Artful Assemblage with Tim Holtz: Class Review

On Friday, I had the great good fortune to take a class with Tim Holtz called artful assemblage. The class focused on learning how to use a variety of Tim Holtz products to make a three dimensional collage. We played a lot with distress crayons and distress collage mediums and used ideology ephemera, letter press and found relatives. I absolutely adore the collage I created. It features my one little word for 2016 and focuses on the idea of growing from a willful child to a brave woman. I meant to feature my current age (55) but that didn't really pan out. I did however include the year of my birth (1961) and the year I graduated from high school (1978). 

I love Tim Holtz and use his products a lot (you can see many of my Tim Holtz creations, as well as class and book reviews by clicking and scrolling through this link). I first met Tim almost 15 years ago, when he was first starting out, at a Club Scrap retreat. He spent the entire weekend with the group and showed himself to be a funny, talented, genuine, generous person. And he's still the same, as well as a very gifted teacher. Tim is a self-taught, hands-on artist who began his career as a demonstrator at some chain craft store, so he's not long on design principles. He's also a brilliant business person and inventor who works with a variety of different manufacturers to try to get the highest quality product at a reasonable price. So he makes stamps with stampers anonymous, cutting tools with tonic, ink products with ranger, etc., rather than doing everything with one company.
The class reflected all this. The class was short on collage design theory but long on fun and other learning. This worked for me because I've taken (and taught) collage classes. I learned all about distress crayons (which I had sampled before but not really understood until this class). I also learned an amazing new tip - place your paint and glue/medium brushes in a baby wipe while you're using them to keep them fresh without becoming water logged. For our $85, we got three hours of amazing, personalized instruction, all the supplies for the project, a bonus apron and a bonus stand for our canvases! A huge value in my opinion.

One of the joys of Tim's classes is that he brings everything! I walked in with absolutely no supplies and was able to complete a project that I loved. Another joy is running into friends. Cindy McCool (pictured above) lives near me and we used to get together at least once a month to make art together. We'd lost track of each other recently, so it was quite a treat to walk into the classroom and spy her there! Although we were not sitting anywhere near each other and there was a huge variety of supplies to choose from, there ended up being a lot of similarities between our two projects. I guess that's what comes from being art sisters who have spent so much time together.
All-in-all, a terrific class and a terrific day!

Me on Monday: Art Journaling and Dog Minding

Waving hi to Sian over at From High in the Sky to share a photo of me on Monday and share my weekend adventures. What kind of a weekend was it? 

It was a husband and children travelling weekend, leaving me to take care of the house, dogs and chickens.

It was also a seizing the opportunity the take an art journaling class with Dina Wakley, one of my favorite artists and teachers! I was so thrilled to finally meet her in person, take a class with here and spend some time art journaling!

 The class was a print making class, as well as hints for how to incorporate the prints and print-making techniques into your art journals. The flowers on the second page and the bee crown image on the last page are both prints made from different types of plates. The tags on the top page were made with simple printing off acetate and a craft sheet. I've taken many online classes with Dina, and you can page through the class reviews at this link to find them. All-in-all, it was a great weekend! How was yours?

2014 Blog Highlights,Struggles and Lessons Learned

Every year, I like going back through my blog to find the things that really worked for me. It helps me figure out what to do more of. This year, I also noticed several things with which I struggled and this has given me some clues about what I to change. Here, in no particular order, are my 2014 blog highlights, struggles and lessons learned.
Highlights:
1. Frugal Still Life Photography Class. Cheryl McCain offered this class (see my review here), and it opened a whole new world of photography for me. Looking back over my photographs for the year, I realized how much I like the photographs I took for this class, such as the one up top. In fact, I liked it so much that I just signed up for Kim Klassen's still life class called Be Still -52.

2.  Organizing my craft room, re-doing the bathrooms and purging the house like crazy (an outgrowth of my 2014 OLW and Do What You Love's New Year's Revolution). My one little word for 2014 was illuminate, which means to lighten and clarify. I used that as the impetus to down load the free class "New Year's Revolution." The worksheets helped me realize how much I wanted to have a clean, well-decorated, presentable house; one where I would be happy to entertain. And I accomplished about 90% of that goal this year.

3. Summer of Color Houses - Sponsored by Kristin of Twinkle, Twinkle. Every summer, for six weeks, she posts a color palette a week and invites people to create something in that color palette. This year, I chose little houses and loved the project! Confession time: I only did five of them, but I plan to finish the 6th one soon!

4. The Art of Practising Gratitude Tag Booklet. Bernice hosted this wonderful, free month-long meditation on gratitude which also featured lots of techniques. I chose to make tags and really enjoyed the experience.

5. Zoom In < Zoom  Out. Helena hosted this wonderful weekly meme, and I participated most weeks. You can see all my zizo's at this link. It was a good reminder to see the world through a camera lens.

6. Good Fences Link-Up hosted by the Run*A*Round Ranch Report and One Photo, Twenty Words hosted by Abi of Creating Paper Dreams. I enjoyed these photography memes very much, even if I didn't participate every week. You can see all my fence posts here.
Challenges:
1. Facebook ate my photos. In an attempt to short-cut the tedium of uploading photos to my blog, I often upload photos to Facebook first and then copy and paste the URL to my blog (especially if I'm using iphone photos). Unfortunately, these links don't last. So, when I go back to look at blog posts with those photos, all I see is a broken link. Argggh!!! So frustrating!

