Tag: play
Game on!
I almost titled this “Loosing my marbles” but thought better of it. It might be a bit more accurate though!
I am in the final stretch of finishing up my brand new website. Shew! I’m so excited to share it with you and even more excited about being DONE! It will have lots of new options, info and fun stuff but it’s taken me literally months longer than I thought it would. Of course I had one partially built and scraped the whole idea and started over so that didn’t help the timeline.
During my rooting around in file folders full of images I uncovered these photos I’d taken for a commissioned project several years ago. Right in the middle of website development I stopped to pull them out, dust them off and get them ready to present. 🙂
Although it might not be as much fun as having my hands covered in paint it was a satisfying departure from the repetitiousness I’ve been dealing with lately. I’ll take it until the next time I can play!
Yupo Play Images
I’m blushing a bit at how long it took to get these photos online and posted! These are all from a “Yupo Play” class last March! Better late than never I suppose. We had a good time exploring this interesting “paper” which is synthetic and machine-made in the USA of 100% polypropylene. It is waterproof, stain resistant, extremely strong and durable, PH neutral, amazingly smooth and Recyclable!  Here are a few images from the class:
These were fun and reminded me of a more colorful/interesting version of the ink blot images we used to make as kids – we could all see different things in them! What do you see in the image above? I’m curious if it’s the same as what I do.
One thing we attempted wasn’t very successful, but that’s what happens in a class titled “play” – we were experimenting with media, not aiming for masterpieces. 🙂 The technique was to take the paper outside and use stencils, lace, etc. and spray a clear acrylic paint over them to leave a pattern that would be blocked out in white when we added the watercolor. It probably didn’t help that it was a windy day and we had spray paint issues! You can see in this image that there was a bit of success but even that eventually disappeared as more watercolor was added.
Oh well! Perhaps a repeat on a non-windy day will have better results. 🙂
Washing on a layer of watercolors and then laying plastic wrap on top made for some really interesting abstract patterns. Well, if you were patient enough to let it dry before you took the plastic off!
We had so much fun moving the paint around on the paper that even our paper towels ended up looking colorful!
The last technique we tried involved tissue paper layers on painted Yupo. Some were removed, others were kept, some moved to new placement and were adhered to the paper with clear acrylic gel.
And, yes, it was as much fun as it looks – you should come try it sometime. 🙂
Fisheyes and Film
In a recent post I mentioned that I’ve been playing with film (yes, the stuff we used to put in our cameras before memory cards!) and some cool little cameras.
I finally got the film developed and scanned and thought it would be fun to share with you a few of the images. The images for today are from one of the cameras I bought to play with, it’s the Lomo Fisheye #2, and I must say it’s lots of fun! Seeing the world in circular form is interesting, trying to capture it that way? Even more so!
These images were all taken on a day trip to Cataract Falls here in Indiana.
Since we brought our grandson he’s the subject of several of the images. That usually happens when he’s around!
He was very interested in both the little cameras I brought with me and, at a recent event, took over the fisheye camera and burned through all the film. 🙂 I need to remember to give him the digital next time – it’s free for him to play with it! I’ll be curious to see what he captured though…I love that he’s already into taking photos at age 5!
You need a lot of sunlight or a high speed film to get good captures with this camera, which they tell you but it really was evident by what turned out and what didn’t. You can also take off the viewfinder and use the hot shoe underneath to add a flash…I haven’t tried that yet! These were all taken on 400 speed film. The second rolls that was just finished off had 1600 speed film, I’m hoping that was enough to be able to catch some good indoor shoots at a couple of parties we went to.  Guess we will see! Just for fun I removed the viewfinder from the fisheye camera and held it over the lens of my smart phone – this is what I got:
Kind of fun – although (obviously) it was hard to hold it there and not get my finger in the image!
As you can tell, right now I am just haven’t fun playing…hope you are having some fun this summer too!
Peace,
Lynne
Open Studio Session: Yupo Play!
