preparing for Orvieto!

I think this is the book for me! My trip to Orvieto is a go, so I'm really getting excited!! We've got 7 with room for just 3 more! Here's the Registration form and final payment is due February 10. If you've got an logistical questions, please email Bill and Kristi our most wonderful hosts.

art making and bloody marys

Oh my, we had just too much fun at Barbara and Nancy's yesterday! Linda came too, and we ate, drank and laughed our way through the day, making art and altering christmas cards. Great time!

Night Flight

A collage made from Cyanotype leftovers and stencils and stamps and then of course hand-sewing. It needs a title. Any suggestions?

12/9/09: Thanks for the title suggestions! Denise and Mary (on facebook) both suggested "Night Flight" and that one spoke to me. thanks everyone!

moonlit lily

I'd posted this one before, but without the lace in the left corner. Now it's finished. Cyanotype (AKA sunprint) then painted.

lily in the sky sans diamonds

The third in the series of Lily cyanotypes.....

aloe at ellens

I painted this yesterday, as I taught a workshop in Encinitas. The garden was full of these blooming aloes, and it would have been fun to do a series. I added the chop (in Chinese means Plain Jane) once I got home.

Saturday workshop location

It was cloudy but not too cold at the workshop yesterday. The garden was glorious as usual!

tis the season

Our first decoration of the impending holiday season. This year it's my turn to write the holiday letter/recap and husb's turn to illustrate the card. We alternate, and have been creating our own Christmas cards for...at least 15 years. I use to make cards that could hang on the recipient's Christmas tree, but as our own tree got tinier, I just make cards now. Scan, write and print out at home, then mail. So, I guess I'd better start writing!

tree silhouette

Inspired by the current exhibition, Stephen Curry: Next to Nothing, at the Athenaeum in LaJolla. I've been taking photos of the trees to the sky and then do minor tweaking in Photoshop (I really know very little about photoshop). Not sure how these will influence or work into my art, but I like 'em.

the view

And here's the view from Ramona Dam, looking towards the Pacific Ocean.......

Day after thanksgiving

Husb and I joined a docent and a small group for a hike in Blue Sky Reserve. We hiked up to Ramona Dam, that would be 5 miles RT with an 800' altitude gain! Great hike and we hope a wonderful new tradition for the day after thanksgiving.

a peek at a work in progress

You know, I teach on joggles.com but I also take their online workshops too. Here's a small portion of a piece I'm working on in Janet Lasher's joggles class. It's layered and hand-stitched (hello carpel tunnel!) and it's going to be a little portfolio. If you click to enlarge, you'll see it's made of photocopies of my cyanotype/sunprints. And my black wing bird stamp makes several appearances on this.

And happy thanksgiving dear blog readers! I'm thankful for you, for my creativity, for my strong hands (particularly after stitching on this project all day) and my dearest husb.

winery hibiscus

My one-on-one classes have been well received. I taught my 13th student yesterday, with 2 more scheduled next week. We meet at a nearby winery, and I show them how I do my journal pages as in "Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style." This week, I had two blog readers, one from Portland and one from Northern California. They were visiting San Diego, and emailed me in advance. We spent 3 hours, drawing and painting and talking. It's terribly pleasant, and I think all the students have learned a bit. I've had some very good artists and some brand new beginners...All in all, a win-win for both of us. ($75 for 3 hours per person.)

Upcoming: December 5 in Encinitas at the gorgeous California Center for Creative Renewal, Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style. Register through Ellen at ellen@artretreats.com or phone 760-436-3310. 9-5.
Collage 101 on December 12, 1-4 pm, at Bravo Workshops Register: 619-223-0058 or workshops@BravoSchoolOfArt.com $44 plus $5 materials.

winery leaves

We have autumn in California. You just have to look for it.

winery succulent

Another page from my morning at the winery.

Sketching at the Mingei Museum

I mentioned our sketchcrawl group went to the museums to draw. I chose to draw straight to ink, with a more or less continous line. I got lots of pages drawn this way, it's quick and fun to do in a museum, where they won't allow watercolors. I filled in a little color later at home. A Dia de los Muertos altar at the Mingei Museum.

Sketching at Mingei

The exhibits at the Mingei Museum are always fabulous but the works, story and presentation of Sonabai was especially moving. These little birds are by an artist from her village, in her style of working. The patterns are those wonderful wire stamps make for block printing fabric in India.

I did this in a quick, straight to ink continuous line.

pods at the winery

I taught a one-on-one "sketching & watercolor: journal style" today at the winery to Cynthia from Portland. We spent a lovely morning at the winery drawing and painting. First we did continuous line drawings to warm up, and here's mine of the pods. I can see this as a texture stamp, or maybe sewn lines on a quilt.

winery pods

I do like pods...

november sketchcrawl 2009

We had a wonderful sketchcrawl yesterday! Eight of us met in Balboa Park sketched the morning at the fabulous Mingei Museum, my favorite museum in San Diego, then met for lunch and sharing our journals (photo) then a few of us went to the San Diego Museum of Art to sketch for a few more hours. Just a terrific day.

