Artist Journal

Journal pages by Jill Ehlert  

I have created a new photo album called "Artist journal pages". I will be adding to this as time permits. 

Monotype by Polly Hammet

Polly Hammet has a wonderul section on monoprints on her wondeful website. Check them out. 

Somebody waved goodbye

                               I took this picture when we were in Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Crossing the Line

"Crossing the Line" - December 6 - December 24, 2008

An exhibition of work derived from the drawings at the Slide Room Exhibition.

Opening Reception: December 6, 2008 7-9 pm

Martin Bachelor Gallery

712 Cormorant Street, Victoria, B.C.

250 385 7919

Hours: Monday to Saturday 10 am - 5 pm

Making a Mark Collective

Sylvia Bews-Wright, Cheryl Taves, 

Maggie Cole, Wren Katzalay

In June 2007 the Fran Willis Gallery sadly held its last exhibition before closing its doors. Sharing the south wall of the gallery was the work of these four Victoria artists.

It was through the closing of one door - the Fran Willis Gallery - that we opened another by coming together to form Making a Mark. Over the course of the last year we have come to appreciate the extent to which artists can support, encourage, and facilitate the exhibition and creation of one another's work. We have beeen delighted to discover that we do, as we first thought, share an aesthetic, be it through our use of strong gestural marks, our willingness to experiment and have the courage to work with a variety of materials, or our determination to reveal our life experiences, and inner-most thoughts, through our work. As members of Making a Mark, we want to "speak" to a wide audience and by so doing share what we have created on and beneath the surface both as individuals and as a group of women artists."

Polly Hammett

Polly Hammett is a Signature Member of the American Watercolor Societyand the National Watercolor Society  and a professional member of the American Art Therapy Association. She has designed workshops for counselors, educators and therapists; and has conducted these painting workshops, as well as others, across the country and Canada. She is an exciting and innovative instructor who conducts workshops all around the nation.

According to Polly Hammett, "Each of us is as individual as our fingerprints. This individuality is a result of a lifelong accumulation of information gathered from personal experiences and impressions which provide a strong foundation for future independent growth in our painting as well as all areas of our lives." 

Design with the Figure

In this Creative Catalyst Production instructional DVD,innovative instructor Polly Hammet teaches you mixed media techniques for design with the human figure.

Learn Polly Hammett's unique, multifaceted and open-ended design approach as she develops and completes a painting. From this experienced teacher you will gain skills and techniques in a wide variety of topics:

• design considerations
• interaction with models
• creative use of contour drawing
• figure placement and the impact on their meaning to the viewer
• developing a background
• manipulating dark and light patterns to achieve a strong visual statement
• lifting lights
• adding texture
• use of exaggeration and distortion
• the importance of transitions
• stamping.

Polly also shares many insights on subjects integral to being an artist including how to benefit from critique groups. Artists will find Polly's design concepts applicable to any subject.

View fullsize

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Diane McCarten

    "PRESENT PASSAGE" BY Diane McCarten

"The present is continuously passing away & yet it is always here".

This painting of Diane's is part of a group show in Houston, Texas. 10+ is a Houston based artists' group that has been gathering monthly for over 12 years "to share our lives, objectively review our art work & support each other on our artistic journeys. This past year we agreed to read Tolle's book, A New Earth, and to use it as a point of departure for creating individual visual responses to a portion of the book that especially resonated with each one of us. This show, "Present", is the result of our introspection and reaction. Each diverse creation, using color, line & design, holds its own conclusions & truths. Displayed here together, the works acknowledge our collective instinct to connect with one other consciously & respectfully".

Donna Baspaly

Title: Abundant Blessings

Medium: Mixed Media on Canvas

Dimensions: 23" x 47"

2008

Collage playing cards

Collaging on top of over-size playing cards (3 1/2 X 5). Parts of 6 cards are shown here. These were purchased at the dollar store.

My friend Diane McCarten and I spent all day Tuesday at Donna Baspaly's house in Qualicum. Donna showed us tons of different projects and techniques which will take weeks and months to do. We only had time for this one project which we worked on all day long. These are only a few of mine showing different states of development, I still have lots more to do on them. The idea is to work on the same background - Donna calls this DNA, holding onto a little bit - even a speck somewhere in the collage.

