The Pane of Shame

So, the assignment for Week 1 of my expensive online and summarily neglected Get Your Paint On! class was to take a look at the incredible quilts from Gee's Bend. They really are wonderful and much documented so that's all I'm going to say about them. Specifically, "We want you to experiment and get familiar with your paint and make blocks of color. They can be super tight and orderly or wacky and off kilter like some of the Gee's Bend quilts." I bought a stack of 12x12 cheapo canvas panels. Not known for being true to square.

 I wanted to play with several things; fluorescent paint, my Copic airbrush system and stencils, and gold foil. It's hard to tell but there's also a gold metallic wash over much of the piece.

I actually like this tilted view of it a bit better. I'm pretty pleased with my little gold foiled circle. I did that with a rubber stamp, glue, and gold leaf. The dark red circle was airbrushed on with my Copic. I was wondering if marker would take over acrylic paint and, huzzah huzzah, it did!

Believe it or not, I actually put some effort into not being lazy and incorporated a little color theory to make the colors pop.

And there we have it. The one and only assignment I completed for a five-week course. Which makes this perfectly fine but-not world-changing painting exercise valued at approximately $150.00. I do take PayPal for anyone so inclined.

And for my final moment of shame. It's not the first time I've signed up for that class and not followed through. So really, it's a $300.00 piece of hallway art. BUT on the bright side, when the class rolls around again, I've got assignment one IN THE BAG!!!!!! Huzzah Huzzah Huzzah. And not to worry, there's a GYPO: Beyond the Basics class too.

I really do recommend the class highly and the lovely instructors, Mati McDonough and Lisa Congdon are just the most wonderful artists and the Teahouse Studio in Berkeley offers fantastic classes. Mati's new book is Daring Adventures in Paint. Like her, it is all manner of charming.

I'd like to make myself believe, that planet Earth spins slowly

Last winter I played around with making a disco ball stencil and Copic Marker's airbrush system; not inexpensive for canned air, but I must say, it's pretty fun.

I'm so happy with my disco ball stencil which took FOREVER to make. But the highlights and shadows came out quite nice. In hand, the piece has a nice sheen because I sprayed it with metallic paint.

In my dream loft, I will have an empty industrial ballroom, with just the dark and a disco ball and every night I'll disco dance. EVERY NIGHT. Me and Mom. We're booth dancin' fools. Life is just so much more tolerable when you can dance. And have a cocktail. But that's for another post.

I love Owl City's song, Fireflies. It's so sweet.