Category Archives: Inspiration

Home from The Prairie

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belIt’s hard to know where to start when you’ve just experienced an amazing four days in an unfamiliar but totally inspiring place. Teaching with the gifted instructors at Vivi Magoo in Round Top was an honor – and the students taught me as much I taught them! My friend Bonnie said that it was like going off to camp – how true. Except the camp cabins at The Prairie were furnished with lace and soft pillows and rose chintz.

I did miss my pal Michelle Belto – she was a huge help preparing botanical prints and papers for our demonstrations. And I couldn’t have done it without help from Lorri Scott, whose advice kept me focused and confident in a new environment – so glad she’s feeling better! Each of the three classes had its own personality – and I loved them all. Remarks heard during the three days, “I love your residue!” – “Those look like tie-dyed underpants” – “Ow, ow, that rebar’s hot!!” – “Look, it’s an alien!” – and especially, “I feel like I’ve know you guys all my life.”

I’ll let the video give you a taste of all the truly fun things we did and learned, but videos can’t show the welcoming warmth of the students and instructors at Vivi Magoo (by the way, I did find out where the name came from). Many thanks to Barb Solem and her family. And what a thrill it was to meet fellow Artful Gathering (yay!) instructors Diane Cook and Debby Anderson in person. So Viva, Vivi Magoo, and y’all in San Antonio stay tuned for workshops at my Studio sharing all of this good stuff!

Encaustic excitement – Clare O’Neill at the Studio in 2016

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Clare O’Neill “Paulette” Mixed Media: Photography, beeswax, pigments and oils

I’m packing for Round Top and Vivi Magoo this morning, but before I leave, I gotta tell you what happened this weekend. First, there was Monika Astara’s amazing sale on Saturday, and then there was a great meeting of the South Texas encaustic group on Sunday – and then last night, plans for an incredible workshop were finalized with the amazing Clare O’Neill.

It still seems like a dream, but Clare really is coming to teach at my Studio in January of 2016. She has been such major influence in my new work – several artist friends have taken her class on my recommendation and everyone agrees that she is an extraordinary teacher and artist. Here’s a post I wrote during her online class in February. Even at that early stage, I knew I was on to something special with Clare.

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Lyn Belisle: Ava’s Bird

I haven’t announced it yet on my webpage, so you’re the first to know – here are the details (click on the image below for the online version). Two people signed up yesterday, so there are only six spaces left.

If you know you’d like to meet Clare and work with her in person at my Studio for two days (yay!), sign up now. And if you’d like to hold a spot with a $50 deposit, just send me an email.

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The timeless art of The Prairie – a gentle retreat

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viviUntil I was asked to teach at the Vivi Magoo art retreat, I had never heard of The Prairie, a meeting and event venue in Round Top, Texas. People from all over the country fly in to Austin or Houston to stay at The Prairie, but since it’s just a couple of hours away from San Antonio, we drove up on a quiet Monday to check it out. I knew it had been founded by Rachel Ashwell (the inventor of “Shabby Chic”) but I was curious to see how art classes would work there.

Now that I’ve seen it, I can’t wait for next week to get here! We saw no one when we first drove up to the collection of lovely old houses and barns – the only sound was the breeze, and the only signs of life were the white linen sheets blowing on the clothesline and a white horse in the pasture.

We explored a bit, and then found Sarah, a lovely young woman who was readying the main house for next week’s gathering. The whole place is otherworldly and serene – I really felt as if I had gone back in time. Here’s a collection of photos that I took while we were there – it’s truly a beautiful environment. If you want information on the upcoming Vivi Magoo retreat, click here. And if you want to visit The Prairie, you’ll discover it down a secluded gravel road about five miles out of Round Top, Texas – but be prepared to find yourself in another time zone!

Seth Apter, master of mixed media and a darn nice guy

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Seth Apter had been an Art Hero of mine long before I heard he was coming to Texas from NYC. His work is a fusion of fine art, accessible craft and  mixed media exploration that I so often try to achieve. Only he does it consistently, and seemingly effortlessly. Check out his work and you’ll see what I mean.

