Whose cooler than me?

No one!  At least not when Carla Sonheim draws me.  As part of the class I just blogged about, she had us do quickie little watercolors of the person next to us.  Here's me...Carla style:

I'm pretty sure it's worth about $100,000.

Cool.

Watercolor + Gesso = Carla Sonheim

I was recently fortunate to be able to take a class from Carla Sonheim.  She is the coolest, her class was the greatest and I love the funky animals I created out of mixing and messing gesso and watercolors.

Carla can see animals in ANYTHING...sidewalk cracks, blobs of paint.  She told us to let the random shapes guide us.  The trouble was, I couldn't decide if this was a bird or a fish...so I kind of made it a flying fish...or a swimming bird.

For this one she passed around silly stuffed animals and had us sketch at the speed of light.  I was amazed that my painting actually looked like...a dog.

Here's another one that we created from a sidewalk crack. Unless my sidewalk was on another planet I'm not sure this creature really exists, but I like how it turned out.

I realized I am somewhat indecisive when it comes to reading the blobs.  This was started out being the back of a rabbit..see the right ear sticking up and the little puffy tail?

The only problem is that the more I looked at it, the more it looked like a person doing yoga...arms forward, with one leg bent and the other stretched out somewhat painfully.

Remember that optical illusion...It's a beautiful woman in a hat!  It's an old hag!  It's a beautiful woman in a hat!  It's an old hag!

Who cares?  Either way, it's a WAY cool technique from a WAY cool artist.  In a nutshell, take a class from Carla whenever you have the chance.

Postcard to Carla

For those of you who follow the delightful Carla Sonheim's blog, you may recall that she asked people to send her postcards for her new studio in Seattle. In return, she would send that person a postcard. Well, a body would have to be MENTAL to pass up an offer like that! Who wouldn't want to get a postcard from Carla? So here is what I made this weekend to send her... -------------

Because it was going through the mail, I didn't want to rely on glue to hold the fringe-y trim on, so I found some colored staples in my stash and used those instead.


And I love to use those little paper drink umbrellas in my collages. Just open one up completely (it works better to do this BEFORE enjoying too many of the drinks that accompany said little umbrella), snip the little white spokes that hold the paper to the stick and work the stick through the hole at the top. I just affix with white glue like Elmer's and they end up wonderfully translucent.

And look at the laundering instructions on the wrapper from really old embroidery floss...it recommends using Ivory soap.

Carla's Coming To Town!

I just found out that one of my favorite people, Carla Sonheim, sold her home in Salida, CO and will be moving to Seattle with her family! I met her at Artfest several years ago and along with a bunch of Seattle artgirls became friends with her. She gave us some fabric transfers of her art and I incorporated one of them into a purse I made, shamelessly copying her purse pattern.
,,,,

If you're happy and you know it...google yourself!

I borrowed a zany idea I saw on Carla Sonheim's blog...googling your first name preceded by an adverb. I had no idea I had toothless admirers, coupons for shoes, am exempt from writing stories, have no aptitude for diagnosing dehydration, and (sadly) disappeared into a mushroom cloud.

Next time you're avoiding actual work, try it!

Happily, Cindy received her Certificates of Occupancy and opened Dogma's doors in 2006!

Happily, Cindy is distinctly chilly towards him chasing after you.

Happily, Cindy and I will have our very own pair with the shoebuy.com coupons we used to save.

Happily, Cindy at the local branch said they were full of it.

Happily Cindy will continue as an ordinary member of the club.

Happily, Cindy is continuing as an NCPA member.

Happily Cindy will still be near enough to come to coffee occasionally and attend other events in the Department.

Someone smiles happily. Cindy disappears in a mushroom cloud.

As the ladies clapped their hands happily, Cindy said, “Uni and I are new so we don't have to do stories."

Happily, Cindy has fully recovered, they have a thriving business and their jewelry is available in 300 stores, including Saks and Barney's.

Zolov looked up happily Cindy! Cindy! Cindy! he cried out with a gleeful toothless smile.

Happily Cindy went up the stairs, and locked herself in the bathroom to celebrate the events of today.

Happily, Cindy mistook his distress for advanced dehydration and poured him a liberal cup.

Happily, Cindy said, "I will meet you at the bar."

When all you have is 30 minutes...

Here are some watercolor doodles and a beautiful quote I recently worked on. My friend Carla Sonheim gave me a quick lesson in watercolor painting a few years ago and one thing I love about it is that there's no elaborate or timeconsuming setup or cleanup, so it's easy to do if I only have a half hour to play.

I had seen a peacock image similar to this one, although I'm quite sure THAT one didn't look so much like a blue chicken.

Thank you, Carla!

When my friend Carla Sonheim posted this painting in her blog, I commented that I absolutely adored it. For some reason it reminded me of a scene from "Out of Africa"...a simple house surrounded by a vast savannah with low, stark trees. Or maybe it's a thatched roof hut on a quiet island beach...

And guess what...less than week later, I received a surprise package from Carla, with that very painting! And it's even more beautiful in person. When I thanked her she just said, "Well, I'm going through things before we pack up and move so I thought it'd send it to you."

I was so touched by her thoughtfulness and generosity...and all the more excited that she'll be moving to Seattle sometime this summer, close to where I live.

Yahoo for artgirl friends!!!!!!!!!

McCook to Macdonald

This is another watercolor painting I did after being inspired by my friend Carla. I found a very old encyclopedia with pages made from heavy, absorbent paper that I love to paint on. After sketching out the design lightly in pencil, I went over it with a fine tip waterproof pen and then applied a light wash of paint. When the first coat dried (in just minutes) I went over most of the areas with another coat of a similar color to give the painting more depth. The great thing about this project is that it's surprisingly portable and not messy at all...unlike almost everything else I do.

Accomodations on Artgirl Island

This is a watercolor painting I did on a pages from a very old encyclopedia. I never, ever, once, not-even-for-a-second suspected I could draw or paint, but under the very patient tutelage of Carla Sonheim (see her cool rabbit painting below), I learned I could. I'm not claiming they're works of art, but I am claiming it's loads of fun to do.