A Survey of Online Organic Art Courses

It's the end of April and for this months blog post I'm going to talk about some of the arty things I've been up to, interested in and creating since my last blog post about art in February as well as some on line class reviews, photos of my work and more!



WATERCOLOR
First of all I was dying to take this watercolor class with Tascha Parkinson called Modern Watercolors: A Class in Design. It was 5 weeks long with one lesson each week.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

a simple shape with lettering

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I took this class because it had been quite a while since I'd had instruction on how to use watercolors, so I really felt like it was time to reacquaint myself with the medium. I had kept all my supplies from the class I'd originally taken during my first year in college so I only had to buy a white gel pen, which is a newer invention and really fun to use over dark backgrounds. If you haven't yet tried them I would encourage you to splurge and get a few different brands to see which one you like best they're a lot of fun. 

The watercolor course I first took was rather formal as it was based on classical techniques and style with really no encouragements for playing or experimenting. I really never wanted to do much landscape painting but I loved the medium and hoped for more. I didn't really create any watercolors beyond the class because I wasn't sure what else they could be used for so when I started Tascha's class I really felt like a beginner.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

floral spray with lettering

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Years later, though, I did fill a watercolor sketch book with some illustrations I did during the time I spent in Oxdrift, ONT, Canada in the early 2000's. I got inspired to just make some little drawings of our dogs playing or napping as well as a few still life sketches. Then I carefully colored them in with watercolor. I would have used markers but I didn't have any and it was the next best thing! I really had a lot of fun creating them. Little did I know that I was already using them in a way that best suits me! This is also one of the strengths of the watercolor class Tascha teaches. In a few short weeks I was able to create many little  watercolor pieces in my free time! 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I found Tascha's lessons to be informative as far as technique and she offers lots of room for individuality and totally encourages experimenting. She is very friendly, supportive and takes a genuine interest in her students work and progress. I recommend this class to anyone that is interested in learning how to work with watercolors or anyone similar to my situation of re-learning to work with watercolors! 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The length of the lessons run about 30 minutes or so. I feel that is just long enough to get me into the mindset of learning to use the materials without feeling overwhelming. Then when I had time to implement the teachings working with watercolor never seemed easier!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ART JOURNALING

I really wanted to try art journaling this year, so I signed up for a 4 month class taught by Effy Wild called Book of Days (also called BOD). It actually started in January, but I wanted to give myself some time to work with it before talking about it.

I must say that I really love Effy's approach to teaching and her positivity. Her dedication to 'arting' everyday is really smart, too because I used to think that in order to make art you had to be properly inspired before sitting down to create but seeing that you can simply sit down and willfully make art was a new one to me and I couldn't wait to try!

I ended up really struggling with art journaling daily or even weekly as Effy suggested. Every time I went to art journal I felt stuck at what I should do or what I should be writing about because deep down I'm not the type of person who is a daily journal keeper. I really never was to begin with but that doesn't mean I shouldn't have tried. 

I took the class to learn something and I did. I learned that I was afraid to acknowledge that I'm not a daily memory keeper... LOL it seems rather silly to think that it would make me less of an artistic person to admit it. But not being able to create meaningful art daily even with someone as skillful and encouraging as Effy doesn't make me any less of the artist I hope to someday be... It just means that this particular method, as fun as it was, is not the best way for me to get there.

Here's a peek at one of my art journal pages I made during BOD. I did a portrait, some journaling and added in two tip-in's with some Washi tape I made. One tip-in is of a stamp I carved and the other is a postcard from going to see Swan Lake. It's also one of my best two page spreads in the art journal...

When the year began I set a goal for myself to create something every day this year. While I realize that is not entirely impossible to achieve I am not too disappointed in myself that I find it isn't always possible for me to be highly prolific at this stage in my creative life. I'm still learning so much about art, art journaling, painting and creating the art I want to create. 