2.  Studying Under the Masters Class - I signed up for this class last January, and I've worked through a few of the exercises. The class is well constructed and can help develop fine art skills in drawing and painting. The challenging part is that these exercises (like the Georgia O'Keeffe shell above) were difficult and not that fun for me. I did enjoy creating the Matisse inspired still life though. I think that I have learned that representational drawing and fine art painting don't really excite me. I like photography and mixed media art better. It's a good lesson to have learned and will help guide my art work in 2015.

3. The Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. I love hosting this event. I love coming up with the list and seeing the results. I love taking the photographs .  .  .  but, it is a bit exhausting. I think the lag in my blogging over the last half of the year is directly related to the rigors of hosting the hunt. I still plan to host the hunt next summer, but I need to find a way to do it that works better for me. All suggestions welcomed.

Class Review: Frugal Still Life Photography

At the beginning of the year, I was happy to hear about a free photography class offered by Cheryl McCain called Frugal Still Life Photography.  It turned out to be so popular that Cheryl decided to offer it as self-paced paid class available here for $25-$30.
The class ran over eight weeks, with a new prompt posted each Monday morning. The prompts varied - some were subject-related, others composition-related and a few were technical challenges. Each prompt included several examples created by Cheryl. There was also a link-up available for participants to show how they approached the prompt. Cheryl used a lot of textures and made several available for free to workshop participants.
My favorite thing about the class was that it forced me to think about still life photography and gave me the opportunity to spend time considering subject matter and composition. I really enjoyed exploring this aspect of photography, and I think I will continue to do more of it in the future. My only complaint was that the lessons were more inspirational than educational. The one educational one (on metering) was too confusing for me to understand. But, for a free class (or even for one priced as low as $25-30), I felt it was definitely worth my time. Overall, I would give the class  a solid B. To improve it to an A, I would suggest adding a formal critique component. For the rest of you who took the class, what did you think?

Class Review: "Marvel - Your Precious Life"

I just completed my art journal for an online class taught by Kelly Kilmer called "Marvel - Your Precious Life."  The class focused on creating collaged art journal pages using paper, pens and images, but no paint. Therefore I referred to it as my "dry" art journal.  If you click on the "art journal" label below, you'll be able to see more of the pages I created for the class.
The class ran for 31 days and cost $25.  On each day of the course, I received an email which included a "template," a sample art journal page based on the template, a few design ideas and a journaling prompt.  The "template" is similar to a scrapbook page or card "sketch." It suggested places for a focal image (or two) and an arrangement of background papers and embellishments.  These made it really easy to construct a page.  The design ideas were fairly simple (but fun), and the prompt was typically a fairly basic question.  In addition, Kelly gave each class participant a collage tutorial PDF discussing how she approaches making a collage page, and instructions for stitching your own journal.  During the month, Kelly hosted a few facebook chat sessions where students could talk with each other and ask questions. I didn't participate in these, but they looked like they worked just fine. She also hosted an ephemera swap in which I intended to participate, but I (sadly) missed the deadline.
In addition to the daily emails, Kelly set up a yahoo group where students could ask questions and discuss issues. She posted the daily emails in the files section of the yahoo page for easy access and suggested that participants create photo albums where they could post their pages. This worked fairly well, but it was a little difficult to tell when new pages were posted and when new comments had been left on the pages which I posted.  Overall, 27 students set up photo albums, and about a third of these participants remained active throughout the length of the class.  Kelly was meticulous about following the discussion and answering any questions that arose. I don't recall her commenting very often on pages posted in the gallery, but I could be wrong.
Overall, I enjoyed the class. It was very low-stress, easy and fun. And I LOVE the journal I created.  The class did not contain a lot of  challenging techniques. In fact, it really focused on teaching one technique (dry, collaged, layered art journaling) and gave participants lots of opportunity to practice it and adapt it to fit their own style.  I feel like the class accomplished this. In fact, I feel like I probably learned everything I was going to learn from the class after about ten days to two weeks.  After that, for me, the prompts, templates and design ideas got a little repetitive. I think the class could have been improved by either being shorter or adding some new,  challenging techniques in the second half of the month. I'm glad I took the class because it gave my art journaling a much needed kick start. I also think it was a reasonable value (given the templates, tutorials, chats, etc.), but it would have been better for me as a $15 two week class. The class would be especially great for beginners who don't know where to start with collaged art journaling and for those who don't want to mess around with paint. For intermediate to advanced collage artists/art journalers, it's a fun class to take when you want to get back to creating quick, fun pages that don't involve a lot of challenging technique.
Overall, I'd give the class a good, solid B.
Anyone else take the class and have any feedback? And for the rest of you, do you prefer a class that has a lot of difficult challenge for you? Or one where you can relax and enjoy learning a few easy things?

