ponderings

Links for you to peruse...

Back in February I taught a fun project at Art from the Heart in the UK. I still haven't managed to photograph my entire book, but I wanted to share links to some of the artists who created in the class. The theme was "Poetry in Motion"...the book opens different directions, has an explosion, and even spins!

For the drawings, we drew inspiration from Tina Berning's 100 Girls on Cheap Paper. Fabulous book of Tina's illustrations. Sometimes to learn to draw, you need to copy and draw inspiration from great artists. I want to make sure Tina gets the credit for the inspiration!

100 Girls on Cheap Paper: Drawings by Tina Berning

My cover:

Bernice's book...click here.

Maggie's book...click here.

Ann's book...click here.

Sweet Jude sent me some pics of hers...will post those when I post more pics of mine. Geez, can my to-do list get any longer? hee hee

 

 

 

 

A funky gal...

I love how this one turned out. She's totally imperfect, but I love that! And I love the white space. Sigh.

When did this happen?

When did these fellas...

turn into these fellas?

Time is going by sooooo fast!

Discombobulated...

Been crazy busy...don't know which way is up or down! Adding to the malaise is that I'm without an "official" journal. All of my journals are at North Light Publishing for my book! I made a few signatures and have been working in those. I need to bind them into a complete book, but haven't yet decided exactly how I want to do it.

I painted this girl and after I photographed her, I realized her proportions are funny and I need to fix them. For some reason I can see things in a photograph that I can't see when I'm sitting at my desk staring at a page. I will fix her & give you a before & after.

Classes this weekend at The Occasional Artist...

I tell ya, life is crazy. Just got back from my 2nd trip to Los Angeles in the past week (getting my visa for Brazil). I realized I forgot to post about the classes I'm teaching this weekend at The Occasional Artist! Here are the details:

Surface Experiments

Two One session:

Friday, May 18th, 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm (several spots left, call the store to check)

Saturday, May 19^th, 11 am to 2 pm (if you're interested, call the store...if it's full, you can get on a waiting list and we'll let you know when we repeat the class...probably in July)

Cost: $50

Come and play with me while we explore and alter surfaces! We’ll play with acrylic paint, modeling paste, stencils, plaster, and beeswax and see what happens when we combine them, alter them, and play with them.

Please bring:

Your favorite acrylic paints. Include a titanium white and a raw umber (or black).

Awl or other sharp tool for scratching.

Heat gun.

Crafting toolkit, such as pen, pencil, scissors.

Baby wipes and a cotton rag/towel for wiping paint.

New stamps from Stampington..."Garden Grunge"

A sweet gal (hi, Muriel) emailed me & mentioned my new stamps. She reminded me that I haven't posted about them on my blog. Well...I have some more stamps coming out from Stampington: "Garden Grunge."They've already been hitting local stores. Exciting! I have to say, working with Stampington is a delight. They're wonderful and supportive. Follow the link to see all the images, here is a little peek:

 

Join me for Artistic Journey 2012

I'm so happy & honored to be teaching again at Artistic Journey, sponsored by Maya Road and The Crafty Scrapper. This year I'm going to be teaching art journaling...woo hoo! Time to get super inky and messy. Artistic Journey is a top-notch event. Lots of fun! I know it sells out fast.

Remember that unfinished journal page from the stencil hop blog post? I just made it into a journal cover. I folded it in half and stitched in some watercolor paper. I put gesso on some of the inside pages, and it's drying right now...but when it's dry I'll post a pic.

Here are glimpses from a page from a few weeks ago....

Funky Tags Stencil Blog Hop -- Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's Crafter's Workshop Stencils

Oh, how I love stencils! I'm honored to participate in the blog hop for Julie's awesome stencil, "Funky Tags."

I made a scrapbook page...

And a funky art journal page:

I started this art journal page but got pulled away before I could add imagery and journaling. I like what's going on so far, though....

Be sure to click through the other blogs on the hop...lots of inspiration to be found!

Julie Fei-Fan Balzer

Catherine Matthews-Scanlon

Lisa Truesdell

 

Coming up for air...

Today is the big day. I'm still tweaking the manuscript, but I feel energized. My box of 120 new journal pages is in the mail. I have to say, I loooooove some of them. I'm so excited for you to see them!

 

 

I know my "Dying for Dylusions" class on Saturday at The Occasional Artist is full. We talked about repeating it on Saturday, May 12th in the morning. If you're interested, call them. 623.847.2215.

I'm going to be part of Masterful Scrapbook Design in June...

