Blue Ridge Workshops!! November 2-3

I want to let everyone know that I am teaching in Blue Ridge, GA the first weekend of November. I'll be at Heartwood Health, Art and Yoga Nov 2-3 offering Release Your Creative Spirit and Fantasy House Portraits. Now that the weather is getting cooler I'm especially excited for this trip! There simply is no place as lovely as the North Georgia Mountains in the Fall. Come on out and play. Southern hospitality combines quite well with the quaint mountain inns:~)

Here's a link for more info. 

An oldie but goodie of Fantasy House Portraits. Here's an earlier post of student examples.

an example from Release Your Creative Spirit. Here are more student works from Irvine earlier this year.

See you all later. 

staci

day 43~weekend road walking

"angels walk in red shoes" 36x36

Every year a group of 10-11 artists known as Artzilla get together in Augusta to paint for 3 days and raise money for our local community arts center, Gertrude Herbert Institute. It is easily one of my favorite art events of the year. I think it's because I spend so much time by myself in my studio and I miss the interaction of other artists. It's one thing to get together with artists at shows or gallery openings or dinner or whatever. That's great. Don't get me wrong. But to hang out with them socially and paint at the same time? Damn! It just doesn't get any better than that. I love teaching and I love going to retreats to teach because the energy is just over the top. But when I'm there I'm not focused on my own artwork. At Artzilla it's totally self indulgent painting and existing on the energy of my counterparts. And let me tell you--these folks can paint! Holy Cats!! I'll have to do a blog post later this week introducing them all and letting you in on what they do. I mean, WOW.

So I stayed out of my head just enough to remember to take pictures of the painting I worked so that I can share a little bit of process with you. If you've taken my "release your creative spirit" painting class you may appreciate a little glimpse of how I apply those principles and techniques to what I do at home.

I started this one with black gesso and texture paste. then I threw some blue paint into the mix and let it dry for a while. 

then my usual red line drawings to set the background layers. I knew that I wanted this to be landscape'ish so I did a band of geometrics across the bottom. 

I wasn't feeling the black and blue ground so I went over the sky area with red because it makes pastels pop later on.

then it was a matter of starting the painting. You can see in the whites of her dress that it's never just one color. whites are everything from grey to yellow to light blue etc. Mixing color is one of my favorite aspects of painting. If you look closely you can see where I added a wing at this point. That was inspired by the way the shapes fell into the drawing. I hadn't planned that originally. 

working the face and her hair at this point. Still playing with moving color around. 

whenever i lay down a color, i try to move it around the canvas as much as possible. even if it's just an accent on a background shape. i think this keeps the painting looking unified.

i struggled with the back arm. i kept going back and forth about how it should sit. At this stage i really like the red in the background offset by the lavender. However...

i ended up painting all of the red out.  

I spent the next morning debating adding it back in but by then the colors had shifted too much and i would have ruined the piece if I'd had tried to go backwards.

and this is where I finished. I really love this piece. 

All of the paintings will be up for auction online and I will post a link as soon as I have it. The bid on this one is at $250. The live auction will be the first friday of October in front of The Book Tavern in Augusta. If you can't make it in person you can phone in your bid, but you've got to have your name on a bid sheet ahead of time in order to participate. If you want to add your name drop me a note and let me know. It's for a great cause and you will be getting a beautiful painting. Shipping for a painting this size is $75.00.

Off to walk Wally and then working on the book. Take a deep breath and smile in your soul today. 

Love.

staci

Day 37: dancing bears and creative epiphanies

Since the point of this whole project was to follow the winding path of my ideas for a year, I thought I'd post a quick update what's been going on around here the last couple of days. I'm in a rush to get to the studio because I just got off of the phone with my BFF and we had one of our common conversations that lead to creative overload. Do you have one of those? Someone who somehow brings out all of the fabulous crazy that swirls around inside of your brain? My mind is actually spinning right now. Love her!

Ok. So a couple of days ago another artist stopped by to pick up the tent she's borrowing for a weekend art festival. I'm not exhibiting at the event because I'm going to be painting live for 3 days with my best art buds in Augusta. ArtZilla lives! more on that later. 

Anyway, we got to talking and I was telling her about the sculpture projects I'm working and she came up with the idea to incorporate a story into the beginning of the book, to make it accessable to people and to give the characters life and meaning. And I got to thinking about the story of my grandfather and the quacking flowers. (see original post here)

And since I was already working on bears for the sculptures, (and I'm sure this idea actually came from my BFF:~), the dancing bear was Zane, my grandfather. Below is a pick of Zane and the little duck-girl. Aren't they sweet? I'm working on painting them now and decorating, which is why I've got to get my ass off of this computer and get back to the studio. 

But wait! It gets better!

So this morning while sitting out on the back deck and watching the crane on the lake (my total zen start to my day!) I was having my usual cup of tea with the BFF (who by the way lives in Virginia and we only see each other about once a year but talk maybe 4x a week...the best sister friend a girl could ask for) (truly I am blessed) and it hits me...

photograph these characters and sculpture pieces I'm making and turn them into surreal collage a la "fantasy house portraits" and create artworks that narrate a story. Much like I'm doing anyway, but this translates the 3d art back to 2d mixed media paintings. 

