Category Archives: How-to

Watch out for flying pigs . . .

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flyingpig.jpg-w=216&h=207So I’ve always said, “The day I get my workshop page organized is the day pigs fly.” But guess what? I spent the weekend putting together a new workshop calendar for the rest of the freaking year! And I think it will be easier for you to find what’s coming up. Just click right here. You can also get to it from its new place on the home page. calendar linkYou’ll notice a few things – first, July is heavy on the Citra-solv paper, but that’s because everyone loves it and I’m not tired of playing with it (I’ve added a third session on July 27th). There are also some repeats – those paper purses that everyone asks about, for example. There’s a new workshop called Twiggies!! – check that one out. I think all of the links are in place, but if you see anything that looks goofy or won’t work, let me know. And none of this is set in stone — for example, if I were to get allergic to Citra-solv — oops.

You’ll also see all of the details about the one-day June workshop with Michelle Belto (yay for serendipity!) and the exciting Tarot-based weekend with Joanna Powell Colbert in early October. That one is filling very fast already with people from all over the country, so if you want a place, grab it now.

I sincerely hope to see you at some of these workshops – at least the calendar is organized if the presenter isn’t! Thanks, everyone, and don’t forget to drop by the Studio on Friday for Pablo Solomon’s awesome exhibit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wax Paper Inkjet Transfer Tutorial

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I didn’t have a chance to demo this technique at Show and Tell last Saturday, so here’s a quick how-to. I’m showing this technique on watercolor paper in this tutorial, but it works even better on dampened white cotton fabric. (Because the wax-paper transfer is just ink-jet ink, it will need to be sealed if it’s on fabric or it will wash out.) Here are the steps – click on the pictures below to enlarge, and feel free to share.

 

ArtTech Networking at the Studio

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monaipad_edited-1Here’s part of an email invitation (below) that I sent out last week to the Studio “regulars” – and the response has been amazing. About 20 of us are getting together tomorrow @ 5:00 at the Studio to discuss how we can best network together to learn new skills in social media and digital imagery – like giving the Mona Lisa an iPad – it’s easy!!

“Dear All – Just in the past couple of weeks, I’ve had a number of requests for help with tech issues for artists, such as learning Photoshop, creating on iPads, blogging, and using other social media for art promotion. There’s a huge need for this these days, and I am “lucky” enough to have been forced to learn some of it when I started teaching at Trinity ten years ago. My idea would be to discuss what the needs are and then possibly set up either individual sessions or a small group workshop or two during the summer (these would have a small tuition charge), but then we would go further than that – you could partner with a tech buddy (or several) who is interested in the same things you are and you could help each other when I’m not available. It would be like a learning circle. I can give you all kinds of links to resources and tutorials so you could learn on your own in the direction that best suits you. What do you think? ~ Lyn”

I expect people will want to learn new things in two areas – how to work with digital images in Photoshop and other editing programs, and how to get more exposure for their art via the Internet. We’ll see how it goes, and I can set up some classes to fit the needs of my fellow artists. Come by if you’re interested and share ideas with us. It should be fun. If you can’t make it in person, do read Alyson Stanfield’s book, I’d Rather Be in the Studio. It’s a great guide to promoting your art. And if you’d like some free (free is good) beginner Photoshop Lessons, here’s a link for you.

We’re all in the together – might as well share what we know!

Klimt-ing Mother Earth

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Yesterday’s workshop celebrated the archetypical woman as Earth Mother through influences and interpretation from Gustav Klimt. OK, *enough* art jargon – we had a blast. Two parts worked really well – drawing the faces in a lesson that showed how the face works on the entire head, and making our own pattern stamps using foam shapes.

The face-drawing lesson I’ll share in another post. The stamps are easy – take 1″ sections of a large dowel or 1×2″ board, trace around any outside edge onto a sheet of sticky-backed craft foam, cut out and adhere, then add a second layer of foam in any shapes you wish. Stamp away. We used tissue paper, mulberry paper, foil and construction paper and applied cut and torn pieces to painter board. Here are a couple of photos of the stamps and the patterns.

As always, even though we all started with the same premise, each artist’s style shone through in the finished works. I’m anxious to try the same kind of pattern building in another project – still thinking about possibilities. To all who came, thanks for sharing Sunday afternoon with me at the Studio! And I’m especially excited about the upcoming drawing workshop on May 25th. If you don’t think you can draw, you have another think coming – I dare ya to sign up – LOL. And now, for your viewing pleasure, here’s a video of yesterday’s diverse visions of Mother Earth.

