Category Archives: Other Artists

All kinds of treasure for you . . . and ARTFUL GATHERING on the horizon

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Lyns large bannerThis is such a cool new adventure for me! I’m a part of the Artful Gathering faculty this summer, and it’s just unbelievable because the other faculty members are artists and craftspeople whom I’ve heard about and admired for years – people like Keith Lo Bue and Riki Schumacher. Who knew I’d be teaching alongside them? Zowee.

So here’s the deal with this particular post – there is a treasure hunt going on with the Artful Gathering site – you can see a list of prizes here – and you can play along in the Artful Gathering Treasure Hunt. Find the Big Red Square somewhere on my blog to get your secret word! It is in a red block on my side bar.  Look for the crown! Then go to www.artfulgathering.com to read all about the rules and prizes. I hope you’ll sign up for at least one of the classes – and you might even win a class if you play the Treasure Hunt.

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Steal like an artist . . . .

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From time to time, I’m going to post other artists’ tutorials for my own reference (I know I can always find them if I put them on my own blog!) and also to share with you if you are interested. This one has a nice technique for using a Titan Buff glaze. It’s at the end of the video and gave me an idea for a painting series that I’m working on called Badger Dancers – here are a couple of my own first paintings in that series, and right below these is the demo video by Chris Cozen whose ideas I am happy to steal – with gratitude :).

Ironroot Dancer

Lyn Belisle, Ironroot Dancer 30×30″, Acrylic 2014

 

Lyn Belisle, Badger Dancer, 30x30", Acrylic 2014

Lyn Belisle, Badger Dancer, 30×30″, Acrylic 2014

Art is alive and in good hands . .

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Last night I was invited to Night Gallery 14, the annual spectacular showcase of student art from North East ISD. What an eye-opener! I was part of this show for 30 years when I taught art in NEISD, but, I swear, it’s just getting better! The teachers inspire, the students respond and the results are thrilling. Take a look at the video – and say congratulations to my wonderful friend Gloria Hill, who is retiring as Visual Arts Director for NEISD to pursue her own painting career. You can see her work on her blog, Open Doors.

Cheers all around to these dedicated and talented teachers and students – thank you for enriching our world with your creativity!

They came, they showed, they telled

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My brain is overflowing with all of the tips I learned and the notes I took at Studio Show-and-Tell Saturday – wow! It was so cool. I hope you were there – if you couldn’t make it, we will definitely be doing it again, probably in early May, so stay tuned. Thanks to everyone who came and especially the wonderful artists who shared. Here’s a video – sorry that the sound isn’t better but I was using my phone camera for the video segments – next time I’ll be better prepared for the spectacular demos!

GAGA

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GAGA is the acronym for Gentileschi Aegis Gallery Association, and I’m a new member, jumping in with both feet. The group’s name comes from Artemisia Gentileschi, a painter from the Early Baroque period, and invokes the protection of the Greek goddess Athena’s shield, Aegis, named in “The Iliad.” The upcoming GAGA group show opens on Friday, May 9 at the Southwest School of Art. (Save the date!)

This GAGA exhibit is nicknamed ROYGBIV (colors of the spectrum), and each artist member received two paint chips from a selection of house paint colors which had to comprise at least 70% of their 12″x12″ works. Cool concept! The group’s 120 pieces will be installed in color progression order. So – here are my two pieces, just finished tonight. And, yep, that’s Behr brand house paint you see on the pieces – one lighter chip (“Gumdrops”) and one darker (“Orioles”) of the same hue. Now I get to go clean up all those tiny little glass beads that rolled off onto the studio floor! Art’s a tough game.

gagadark gagalight

 

Saturday morning discovery time

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Hooray, it’s the weekend! My exhibit opening at the Carver was great – thanks to all who came, images to follow. This morning, I turned my attention to the upcoming ADC workshop at the Studio on March 23rd. This was the image I used for that workshop – it’s a fun little piece I did using clay on canvas:

Surfing around, I found this amazing work by Joanna Mozdzen, a sculptor from Ontario who who was born and raised in Poland. Isn’t it fantastic? But wait, there’s more if you scroll down.

I followed the trail to one of her videos on You Tube and was just blown away by her five-minute tutorial on sculpting a female head. Take a break and watch this. It’s totally mesmerizing. Yay for Saturday surfing and awesome discoveries like artist Joanna Mozdzen! Have a lovely weekend.

