Monthly Explorations

   It's been an interesting year so far to say the least. I've been taking some time to reboot and work on some new projects over the winter and just when I am ready to get back to doing some workshops the world has turned upside down. Now it's time to rethink the next  steps to take.
   Being an introvert makes the social distancing an easy thing to do for me. So I'm choosing to take advantage of my extra time alone in the studio to play and catch up on things. I hope you're able to make the best of the situation and give yourself permission to play.

   One of the things that has kept me busy this year is my Monthly Explorations Themes over on my FB group. In January the theme was Doodling, Mark Making and Drawing. What's not to like about that!

8"x5" journal page on Bristol Smooth

9"x11.5" Dylusions journal page.

In February the theme was Stencils. I love my stencils and use them often. There are so many ways to use them. Here are just a few.

Since it was February I had to do a few heart cards. I made my own heart stencil with a heart die I have and then layered other stencils on top of it for the patterns. I used Distress Inks and Oxides for the colours along with some light modeling paste and Finnabair Icing Paste for the texture through stencils.

Multiple layered stencils.

This page was done with a lot of layers of collage material, paints and stencils. The mushrooms were a new stencil I got recently from Stencil Girl. I used Nuvo Expanding Mousse through the stencil. This was an new product for me and I loved the way it puffs up when heated. Once dried I coloured the mushrooms with Finnabair waxes.

9.5"x8" double page in small Dylusions journal.

This is another page done with lots of layers and even more stencils. But here the stencils are used mostly in the background instead of the focal point as the mushrooms were. 

9.5"x8" double page in small Dylusions journal.

  And now in March the theme is Watercolour. This is not a medium that I play with much or know much about so it really is about exploring and learning. 

  I made myself a small book with 5.5"x5.5" watercolour paper pages to do my playing/experimenting in. It is a nice size to try out something new.

   I did a few pages of rocks. They were great for practicing some mixing and layering of colours.

Watercolour rocks.

   These little swatch doodles were inspired by a fun Canadian Artist, Cee Cee's Creations. You can find many of her videos on Youtube. They were very fun to do. I'm sure I will be doing more of them this month. 

Watercolour swatch doodles.

  If you'd like to see more come over and take a look at Dragonfly Dreamers Monthly Exploration Themes. And of course you are always welcome to join the group.

Keep Creating!

Wendy

Amazing texture and colour

This past weekend saw another Excavating Layers workshop here in the studio. It is so wonderful to be able to take two full days to share this technique with creative kindred spirits. The creative energy was palpable the entire weekend. They were a great group of ladies. They did an amazing job on their pieces.

Francoise

Guylaine

Johanne

M

Tracy

What do you think? Do you  have a favourite from these great pieces? This group was a real inspiration for me. I must get back to the pieces I started!

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Gel Plate workshop

It was great getting back to Gel Plate printing again with this group of women earlier this week. Lot's of prints were made with a few being finished and a few still going to be worked on some more. The colours and patterns are always so inspiring to me.

Deb

Janice

Kim

Nancy

Have you tried Gel Plate printing yet? If you haven't you really should. I've probably said it before but it is one of my favourite things to get lost in at the moment. The rest of the world can wait while I play with my Gel Plate!

Happy Creating!

Wendy

A Moment in Time.

I wish I could name all my workshops 'A moment in time'! It's like the whole world stops while I come together to teach a group of students something creative. While they are in the studio nothing else matters. We delve into the world of creativity. Yesterdays canvas workshop was just like that. I had a great group of ladies here in the studio to create these wonderful canvases. I love how each made a truly unique canvas with similar techniques. 

Danielle

Deb

Diane

Sharon

This workshop was all about texture and dimensions. Lot's of layers with texture paste and found objects.

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Gelli Plate fun

Have I told you how much I love playing with the Gelli Plate!! It's even more fun when I have students here learning to play along with me. Today's group of ladies did a great job of the Gelli Plate Layers workshop. In this workshop we go beyond the basics. We explore how to build up layers and be more intentional with our paint placement. 

