I have been remiss in posting on this blog and the Sketchbook Challenge blog this month!
Over at the SBC blog, Jane has offered up this wonderful theme ("Everyday Objects"), that should have had me jumping up and down for joy (since I draw everyday objects so often) but I (like so many of us here) have been so busy preparing for, teaching workshops and recuperating from the prep and teaching of said workshops that I am pooped.
I have been ignoring so many things that I should not be ignoring...
this blog.
The SBC blog.
Making new artwork for the upcoming First Friday art crawl in Greenville SC.
Oh, so many things to do.
But I'll show you a peek of what I did do.
I taught two wonderful workshops at "Textile Evolution" in Colorado Springs last week.
Tex Evo is the brain child of Liz Kettle- teacher, writer and artist extraordinaire.

I taught a two day book making class that everyone loved!
The folks that didn't take the class, saw the books that the ladies made while in the class...and now they all want to take the class!
They made some awesome books! I love how they plow right through their doubts and work so hard in those two days to create a treasure.

The "Whimsical Mark Making" class is what I really wanted to talk about.
Most of the 9 ladies in this class said that they "couldn't draw" at the beginning of class.
I asked them.
They didn't want to believe me when I told them that they could draw.
But they also plowed right through - laughing at the silly things I asked them to do.
I was a strict teacher and didn't allow them to draw with a pencil!

Straight to paper with a pen...

I would say that around lunchtime these ladies were beginning to shock themselves...
I gave them a few tips, some guidelines, explained the paints, gels and pens at their disposal and turned them loose.
They were drawing a variety of things - some everyday objects, some totally from their imagination, some from source books that helped them along.

And the thing that I loved was how quiet they got as they began to believe that maybe they could draw...
then the excitement as these beautiful, whimsical images began to flow from their pens...

right from their pens!

I'll show a few photos of what they were doing.
These drawings are from women that believed their entire lives that
they could not draw.

Their entire lives (so far) spent not drawing.

Not even really trying because they had been told/believed/were not the creative one in the family/husband told them they needed to quit tracing or copying/and so on and so forth.

Now?
These women are drawing the most beautiful, whimsical, heartfelt images.
Straight to paper with a pen!

Take a local drawing class, check my schedule for one or watch for my online Mark Making class that will take place...um...in the future.

Until then?
Practice making marks.
Every single day.

Here's that peek -

Click on these photos to see the detail!

I do wish that we could have put together a small journal for these pages...
Wouldn't that be awesome to have a hand drawn journal?
Maybe I need to develop another class that includes this...we could squeeze in a small journal, couldn't we?

I'm listing a new local class soon - in Greenville SC.
Please sign up for my newsletter so you can get all the details of my classes - whether local, online or across the country.
I'll also advertise sales on original artwork, prints and handmade books.
I will occasionally offer my subscribers a special discount or deal on classes and artwork.

Keep on making marks!

Elements of My Drawing

When I begin a new piece of artwork, I never really consider what I am going to put into it.
I don't think about where I will start or where I will finish...
I typically start from the "Hey, that would be a great idea!" point of view.
I tend to jump right in, worrying about running out of things (like room on the page) when it actually happens.
Like this piece of artwork.
It's called "The Dancing Elephant"

I love this silly, happy little elephant.
But when I drew her, she kicked her back foot up so high that it went right off that page!
Of course, since I (usually) never sketch things in pencil first I couldn't go back and re-configure the entire drawing.
Or convince her to drop that back foot a little.
But you really can't do anything with a happy elephant anyway- they're going to kick up their heels no matter what you try to make them do...
Instead of trashing the entire drawing, I decided to just draw her tail going off the page as well.
I figured that, in the grand scheme of things, no one would really notice that she was falling off the page.
Or dancing in to it.

That is - until I told all of you...

My point is this - one of the elements of my art is going with the flow.
Learning to work with what you're got in front of you...what you've already done.
I could have thrown this young girl away and look at all the smiles I would have trashed as well!
Instead, I stuck with it, added a few washes of acrylic paint and a ton of interesting tiny details and
introduced my Dancing Elephant to the world.

Maybe I should have called her "Tiny Dancer"...
.
These little details are things that we will be talking at my "Whimsical Mark Making" class I am teaching at Textile Evolution in Colorado Springs on August 20.
We'll also cover drawing on fabric as well as what tools to use when adding color to your drawings.
I'd love for you to join me!