Class Review: Ode to Nature

At the end of summer, I took Alisa Burke's online class, "Ode to Nature."  I wanted to post a class review before I start my next class with her (Sketchbook Delight, Part 2), so here goes! Overall, I really enjoyed Ode to Nature, and I got a lot out of it.  For me, it was the right class at the right time.  It built on the drawing and sketching skills I've been developing this year and fed my love of photography. The class was scheduled over five weeks and cost $50 (although I enrolled at an early bird price of $40 or $45). The first week focused on journaling about nature. The second week featured photography prompts.  The third week was all about sketching, while week four featured a wide variety of art (drawing, doodling, painting, collage, etc.).  The focus of the final week was making crafts. If you check out Alisa's blog (here) and scroll back for the last several weeks you can see many examples of the type of projects featured in class.
The class was organized around an invitation only blog with written lessons supplemented by videos. The amount of content varied from week to week - the journaling lesson seemed particularly thin to me, while week four had a HUGE number of ideas and projects. I really like what I produced in weeks 2, 3 and 4. . . I feel like these things extended me in really good ways. Week 5 (craft and decor made with painted leaves, stick and rocks, etc.) was definitely not for me. The videos and lessons were both well done and provided different types of instruction.  I like Alisa's teaching style enough that I decided to take another of her classes. Overall, I think the content was quite good, although $50 feels just a little pricey perhaps.
I have two small criticisms of the class. First, the class seemed to lack a sense of community. There were three different places to post your art work and comment on others work: the blog; a flickr site; and a yahoo group.  Although this allowed participants to use a forum with which they were familiar, it led to a fragmented feel in my opinion. That said, I did make a few new blog friends (Hi Andy!).  The other small issue I had was that Alisa never seemed to visit any of the forums.  She certainly never commented on anything. She answered emails, but I'm used to instructors being more involved during the course. When I posted a question about this, people said this was typical.  These things were small drawbacks, though, and overall I would give the class a B+.
I'd love to hear what other people thought about the class or other classes taught by Alisa Burke!

Class Review: The Art of Wild Abandonment

I have struggled with writing this review, just as I have struggled with finishing the signature art journal page from the class (above).  But I wanted to post something before I forgot everything. So, here goes.  The Art of Wild Abandonment was a class offered by Christy Tomlinson but taught mainly by Junelle Jacobsen of the Yes and Amen Blog. The list price was $45, but I paid the early bird price of $35.  It was a good class, but it was so badly in need of an editor that I ended up unhappy with it. There. I said it. I feel bad saying anything negative about the class because the two teachers are both super sweet and extremely talented. I also learned a ton, and the class had a huge amount of content.
But, it could have been so much better if there had just been a little more organization of the lessons. And the videos, while fun and inspiring, really truly needed to be edited. It seems to me that sometimes right brained artists feel that having someone with a left brain help them out is a bad thing because it might constrain their creativity. On-line teachers, let me tell you, from a consumer's perspective, it's not a bad thing. Really.
The class ran for three weeks.  Each week had about four lessons created by Junelle, and each lesson had a video with several parts. In addition, Christy added at least one video a week to show how she used the lessons which Junelle presented.  The first week focused on sketching and painting with water colors. Those of you who follow my blog realize what a huge positive impact this had on my creativity and the direction of my art. 

The second week focused on paper piecing and using acrylic paint. I also completed most of these lessons and enjoyed the projects I made. 

The third week dealt with texture and three dimensional projects. I didn't do many of these (although I did like the basic idea of using a roof brush to dry my brushes, I wasn't into the idea of decorating the brush with fabric). I did like the canvas and inspiration board I created.

Since I clearly got so much out of the class, I feel bad complaining. But, here's the deal. When the first week's lessons went up, it was unclear how many lessons/videos there were or whether you were supposed to watch them in a particular order. I posted a question about it and got a very nebulous answer. Early on, the class needed a road map or overview of the forest because it was too easy to get lost in the trees. This was mainly because the videos had to be split into several parts because they were not edited, and they ran for about 45 minutes each. Now, I love watching people create, but I would much rather see a nicely edited 12-15 minute video than a rambly 45 minute one (split into several parts) which includes the artist leaving to go answer the phone or time passing watching something dry. (Junelle would occasionally say, "Christie, you should fast forward through this part." Unfortunately, the fast forwarding did not happen). Junelle also made clear at the beginning of each video that she wasn't sure what she was going to do in the video, which (while somewhat endearing) led to a lot of trial and error and hmming and stammering and videos that were much longer than they needed to be. Eventually I felt like the teachers were not valuing my time because they felt like I had 2.5 hours to watch unedited video to find the core of the lessons. I think that the problem could have been ameliorated (even without editing the videos) if the week's lessons were spaced out a bit - so  the first part of the lesson might go up on Monday, the second part Tuesday, etc. But, again, that level of organization (recognizing which part came first, second, etc.) did not seem to be something that the teachers wanted to put into the class for some reason.  Instead, each Monday a flood gate was opened with a bunch of amazing creativity flowing out. I learned from it and was inspired, but the teachers could have made it so much easier for that process to happen. Sigh.
The class seemed to be a good size. There were plenty of participants at all levels to learn from and get ideas, but not so many that you couldn't look at everything.  Instead of a forum, Junelle set up a facebook group page. And I think that worked pretty well. Junelle was active on the page and tried to give feedback to most everyone. As the class went on and people fell behind, it was a little hard to see what people were doing. But I think the facebook approach is not a bad one, although it could use some tweaking.
I find it really hard to assign a letter grade to this class. On one hand, it had a huge amount of  information which has really changed me as an artist. On the other hand, the lack of an editor left me unhappy and a little sad because of the potential greatness of the class. I guess I would ultimately give the class a B, and I would have to think long and hard before taking another class  from these teachers. 
So, what do you think? Am I being too tough? Am I expecting too much for there to be organization/structure and unbridled, wild creativity? Your thoughts definitely welcomed (especially if you took the class).

Musing on Online Classes and Class review: Collect and Create

I just finished up the Amy Tan class, "Collect and Create," offered at Two Peas.  While trying to compose this review of the class, I found myself contemplating why I take online classes because the answer to that will often determine how satisfied I am with a class.  Sometimes I take classes because I want to learn a new skill or new technique.  This is often the case with photography, Photoshop or art journaling classes.  Sometimes I take classes because I want to complete a project.  Many of Shimelle's classes (like Journal Your Christmas, Learn Something New, or I Confess) fit into this category. Other times I take a class because I am looking for inspiration.  I usually do this when I have a project in mind that I want to complete, and I just need a jump start (Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party or Worth a Thousand Words are examples of this). 

