I’m not usually an openly political person – this is something of a political posting, but more of an ecological item, not party politics. If you live anywhere in North or Central America, this could affect you.
Yesterday afternoon during the post-lunch-pre-dinner lull, we took over one of the rooms at Eight4Nine in Palm Springs and held a watercolor collage workshop. (The other half of the ‘we’ is Rick of Incredible Art Center.) A couple of attendees didn’t show which made it a class of five, three of whom weren’t sure about their creativity levels. We fixed that! Here are some of the results.
Tom, Dylan with first collage, Laura.
Dylan with second collage, Jim and AJ.
Just about every time I do a watercolor collage workshop, someone (usually someone who thought they weren’t terribly creative) does something that no one else has done before. This time it was Jim who wanted a cow as an item on his collage. He like to cook and is collecting food or food-source related art for his kitchen. After creating his background, he wanted to put a cow-head shaped foreground piece and needed help drawing a cow. I’ve actually never drawn one, but after a couple tries came up with an outline that he was happy with. Additionally, he painted the face and shadow items on with watercolor after. All the students were so engrossed in what they were doing, we delayed the delicious appetizers until the end of the class.
These two bowls are donated by Ikea to the Salvation Army for local artists in Moreno Valley to decorate for auction for the support of homeless children in the area. Rick Archer, the gallerist at Vanguard Gallery talked me into painting two bowls this year by simply sliding both under my nose one day while I was at the gallery. I’ll be delivering these today. You can see more about the Hunger Bowl project on the Vanguard website.
The bowl on the left has painted around the rim: “Hunger is only as deep as a bowl… but the fear of it is as deep as the sky.” At the bottom is a dark moonless night skyscape.
The bowl on the right has painted around the rim: “A hungry bowl is a shallow bowl, not deep enough to capture the morsels of hope that are thrown into it.” The little green and white flecks you see are a dollar bill cut up in little pieces.
….well I suppose it would work….
…you go to grab a clean knife from the draining rack in the morning to open your muffin, and it’s a palette knife….
Skyscapes for the Soul - Jeni Bate 