Artfest

I took some great classes at Artfest this year! I took two classes devoted to exploring painting skills. One, by Misty Mawn, was all about layering...something which I often lack patience for. Misty's suggestions are quick and easy- so its right up my alley.


Using her suggested techniques, I created these two pieces. The first is an homage to a 60's girl- a piece I call "Confidential". The second is my tribute to Joan Crawford. I based it on a young picture of her but my drawing skills are not up to par so it really looks nothing like her! LOL!

I am not completely finished with either of these two pieces but need to step away for a little while to decide what else I want to do with them.






I also took a class from Mary Beth Shaw. She focused on using clayboard and creating abstract and textural patterns in the easily carvable material. She uses a lot of thin layers of paint to really build up her pieces. This is something I don't have a lot of patience for, personally. But I had a great time scratching and clawing my way into the clayboard. I have two larger pieces that I've started but have yet to finish. The pieces I am showing here are smaller "test drives" so to speak- my way of working out what types of colors and layers I wanted to try. I went a bit wacky and decided to try black/white/red, which is not a combination that lends itself to repeated layering or blending! But my BWR piece is still interesting to me. The other two pieces use green gold, yellow ochre, burnt sienna and black/gray blend.

I also took a class from Melissa Manley on making wire insects covered in sausage casings... but more on that in another blog!