"life is a verb"

 

          "life is a verb" by Patti Digh

 

Review

"Life is a Verb is brilliantly-crafted, raw, gorgeously-designed, and daringly different from 'self-help' books. It relates, through stories that sparkle and astonish and soar, how to move, to be on your way, to realize who you really are through your actions. Through exercises that you participate in, as if in conversation with the author, you will learn, as she promises in the prologue, 'deeper things—how to know what to care about, how to treat others around you (and yourself), what to question, how to love, what to stand up for, and why you should tell stories and listen to the stories of others.' There is no more important learning.

         So read it. Inhabit it. Breathe in every word, because every word of this book is essential. Let it animate you. Annotate it to make it your own. And then let it let you change yourself, and become who you were intended to be. Begin now. You have no time to lose."
--- Dave Pollard, author of The Natural Entrepreneur, and the weblog How to Save the World

ANATOMY OF GREYS

 December 11 -22, 2008 in the Slide Room Gallery at the

Vancouver Island School of Art Curatorial Intern: Sarah Harper

Through sculpture, painting, drawing, collage and installation with found objects, six diverse artists broaden their relationship to the work and with each other. Accepting the challenge to create from a purely chromatic grey palette, each of the artists expects to transform her artistic experience by exploring personal colour preferences and "mixing it up".

Participants: Ira Hoffecker, Joanne Hewko, Jan Henry, Deborah Delaney, , Kristine Paton

Kristine Paton.

Opening reception, Thursday, December 11@ 7:30 pm

Confident Color

"Confident Color", an artist's guide to harmony, contrast and unity by Nita Leland. A great book on color. 

Yellena

Yellena

An artist/graphic designer living on Central Oregon Coast. Obsessed with markers, pens, inks, paper, patterns, good design, wallpaper, cacti, vintage fabric, empty journals and anything little.

For more info please visit http://www.yellana.com

VIRGINIA COBB

"Acrylic Abstract Painting: The Evolving Image": is the latest DVD to be released by Creative Catalyst Productions.

In this DVD Cobb demonstrates her process as she creates three abstract paintings, selecting options that highlight different design elements. The video includes 105 minutes of instruction and demonstration and a 37 minute interview.

Cobb states that she gets her inspiration from the painting itself. In the midst of her process she pays attention to what is going on - she looks at the marks of colour, the various pieces or shapes and these determine what he next step will be.

I like this DVD - Viginia is clear and concise in her descriptions and it is an easy process to follow. It inspired me to get out a squeegee and brayer and get going on my own "process painting." I got my squeegee at Rona (their brand) for under $4.oo. Lots of fun.

Check out Virginia Cobb's website - I am sure you will be inspired.

Newspaper collage

DETAIL

Create your own unique collage papers.

These are unique embellished sheets that are fun to create and have on hand for creating exciting backgrounds, rich environments and main elements in your collage work; tear these papers into small bits and pieces & adhere to paper or canvas support.

Newspaper collage is a great way to get your creative juices flowing. It is "freeing" to paint on good old cheap newspaper, putting aside hang-ups that arise when working on good paper. Something magical happens in the studio and to your mindset once you start this playful process.

1. On a sheet of newspaper loosely apply a mix of watered down white gesso (or acrylic paint) over most of the surface. Apply this mix thin enough to still see the text showing through here and there on the sheet.
2. For variety apply full strenth gesso/paint in a few areas; scratch or write through the heavier mix with a tool or pencil for texture.
3. Once the surface is dry - write poetry, phrases, words...with a black Sharpie permanent marker here and there over the entire surface.
4. Paint areas of colour varying it from a thin transparent glaze to a more opaque and thick mix. Scratch texture and patterns into some of the areas of the thicker wet paint.
5. Once the surface is dry - stamp patterns and texture all over the sheet with small, medium and large shapes.
6. Continue to stamp, draw and apply transparent and translucent glazes over the entire sheet.

Remember that the sheet will be torn into smaller pieces - so each area needs to bave enought texture and interest.