Catching up!

Life is never boring around here.  I'm sure you've heard about our big storm that knocked out power to almost everyone in West Virginia.  I was lucky - only losing power for one day, and I was able to share my air-conditioning for a few days with a less fortunate friend.  Many people were out for a week, and for some, it's been two weeks.  Those folks in rural areas don't even have water because they depend on electricity to pump well water.  How awful that must be!

Toni Kelly came to the Main Street Studio in Hurricane to offer a weekend workshop in June.  Toni is a mixed media artist who specializes in nature sketches.  Her workshop focused on techniques for incorporating images in art by using various transfer methods.  She also helped us with composition, color mixing and sketching techniques.  I finished one piece, an 8"x8" wood panel, on which I put down a background of handmade papers for texture.  The birdie is a sketch from my nature journal, which I printed on tissue paper and adhered with polymer medium.  I did the same with my favorite Emily Dickinson poem to complete the piece.

With all the extremely hot weather, it was best to stay indoors, and I have been trying to get my art supplies and collage materials reorganized.  Purrkins and Petey have been helping.  Petey thought I made this space in the bookcase just for her! Purrkins found a little space on my work table to squeeze into.











I'm still trying to get the collage materials sorted and stored in a way that I can find things. What I've learned from this process is that I should stop buying/collecting and just use what I've got, especially the art supplies. I found duplicates of paints and mediums that I didn't know I had!