Portland 2010

What a wonderful conference! The classes I took were really amazing, and I come home full of new techniques, some beautiful books I made, and a list of new friends.

 

My first class was with Gina Armfield, who is a great teacher. She has a few online classes that I strongly recommend: www,sweetsistergina.typepad.com

 

My evening classes confirmed that I am not interested in encaustic, and it turns out that the fumes from that stuff are very dangerous to breathe.

On the other hand, I discovered a beautiful technique for making paste paper. I thought it was going to be on how to make the paper itself, but it is not that at all. It consists of a mixture of acrylic paint and paste to dilute the paint without losing the color. The resulting papers are gloriously bright.

CIMG3148 We stamped the papers with real leaves for our Fallen Leaves theme in Albie Smith class. We then bound our pages in an accordion book with black pages. Gorgeous!

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I took a class in Wabi Sabi with Serena Barton. It was great fun and we were mostly left to our own devices. I did learn some fantastic techniques, for instance to add Titan Buff on top of the acrylic inks to mute them and give them that aged look. I made 7 paintings during the class.

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I took a class with Traci Bunkers on stamping with everything that doesn’t move, and we bound our pages in a delightful book.

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My last class of the week was with Albie Smith again, this time, we were making Tiny Treasures. And little jewels they did turn out to be. They fit in the palm of the hand, and they have an exposed spine with a French stitch. Watch your Christmas stockings, there will me a few of those coming up in the next few weeks.

CIMG3218 CIMG3219 CIMG3221 Yes, the pages inside are also decorated. Here are some samples from the class:

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Last, but not least, I got to spend an entire day with 3 of my internet friends whom I had never met. I have shared Round Robin journals with them and seen their art, but never their great smiling faces. They came to the conference to pick me up, then we drove through all the treasure troves in Portland, for the art addicts: Scrap, Knittnkitten, the amazing Alberta Street district, and finally a lunch at La Petite Provence. Those days are rare and so precious. Thank you ladies, I loved my day with you. It was so awesome being with you.

CIMG3172 My much admired friend Tracy Kaufman, who’s art is outstanding.

 

 

 

CIMG3173 Marita, who is lucky I really liked her, otherwise, I would have posted another picture, and you know what I mean. lol

CIMG3174 And wonderful Gina, who drove us, parked, navigated, and introduced us to all manner of great places.

What a day that was! And what a fantastic week.

Now to work and create more treasures.

8 comments:

  1. Oh it sounds like you had so much creative fun! I love ALL your books but those tiny ones are extra awesome! I LOVE the first one with the tree imprint on the cover? Excellent!

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  2. Wow! I love everything that you made!! Those papers witht he inks and titan buff--yum! and the leaf book --well all of them!

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  3. I'm so inspired by all of this Sox. I love seeing the wabi sabi examples, as I hadn't even heard of them before you mentioned them. So much to love...

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  4. Wow. Just your post is overwhelming. lol
    I love the tree and that the binding looks like twigs. Beautiful. Amazing. Gorgeous.

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  5. I'd have some nerve being jealous after spending 10 days learning from Tim Holtz, but you made great art AND got to spend time with Tracy, Marita and Gina. Lucky, lucky you!
    Oh, and those little books with the fancy binding...so very very gorgeous! Is there an online class for that?
    Eileen

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  6. Oh thank you for not posting "THAT" picture of me, SOX! What a fun day!!! And so many cool new techniques!
    Marita

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  7. What a wonderful time you must have had!!! And with 3 of my favorite people in the world!!! What I would have given to join you guys!!!

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  8. BTW, I agree with Eileen. I LOVE those tiny little books!!! Is there an online class for those?

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