Hey, Art Unraveled website is up and you can register right now and they'll begin filling the workshops on December 15 for the August event! See registration details on the AU site.

crow dreams

I do like birds quite a bit, can you tell? This is about 10x10" and mixed media on paper. I've recently found that a can of spray gesso and a piece of lace is an excellent addition to any piece of art.....

black wing bird

I drew a page of very quick continuous line drawings of some little artificial birds, they turned out so cool and funky, that I carved this stamp from one of them.

lily

Another cyanotype (sunprint) creation. Thanks to my fellow artist and friend, Linda Blinn, she and I are really getting into all the things one can do to turn the simple process of cyanotype into a more complex art piece. For this one, I drew and painted on a finished sunprint.

casa de estudillo, but thinking of Orvieto

This was my quick demo at the workshop last saturday.

One of my new friends is considering going to Orvieto with me and asked about traveling alone.
Here's what Bill, one of the organizers, had to say:
* About half of those who travel with us are single, which is nice because it isn't all pairs. Currently with your group, it looks like 2 are traveling alone.
From the very beginning we get together, meet each other, and start the process of becoming friends. Nobody does anything alone unless they want to. Our groups are small so it is easy to get to know the others.
Orvieto is unbelievably safe, feels that way because it is clean with lots of people about everywhere, is not big so there's no getting lost. Consequently, a single woman feels very comfortable there.
* We gather people's travel plans and help them hook up at the airport to travel to Orvieto together. Most planes from the US arrive in the morning at similar times so it is easy to meet. Our folks share pictures of themselves and we provide pictures and suggestions for where to meet. We also send a very detailed travel guide with pictures and instructions for getting to Orvieto. No one has been lost.
* We don't yet know if people will be staying on after our trip. They usually do. This fall, two ladies who had not met until they got to Orvieto planned the post-trip activities together. These conversations and planning is one reason we will set up a group - to facilitate it all.
Please let her know we would be happy to talk to her about any questions she has. Hope that helps! Ciao - Bill

The Bella Italia: Orvieto Sketchbook workshop is May 23-29. Husb and I will be arriving a few days before the official start, and our plan is to travel to Venice the following week...I promise I won't wear my pajama jacket from the previous post!

Call Anna Wintour

Noel, one of my friends and fave students took photos of the last class of my Mixed Media with Paper & Cloth class. (Next session starts February 1). Check out her photos here.

As for the classy jacket I'm wearing, it's a pajama top. I bought the pajamas at Target and thought the top looked like a artsy jacket. So I bought another pair of the pajamas, gave the pants to Helen to help her conquer her fear of monkeys, and now I wear the tops as a jacket. Do you think Vogue knows about this yet?

terra cotta suns

This is one of my drawings from yesterday's visit to Old Town. It's tiny, about 2 x 3" and the rest of the page is empty! I plan on adding to it....Maybe from our sun collection on the back patio.

knitting

So, I'm new to knitting. I bought this goregous yarn at The Shepardess yesterday and began knitting. I realize I don't have a concept of what's it called?...the color way?...I'm knitting knitting and only through 3 of the colors on the ball of yarn. I want more immediate gratification of color! I'm thinking I'll unroll the ball of yarn and make two balls, then knit 2 stands at once...Either way, it's gorgeous yarn and I'm going to add it to a wet-felting project I have in mind.

workshop

Yesterday, I taught a "Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style" workshop in Old Town, San Diego. The weather was perfect and the people in the class delightful! Here are some of the students in the garden of Casa de Estudillo an 184 year old hacienda.

My next "Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style" is on December 5 in the gorgeous gardens of the California Center for Creative Renewal in Encinitas. Email Ellen to register.

Blue Acorns & the Quail

I took this to my framer today.....It will be at the Amigos de Allende Reception on November 21, 3-6pm in San Diego.

Art Reception Nov 21 San Diego

If you're in San Diego, come join us at the Amigos de Allende reception.

telephone wire basket

And oh so practical! here's my completed basket. I knit the sides and bottom with telephone wire. I did this artsy photo with the eggs, so you could gauge the size. Funky, huh?

You know you can check my website for classes and workshops, but I wanted to give a heads up on some recent additions (not yet on the website). I'll be teaching at Idyllwild Summer Arts Program July 4,5 and 6th. A 2-day Mixed Media with Paper & Cloth and a 1-day wet-felting workshop. And I just got word that I'll be teaching 3 one-day workshops at Art Unraveled in August 2010, Recylced Circles; Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style; Duet: Watercolor Flowers & a hand-carved Stamp. And a week at the Montecito Family Summer Camp, (week 9) August 15-21st of morning workshops in Sketching & Watercolor.

