Mixed Media en Plein Air

These two looked on while Susan and I did more printing at Oiseaux Studios South yesterday. Susan was sprucing them up for a doll exhibit. Gorgeous dolls that she made many years ago.

View of Oiseaux Studio

Putting acrylic paint on the plastic palette sheet.

Rolling paint on cotton sheeting over grids, raised letters, plant material, etc.

Leaf placed over previously rolled fabric, using a red roller with the leaf as a mask.

Our friend Angela focusing as she learns a new technique.

Fabric monoprinted with Golden acrylics mixed with art paste for more body. The color is much more subtle than with the straight acrylics.

Back to the rollers and straight acrylics, with ferns and beach debris for texture, under the fabric then on top as masks and monoprints. We didn't care that the fabric got a bit more stiff. In fact, Susan likes the way the paint lends longevity to the pieces when they're hung outside. Some of these will become flags on my new porch.

I learned so much from playing with these techniques, and we didn't even get to print with the styrofoam plates! But Susan and I made a commitment to make more flag-like work in our far-apart studios as a joint project. Loving the warm and sunshine but my studio is calling me ...

At Oiseaux Studio South

I spent the first day of 2015 in the best imaginable way - with Susan Andrews in her Florida studio. (And wishing Carolyn could have joined us - feel better soon!). Susan is one of my mentors - my first art mentor - and she is perennially inspiring, supportive, and delightful. If not for Susan and Carolyn and that fortuitous summer workshop with them in 2008, I might still be searching for my right path.

As always, lunch was healthy and delicious (and beautiful to boot!).

After loads of information sharing, we finally got down to what we planned to do: experiment with using text on fabric, preferably handwritten. Susan has been experimenting with pens of all kinds, so she pulled out about two dozen of them for me to try. In the short bit of time left after all our yakking, I did a bunch of samples, using my current guiding verse "The Journey" by Mary Oliver, on paper and then fabric, but didn't find the perfect tool for fabric - yet.

Thanks, Susan, for so many things but especially for your time. Love you.

To learn more about the fabulous Oiseaux Sisters and their art and workshops, click here.

Here are a few vignettes from the studio - full of treasures.