Cay Denise

With 2016 about to become history, I'm feeling grateful for the work completed this year through the Life Book program! There has been so much development and growth in my ability, and I'll be continuing it with Life Book 2017 that starts tomorrow.

This activity was to take a single magazine and cut out pictures that you like and create a new collage covering an entire page of background paper.  This is what I put together. A second portion of the assignment to be completed a day later was to cull through the magazine for words that you cut out and create a poem from --- about the collage.  This is what I came up with. wild kitchen on an adventure to bring alive senses what to taste? air moving in the trees? red maple? gold of the oak? all fall bounty can produce magic stories you can feel excite the fantasy with lush meals of beauty, whimsy and movement. Result of lesson as part of 2016 Woman Unleashed Online Retreat founded, organized and facilitated by Amber Kuileimailani Bonnici.

Another drawing based on the technique from Jenafer's video lesson.  There might be a couple lines in this one rather than just one. Result of lesson as part of 2016 Woman Unleashed Online Retreat founded, organized and facilitated by Amber Kuileimailani Bonnici.

This image was done with Sharpie pen and a blue watercolor pencil on watercolor paper.  It is the result of doing Jenafer's lesson in the video post from yesterday. Result of lesson as part of 2016 Woman Unleashed Online Retreat founded, organized and facilitated by Amber Kuileimailani Bonnici.

I really like this quick and inventive sketching exercise by Jenafer!  This is an offering as part of Amber Kuileimailani Bonnici's "Woman Unleashed" online retreat. Part of 2016 Woman Unleashed Online Retreat founded, organized and facilitated by Amber Kuileimailani Bonnici.

I was trying to create a totally different textile print from that shown in the earlier post.  Well, it was a Picasso day with a mood to match, and I created this.  It doesn't particularly work as a textile print (very busy), but it was fun to create!

I went to a Textile Design workshop yesterday at the San Jose Museum of Art, offered as part of the museum's current exhibition called 'Beauty.  Tessellation and repetitive imagery was the theme of the workshop and is what is really the foundation of making a print design (textile or otherwise).  After the design is finalized, the imagery can be printed via screen-printing or as a Photoshop-edited image sent to a printer for tiling and reproduction. Our schedule for the three-hour workshop included: Task 1:   Look at graphic inspiration from the exhibit; Task 2:   Draw a base image leaving some white space around the outer edges.  My image was a living room with an antique sofa, Art Deco lamp, and modern painting and rug; Task 3:   Cut the base image into quarters and re-arrange them (horizontally and vertically) in which you could add more drawn elements into the rearranged to minimize white space and to create secondary designs; and Task 4:   ...

In conjunction with the exhibition 'Beauty' currently at San Jose's Museum of Art, there is an upcoming workshop on textile design that includes experimentation with composition, repetition and color to create one's own textile pattern.  Cool!  Find out more about the course at the link below (limited to 25 participants). http://sjmusart.org/event/art-101-textile-design

This was a bonus Life Book 2016 project from Faith-Evan Sills that I worked on today!  I found the PERFECT Magnolia leaves for it on a local walk.  They had such beautiful sheen and added to the 'leather' impression of the pink one especially.  This is a great idea and in intended to get students to do a short project daily to keep up their arting practice. This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this  link:  www.willowing.org . This post also linked to  http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com .

This was more of an artful exercise than art making.  It has to do with setting boundaries with the various people we may meet in our lives.  The painting came first, then the Henna-like dots, and the collaging on of phrases.  Thank you Melody Ross! his piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this  link:  www.willowing.org . This post also linked to  http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com .

Other than the prep work involved (writing and deciding on symbols to use), this piece took very little time to complete...surprisingly.  The color was done with watered-down acrylic.  I love the translucent effect of the paint this way.  The piece has gold paint and gel pen highlights as well as white Posca pen dots.  In case you're wondering, no this isn't a self-portrait (ha, ha).   About the art instructor, Shiloh Sophia.  She has very interesting creative methods (using line in suggestive ways), a totally unique approach and a very free paint style.  It makes me want to work on much larger canvases and do more.  This was dome on 12"x18" watercolor paper though I can envision working this way on 3'x5' stretched canvases.  Maybe I'll try that this winter! This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this  link:  www.willowing.org . This post also lin...

