Louise Fletcher's 2023 Find Your Joy Course

Wrap-up week has arrived for Louise Fletcher's 2023 Find Your Joy course. This is my second year of study with Louise and it has been as enriching, in different ways, as last year.

I've done a lot of work in the class. Strike that! Actually, I've done a lot of PLAY in the class. Playing is the perfect way to discover one's buried areas of delight without judgement by unabashedly breaking out favorite, old, new and unused tools, paint, pencils and pens, crayons, watercolor, markers, stencils, pastels -- you name it - and using them to create on a substrate of one's choosing (paper, canvas, wood panel, fabric, etc.). The most important part is allowing the platy to be what it is, to be open to what it has to teach (especially if one doesn't like it), identifying the parts you like that prompt new explorations, and detaching from result--because it's all about the process.

That said, these are some of my favorite efforts, from the many exercises, since mid September.

Some of the things I've learned I enjoy include the following among others.

*Working with a larger-size palette knife and Rigger brush as tools in applying paint.
*Applying a first thin layer of paint as a source of light that the additional paint layers don't cover.
*Using the green that results when black and yellow are mixed.
*Doing free-form line-making in a random and fast manner.
*Aiming for depth in the work, and if, by chance, illusion occurs - all the better.

Comments

Introducing 'Kaleidoclown'

For fun, I've drawn one of my own photos (yes, I was dressed in a clown outfit) and added a wild and crazy background to accompany it for today's practice effort. As part of sketching the piece, it was split into four sections with two opposing diagonal lines. In terms of color choices, I've worked with color gradations for some shape sections. Can you believe, there are five major shapes in this effort? There really are -- circles, squares, trapezoids, triangles and spirals. I think the substrate is Biengfang Watercolor Paper (140 lb.). The materials used were Ohuhu markers, Micron 01 pigment ink pen, some red Stickles glitter glue for the nose, and a white Posca pen (for white dots on the face and to highlight eyes) and a yellow one (for yellow dots in the center of the flowers on the hat). There was no intention in working on this piece other than to have fun...and based on how it looks, I'd say well done!. One thing I learned is that blending with the Ohuhus i

New Project in Progress

I'm working on a new project with multiple layers and shapes of different colored organzas. It is an interpretation of lighting on an ice rink...from a show I recently saw. There is a lot more stitching to do, but I like how its coming along. I'm learning organzas are not easy to work with especially when you layer them and have overlaid edges. The fabric also tends to ravel easily. This post also linked to http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com .

A New Sharpie Drawing/Painting

This effort was done starting with a 5-minute sketch while process photos were taken along the way. My intention was to work on color selections and to complete the jewelry/dangles to stand out without overtaking the female image (and maybe even getting a sense of dimension with their use). This is the second project in which a straight line across the page has been added to interrupt the wavy/curved lines -- and to show that using subtle color adjustments on each side of the line. (The first project that incorporates a line can be seen in the August 23rd post,) I'm pleased with how this came out. There are a few areas where the decoration looks sparse, but I notice it seems restful to my eye, since the balance of the Sharpie-painted areas are much busier. What is your experience looking at it? What draws your attention first?

Cay Denise

Search This Blog