 

Monday roundup

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An example of Citra-Solv collage paper

An example of Citra-Solv collage paper

What’s up with this weather??  It’s 28F this morning – I stole the cats’ afghan off the couch and wrapped up in it. They have fur coats – I don’t. Ha. Moving right along, I’m excited about the upcoming Studio Show and Tell next month and wanted to give you a heads-up. Saturday, April 5th from 3-5 you’re invited to the Studio to bring a short demo, ask questions, brainstorm with other creative people,or just hang out and suck up the vibes. I plan to kick back, watch what others bring, and steal ideas. Sheri Lenora from Austin will demo her painted crinoline fabric, and Rosemary Uchniat and Bonnie Davis are going to show us their experiments with Citra-sol cleaning liquid and magazine pages for collage. There’s actually a Citra-sol site for artists if you want a sneak preview of this technique!

Sheri Lenora's painted crinoline fabric

Sheri Lenora’s painted crinoline fabric

I would be remiss if I did not mention the wonderful artful gathering at yesterday’s Beyond Abstract workshop – we had such a good time. Here’s a link to the video.

Tomorrow I’m hanging my solo show at the Carver Center – the opening is Thursday from 6-8. Please drop by if you have a chance, invitation below.

I hope y’all have a wonderful week! Keep warm, stay cool — whatever this crazy weather brings.
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A hanging at Cathedral House

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Check out this new piece that I finished this morning for the Illumination exhibit at Cathedral House Gallery – I love it! (she said, modestly) I had forgotten how much fun it is to add found objects and sculptural details to a collage on a wood substrate. It’s called The Lottery and there’s a story involved about that girl and the lottery for her hand, etc. etc – artsy minds work in mysterious ways. But it was cool to use sticks and wood and clay and paint and all that good stuff.

LOTTERYKNOBS

Lyn Belisle: The Lottery, mixed media on wood panel

Gloria Hill, my hanging partner, and I met at the gallery this afternoon to put up our work for Sunday’s opening. Here are some photos – it was interesting because we were hanging paintings against a strong back-lighted window. You can also see the other pieces that I’m putting in the show, below.  Here’s a map to the gallery – it’s in a beautiful building owned by the West Texas Episcopal Diocese on spacious grounds near the headwaters of the San Antonio River, definitely worth a visit. Thanks to Patsy Sasek for inviting us to participate!

First Friday Art Show Opens at La Vida

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Art lovers in hats and coats braved the chilly night to attend the First Friday opening at La Vida – thanks to all who came! Gallery owners Matt and Carole had tamales and rice and beans to warm us all. I so enjoyed talking with fellow artists Kathy and Lionel Sosa, and especially to Jacobo Mendoza from Oaxaca.

Jacobo’s weavings are astonishing – fine and colorful, made from hand-carded wool from local sheep. All of his colors come from natural dyes, combinations of cochineal and marigold, soap root and plants that he described to me that I had never even heard of. His wife, son and daughter share in the weaving art. Please look at the pictures on his website to learn more about Jacobo and his talented family.

I purchased one of his rugs to use as a wall hanging – it looks as if it should be hanging in a museum! Here’s a short video of the evening – the Russian music in the background is a nod to the chilly temps!

By the skin of its finny-fin-fin

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One of the “Aha!” artsy discoveries I made in Boston was Fish Leather. Now maybe you knew all about it, but I didn’t. And it’s beautiful! It looks like suede on one side and has a glossy.scale-like pattern on the other side. Here’s a piece that I purchased from Bead+Fiber.

fl1_edited-1 There’s a shop called The Fish Leather Co in the UK that’s specializing in this material, and you can find out from their site how it’s made. It’s apparently a long process and different species of fish have different kinds of leathers. Definitely interesting to read about! Fish Leather is eco-friendly and taken from non-endangered fish (unless you’re the fish that gets turned into leather, I guess).fl2

I found a shop on Etsy that has hand-crafted Fish Leather jewelry – it’s called ModernNaturals19 and the artisan does nice work – see the cuff bracelet below. You’d have to sew a bunch of these together to make a garment of any kind, but the material itself is beautiful and I can see it being used for small adornments and decorative objects. Dang. Fish leather. Who woulda thought?