Tissue fun – consider the candle possibilities!

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So I was creating some designs on tissue paper to use for an encaustic collage when I came across a YouTube video about tissue and candles. Kinda cool!

Take a look at what I played with. And then you can search You Tube for tissue-candle video demos if you’re interested.

Ordinary plain white candle – cheap

Design printed out on regular tissue paper which has been taped to a carrier sheet

Tear or cut tissue to fit candle, wrap around

Wrap something around tissue and candle to hold in place – I used tulle, but parchment paper would probably be better

Hold tight to keep tissue flat

Use a hair dryer or hear gun to fuse tissue to candle – it gets hot so you might want to cover your hand with a towel –

Voila – a custom candle design!

Think of the possibilities – you could make a design of yourself as a saint and create a very original votive candle! You could write something personal on a friend’s photo and print it out on tissue to make a one-of-a-kind gift candle! Zowee.

I liked this crafty little project – it provided a nice distraction to what I’m supposed to be doing, which is getting ready for the Beacon Hill Art Walk in Boston in just – GULP – two weeks! Yikes!! Back to the studio.

Summer art camp registration is OPEN!

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This summer, I’ll be teaching two workshops in a very special classroom at Artful Gathering, my fifth year there. Several of my friends have already registered – hi, Gaye, hi Joanna, hi Aileen!

Lots of people ask me about Artful Gathering – what exactly is it?? Well,  it’s an annual online art retreat that draws students from all over the world to virtual art studio classrooms where they interact with artists like Leslie Marsh, Debby Anderson, Keith Lo Bue – and me!

This year’s Artful Gathering theme is “Nature,” and I’m teaching two summer sessions this go-round. The first one, from June 6-July 17th is called Natural Expressions: Evocative Portraits using Nature’s Palette with Beeswax. It’s a comprehensive workshop that combines beeswax and rust with mixed media portraits. It also has two tech tutorials that show you where to find copyright-free images and then how to manipulate them with vintage effects – without Photoshop!

Here’s the description:

Session One: June 6 – July 17
Lyn Belisle guides you through the steps for creating mixed media portraits with natural materials, including layered beeswax. You’ll learn how to enhance digital images, tinting, preparing small stretched canvas substrates for layered collage, assembling a wrapped mat around a canvas substrate as well as attaching natural objects to a mat and integrating them into the mixed media composition.

And here’s a video clip that I lifted from the class introduction that shows you some of the things we will play with:

The tuition for this five-week class is $110, kinda like two regular workshops in my studio. If you’ve never participated in a virtual classroom before, it’s really fun. You can work at your own pace, but you can also have conversations with me and the other students at any time in our discussion forum during the five-week session. Here’s a link that will answer all of your questions about registration.

Click on the image below to go to the Directory of all the classes – heck, you might want to take somebody else’s class – my pal Michelle Belto is teaching one this summer, too!

I hope to see you at Artful Gathering – it’s a summer art camp without the mosquitoes.

 

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They found their wings. . .

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. . . and, boy, did they soar! The women in yesterday’s class surpassed every expectation I had for our NeoSanto workshop, creating beautiful symbol-filled personal icons on canvas. And, as Robin said during our critique, “This is much more than just a canvas.”

I showed you the construction process in my last post, but what the students brought to it was the intangible sense of self. The idea of the NeoSanto is to interpret the traditional “santo” figure from the Southwest into a personal guardian. What resulted was one of the most meaningful art-making sessions and discussions that I can remember. I was honored to be there!

Take a look at their work in the video, below.

This may be the subject of the next workshop eBook! Many thanks to DeeDee, Pam, Robin, Marilyn and Lily for the amazing workshop synergy and generosity of spirit.

Up next – on to Artful Gathering! Meet me there in our virtual classroom – registration is open.

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Behind the scenes for today’s workshop

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It’s true – I usually show you workshops videos after the fact, but I thought it would be fun to check in BEFORE the workshop to show you how I work up a prototype.

Today’s upcoming workshop is called NeoSantos, and yesterday I played around in the studio with some ideas for construction.

Here’s the workshop description:

NEOSANTOS are small persomal icons that hang in your sacred space to bring you blessings.
“Santos” are found throughout many cultures. Some are primitive, some are very sophisticated, but all are sacred.

