With rising birdsong, carpets of golden dandelions, and baby bunnies, spring is an infectious season where joy comes easily.
Into this season of birth and rebirth, my granddaughter Sophie was born two weeks ago and I was fortunate enough to visit soon after she arrived.
Covid also made a visit to our family. First to three-year-old Sammie, then me, and the rest of the family followed. To make life easier, I moved into a hotel.
There, I dove into You Tube videos of artists I'd heard about but hadn't taken the time to study. Some of my favorites: a wild and wonderful discussion with inkmaker Jason Logan and a documentary of the Gees Bend Quilters. I also traveled to Australia with Fibre Arts Take Two.
Back home and recovering, I realize it’s important to widen my viewing arc beyond Instagram and to nourish myself on what's taking place farther afield. For me, these new images and ideas are an important means of renewal, my own artistic spring. And that's also where many of the ideas for my Monoprint Collage with Antique Papers are drawn from. Both classes are now full, but if you’re interested in a possible fall class, please email me.
All Fall Down
When Things Don't Go As Planne
Remember when I said I was going on a paper chase? I got as far as hefting my suitcase onto the scale at check-in. There, I was told that I couldn’t travel; my passport only had two and half months left on it.
It turns out that you need a full 3-6 months, before renewal, In order to travel to many international destinations, a pitfall I did not anticipate. Plans and dreams of the last year swirled down the drain outside SeaTac with the rain. OUCH!
Knowing that I'm extremely fortunate, (home, family, adequate resources) I wondered how to turn things around. With my sudden "gift" of free time, I realized I could recommit to my studio. I had time to dream, write and connect some of the dots in my practice that I’d been too busy to connect.
The gap time allowed me to come up with the "67 project;" a journal of pages equal to my age, exploring through abstract collage the delights and difficulties of aging that most of us experience, if we are lucky enough to live through them.
And while I was doing that, my friend, writer and artist Carol Spindel, whom I was to meet in Paris, went on her own hunt for papers. She came up with these amazing finds to use in the workshops below. Read on…
Monoprint Collage with Antique Papers
Session 1: June 16 - 17, Sacramento, CA
Session 2: July 15 - 16, Langley, WA
In this 2-day workshop, we’ll create unique and beautiful collages using antique papers as old as 500 years and as recent as the last century. I believe these pages hold a power and beauty that we rarely access in our present day world.
Printing and using them in our collage art becomes a journey in which we interweave the unknown history of the papers with our own personal histories, creating a kind of memoir.
You’re invited to bring old books, notebooks and papers that you love and want to keep, but think you really ought to part with.
Each workshop will take place in an artist’s studio. Limited to 4 students, it will be an intimate group setting with lots of personal attention. Perfect for all levels of creatives and art makers.
Session 1: June 16 - 17, 10 - 2 / This workshop is sold out
The first workshop will take place in Linda Clark Johnson’s Sacramento, CA studio. Located in the heart of town, Linda’s studio opens out onto a beautiful garden space where you can enjoy the company of birds, flowers, and bees.
Session 2: July 15 - 16, 10 - 2
The second workshop will take place in my Whidbey Island studio. Located on Useless Bay, my studio is surrounded by Douglas fir, walks to the Sound and a garden where you can relax, enjoy the local flora and gaze over at horses pasturing nearby.
Collage Makers Summit
Collage Maker's Summit:
A Series of 10 Online Workshops
Hosted by Drew Steinbrecher
Earlier last fall, I received an invitation from artist Drew Steinbrecher to take part in a collage maker's summit. I love the challenge of creating a workshop, so I accepted with pleasure. Drew envisioned a melange of mediums, methods and artists from different parts of the globe, all of us connecting through collage. He gathered 9 other collage artists to teach, each of whom has created a workshop with their particular stamp and personality.
Now we're ready to take off and I invite you to join me. There will be 10 different collage workshops, each sharing unique ways to bring printing, painting, stamping and stitching (as well as other alternatives) into your collage practice.
The workshops are geared to inspire you and open up new ways of thinking about this exciting medium. The summit is self-paced so you can enjoy working when you have the time. There will also be a Facebook group where you can ask questions and share your work. Once you sign up you'll have access to all of the videos for one year.
What am I teaching? I've heard from other artists about the challenges of color and composition so I've created a workshop on working with limited color palettes and collage templates. I'll show you how to use these tools to strengthen your artwork.
The summit opens on February 27, but I wanted to let you know that early bird pricing begins Monday, February 13 and continues through Sunday, February 26. The early bird price is $49. Swing by there and get the early bird price before the price increases to $US $79.
Want to join us? Just hit the button below labeled Collage Maker's Summit. It will take you to all the details and descriptions.
Slow Spring
It's been a very cool, rainy spring up here in the Pacific Northwest. But even on cloudy, rainy days, my studio is always welcoming.
On these slow spring days I've been exploring how to take my botanical print collages in a more abstract direction. I took a giant step forward this week when I sampled Louise Fletcher's Taster course for her workshop, "Find Your Joy."
Louise is an art therapist's dream. She continually reminds her students to "find what feels good," pointing out that you need to know what you love before you learn the technical pieces of color and composition, etc. And, as an intuitive artist, I needed that reminder.
I had a delicious time painting swathes of color, using string and a toothbrush as mark makers and capturing what is going on internally in a lively and visceral form.
I'd already been working with a limited palette of red oxide, ochre and turquoise prior to the course. Going forward I'm giving myself the assignment of continuing that limited palette and using those colors to make prints to be added to a painted ground.
The collage on the top right is my first attempt at merging the two approaches and I like how it reflects my surrounding landscape--can you see the influence of rain? I'll share more of this exploration with you throughout the summer.
Ode to Kurt Scwitters
Sketchbook Journey
Gratitude
My dad, Carl Hanna Klaus, died two and a half weeks ago. More than anyone else, dad influenced my decision to become an artist. As a writer and professor, he had a clear sense of style in all aspects of his life: in his person, his home, his writing and especially his garden. As a child, I observed the care and passion with which he infused each activity.
I spoke with Dad shortly before his death. I thanked him for everything he'd taught me. He told me that although I couldn't be with him, that he pictured me in my studio, working away and that made him happy. I can't imagine a better way to say goodbye.
A page from the sketchbook: "pull out the stops with red."
When the Going Gets Tough
As a child, I loved the sound of the phrase "when the going gets tough, the tough get going." My recent experience has taught me the true meaning of the phrase. Faced with the twin losses of my mom and dad a month apart, I realized I needed a scaffolding, something that could literally help me "get going." It was fortuitous that Cheryl Taves, an artist and art coach, came up with the 30 day sketchbook challenge at the moment I needed it.
There are many art challenges out there. What makes this one different is the time and love Cheryl put into creating an entire workshop including everything from preparation and suggested materials to the anatomy of an entry, prompts, reflections and inspiring images.
My stated goal was to create a sketchbook practice that would act as a pipeline to my formal work. There was however, a hidden agenda. I needed a safe space where I could come every day, bringing my loss. I could dive into the sketchbook knowing that it would provide the stability, love and compassion that I needed. If you're going through a tough time as an artist or maker, check out her workshop. An inexpensive investment, it is well worth your time.
A sampling of pages from the sketchbook