Spontaneous Combustion

Where should I start.  I'm still in tail-spin from this workshop. 

The Melvin MouseKnowing how to meld the art of calligraphy with layering has been a long-time desire.  Not any more; Judy Melvin brought this mysterious technique within reach.  She was such a delight!  Gosh, so many new ideas, tips and tricks.  Truly, I feel as if she helped me become a better lettering artist.  I wanna call in sick tomorrow and just play with paints and pens.  For more pieces from this workshop, please view "Fine Art" located in the Portfolio section.

Just knowing this nifty little trick with the letter "M" made the entire workshop was well worth the money.  The only materials required were contact paper, exacto, micron and watercolors.  Then let the magic happen.  Actually, I goofed on this one.  The little mouse you see was a "happy accident".  How ironic to have a blob in the shape of a mouse on the letter "M".  Lucky me.

Abstract Watercolor

Creative Studio Night is proving to be an inspiration.  There's just something about being around other artists that gets the creative juices flowing.  Here we go!  Abstract Watercolor is self explanatory.  We made random marks on a (16x24) page using a variety of tools such as Chinese Marker, Micron, Graphite Pencil, Sumi and Walnut Ink. 

watercolor & sumi ink

With the self-made view finder, we cut out small pieces (1 x 1/2) of visual interest.  With this small, yet very abstract piece, we re-created a larger version on a 5x7.  We used sumi ink to emphasize the random marks, then painted watercolor around such.  Must remember to leave a small ditch around the sumi -- meaning just keep the watercolor away from sumi by about 1/8 of an inch. 

watercolor & sumi ink

I chose the wet on wet watercolor technique.  With dirty water, I wet the area I wanted to paint, then dropped in a variety of colors.  These are not colors I would ordinarily choose, but since it's creative night, I took some risks.  Turns out I quite liked the result, and so did the neighboring artist sitting next to me.