  We made gorgeous little soft cover books in the morning and then spent the afternoon painting and embellishing the pages.  I still have a long way to go to finish mine, but will post pictures when it's done.  Misty is not only a gifted artist, but also a wonderful and very patient teacher.  I've already pre-ordered her book Unfurling which will be released June 1.  Saw her copy today and it is AMAZING!!  You can order your copy now at Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com.

Two more days of classes - yay!  Will tell you all about it soon!