Johanne

Kathy

Lis

Veronica

I've probably said it before and I'll say it again, if you haven't tried it yet you should. Sooo much FUN!

Happy Creating

Wendy

Imagination is Boundless workshop

   In the last year or two I have been exploring the creation of dimensional canvases. I often call them altered art because so many thing on them are altered from their original purpose. Almost nothing is sacred and cannot be used on a piece of altered art. So now I enjoy teaching my process of creating these canvases to others. 
   Yesterday I was in the company of 3 wonderfully creative ladies while teaching them the Imagination is Boundless canvas workshop. Just see what a wonderful job they did.

Louise

Lucie

Micheline

Now I'm off to finish the canvas I started during the workshop and maybe start a few more projects floating around in my head. Wish me luck!

Keep Creating.

Wendy

Gelli Plate workshop fun

I've probably said this before but it still holds true, Gelli Plate printing is just about my most favourite things to do right now. It is something that I get lost in and am totally consumed by it. 
This past weekend I had a great time teaching a small group of ladies how to do my layering technique on the Gelli Plate. They did some amazing work. Some pieces are finished and some will continue to be added to or used in other piece of art.

Chris

Deb

Deb

Josee

Josee

Have you tried the Gelli Plate yet? If not I highly recommend it. 

Happy Creating!

Wendy

More Tag-a-Day Stencil Challenge

Here is the next bunch of tags from this months challenge. I've discovered that doing the backgrounds are the easy part and then trying to figure out how to finish them can be a little more difficult. I think this week in Creative Studio we will be discussing ideas for focal points and finishing our tags.

Day 14- Fly

Day 15- Fearless

Day 16- Believe

Day 17- My Story

Day 18- New Day

Day 19- New Growth

Day 20- Explore

Happy Creating!

Wendy

Imagination is Boundless Workshop

I had a great time this past Saturday with these wonderfully creative ladies doing the 'Imagination is Boundless' workshop. As always, great fun and inspiration to see what they create with just a little guidance. 

Anne

Kathi

Sharon

Next workshop coming up is 'Life in Layers' Aug. 28. Still a few spots left.

Happy Creating!

Wendy

New Challenge for August.

July's collage challenge taught me a few things, both about collage and about myself. I learned that is was great to concentrate on one thing for a whole month. It was a great way to learn more about collage art, something I hadn't done much of before. I learned that I have a hard time sticking to one thing for that long but that it is probably a very good thing for me to do more often. I also learned that it was great to share it on social media. It was a great way to get feedback and support to keep going. It was also inspiring to see the art of others that joined me in the challenge.

Day 1- BE

So for all those reasons and more I'm going to try it again this month. I think I'm going to make it a little bit easier this time though. Collage was something pretty new to me which made it more of a challenge. So I've chosen something that I've worked with quite a bit more and something I love to use in my creations. And that is STENCILS. 

Day 2- True/False

Stencils are such a big thing right now and I can't seem to get enough of them. Often I'm asked what can you do with stencils and I think the possibilities are endless. Once the idea came into my mind I couldn't stop thinking of different ways to try them.

Day 3- Life

I've decided to do the challenge on tags. The ones I'm using are a #8  6 1/4" x 3 1/8". This is a nice size to work with but I may go to a larger size once in a while if this becomes too restricting. My idea with these is to make them into a small sample library of stenciling ideas. I will make them into finished pieces but not too complicated for the most part. 

Day 4- YOU CAN

Day 5- Reality in Imagination

If you'd like to join me I'll be calling it the August Tag a Day Stencil challenge. You can post your creations on the face book group Dragonfly Dreamers Monthly Challenges. Please don't feel like you have to do the same as me to join in. If you want to use something other than tags go ahead, feel free. If you just want to do one once in a while, not every day that's fine too. It's just fun to join in how ever it works best for you.

Happy Creating!
Wendy