Journal Work

I've been writing and drawing inside of one of my handmade books here lately.
I have written other posts about it (here, here and here). My "plan" is to use this as my everyday journal...just to draw in, write in, a place to hold all those things that elbow around in my head everyday.
And just like anything else, this requires a commitment or it does for me anyway.
Other things are habit for me - drawing, writing- but not in THIS book. I have been using a different book to write in and another one to draw in.
I have read in a few blogs how other people approach this issue. Some use totally separate books for each different practice. Others use the same book for all of it.
It really doesn't bother me if I mix it up. The only thing that I need to consider is the drawing part...if I draw something that I decide to make a thermofax screen from or use it in a different manner, I need to be able to scan or copy it. And that could prove to be difficult if it's in a book with other "things" on the pages around it...I'll just have to be aware of that and try to work around it.

Anyway - thought I'd share a couple of pages that I've been working on.

This is the first page in the journal (paper page that is...I have a couple of fabric based "pages" before that).

Now, who knows - I may choose to spread out some gesso on that page and re-do the entire thing.
That's one of the things that I love about journaling, about working in a book.
You can scrap it and start over...just like that.

This is a page that I had already done some stitching on. I had brushed some watered down acrylic paint on the background. Then later drew a couple of sketchy flowers...then added a thermofax flower screen over that. I still have more plans for this page.

This is a little painting (watercolor) that I did in preparation for my "Whimsical Drawing Class" at Textile Evolution next month.
I'll be showing everyone some tricks and short cuts that I use as well as sharing how I draw. It may not be the Correct Way but it's my way.
Run over to the retreat web site and sign up for that class! I would love to see you there.
Last year we had a blast...just a blast!
Judy Gula (from Artistic Artifacts) will be teaching there as well as vending (oh boy!). She and I are flying out a little early to spend a few days with Liz (we're supposed to be helping but I'm thinking we're going to be playing and laughing). Either way, it is sure to be fun.

And one last page with a whimsical tree on it. I actually left a space to journal on this one! I used Derwent Inkense Watercolor Pencils on it along with my trusty Pitt Pen.
Don't forget to check out the Sketchbook Challenge blog site for this month's theme. Lyric Kinard is the featured artist this month and she had chosen the theme if
"Element".
There are already a lot of great posts illustrating that.

And I am going to be teaching a book class in Greenville SC next month!
I am SO excited about this!
Artists Guild Gallery of Greenville has asked me to teach there. I'll be sending out a newsletter to all of the local people about this class.
I'll put details on the side bar but you can email me at carolbsloan@yahoo.com if you have any questions.
The quick rundown is this -

"Bound by Heart, Made by Hand"
Aug. 8 & 11, 2011 from 10:00am-3:00pm
$135 for both days, an optional $20 kit from instructor
At Artists Guild Gallery of Greenville (AGGG)

864-239-3882

200 N Main Street
Suite 104 Ivey Square
Greenville, SC. 29601 (inside the lobby at Atlanta Bread Company) 

You can see samples inside the gallery (beginning tomorrow) and may sign up there.
You may also email me to sign up.
If you are considering taking the class, better call or email quick as the size is very limited!
The space is smaller but I wanted to keep the class small so I can give everyone lots of attention.

Have a great day everyone!

Can't Resist This

This is a post of mine from the Sketchbook Challenge blog about this month's theme.
I can't resist drawing while I am traveling in the car...

No!

Not while I'm driving!
While I'm riding...
My sweet husband (almost) always drives, leaving me lots of time to draw or paint or whatever it is I'm doing at the time (maybe sleeping).
This past weekend, it was drawing a little bit.
When I am in the research phase of a new class or a new piece of work, I always spend time getting to know the individual elements of what is going to go into the new piece of artwork.
For example, if I were going to do a piece using architectural elements and birds, I would look at/research/draw/paint/think about/dream about architectural elements and birds.
Here is an example of what I drew this weekend.

I've used a source book to get ideas from, then added my own "Callie marks" (Callie is my nickname) (thanks to Melanie Testa for the previous phrase).
I'll be teaching some of these very techniques in August at the "Textile Evolution" retreat in Colorado Springs.
The retreat runs August 17 - 21, 2011 with the one day "Whimsical Mark Making" class on Saturday, August 20.
I'd love for you to join us! It's going to be a lot of fun and you are sure to learn a lot.
I am also offering a two day mixed media book making class called "Bound By Heart, Made By Hand".
This is going to be a fabulous class!

I'll leave you with a partially complete drawing that I did.
You can see how much difference the  little Callie Marks make with the entire drawing.
Sometimes all your drawings need is a few little finishing touches to make them spark!