This is a quick drawing using Caran d'Ache Supracolor II pencils from a 10-pencil set.  Since there isn't a skin tone color among the 10, I chose green to work with in the shape definition and shading. It works!

Our Creative Club had such fun yesterday using melted crayons to make neat batik prints!  I had never done that before but one of our group had--and it was she who led this group get together activity.  Thank you, Karen! The crayons had to be quite hot (and fully melted) for the wax to be painted on 100% white cotton and fully penetrate the fabric (to the back side) before immersing in a short dye bath and rinsing.  In the painting process, some of the wax caked on...but no problem.  That was taken care of by ironing the print (after the dye bath and rinse) sandwiched between clean newspapers to take the extra wax off and moisture out. We used a black dye bath and it really reduced the vibrancy of my painted crayon design.  So, I've painted elements of the print with Setacolor and Lumiere fabric paints plus emphasized details that had gotten lost with a black Marvy/Uchida Fabric Marker.  Voila! This post also linked to  http://ninamariesayre.b...

"Forever Beautiful" The top photo is my final piece for the Week 36 lesson led by guest artist/instructor Annie Hamman of South Africa.  Annie taught a lesson earlier in the year which was awesome, but I struggled with it, just as I did with this lesson.  But both work products are pretty amazing! This piece took three tries.  In the process photo (on the bottom), you can follow along with my comments.  Photo #1 shows my first try which was problematic from the shadow and light color application technique that was part of the lesson.  I like color, but I couldn't get it to settle down from the intensity you see.  So, I gesso'd over the face to begin again.   Photo #2 shows my second try.  The face was too round and again, the shadow and light color application was just not working the way I wanted.  So, I prepared to start afresh the same way. Photos #3 and #4 show the beginning stages of my third try which resulted in ...

This lesson was instructed by Gillian Lee Smith and is titled 'We All Cast Shadows'.  It involves a lot of foundation layering and adding imagery over it. The purple ink I used during the layering process affected the addition of acrylic white on top.  So I had to finally cover the face and floral areas with clear gesso in order to complete those areas and get truer white coverage where it appears. This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this  link:  www.willowing.org .

Here is the lesson I finished today from Jane Davenport's instruction module called 'Shadow and Light'. The initial steps were to create a line drawing. The first line established the chin curve followed by a line for the top of each eye, then one for the bottom of the nose and another for the middle of the lips.  This painting was done with watercolor which is not a medium I normally work with. Jane's step-by-step instructions were very helpful though. I did find working wet on wet was challenging in this lesson and didn't quite work for me the way the instructor demonstrated. But then her tools were different then what I had available.   Sometimes its amazing to see how a two-dimensional surface drawing can actually become an image with some depth. So I'm also posting the line drawing that was done for this.   One surprise for me was in the use of watercolor for the eyelids. I didn't think I'd get the kind of depth I wanted, bu...

I can now share the three Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) I made and swapped with a partner in Belgium recently (those on the bottom in this photo).  The theme for the swap was Healing, Transformation and Magic.  So, the first ATC on the bottom left is the loose interpretation of a person transforming into a butterfly while magic is in the middle and healing takes the form of truthful being-ness in the card on the right. I packed these little ATC treasures in color-coordinated Japanese paper envelopes and then placed them in the purple organza bag. It was such a pretty package, and I know my partner was delighted with them. It was so fun to contribute in making the day they were delivered so special for my partner!

I was recently cutting out photos and words from magazines to use in some future art projects and look at the clever (and completely unintentional) saying that resulted!

I will probably re-work this piece. I like how the background started out (top image).  But the 'flower' in the center (bottom image) of the more developed piece is too controlled compared to the rest of the background.

I just finished my Week 24 lesson and am really pleased with it.  I love how the face came out (light and shadow areas)! Overall, I think its pretty effective. This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this link:  www.willowing.org .

