Category Archives: techniques

3-PART ART #1

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So I was thinking about new workshops and such, and I thought it would be fun to share some quick and easy techniques that you can do with just three “ingredients” (there are a bunch of cookbooks like that*). The first of these is a Reanissance-esque little collage on watercolor paper that can you can use as a card or a cover on a box or – whatever you can think of. Here are the three ingredients (yep, they include my favorites):

  • Walnut Ink (made by Tsukineko, available at Michael’s and Jo-Ann’s or online)
  • Fake gold leaf (ditto)
  • A black and white page from an old art catalog or art book from Half-Price Books or wherever you can find pages to recycle

Here are the steps:

Idea – if you have an art “ingredient” that you bought and don’t know what to do with, tell me what it is and I’ll see if I can figure a three-ingredient project to use it with. Hey, and don’t forget about the Sacred Ground show today!

*PS If you want my favorite three-ingredient food-type recipe, click here 🙂

Friday Freebie – Silver Shards for a subscriber –

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mirrors1The kiln and I have been busy for the last few day. I’ve done two firings since Tuesday with new designs. Here are the first few pieces of earthenware with silver Gilder’s Paste which I order on Etsy. I love this combination or terra cotta and silver. Check out the little shard mirror! The Gilder’s Paste is a metallic wax that you can rub on with your finger to highlight texture, and it becomes a permanent patina-like finish on the unglazed clay.

Today’s Friday Freebie is one of the little B Beautiful shard dishes like the two in front. You can use them for tea bags, rings, whatever – or just look at them as a small one-of-a-kind work of art. I put a honeycomb texture on the clay that looks very cool, if I do say so myself. If you are a SHARDS Blog subscriber before midnight tonight and your name is drawn by my number randomizer app , I’ll send you one of the little B Beautiful dishes – free tea bag included 🙂 Subscribe by adding your email on the top right on the page – thanks! And thanks to all of you loyal already-subscribers – you guys are awesome.

Also, as a PS, since I’m talking about ME, I was asked to submit my digital portfolio for consideration as San Antonio Art League’s Artist of the Year for 2014. Now, chances of my being chosen are about as likely as flying pigs, but it was nice to be nominated. I didn’t have a digital portfolio so I put one together with some work from the last couple two years. The nomination made me smile because my work was rejected by the juror in the last Art League show, but you gotta roll with rejection, keep calm, and carry on!

 

Share the love of chocolate chewies . . .

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patriciaOne of the nice things that happens at workshops, even serious ones like the one Bill Kurtin and I presented to ABODE yesterday on Contemplative Care, is networking – in this case, chocolate cookie networking. ABODE co-founder Patsy Sasek (left) brought some amazing cookies for workshop participants. They were, light, glossy, and chocolatey with chocolate chips and walnuts – and chipotle powder. And – get this- they are gluten free and practically fat-free (except for the chocolate chips – ahem). I asked Patsy if I could share the recipe with you guys, and she obliged – get ready for a chewy, chocolatey chipotle treat – thanks, Patsy:

chewies

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mexican Chocolate Chewies

Chocolate chewies are light, crisp, and, yes, chewy chocolate cookies that are studded with chocolate chips and pecans. You see them at bakeries all over Texas, and yet not too many people make them at home. There’s really no reason for this, especially as they are a snap to make. I’ve added a bit of cinnamon and chipotle chile powder to give them a bit of spice and heat.

Ingredients

2 cups pecans, roughly chopped (Patsy says she sometimes uses walnuts)

2½ cups powdered sugar

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. chipotle chile powder (Patsy says she doubles this – you should, too!)

¼ tsp. kosher salt

3 large egg whites

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Steps: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

While the oven is heating, arrange the chopped pecans in a skillet and place in the oven for 5 minutes or until they’ve turned a bit darker brown (but not black) and smell fragrant. Mix roasted pecans with the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon, chipotle chile powder, and salt. Stir the egg whites into the dry mixture by hand (or beat with a stand mixer on low) just until the batter is well mixed. Stir in the vanilla extract and chocolate chips. Drop tablespoon-size portions of batter on the sheet an inch apart, about six per sheet, as these cookies will spread while baking. Bake for 15 minutes or until crackling on the surface.

Remove sheet from oven, lift parchment paper with the cookies still on it off the sheet, and cool on a rack. Allow cookies to cool for 20 minutes before removing from paper, as they’re very delicate. They will keep for a few days in an airtight container.

This content is from the book The Homesick Texan Cookbook by Lisa Fain.

 

Aromatherapy and Compassionate Care

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aromaabode

This afternoon the Studio will take on a different role as a workshop space for ABODE Contemplative Care for the Dying. More than 20 hospice workers, counselors and social workers will attend the presentation. You’ve heard me mention the good work that Patsy and Edwin Sasek do with this beautiful non-profit organization, and today they have asked Dr. Bill Kurtin and me to discuss essential oils for end-of-life care. Bill and I maintain an educational website about Aromatherapy as an art and science. It’s called Chemaroma, and I invite you to visit anytime for research-based information about aromatherapy – there’s far too little of that, and we hope to provide more of it on our site.  There are also some formulas for skin care and other fun things. – look around!
Researching today’s presentation took me far afield from visual arts (sort of), but I discovered some wonderful resources. One of the best discoveries was the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe. The abbot, Joan Halifax Roshi,is a Buddhist teacher, Zen priest, anthropologist, and author. She has worked in the area of death and dying for over thirty years and is Director of the Project on Being with Dying. It’s a fascinating, if not cheery, subject. If you’d like to know more about what I’ve found out, you are welcome to look at the Resources I’ve gathered for today’s workshop.