The Project – create a personal Neo (‘new”) Santo with your own intuitive creativity for yourself or as a blessing for another person.

The Process – Construct a neosanto sculpture on canvas using found objects, shard faces, paint and mixed media.

The Goal – Learn the secrets of 3-D construction on canvas while exploring your own sacred symbols.

I consulted my written outline, then I assembled some simple materials.

First step – painting an 8×10″ canvas that has writing and scribbles and scumbled acrylic paint for the background. This is set aside.

Second step – wrapping two small pieces of archival mat board in handmade mulberry paper using glue sticks.

Next step – attaching the two wrapped shapes together with gool ol’ hot glue.

Next Step – playing around with collage elements – in this case, narrow strips of paper.

Next – adding some unusual textures – in this case, a torn strip of a prayer flag from Tibet.

Next step – more stuff!! More acrylic paint to veil the collage elements, trying out different materials – you know, all the fun things.

  Next – lay a small earthenware face onto the construction to see where it’s headed – do I like it? Not completely, but I’m not finished. And the face isn’t attached yet so I can change it any way I like.

At this point, I’m going to stop with this prototype and when the workshop participants arrive this afternoon, I’ll show it to them, explain  how I did it so far, then ask for suggestions. It’s a great way to work collaboratively.

I’ll take pictures during today’s workshop and make a little video for you to see the results. Stay tuned!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

PS – The response to the Talisman Workshop eBook has been overwhelming! I’m making little talisman faces as fast as I can – thank you thank you!!

 

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Hot off the virtual press – the Talisman workshop eBook

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Happy May Day! I wanted to get this eBook up and available by May 1, and — tah dah — it’s ready! This is my first “workshop” eBook, and, hopefully, it has the feel of being right there in my studio with me.

Beeswax, Clay, Paper & Fiber Talismans is an interactive PDF eBook that you download instantly from my Etsy shop. There are eight videos, including two on making the waxed paper beads, along with a whole bunch of instructions and resources.

As you read along, you can click on the video link and watch it, then return to the page. It’s a pretty cool format. If you’ve ever downloaded instructional mixed media eBooks like 21 Secrets, it’s the same idea. The book belongs to you to read and watch as many times as you want to.

Here’s a look at the table of contents – the pages are hyperlinked to each section and each video.

This Talisman workshop is based on the one I did in Washington State with Joanna Powell Colbert, described here in an earlier post. I talk about that here in the intro to the workshop from Page 8 in the Talisman eBook.

Introduction to the Talisman eBook from Lyn Belisle on Vimeo.

When you buy the eBook, you also get a discount on two talisman faces from my Etsy shop. But you don’t need these specific faces to make the Talisman – it’s just an option. I have never believed that you should have to have a specific brand or proprietary item to create a successful art project.

Workshops are a two-way communication, and if you get the Talisman eBook I will be here to answer any follow-up questions or take any suggestion that you think would make this book better. Just send an email to lyn@lynbelisle.com. If I use your suggestion in a revision, I’ll credit you in the acknowledgments and send you the newly revised version for free. The nice thing about interactive eBooks is that they are easily edited.

You can get the Talisman eBook from my website, where you can also find the Encaustic eBook and all of my instructional DVDs, or you can go directly to my Etsy shop to purchase it. The book with videos is $18 and if you want two of the faces as well, they are only $7 for two with the purchase of the book. Such a deal 🙂

This has been a fun project – and it has helped me get more organized! Thanks for all of the encouragement on this. And it sure is nice to be back in Texas on such a beautiful day! Vacations are fun, but there’s no place like home.

 

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Cathedrals and cheese

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We left a week ago from Texas for a river cruise on the Rhine, and it’s been an extraordinary learning experience. I’ve never been on a cruse of any kind until now, and I’ve learned a lot about that environment. Very very interesting, still processing the wheat from the chaff. We’ll dock in Amsterdam tomorrow, home in a few days.

One of my goals on this trip was to shake up my design aesthetic by exploring some galleries and museums in the cities we visited. Unfortunately, the way the trip is structured, there’s not a lot of time for that kind of individual activity. However, there have been two experiences that will stay with me once I’m home.

