At the beginning of November, on my way up to Yorkshire, I was lucky enough to attend a fabulous 3 day workshop: ‘Mixed Media, Whimsical Collage Circus’ organised by Art Workshops and led by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and Nathalie Kalbach.
It was a residential workshop held in the Holiday Inn in Coventry and there were about 36 attendees.
We were 6 to a table. Look at the contents of the goody bag that greeted us
The organisation was superb, and Nathalie and Julie are excellent tutors.
They would first do a demo
Then we would go back to our tables with a simple set of instructions and create.
One of the first exercises was mark-making
No paint was to be wasted – to clean our brushes we used up any excess paint on newspaper and old book pages.
See the wonderful creative flurry on our table
The best thing was that we were only given about 5 – 10 minutes to do each exercise – no time to think, just paint – it freed me up so much.
At this stage we were creating papers we would later be using in collage.
Gosh it was fun!
Julie and Nathalie both create a range of foam stamps that were there for us to excperiment with
We could also buy packs of them, but by the time I had decided which ones I would like, they had been snapped up!
There was an amazing array of art supplies in the ‘shop’ and lots of shopping going on!
It is hard to know which ones to buy before using them – this one of Nathalie’s turned out to be one of my favourites. She had made a book with each of her Foamies stamped as a simple repeating pattern
The fun comes when you use the stamps over other layers of paint. Here’s what happened when I started to play with it
The trouble is I like it too much to tear it up for collage. You know that feeling I’m sure.
We did some fun exercises and had lots of laughs – at the end of the three days we all had 12, 6″x6″ collages to take home.
I will tell more in a future post, but in the meantime, Julie created a Vlog about her whirlwind trip to Ireland and Coventry which includes our workshop (starts at about 18.40 minutes in) – she has such energy!
Happy crafting!
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You create so many inspiring opportunities in your life Sandra – well done for living it to the full 😊
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Thank you so much Cathy, I really appreciate your lovely comment. ❤
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I don’t blame you for not wanting to tear your end result. Very nice effect!
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I must make more and more so I can use them in collage.
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Wow! Now THAT is cool! Not my thing- but I would LOVE to just soak it all up. Another thing I love about art is you can still get lots of ideas from so many art forms that may not be your style!
Thanks for the link! Can’t wait to watch her vlogs!
Sandra have you ever thought of doing a vlog?
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Haha! Thank you for the question Eliz, but I don’t think you will see me vlogging – that is a whole raft of technology I’m not sure I have the time or inclination to get my head around!
You have got me thinking though – what would I vlog about?
What would you vlog about Eliz?
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It’s your photos and your experiences traveling, so fascinating! I’d watch! :o) Or a vlog sharing your view that surrounds you, in the morning, at night, raining, snowing! It was just a thought :o) I need to search- are there fun Granny vlogs? Or is it just a young people thing?
For me- no time, my expertise is clng (diapers/litterboxes/dogs) and cooking for 14 right now. Not very vloggy.
I think vlogs are easy- just video (my kids use the camera) and download on utube.
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Cooking for 14!!! Yikes! Hats off to you Eliz.
I love that you would be interested in my ‘everyday shinnanigans’ – who knows maybe one day I’ll feel moved to make the odd video or two. You might have sown a seed – don’t hold your breath though! 😉 🙂
xxx
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That looks like great fun. Love the patterns.
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It really was fantastic fun!
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When I first started out mixed media-ing I watched a lot of Julie on YT – and I’ve ever since made my own papers by cleaning my brushes and then going bonkers on them with layers. I make my own large stamps from jandal bases – do you call them jandals like us Kiwis or maybe flip-flops like the Ozzies? I buy the cheap ones from the $2 Shop in large sizes – perfect for carving and I have a supply of giant stamps that work out about 50 cents each. That workshop must have been so much fun!!
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Now that is genius!!! We call them flip-flops and I will be trying that out!
Thank you Pauline! ❤
The workshop really was fun and as ever, meeting like minded arty-crafty types from all over the place was pure delight!
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Looks very much like your thing.
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Exactly so! 🙂
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This looks like a perfect workshop for you; your enthusiasm is excitement is quite evident!
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Oh I’m glad the joy I felt came through – it really was exactly right for me. I’m looking forward to sharing more soon.
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Looks great fun, and I can vouch that you did indeed make some wonderful marks.
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🙂 🙂 Hugs!
It was so good to be able to show you all my spuddlings, hot of the press!
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Wonderful creativity! Bet you were charged by it, and then of course the rest of the trip.
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Yes indeed Laurie – so charged I could not stop painting and pasting for days. Now I’m back home other things have crowded in, but I hope to get back to it in the quiet of the New Year.
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Perfect for the quieter days of January and February.
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The workshop approach sounds so liberating!!
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Yes! that is a great way to describe it Kerry.
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