I know June seems far away, but really it's right around the corner (eeks!). I'm going to be one of the teachers for Debbie Hodge's Masterful Scrapbook Design series in June--"Art Journaling Looks for Scrapbookers." If you're a scrapbooker, MSD is the best gift you can give yourself (aside from time to create). It's always thoughtful, descriptive, informative, and inspiring.

I did 8 brand new layouts...and I'm in love with all of them! Here are a couple of peeks...

Class at The Occasional Artist..."Dying for Dylusions"

Here's my April class at The Occasional Artist. We're going to celebrate all things Dylusions!

Dylusion products are designed by the awesome Dyan Reaveley, and made by the awesome Ranger. We're going to get messy with her ink sprays and stencils (you will love the colors, they are divine!). We'll also use her fun stamps to add imagery and quotes to our book. Join me!

“Dying” for Dylusions Inky Tag Book

Saturday, April 28, 10:30 a.m., at The Occasional Artist. Call them to sign up, 623.847.2215.

Join me and make this joyful, inky tag book. I’ll show you four easy techniques to use with Ranger Dylusions ink sprays. Then we’ll use fun and funky Dylusions stamps to decorate our book. It’s a colorful explosion of joy!

Please bring:

-Scissors

-Adhesive, like Tombo Liquid glue (green lid) or a UHU glue stick

-Black Ranger Archival pad, if you have one. I will have some to share, but it might be nice to have your own.

I was a guest on Paperclipping Roundtable this week...

click here to have a listen!

Noell, Izzy, Shimelle Laine, Nancy Nally, and I had a fun conversation about the scrapbook process. We walk you through layouts and reveal the decisions we make during the creative process.

In honor of the old "Self Portrait Tuesday" blog...here's a recent webcam shot. Have you taken any self-portraits lately? Take one today. Do it.

I'm still swamped...barely keeping up, actually. There is a dim light at the end of the tunnel, though.

Blog Tour! Seth Apter's "The Pulse of Mixed Media..."

 

I'm honored to part of Seth's blog tour for his new book, The Pulse of Mixed Media: Secrets and Passions of 100 Artists Revealed.

Seth has a kind and generous artistic spirit, which shines through in this book. I love Seth's thoughtful approach to art-making. He asks questions, makes you think, helps you figure out the WHY and not just the HOW. Love that. That's what his book is...an exploration of the "why."

During his "Pulse" series that he runs on his blog, he had us take pictures of a collection from our studios. I decided to do my mangy brushes. They are bruised & battered, but oh how I love them!

Be sure to visit the other blogs in the tour...they are:

Seth's Blog, The Altered Page

April  2  Rice Freeman-Zachery

April  3  Stephanie Lee

April  4  Ali Edwards

April  5  Ro Bruhn

April  6  Roben-Marie Smith 

April  7  Nancy Lefko

April  8  Kelly Kilmer

April  9  Trudi Sissons

April 10 Melody Nunez

April 11 Dina Wakley {yay, you are here}

April 12 Stephanie Hilvitz

 

Seth asked us to answer 3 questions from the book...so here I go:

Do you enjoy working more intuitively or by carefully thinking through your process? I do everything intuitively. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. But when I begin a piece or an art journal page, it's all about play. I never have an end-result in mind. Ever. I put color down, play a bit...then I listen to the art and do what it wants me to do next. It sounds really new-agey and weird, and I am not very new-agey (but I probably am weird...heh). But this is how art works for me. I create and listen.

What is one current trend that you wish would go away?

You know, I don't get too bothered about trends. Trends fade eventually, and I don't let other people's art bug me. I try to appreciate it for what it is. I am guilty of using the some imagery over and over again...but I consider it a "motif" instead of a "rut." heh.

How has the Internet changed your artistic practice?

For me, the great thing about the internet is that it has opened up a world-wide artistic community. It's easier to find "your people" (i.e. people who "get it") with the internet. Of course, it has some bad things (copying and stealing, boo). But I love the sharing aspect of the internet, and how it links us all together.

 

Working on a bizarre fractured face today...

Yeah, it's weird. I'm going with it.

Tami's blog post about 21 Secrets...

Tami Taylor did my 21 Secrets class (along with her sons...I love that). Here's her blog post about it...don't you love what she did? Awesome!

Click Here For Tami's Blog Post

 

 

Click here to go to 21 Secrets.

I went to ArtFest...

I'm back from ArtFest. I have wanted to go for years, and this year KL and I decided to go. I'm so glad we did...we had a great experience. And, this is the last ArtFest. I am kicking myself that I never went before, but I am so appreciative that I got to experience it before it was all over.

I'm coming home to crushing deadlines...so I'll keep this brief and share some photos.

