I love to spin a tale. But for months now, I’ve been spun by them. So when my friend sent me a photo of an abstract piece of yarn art she’d seen while in South Africa, I had to smile–and then make one of my own. When my 28-year old son saw it, he assumed … Continue reading “I Yarn for You”
I love to spin a tale. But for months now, I’ve been spun by them. So when my friend sent me a photo of an abstract piece of yarn art she’d seen while in South Africa, I had to smile–and then make one of my own. When my 28-year old son saw it, he assumed it was all about stress–but it isn’t at all.
Turn it one way and it’s March, blowing in.
Turn it another, and it’s the bottom of the deep blue.
My son wanted a picture of me holding it for his new style blog on Instagram, but my hair was a wreck. So I held the canvas in front of my face and called it a self-portrait.
A few months ago, an artist friend from a Facebook creativity group began to post gorgeous paintings she had made on paper called ‘yupo,’ which is synthetic paper. Among its advantages are that you can wash off what you don’t like, you can blow the watercolors around the page–with your lips or a hairdryer, you can add … Continue reading “What’s Yupo? Learning a New Technique”
A few months ago, an artist friend from a Facebook creativity group began to post gorgeous paintings she had made on paper called ‘yupo,’ which is synthetic paper. Among its advantages are that you can wash off what you don’t like, you can blow the watercolors around the page–with your lips or a hairdryer, you can add gouache and then stencils and who knows what as you create something from very little.
While visiting friends last summer, I gave their daughter $20 to run down to the local art shop, buy 2 sheets of yupo, and get something for herself. Well–the two oversized sheets were $20. (Better prices online, from Office Depot to Blick and Jerry’s Artarma.) So I chopped the oversized sheets into the 6 x 8 inch pieces I’m more accustomed to working with, and waited a while to figure out what to do with them.
I finally learned, thanks to a class last week with the Muddy Creek Artists Guild, of which I am a happy new member (though I still hesitate to say that I’m an ‘artist’.) An instructor showed us one approach to painting on yupo–clean the paper with rubbing alcohol and, once it has tried, splash a bit of water here and there, and then add up to three complementary colors. You can swirl the paper, or patiently watch the colors swirl. I’m glad I took a picture at this point, because mine was so beautiful that I made it into a card (for sale soon on my Etsy site!).
On sale at JustByJanice on Etsy — $15 for set of 5!
The next step was to pick up the still-damp paper and move it across the room, to set it on the floor with all the other yupo-work, where a fan blew the images dry—and all over the place. I did not have my final one made into a card!
The next time my daughter came to visit, we took my watercolor pencils and small sheets of yupo, and came up with our own designs–mine, the giraffe with runny mascara and hers the Monet-like abstraction. I may frame them both.
Giraffe with bad mascara and Monet lilies
The point of all this was that it was joyful, intriguing, and fun. When was the last time you played with watercolors? And why did you stop?
Key Words: yupo, watercolors, Muddy Creek Artists Guild, creativity, learning
I’ve been working hard to learn the craft of writing for children–it’s tough to do, but I’ve found a wonderful and supportive community where people trade ideas and offer helpful criticism. So, I thought I’d add a few images from stories in process. These stories all happen to be too long for picture books, but … Continue reading “Drawings for Stories in Process”
I’ve been working hard to learn the craft of writing for children–it’s tough to do, but I’ve found a wonderful and supportive community where people trade ideas and offer helpful criticism. So, I thought I’d add a few images from stories in process. These stories all happen to be too long for picture books, but seem to be about right for a middle grades reader. So I’m having great fun writing fiction for the first time since 1994. Completely different process, world, challenge and joy.
Sleepover with GrammyFrom “Maddie the Red and Outside Reading for Summer”“Maddie the Red and the Outside Reading Summer”
Key words: MG books, middle grade books. Maddie the Red, outside reading, adventures for girls, summer break, 12×12 PB challenge
Thanks to the editors at www.thcb.org for featuring my tribute to David Bowie and one of my favorite songs, Ground Control to Major Tom. I’ve contributed to THCB in the past, but always about health policy. I’m glad to have found a kindred spirit there, who can appreciate that we do, in fact, mourn our icons … Continue reading “Bowie Tribute on The Health Care Blog”
Thanks to the editors at www.thcb.org for featuring my tribute to David Bowie and one of my favorite songs, Ground Control to Major Tom. I’ve contributed to THCB in the past, but always about health policy. I’m glad to have found a kindred spirit there, who can appreciate that we do, in fact, mourn our icons and celebrities and public figures, who come to represent and even become a part of a time and space in our own lives.
I have since colored the image and hope others will find it mysterious, joyful, with a bit of longing for a time when life seemed that it truly might last forever.
And just in case you’d like a clean copy of your own to color, feel free to try this version–but be sure to share what you come up with!
