Artist's Retreat - July 2015

First meal of Artist's Retreat - on the shore at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Photograph altered with Brushstroke app. 

Artist’s Retreat. Doesn’t that sound romantic? Maybe expensive? Certainly illusive.

Well, at least that’s how I felt about it. Every year I’d talk to Cindi Huss, a dear friend who has moved far enough away that we don't see each other often. We’d say how we should run away for a weekend sometime and leave all our responsibilities behind us. Well, this year I called her up and said “Let’s have an artist’s retreat!” She was enthusiastic and so we started planning. Last week was the fruit of all those conversations.

Revel in these paint colors!

We had three full days together. Cindi had seen my art journaling work and was game to give it a go. Our plan was to do gelli printing, art journaling and gelli printing on silk scarves. Cindi also brought matching white moleskins in which we would record our retreat. I found some necklace findings which allow for a picture to be inserted. We would also have these as momentos of our time together.  Our other goals included food and laughter.

Gelli Printing

We took turns. Each of us printed a few and then handed the gelli plate to the other. We never washed the plate until we were done. This method allowed us to rif on each other’s work, gave us the challenge of using what was left on the plate to create a new print and resulted in some pretty amazing pulls in which we could see traces of each other in our prints. When finished we laid out Cindi’s prints to photograph them. Then we did the same with mine. It was amazing to see how even though we had the same materials with which to work, we made very different collections of prints. It was also really fun to see Cindi’s touch in the middle of my creations.

Cindi's gelli prints. 

My Prints. Notice how different the color scheme is. 

Art Journaling

Cindi made her journal by taking large paper, applying gesso, ripping it to size and sewing together. We actually applied gesso the first day so that we could use our pages as a place to blot excess paint from brayers, paintbrushes and fingers.

I suggested the added challenge of each of us using a gelli print the other made as the inspiration for the journal page. Even as I suggested it, I quaked in my boots. Cindi took up the challenge and off we sped. We each offered up prints that we could part with which added another level of structure vs. choice. 

(Left) Cindi's print. Red was going to be a challenge for me, but those shapes! Could be leaves. Could be paisley. (Right) My print. She was already seeing things in this print.

Working with these colors was definitely out of my comfort zone. We added background color, stamping, stencils, spray ink, collage and pen. I regret neglecting to introduce Cindi to the joys of bubble wrap printing.

You can see our pages. 

What do you know? I can use red.

The shapes were taken organically from the print. I stared at it until I could see the lines in the print.

The whole page felt organic to me. It didn't take much thinking. 

Working with Cindi was great. The message came easily in her presence. She is such a fountain of joy and compassion. 

Cindi's journal page. It was fun to see her expand her vision as she added layers. 

Gelli Printing on Silk Scarves

We had seen the tutorial on the Gelli Arts blog that shows using the round gelli plates to print of silk scarves. We both reacted very positively to that idea, so we forged ahead. One of Cindi’s many talents includes dyeing fabric. Go to her website or blog to read more about her work. She had some silk scarves and offered to bring them. 

After brushing on the paint I pressed a piece of lace into the paint. Here is the result. 

This piece of lace is brightly colored now from the number of times I used it as a pattern maker. 

Cindi and I took very different approaches to this project. I started out too rigid and lifeless in my thinking. I used the blocks as the rectangles they are, marking them by pressing a piece of lace into them. 

No limitations for Cindi! She did not conform to the shape of the plate. 

Cindi printed with wild abandon. Eventually I loosened up and added the circles – big and little. The circles were made with stamps I had made from styrofoam trays my vegetables came in. Cindi’s scarf was a wild garden full of vibrant flowers and leaves.

Taking the scarves off the freezer paper was awe-inspiring. We gasped when we saw how different the scarf look as it draped around my neck or on the table.

My scarf unveiled.

Cindi wearing the scarf on the way home. 

Cindi's scarf off the freezer paper. 

Moleskine Notebooks

A silly picture we took with the APP Snap Dash. The caption reads "You're a pig being carried to a luau."

We wrote in our notebooks. What we did. How we did things. Things we wanted to remember. Food we ate. Pieces of the work we did. Photographs of us being silly. Working in these books helped us to think about what we had created and to take it to the next level. They are wonderful reminders of these days spent together and of our friendship. I will cherish mine.

Necklaces

The pieces we gave to each other. (Left) from me (Right) from Cindi.

We each chose a gelli print to cut a piece out to put in our necklaces. We each wrote a message to the other on the piece of paper we gave. Then we put them together with a piece of our own and closed the latch. Lovely charms for us to wear and shine.

It was hard to let Cindi go when the time came. Yet instead of that old feeling that things were coming to a close, I had a strange feeling that something was beginning. Guess we’ll just have to do it again. Can’t wait.

Want to see more about Cindi? You can see some of her work at http://www.cindihuss.com or her blog Dancing Threads. 

Mother's Day Gelli Prints - Stamping and Printing Sunday

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers and to the fathers out there who have to fill in a mother's shoes. 

