Mixed Media Painting workshop – more paintings

I Can Do It! and Me for President © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Here are a few more mixed media pieces I've been working on this week. I'll be teaching the techniques I used to create them in this Saturday's workshop.

Sleeping Beauty © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

The photographic images I've used as collage elements came from my friend Denise's old parenting magazines.

Mixed media painting workshop

Sweet Old Love Song, © 2009 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Expanding beyond your normal boundaries is a good thing for creativity. For me, mixed media is a wonderful way to push creative boundaries, and explore all kinds of things that are different from the painting I ordinarily do. That's why I'm particularly looking forward to my Mixed Media Painting workshop next week.

In it, we'll combine painting with collage, and use both in combination with fabrics to create different kinds of mixed media paintings. I found a treasure trove of exotic fabrics — velvets, embroidered pieces, gauzy fabric, even a tiny bit of mirror cloth — that call for an approach I hadn't originally intended to cover in this workshop. But, with these fabrics, how can I resist?

So at this point the workshop will cover three different approaches to mixed media painting and collage. I'm pretty excited! I get to play with these fabrics before anyone else does! If you're coming and would like to bring your own materials, add a hot glue gun, with glue, and a third surface to paint on (you may want to bring more than three, especially if they're small), to the materials list you can find at the Calistoga Art Center's website.

The workshop is Saturday, June 26th, from 10:00 to 5:00, at the Calistoga Art Center. For more information, click on the "Art Workshops" tab above.

Our plein air paintout at Judy's place

Donna and Lynn paint the view

Here are a few photos from last Wednesday's plein air paintout at Judy's place – our latest class field trip. The weather was beautiful, the views were amazing, and we had great food, too. I'm looking forward to seeing how the paintings get finished in the studio....

Zoe sleeping in the shade by the fountain

The view - with Paoletti Winery closest, Barbara Nechis's studio in the middle ground (looking tiny and surrounded by trees), and Clos Pegase Winery further back on the right

Jim paints the view

Jaime and Dan (who's away from his easel) paint the fountain

Thanks to Judy for inviting us to paint her beautiful view and gardens, and for being such a gracious and welcoming hostess!

Classes begin again on June 16th and June 18th

Acrylic Painting classes begin again on Wednesday, June 16th, from 1:00 to 4:00, for an eight-week session on Wednesdays, and on Friday, June 18th, from 1:00 to 4:00, for eight weeks of classes on Fridays. Look for us at the Calistoga Art Center, upstairs in the Masonic Building.

Questions? You can click on the Art Classes page here on this blog (see the tab above?), and read more, or go to the Calistoga Art Center's website. You can register online there, and download a materials list — or I'll see you on the first day of class. There's a minimum of ten students per class. Give me a call if you need to know anything else.