KL and I met at the Seattle airport, rented a car, and headed to Seattle. We stopped briefly at the famous Pike Street Market.

Then it was off to Fort Worden....ArtFest, here we come!

We saw DQ along the way and had to stop. It would have been a crime not to.

This was our homebase on the fort...we stayed in Officer's Housing. We had some super fun roomies. As usual, I was lame at taking pictures. I always get home & kick myself for not taking more. I think I wanted to just "be"...to be in the moment and experience it without too many distractions.

Day 1...my first class was with Orly Avineri. She guided us through a mixed-media creation on a cardboard substrate. This piece has art on both sides...and at one point she had has tear parts off and switch them around. So some flaps are reversed. Great process...I enjoyed it immensely. The class got me thinking about having a deliberate process, about contrast, about the intent behind a piece of art. A fun tidbit is as I was sitting in class, in walked Dawn Sokol. We've talked online but never met (even though we live about 45 minutes from each other). It was fun to meet her and make art with her that day!

Day 2...my second class was Plaster Sampler with Stephanie Lee (KL and I took it together). So, so fabulous! This really lit a fire of possibilities under me. Stephanie is a generous teacher, especially with her knowledge. The amazing Judy Wise was there as her "assistant"...I have been a fan of Judy's art for years. What a pleasure it was to meet them both! I bought their book months ago, but haven't even looked at it. I've decided I'm going to work through the book and do every project. Here's a link to their book:

Plaster Studio: Mixed-Media Techniques for Painting, Casting and Carving

Day 3...my third class was a painting class with Jesse Reno. He guided us through a unique and many-layered painting process. I enjoyed the process...and I took pictures of the piece as it transformed. I'm going to do a future blog post about it because I think it's fascinating to see how a piece is "born." My piece is super funky, but I love it. The class was a great reminder to be free, to layer, to not be afraid to paint over what is not working, to really "see." The process is actually similar to my "intuitive painting" process that I am teaching in 21 Secrets.

It was a pleasure to be in a creative, nurturing art environment, to spend time with KL, to fill up my own creative soul. Now I'm back and having a rough re-entry into my normal life...my head is spinning, but in a good way. And I forsee a huge Blick order in the near future...heh heh.

 

 

My Creative Jumpstart Video...

I thought I'd post my video from Nat's awesome Creative Jumpstart that ran earlier this year. I'll find this a permanent home on dinawakley.com soon....but for now I thought I'd post it here.

 

Creative Jumpstart -- Dina Wakley from Dina Wakley on Vimeo.

And...a note about my classes. My husband has them ready to go, he's just waiting for me to go down to the city and get a business license. I promise I will do that in early April! Pinky swear!

Sharing some peeks of my 21 Secrets Class...

Here are a few peeks from my 21 Secrets class...

 

Lots of painted layers! Class begins April 1st. My video is 49 minutes long...eeks! I am going to cut it down to smaller sections.

Click here to go to 21 Secrets.

Winner of Ronda's book is...

Awesome book. Awesome opportunity. Thanks!

Posted by: marynbtol | March 22, 2012 at 05:56 AM

 

Congrats!! Email me your address!

Win a Free Copy of Ronda's new book "The Art of Layers"

Welcome to The Art of Layers blog hop! You came to my blog from Kelly's blog.

My awesome & talented friend Ronda has a new book! I've fondled it, and I tell ya, it's fabulous. It is: Art of Layers: Simple Techniques, Inventive Scrapbook Pages, Imaginative Papercrafts. Here's a description:

“Basic scrapbooking has you place photos and embellishments on cardstock or patterned paper - easy and...well, basic. The next step for most scrapbookers is layering. But trying to get that rich, interesting layered look can be very intimidating. Where do you even start? Art of Layers teaches scrapbookers and beginning mixed media artists just how easy it is to get to that layered look in any papercrafting project. Author Ronda Palazzari teaches readers 50+ techniques that will serve as tools to pull out whenever a layered look is desired. The chapters allow the reader to build their skills, from paper techniques they won't be afraid to try adding fabric, embellishments, and stamping to finally giving spray inks, paints and gesso a try.”

Here's one of Ronda's projects from the book...it's called "Great Love Canvas" and it's in the "Paper" chapter. So cool! [Canvas below created by Ronda.]

You can win an autographed copy of the book on the blog hop! Simply leave a comment on this post. Winner will be chosen by random draw, one comment per person, please. Deadline to comment is Sunday, March 25th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. Be sure to hop along through all the blogs for more chances to win. (Note...you can only win one book per household.)

Next, hop on over to Amy Tangerine's blog. Good luck!