Sunday, August 8, 2010

Intensive Art Therapy.........

I have spent three - yes THREE blissful days at the artistic home of this lady...


That's because I've been to my fave place in Harrogate - Art From the Heart
And I created arty pieces like this...



..with other arty people like these...



...under the artistic tuition of this fantastic lady...



(another photo 'cos I LOVE her! I learned so much...) The talented Dina Wakley



The lady figure used in my work is a favourite image of Dina's and she calls her Betty - pretty apt I thought, as Harrogate is famous for Betty's.



Now there should be a photograph of the most beautiful Jude here but it seems to be missing - but this is her work... Jude and I are bloggy friends and met in person earlier this year at Dyans - it feels like we have been friends forever... and btw her husband is the BEST personal shopper in the whole wide world. Ask Anybody!



Another one of mine - Jude liked this one, she calls it my 'giraffe piece' because of the colours I think, and perhaps the markings! (I applied the paint with a credit card) Oh - can you spot Betty in there - perhaps she's visiting the zoo?



Now onto day three - Shelley was able to join me today and we had MEGA fun 'creating "painted" portraits' (We applied paint and pastels to colour a photograrph, mine was black and white, blown up and printed onto A4 card) It took a leap of artistic guts for me to do this - I was pretty nervous, (I think most of the students were) I've shown them in the order I did them... in this first one of me, my brush strokes were long, hence the effect I achieved here - I'm not saying I don't like it, in fact I'm quite pleased with it for my first attempt. Some of the others had fantastic results - Steph forgot her own photographs so she altered 'photo's of Dyan and John and wow oh wow, what an amazing job she did. (You'll have to check Dy's blog for them)



This one of Laura-Beth is better, although I still need more practice blending the tones...



And then my third attempt with a photograph of Steph, our bride to be.
It's a scary process you know, my tummy kept flipping and my mind was thinking eeeek, here's what it looks like after adding colour to the face and hair as the eyes and mouth are left till last..



I like this the best, although I still need to work on the contrast of dark and light.. but Andy Warhol watch this space!



Ah, here's Shelley playing away...



And here she is again with Jude - glamour girls together..



Dina giving instruction and advice with son, Carter (THE most amiable young man!) getting in on the act..



And here is Ann, who made me laugh the whole weekend - she brought along this netting so we could use it to make texture in our work and jokingly put it on her head (Ena Sharples style)



And perhaps the funniest thing of the whole weekend was the fact that she has renamed these wonderful pastels - they are now known as 'portafino' - and if you see Jude she will teach you how to pronounce it - true Italian style!

Well they do have a P and an O and an R and T and an F ....



It shall be quiet on this front for a couple of weeks as my arty goods are being packed away, my art room is a bedroom and we are going to be having a little visitor from Leicester who will need to occupy the space! Laura-Beth, Jim and Charlie are coming to stay. Happy times!

18 comments:

  1. Wow Sandra looks like you had a fabulous weekend - love all your art too have fun with your visitors x Janet

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  2. What great break you had - looks like great company as well as great art!

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  3. Fab photos. And what a great weekend!

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  4. Can you SEE my face? How GREEN (with envy) it is? I really want to go on one of those weekends .... looks like you had a fabulous time!

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  5. We had a fab weekend didn't we and you are correct in your comment about Dina she is lovely and fantastic and such a great teacher. I love all your art work I haven't unpacked mine yet I was too shattered.
    Love Pat xx

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  6. WHAT a weekend...!!! I feel like I've laughed and smiled the entire time and I LOVED it all. Thank-you for being my workspace buddy (even though I hog most of the desk...!!) and it was so lovely spending lots of time chatting, creating and giggling (a lot!) xxxx

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  7. Sunday was just amazing... as always tis a pity we dont get to chat much on workshop days! so many ladies I would love to have talked to..... your portraits are great Sandra,as you say practice makes perfect..... Dina is an one amazing lady and though i didnt make the whole weekend just being there for the day was brill. Didnt know the class was til 5.oopm! need to read the small print!!!! Ciao

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  8. Yes, what a fabulous weekend we had, everyone was fantastic and Dina is a magical teacher. I'm bushed, so not even looked at the stuff I did yet, maybe later in the week when I've recharged my batteries. Your artwork is fantastic, even though on Saturday you had the smallest space to work on, lol. xx

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  9. I know I won't forget this weekend in a hurry, and my Mum came over to day to see my artwork and now she wants to do it too, so I think we need to start a bring Dina back campaign! Great to meet you, and look forward to the next time!

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  10. It looks like you all had the most amazing weekend.

    Your artwork is brilliant and the portraits are so clever!

    TFS
    Lx

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  11. i so look forward to the day when i can sneak up that way and see AFTH in the flesh as it were and take a class or too, this weekend looked abfab, am so jealou of you all (& you know who you are . . ), love the work you have done it is fab. :)

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  12. Your artwork is fab, and you have all learnt so much, I think you have all done such an amazing job. But it has to be said (again) what an amazing teacher and such an inspirational women Dina is. I,m hopeing she will come back so i can learn how to do the backgrounds. so staying true to my nature and doing things the wrong way round Lol. sue x

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  13. I love colouring in photo's - I didn't realise it was an actual technique! The banner on my blog is a photo from Google coloured with watercolour crayons and then mirrored ;)I loved this post - your enthusiasm and the fun you had is literally spilling off the screen. Your work is gorgeous as always :) I'll miss seeing your stuff *g*

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  14. What a fabulous way to spend 3 days Sandra! Your artwork looks fabulous! Can you tell how green I am?! Enjoy your visitors!
    Alison xx

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  15. Sandra... just to wish you a fantastic happy significant birthday. Numbers mean nothing, its whats in your heart and your head.... you are not old just.. of age! hope you get loads of special prezzies. enjoy... Ciao xxx

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  16. You are so awesome...your post made me giggle and when Carter gets home from school, I have to show him that photo! Spending 3 days with you was bliss, when can I come back and do it again? hee hee

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  17. Happy Birthday! What did you get?

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  18. This looks like such fun, and your pieces are fab - I'm so jealous!

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