When it comes to "Collect and Create," I was mainly looking for inspiration (I won the class in a give-away from Ali Edwards' blog). When I read the description, I thought it would provide me with some good ideas to scrap my backlog of vacation and family pictures from 2011.  The class had five lessons:  each lesson had a PDF (about 20 pages) and a short to very short video (5-10 minutes). The lessons covered using scraps; using favorites; scrapping memorabilia; inspiration; and putting it all together.  On the whole, the materials were very thin.  As an experienced scrapper, I did not encounter any new techniques (the videos on cutting page protectors for memorabilia and creating a background with mists were the best).  Several minutes of the videos were simply Amy Tan flipping through Japanese image books or her Project Life Album.  Reading through the PDF's, I came up with a list of inspiration ideas which I did use. I discussed many of them in my post yesterday, and I would say that the layout up top today came from the "putting it all together" lesson.  But there wasn't anything really new on the list of challenges, and the ideas weren't presented with any real depth.  Frankly, I think I would have gotten as many ideas by going back through the challenges from Shimelle's last on-line crop. So, on the whole, I did not get much out of the class.

I do think the class may be more helpful to a new scrapper or to someone with a different style.  Many of the page examples fall into the category of creating a page that uses A LOT  of embellishments and patterned paper to create a stunning back drop for a single picture.  Although these pages are beautiful to look at and certainly a valid style of scrapping, it is most definitely NOT my style of scrapbooking.  Perhaps if it were, the class would have been more satisfying. 

Finally, let's talk about cost.  For me, it was free.  But the class is priced at $25, which I think is generally about right for an inspiration class.  I think I'm willing to pay more for a technique/skills class or a project class.  However, given the limited content in the class, I think the $25 price tag is too high.

Overall, I would give the class a C+.  That's just my opinion, and I'd be interested in hearing from anyone else who took the class.

I would also be interested in your thoughts on why you take a class and whether that affects how much you're willing to pay for it.  

Class Review: Watercolor Sketching

I just completed the class "Watercolor Sketching" presented by Cathy Johnson, free of charge at Strathmore Artists Studio. The class consisted of four lessons, released one per week, starting on March 1 (but all now available until August 1).  Each lesson includes a basic video, a bonus video and a downloadable PDF.  The first two lessons were on basic watercolor techniques and how to incorporate them with drawing.  I found that watercolors are harder to work with than acrylics, in terms of blending. And less forgiving.  But definitely easier to transport.  The second lesson was on mixing watercolors with other media:

For this page, I started with a variegated water color wash, drew some shells in ink. Added highlights with other ink pens and some gesso.  The final lesson was on collage with water color:

I love this page I created about Clara's obsession with her cell phone.
All-in-all, I found it to be a very satisfying class.  The basic lessons provided enough information to try new skills, while the bonus videos showed Cathy Johnson working through larger water color projects.  It started a little slow, but the last two lessons were jam-packed with information and exercises. There was a forum (which I couldn't figure out) and a photo gallery in which I didn't participate. But those are small quibbles.   I give the class a solid A.
Anyone else take this class?

Class Review: 101 Faces with Carla Sonheim

I am finally finished with this wonderful class . . . or at least finished enough to write a review.  Carla Sonheim offered this class as a repeat of an earlier online class.  It cost $35 and ran for five jam-packed days.  She bills it as a "summer camp" or boot camp style class, with A LOT of assignments packed into five days. Each day began with an email and a warm up exercise (a PDF to print out). There were then two assignments, communicated via videos. One assignment was generally focused on drawing and the other was focused on painting. They covered a wide variety of media and asked participants to repeat the techniques 4-10 times. Sometimes faces were drawn from a reference photograph; others were drawn from the imagination. The goal was to have fun trying out a variety of media and to find a style that worked for you.  Carla established a flickr group where participants posted their faces and received comments. Comments could also be made on the class blog, but I didn't notice much activity there. 
Day 1 featured watercolor faces (from your imagination) and left-handed drawing. I loved the watercolor faces! Day 2 was about drawing with sharpie markers (from a photo reference) and portraits with an ink dropper. These were both difficult for me, but I was surprised to get a few decent results (including the one at the top of this post).  Day 3 was one line drawings (hated these!) and realistic drawings with pencil, sharpie and watercolor crayons (both from a photo reference). I found these difficult but a very good exercise. Day 4 was scribble drawings from live models (loved these) and graphite and pastel portraits from your imagination (drawn with an eraser). I didn't really care for the last two techniques, though the pastels were better than the graphite. Day 5 was drawing with colored pencils from a photo reference (difficult for me and made me realize that colored pencils are definitely not my medium); stylized charcoal drawing from a photo reference (I substituted pastels - love these!!!) and stylized conte crayon drawing from a photo reference (I substituted oil pastel crayons and enjoyed working with them). The final class assignment is to reflect on what you have done and make ten more faces in the style that works for you. 
I think my favorites were watercolor faces (from imagination), scribble drawings of live models and both pastel techniques, so I'll make more of each of those.
Overall, I thought this was a terrific class! I experimented with a variety of different media (and found it easy to substitute what I had for anything I was missing from the supply list) and really began to get a sense of the importance of shading (in realistic faces) and the difference between drawing from a reference vs. real life vs. from my imagination.  These last two things were wonderful insights for me. The flickr group worked well, and Carla visited often commenting on almost every face posted!  I also thought, at $35, it was reasonably priced for all the content.  In terms of improvement, I would have appreciated an introductory lesson or video focusing on the big picture of drawing faces (shapes, proportions, etc.). I think that if I had not learned this in an earlier class, I would have been really lost. There's a lot of "learn by observing and doing" (reinforced with repetition), without as much instruction or drawing theory. I also think I would have preferred to have the class run as a three to four week class, with the assignments spread out a bit more. Although I did the first 3 days in the first week of January, the other two got spread out. The videos are available forever, so I was able to pace myself, but by the time I got to days 4 and 5, there was not community left with which to interact. Overall, I give the class a solid A-.
I'd love to hear from others who took the class or others who are considering taking drawing classes.
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OLW 2012 Weekly update: not much to report this week. I battled a bad cold most of the week and organized a big soccer event (Youth Night on Friday night), so didn't have the time or energy to do much. I did finish the Faces class and encouraged DH to call the handyman to haul away some things! I'll do better next week.

