Watercolor Painting Workshop

Yesterday, I took a beginning watercolor painting class with instructor Terry Collington at the Middletown Library.  The workshop was yet another offering of the Makery@Middletown series, through which I have taken papermaking, painted river rocks, and a jewelry-making class in the past.

Terry brought us to the front of the room to offer demonstrations of each step of the painting process, and our ultimate plan was to complete a watercolor birch tree scene, similar to the sample she offered us.

My finished project won't take the watercolor world by storm, to be sure, but it's always a good day when I get to fling a little paint around.

Here is the piece under a black mat to give a sense of what it might look like if it were framed. I believe the instructor's word was "bland" when it came to my sponge painted background; I tend to agree.

I brought the painting home, spattered some blue paint over top of it, and cut it into two postcards and a bookmark. After adhering some cut-out phrases from magazines, I outlined the papers in black Sharpie pen, and I'm pretty happy with the results.

I am a mixed-media artist at heart, and will seldom be satisfied with a straight-up watercolor painting that hasn't been "messed around with" in some way!

Art on the Parkway

Today I took advantage of the opportunity to join the Women's March on Philadelphia, one of the many Sister Marches to the one taking place in Washington, D.C.

For some, the march focused on peace, for many it focused on women's rights, and for quite a few it focused on protesting the new president.  The signs carried by the marchers reflected the various perspectives and concerns.  While my blog is not political in nature, it occurred to me that the many posters being carried by the participants represent a body of creativity that I wanted to share here.  And while I did not necessarily agree with the content or spirit of every sign I saw, I have to say that reading them was one of the most entertaining parts of the experience for me.

I am not going to make accompanying comments, but rather present a gallery of some of the interesting sights I enjoyed today.  If you would like more information about the purposes of the march, please feel free to visit the page expressing their vision and intent.

As we walked away from the rally, toward a restaurant visit and the train ride home, we saw many of the participants leaving their signs along a bridge, creating a gallery of the day's sentiments:

Makery @ Middletown: Paper-Making

Handmade papers from a local library workshop

I have discovered yet another reason to love my local library!

The Middletown Free Library offers a full roster of Makery events, bringing the arts and crafting to our local community through free adult programming.  Recently I attended a workshop with my mother where we made our own paper.  I had tried this years ago, with all the "right" supplies, and wasn't particularly pleased with my results.  Here we used some interesting "around the house" sorts of supplies, and I really like the papers I created!

The workshop was held in the cinder-block basement of the library, with a well-tarped floor to capture our wet mess-making.  Each table held two or three large tubs (like you might use to store decorations or out-of-season clothing) filled with water.  Alongside each tub, we were provided with a framed screen, loose screen, a towel, and a sponge.

Here I am, ready for some paper-making!

For our first step, we chose paper scraps to throw into the blender with water to create our paper pulp. (We burned out one blender motor right away, and were left with a single machine to share!)

Then we dumped the blender carafe of pulp into our plastic tub of water.  The next step is to dunk our framed screen under the water, drawing pulp up onto it as we bring it back above the surface.

Pulp on the screen with petal and tea leaf embellishments

At this point, we could add "goodies" from the table up front: petals, grass, tea leaves, glitter.  By pressing these add-ons gently into the pulp, they became part of the handmade paper.

Table of inspiration and embellishments

We then put a screen over our paper creation and gently pressed the sponge onto the screen, causing excess water to fall out the bottom and back into the tub. Sometimes, when there was very little water left, I continued to press the sponge onto the screen on top of a towel to soak up the last drops.

Using a sponge to push out as much water from the pulp as possible

When we had as much water as possible pressed out of the paper, we turned the framed screen over onto an unframed piece of screen and "encouraged" the paper off of it.

Some paper required more "encouraging" than others to get it to come off the screen!

This unframed screen was then set aside onto newspaper to allow our handmade paper to dry.

My handmade papers drying on the floor of our workroom

It took a very long time for my papers to dry; they sat out on my kitchen island continuing the drying process once I got home, and I wouldn't say they were fully dry until I woke up the next morning.

And what a stack of interesting handmade papers I had to show for my efforts!

A new stash of handmade art-making materials!

I haven't done anything with them yet, but I foresee using them in my art journal, as gift tags, and as parts of upcoming collage projects.

I love that the materials we used in the Middletown workshop were all easily accessible for someone at home--no big investment in supplies other than some screening from the hardware store.

More paper-makers at play 

My mom. Those water tubs didn't stay clean for long once we started playing with the pulp!

When the weather turns warm again and we can spend lots of time outdoors, I might even tackle this project with my kids!

My First Letter Writing Social

A Letter Writing Social Tablescape

I have been hearing about Letter Writing Socials for years, especially from Pamela at Cappuccino and Art Journal and Mary England of Uncustomary.  The main goal of the letter writing social is to keep the art of the written letter alive in this age of emails and other digital communications.

Like-minded people gather around typewriters, pretty papers, pens, stickers, decorative tapes and other staples of the traditional-meets-modern letter writer.  They sit at tables that are deliciously crowded with supplies and other letter-writers' works-in-progress.  They sip tea, or coffee, or wine--depending on the venue--and leave with postcards or letters written, stamped, and ready to send.

The Midtown Scholar in Harrisburg, PA

I attended my first Letter Writing Social in mid-August at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore and Cafe in Harrisburg, PA.  Our organizer Anne had loads of supplies to offer us, and several of us brought contributions, as well.  My mother came along with me, and I had an opportunity to see my old friend Becky (the Snail Mailer) and meet the illustrious Mary England, blogger-author-and-life enthusiast, promoter of self-love and creativity.

My Mom and I, fan-girling with Mary

Our location was perfect--tables set up right in the heart of the bookstore.  Not only did we have attendees who knew of the event ahead of time, but we also drew in passers-by who were often mystified and then delighted to discover that we were "just sitting there writing letters."

Our organizer, Anne, with Mary England at the start of the social

Our typewriter station, with Becky on the right

We had some young participants who enjoyed the mysteries of the ancient typewriter.

Sometimes the letter-writing became a family affair:

And there were some couples who made Sunday a letter-writing afternoon date:

There was lots of enthusiasm generated by the social, whether expressed by diligent work or big smiles.

For my part, I prepared several postcards, and wrote messages on three of them (including one I mailed to myself!).  Everyone was generously sharing their supplies (to the extent that they were saying, "Take these papers, take these stickers---please!) so I expanded some of my mail art stash as well.

And if ever I needed some visual inspiration, I could always gaze around at my favorite sight--shelves upon shelves upon shelves of books at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore.  They have an impressive collection of over 200,000 new and used books, and offer a popular community meeting space in my state's capital city.

Anne is already planning the next Letter Writing Social in October.  I am looking forward to getting back to my mail art making and letter writing, with the help of Mary's Snail Mail eCourse.  If you are interested in finding out more about the fun of old-fashioned/new-fangled letter writing, Mary has tons of resources, and you can email me at aleakaskey@yahoo.com for more information too!