Bluehaven Studio

Micro Media Collage with Cheryl Prater

   "Two parts art instruction and one part stand-up comedy, Cheryl Prater will lead us in creating 12 x 6 dimensional collages. You will explore the benefits of making art everyday, learn some awesome paint techniques, and find out how to use small daily projects as the building blocks for larger pieces. If you liked Cheryl’s piece “January Week (Examined)” in CPS Issue 12 pages 66 - 72, you will love creating one using your own ephemera and images. This is the same HIP class Cheryl taught at MIU in Chicago, only bigger and better, it’s like MIU-zilla! Cheryl says: Unless you’re a total bummer, you’re guaranteed to have fun!"

    This is the description of a wonderful workshop I took recently, sponsored by Random Arts.  It was a fun and inspiring day.  If you ever get a chance to do a workshop with Cheryl, do not hesitate.   I learned a lot and I was thrilled to almost complete my project by the end of the workshop day.  You can see the project as it was at the end of the day on Cheryl's Praterposte Blog, September 25 post.

    We started the day by making one and one-half inch micro collages on chipboard.  The small size was challenging to me at first.  I decided to use an old photo of my Mom and her two older sisters and to do a series.

    The small collages were later inserted in painted six-inch by six-inch "frames," which are really upside down artist canvases.  The collages are mounted so that they seem to float in the space of the opening in the frame.

    Before lunch we started learning painting techniques to paint our frames.  I used mostly Lumiere metallic paints, including Rust which I really liked.  We used "wholey paper" sold by Jane at Random Arts.  Through the holes I added different colors to my basic paint layers.  I had chosen one color for each of the frames.

    We spent the afternoon finishing our collages and frames and putting it all together including adding ephemera.  I had decided before the workshop to leave some of those choices for later, so I added specially chose buttons and a different butterfly to each piece when I finished the project at home.

    This is my Mom, the youngest sibling at the time of the picture.

    This is my Aunt Anne who died of breast cancer in 2001. She was also my Godmother.

    This is my Aunt Mae. These three oldest siblings in my Mom's family were very close in age.

 

   I also decided that I wanted to emphasize the connection of the series and so I had Bob cut me a piece of cherry wood left over from flooring.  I used the back side with the tracks and in each track used a different color, matching the colors I chose for the frames.

 

       The finished piece is 22 inches long and six inches high. I entitled it The Sun Was In Their Eyes . . . not just because they were squinting in the original picture, but because each of them has been a bright light in my life for which I am grateful.

The Beauty of Rust

    I used to think of rust as something to avoid or clean up, but now rusting is a fun art technique.  Rusting was the theme of today's free Friday workshop at Random Arts.

    We started by painting an iron solution on rubber stamps and then stamping images on paper.  After drying, we applied one or more coatings of rust solution.  The rusted paper images can later be used in collage or in card-making.

    Next we played with rusting Formica sample tags, corrugated paper, and fibers. We also used a copper solution.  After it dried, a patina solution was applied.

    I had so much fun that I spent the afternoon after I got home experimenting with the rust and copper solutions on a variety of surfaces, including plastic and wood.   

  A few months ago, I experimented with several rusting processes, including using vinegar and steel wool to rust silk organza.  I used the rusted silk and a rusted plastic to frame  an encaustic collage piece I did at an all-day workshop, also at Random Arts. 

    It was actually the first piece of my artwork that I ever liked well enough to  frame. 

    Rusting . . . try it, you might like it. 

Believe in Yourself Retreat

I have just returned from three days of intense creativity at the second annual Believe in Yourself Retreat in Blowing Rock, NC sponsored by Crreative Spirits, Susan Edmondson and Kristi Steiner.

This year's retreat has motivated me to get back to blogging and to start a new blog about my own creative and artistic pursuits.

This year's Believe in Yourself retreat project was entitled The Nature of My Heart.  Each page of this mixed-media embellished fabric book was based on exercises that helped us explore different aspects of our creativity. See the Believe in Yourself Retreat page at Kristi's website for details and pictures of her Nature of My Heart book.

In addition to Kristi and Susan's encouragement, creativity abounded from ideas shared among those attending and from inspiration and supplies available from delightful vendors like Random Arts from my hometown, Saluda, NC and Country Mercantile from Lowell, NC.

In the next few days I will add details and pictures of the pages of my own book, still in progress.  I will also include pictures of my husband's pages as well. He was the only man among 40 women attending.  This was all new to him, but he had a great time and I am thrilled at his own creativity.

Special thanks to Kristi and Susan and especially to my friend, Jane Powell of Random Arts.  I'm blogging again. WOOHOO!