On Thursday I got a chance to  work with him in person (woohoo) at his all-day Collage Camp workshop sponsored by Roadhouse Arts. I learned a lot about collage techniques, and even more about approaches to teaching. Seth is a master at constructive critique. All of us appreciated his feedback. I only wish I could have taken the next thresethe days of classes with Seth, but, alas, I needed to be in Bulverde for the opening of my encaustic show, Coeur Samples, with Michelle Belto.

But guess who showed up at our opening at Dan Pfeiffer’s Gallery yesterday evening – Seth! He came with Bulverde friends Lisa and John Meyer. What a treat! I told him that having him there definitely added to the show’s mojo!

One of the things that makes Seth such a fine teacher is the way he organizes his classes, step by step, and in a logical way that helps you internalize the steps and elements. In the Collage Camp, we started with a series of eight small collages, each of which demonstrated one of Seth’s design principals.  These will serve as an informal reference book for future work. Here are some photos from our day together – what a fantastic group with an unforgettable teacher.

You’ll enjoy looking around Seth Apter’s website – he told us that he’s getting ready to launch a new line of mixed media tools and products that will enhance anyone’s mixed media work, info at the link below – I am grateful to have met him – isn’t learning new stuff fun?

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Dyeing to Show and Tell

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New painting by Lesta Frank, from Sunday’s Show and Tell

From dyeing on Saturday to Show and Tell on Sunday, this weekend rocked. It started with an afternoon of small-space dyeing with Rosemary Uchniat and ended with a Show and Tell with the usual suspects and some new ones, as well. Part of Show and Tell is always sharing upcoming shows, so here are two to pass along:

Small-Space Dyeing has become one of the fastest sold-out workshops at the Studio. Rosemary’s unique formula for fabric dyeing success produces fun, no fail results every time, even for novices. Take a look at the video from Saturday.

Sunday’s Show and Tell photo gallery gives you a clue to the diversity and talent of the participants – everything from Acrylics to Zentangle – I am grateful to the generous and highly creative people who share their ideas with all of us at  these get-togethers.

milagroLast but not least, the winner of the Friday Freebie heart milagro is lucky SHARDS subscriber #134, Arwen Lynch Poe, a friend who has just moved from Texas to New Mexico. Arwen, send me your new address and I’ll send you this little gift to remind you of how much we miss you!

I had lots of requests for info about this piece, and I plan to have some for sale at the Black Saturday Studio sale on November 28th with Lesta Frank and Alison Schockner! Happy Monday, everyone, and thanks, as always, for reading SHARDS.

Beeswax collage workshop – personal and inspired

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The beautiful visual stories seemed almost to create themselves in Sunday’s Beeswax Collage workshop at the Studio. Participants were given a limited choice of vintage images, some basic collage and texture materials, and some beeswax, walnut ink, and gold leaf. Then, as one person said, “The magic is happening!”

Sunday’s workshop was a delightful combination of the perfect medium paired with the perfect group – everyone had a chance to take risks, make decisions, and turn “mistakes” into assets in their work. And they did it! Take a look at some photos from the workshop.

Congratulations to all of the artist and bravo for the great work – and now, for a commercial break. If you want to see how this beeswax collage process works, I have written an e-book called Behind the Veil that explains this process step-by-step, including where to find free vintage images. It can be yours to download for a mere $5.99 – heck, a fancy latte costs more than that!

But wait, there’s more – no, actually, that’s all for now. It was a great workshop and I thank everyone who participated! Have a lovely  Monday, everyone.

You can do it, Kid . . .

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Have you ever wanted to get your work out there in public – and help people at the same time? Yeah? So why not apply to become an Artist in Residence at Imagine Crafts? There’s an open call right now and they are looking for DIYers, Card Makers, Memory Keepers, Mixed Media and more.

You can go here to see all of the requirements and benefits, but basically, they send you their crafting supplies for free and you come up with three small projects a month to show creative ways to use them

These guys are near and dear to my heart because they represent Tsukineko, the Walnut Ink makers.And it’s a friendly group, too – I’m not affiliated with them other than that I buy my weight in Walnut Ink from them every month or so, but when I need advice about orders or products, they are right there.

