Dina

I went to ArtFest…

I'm back from ArtFest. I have wanted to go for years, and this year KL and I decided to go. I'm so glad we did…we had a great experience. And, this is the last ArtFest. I am kicking myself that I never went before, but I am so appreciative that I got to experience it before it was all over.

I'm coming home to crushing deadlines…so I'll keep this brief and share some photos.

KL and I met at the Seattle airport, rented a car, and headed to Seattle. We stopped briefly at the famous Pike Street Market.

Then it was off to Fort Worden….ArtFest, here we come!

We saw DQ along the way and had to stop. It would have been a crime not to.

This was our homebase on the fort…we stayed in Officer's Housing. We had some super fun roomies. As usual, I was lame at taking pictures. I always get home & kick myself for not taking more. I think I wanted to just "be"…to be in the moment and experience it without too many distractions.

Day 1…my first class was with Orly Avineri. She guided us through a mixed-media creation on a cardboard substrate. This piece has art on both sides…and at one point she had has tear parts off and switch them around. So some flaps are reversed. Great process…I enjoyed it immensely. The class got me thinking about having a deliberate process, about contrast, about the intent behind a piece of art. A fun tidbit is as I was sitting in class, in walked Dawn Sokol. We've talked online but never met (even though we live about 45 minutes from each other). It was fun to meet her and make art with her that day!

Day 2…my second class was Plaster Sampler with Stephanie Lee (KL and I took it together). So, so fabulous! This really lit a fire of possibilities under me. Stephanie is a generous teacher, especially with her knowledge. The amazing Judy Wise was there as her "assistant"…I have been a fan of Judy's art for years. What a pleasure it was to meet them both! I bought their book months ago, but haven't even looked at it. I've decided I'm going to work through the book and do every project. Here's a link to their book:

Plaster Studio: Mixed-Media Techniques for Painting, Casting and Carving

Day 3…my third class was a painting class with Jesse Reno. He guided us through a unique and many-layered painting process. I enjoyed the process…and I took pictures of the piece as it transformed. I'm going to do a future blog post about it because I think it's fascinating to see how a piece is "born." My piece is super funky, but I love it. The class was a great reminder to be free, to layer, to not be afraid to paint over what is not working, to really "see." The process is actually similar to my "intuitive painting" process that I am teaching in 21 Secrets.

It was a pleasure to be in a creative, nurturing art environment, to spend time with KL, to fill up my own creative soul. Now I'm back and having a rough re-entry into my normal life…my head is spinning, but in a good way. And I forsee a huge Blick order in the near future…heh heh.

 

 

My Creative Jumpstart Video…

I thought I'd post my video from Nat's awesome Creative Jumpstart that ran earlier this year. I'll find this a permanent home on dinawakley.com soon….but for now I thought I'd post it here.

 

Creative Jumpstart — Dina Wakley from Dina Wakley on Vimeo.

And…a note about my classes. My husband has them ready to go, he's just waiting for me to go down to the city and get a business license. I promise I will do that in early April! Pinky swear!

Sharing some peeks of my 21 Secrets Class…

Here are a few peeks from my 21 Secrets class…

 

Lots of painted layers! Class begins April 1st. My video is 49 minutes long…eeks! I am going to cut it down to smaller sections.

Click here to go to 21 Secrets.

Winner of Ronda’s book is…

Win a Free Copy of Ronda’s new book “The Art of Layers”

Welcome to The Art of Layers blog hop! You came to my blog from Kelly's blog.

My awesome & talented friend Ronda has a new book! I've fondled it, and I tell ya, it's fabulous. It is: Art of Layers: Simple Techniques, Inventive Scrapbook Pages, Imaginative Papercrafts. Here's a description:

“Basic scrapbooking has you place photos and embellishments on cardstock or patterned paper – easy and…well, basic. The next step for most scrapbookers is layering. But trying to get that rich, interesting layered look can be very intimidating. Where do you even start? Art of Layers teaches scrapbookers and beginning mixed media artists just how easy it is to get to that layered look in any papercrafting project. Author Ronda Palazzari teaches readers 50+ techniques that will serve as tools to pull out whenever a layered look is desired. The chapters allow the reader to build their skills, from paper techniques they won't be afraid to try adding fabric, embellishments, and stamping to finally giving spray inks, paints and gesso a try.”

Here's one of Ronda's projects from the book…it's called "Great Love Canvas" and it's in the "Paper" chapter. So cool! [Canvas below created by Ronda.]

You can win an autographed copy of the book on the blog hop! Simply leave a comment on this post. Winner will be chosen by random draw, one comment per person, please. Deadline to comment is Sunday, March 25th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. Be sure to hop along through all the blogs for more chances to win. (Note…you can only win one book per household.)

Next, hop on over to Amy Tangerine's blog. Good luck!

 

Don’t forget about 21 Secrets…

Don't forget that registration for 21 Secrets is open begins April 1st! There are some great artists participating…join us!

Click here to go to 21 Secrets.

Wanna hold hands?

I promise the paint is almost dry…hee hee.

I’m not trying to make you jealous, but…

look what the lovely Dyan gave me while I was in England!

My very own vintage ledger book…entries start in 1930. I'm so excited to create art in it…but I'm afraid to start! I think I might break it in today…

Art from the Heart…a quick review….

I was lucky to spend last week in with my fab friend Dyan in Harrogate, England at Art from the Heart. We made art, danced, laughed, ate chocolate, and then made even more art.

The week started with lunch with Dy & Su at "The Traveler's Rest." Dy was ready for the occasion…

This was my lunch…bangers & mash. So very British & delicious!

The first three days we did a book project called "Poetry of Motion." I will take photos of my project and share them…I am waiting for blog-links from more of the students so I can include links to their work in the post. The project has lots of pages and moving parts. To get us in the mood for moving, we danced for a bit while we made art. I found it quite invigorating!

Lovely artists hard at work:

I got to spend some time with my wee Scottish lass Jude.

The second three days we painted artsy birds, did intuitive painting, and made a "past/present/future" mini book. I will edit the pics I took of students with their work & throw them up on Flickr…fab stuff, I tell ya. I did great taking pics the first 4 days, but after that I sort of pooped out. I got more pictures this time than last time, though…last time I barely took any! Oops!

I love these gals…hard to say good bye.

Fabulous trip, fabulous friends, fabulous art. I know, I know, I have overused the word "fabulous."But it applies.

I have serious, mega deadlines pressing on me right now. Hence the lack of posts. Keep me in your creative thoughts!

 

The winner of my stamps…

The winner of my stamps, by random draw, is:

Congrats, Jeanne! Email me your address & I'll get the stamps in the mail. Thanks for everyone's lovely comments, it was so fun and uplifting to read them all.