Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style ~ 1 day or 2 days or a week on location
Description: Want to learn to draw and paint what you see? Want to create an illustrated journal page of your day, your garden, your trip? Spend the day drawing and painting fresh flowers in a relaxed supportive environment. Jane will show you how to take the time to really look at leaf or petal and draw what you see. Then she’ll demonstrate the use watercolors using a straight-forward, intuitive approach, how to mix color to capture that right shade of or the shading on a white petal. You’ll create a set of 5x7” journal pages as unique as your own handwriting. Jane will show you how to enhance your drawings with creative page layouts and journaling. Some of my journal pages were featured in Cloth Paper Scissors magazine [March/April 2007 and on the cover].
Gelatin Mono-types on Fabric and Paper 1 or 2 days
Description: Don’t know what gelatin printing is? Not to worry! We’ll be using the set gelatin as our printing plate. Gelatin is great because it keeps the paint moist, has a pliable surface and is unpredictable! Using paints, and a brayer, and assorted tools for texture, we’ll print on fabric and paper, layering with different colors and textures to create a complete picture or a whole cloth quilt top. Tips on adding more details with color pencil, and collage.
Recycled Circles: Mixed Media with Paper & Cloth 1 day
Description: Create a fabulous mixed media piece from your own paper and cloth scraps! As seen in “Cloth Paper Scissors” magazine [March 2009 issue] Jane’s Recycled Circles is a layered project that will teach you an assortment of mixed media techniques, while creating this guided, yet totally your own one of a kind artwork. (And there’s no drawing! Just cutting out squares and circles!) Each student’s work will look very very different, even though we’re all doing the same step by step process. The class is especially great for beginners, as you just can’t go wrong! We’ll be working on paper, but using some paper and some cloth for collage, then hand sewing and beading to give the piece additional interest and texture. (This class can be done paper based or cloth/quilt based)
Paper on Cloth Collage 1 or 2 days
Description: Create a truly mixed media piece by collage paper on to cloth. (See Jane’s article in Cloth Paper Scissors [March/April 2008] and her demonstration on the third season of Quilting Arts TV.) In class, we’ll paint and use a variety of textures to create our backgrounds on uncoated canvas. Then Jane will show you easy ways to transfer (copy) or draw your image onto the canvas. Once you’re happy with your design, you’ll collage it with a wild mixture of different types of paper and finish it off with painted and stamped and sewn details. You’ll work on three collages at once, so you might want to have a theme (or not!) Jane will show you lots of mixed media techniques to inspire you. At the end of the day you’ll have three paper and cloth collages, with the option to machine or hand-stitch additional texture at home.
Fused Sheer Collage 1 or 2 days
Description: Using layers of papers and/or cloth, ribbon and thread, we’ll create our own sheer surfaces to collage, stamp, paint, sew or embellish. You’ll learn lots of mixed media techniques and have creative fun along the way. For beginners to experienced artists.
Big Book 1 day
Description: Free Play! You’ll start with a big ol’ sheet of paper. You’ll paint, stamp, stencils, draw, collage, weave…everything Jane knows about surface design, she’ll teach you! You learn while playing! We’ll also make sun prints from found objects. Once your paper is covered with imagery and color, we’ll fold it into a book. You’ll also get a chance to create your own stencil and work with Shiva Paintstiks. Then you work on each page, creating a cohesive (or not) BIG BOOK of color and design.
Rubber Stamps: Design & Carve Your Own 1/2 day
Description: A rubber stamp of your own design is a wonderful addition to an artist’s personal ‘tool box.’ Create a simple, graphic design to be used again and again on paper, cloth or any surface. Jane will guide you to select an flower image from a copyright free source, change it, simplify it and then, once it’s your own unique creation, carve the design into a small printmaking block. You’ll use this skill again and again!
Quiltlets: Very small quilts for short attention spans 1/2 or full day
Description: Create a tiny, hand painted quilt of your own design using simple materials. Jane will gently guide you to draw your own design or trace a copyright free image onto cloth, then paint and hand stitch, using some fun basic embroidery stitches. Your creation could be used on its own as embellishment for a jacket or tote, or create more for a larger piece. My Quiltlets were featured in Quilting Arts magazine [October/November 2009]
Make Felt the Tibetan Way and Embellish the California Way! 1/2 day, full day or 2 day
Description: Using colorful merino wool fibers, a modernized ancient technique, some creative designing and a lot of elbow grease, you will create a beautiful, feels-so-soft felt square in class. It may not be large enough to build a yurt, but it will make a lovely wall hanging or become part of another fiber piece. Your felt will dry overnight and the next day you will create a fabulous art piece, pillow top or box by embellishing your own original handmade felt with hand embroidery and/or beading. Felting requires agitating the wool fibers so you will be standing for about an hour, rolling the felt with your forearms. It’s not hard! It just takes some time.
Supplies are provided by the teacher and included in the $35 materials fee: 6 oz merino wool roving and an equipment kit (for you to take home) needed to create an 18” x 18” piece of felt. (My wet-felting art quilt was juried into Quilt Visions 2010: No Boundaries.)
Animal portraits on Cloth ~ A small art quilt 1/2 day or 1 day
Description: Learn the process of design and production of a small original quilt and the joys of hand stitching. First, you’ll learn an easy, fearless way to create a painted animal portrait on fabric. Using a photograph of an animal or pet as your guide, you’ll paint and then begin stitching a one-of-a-kind ~8.5 x 11” art quilt. This technique could be used with other images, like landscapes, and the finished product could make a wonderful book or album cover. Featured in Cloth Paper Scissors magazine [May/June 2008]
These are the products I use regularly.
Hand Sewing:
- gold & silver metallic thread that doesn't fray from Silk Things
- Caron hand dyed varigated embroidery thread
- more hand dyed varigated embroidery thread, direct from the artist, Laura Wasilowski
- I store all my thread in this inexpensive plastic bag system.
- Silk organza, Thai Silks, cream color
- Shiva Paintstiks from Cedar Canyon Textiles
- A pack of hand dyed rovings, silk and velvets from Suzanne Morgan
- Merino wool roving from Try Our Designs
- 200 ct white muslin from Joanns to print, draw and paint on...then stitch
- Design your own fabric and have yardage printed at Spoonflower or buy my fabric.
- Niji Waterbrush
- Waterproof, permanent ink pen in superfine black, Pitt Artist Pen
- Moleskine watercolor journal
- Hot press watercolor paper Fabriano Artistico Traditional White (5x7" block)
- Strathmore Visual Journal (Mixed Media)
- Kneadable eraser
- Water soluble pen (Tombow)
- Travel size palette 6x8 inches
- Watercolors: I use Windsor Newton/Daniel Smith: Cadmium Yellow, Alizarin Crimson, French Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Umber, Sap Green are a good start.
- Just starting in watercolor journaling? Prang paints are perfect and inexpensive.
- White art tissue
- The perfect sketchbag/purse for travel by Kipling
- Portable travel stool
- Water soluble crayons Neo Color II
- art tissue paper in WHITE
Monotypes on Fabric or Paper
Camera
- Digital Camera Canon PowerShot
- Polaroid Pogo Printer