The first was visiting the magnificent Cologne Cathedral. I was quite literally moved to tears as I approached it from the plaza. The structure defines the range and scope of inspired human achievement. And it’s still a work in progress. You can read more abut it here.

The second memorable experience was this afternoon’s trip to a family cheese farm near Kinderdjik, Netherlands.The Kaas- en Zuivelboerderij Kuiper (Cooper’s Cheese and Dairy Farm) is a family-run operation, now in its third generation. The farm makes gouda cheese using their own milk and starter enzymes that they buy from a commercial firm.

There is a sense of timelessness on this farm, and the rhythm of the seasons and generations resonates strongly. The cows were pretty wonderful, too. They stay inside during the cold months, but on the first day that they are allowed back outside, they go bonkers, according to the farmer, dancing across the fields and falling into the canals.

Cheese and cathedrals both take a long time in the making – and it all brought me back to my favorite saying about art, “Trust the process.” There is such beauty in every step that humans take in creating something that enhances the spirit, whether is a magnificent soaring structure or a creamy gouda from happy cows.

I’ll have lots to think about when I get home, but paying more attention to the process and less to the frantic rush-to-completion will be something I’ve learned on this trip. Home soon!

Leavin’ on a jet plane

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I get to go on vacation!! Ten days of sightseeing on the Rhine River with friends and family. Gosh, I’ll probably come back with all kinds of ideas about castle-and-cuckoo-clock building workshops . . . and it really is going to be nice to get new creative inspiration in a completely different environment.

I’m taking my sketchbook and a little set of watercolors. Wonder if I can still remember how to draw? Wonder how fast we pass those castles? Better draw quick.

Pocket watercolor set – cute – wonder if you use an eyedropper for water?

Project on hold till I get back – the Talisman eBook. It’s finished, but I have asked pals Joanna Powell Colbert and Michelle Belto to review it for me while I’m gone. And since I have to close my Etsy shop while I’m away (and nobody can order talisman faces), it’s a good time to let it rest until I’m back at the end of April and can show it to you guys. You will love it, I’m hoping.

Some of the pages from the new eBook, which also has instructional videos – available May 1

Other projects on hold – summer workshops at little Studio Cinco. I’ll be listing those soon, but am still working on ways to let more more people to be able to sign up before all the spaces are gone. It’s a good, but worrisome, dilemma. Meanwhile, Lesta Frank and Michelle Belto are offering some great workshops – check ’em out.

I just bought a book at The Twig called “How to Pack” because most of the time when I travel, I’m schlepping around art supplies and have room for maybe an extra pair of jeans and t shirt. But this book came to the rescue and gave me all kinds of tips for being a well-dressed tourist:

Tips, pp 38-39

If the equation says I can wear only one pair of shoes at a time, it sure isn’t gonna be that pair at the top left. Can you imagine how your dogs would be barkin’ after a day walking along the cobblestones of Cologne in those?? I kinda like that hat and the sunglasses, though. Do you squash the hat up in your carry-on? Or just put it on your head and wear it on the plane? Hmmmm. . .

My number one travel tip is to look for a nice tall person to help me put the carry-on bag in the overhead bin.

Hopefully, I can send a signal from abroad – but if not, see you when I get back. Have fun at Fiesta, all you fellow San Antonions!

PS.  A shout-out to travel doc Mark Thornton for helping me get over the Dreaded Cough of 2017 and be ready for the trip – whew! That one had me worried.

 

 

 

 

 

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Abstract acrylic painting workshop

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Excuses, excuses. I’ve been laid low with an awful cold since last weekend and have slothed around for a few days trying to get better. The Talisman e-Book is almost ready for test driving, and I’ll be asking three SHARDS readers to do that for me as a favor and give feed back. Hopefully, that will happen in the next day or so.

Meanwhile, a bright spot in the last few days was the Abstract Acrylic Painting workshop on Saturday. Here’s the outline of some of the techniques we explored:

When you have just three hours to get into a process, it’s best to limit yourself by size, structure, and color palette. We did a warmup painting on 9×12 watercolor paper, then moved to a 12×12″ stretched canvas.

