My Mum recently took me to task about the lack of interesting activity here on the blog. OK, the lack of any activity at all. She had a point. (You've got to love Mums for keeping it real and calling you on your shortcomings.) There hasn't however, been a lack of activity in my world - as my middle prince would say- lots of cool stuff (OK, so he wouldn't say stuff, he'd say another word that starts with s...but I'm sure you get the idea) has been going on.
In amongst a bunch of other 'stuff', I've been working away in an online class with the irrepressible Jane Davenport. It's not the first of her classes I have enjoyed: Supplies Me is a wonderful journey through a vast assortment of media while she teaches the nuances of drawing faces and figures -things I long ago swore off as being 'not my thing' and something I believed for a long time I just couldn't do. The lovely lady above was the result of my explorations in "Ink Week", where Jane's students discover the joy of Sumi ink in an Aquawash pen. I have to tell you; that's the most delicious, free feeling media to work with and I can't believe it's taken me so long to discover it! It was quite difficult to stop drawing, which goes some of the way to explaining how she comes to have a couple of mouths and a nose on her chest and shoulder.
Most recently though, the "Print and Scan" class has held me spellbound. For a very long time, I've been keenly aware of a limited understanding of digital file sizes, types and manipulation. I lost track of the countless times I told myself I needed to learn this 'techie' stuff. Then, *cue violins and blinding bright light* I read that Jane has created this class - the very one I need, with all the skills I need to learn! It's Jane's first Professional Development class; and the investment paid for itself in the first class. The image above is a scan of a 2 page journal spread. We learned how to manipulate the image to get rid of the 'gutter' in the middle of the pages, and lots of other techniques to show the artwork at it's glowing best.
After a small mind explosion (don't worry, it didn't make much mess) - and a bit of practice - the lovely lady made her way onto the journal page; and changed the colour of her face - all in the innards of my computer, with information streamed to my computer desk via the wonder of technology and the Internet.
What's great about Jane is that she delivers this in artist speak, not techie talk; though she has extensive technical knowledge. What's great about the Internet delivery is not having to drive for hours (and hours...and hours..); You can stop and start that video and toggle back and forth between your image manipulation and the instruction, so you practice it as soon as you see/hear it; you can work on it at whatever time suits you; and - possibly my personal favourite - you can hang out in your paint stained shirt and yoga pants. (Have I ever told you just HOW much I love my yoga pants?)
In honour of Carmel (my awesome Mum) there will be effort made to post stories of more of the cool 'stuff' going on around here. Right now though, it's time to go and log into the Print and Scan classroom for some more mind exploding fun.
1 comment:
That is so way coooll !!!!!
Love it. Tracey
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