And damn!! This is what goes on around here most of the time and this is what I mean when I talk about the fluidity of an idea. When I set out to do all of this a little more than a month ago I thought I was going to be pursuing the house idea. And here I am in some new territory filled with images of my ancestors coming to life before my eyes and a coffee induced high like I haven't had in quite some time. I've got to go and get to work before it cripples me:~)

Love to all. Please share with me what's going on in the studio. Post comments. I think I've got that bug worked out here on google. If you have trouble, let me know. I's gots to gets to work!!

~staci

Day 35: morning dancing

"Look up child. A world is born."-Amos Lee

Day 34: Glamping along the red road

the cornerstone of the story I'm constructing 

I don't know about you but I love camping. Especially this time of year. Saturday the hubby and I took our kayak down the Savannah and at least 15 times one of us would say, "This would make a great camping trip." The weather was perfect in the mid 80's, there was a glorious breeze (except when it was in our faces slowing us down:~), the people on the river were friendly, and on and on and on. Needless to say we had a great time. Took us 3.5 hours to travel about 8 miles. Not bad for a couple of old farts in flat bottom kayak. We made it home safe and sound, a little bruised and battered from getting hung up on the rocks at one point. Ate a couple of burgers from Gary's in North Augusta, then fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon.

my view all day saturday. life is grand!

In the studio I'm hard at work on my ongoing projects. I'm not sure how these fit into my list of goals but to be honest I haven't been this excited about the work in quite some time so maybe my list needs tweaking. I'm sharing the camper photo to get everyone else as excited as I am. I've already written it up as a class and it's the cornerstone of the book proposal I'm wrapping up this week. Stay tuned. I think lots of fun things are right around the corner.

And we figured out who keeps pooping on the back porch. A giant toad! I had no idea a toad could produce something that impressive. We shall name him Raoul. I suppose I will have to buy him a little toad house. Country living, Baby!

Happy Monday Folks. 

staci

Day 31 dirty dancing

It's Friday. Been a busy week. 

day 30 on the red road...still dancing

Have I mentioned the spiders from hell that populate out little slice of paradise out here in Aiken? I guess it's that time of year. Now I know why spider webs are a part of Halloween decor. Ugh! I've been sharing my spider stories on FB. Judging from the comments it's comforting to know I'm not the only one with spider-phobia. I'm ok with them unless the webs touch me. Then it's like crazy lady dancing looking like she's having a seizure.

It's been suggested by an artist friend that the spiders work their way into my artwork. I might almost be ok with this idea. I love that spiders are Nature's weavers. And since I started this creative life as a weaver and fabric designer I like that idea. And maybe it'd be a way of facing my fears. But I wouldn't want them to lend a creepy look to the art. Need to consider their elegance.

For now I'm just considering it. We'll tuck that idea into the well and see what it spits out down the road somewhere. You just never know with me!

So how are things coming along with you guys? Are you working thru some of the ideas on your list? Here's a relief portrait I worked this week. I'm writing it up as a new class for 2014. We'll see what the powers that be think about it. Let me know what you think. I love to hear from people. Post comments and let's start the dialogue.

mother nature. plaster gauze and cardboard with mixed media and found objects. 

detail. my son found the hatched egg in our woods and i turned it into a miniature pysanky

detail. I can't get enough of these gel pens

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I'm off to the studio now. Time to finish some other samples for new class offerings. Life is never dull around here. No spiders today. Yet.

~staci

the red road~ day 28

Good Gosh! It's been almost a month since I decided to record the artistic journey. I've learned a whole lot about myself in the last 4 weeks. Not sure any of it has any bearing on my artistic process. More like  a microscope on my work habits. And NOBODY wants to read about THAT! Suffice it to say I'm still learning to juggle the to-do list. #nevertoooldtolearn

So let's see. Where were we? red road...itinerary...whatwasIthinkingcommittingtoayearlongproject?

Suck it up, Swider! You're trying to build a reputation here and bailing out after only a month shows serious wussy shoes. What happened to those sexy shoes you were musing over just last week?

Bitch.

Ok. Enough whining. First on the list of things I'd like to pursue this year is the idea of working in relief. (Here's the original blog post.) When I was teaching in the elementary school, one of the techniques I learned from my teacher pals up in New England was the use of cardboard and plaster gauze. I LOVE using the plaster gauze product. I wrote about it in Cloth Paper Scissors back in April. You can find the issue here.

Essentially you construct a base out of cardboard and/or found objects and then cover it in plaster gauze. This gives you a really sturdy base on which to play with paint, collage, decoration, etc etc. I'm working on several new projects and classes using this technique. I'm trying to sort thru how much I can share online with you, my sweet readers, before the folks who host the retreats at which I teach decide they aren't interested. You see, if I share too much of it then they figure why have me come to teach it at the retreat since everyone already has access to the information online. I really have no idea where that line lies.