Class Review: Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party

ATC's Inspired by Prompt 6 in Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party class: Printables. These are for the element ATC swap and feature element 64 gadolinium, which is used in MRI's and the green phosphorous in color TV's.

I'm having such a hard time trying to review this class. On one hand, I really got a lot out of it (learning some new techniques and revisiting old ones to complete lots of pages), and I found it to be a good value for the money.  On the other hand, I ended up vaguely dissatisfied at the end of it.  Perhaps I would summarize my feelings this way - it was a great class until it wasn't anymore. 

The class was scheduled to run from Oct. 17 until Nov. 25 - with 25 prompts plus some videos and other goodies - all for only $18 U.S.  The problem is that somewhere along the line, the flow of the class fell apart.  Near the end of the class, Shimelle hosted an online party which was open to the class participants, as well as other blog subscribers.  The online party also had a strong Christmas focus as Shimelle was gearing up for her Journal Your Christmas class.  For me, this led to a great deal of confusion about what to do and when the class was actually over.  And then, Shimelle had a bit of a personal issue (finding herself having to move living quarters on short notice) and JYC started up. The upshot of all this was that class participants received the final class prompt yesterday (on Dec. 11).  It contained a bonus pdf booklet of sketches and access to another class (both for free!).  The whole experience ended up being very disjointed, in my opinion.

I loved the first 20 or so prompts. I found them inspirational and informational.  And well worth the price of the class.  If it had ended there, I would have given the class a solid A or A-.   But, as a result of the confusion, I would give it a lower grade. The confusion frustrated me because I like organized, linear classes. I like to start a class, try hard to keep up and then finish it and call it done. 

So, overall, I think I would give the class a B or B-.  But I wonder if I'm being too harsh. I know a lot of you took the class, and I'm interested in what you think? Am I being too harsh? Did you experience it differently? And, for those of you who didn't take the class, I have a different question. When reviewing a class, how much weight should be given to the price of a class? Should a free or inexpensive class be judged differently than a more pricey class? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Class Review: 12 Days of Christmas 2011 (Cheryl Johnson)

I just completed Cheryl Johnson's photography class "12 Days of Christmas 2011," and I would say it was a winner! CJ offers this class free each year to a large (but limited) group of students. If you get the chance to sign up for it next year, I would definitely say that it's worth your time.  
CJ sends a new photography prompt each day from Dec. 1 - Dec. 12. The prompts are a nice combination of technical prompts (setting white balance, creating bokeh, shooting lights at night) and composition challenges (self-portrait, groups, outdoor pictures, etc.). There's a forum and (new this year) a facebook group.  The forum was not overly crowded, so it was easy to examine each photograph that was posted (about 40 per prompt).  A lot of the posted work was really inspiring, and I got lots of good ideas from the perusing the images there. Classmates were pretty good about commenting - most of my photos received feedback from 5-10 people. CJ patrolled the forum to answer any questions but didn't really offer much feedback on the images posted during the course. (Although it's possible she may add comments next week.)
Like most online classes, you get out of it what you put into it.  I only completed 9 of the 12 challenges (I skipped a photoshop tutorial, a group portrait exercise and one on writing with light). But those nine prompts taught me a lot! I now really know how to use the white balance setting on my camera, and I learned how to take beautiful night pictures (like the one at the top of today's post; please click on it to enlarge and enjoy the details). As a result of this class, I have already taken some beautiful holiday pictures, and I know that the photographs I take during the rest of the month will be better because of what I learned during these twelve days! Overall grade: B+
Anyone else have thoughts on this class? How are your December classes going so far?

Class Review: A Day with Mary Jo McGraw

As I mentioned recently, this year's Scramp Camp featured the guest artist Mary Jo McGraw. She spent the day with us, teaching two actual classes (one on collage and one on coloring and card making) and the balance of the day hanging out with us answering questions about various techniques and products.  The classes were fine. I made the canvas I posted about here and the cards posted above. I'd give the classes a solid B+ for giving good information and working with each student to create something that fit them individually. I have a recurring gripe about instructors not handing out written instructions, but that's a battle I seem destined to lose.   Mary Jo also has lots of very strong opinions, and she's going to share them with you!  Such candor may not be for everyone.
But . . . the amount of knowledge she possesses about products, stamping, art journaling, etc. is breath-taking! My favorite part of the day spent with her was when she taught us how to draw faces (see mine here) and answered questions about Ranger products and techniques. I wish I could have video-taped that portion of the day because it certainly rated a solid A for content and a willingness to share her secrets! 
Speaking of classes, I signed up for Cheryl Johnson's next photography class, "Painting with Light: The Sequel." I'm really liking her mix of photography tips and photoshop lessons. Plus, for $30, it's hard to beat! Anyone else taking any classes now or in the near future?
P.S.
Just a little "squee" because I found out there's an observation bee hive at a children's museum about 1.5 miles from my work!
And a really big sigh of relief because I took Gypsy back to the vet today for a one month check-in, and my rock star vet Craig says that she's looking really good!!! We're continuing to decrease the amount of medication she's taking, and we're really beginning to think she's going to make a full recovery!

