Lyn and Lesta and paper surface design (and a fine afternoon was had by all)

Posted on November 11, 2014 by lynbelisle

Lesta Frank and I have known each other since high school, and we finally got together to collaborate as teachers for a half-day workshop at the Studio on Sunday. I learned a lot from Lesta about paper surface designs – she’s pretty fearless with stencils and rollers! And I taught everyone how to do stamping on-the-cheap with a foam plate and black construction paper, and then how to showcase our designs on the cover of an origami Lotus book.

We know that once you see this video, you’ll wish you were there 🙂, so we’re gonna do a second session early in the new year. Check it out! And thanks, Lesta, for the inspiration!

Trust the process . . .but visit Papa Jim’s

Posted on November 9, 2014 by lynbelisle

I’m showing some new work at La Vida Gallery, opening on December 5th, and, in my typical procrastinative way, I’m still figuring out exactly what to do. So far, I know that some of the new work will be earthenware assemblage. Here are a few of the pieces in no particular order that are in my “Trust the process, you’ll get an idea” pile.

So for extra inspiration, I took a visit to that old San Antonio icon of eclectic voodoo and spirituality, Papa Jim’s Botanica. Here, you can find anything you might need for protection, luck, attracting a mate, getting art ideas, or paying a jail bond.

I did pass up the opportunity to buy the Special Mojo Bag ( IT WILL CONTAIN HERBS, STONES, TALISMAN, POWDERS, MEDALS, AND ANIMAL PARTS SUCH AS RATTLESNAKE FANG), but I came away with some nice incense and a fresh supply of ideas. Look! Something is starting to emerge from the “Trust the process” pile . . . . ooooooh . . . .stay tuned.

Fall giddiness, art abounding, Friday freebie

Posted on November 1, 2014 by lynbelisle

This weather just makes ya want to dance – rain last night, sunshine today, temperatures in the 70s – it feels like fall! And I’m just in under the wire with the Friday Freebie and some other giddy observations about all the art that is going on this weekend.

All of my artist friends who are participating in the Uptown Art Stroll this weekend should have fabulous crowds – I’ll be there as an onlooker and idea-stealer :). The array of talent and variety of media in this neighborhood show is impressive. I participated several years ago – so many interesting people come to this event. If you’ve never been, here’s a link to the map – it’s a lot of fun!

On Sunday, please stop by the San Antonio Art League Gallery in the King William area for the opening of the exhibit I’m in with Miguel Cortinas. Many thanks to Clarence and Helen Fey for inviting me to participate in this venerable annual exhibit. Here’s one of my favorite new paintings – it’s called “Stroll” (speaking of strolls), and where these guys came from and where they are going, I dunno – I just painted them and didn’t ask questions. My other favorite new piece is “Buddha and the Chocolate Box” – it’s underneath the birds – makes me wonder where these weird inspirations come from! Ain’t art great?

“Stroll” 36″x40″ Acrylic on canvas Lyn Belisle

“Buddha and the Chocolate Box” 16″x16″, Mixed Media Lyn Belisle

Last but not least, the Friday Freebie for SHARDS subscribers is this lovely little purse from Friendship Bridge, an organization that helps impoverished Guatemalan women find self-reliance and empowerment through their art. My friend Teresa from Friendship Bridge will bring a beautiful assortment of textiles and jewelry to the Studio on November 12th. You can read more about it in the November Studio Newsletter. And if yours is the lucky name drawn from the list of subscribers on Sunday night, you’ll win this little purse (and I’ll even put a Shard Face inside).

Happy Friday – hope to see you at an art event this beautiful weekend!

Wrapping it up with love

Posted on October 6, 2014 by lynbelisle

Lyn Belisle and Joanna Powell Colbert and assorted Dia de Los Muertos amigos

. . . .and then she woke up and it was all a beautiful dream. Hey, no – wait, it wasn’t! The Unfolding Myth weekend with Joanna Powell Colbert really happened, and it was amazing! Two days of work and fun and creating and discovering passed much too quickly. My heartfelt thanks to all who participated. The artwork that came out of this experience speaks eloquently. Joanna gently guided us through discoveries about ourselves that were reflected in our collages.

