Letter Love 101

I’m taking an online class–my first.  It is Joanne Sharpe‘s Letter Love 101, recommended by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer whose site I love.  Both of these women are from the “Yes, you can” school of teaching art.  Joanne says, “If you can write, you can draw.”  Hmmmm.  We’ll see.

Here’s how it works.  Pay your class fee and you get an invite to a closed group on the internet.  From here, you get access to the video lessons prepared by Joanne.  You also get to join a Yahoo group of the enrolled students to chat, ask questions, commiserate or share discount supplies you’ve found.  Then start the class at your own pace.  The original class start dates were Feb 1-Feb 29 (There are 29 lessons).  I joined it March 1st, but it will be up forever, so you can join it any time.  Joanne will still be monitoring it and will critique and advise as long as she has students.

Now I am not much of an artist with pen and paper, but Zentangling has really improved my control of the pen.  I’ve also discovered people like Joanne, Julie, and Alissa Burke who machine quilts with “messy stitches.”  I’ve preached to those of you who read this blog that it doesn’t matter if you are good at something, you can still have fun.  Living my words.

My first real creation for the class — at Lesson 5 — was hard to start.  The clean white page in a new mixed media journal was intimidating.  So was knowing that this is supposed to be a finished piece—-sort of.  Lots of people in the class are not new to either lettering or art, so that is a factor.  You can look at the pictures on the flickr group if you are curious, but I stopped doing that when the old “I’m not good enough” thoughts started up.  But Joanne just keeps saying to play with the ideas and your materials and have fun.

This is my practice for the first assignment.  It is just words that I associate with art.

I like this.  I really like the messiness.  And I used the notepad that Kate brought me from MIT.  (I collect college notebooks.  Yeah, I know it’s weird.)  I was downstairs and lazy, so I colored it in with Highlighters and the two Sharpies in my pen bag.  When I took it upstairs, I used a stamp pad and stamped the top.  I see some Tangling influence and really like the word EXTEND.

Here’s my submitted project.

First, I want to say that I have never been in a book club.  I’m a former English teacher and no one wants me there.  This was inspired by my friend Katherine who IS in a book club and always seems to be worried about having enough wine when it is her turn to hostess.  In fairness, Katherine does read the books and even recommends some to me.

I like the humor.  I like that I named the wine after the author of one of the most difficult reads ever written.  I love that I did not have the materials  Joanne recommended (Pan Pastels) but I used my noggin and colored some of this with Eye Shadow. [ I actually own three shades which will startle many of my friends who never see me in makeup.]  The rest of the color is marker and watercolor pencil without the water.  Steve liked the wine stain; I was just elated that he knew it was a wine stain.  I don’t do perspective.

This was fun.  What have I learned?  I may take some other online classes.  Hmmm. I wonder if I could teach this way . . .

More later.

Hello from the Colorado Knitting Camp

But don’t expect pictures.  Not even of the beautiful hailstorm last night that covered the lawn outside my window with golf ball size hail and made the water in the large pond splash upward about 2 feet with each strike.  I jumped up to get the camera and capture this for you.  I turned it on.  It said “No card.”  I left my flash card in my computer at home.  No place to easily get another, so I’ll just have to make do with some pics of what I’ve been doing before camp.
The House piece is about done.  I have quilted it and now have added some embellishments.  Remember this was first conceived as a retirement home on a hill with two porches–one for morning coffee and the other for evening drinks.  So much for dreaming.  Anyway, the inclusion of the spinning wheel ( a pin one of my children gifted me) immediately establishes that fiber stuff is happening here.  The hanging basket is just for decoration, but it may get some seed beads to hint at blooms.

Seriously important is Jake’s face in the window.  This is one of a pair of earrings I bought at a craft fair in Athens, Ga., some time ago.  They looked a bit like Jake to me.  The other one is somewhere in a dressing room in a Target in Brisbane, Australia.  Once you lose an earring, you are left with an embellishment.  It’s a rule of mine.  I don’t have a Bella charm, but if I find one, it will be added.

The “bugs” are beads I bought at The Sewing Bird many years ago.  I like them.  The are a bit fantastic, but this hanging is a fantasy.

I’m still wringing my hands over the border—or the non-border.  Haven’t decided.  I may just turn the edges under and whip them to the back.  Then I can change my mind if I get a better idea later.  Some famous Greek once said “Art is never finished.”  I’m keeping his philosophy alive.  Maybe I should get a T-shirt . . . .

I made paper flowers.  You just collect pretty paper; this stuff came from magazines.  Then you tear it into circles of varying sizes.  Start with some ugly pages until you get the hang of it.  Then you glue them together.   Then . . . . well, if you are interested, there is a free pdf file on the Interweave Press “Cloth, Paper, Scissors” magazine website.  It is named 4 Free Mixed Media Collage Techniques.  The fourth article is Painted Paper Collage by Serena Wilson Stubson.  She tells you exactly how to easily make these and what to do with them.

Here are closeups of my favorites:  This is the brightest one, but this silver and pink one is my favorite.

What am I going to do with them?  I don’t know why you ask.  You know I have no clue.  Maybe a picture; maybe to decorate a folder.  Hmmmm.

Oh, and I knit a new collar for Bella.  Note the pearls.  They are from an old necklace that belonged to Steve’s Mom.  It is already starting to stretch too much, so I may have to think of a different way to get pearls on her.  She is so ladylike that she deserves them.