Art
#the100dayproject.org
I am going to join The 100 Day Project which begins on April 3. I’d love it if some of you joined me. It is about art — but very loosely. It should build self discipline and encourage creativity. The item you choose to do every day for 100 days shouldn’t be some BIG complicated project. Here are some ideas:
Draw your self portrait on a post it note every day for 100 days.
Dance in public every day for 100 days.
Take a photo of __________ every day for 100 days.
You get the idea.
What am I going to do? There are a number of artists who draw very realistically using ballpoint pens. I’ve bought one of those pens that has four colors in it and for one hundred days I am going to do a simple sketch each day using those four colors in the pen. I know I won’t produce the same kind of works such as Samuel Silva produces (see http://twistedsifter.com/2012/09/hyperrealistic-portraits-using-ballpoint-pens-vianaarts-samuel-silva/) but I want to learn how to use the pen and cross hatching to produce colors…
Here’s the website to learn more: https://www.the100dayproject.org/?mc_cid=0e4388386f&mc_eid=84b3a88fde
Let me know if you’ll be joining in! I’ll be posting on Instagram and occasionally facebook and this website.
Mosaic Camp Out August 2018
Aug 16, 17, 18, 19, 2018
Cost is $450, includes materials, supplies, 6 meals
Imagine… Three and a half days in the lush Oregon countryside, making mosaics with old and new friends. Pitch your tent (or bring your trailer) and pack a cooler along for drinks. Enjoy open studio time to work on your projects and class sessions led by Kory Dollar. Work late or gather around a bonfire in the evening… Held on the fields of Helvetia Lavender and Christmas Tree Farm and Denny’s Workshop. Limit: 15 students.
More details to come. Contact Denny or Kory to reserve your place or for more information.
Making Concrete Pumpkins & More
Lots of new classes including one making concrete pumpkins…
Thinking Halloween? Let’s make concrete pumpkins! All you need is bring a plastic pumpkin (the kind that is used for trick or treating or a Styrofoam decorative pumpkin (or two) to my house on Sunday afternoon, Oct 1 at 1:30 and we’ll make them together. $10 per pumpkin made. Contact me at info@dennys-workshop.com.
Here’s the rest of the line-up [so far] (I add classes as I have time and ideas!).
If you are interested in seeing what I am doing art-wise personally, be sure to check out my personal FB page. Here’s a few teasers…
Shibori
Missed the Shibori class? Call me to schedule another one for you and a small group of friends. This is fun! Start with a blank slate (well, scarf, blanket, tea towel, etc), mix up a vat of indigo and choose one of the different techniques and see what you get…
Important Announcements
1. Open Studio is cancelled for Wednesday, August 2, due to weather predictions and the fact that my air conditioning is on the fritz. Find something cool to do…
2. The Accordion Book Making Class scheduled for Aug. 4-6 is going to be rescheduled. Please let me know if you would like to take it and when.
3. I will be a vendor at the North Plains Elephant Garlic Festival August 11-13. If you’re out that way, stop by and say hello.
4. Deadline for registering for Susan Crocenzi’s Mosaic class is August 5. This is a fantastic class and I’m giving a bonus. Ask me for more information.
5. My Convas Texture Book Class is August 18-20, $90. Register now!
Artist Trading Cards at North Plains Library
The ATC group that I am part of was asked to display some of our cards in the North Plains Library. The display is up for all of July and August and is interactive in that we ask others to make and then exchange cards through a board we left up.
We meet the third Thursday of each month at 6 pm at the North Plains Library. Come join us. Here are some of the cards I made for this month.
Open Studio Canceled Tomorrow
No Open Studio tomorrow (Wed) as I’m heading to the beach! I’ll be looking for broken sand dollars, heart rocks, and anything else that is interesting…
Note: I’m a small, one-person run workshop so it is always wise to let me know in advance by phone, email, or text if you’re planning on coming for a class, a drop-in clay class, or an open studio.
Spacescapes…
Susan Crocenzi is one of my favorite mosaic artists because she mixes several different kinds of tesserae (the pieces she uses to build her mosaic): tempered glass, art glass, polymer clay, and tile. Based in Sacramento, we have a rare opportunity to learn from her as she will be teaching at my workshop in Hillsboro, Saturday and Sunday, September 9 and 10.
Spacescapes: Polymer Clay Tile Making and Tempered Glass Mosaic Techniques
Register now for Susan Crocenzi’s class — SPACESCAPES: Polymer Clay Tile Making and Tempered Glass Mosaic Techniques. This incredible workshop will be held in Hillsboro, September 9-10 (a Saturday and Sunday). Limited spaces. info@dennys-workshop.com or 503-866-0180. $290.
Visit Susan’s gallery at http://scmosaics.com/section/140711.html. Be sure to click on the headings in red to see the full range of her work.
I have waited a long time for Susan to come to Oregon. It’s an incredible opportunity. Please reserve your space by the end of July.
How Time Flies…
I can’t believe it has been four months since last I blogged. So much has happened. I’ll try to summarize:
- March and April: Art show at North Plains Library (NPL) with my friend Jackie.