I’m still processing my own lessons from the weekend, but if you’d like to see some of the work that went on at the Studio, take a look at our video (below). And then visit Joanna’s website to see how you can experience some of the magic that she does through her Gaian tarot. Thank you, Joanna, from all of us!

Extraordinary South African photographer shares his work freely

Posted on September 28, 2014 by lynbelisle

Being a visual kind of person, I’m always on the lookout for photos that inspire like those that my friend Ramesh takes. I’ve shared with you one of my favorite online sources – it used to be called Stock Exchange, but I think Getty bought it and now it’s called Free Images. And the photos are (blessedly) still free! And searchable! If you join (yep, free) you can access the high-res images from photographers from all over the world.

I was searching on Free Images this morning and just discovered a South African photographer whose pictures I had seen and used before, but had never really looked at his complete online gallery. Wow! His name is Sias van Schalkwyk and he goes by “doc.”

I encourage you to check out his work and his website – particularly his shots of African people and birds. What a remarkable conservationist and photographer. Thanks, doc!

Mysterious FiberShards

Posted on September 24, 2014 by lynbelisle

Two things collided: one, the deadline for the Fiber Artists of San Antonio fall exhibition is fast approaching, and, two, I discovered MeinkeToy Fiber Art Supplies and its owner, Eleanor Love. Result: Mysterious FiberShards. You’ll hear more from Eleanor in October – I’ve asked her to be a guest blogger – yay! So I wanted to show you what I’m discovering about fibers while experimenting for the FASA show.

Shards and fragments of artifacts have always fascinated me, and I’m building little re-imagined ones from various fibers (paper counts – and a few of these are papier-mâché). Some of the other materials include felt, cheesecloth, and silk – take a look.

One of the mysterious objects is part of a silk cocoon – guess what you get when you cut open a silk cocoon? Yep – a big ol’ fat dead silkworm. He’s not in there. . .he, er, went away.

Working with fibers is a lot more than knitting, y’all – it’s almost unlimited in its possibilities. Check out Eleanor’s MeinkeToy website and see what I mean.I have a feeling that I’ll be doing a lot more FiberShards in the near future. Thoughts?

Friday Freebie: Rock Paper . . . . .

Posted on August 8, 2014 by lynbelisle

Were you gonna say “scissors”? Nope, this is about Rock Paper! I got this email from my uber-talented pal, Sherrill Kahn, right before I went Boston – “You have to try Terra Skin—paper made from stones. I bought a lot of it. It is really amazing. I think you would love it.” So I ordered some. It came while I was gone, and I played with it this morning. It’s very cool! The Terra Skin surface reminds me of Yupo, but it’s totally fiber-free and mineral based (no trees were killed). Here are some of my first test scribbles (I labelled them with Photoshop):

You might want to give this stuff a try – it says the surface is appropriate for mixed media, acrylics, graphite and inks, and oils – doesn’t say anything about wax, but hey – why not? And if you need ideas, check out the TerraSkin blog, titled (appropriately), GET STONED. Love it.

OK, so the Friday Freebie is a five-sheet package of TerraSkin paper – I’ll mail it to you if you’re out of town, or you can pick it up at the Studio if you’re nearby. There are two rules for winning the random drawing – ONE, you have to be a SHARDS subscriber by Sunday at midnight (just enter your email on the blog homepage at the top right) and TWO, you have to give us a report on how you like using it and what you did with your very own Terra Skin rock paper. Off to the Studio, happy to be home – happy weekend, everyone!

