Time Flies

Today I spent the day at Rijssen, a quiet little town in Overijssel province in the East part of the Netherlands. It was for the Mixed Media workshop taking place at Hobby Visions arts and crafts supply store where I buy stuff on-line. I happened to discover this workshop when I was browsing their site whilst shopping.

It was over am hour drive to get there from my bf’s place near Utrecht but it was certainly worth it! As soon as I arrived at the shop, I noticed how friendly and welcoming everyone was. Many were local. The workshop was of course all in Dutch, and I was able to follow it which I am proud to say. Despite being far from fluent, I was treated normally and made to feel at home. I even prefer it when no one speaks in English to me (even though they speak it) and continues speaking in Dutch which was the case today.

Workshop was divided into two parts, and this blog covers the first bit. Under the wonderful instruction Cindy Wille, we created a collage of various embellishments including cardboard, metallic bits and small imitation flowers. And no, I didn’t draw the clocks, feathers and butterflies! They are actually pre-printed illustrations from which we could choose and cut out. We made this on a small canvas board. My first time to use that, given my art work is always on paper. What a cool experience that was!

We brushed the canvas firstly with white gesso to prime the surface. Then I took a stencil and scraped some modeling paste on the right side to give it some embossed texture. I then glued some honeycombed shaped cardboard on the left. After letting the modeling paste and glue dry, I carefully spritzed some pink and violet ink on the area. The embellishments were then glued on with a special glue gun once the ink was dry. For finishing touches, I dotted some Nuvo Crystal Drops in random areas using gold, copper and pink. Found them so effective, I ended up buying some at the shop today in various colours!

I enjoyed being able to experiment with something different and am very pleased with the results. Although I don’t do any embellished work, I can certainly use some of the ideas here about collages like being able to layer and overlap them. I find my work lacks overlapping pieces, and the subjects are always separated instead of overlapping as well. I need to be more brave about that. Furthermore, I would be more inclined to prepare my own illustrations myself rather than using pre-printed pieces. It’s because I feel they should represent me and my style.

A very informative session nevertheless. Picked up a number of ideas and got introduced to new products. Can’t wait to incorporate them in my work soon!