Some of the painters reflected the same style with both pieces and some branched out. We had one of the best discussion on composition and color than I can remember having lately. It was a great group. Some had never painted before and others had much experience. That diversity is so helpful in designing effective workshops.

We started with layers of scribbling and stenciling just to “get the door open” and went from there – fun.

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Abstract Acrylic Workshop from Lyn Belisle on Vimeo.

 Excuse any typos in the video – I’m overdosed on cough medicine!

New! Workshop eBooks! First one coming soon!

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sold out

One of the most frustrating things that has happened since I downsized my studio last year is having to tell friends that the workshops are sold out. I mean, it’s sorta good, since it means that people like them (yay, thanks!!) but I want to share some of my favorite workshops, old and new, with everybody.

The other really nice thing that has happened is that I’m being asked to come do workshops in far-away places that I can’t easily arrange. Penny from Australia recently emailed after seeing my Talisman workshop with Joanna Powell Colbert:   “What would it take to get you to Perth to take a class or two??? Maybe I can arrange it….I’d love to make the talisman. They are wonderful!”

So here’s what I decided – what if I take the workshops to YOU? I have to plan them and do demos beforehand anyway, so I might as well video them while I’m doing it. They’ll be fun for people who can’t get into the in-person workshops (like Penny), and they will be a good review for those who have already worked with me. And they’d be cheaper than the in-person workshops.

I got to work, and TAH DAH – here’s a preview of the first Lyn Belisle Workshop eBook! This one is based on the class I did for Joanna in Washington:

covereboox

This one is almost finished. It has eight sections of step-by-step instructions and photos on making the mixed-media Talisman. It has eight short Vimeo videos of me showing you how to do stuff (including my usual goofy comments). And it has resources on where to get everything you need for the workshop.

page 2

I’ll sell the eBook for $18 at my Etsy shop, the same place that I sell the Behind the Veil: Beeswax and Collage Book. And if some of the materials that are optional for the eBook project are at my Etsy shop, there will be a discount for those. For example, the Talisman Faces usually sell for $13 a pair, but if you buy the eBook, you can get the “special bookie” price of $7 a pair. (Those faces are all sold out at moment, but I plan to make more when  the eBook becomes an international best seller and the demand for shard faces skyrockets – YAHAHA. )

OK, back to reality – this is an experiment, I’m having fun with it, and I hope you like the idea. As far as this book’s availability, it should be finished by this coming Monday.

If it’s a success, I’ll plan on more Lyn Belisle Workshop eBooks in the very near future, probably starting with the NeoSanto Workshop so you’ll get to join in the fun even if it is sold out.

neosold

So what do you think? Thoughts? Suggestions? Dire warnings?? Thanks, as always, for following me on SHARDS, and stay tuned for the Talisman Workshop eBook release on Monday!

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The art of poetry

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I’m so lucky to count Pamela Ferguson among my friends. I’ve admired her poetry for a long time and loved her visits to my old studio where the Voices de la Luna poetry group met. And I got to see her in a new incarnation when she attended the Small Worlds workshop last weekend!

Pamela just sent me a poem inspired by her collage creation – I thought you’d like to see it. She addresses the very personal connection between the art we make and the words we write.

pamela copy

Here’s more about Pamela’s work:

Pamela Ferguson is a native of San Antonio and a proud resident of the Texas Hill Country. She is a late bloomer, having attained her BA in English at the age of 48. The desire to write has been with her as long as she can remember and this goal was achieved when she was hired a technical writer by a local pharmaceutical manufacturing company. Pamela has written poetry since she was a teen but got serious about it in the 1990’s. She has published numerous poems in literary journals across the States including The Journal of the Texas Council of Teachers of English, Aries, New Texas, and Lucidity. Winner of the 2006 Laurel Crown Poetry competition for her poem, “Hand me Down,” Pamela has participated in San Antonio area poetry festivals and readings, has received several awards, had many poems published in local journals.

Thanks, Pamela, for sharing your thoughts and image. I’m thinking that an art and poetry workshop might be on the horizon! I’m getting the summer and fall schedule together right now – this could be a winner!

romance of writing letters

 

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