Painting with Ellen Rolli – unchain my art

Posted on August 4, 2014 by lynbelisle

I spent three hours yesterday talking and painting with abstract artist Ellen Rolli at her SoWa studio in Boston. It was a pretty transformative experience – Ellen has a fearless relationship with her work that is contagious (see her website). I am so grateful for a chance to work with her, and am still processing a lot of what I learned, but thought I’d share a few photos and a book recommendation from Ellen. Yesterday’s objective was not to produce a finished painting, but to work in a more intuitive and liberating process with the paint. It was cool.

: My first wimpy palette of colors – little dabs of paint

: More paint, better process

: Ellen as coach – she has background and expertise, and the heart of a teacher

: The painting process is progress – Ellen’s studio easel has good vibes 🙂

: Detail of brushstrokes and color blending – no boundaries!

: Some of Ellen’s most recent work – just black and white – amazing expression through limitation

: One of my painting studies on the studio wall – it’s “resting” and will probably change again

I learned to trust the painting process a lot more. That is the title of a book that Ellen recommended for me which I’ve already ordered:

And I’ll leave ya with a quote from Hans Hoffman that I found on Ellen’s website –
“Every successful canvas has been painted from the point of view of a student, for a great painter is always a student.”
Thank you, Ellen! Hope to see you on my next visit.

First Friday, Boston-style

Posted on August 2, 2014 by lynbelisle

Boston has a thriving arts district on Harrison Avenue, south of Washington (SoWa). I got to check out their First Friday, and came back with a huge stash of new ideas. There was *lots* of exciting encaustic work. We were particularly impressed with Robin Luciano Beaty‘s work with wax, mixed media and found objects:

Refuge No. 24-29 Encaustic, m/m and found objects 42 x 24″

Even more exciting was getting to meet Ellen Rolli, a Boston abstract painter whose work I love – and I’m going to have a private painting session with her on Sunday! I had contacted her by email, and the timing worked out – will send a report. Here’s a sample of her work – it’s energetic and mysterious and totally engaging:

Glimpses acrylic and mixed media 36″x 36

There were lots and lots of photographic mixed media works – here’s one I liked a lot by artist Melody Postma:

Slightly shifting the subject to using photographs in your own art work, here’s *sort* of a Friday Freebie – Cloth Paper Scissors magazine just send me a link to a free eBook with four tutorials on digital artmaking. They have a lot of good free tutorials, but this is one of the best if you’re wanting to know more about digital processes and aren’t an expert (who is??). Here’s the link:

http://www.clothpaperscissors.com/Digital-Art-Tutorials/

You can download it and even print it out.You do have to sign up for an account if you don’t have one, but there are no strings attached and you can access a lot more of their good information if you do.

That’s it for now – gotta rest up for the Red Sox/Yankees game today at Fenway! More soon from your roving arts and sports reporter in Boston . . . . have a great weekend.

Kids, collage, and creativity

Posted on July 29, 2014 by lynbelisle

Several weeks ago, a dear friend asked if her grandchildren (seven of them, ranging in age from 18 months to 11) could come to the Studio to do an art project while they were in town for a visit. And yesterday, they came!
I was curious to see whether their inexperienced little hands could possibly manage the collage project we’d been doing in my workshops during July, using altered papers created with Citra-solv to make landscape collages.

Holy cow! These kids took it to a new level. The four-year-old said, “If I put markers over this crazy paper, it turns it green.” Hey, YEAH – layering transparent marker over the altered paper gives spectacular results! Who would have thought?? Then there was the eight-year old who added a marbled sun with torn flames all around it. And the 11-year-old who layered her glue and gold leaf to make a dimensional metallic ridge. And on and on. These kids had no fear when it came to making art and jumping off the Directions Page. Not one of them asked “Is this right??“ I wish I had thought to ask permission to show photos of their faces as they worked – total immersion and concentration. Guess who re-learned a big lesson? Me, and I will strive to make art like a kid, fearlessly and with great joy. Juice packs and graham crackers seem to help . . . .

And now, for your viewing pleasure, here are some of the wonderful collages that were created in this month’s workshops by the grownups (who obviously channeled their creative inner child!):