Friends + Art = Happiness

I have just had two great days with my art friends. The comradery by itself was worth every moment we spent together but we touched so many things that I only had thought about doing and we were able to share things that we thought others might enjoy.


This was the first time I tried rust dyeing. Some came out great and some that we tried in a big bin did not (too much liquid). But we learn from out mistakes also.





This was the first time I tried a silly kids product, Friendly Plastic. I had so much fun with this stuff. I have a bunch of ideas for future projects. This is about 5 sticks so $10 bucks. I felt I got my money's worth.


I hate working with wax resist so I was more than ready to try one that was supposed to wash out. We used glue gel to make a design and then painted Dyna Flow over it, then dried it with a hair dryer. The next delima was do you wash the fabric to get the glue out first or heat set the fabric to set the paint? Both seemed like a bad idea. I was picking at it while we were talking and found out you could just peel off the glue. Fantastic!


I must have had a deprived childhood (actually just a neat mother) because no one could believe that I had never done anything with paper mache (my school also was not very art oriented). But now I can not say that anymore. We started armatures with foil and then began the paper mache part. Great fun but I still am peeling glue off my fingers. I spent last week trying to get paint off my hands from the Jesse Reno workshop. Maybe it is going to be a permanent condition. I started a few pieces so I can work on one while the others dry.




We also worked on paper cloth. There are so many twists on doing this that we just shared the way we choose to do it and learned from others. One friend, Holly, was using copies of some of her artwork. It should have been obvious that that was a good thing to do but I never thought of doing it. I will now. Elizabeth showed how to make really cute books out of this stuff. She also shared on how to make a stamp pad for using acrylic paints. Again pretty obvious but we hadn't thought about it so thanks Elizabeth. Right now mine are pretty ugly so I will post them when I am further along.



One of our members is going to Africa to visit and work with some young girls. Hopefully she will have a chance to share some of the ideas with them. She is excited to be going and I wish I was mouse size so I could fit in her pocket.

Flying outside my comfort zone

I had an opportunity to spend a day with Jesse Reno. The class was fantastic! Those of you who are familiar with his work know it is wild and expressive. I have never attempted anything like it before and I wanted to push myself. I had a blast!

The pictures I am posting are not finished but they are pretty far along. I will show them later when I have time to work on the details. So much fun.

What did I start?

I keep emptying bins, drawers, and bags of stuff. I feel like they will never end but each time I finish each one I am so proud. There is hope! So far I have cleared out a couple of car loads of stuff. I am so glad I found our local art center. I can not throw things away but I feel good when I know someone else will have access to my excess.



Finding time for some art. I took another class from Leighanna Light. Her classes are so much fun. I do not get uptight, I can relax and learn while I play. This one was collage on canvas. I really like how they are coming along. I will post again when they are done.

Our art group met the other day. I love show and tell there are always so many good ideas and examples and we got a mini demo on wire wrapping from one of our members. Thanks Elizabeth! We are going to do an ATC exchange next month so I will post them then. And we are going to do a mini 2 day retreat. I am looking forward to spending extended time with my art buddies.



I made my first charm swap. I have not done this before so I am a little nervous that I did what I was supposed to do.