Soft Block Printmaking Workshop

I'm looking forward to next week's Soft Block Printmaking workshop (either a one-day workshop on Saturday for those who want to try this out for the first time, or a full weekend workshop for those who want to really plunge into all the things you can do with this medium).

If you have done linoleum or wood block printing before, this is a little different. Soft blocks are made of new materials created in recent years. They cut like butter, and their ease of cutting makes it a much more enjoyable process (for me, anyway). The ones I recommend are Speedball's Speedy Carve blocks – the pink ones in the stack below.

Speedball's Speedy Carve stamps are the pink ones

In addition, Speedball, a printing supplies company, invented safety cutters – called LinoZips – that are easier to hold and to manipulate, and that create beautiful curving lines with much more ease. Besides that, we're using water-soluble inks – so there's no solvent smell. Ain't technology wonderful? Each of these things has made the block printing process simpler and, for me, a lot more fun.

One of my Christmas cards – Angel of Peace © 2004 Karen Lynn Ingalls

The first day will be about getting your design on the block, and carving the block and printing it. For those who are interested in printing more than one color, we'll get started on different methods of doing that, too.

The second day, we'll continue with different methods of printing multiple colors, including hand coloring, reductive printing, and using a key block. We'll also do a little block printing on fabric, so be sure to bring things you'd like to print on (cotton shirts from consignment or thrift shops, pieces of old sheets (for experimentation and something special!), white dish towels, canvas tote bags, T-shirts, or...?

You can register online at the Calistoga Art Center's workshop page. If you'd like me to supply your materials, please give me a call to let me know in advance at (707) 942-0197.

One additional workshop is coming up this summer – Painting the Costumed Model! Stay tuned....

Abstract Landscape Painting Workshop Photos

Here, I'm demonstrating layering (using a plastic fork) © 2010 Erik Bolijn

Wonder what you missed in the Abstract Landscape Painting workshop? Here are some photos, taken by Erik Bolijn and myself.

Erik working on his first painting of the day © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

We took three different approaches to painting the landscape in an abstract manner. Here, everyone is working on the first one.

Jaime, Pat, and Lois work on their first paintings of the day © 2010 Erik Bolijn

Lois's Horizon painting © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Painting abstract landscapes is a wonderfully freeing thing. We began with ideas or memories of images, or the images of the landscape themselves, but in abstracting it we're free to take the painting in directions we (and it) want to go. We're not tied down, and we don't have to get wrapped up in detail.

Demonstration, the second painting of the day, in its first stage © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Here is the beginning stage of my second demonstration painting.

Erik working on his second painting of the day © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Pat, Jaime, and Lois work on their second paintings © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

And here are some of the results. Pat had to leave us early, and hers unfortunately aren't included. Some of these may be completed – and some may still be in process. Creativity is a wonderful thing – we had a great day of it!

Lois with her second painting © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Erik and his paintings © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Two of Jaime's paintings © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Jaime with her ecstatic sunset painting © 2010 Karen Lynn Ingalls

Here's to creativity and taking images, ideas, feelings, and sensations to new places!

Abstract Landscape Painting Workshop

I'm settling down after the weekend's excitement, what with the county fair and Calistoga's Fourth of July parade (the Silverado parade - it was great!), and looking forward to this coming Saturday's painting workshop.

I've got a lot to pack in to the time, so it will be a full and fun day. We're going to look at several different artists for inspiration – artists who begin with the landscape as their inspiration, but who take it in very different, and abstracted, directions. Then we'll take three different approaches to abstraction, trying them out for size. It's a good way to experiment and find out not only what interests you the most, but find out what approach feels best to you.

Are you wondering which artists we'll be looking at for inspiration? If you're familiar with my classes, you may recognize some of them. But you may not have seen the work of Tina Mammoser, an American artist living and working in England. Her work is inspired by the sea and the English coastline. Notice the layering, the sense of depth and space she creates, all within simplified, abstract compositions of absolute integrity. My favorites among her current pieces are her Black, Coast, and Lake Michigan series, but the smaller works are also lovely. I hope you'll take a look at her work – and take inspiration in what you see.

Painting at the county fair

Tomorrow I'll be demonstrating painting and soft block printing at the Napa County Fair, here in Calistoga, from noon to 4:00. I'm looking forward to it! It'll be hot, but I'll be inside, in the Butler Pavilion (where the art is – and where it's cool).

Here's a link to the Weekly Calistogan's article about the fair and Sunday's parade. And here's a link to the Calistoga Tribune's front page, with photos of the fair and parade.

(I've cross-posted this on my art blog, at karenlynningalls.blogspot.com.)

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.