Surreal Uber Awesome

I had the honor and pleasure of taking an art class with the talented and F'in awesome Traci Bunkers at Art and Soul on October 1st. The class was titled Surreal Uber Painting, and it was everything it claimed to be. The techniques she taught for this type of painting really mesh with my mixed media style. Plus, I love the word Uber....meaning BIG. No teeny weenies for me (the pun is either intentional or not, depending on if you laughed).

I didn't take any pictures of the process because I was so engrossed in creating the piece, and absorbing Traci's awesome energy, that I didn't take a pause to shoot some pics. Know this: I will be utilizing this technique again very soon....thoughts of some collaborative work with my talented friends have been swirling vigorously! And of course, I will keep you all posted.

Traci graciously let me take her picture at the end of class. These are her Surreal Uber creations; the one on our left is in progress, the right is a completed piece.

Traci from another angle. Once I hauled out my camera, some of my fellow classmates started snapping pictures too.

The class was really fun, and you should check out Traci's work using the link at the beginning of this post. She sells some really great things like vibrantly-colored dread ponytails and great stamps, journals etc. Probably the coolest chick I've met from Kansas!

Lonesome Wanderer

This photo was taken by Shelby Koning, my very talented photographer friend. When the Launchpad Gallery posted an open call for artists for a show called "The Family Show," Shelby and I decided to work together on a collaborative project for the show. Shelby came up with the vision, I put my fears of clowns aside, and we settled in for coffee and a photo shoot. We then separately took the finished photos and made our own mixed media version of the vision.

This is the finished piece. The title Lonesome Wanderer came about when I was stuck for a title. Funny huh? I was trying to find a name for this piece, and nothing was coming to mind. I asked Dayna (click the link to see her piece Never Enough Time), my art friend, mentor and studio neighbor (among other labels!) for advice. She suggested that I open a book of poetry and see what jumps out at me. So I randomly pulled a poetry book from her shelf and randomly opened a page. Out jumped a line from a poem "left wandering lonesome" and I knew I had it. I apologize for not having the exact poem here, but I will post it at some time in the future. At Dayna's suggestion, I glued the poem to the back of my piece.

Some details of the piece, including bits of an old clock that I wired onto the canvas. I was amazed, as this piece progressed, at how personal it was becoming. The idea of family typically evokes happiness and joy for me. This piece drew on the loss I feel from my childhood. The fact that I am now a "grown up" and will no longer be able to feel those innocent feelings; I can't un-know the world.

This is Shelby's piece, All That Remains. It's amazing what creative people can do with some great photos and art supplies!

The two pieces together.