2nd Batch of ATC's

I have a zillion million important things to be doing (like working on Income Tax) and instead I've been working on ATC's! These little things can be addictive. Why didn't someone warn me! Looking at the photograph I can see I still need to work on the first one (top left). The far right-hand side is a little barren. Negative space is a good thing but not that much! It seems off balance to me. It's funny how you don't notice things that need to be changed until you get away from it or look at a photo.

I have two paintings in process that I need to finish and I need to make at least two more felted pieces to enter in Fiberworks 2009. The deadline is June 6th (which happens to be my birthday) and I only have one piece to enter. You are allowed to enter three so that is my goal because it increases my chances of having something accepted. I better get busy!

More on Painting Workshop

In the painting workshop that I took last week, we painted a still life using only values or gray scale. The next day we painted the same view of the still life in color using our gray scale painting as a reference for the values. My value study had some placement or size issues (the egg and the clay pot weren't occupying the space correctly) so they were corrected in the color painting. Of course, one reason they were correct in the color painting is because Dan (the teacher) sketched in the objects for me. I plan on painting this same still life again on a larger scale to see if I can do it all by myself. These paintings are only 6" x 8".

Painting Class with Dan Robinson

Here is a photo of my friend Carla and Dan Robinson standing in front of a few of Dan's paintings. Carla bought his apple painting in the background. I took a three day painting workshop with Dan this weekend and really learned a lot from him. It was a great class and I would highly recommend him as a teacher and he is a wonderful artist!

Here is a photo of Dan mixing some paint for James who is pictured in the foreground to the right.

Here is Betsy and Kay from left to right working on their still lifes. We had 10 people in the class and Dan had four still lifes set up for us to choose from. I haven't taken a photo of my still life......I'm too tired! I'll take one and upload it later. Carla took a photo of Dan and I but it's a little on the blurry side so I won't upload it.

Dan Robinson doesn't have a website but his work can be seen on Shadid's Fine Art Gallery website if you want to look. http://www.shadidfineart.com/

First ATC's Made

I've started making Artist Trading Cards out of my various fiber scrapes. I haven't finished the backs for these so that aren't trimed down to the exact size yet which is supposed to be 3.5" x 2.5". ATC's can be made from anything and they are meant to be traded with others and not sold. I have made these cards to be given to certain people in my church for a specific reason so they won't be traded but given as gifts. However, I'm hoping that the FAD Group will want to have a 'play day' in my studio so we can all make ATC's and trade with one another. These are really fun to make and because they are so small it doesn't take long to complete one. I made these from wool and felt scraps, added hand embroidery stitches and beads. I used my Babylock Embellisher to needle felt the scraps together.