Originally to be held on February 29th 2012, this session has been rescheduled to NEXT Wednesday, March 28th!
We are going to explore creating art on Yupo paper a little more in depth after a brief introduction to in a few months ago. Yupo is a synthetic type of material (not a true “paper”) that resists absorbing paint. That means you can spend lots of time manipulating the paint on the smooth surface before your image dries. If you feel you’ve overworked your image or you just plain aren’t satisfied with it you can even “erase” your watercolor from the surface of you paper and start fresh.
It’s a fun, rather unpredictable, material to play with and explore. No wonder I like it so much – you can have some wonderful “happy accidents” with it and create awesome images you didn’t even know you were trying to create until they appear. 🙂
So be sure and sign up soon before all the spaces are taken for this fun afternoon! The session runs from noon until 2:30 p.m. The cost for the class is $30 and includes all the materials. If you’d like to pre-pay for three classes you can do so at a discounted rate of $75 for all three. Please  email (info@lynnemedsker.com) to reserve your place as class size is limited!
Future “Open Studio” classes include:
Wednesday, April 11th – “Art from Nature” celebrating Earth Day 2012 a little early (April 22nd is the date) we will create mixed media art that includes natural elements (rocks, wood, etc.) Feel free to bring your own “treasures” to include in your art!
Wednesday, April 25th – “Recycled Journals” – continuing to celebrate the earth we will create small, decorative journals from recycled materials!
Saturday, April 28th – “Art from Nature” an encore of the the April 11th class, we may even hold this class outdoors if weather permits!
A few clases in early May will be announced soon and then there will be a break for the summer months so don’t miss these next few classes!
One week away, Yupo Play!
One week from today, on February 29th 2012, is the next Wednesday edition of the “Open Studio” classes I am holding here at my studio. We are going to go back to watercolors and explore creating art on Yupo paper a little more in depth. Yupo is a synthetic type of material (not a true “paper”) that resists absorbing paint. That means you can spend lots of time manipulating the paint on the smooth surface before your image dries. If you feel you’ve overworked your image or you just plain aren’t satisfied with it you can even “erase” your watercolor from the surface of you paper and start fresh.
It’s a fun, rather unpredictable, material to play with and explore. No wonder I like it so much – you can have some wonderful “happy accidents” with it and create awesome images you didn’t even know you were trying to create until they appear. 🙂
So be sure and sign up soon before all the spaces are taken for this fun afternoon! The session runs from noon until 2:30 p.m. The cost for the class is $30 and includes all the materials. If you’d like to pre-pay for three classes you can do so at a discounted rate of $75 for all three. Please  email (info@lynnemedsker.com) to reserve your place as class size is limited!
Future “Open Studio” classes include:
Wednesday, March 14th – “Wall Sculpture” part 1 – the beginning of a two-part class, we’ll use wood, metal and other materials to create an abstract wall sculpture. The second part of this class will be held on Wednesday, March 28th.
Saturday, March 24th – “Crreative Collage” – an encore of the February 1st class, you’ll design and create an 8×10 collage on a ready-to-hang wood panel. You can view images and a recap of that class by clicking here.
Wednesday, March 28th – “Wall Sculpture” part 2 – Continuing from the March 14th class we will complete the assembly and final details on our mixed media wall sculptures.
Wednesday, April 11th – “Art from Nature” celebrating Earth Day 2012 a little early (April 22nd is the date) we will create mixed media art that includes natural elements (rocks, wood, etc.) Feel free to bring your own “treasures” to include in your art!
Wednesday, April 25th – “Recycled Journals” – continuing to celebrate the earth we will create small, decorative journals from recycled materials!
Saturday, April 28th – “Art from Nature” an encore of the the April 11th class, we may even hold this class outdoors if weather permits!
We are also hosting the upcoming “design your own” metal sculpture workshop the first weekend of March. Read all the details here!
A Randomly Creative Blog 