I do think I took away a lot of valuable experiences from BOD on how to approach a blank page and what kinds of things to 'art' about in an art journal. I loved seeing Effy's dedication to a daily art practice as it was super nourishing to my artistic soul. I can not even tell you how incredibly invaluable and healing Effy's art videos, pep talks and blogs posts are all to me, personally, she is a real life role model that I've always wanted and never had before. And while our lives couldn't be more different in every way I still feel a connection to her because of the generous way she shares her wisdom and her enthusiastic approach to life and art. I'm glad the Universe has put me on a path to discover so many inspiring women ~ it must have known that I really needed them. Please do check out her creative offerings at The Glitterhood! 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GATHERING UP INSPIRATION

I decided it would behoove me to join Milliande's online art group in order to explore some alternate ways of gathering up a diverse array of internal and external inspirations as sometimes I feel I am short of this in my artistic collections... I discovered Milliande's ning site last year when I was looking for classes on art journaling but didn't I join at the time because I wasn't ready for it. I do feel more prepared now though so I joined her Create Art Portfolio Ideas (CAPI) course. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

symbols or figures can be found 

within a random doodle to be 

used (or not) as inspiration later

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You will not believe how generous in quantity and quality Milliande's ideas are for gathering up a variety of ways to collect inspiration (and keeping it organized) in order to push your art to the next level. She offers you her way of idea gathering and these can be easily implemented or adaptable to to suit your own style of gathering and keeping ideas and inspirations.

At a time when one is feeling burnt out or overwhelmed by the desire to create but unable due to a creative block or just hesitation from fear of starting or even not knowing where to start I found Milliande's class to be a good investment of my time as well as stress free. It's set up to be a 'work at your own pace' course and I think it's really helping me tap into some new veins of creativity I had not thought to try.  

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

finding figures within

random scribbles

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Milliande'd CAPI class offers many lesson, videos, downloads, galleries and forums for you to access free of charge! I totally recommend the CAPI series for those of you who are just starting out, like me, and can work independently with art journaling concepts and minimal hand-holding. It is for those of us who feel stuck and would like to discover a way to get beyond it and into a different head space for creating or for those of us who have no problem at all but are interested in seeing how another artist operates... 

Sure sometimes it's difficult to carve out real quality time to create but I'm finding that the more I get to the art table the more I feel like it's becoming easier and quicker to get into the zone. On days when the creative muse is just not flowing through me I can utilize Milliande's teachings to keep my hands busy and steer my mind into the realm of creativity thinking over designs, doodling out ideas and storing up inspiration. Then when the muse is calling I can use what I gather up to create without interruption. That's a new one for me!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

the idea is to practice doodles then finding & pulling out 

ideas and hope that over time you'll get better at doodling 

or finding inspiration in the randomness of mark making

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I love the idea of having already gathered inspiration so I can use it as jumping off point for more quality art sessions. You know when the muse demands your full attention you can't be bothered with paging through magazines and cutting out images or pausing to draw out a composition! When you've already done the prep work and only have 15 minutes to spare for art that is when this technique comes in super handy!

The videos and written lessons Milliande offers are short (a few minutes) to about 30 minutes and uncomplicated which is nice if you're short on time and wanting the most out of a creative lesson. She also has a page that shows you how to navigate NING and upload photos which is handy because it's a bit confusing at first... but most new websites are, aren't they? She even has a Facebook group. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CUT AND PASTE JOURNALING

I tell you guys feel like I'm trying it all this year and I guess that's how I discovered Julie Gibbon's Found Inspiration for Journaling Technique during one of my recent online explorations. I know I'm not a journal keeper but I was online looking looking for ideas for approaching art journaling from a different angle in case this would be the thing to catch and keep my attention... at the very least I'd get some more ideas for those times when I do get inspired to art journal. I figure that the more ways I can learn to create art journal pages the better I will be at making them and the more I can create pages that appeal to me. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Girl in the Bikini*

a start of a two page spread

acrylic paint background with a glued in image

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I do love to cut and paste and all through grade school and high school I'd make collages just for fun... You know how you take a stack of magazines or newspapers and cut out pictures and words then glue them all down making funny landscapes and weird people and add in some silly phrases or as I did just jam a ton of images together for no real rhyme or reason other than image hoarding, LOL. But after high school work and life took over so I stopped making them, save a few, but I never stopped loving the idea of them and always kept collage making in the back of my mind as something I'd do again someday.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

