Pacific Northwest Art Retreat

 I had the pleasure to spend the long weekend with my friend Lucie at her new home in Washington State.  She prepared an "art menu" for me to chose activities from.  We started with this "etch a sketch" style art work. 

You start by creating a single line drawing with a gel pen on coloured paper.  Mine was pale blue - not the grey it appears to be here.  In one continuous line you add whatever comes into your head - real or imagined, trying to fill the page.

You can "cheat" and go back and add additional details as you can see here.  Then you use coloured pencils to add the colour and whimsy you can see up top!

Here is one that Lucie did.  We agree we like the dark background much better - it gives the colours more "pop"!

And here is another one Lucie did - aren't they cute!

 Next we got to ply with  Gelli Plate - a rubbery thing you apply paint to with a brayer and then "print" onto heavy paper in random or deliberate ways.  You can see above i pressed 4 sheets of paper - into ONE layer of paint.

 Next you can add additional colours and use stencils to add pattern.

 Here are 4 completed works that Lucie did.

 and here are the 8 that i did!  i like some more than others.  But the idea is that you can cut them into postcard shapes and add additional paint or collage to create interesting little works of art.

 Speaking of little artworks - here was our next activity - Gypsy Cards!  Above are Lucie's.  Each of these 3" squares started life as a cereal box - or some other random packaging.  We created various collage materials using household items to make stamps of circles and dots. then we wrote "wishes" or goals on the back of each one.  throughout the day we added bits of paint and collage as we worked on other projects.

Here are mine!  i used a combination of black and white papers with circles stamped on them, plus some green and aqua tissue paper.  i garnished them with a rosy red border and little dots.  When we were all done we had to pick three at random to be our first set of goals. I suppose when i accomplish those i get to pick three more!

(or i might just frame them - i like how they look all together!)

 Next we created an art collage on a white gesso'd wooden board.  The concept is that you just apply bits of paper and don't think to much about it. This was Lucie's.

 Next you try to see if an image appears.  Spin it around, squint, and user your imagination. With the geometric shapes and nautical colour scheme - Lucie "found" a sailboat!

 Next you paint the background - but leave your original collage show through.  It is all about serendipity - you might find something wonderful!

 Here is my original collage.  I actually liked it just like this!

 But i tried to find some images and a tree and little house emerged.  We outlined them in dark inky paint with a small brush.

 And here it is all painted in!  Why is the branch and bird sticking out of the chimney and not the tree?  well - it just didn't turn out that way and that makes it more charming, n'est pas?

 One more thing to share - we took a bunch of security envelopes and rolled on white gesso.  Then we added blue and green watercolours and let them dry.  You can rub and buff the watercolours to reveal the texture of the rolled on gesso. (but my gesso wasn't thick enough so it didn't really work)

BUT.... they were still interesting enough to fold and sew into pages.  then Lucie used her Zutter machine to bind  them into a book!

Thanks Lucie for a lovely artful weekend in your beautiful home!