I wanted to send you flowers so here are a couple of gelli printed flowers. I don't know whether I will leave them as is or whether I will choose to fill them in. 

 My family had our meal out yesterday and so today was a lovely day for sleeping in. Just what I wanted! 

I hadn't gelli printed in a few weeks and I was eager to do some. Here are some of my favorites from today. 

I love the prints as they are, as part of my art journaling, and also as a layer in my double exposure photos. I love the way they combine with other photos. 

I hope you had a lovely Mother's Day. It was great for me to celebrate yesterday (less crowd in the restaurant) and have today to loll about. If you could plan your own Mother's Day event, what would be most meaningful to you? Now that you've thought about it, how about asking for it?

Recycling - Stamping and Printing Sunday

Pinterest is such a wonderful tool for learning new techniques. Using the styrofoam packing from the grocery store to create stamps is just one of the brilliant ideas that can be found through Pinterest. Fortunately or unfortunately, the grocery store I usually frequent doesn't use that kind of packaging much. So I only get to try this method out when I'm shopping off the beaten path. This week held just such an opportunity! The above photo shows the stamps I made. 

Stamping on top of gelli prints.

I'm in love with this one!

 This stamp makes me think of washi tape. The gears are already turning as I think of new ways to use it. 

The original cherry blossom prints were a little disappointing. Adding this new stamp ramped it up for me. 

Instead of rolling the paint on with a brayer I tried using a brush to add the paint and then using the brayer to roll over it to get a better pull. As you can see in the print above there are dangers in this method. As the brayer hit the surface it slid, creating a blob. I developed the habit of laying the foam down, gently adding pressure with my thumb and rolling across one section at a time. There are still mistakes, but fewer of them. 

 This one is particularly striking to me as the original paper had left me cold. I start to see possibilities in it. 

How to do you handle a piece that didn't come out as planned? Do you move on or do you fiddle with it? Hope you have some happy surprises today. 

Sand instead of Stamping and Printing this Sunday

Sundays is the day I've been posting my stamping and printing lately. Today I threw it all over and went to the beach. I certainly left my mark there, however. 

We made flower and sea drift mandalas on the beach. Inspired by photos I've seen of the mandalas others have made, I decided to give it a go. The process unfolded naturally, the tiny cherry blossoms were laying on the sidewalk just begging to be included. Each layer was lovely to behold, but more items beaconed. The final row of shells seemed just right.

It's funny how the creative process is like a road that leads itself. If only I could step out of my own way more often.

This week my creative focus has been on photography. It's natural to happen while taking a class. I'll leave you with one more double exposure from the beach. 

Double Exposure - Stamping and Printing Sunday

I'm doing something a little different this Sunday. On a whim I signed up for an online photography course with Vivienne McMaster. She is very inspirational in her writing and is an encouraging and cheerful guide. Having taken her classes, I can say my eye for photography has grown exponentially, my photos have improved, but more importantly Vivienne has helped me to see myself in a different way. I would highly recommend her courses. 

(Do you recognize the stamp I made out of a vegetable tray transposed over a picture of me at work?)

The course I signed up for starts tomorrow. It's called Double Exposure. You can guess what we are going to do. In preparing for the class I started trying out her recommended tools. I melded my gelli prints with other photos and the results blew me away. So today I am sharing my prints in a different way. I love the whole process. I'll be posting more this week as I take the course. 

(Can you see my daughter walking through the paint smudge portal she found in the park?)

(My daughter and our rabbit, Fern, running through a field of gelli print….This is getting a little Alice and Wonderland-ish….)

Shabby Chick - Stamping and Printing Sunday

Before I started Art Journaling and Gelli Printing my style would probably best be described as Shabby Chic or Boho Chic. I love pastels, lace and roses. White on white on white textiles make me swoon. 

So I have a sort of style dilemma - a sort of mid-style crisis. 

For my Stamping and Printing Sunday, I thought I'd see if I could make some shabby chic style prints. What followed was a lot of frustration, some wild vibrant prints (not pictured) and a few shabby chic worthy pieces.  

Here's what it looked like with my first pull. If you can't see anything or can barely see it, that's about right. 

The difficulty is the lack of contrast. Using white on white paper and adding pale pink didn't provide enough of it. So I went a bit more extreme. I did end up with a few pieces that I thought are quite usable. I also decided to be ok with my split design personality. I'm kind of a shabby chick. Soft and vibrant. That's a contrast right there. 

Do you have a cohesive style or do you like opposing styles? Have you gone through this questioning process? If you have, how did you resolve it?  

Jelly Beans and Gelli Prints - Stamping and Printing Sunday

Happy Easter from our Fern. As you can see he hid the eggs right where he could find them. 

Doesn't the color of the eggs look lovely? So I thought, why dye eggs this year when I can dye something else? 

While I had my share of jelly beans today, even more sweet was the results I got gelli printing. I am working on adding layers for depth of visual interest. Hope you agree that these prints look great with their added layers. 

And just this one from scratch. Love the color combination. 

Join me in stamping and printing next Sunday.