Create Your Memories

Library of Memories

An experience that you will never forget

----------------------

Art is You 2015 - Stamford, Connecticut

Join me for a very special, three-day adventure making art and creating memories. This retreat within a retreat will include a road trip to New York City to source out supplies and inspiration. Once we return to our studio space, we will be creating a one-of-a-kind embellished container to hold a handmade book. The workshop will cover techniques related to painting, mixed media. assemblage, collage, book making and fun having.

Day 1 of this workshop begins like no other. We will begin with creative fireworks as we head out on a road trip to my hometown: New York City. I will be your insider guide as I take you to my secret sources for amazing art supplies, one-of-a-kind art objects, and creative treasures. In NYC we will be searching for supplies for our workshop project, taking photos for inspiration, and having the time of our lives. Not only will this be an exciting shopping spree but also an experience that you will never forget.

After many hours of shopping in NYC, we return to Stamford and immediately the same day begin the hands-on part of our workshop. The work then continues on Days 2 and 3 as you build your Library of Memories. You will be creating a hinged container, painted and embellished with materials and objects. 

The container will be used to store a handmade book that you will also create in class. We will cover constructing the container, painting in layers, designing assemblage, attaching objects, book making, and much more. You will leave with a host of new techniques, a very special art object, and your own Library of Memories.

----------------------

Registration is now open for Art is You Stamford. Whether or not you have attended Art is You before, this year will be different. Art is You is celebrating their 10th anniversary this year with a retreat experience that will be bigger, badder, and better than ever before. The retreat runs from 10/7-10/12/15 and my workshop runs from 10/7-10/9. It is the only 2015 workshop I am teaching at Art is You and in Connecticut. There are limited seats left for this workshop. Hope to see you there!

Fresco Finish

My go-to paint for journaling is the line of Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics from PaperArtsy. This paint dries fast and has a highly matte surface, making it perfect to write over in a journal. The range of colors is gorgeous and the names are too cool for school -- London Bus, Space Cadet, Pumpkin Soup and Guacamole to name a few. I love the fact that they label each bottle as Opaque, Semi-Opaque or Transparent, a truly helpful guide.

Today I am a guest poster on the PaperArtsy blog and am featuring a journal page I made using several stencils from my line at StencilGirl Products. Head over to this post to see more pictures and to read about the specific steps I took and the particular products I used to make the page.

The Week Links: 56

Join me every Sunday when I share some of my favorite links I discovered in the previous week.

All previous links can be found here.

And here is Week 56...

12 artists share what they do when they get stuck creatively on the Cloth Paper Scissors blog.

Typology like you have never seen before.

Studio must-see: Kiki Slaughter. And see her work at her website.

Kecia Deveney shares pictures from her trip to Luna Parc in NJ. You have got to see this.

Check out this pic of Peter Beard and his journals found on Austin Kleon's Tumblr page. And take my advice, you are gonna wanna spend a lot of time on Austin's website too.

In Lisbon, graffiti knows no age limits.

And speaking of graffiti...read the story (and of course see the pictures) behind the half graffiti hotel room in France.

Assemblage Heaven

Yes, Virginia, there really is an assemblage heaven. At the home of artist Clarke Bedford, right in the heart of Hyattsville, Maryland. 

When I was teaching a few weeks ago at The Queen's Ink, Patti Euler (the incredible owner of there incredible shop) took me on a field trip to Clarke's home. Wow. Wow. Wow. After staring in amazement and taking hundreds of pictures, I had the opportunity to meet Clarke and step inside the mixed media paradise that he calls home. He is as articulate and intelligent as he is talented and creative. It was an experience I will never forget.

The Week Links: 55

Join me every Sunday when I share some of my favorite links I discovered in the previous week.

All previous links can be found here.

And here is Week 55...

15 creative exercises for color exploration and play from Traci Bautista.

Check out this tiny art studio built by Derek Diedricksen at the Empty Spaces Project gallery in Putnam, Connecticut.

Check out Michael deMeng's video clips on his YouTube channel from his ongoing series "Tips from a Messy Studio."

Love the illustrations in these two books from 1899 and 1935 posted by Jose Naranja.

Inside the Rauschenberg warehouse (and some cool videos) from the New York Times Magazine.

Outsider Art on the inside: musings also from the New York Times Magazine.

Leonardo da Vinci's to-do list. Circa 1490.

The Other Georgetown

When talking about Georgetown, most people think of the district in Washington, DC. But there is another Georgetown. In another Washington. Washington state. Last month when I was teaching in the Pacific Northwest, I stayed in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle. It was the perfect gritty, urban spot for me. It reminded me of Brooklyn. With microbreweries.

It had graffiti...

Amazing shops...

 

 District

Kassie Keith Curiosities & Home Decor

Kirk Albert Vintage Furnishings

A trailer park mall...

...with Amber and John, the coolest couple ever, from Seek and Restore...

And just the right amount of urban photo ops...

Basquiat at the Brooklyn Museum (and more)

Living in NYC comes with many perks - not the least of which is being able to see so many different works of art from just about every artist. Last week I visited the Brooklyn Museum...

to see the exhibit Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks. 

I have noticed from previous postings about Basquiat on my blog that many people love his work. And many do not. I find it utterly fascinating, endlessly compelling and thoroughly satisfying. I guess you can tell I fall into the group of lovers.

This exhibit was unique in that it focused on 8 notebooks that Basquiat created in the 1980s.

 He worked only on one side of each page and the works were exhibited as individually pages both framed on the wall...

and in low cases.

His notebook of choice seems to have been a basic composition book.

The exhibit also featured other work, including crayon drawings...

ink drawings...

collage...

and of course paintings.

----------------------

There were quite a few other interesting exhibits at the museum, including:

KAWS: ALONG THE WAY, an 18-foot high sculpture

and The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago.