Online Art Classes

I am taking my first online PAID class.  I resisted for a long time because I always thought it best to take these types of "hands-on" classes in person.  But, seldom are they in your town and so that can get pretty expensive.  Then I reminded myself that I watch endless "how to" videos on YouTube...so why not.   So, this is my trial and I will let you know how it goes. 

The class is Lynn Whipple's "Joy of Collage" through Carla Sonheim.  It is 6 video lessons over a two week period.  The first video was only about 10 minutes long.  However, the plus side is that Lynn is interactive on the class blog, you can ask her questions and you can post photos of your work and get feedback from her and the other participants.  And, we have forever access to the videos if we ever want to re-watch them.  There are about 150 of us in the class I think. 

We are learning her style of collage utilizing vintage photos.  The photo below is of some of my cabinet cards.  I did not use originals for this as I have in some of my other work.  The size was wrong so I made enlarged color copies at Staples to use. (Which means I can reuse these as I wish.)

Vintage Cabinet Card Photos

The big question with any class you take like this (to me) is always....how do I incorporate this technique, or look, that made me take the class but make it look all my own?  I don't want someone to look at my work and think "Oh, that's a Lynn Whipple style."(Not that they would.)  And I'm sure she doesn't either.  Maybe that's a question I'll pose to the group. 

The first video was very good and full of good tips and permission to play.  Lynn is fun, witty, silly and bubbly, and her work is so cute with a very quirky sense of humor.  If you don't know her, just look her up on Pinterest. Her blog link is listed down on the right under "Favorite Blogs" and here is her website. Lynn Whipple

The photo below is of my two canvases after the first layer.  We get the second class on Wednesday for next steps.  I don't wait well! 

First Layer of Collage

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Jan

Jypsy Studio

Creating Art at the Speed of Life-Lesson 9: First Impression(ism)

Lesson 9: First Impression(ism).  A take on Monet's technique of using little dots of paint to build up texture, shading and color.  I like the way she turned out, but it took me FOREVER to get it to where I thought I looked like I wanted using the eraser of a pencil for the dots. 

I can do better but this was a very interesting new technique to learn...no real painting involved.  Love the big circles with the black ink for the hair though.  As with most impressionistic paintings, looks better if you stand back a bit. :)

So, almost 1/3 of the way through the book, learning a lot and it gives me a goal.  These are easily done in one day.  

I am going to start incorporating some of these new skills into my work on Etsy so keep an eye out. 

Here is the link. Jypsy Studio-Jan Partain

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Creating Art at the Speed of Life: Lesson 8: Texture via Transfer Rubbings

Lesson 8 today was on doing a rubbing of a textured item and transferring it to your journal.  I love this technique because with a piece of paper and a pencil you can pick up an interesting texture any time you're out and about.

Vintage tin ceiling tile texture. 

I have a vintage ceiling tile hanging in my foyer so that was the easiest thing to take a rubbing from.  It's big so I only got a small piece and it's not very detailed, but I like the technique just the same.  

The shading is all done with watercolors and water soluble graphite pencils. A little black and white paint as an added detail always adds a nice pop!  

So, a nice tool to add to the technique arsenal. Soon some of these techniques will make it into my Etsy pieces.  

Here's the link if you'd like to stop by. Jypsy Studio

As always, thanks for stopping by.