A Wabi-Sabi Find

Visit my other blog, to see images from a vintage notebook given to me by artist Sierra Briano. Stay tuned for a post on my recent wabi-sabi process!

"Visual Haiku" at Collage

Here is some of the gorgeous art created at my class, "Visual Haiku" at Collage in Portland OR. Students used re-inkers, acrylic glaze, acrylic paint, and mixed media to create these wabi-sabi inspired pieces. I hope you'll enjoy feasting your eyes on them!

Work from my wabi-sabi cold wax class at Collage on Alberta

Here, at last are some images from one of the classes I taught at Collage on Alberta a couple of weeks ago. I've been longing to show them to you, but I've been lethargic due to a cold, so haven't posted for a while.

Coming up: Images from my other wabi-sabi class at Collage, a hunting and gathering report, and info. on my new DVDs coming up from North Light.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The enthusiastic students played with oil paint, cold wax medium, and mixed media elements. They created lively and stunning work over the two day class. We had so much fun! Cold wax is kinda messy, but so satisfying to work with.

Wabi-Sabi Immersion at Collage This Weekend!

I'm so looking forward  to this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday when I will be teaching at the fabulous Collage store and classroom in Portland's Alberta Arts District. There are a few spots left for the 2-day class on Friday and Saturday and for the Sunday class. 

In our 2-day class, Strata of Time, we'll explore the rich range of texture and color offered by painting with cold wax and oil. We'll use a variety of tools to shape our wax and oil mixtures. We'll also experiment with plaster, oil pastels, mixed media, and more! To find out more go to the description on the Collage website.

I will be signing copies of my book at Collage on Saturday evening. Come join us for refreshments and art talk! 

  

 
Sunday's class is called Visual Haiku. We'll create wabi-sabi pieces inspired by traditional haiku. Our media will include re-inkers, alcohol inks, acrylic paint, vintage papers, specialty papers, and recycled elements. For more about this playful class, go to the description on the Collage site.

A Wabi-Sabi Project from a Reader

 Here's a wonderful wabi-sabi project brought to us by Linda Kunsman. Thank you, Linda!

 Linda says:
 
"The canvas board was prepped by using both a palette knife and a sea sponge to apply a thick coat of Golden Light Molding Paste, creating a rough base for the scene:

  A coat of My Studio Vanilla was painted on the dried surface. Americana Pineapple acrylic was added on the upper third. Some of it was wiped back with a paper towel. Several drops of Adirondack Butterscotch reinker was added and brushed over the lower area. I wrote some of the lyrics in pencil.

The Open Road   (5" x 7")

  Adirondack alcohol inks in Stream, Citrus, and Watermelon were dropped and blotted to form the trees. I mixed my own concoction of reinker glaze using a drop of Adirondack Watermelon, Burnt Orange and Ranger Distress Tea Dye along with Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid and lightly brushed it in areas and wiped away. The edges of the canvas were sponged with Distress Tea Dye ink."

 

 

A Wabi-Sabi Find

At Art and Soul Retreats we have Vendor Night on Saturday evenings. I had a table where I had copies of my book for sale and some art pieces. I was wandering around looking at other tables and booths before the event officially opened. I came upon a booth called Vintage Passementerie. I've seen the owner Margaret's stall frequently at Monticello Antiques here in Portland. I perused some antique Japanese prints and talked with Margaret about my love of wabi-sabi. She disappeared for a moment and then reappeared with the most lovely book I've ever seen! Reader, I fell in love at first sight. I happily parted with enough money to become the custodian of this lovely and most wabi-sabi item.

The book is really a series of Japanese account books, intricately bound together with rope. Each section has a tab. Some of the pages are blank, but each section contains plenty of breathtaking calligraphy. 

Both the top and bottom covers of the book has a large, exuberant, calligraphy character on it.

Many books bound together

The front of the book with tabs for each section

Imagine a world where something so potentially uninteresting as an account book could become almost a sacred object! Well, really, it is a sacred object because the design and the craftmanship with which it was made and used, must have lent itself to a mindful and appreciative carrying out of a daily task. At the same time, this book was not made for show. It is just itself, humble and beautiful.  Part of the art of everyday life.


P.S. I am not going to cut this book up! I'll scan some of the pages and print them out on lightweight paper. 

Papers Wabi-Sabi at Art and Soul Retreat

I had so much fun watching the students have fun in this experimental class. Using mulberry paper as a base, students used a wide variety of mark-making tools, along with re-inkers, alcohol inks, and acrylic paint to create free-form decorated papers for collage, books covers, or to hang on the wall. Very cool papers came out of this class. Lots of free spirits in this one!

This isn't one of the wabi-sabi papers from class. This is what a section a worktable looked like when I removed the used protective paper. Nice!

Happy me at Vendor Night with Marie Kennedy, one of the amazing organizers,(left) and Doris Arndt, an excellent artist and instructor.

To see pictures from my Art and Soul class, "Many Windows" visit my other blog, Serena Barton's Blog.