a start of a two page spread

acrylic paint background 

stencil images, magazine image / text

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So when I was online looking for some fresh ways to approach collage I found Julie's free 36 page PDF and it's chock full of ideas for the beginner and for those looking for some new ideas to try. It's also for those of us who are interested in upcycling as a way of creating a daily journal while learning to dig deeper into ourselves using art as a catalyst. Julie's technique combines collage making with painting and memory keeping! I've been kind of doing that ~ haven't I? Well, not exactly....  The key here is 'digging deeper' and that makes Julie method more like an art therapy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In my Art Doodle Love journal here 

is the start of a simple black and white

spread inspired by the prompt "Monotone"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Julie's ideas for gathering up ideas and creating meaningful art journal spreads are an invaluable tool for any level of experience. When people ask her what art journaling is, why she does it and what it means she likens it to "creating magic" because of her approach with intuitive creating allows her to unlock clues to living the best life she can. Doing this practice over time she discovers repeating patterns of words or phrases and by reflecting upon these she can figure out what "stuff" she needs to work on ~ which is kind of the point of digging deeper, right? 

I would have to agree that using art journaling as a way to tap into the subconscious is one of the many extra benefits of practicing this form of creativity. The collecting of random images and phrases and combining them in appealing ways onto a page is a great way to use both the conscious and subconscious mind to work together and can have some profound and unexpected results. And as we grow and change in life I think that our art does as well and I find that endlessly fascinating and wonderful to look forward to.

The best part is that when you're making an art journal for yourself you can take it in any direction and make it work for you. It doesn't have to be perfect or pretty but when you're creating with wild abandon it's cathartic. Then if you can step back and say that the experience of creating the page(s) has more meaning than what's actually on the page(s) then it's a job well done! 

If you really don't like the resulting page you can always paint over it and create anew which is nice because if you were exorcising some unpleasant "stuff" you may want to cover it up anyway and replace it with affirmations that are positive and healing ~ which can also be cathartic. You can even purposely put in the things you want to hear. The kinds of things you need to hear and should be telling yourself in order to heal, be whole and move on. Be sure to check out Julie's free resource and join her on Facebook.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

BACKGROUNDS

Creating a background for your art may sound easy but it can be quite an involved process depending on the look you're going for and how much time and materials you want to use for it. Sure you can coat your substrate in all yellow but then what? Will you be content with a background that is just one hue? Or do you want it to look more dynamic and have layers of interest? What about your focal point? Will it match, clash, stand out too much or will the juxtaposition of the two be completely lost? Would you prefer your journal pages to be a cohesive work that is well integrated and interesting to look at for more than a few seconds?

I think that, for me to consider a successful art journal spread, or even a work of art, is one that holds the viewer's attention for very long time and with each subsequent viewing there is the enticing possibility that something new can be discovered. I'm not saying it has to be cluttered with "stuff" even though mine often are but even subtle layers of monotones can hold one's interest... (see the artwork of Misty Mawn for more ethereal pieces)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

inspired by Donna Downey

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I used to be so afraid of the blank canvas but during my online searches I soon discovered one person who's completely fearless of them! Donna Downey has a blog full of inspirational videos that show her exploring a wide range of techniques, mediums, products and a lot of random experimentations. It's like she's does all this research for us by using a ton of different supplies and different techniques and really takes the fear out of the unknown. After watching her videos you may even feel empowered to just go for it, too!

Often she uses standard paint and paint brushes but once in a while she'll dive into weird products (like glass bead gel) that I would be afraid to buy because of price and quantity of product left over if I didn't like it or didn't quite grasp what all can be done with it and she does all the testing for you!

I'm not going to lie and tell you all her projects are beautiful and perfect every time because a lot of the time they're just plain weird and seem to fail but that's one thing that keeps bringing me back to her videos. I like seeing a real person working with and through real art issues. I must say that Donna does manage to somehow salvage every single page, like some kind of awesome art MacGyver, she may not love the page, but it's a stepping stone as a future reference and for her personal growth as an artist. By sharing what she's learned along the way with all of us makes it really worth her time and yours. I for one appreciate her generosity and fearlessness!

