Social Media & Newbies

I indulged in a bit of educational pursuit ~ both absorbing and giving with these journal entries.

On the left I'd taken a "Social Media Class" with Betsy Lewis (http://betsylewis.blogspot.com/). It was a quick paced presentation with introductions (I loved hearing every one's "dream" life), a run thru our fears of Social Media, then perusing a lengthily handout encompassing ALL the areas an artist needs to complete to be "on track" with a professional art career. Next we had to go thru and select where we were lacking and which of those we'd need to do in the next month! Whew! Fascinating and informative - but I did a hurried contour drawing and grabbed one quick photo of Betsy, which I later could not even find! So here, I've whipped up my memory of Betsy, filling the contour drawing with color.

I've been wanting to experiment with a new stamp making medium and decided to create floating sheets of paper for a border. I've been using erasures for my stamps but want to move into a more reliable system (last time I used erasures, they ended up have a dimensional logo which appeared in ALL the stamped images!). This Speedball sheet seemed my answer. I'd traced my simple "floating paper sheet" onto the pliable printing surface and begun with my ole' system of cutting out the image with an exacto knife. But I found I could not bend the "Speedy-cut" printing sheet without it breaking off - yikes! Heck, I decided to use it anyway, holding together to cracked off corner (see bottom right cracks coming off the central image cut-out).

Again, using my usual watercolor paints, I slurped my purple across the printing surface - only to find it would not adhere to the surface. After fumbling with acrylic, I went back to a straight-out-of-the-tube watercolor pigment. I did get the pigment to stay on the surface. And dotted my image around the border of my journal page . . . whew!

I also scanned, then printed out small, the pages of the handout - they were valuable info and this always helps keep me from loosing class notes or handouts. I've attached all the pages with one of my lil' brass brads. Quite a lesson . . .

Next page is a demo I did while teaching my "Watercolor Exploration for Newbies". This class blossomed out of my "Basis in Watercolor Journaling" Class when students wanted more focus on watercolor techniques. This quick demo was to simplify a landscape. And once again, I'm not certain if it was I or the students who learned more :) But it was a jolly class and although we wrestled thru some frustration, students got plenty of practice at new techniques.

It's all learning . . . and aren't we blessed to be able to keep doing it and stretching ourselves our entire life . . . if we choose to do so?!?!

Happy Stretching!!! . . . if you're brave enough . . .