Today's club project was to create a weaving using yarns, ribbons and plant cuttings. What a terrific idea and it was a great day for such a neat outdoor project!  I don't claim to be a weaver, but it was fun to make this first one. By the way, the loom we used was made out of a wood picture frame...clever idea that worked just fine. Posted to http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

For this lesson, we were to create an unplanned acrylic background as a foundation. Using a classical pencil drawing of a face, we were to then create a watercolor face over it.   I re-painted a background page  that hadn't been used.  When dry, I added a coat of clear gesso to apply the watercolor pencil on, because I didn't think they would work well directly on the acrylic.  I didn't like how that worked.  So, I totally took off the watercolor pencil with baby wipes (since the surface was still damp) and started over.  This second effort came out much better though I can see in the photo that the right eye is somewhat mis-shapen, even though the piece still works. I 'm going to do another one using a drawing of Shakespeare as my inspiration.  We'll see how that one turns out.  For the next one, I wont use the clear gesso and see how the watercolor pencils work without it. This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara ...

What an amazing place the Broad Museum is.  Located across the street from the Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, it is a museum that stands on its own architecturally and collection-wise. All art inside the building is lit with the natural light that filters through the unusual building windows (see photo below).  It is quite amazing how that lighting works so well! Beyond that, the collection is amazing.  Plus, the staff who work in each room are not docents, they are actually paid staff who have gone through about a 6-week art program to give them a knowledge base to prepare them to answer visitor questions about the various works, context of the works, artists, etc. represented on the exhibit floor.  They certainly enhanced the overall experience -- which was exceptional! Below are photos of the Broad exterior and a couple of the art works on exhibition.

This was an amazing lesson led by Effy Wild, guest instructor with Life Book 2016.  I didn't think I could get something that would even resemble the instructor's lesson piece.  But by letting go and following her process, I had a good experience and am happy with the result. In the future, I want to hold off on using gesso as a base for acrylic paint over watercolor paper.  That's because it gets a glossy finish that can't be removed or changed when painted over.  When I applied acrylic without the gesso, the finish was matte.  This is a good lesson to have learned! This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this  link:  www.willowing.org .

I finished this today!  It has a collage foundation layer that has been spray-painted, stenciled and doodled over.  Spray painting isn't my favorite technique, but I do like the effect you can get from layers of stenciling. This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, visit this  link:  www.willowing.org .

One of the pieces is not pictured because it is already framed and hanging on the wall!

The instructor for Week 17's lesson is Roxanne Coble, and her lesson theme is 'Your Story, Your Altar'.  My interpretation of the lesson was based on my recent trip to Michigan and what it meant for me. My first effort for this lesson went awry in that the background painting didn't work.  My second effort didn't work either because the background painting got lost because of too much collage work. This was my third effort.  In working on it, I liked the use of the white gel pen for outlining as well as for some other finishing touches (in assorted pen colors). I'm still getting air bubbles when collaging and haven't yet been able to remedy that.  It happens using Liquitex Matte Medium and Golden Gel Medium.  I'll keep practicing and hopefully get better at it.  It seems to happen most often with the use of pages from magazines. This piece was created through a class offered by Tamara Laporte from Willowing Arts Ltd. For more information, ...

My art quilt is now on display through the fall at the City Attorney's Office as part of the first of its kind -- employee art sharing program. Employee art pieces were pre-selected earlier in the year for display at offices throughout City Hall. Two of mine are on display.  Aside from this one, there is an untitled painting that has taken up residence at the Department of Transportation.

A trip to my roots brought with it opportunities to make some art finds along the way.  From walks and drives, to museum visits, to a shopping excursion--there was an amazing array of visuals as you can see.   'Sloth Pieta' in front of the Broad Museum, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI Abandoned Building Eaton Rapids, MI Entrance Tile Design at the Lansing Art Gallery Lansing, MI Porcupine Quill Box by Y.W. Keshick Natural History Museum, Michigan State University East Lansing, MI Quilt Block Painted Barn Siding Dimondale, MI 1920s Millinery Exhibit Natural History Museum, Michigan State University East Lansing, MI Painted Hubcap from Wall of Painted Hubcaps Lansing, MI Alley Painting of Brick Wall Lansing, MI Decorated Key by Sharon Martin-Fertig