Here are some of the kinds of projects that the Artists in Residence come up with:

Classy Halloween Art Journal Page by Jowilna Nolte

Must Have My Creative Medium! by Renee Zarate

You guys can do this, and it would be fun!! Think of the mixed media things you’ve done in Studio workshops or tried on your own, and then come up with a catchy project and name. OK, here are some goofy ideas to get you started – I’ll make up the names and you can make the projects for your application –

  • Catchy Cactus Coasters
  • Mini-billboard Pet Portraits
  • Rocks that Rock
  • Starry Night Sleep Tee
  • Jazz-Score Journal

See? That took me about five seconds to think of a few ideas – you can do better, Kid – get out there and be famous, and you can thank me when you have your own international design line. Here’s where to apply. (And tell ’em Lyn sent you 🙂

 

A two-day encounter of the art-full kind

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wsWhat was I thinking? Two full-day workshops at the Studio back-to-back? A weekend of hanging out, creating, eating and talking with eight other like-minded souls?  How would all of that look? It looked FANTASTIC!

Saturday was Belisle’s Collage Extravaganza and Composition Challenge. We worked on two major pieces – a collage on canvas with extreme emphasis on composition (the AB3s) and a collage on cradle board with image transfers and encaustic wax. The intrepid participants gave it their all, and we were very tired but happy at the end of the day. Here’s the video – see if you can detect the AB3s of composition at work in the finished pieces.

But wait – there’s more! On Sunday, Lesta Frank and I team-taught a very non-traditional mixed media journaling class. Everyone designed their own pages and created a loose-leaf portfolio to collect and show their experimental surface finishes, including one really interesting Profile Page. This was Lesta’s idea and consisted of an actual dimensional profile cutout with descriptions of a personal profile as part of the composition. Very nice! Watch for it in the video, below.

In the critiques and discussions, all agreed that the two-day experience was great, both for those who came both days and those who came on one day of choice. We had eight participants each day, half of whom were there for both days. Nicely balanced! I will plan another weekend experience in the early part of 2016. I should be recovered by then!

Bonnie, Akim & me, the (ahem) calligrapher

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Lefties like me are challenged in many ways, but especially in the fine art of calligraphy. I’d always envied people who could take a simple work like “bread” and elevate it to super-star status with illuminated swashes. But thanks to my friend Bonnie Houser, I can now write like a calligrapher! And I’m getting better at it – AND it’s fun!

Some of you may know Bonnie as the owner of Dry Comal Creek Vineyards and Winery and some of you may know her through her art work, She’s a great friend and teacher to a lot of people. Lesta Frank and I asked Bonnie to give us a quick calligraphy lesson on an alphabet called AKIM. It was “invented” by German artist, sculptor and musician Hans-Joachim Burgert, who said, “The 10spiritual material is the simple line. . .the line is a medium of free graphic discipline.”  Because this is a monolinear alphabet (no chiseled shading), anyone, even left-handed people, can do it well.

It was amazing how quickly we picked it up with Bonnie’s help. And the great thing is that there are as many personal variations of the Akim hand as their are writers. If you do a web search, you will see this for yourself. Take a look at some of the work we did with Bonnie, then give it a try!

 

I can’t show you photos from the art-filled week, but I did do my homework. . .

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It’s a foggy morning here in Boston, and I am still processing all of the incredible art I’ve seen this past week, here, and in New York. You are temporarily off the hook for having to see my zillions of photos of art, though, because of some “saving errors” on my little Mac. But I will definitely post them when I get home later this week.

The most spectacular art museum I saw was the Whitney Museum of American Art – I hope you get to visit sometime. Their new location is breathtaking, and the exhibit, America is Hard to See, is like walking in person through the most exciting decades of American art. What an experience!!

The IMG_7381best new-to-me artist I discovered was Arlene Shechet. Here’s a photo from a video of her working on one of her large clay sculptures. If you visit her site, you can see the work I saw at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art. I was especially fond of the indigo and white mandalas that she did between 2002-2005. She is amazingly versatile, eclectic and visionary.

I did do my homework for Jane Davies‘ class while I’ve been here in Boston – Jane is an amazing teacher and painter – hope she doesn’t mind my sharing this approach to composing a painting study. It’s very worthwhile – it involves concentrating on two separate areas at a time within a randomly executed beginning. Take a look – I didn’t produce a “finished” painting, but I learned a lot and had fun doing it. And I did it on the dining room table with limited supplies – shows that you can do your art anywhere.

Home soon!! Can’t wait to be back to the Studio.