Class Review: Beautiful People Portraiture and Charity Auction

I recently took the on-line class, "Beautiful People Portraiture" with Cheryl Johnson (CJ) of Feel Good Photography.  The class ran for four weeks and cost $40 (25 pounds).  At the beginning of each week, participants received an email with a PDF and video link describing the week's assignment and giving information to help with the assignment. The assignments included introduction to posing (I have a few in this post) (and self-portraiture); photographing babies and children; photographing strangers (see mine here) (and profile shots); and wild and crazy portraits (photo booth style or action-packed and hands or feet)(see mine here). By the end of the week, participants posted their three best shots in the gallery for feedback from CJ and others.  Each week, CJ picked a few shots as the "best of the week" to feature on her blog. There were a few bonus videos: two on using reflectors and one answering lingering questions that people submitted during the last week of class.  There was a forum/gallery for people to post their photographs and chit-chat. I signed up for the class because I wanted to learn more about taking portraits and because the class was reasonably priced.  

Overall, I was very satisfied with the class.  I feel like I learned a lot about taking portraits and it forced me to practice in different situations.  I am particularly proud of the profile portrait I took of my son, Henry, which is featured up top and which CJ chose as one of the photos of the week.  I also really liked the baby portraits I took, one of which you can see in this post. The weekly materials were pretty good, although I wish they gave a little more direction. Truthfully, they sometimes seemed a little thin. Thankfully, they were supplemented by CJ answering questions and providing the additional videos. The videos on reflectors, for instance, were absolutely fabulous!  In addition, CJ commented individually on every single weekly assignment posted by participants.  Let me say that again, CJ commented on every single assignment posted by students. Her critiques were a little blunt, but invaluable. I learned a lot by reading her comments on my photographs and the photographs of other participants. This feature was definitely the best part of the class. It made it feel like you were actually taking a hands-on class with a professional. The forum was a good size - there were only about 35 people total, which meant you could see everyone's photographs and get feedback from most of the participants. The talent level of the participants varied widely, which created even more learning opportunities. CJ also sponsored a surprise party at the end of the class (although I wasn't able to participate because I was out of town, it seemed like a lot of fun).  One small problem I encountered with the class was that many of the other participants had taken many CJ classes and, as a first time participant, it felt a little difficult to break into the circle and understand the jargon. But, I kept asking questions and eventually nudged my way right in. So, overall, I would give the class and A-.  Depending upon the price, I would definitely take another class with Cheryl Johnson.  I welcome input from others who have take classes with her!

By the way, Cheryl Johnson has a charity auction going on at e-bay right now. The money will go to a charity called "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep," which helps parents cope with the loss of a newborn. She's auctioning off a portrait session, and right now it's a real bargain. The auction closes soon. You can read more about it here.  
So, how are your summer classes going?
{In other news, my dog Gypsy is sick. She was low energy and anemic when we left for our trip and hasn't really recovered. I feel badly because I'm sure that our absence did not help. No real help from the vet; it's all a bit of a mystery. Sigh. Anyway, good thoughts definitely appreciated.}

Class Review: Skinny Mini from Kim Klassen

One of my resolutions for this year is to learn photoshop elements, and the first step in the process was taking a free class on photoshop called the Skinny Mini, offered by Kim Klassen.  The class was run over two weeks, with new lessons posted each weekday.  The lessons alternated between videos explaining a concept and homework to go over those concepts.    The videos were incredibly clear and easy to follow.  I would run the videos on my ipad, while working in PSE on my computer.  I could pause and rewind the videos whenever I needed to.  The homeworks re-enforced the lessons presented in the videos and gave you the steps in a written format. The lessons covered using the layers panel, blending modes,adding text,  solid adjustments, textures, brushes, spot healing, masks, black & white conversions, making a blog banner and making a blog button.  Although the videos were only available for a week after the class ended, for a nominal fee of $5.00, a student can have permanent access to the videos.  I gladly paid the charge to have continued access to them.  There was a flickr group in which you could post your homework assignments, and other students often commented on them.  There was also a conversation page to post questions, and Kim answered every question posted to the conversation page promptly.
Overall, this was a great class!  It contained a huge amount of information, and it was all very clearly presented.  I learned enough to be able to process photographs in many interesting ways.  And it was free!  My one criticism is that Kim's approach to teaching might not appeal to everyone because, although she does a great job of showing off all the "trees" of photoshop, she never really describes the "forest."   I ended up having used a number of different tools available in PSE and feeling pretty good about how to use them, but I never understood the big picture of how they related to each other.  Now, not everybody wants the big picture.  Many people just want to jump in and know what button to push, drag or apply.  And Kim is fantastic at that!  But I do better with a little more introduction.  So, I'll be taking another class in the near future to hopefully learn more.  Still, for a free class, I give the class a solid A rating. I'd love to hear reactions from others who have taken a Kim Klassen class as to whether you think this is typical of her style, and, from everyone, whether you want a teacher who emphasizes the forest or trees.
My art journal page above summarizes my feelings about the class.  It reads, "In January, I took an introductory, free PS class and I learned how to do a lot of things, but I don't yet have a good overview.  I've signed up for another class and hope to learn even more.  I'm happy to emphasize photo processing." I incorporated images of an owl (for learning) and a forest and a tree (for what I learned & didn't learn). 

