In Person Workshops this Fall!

When Joan Benoit of Simply Said Stamps asked me if I wanted to do a couple of workshops November 12th- I was thrilled that our calendars aligned. Stamping with PanPastels is the morning workshop and the Gesso’d Journal is after lunch. Play is happening all day long!

Joan is providing lunch for students attending both classes- so we can hang out and have lunch together! Plus there will be shopping before, during, and after the workshops thanks to Simply Said Stamps!

The classes are being held in the Greater Cincinnati area at the Hamilton Township Community Building in Maineville, OH. You can find both classes here. Hope to see you there!

Stamping with PanPastels

Using rubber stamps, you’ll layer, blend, mix colors and seal PanPastels while creating collages full of color. When you walk out the door, you’ll be able to confidently make cards, backgrounds and more with PanPastels because I am sharing the why’s and how’s of PanPastels so you’ll have a clear and strong understanding of the medium.

I’m bringing the PanPastels, the supplies for sealing, and rubber stamps for those willing to share.

Students should bring: 15 cosmetic wedge sponges from the drug store, scissors, glue stick,a black permanent ink pad and variety of 10-12 rubber stamps (bold, fine, little, big, text) or you can share my rubber stamps.

Registration details here.

Gesso'd Journal workshop with Carolyn Dube

The Gesso’d Journal

Master gesso and all that it can do for you as you create a stand up cardboard art journal! After this technique packed workshop you’ll wonder how you ever survived without gesso before now!

We’ll create with abandon using the entire rainbow and you’ll know how to avoid making mud! There’s also a trick to creating with abandon…and I’m sharing it with you as we’re playing with StencilGirl stencils and paint.

Whenever I’m around, there is always an oops and you’ll see it live and how I handle it. In fact, in the photos there are several Oopsies. And I wouldn’t change a thing about them because I see each and every one as a gift from my muse.

I am bringing toys…I mean tools…for you to use including all the gesso, cardboard, paper, and ribbon you need, fine liners, and of course a huge stash of StencilGirl stencils for your play.

What do you need to bring? Acrylic paints in your favorite colors plus black and white, one 1/2” to 1” flat paintbrush, 15-20 cosmetic wedge sponges (the kind from a drug store), scissors, and gel medium. I’m bringing everything else.

Registration details here.

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I Didn’t Listen to the Words of Painting Wisdom

There were words of painting wisdom that I just wouldn’t listen to as I played. The muse kept whispering in my ear, “Let the paint dry.” But didn’t want to stop playing to wait for anything to dry!

I started with a scrap of cardboard, a piece of trash. Why trash today? Because this Let’s Play video is all about no expectations. If am using a piece of trash I have no expectation of greatness which leaves me free to play.

What is Let’s Play? It’s all about rediscovering the ability to play. Each month I share a specific strategy that helped me recapture the freedom and fun of play. This month’s theme is no expectations. You can see more of the Let’s Play series here. Be sure to get entered in the $50 Dick Blick giveaway by leaving a comment.

Watch Art play on a scrap of cardboard on YouTube.

Here’s the the fineliner video mentioned in today’s video.

I finger painted with Dylusions paints and immediately added sparkle with some Viva Decor Glitter Paste. Turns out it doesn’t stick as easily to wet paint as it does to dry paint. So I had some smearing. OOPS. Did I wait for anything to dry? Nope.

I added more color with Prima’s Oil Pastels and guess what. They don’t write so well over very wet paint. OOPS. Did I want for anything to dry? You guessed it. Nope.

The words were stenciled on damp with very juicy paint. Did I wait for anything to dry? Never! In fact after I stenciled all the words using the Finding My Tribe and Now is the Time stencils, I actually got more water- I wanted it wetter!

Not the paint wetter, but the Stabilo pencil I used to outline my messy words. It wasn’t dark enough, so I just dipped that pencil right into a cup of water and magically, the outlining was very dark.

Now you’ve seen my play, let’s see yours! Share what you’re creating with us all in the Facebook group and be inspired by what others are creating! And be sure to leave a comment here to get entered in the monthly $50 gift certificate giveaway!

Here are the supplies I used. Some of these links are affiliate links which means I get a small percentage. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and you are helping me keep this blog and my videos ad free! Thank you- I don’t like ads any more than you do!

InLinkz.com

Want to see more Let’s Play videos? You can find all the weekly posts here.

Sharing your play: I, and a whole bunch of others, would love to see what you’re creating! We’re sharing it in the Facebook group called A Colorful Place to Play. Why Facebook? I’ve listened to your feedback about how and where you’d like to share your play instead of the link parties.

Monthly giveaways: Leave comment on any (and all for more chances) of the weekly Let’s Play blog posts to be entered and one winner each month will be chosen by random.org. Want more chances to win a $50 gift certificate to DickBlick.com? Pin any of the images from the page or share about it on Facebook- then come back and leave a comment telling me what you did and you can have more chances to win! Giveaway closes the Sunday, October 30th at 11 pm EST and the winner will announced on the blog the following Monday.

Congrats to Misty, last month’s winner!

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Upcyling a Paperbag and Going Big with a Gel Plate

Using a gel plate, stencils, and a paper bag to make a giant piece of colorful paper

How big of a print can you make with a little gel plate? As big as the paper (or whatever you are printing on)! This almost 4 foot long print was made with the 3×5, the 6×6, and the 4″ round Gel Press printing plates!

Just printing over and over on the paper with the 3 small gel plates, this jumbo print was created! Cleaning the brayer off directly onto the paper added to the layers of color.

A video posted by Carolyn Dube (@carolyn_dube) on Oct 15, 2016 at 9:29am PDT

Here are the steps to make prints. (If you are getting started gel printing have all sorts of free resources here.)

Step 1

Put any acrylic paint on the gel plate.

The paper I started with was a paper grocery bag to create this jumbo 4 foot long patterned paper. This isn’t my first time paper bag and gel printing – you can see a video of the process here.

Step 2

Put a stencil on the paint. Here I am using my Ladders stencil from StencilGirl.

Step 3

Plop it onto the paper bag. You can do it gently and carefully, but I enjoy the fun of plopping it!

Step 4

Lift up the gel plate and stencil to reveal the print. There is still lots of paint on this one so it can make more prints without adding any more paint. Repeat as many times as you wish until the layers and colors make you happy!

Step 5

Stencil on top of the prints. Once I had the paper full of pattern and color, I finished it by stenciling words here and there. My Verbage stencil can do more than one verb tense. I simply covered up the -ed on the words with a scrap of paper and wished became wish!

Here’s what the paper bag looked like after an afternoon of play. Will I do more to it? Will I leave it as it is? Will I use it as gift wrap? Will I cut it up? Who knows! What I do know is I had a blast making it!