Donna usually works in an art journal and seems to approach each blank surface by saying "I have no idea what I'm going to do today but let's just see what happens".  I really find that refreshing and it's kind fun to dig in and give it a try with that mantra in mind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here are a few more resources, some of which I am currently interested in, inspired by and learning from. If you're also interested in discovering a few more diverse artists please start here:

Dan Eldon ~ one of the first known art journalers, Dan lived in Kenya most of his life and became a photojournalist; he kept a personal diary documenting the world around him in words an pictures
http://www.daneldon.org/

Teesha Moore ~ one of the most prolific art journalers with a very distinct style http://www.teeshamoore.com/

Zettiology ~ Tracy Moore (Teesha's husband) creates art journals and sculptures http://www.zettiology.com/

Inner Excavations ~ this is a read along and participation is encouraged with Liz Lamoreau http://www.lizlamoreux.com/inner-excavation/

Community Thrive ~ there are several free groups to join and create art with Mystele and friends (you must sign up to participate, there are also classes you can pay for) http://communitythrive.com/

ChakrArt ~ a free workshop http://timelessrituals.blogspot.it/p/blog-page.html#.UYCXGKKmiAg

Santos Dolls ~ paint and create assemblage art and hand sculpting techniques (you must sign up and pay for this class to participate) http://jeanneoliver.ning.com/group/santos-cage-dolls?commentId=6550528%3AComment%3A49728&xg_source=msg_com_group

True Free Spirit ~ a year long mixed media painting class with Mindy Murphy Lacefield (you must sign up and pay to participate) http://timssally.ning.com/

A Year in the Life of an Art Journal ~ Monday Mugshots ~ submitting a photo a week of your coffee, tea or other bevy http://oneyearartjournal.blogspot.com/

Explore Play and Redefine ~ work with limited color palates and making use of scruffy brushes (you must sign up and pay for this class to participate) http://theitsybitsyspill.blogspot.com/p/explore-play-and-redefine.html

Living Art at the Speed of Life ~ Tutorials by Pam Carricker http://pamcarriker.com/tutorials/

Mixed Media Art Tutorials with Christy Tomlinson http://christytomlinson.typepad.com/christytomlinson/tutorials/

Journal Fodder Junkies ~ Change ~ step by step making of a journal page

http://www.journalfodderjunkies.com/Downloads/Change.pdf

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A tip: If you like to use your time effectively you may already be doing this sort of thing... I hope you are! But since I've been immersed in the world of online classes I find myself sitting and watching a lot of videos. Then I sit or stand to make art... but it's too much sitting really and not enough physical activity... so I was getting stressed out about how inactive I was becoming so I changed what I was doing and I'm reaping the benefits! And now that it's nice out (finally) I can go bike riding and while I do I can meditate on making art when I get back in!

So, If I know a video will be medium length or longer I will save these types of videos for the morning when I exercise. I'll set up the video on my lap top and set up my Wii Fitness on the Telly and do a free run for 30 minutes or so while I watch the video that way I get double the value for my time! It may take me longer to get through them but that's fine with me, then I have more time to art instead of watching other people do it.... =) Another option for me is taking my lap top into the kitchen while I cook, sometimes I can be in there for hours and when I am I can really get a lot of videos watched that way!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

*The Girl in the Bikini (image above): I wanted to talk a little bit about this page and how I love using the camera as a tool while creating! The camera can really offer up a new perspective of a work in progress. This journal spread is a great example of one that seemed just fine when I first made it. Then I went back and took a photo for this blog entry and uploaded. When I did a read-through of the blog's final draft I realized that I'd left in too much of the original background around the model. I made some effort to cut away the bottom part of the photo (there was text there) but it seems strange to me now that I left in all the rest of the background and covered up nearly all of the interesting painting I'd layer on and I'm asking myself  "why the heck did I do that?" But at least now that I've taken this photo I can actually see it, you know?

Now, there are a few ways to resolve this: I could live with it. I could go and try to tear it the excess away. I can paint over it or I can even collage more elements around her. The thing is that when I was looking at the page in my hands it seemed one way. Then taking the photo had me looking at it in a new way.... I would encourage you to take photos along the way of your works not only to see how they progress through different stages but to also see your work in a new way.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I hope you enjoyed reading this round up of art classes. Thanks for stopping by, reading my blog and looking at my art! Please feel free to share your thoughts, comments and any links you think I might like. 

Stephie                                                                 Tweet