Class Review: Journal Your Christmas 2010

I stole some time this morning to sit down and finish my "Journal Your Christmas" album for the Shimelle class of the same name. And I'm really glad I did.  Partly because I knew that if I didn't finish it soon, it might not get done until next December.  But also because it gave me a chance to sit back and revisit the holiday season. And that's one of the best things about this class.

I like the way the class forces me to be mindful of the holidays as they are happening.  By checking the Shimelle prompt and thinking about whether I want to document what she has suggested or go in my own direction, I stop and ponder the day, the season and my current life.  You can see the basic format of my album above (my manifesto page) and below:

My album pages were all about 3.5"x6".  For each day, I took a hipstamatic photo on my iphone, which I printed out at scrapbookpictures.com at 3"x3".  I added a strip of patterned paper for balance. On the right hand side, each page had a 3"x5" journaling block, a strip of patterned paper and an embellishment.  I found this format very easy to work with.  The only downside was not being able to assemble the whole thing until I ordered and received my pictures. Another great thing about this class is how flexible it is; there are limitless ways to create a JYC project, and none are "wrong."  This is the third time I've completed the class, and each of my projects have been very different (the first was an art journal in a box; the second, a book featuring Tim Holtz tags).  More importantly, I've learned or realized different lessons each time I've taken the class:

This is the final entry in my album.  Shimelle's last prompt encourages you to reflect on the holiday season and what you learned from doing JYC.  I had a bit of an epiphany when I was putting this page together - we spent a lot of time together as a family in December 2010 . . . doing Christmas stuff, but also all the other stuff that makes up life (basketball, soccer, homework, etc.).  We also spent significant time with extended family.  This felt different than other Decembers, and it was good.  And I probably would not have realized it without doing the JYC Project.  So, thank-you Shimelle, for another great class!
The basics:  The class runs from Dec. 1 - Jan 6 with 37 daily prompts (each one different) about journaling your Christmas. New for this year were additional "In Focus" prompts, which featured tips for photography, as well as a few photography challenges if you needed help trying to decide what to photograph.  I LOVED these!!!  They are things I will return to throughout the year.  I especially loved her last "in focus" prompt with suggestions for setting photography goals for the year. There's a forum where people share pages, questions and ideas.  Like many classes, it was much more active during the first part of the class than the latter, but I always found it helpful.  The class this year was smaller than last year's, which I think was a good thing because it was easier to follow along. Although Shimelle uses the same basic prompts each year, this year she updated them with her current pages and pictures/ ideas that others shared last year.  Shimelle's classes are always ridiculously cheap.  This one was 22 pounds (about $25 U.S.) and once you buy it once, you get to take it every year for free!  I give the class an  A+. What about you?  Different views always welcome.

Class Review: True Stories

Kk (art journal page)
I made this art journal page in response to a prompt in Shimelle's class "True Stories" about capturing your own private language - you know those pet phrases unique to your world that might be forgotten months or years from now, if not jotted down and explained.  It's just a little thing, but as I wrote above, "I find it so sweet when Clara signs off her texts in agreement, 'Kk'."


Shimelle's class was all about capturing stories before they get lost and about recording them in ways that are more meaningful that simply "who, what, when and where."  Fifteen emails over three weeks covered a variety of interesting ways to tell stories (including prompts such as writing a letter, journaling in the form of a play, and using numbers as a starting point).  Each email actually included several prompts for how to approach the day's lesson, so it was easy to find something as a jumping off point.  Shimelle featured a layout of her own and one from a guest artist each day showing how they used the daily lesson.  There were also several sketches that could be used for scrapbook pages.  In a very cool twist, every day Shimelle featured a lesson from a writing expert who shared interesting insights into improving your writing, related to the day's lessons. These insights were fresh and interesting and very different from the sorts of things usually discussed in scrapbook classes.  Although I used the class as a way to create art journal pages,  I know I will also be able to use the prompts for scrapbook pages and blog posts.  As a final bonus, Shimelle emailed a booklet of 52 more prompts with lots of samples to keep your journaling all year long! Overall, it was a wonderful class which offered fresh approaches to journaling, either in the format to be used or the subjects to be covered.  Priced at only $15, it's an Easy A!

Class Review: AJ103Composition and Color Techniques

Now Winter nights enlarge

the number of their hours

and clouds their storm discharge

upon the airy towers.

I just finished my fourth art journaling class with Dina Wakley, Art Journal 103: Composition and Color Techniques.  The class consisted of eight lessons, posted twice a week over a four week period of time.  The first four focused on composition theory and the second four on color theory.  Composition topics included symmetry & assymetry, white space, continuance, dominance, unity,  combining and overlapping.  Color topics included color combinations, contrast, color as a compositional tool and the power of black & white.  Each lesson included a thorough discussion of its topic, including explanations and examples.  At 20-25 pages per lesson (or almost 200 total pages), they were comprehensive enough to constitute a beginning course in visual design! To help put these lessons into action, each post contained a description of how to use the topics on art journal pages and a series of page challenge ideas.  One of the best and most unexpected parts of each lesson was a discussion of how to break the design rules and still create a pleasing page.  Last, but certainly not least, each lesson included an art technique to incorporate.  These were all really fun and interesting, and, for the most part, new to me!  These included watercolor with spray ink, painted & scraped backgrounds, butcher paper collage, underpainting, gel medium resist, and black spray paint. There was also a brief introduction to collaging, glazing and a download to make custom color charts.  Every single lesson came with a video where Dina explains the various techniques, and you get to see her create page after wonderful page.  The opportunity to see her at work as she explains her creative process is absolutely invaluable! The class included a discussion forum and gallery.  Dina monitored both closely, answering all questions posted to the forum and commenting on virtually every image posted in the gallery.  The activity level at the forum and in the gallery was enough to be interesting, without being overwhelming.  The class cost $65, and I think the content was well worth it.