Jane Dunnewold’s Design and Print Your Own Fabric

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I’ve been a fan of Jane Dunnewold’s work forever. Her book, Art Cloth, is a must-have encyclopedia of surface treatment for fabric, and a design inspiration for every artist. Recently, she asked me to review her new video for Interweave called Design and Print Your Own Fabric. Wow! So, I’m not really a fiber artist but this video opened up a whole new area for me as a digital artist. She is great at de-mystifying the process of taking an idea for a design, getting it into your computer for enhancing and refining (she effectively explains those thorny pixels and resolution), and ending up with fabric-on-demand from Spoonflower.

janeVery very cool! And way too much fun. The download is just $14.95. I have a ton of art book and videos, but this one is truly useful for those of you who are somewhat befuddled by digital design and how it can work for you. I’m so glad Jane asked me to review this and I am happy to share my enthusiasm with you!

Happy Monday, all, and thanks to everyone who came to the Spring Fling show on Saturday!

 

Wonderful workshop weekend – not just one, but TWO videos filled with great ideas

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Well, happy Monday, everybody! Hope you had a great weekend – as for me, I had the most fabulous time at the Studio. On Saturday, ten amazing NEISD art teachers met to experiment with Citra-solv altered magazine pages as collage components. And on Sunday, a flock of beautiful Spring Goddess Spirit Dolls were born. Thanks to everyone who graced the place with their creativity – take a look at what they did! (Oh, and congrats to talented and generous Vicki Siptak, random drawing winner of the Milagrito Friday Freebie.)

Art Teachers’ Workshop

Spring Goddess Spirit Doll Workshop

Show-and-Tell Saturday

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Citra-solv art paper

Tomorrow afternoon from 3-5 at the Studio is the time to show all and tell all (art-wise, of course). This is the first time I’ve asked you all to teach me how you work – what new techniques and ideas do you have to share with the rest of us? Most of us, including me, will be watchers and note takers. It’s a very informal set-up – we’ll just decide who wants to do what, and there’s no “official” schedule. It’s going to be so much fun!

I know that one of the “shows” will be using Citra-solv to create altered art paper from National Geographic magazines. The results look amazing. Even though I’ve never tried it, I did find a very cool video (below) on how to use these papers in collage, so if you want to learn how to DIY, drop by the Studio between 3:00 and 5:00. There will be refreshments and libations as well, of course. Hope you’ll join us tomorrow to show, tell, listen, sit, chat, steal ideas, give suggestions and hang out in a place of creative belonging!

Fun and free photo editing tutorial for you

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I’m teaching photo editing and web design right now in my Trinity class, and I thought I’d make a tutorial for you guys to show you how to use iPiccy, which is a free online editing tool. Click on the artsy-effect photo of me, below, which I just edited and fancied up in iPiccy in less than five minutes, and you can access the tutorial and see how to art yourself up too! Have fun 🙂

Colorado Springs, 2011

Colorado Springs, 2011

Gallery talk and hand sanitizer

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Tonight’s gallery talk at Nueva Street Gallery should be fun. It starts at 5:00 – hope you can be there. My title is “The Face: An Enduring Iconography,” and I’ve done a short slide presentation of how faces inform and inspire my work. I’m giving away little face shards, as well – and this is kind of interesting because I used the same press mold for each one, yet they turned out so varied. They look like they are related, but not identical. Here’s a photo of the freebie faces that I’ll give away at the event:

facesnueva

OK, now about that hand sanitizer. . . yesterday, my friend Gloria Hill helped me do some experimenting with transferring digital images onto fabric for my upcoming online collage-on-canvas class at Artful Gathering (checkout their catalog). We used hand sanitizer to transfer the images, and it worked! See the pics below, and in a future post, probably the next one, I’ll give you the directions. Till then, hope to see you tonight at Nueva Street Gallery!

hs1 hs2 hs3

 

We Felt So Good

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What a weekend at the Studio – I’ll let the videos do most of the “talking,” but the whole experience of learning to make felted constructions was just incredible. Jill Scher is an extraordinary teacher. I learned so much (as did we all) and came away with a fascination and respect for this process and the fiber artists who are felters. It’s such a tactile and color-rich craft – the wool roving is soft and beautiful and there are countless variations for using it in two and three-dimensional pieces.

Video one ( just below) shows the first day in which we made wet-felted wool scarves, and video two (at the bottom) shows us felting wool into a silk substructure. I hope you enjoy the videos – being there in person was pretty cool too! And, PS – I’ve invited Jill back in November – so stay tuned!