 

Spreading the spirit . . .

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sb1s

A Spirit Box by Lyn Belisle with a Secret Compartment on the Back

I had a nice surprise in my Inbox this morning from Barbara Delaney, Assistant Editor at INTERWEAVE Press:

Dear Lyn,
Thank you so much for your submission to CLOTH PAPER SCISSORS. We are happy to inform you that your project “Spirit Box Collage” has been selected by the editorial team to be included in our September/October issue. We are so pleased to have your work included in this publication, and hope that you will be, too.

You bet I’m pleased! The Spirit Box Workshop we did last Sunday was so much fun that I’m glad to be able to share the project with a wider audience. I’ve done one other article for Cloth Paper Scissors so far, and it’s always interesting to do the “step-outs.” You have to make the same object six or seven times, each time going a little further in the process. So I’ll need to make seven Spirit Boxes in progress that are all like alike except for their stages of completion.

Cloth Paper Scissors is a great resource for artists and crafters. I recommend their site and their magazine to lots of people. If you go to their site and sign up (it’s free and secure) you can download free e-books on all kinds of subjects. One of my favorites is Creating Digital Artwork for Photo Collage. Check them out! And look for the Spirit Box article in September.

cps

Work aka Play in Progress

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I think it’s fun to see artwork in progress, whether it’s mine of somebody else’s. Here’s what going on in my Studio – remember the fired clay parts for the Guardian series? This is how those are coming together. I’m preparing the board back structure and putting together the pieces on small canvases. I’m using more color than usual in the finishes for some reason.

heads and bodies

heads and bodies

guard3

 

little guardians in progress

little guardians in progress

 I’ve also been experimenting with a new-to-me transfer paper called TAP. It’s kind of pricey but I like the results so far. Here are a couple of preliminary experimental mixed media pieces on 300 lb watercolor paper that I did yesterday:

TAP2

TAP copy

 Right now I need to switch hats and head to Trinity.  it’s a Teaching Day – semester’s over soon, though, so more Studio time! Whoopee 🙂

Pieces of clay

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I unloaded the kiln yesterday and took out lots of little puzzle pieces. The new Guardian series of mixed media constructions is getting assembled for a show at Cathedral House in mid-May, and I need to get these little guys completed. I hope they are not too pagan-esque for the venue! The fun part is matching the right face with the right bodies. Somehow, they know who goes with what. Here’s a picture of the just-unloaded earthenware tiles and shards:

pieces of the puzzle

pieces of the puzzle

And here’s the first yet-unnamed Guardian piece assembled:

Untitled (so far) Guardianassemblage

Untitled (so far) Guardian construction

 

 

Shards and Strands

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Last night I got an email from artist Dawn Zichko, whose blog, Mental Mohair is full of inspiring ideas for thought and new work. Dawn had ordered some Shard Faces from my Etsy shop in early February. I always ask buyers if they’ll send me pictures of how they use the little faces, but these fiber hangings that she and her daughter did just blew me away. Look at this amazing combination of strands of knitted yarn, ribbon, twigs – beautiful work. There’s another photo here. Thanks for letting me share these, Dawn. I love your work and your blog.

Mac Fonts 101

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By special request, here’s the Mac version of my last post:

Finding new fonts to use on your Mac is just as easy as it is with Windows computers, just a little different. Again, I start with Fontspace just because I can usually find something I like there.

Screen Shot 2013-03-19 at 11.36.35 AMI found one that I want called “Celtic.” I clicked on the Download button directly below the font.

Screen Shot 2013-03-19 at 11.37.12 AMMy download window opens and I double-click in the folder that has the name of the font.

Screen Shot 2013-03-19 at 11.37.42 AMWhen the folder opens, I double click on the font itself, the file that ends in .ttf (true type font)

Screen Shot 2013-03-19 at 11.38.39 AMI click on the Install Font button and  – voila – the next time I open a word editing program or any other application that uses fonts, it’s there (see below).

Screen Shot 2013-03-19 at 11.42.20 AM

 

The Art of Aromatherapy and ABODE

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abodeOne of the most interesting and inspiring groups I know is ABODE.  These compassionate people, led by my friends Patsy and Edwin Sasek, provide a home where contemplative care for the dying is provided to guests in a simple, welcoming, peaceful environment. You can read more about their Mission on their website.

Recently, Patsy invited me and my colleague in Aromatherapy, Dr. Bill Kurtin, to present a program to their group and others with similar interests about the use of Essential Oils as therapeutic aids for calming stress and encouraging serenity in both client and caregiver. We are thrilled to have this opportunity, and will hold the workshop at my Studio on Sunday, May 5th. As most of you know, Bill and I have done lectures and demonstrations at the University level and elsewhere on the Art and Science of Essential Oils but this is a new venture for us. I’ve worked with hospice groups in the past, but Bill’s ability to ground the therapeutic use of essential oils in scientific research will add immense credibility to the presentation, as always.

chemaromaAromatherapy is complex, effective and sometimes misunderstood science, but it is so worth learning about. You can read a sneak preview about the presentation sponsored by ABODE on our research website, Chemaroma. If you’re interested in attending, contact the good people at ABODE (or just send me an email). The sign-up information will be available very soon. And for tomorrow’s Friday Freebie, I’ll be giving you the recipe for a wonderful facial treatment using essential oils, so stay tuned.