- July and August: Just put up a new display at NPL for our local Artist Trading Card group. Several of my cards are included.
- Took two incredible classes at the Focus on Book Arts Conference at Pacific University in June. I learned so much and had a GREAT time.
- Sponsored free crafts in the workshop during the Helvetia Lavender Festival the second weekend in July and had a tent of glass mushrooms, photo cards, hand-painted purses, and art for sale.
- Coordinated/facilitated two art retreats at the beach…
- Taught a bunch of classes.
- Sold six pieces of original art.
- Took part in Kory Dollar’s Glass-on-Glass Mosaic Freeform Flower Garden class at my workshop.
I think photos might better tell the story…
Canvas Book made at the Focus on Book Art Conference.
Taught a Pysanka class — Using a stylus to create designs using a wax resist/dye process.
Worked with several groups to create with clay — including firing and glazing.
Continued to work on my doodling/drawing skills. People are starting to be recognizable!
Created a number of new pieces or art including: Provence collage on canvas; mixed media collage “Trust” on an old cutting board depicting three stories involving Jesus and water; Glass and paper mixed media Jellyfish on broken sand dollars; Raven on white tile with alcohol ink background; Glass mushroom made for Lavender Festival; Glass on glass mosaic; Credit card mosaic Artist Trading Card on alcohol ink background with resin coating over all; and sandpiper at beach painted on sand dollars and old wood box.
Plus… two pictures I took that made me happy!
LOTS is going on at the workshop. Check the class schedule and come join the fun! Or, consider joining my summer challenge. Do something creative every day. I’m posting mine on Facebook.
Lastly, volunteers at the workshop during the Lavender Festival have earned a free class with me at the workshop. I will be a vendor at the upcoming Elephant Garlic Festival in North Plains during the second weekend in August. If you’re willing to help, you’ll earn a free class too.
It’s an Art Exhibit!
March 2, 2017
My friend, Jackie Hanes, and I have our art on exhibit at the North Plains (Oregon) Library for the whole month of March. While I have had several pieces displayed at a shop or a gallery before, I’ve never had a real art show before. It’s exciting and a bit unnerving!
So I thought I’d take you through a virtual tour of the show. Open the door and come on in!
Jackie is a gifted artist in a number of areas. We met in the North Plains Artist Trading Card group where she collages vivid images on cards. She currently teaches classes in crazy quilting. The works she is exhibiting in this show, however, are all collages of various sizes.
My pieces include a variety of kinds of mosaics as well as several collages.
The two pieces on the upper left are mine. The one on the top far left is “Under the sea” and is made of smalti, shells/fossils, and a variety of stones. The next piece uses the glass on mirror technique and is called “Abstract horizon”. The piece on the right is one of two hat boxes that Jackie artfully collaged.
On the left is another glass on mirror piece, “Blue Flower”, and on the right is an underwater scene by Jackie.
I love the rich colors in Jackie’s work.
The pieces above are a mix of both of our works that are hung in the library conference room.
This is one of the first mosaics I ever did. It is glass on a cupboard door and is an abstract nativity.
This piece, “Aurora Borealis”, depicts icebergs in the Arctic with the glow of the Aurora Borealis behind it. It is glass, jewelry, and stone on the glass of a cupboard door. It is grouted with resin.
The top piece is Jackie’s while the two lower pieces are mixed media collage and paint on canvas. The girls in “I am enough” and “I am loveable”hold small banners with the names of the pieces cut out of room keys and credit cards.
“Hope springs eternal” is a mixed media mosaic on concrete board. It uses glass, tile, broken mirror, jewelry bits, and found objects to convey it’s message.
This very large piece is my most recent. “The creativity monster defeated” is stone, tile, glass, rocks, shells and more. Here’s the explanation:
Several years ago I was in a place in life where I just had no time or space for art. It was killing me. Literally. I decided to “liberate” all my bits and pieces of rock, shell, tile, and glass by sprinkling them liberally in my home landscape. At least, I thought, they would shine and sparkle and bring me joy when I passed by them. A miracle occurred and I was given the gift of time and space to create once again. I took my trowel out to the landscape and dug up as many pieces as I could find (now buried under dirt, bark dust, and dead plants). As I looked at the pieces, a monster appeared to me. And then, little sparks of creative joy. Thus, this piece represents the monster who tried to kill creativity but was overwhelmed and defeated by art.
All the pieces in this monstrous piece were dug from my landscape except the small black pebbles. The collages flanking the piece use vintage photos of Oregonians and are titled “Paris dreaming” and “It’s just a matter of time.” They are mixed media collage on framed mirrors.
The piece on the left , “Small flower,” is tile and glass on mirror. On the bottom right is a glass on glass –“Abstract landscape”.
“All that glitters is not gold” is a polymer clay mosaic with jewelry pieces.
These gilded insects buzz their rationalizations to do whatever you want into your ear. If you look closely, however, you will see that they are not made of gold and silver but cheap substitutes. Their words, too, are not genuine or foundational for good decisions.
Thanks for taking the guided tour!
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