Sunday, August 29, 2010

Silhouette art class and Mosaics to come!

Saturday I learned a new art technique, silhouettes. It's amazingly easy, extremely relaxing and ultimately addicting. Jan my former "Roomie" from Room with a Past, was our fearless teacher, providing all materials and cinnamon rolls on a stick for a snack. So cute and so Jan. She's a class act. I always admired her talent back when we met at Room with a Past, she can make anything cute with her uncanny flair. She used to make silhouettes on big window panes with different words and images and they impressed me. I thought it looked really labor intensive and tricky. Wrong. Cats outta the bag now, they are really easy and fun. Only hard part is not making a mess, and taking your time. Now for some this is no problem, yet hip chick is impatient and rather messy so there were a couple of  lessons I learned here. 1. slow down 2. slow down 3. slow down. hahaha. But really I jumped right in and started, didn't even wait for instruction, otherwise mine might have been put on correctly instead of incorrectly. Then I decided to use oil paint for the tutu part of the image, and in my excitement and haste I put the paper back on before the paint dried and smudged the image slightly. Classic hip chick move, I want to hang a thing before it's even had a chance to dry, doesn't everyone do this???!!! I amuse even myself with my impatience and this was just another time I saw my spaziness get in the way of a masterpiece. The other students however did great, they listened, they put together their pieces and were delighted with the results. Jan provided all kinds of silhouette choices from birds, initials, dancers, Halloween images etc. and you place the image on the glass (backwards) ideally and then paint directly on the glass. Once you remove the outline you have a lovely silhouette and you can see your handiwork. Jan gave us fun paper choices to back the images or you could just go au natural and have it be a black and white look. I loved it, and I want to do more, bigger and with themes for the shop. Thanks Jan for teaching me something new, for bringing new faces to the store and for being my creative friend. I hope you teach many more classes at the studio and it encourages me to do the same. Any time I make something with my own hands I am energized and happy. The next art class is going to be a mosaic class taught by Jean in Oct 2nd and 3rd. Jean will provide all the materials and teach this two day class at Hip Chick studios. The mosaics are garden themed geckos and butterflies equipped with hanging devices, really colorful and fun decor pieces to keep or give for the up coming holidays. Sign up before it fills up, Jean's email is jeancernigoj@comcast.net for any questions. It's very rewarding for this hip chick to help other creatives to do their thing and shine. I also benefit by sharing my place and learning new techniques. Don't cha just love win win scenarios? 


Butterfly mosaic for class