Overall, I really enjoyed this class.  I found the page challenges and art techniques really useful as a way to jump start my creativity and make some art journal pages.  I especially loved the the spray ink watercolor, scraped backgrounds and butcher paper collage techniques.  The black spray paint technique really expanded my way of looking at things, even if I'm not sure how often I'll use it, and the color charts will be really handy.  I know I can use the color and composition theory when starting a collage and need to decide which color to grab or where to place an element, or when I'm stuck mid-process and need to figure out my next step. The only potential downside to the class was that it didn't contain any journaling prompts, so some students seemed at a loss for subjects for their pages.  This didn't bother me (especially because I was taking Shimelle's journaling class at the same time), but there did seem to be some frustration expressed about this. In all of Dina's other art journaling classes, there were lots of prompts and ideas for journaling topics, but that simply wasn't the focus of this class.
Look at the page at the top of today's post.  It uses the gel medium resist technique, black spray paint, concepts of flow, white space, color contrasts and the power of black and white. It's a page that brings together many of the concepts and techniques from the class and one which I happen to love!  Bottom line - I give the class a Solid A for helping me create this page and so many others.

Teaching Art Journaling

Last month, I taught an art journaling class.  We met Sunday mornings for three weeks in a row and worked a variety of different creativity challenges.  My manifesto for the class is above.  It reads "This art journal is my special place to record my inner world.  It is a place to download my creative ideas, a place to remember the events of the day, a place to doodle, to draw and to dream."  It was a terrific class, and one of my students, Connie Andrews of Connie's Dream, posted the most wonderful review of it. You can check it out here.  Thanks Connie!
In other news, the woman I think of as my art journaling mentor (even though I've never met her), Dina Wakley is offering a new art journaling class starting at the end of October.  It's $65, but there's a 20% discount if you sign up soon.  You can read more about it here. I've thoroughly enjoyed the classes I've taken from her.  If you click on the class review label below, you should be able to scroll through and read the reviews I've done of here classes.
P.S. This just in . . . the San Francisco Giants won the first game in the playoffs! Yes, I'm a sports fan, and, if you are too, don't forget to enter the sports fan give-away in this post.  The give-away is open until Sunday night California time.

Cave of Pages Project and Class Review

About a week ago, I took a wonderful class with Michael DeMeng called "Cave of Pages." My completed project is called "Immigrant Wishes" and features my maternal grandparents' wedding portrait and some other family heritage photos.  The base is a cigar box, which I covered in acrylic caulking and painted.  I took off the cover of the cigar box and created two layers within the box with paper covered mat board, with openings cut in their centers. Added a variety of found objects and embellishments (a wish bone I've been saving forever, a wooden heart, quilled flowers, burlap, wire, charms on the side, etc) mounted in front and behind the various surfaces to create a finished project that has about ten different levels of depth. I'm very happy with it! The color scheme fits the current Gingersnap Creations challenge for neutrals with a pop of color.

As for the class review, I really enjoyed it, but students should realize it's not one for the faint of heart! Michael's classes are mostly intermediate to advanced, in that you are not given any kind of a kit and told what to do. Instead, he has a variety of samples and he suggests ways to create a project similar to one of the samples.  He explains a bit and then says, "okay, go."  He is VERY available throughout class to help you problem solve and to give advice, but he's not going to tell you exactly what to do step-by-step.  He also intersperses demonstrations on things such as color washes, working with power tools, finding and using the right adhesives, detail painting and other painterly tricks.  The amount of information given out in these demonstrations is enormous - more than I could absorb in a single class.  Luckily, this is the third Michael DeMeng class that I have taken, so I knew what to expect. (You can read more about the other DeMeng classes and his style by clicking on the de meng label at the end of this post.) 

I came prepared with a variety of things to use and a commitment to myself to be brave and jump into the project.  The demos on power tools and color washes were reviews for me, so I kept working on my project and only eavesdropped on  those.  I skipped the adhesive demo entirely because I feel like I've fully absorbed that information.  The detail painting and painterly trick demos were totally new to me (or if I saw them before, I couldn't really absorb them because my brain was already too full).  I learned the "burnt paper trick" which I used on this piece (yes, that's paint, not actual burning!) and also a technique for highlighting certain people in photos by ghosting out the others.  Tried that one on this piece, too. He ends each class with a 30-45 minute critique in which he discusses each and every piece.  All his feedback is positive, and he really helps you see what works for each piece.  This really facilitates learning and understanding and improving for the next project.

Finally, a word about Michael himself.  He's classically trained in art and so really knows painting technique and art theory. This makes him different from someone like Tim Holtz who is fantastic but self-taught. More importantly, Michael is a hilarious and generous man.  He takes time to get to know each and every student and works with them at their level (without making them feel stupid). He has great taste in music and comes equipped with a wonderful mix on his ipod. At the end of a class with him, I always feel like he has given a piece of himself to me and that I have grown as an artist.