Wednesday, March 4, 2015

A Great Class

Hello, everyone!  I'm so happy that you are visiting today.  I have a quick post to share some of what I did over the weekend.   My daughter and I signed up for two classes with the wonderful Seth Apter.  Seth is one of our favorite mixed media artists.  His classes are always fun and I always come away feeling I've grown in my art.  This time we had a class on Saturday that concentrated on stencils and different ways to use them and different mediums to use them with.  Sunday was a mixed media class creating a piece that exemplified urban art.  Unfortunately, we had an ice storm that caused the class to be canceled and rescheduled for June when Seth will be at The Queen's Ink for another set of classes.  But, Saturday was fantastic! Seth gave us each a stencil from his collection that he designed for Mary Beth Shaw's company Stencil Girl Products.   We used stencils to create a reference guide of different mediums to use with any stencil in the morning and in the afternoon we used what we learned about the mediums to create our own mixed media creation.  

The reference guide was done on three sheets of watercolor paper.  We used inks, sprays, modeling paste, color interference paste, crackle paste and embossing powder with small stencils.  Two areas were painted with black gesso to show the difference between background colors and metallic mediums. 

 
 
 
We used mediums that Seth had already experimented with and his guidance was important.  Some of the pastes are new to the market and are really fantastic.  One that my daughter really liked is Prima's new Finnabair Graphite modeling paste.  It's the third up from the bottom left in the picture above.
 
 
This is what I did in the afternoon.
 
 
 
 
We layered the background with paint and then used stencils to create a design.  I love the window.  It's a Prima stencil that my daughter had.  I deliberately used the gold paste randomly.  I like the effect of a worn image.  The graphite paste that we loved is up in the corners.  Here's a close up so you can see the wonderful texture that's achieved with this new product. 
 
 

 
 
Very cool, I think!  Here's the last detail photo.
 
 
 
 
 
 
That gold modeling paste is very cool.  Wendy Vecchi has one that is very similar to the one we used. 
 
 
If you haven't jumped on the stencil band wagon you should give it a try.  It's great fun and there are so many beautiful stencils out there along with great products to use with them. 
 
 
Well, that's it for today.  Thank you so much for visiting with me today.  I hope you are having lovely spring weather where you are.  We're supposed to be getting more snow tomorrow.  But, next week will be much better, I'm sure ;)!

 
 
 
 

 

6 comments:

  1. I just love that you and your daughter take these classes together! I imagine that you make your own greeting cards as well...if not..you should! A friend of my mothers creates these minimasterpieces and mails them out...they are special keepsakes!

    Brace yourself for tomorrow's nasty weather...a good day to create inside! Stay safe!

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  2. I am with Patti ~ a line of notecards!!! What wonderful work you did! The class must have been a lot of fun, despite the second day storm.

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  3. Absolutely gorgeous! I love that you and your daughter go to these classes together! It looks like a very informative and fun class, and your work of art is simply amazing. I have to try some of these different mediums like the gold modeling paste and the graphite paste! And I also want to thank you for stopping by my blog, too. Stay warm and dry during all of these storms. I am ready for spring and to see some photos of your beautiful gardens!

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  4. You got to take a class with SETH! Oh, how awesome! I'm definitely a wee bit jealous. I can't wait to see what else you make in June with him. Enjoy it and thanks for sharing this one with us!

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  5. Ooh, that looks like a fantastic class you did - I love stencils and I love your foliage piece - that window is gorgeous, especially in gold. I love the idea of doing samples of different products - a great way of finding out how they work before using straight on a piece of art!

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  6. That really was a fun class. I can't wait for the one that had to be rescheduled! Your detail picture of the graphite paste is soooo yummy :)

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