I've got several of these sweet ladies in progress in the studio at the moment. Some of them are simply painted, some will incorporate more decoration and the like. I'm channeling a whole "mother nature" vibe while I'm working. It's coming together. But there's still a ways to go before I get that casual unworked aesthetic that drives me.

It just occured to me that I should run to the local craft supplier and paw thru their silk floral department and see what kind of goodies I can scrounge up. I don't want to do anything so predictable as add silk leaves to the head dresses, but maybe there's a way to incorporate some of those elements using collage under the paint. Hmmm...

Meanwhile, here's a little teaser of some other inspiration lurking in my studio...more on that later :~)

hugs to all. happy tuesday! someone please buy my house:~)

~staci

Chicago Birches, 2013

Can't help but wonder about my attraction to "say yes to the dress" playing in the background while I'm working. I guess it's the fantasy of getting to play princess for the day. Or maybe I just love ALL pretty dresses and it wouldn't matter if people were putting on wedding dresses or just beautiful clothes in general. I mean, who doesn't love "what not to wear" and secretly wish that Clinton and Stacey would show up at their office with a credit card for $5000 and fabulous style advice? Alas, it's their final season and all of the episodes are in the can waiting to air and I'm stuck with the clothes I own. Hrumph.

Meanwhile, I'm finally getting to the last student works from Chicago. I'm busy working on new class samples and proposals so that I can branch out and I keep putting the blog on the back burner. But I promised my students I'd share their work and more than anything I try to be a person of my word. And besides, their work is really good and you all need to see how other people interpret my methods so that you, too, will want to try them and make them your own. Forget whether or not you ever take a class from me. I'm just hoping that you will be inspired by all of the different variations on a theme and feel the confidence to try something new at home.

the artist who did this pair of paintings took a more natural approach to color. she had a great sense of humor and her description of her own work had me cracking up!

Love the leaves on this one!

another pair, this time top and bottom. very pretty

peace!

ok. this student taught me something new. if i ever teach this class again we are definitely adding the stencil element.

pretty colors on this beauty

a different spin on tree colors. soft and sweet.

i like the proportions on the tree limbs here and the colors

Ok. So here is the gal working on the stencil background. The participants at the retreat got these cool circle stencils in the SWAG bags. I turned around and was like "holy crap! that's the coolest thing I've ever seen! why didn't I think of that?" And the grasshopper teaches the master.

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That's it from me. Tomorrow I'll write about some of the new things happening along the red road. I've really got to collect my thoughts and figure out where I'm going. Life has gotten in the way and it's effecting my creative decision making. Time to step back and evaluate. 

Hugs.

staci

Still more Chicago 2013

I still amaze at the quality of the work I get from people when I teach the house portraits class. Chicago was no exception. I just love the surreal quality of the paintings. Everybody balks when I tell them they have to outline everything, EVERYTHING, in black pen, but as soon as they start to see the results the dissension stops and the smiles take over. The consistent black line moving across the entire surface and picking out details not readily apparent unifies the entire painting and gives it that illustrated quality, blurring the line between photograph and painting, made up and reality. It's like magic.

Here are a few stand outs from August's class. Enjoy.

love the chicken and the clock. this artist's trees are among the best I've seen. 

this gal painted about 80% of these flowers by hand. no kidding! awesomeness!!

all of these flowers except the purple on the far right and the orange on the far left are painted. freaking fabulous!

nice use of perspective here

a very whimsical interpretation of her townhouse. She repeated several prints of it to add depth and interest. 

the texture in the yard on this was very nice. and pretty trees and flowers

we had a small group this day but they kept me on my toes and did such a great job.

Time to go clean some more for the weekend. I'm looking forward to showing off all of the work we've done on the house over the last 6 months, but I'll be happy to return to my normal level of 'disarray'. cleaning for company!

Staci

More Chicago 2013

Waldo is going to bootcamp. He is a 90# giant obnoxious teenager of a dog. I love him but he is getting a little (a LOT) unruly for this artist to handle. I know it's our fault. We just haven't spent enough time training him and now it's time to pay the Piper. Unfortunately they don't have room for him until October. If I disappear for a few days it's because he's buried me in the back yard. Doggy Don't!

Meanwhile, I'm working on the red road and things are really coming together. But I'm trying to remain focused and keep this post about the students from Chicago last month. I actually remembered to take photos of the finished and almost finished pieces this trip. I know, right? And I don't even drink regular coffee.

And since you asked for it...Creative Spirit Photodump!!

this artist used a sewing marking wheel to make the white dotted lines on her painting. the resolution on my photo doesn't show it too well but it was VERY effective. totally stealing this idea in the future!

a whole lot of whimsy in this sea inspired painting. 

i love the way this artist left the underpainting and concentrated on using collage.

look closely at the repetitive floral element in the dress and background. nice

really awesome piece by fellow instructor Sherrie Drummond. just WOW.

do you not just love the expression on this guy? this comes from allowing the painting to speak and following what's there.

Well. That's it for today. Time to get building in the studio. I'm loving the way these new class samples are coming together. Did I say new class samples? Yep. Writing a few new projects. Stay tuned...

staci