Accordion Book and Colored Pencil Workshop

I am going to be teaching this 2 day workshop in October. Please contact me if you would like more information or to register. It's going to be a lot of fun. Although I realize many of my readers aren't in the area! 

Beach Studios Exhibits in Newport, RI

Here are photos from 12 Beach Studios Artists exhibiting at Spring Bull Gallery in Newport, RI for the month of September. We work in many different mediums, oil, acrylic, encaustic, pastel, colored pencil, monotype printmaking, origami and paper sculpture.

 Anne Winthrop Cordin (left) and Susan Petree (right).

 Cindy Jordan, origami and paper art.

 Cindy Jordan, paper art.

 Diane Gay

 Helen Woodhouse (left) and Sandra O'Brien (right)

 Kathy Morton (left) and Felicia Touhey (right)

 My work, Turtle triptych, colored pencil boxes and handmade book.

Helen Hadley and Judy Chaves (right)

Anne Winthrop Cordin's painting demo for Gallery Night last week. 

Handmade Accordion Book for Mentors and Students Exhibit

 During the month of March, my colored pencil students and I are part of an exhibit called Mentors and Students at Spring Bull Gallery in Newport, RI. There are also five additional instructors and students exhibiting in this exhibit in mediums including pottery, drawing, watercolor, pastel, encaustic and acrylic/oil. If you are local and have time to see the exhibit, please stop in. The gallery is open every day from noon to 5 p.m. Our opening reception was so well attended there was barely room to move in the galleries! It is exciting for the mentors to be able to share our talents with students and see our students work progress as they learn the different mediums. I am planning to stop in the gallery when it is less crowded so I can take photos of the artwork and post them.

For the Mentors and Students exhibit, I put together an accordion book filled with my small drawings. I worked on these drawings in my classes along with my students to help them see how I would approach the subjects they were working on in terms of form, value and color. In the classes we were experimenting with different surfaces and colored backgrounds.

To create the book, I cut out and glued together small sheets of heavy weight drawing paper to which I glued my small drawings, some individually on each page and some collaged together. Each little page measures 7x7" and the book is folded and tied into a neat little package. Above are photos of the book stretched out in my studio.


Exhibitng Mentors include: Gail Armstrong, Charlene Capazano, Jane Austin, Felicia Touhey, Susan Shaw and me.

Exhibiting Students include: Elisabeth Wagner, Christine Witkos, Maggie Ramey, Sherry Italiano, Suzann Andrews, Jane Berriman, Mary Jennings, Akiko Omori, Laurence Lavagne, Lara Pilla, Susan Wermuth, Lara Pilla, Norma Burnell, Carol Normandin, Adrienne Ranelli, Rayne Baer, Marisol Lagares, Libby Gilpatric, Cheery Hall, Maureen Cunningham, Patty MacLeish, Jan Goldstein, Elizabeth Sullivan, Brenda Langlais, Craig Masten, Marie Fontaine, Nina Ackmann, Sheila Turner, Diane Crane, Madeline Beaudry, Phil McAllister, Deborah Grant, Sharlie Sudduth, Ara Sadanientz, Michael Manni and Jean Patiky.

Jump Starting My Creativity for the New Year!

While I am still working on the colored pencil piece of the window and also a very new piece of a nest, I've decided to energize my creativity by working on something other than colored pencil drawings. The goal is to jump start my brain into thinking in different modes of creativity and push myself to think in different ways. Where to start? I bought several books on collage, encaustic and mixed media pieces, read and reread parts and thought about how to begin for several weeks. The encaustic equipment is set up in the photo but I've decided to just start with mixed media collage and become familiar with more abstract compositions and layering materials before I start adding the wax into the mix.

I've mentioned in a previous post that I am cleaning out my parents' house (the big dig) and finding all kinds of wonderful old items that have inspired me to put them into a form of artwork. It's been cold and dreary in January but I am having fun in my studio, I've laid out all of my treasures on my work tables. Some of my treasures include old magazines, stamps, my mother's childhood piano music book and of course lots of old photos. Other than the stamps, I am using photocopies of everything in my collages so I don't ruin the original treasures.

Here is another view of my work tables and I'm also playing with folding the pages of books, two are shown on the left. Still deciding if I would consider them finished or add something to them, for now they sit and wait.

 I was inspired by a Western Union telegram my mother received for her birthday years ago. I added it and the backs of old postcards into the background of this piece, then washed with acrylic paint. My mother (photo on the right) loved to write letters and correspond with friends, it was an important part of her life. The most difficult part is composition, how to incorporate the photos and other elements and create an interesting composition without making the piece look like just a lot of scraps glued together. This is my first collage, it's on rag illustration board which buckles a little from the acrylic and gel medium.

My second piece consists of my mothers sheet music in the background and a wedding photo of an unidentified couple in the center. I found this photo among my mother's things and I have no idea who this couple is but what struck me is how young they are and how serious. I've added an old wedding invitation I found written in German and other elements.  This piece is on a canvas panel, I like the texture of the canvas showing through in the background.

Art Boot Camp Watercolor Class

These are three photos from my recent watercolor class during the Art Boot Camp that Felicia and I teach at Beach Studios. The students are working from still life objects they put together according to their liking and what they wanted to paint. I had each of them decide on a composition in their viewfinder, then sketch it out in pencil on the Fabriano hot press watercolor paper I provided. The next step was to apply watercolor washes to build color after which they experimented with watercolor pencils and water. The resulting paintings were anywhere from very detailed to very loosely painted. I always enjoy seeing each student's expression and style evolve in their work.

Two Upcoming Classes at Beach Studios

Felicia and I are kicking off the year with two sessions of classes. Our Art Boot Camp focuses on 2-week sessions of drawing, watercolor, monotype prints and colored pencil. It's a good way to try out the different mediums and experiment with them. Students will be working from still life set ups and this boot camp includes materials so our students don't have to spend extra money on the supplies.

The second class is a two-morning colored pencil class in which we will be working on Ampersand Pastelbord using watercolor pencils and colored pencils. I have prepared the project and we will be working from a photo reference.

Any interest? Contact us, there are a few spaces left in both classes.

Holiday Open Studio

Come to our holiday open studio today if you're in the area! We're excited about our new artist members since our last open studio: Felicia Touhey, H. Hadley, Kathy Morton and Kim Kirby. We have a great group of talented artists in the studios with classes and workshops available.