And while I'm plugging, don't forget the week in Orvieto Italy May 23-29. The trip is a go, with just a few spots left!

Gosh, 2010 is promising to be quite an exciting year!

pumpkin

Another semi-continuous line, loosey-goosey drawing. I'm having fun working freely, not quite knowing how it will turn out. And I love drawing and painting pumpkins!

Studio Art Quilts Associates

Hey, art quilters out there! You are a member of SAQA aren't you? Studio Art Quilt Associates is an international group of more than 2400 members, all who love and support the art of the quilt. Just take a look at the website and you'll see some wonderful artwork. Well, yours truly is the new SAQA co-rep for Southern California. I'm actually the SoSoCal rep, because Loris Bogue is the north Southern Cal rep, Jamie Fingal is the central SoCal and I'm the South SoCal. I'm just learning the ropes, so don't ask me any hard questions--but do take a look at SAQA and think about joining.

The quilt pictured, Rosewood, was created by wet-felting, then I cut it apart and reassembled it, much like I did for Eucalyptus Zen, that was exhibited at both the Long Beach and Houston International Quilt festival. And this photo doesn't do it justice--it doesn't show the bead work that adds a little shine to the piece. Don't forget I'm teaching wet felting in the San Diego area on January 9.

pears pom thread

A loosely-goosey continuous line, watersoluble ink. Wonky, but with a certain, subtle charm.

knitting with wire

So, I recently learned to knit (for the third time) and I think it's taking this time. Part of what I learned this time around is that you have to practice...oh!
What inspired me to pick up the needles was seeing a student of mine knitting with wire! Loved it! had to do it. And I have a whole slew of telephone wire. So here's my two pieces, so far, of knitted wire. (I'm also learning about the size of the needles, this time around.)
Then, when I saw Kristine Mays incredible work, I was all the more inspired! I know I won't be knitting any full size dresses anytime soon, but I sure love the concept.
I'll keep you posted...

it went from this

I've been struggling with this one. I like the concept, but I didn't plan well enough when I drew the petunias on the cyanotype. So, I cut it up, rearranged it, added some more pieces and..........

to this......

I cut up the other one and created this cyanotype collage. I honestly don't know if it's an improvement or not, but it was a very good exercise, and a concept I'll play with some more. But this time, I'll plan better..........famous last words!

winery succulent

winery leaf

Danny Gregory

I asked my friend and mentor, Danny Gregory, for favor for a project I'm working on and here's what he wrote.

"With pen and brush, Jane LaFazio has been turning the stuff of her life in to a sumptuous, varied work of art Her experimentation and dedication to journaling are a constant revelation and inspiration."

"Illustrated journaling is the a wonderful way to integrate creativity into your life, to record the blessings your receive everyday, and to reveal the world as a richer and more beautiful place."

your pal,
Danny

Gosh, this makes me so very happy! Thank you dear Danny!

(Oh, and don't forget I'm one of the featured artists in Danny's recent book "An Illustrated Life." )

pom and persims

I love fall. Pomegranates and Persimmons are so great to paint. This was another continuous line/direct to ink.

winery tomatoes

I taught 2 people today the winery, another of my one-on-one sketching & watercolor: journal style classes. It was farmers market today, so I bought some heirloom tomatoes to draw and paint.

winery rose

another from the winery today. The rose was difficult because we didn't have the right red and the rose was so deep and brilliant in the sunshine..I probably should have included a leaf or two..but hey, I was talking and teaching...

Quilt Festival Long Beach 2010

Great news! I've been selected to teach two workshops at the International Quilt Festival at Long Beach 2010! I'll be teaching my Quiltlets in the morning and this one Floral Rubber Stamps: Design & Carve your Own in the afternoon. So mark your calendars for Thursday, July 22! Really, I'm very proud and amazed to be chosen to teach at a festival of this caliber! woohoo!

Cyanotype

Cyanotype on paper. This is 8.5 x 13 inches and frankly, I like it!

Art Quilts Exploration Classes

My popular Art Quilts Exploration class is open for registration. Now, I realize the class doesn't start until January 24th, but I wanted you, my loyal blog readers to know first. It's a once a month (4th Sunday of the month, from 12-3) for 6 sessions, and there will be no class in May and July. One must register through Quilters Paradise in Escondido, where the class is held. It's a total bargain at $120, and sorry, no make up classes. Call (760) 738-9677 to register. Not to mention, it's a ton of fun.

This piece is a fused collage called "Etruscan Bird" and we'll be learning this technique in one of the classes.

etruscan bird

Wet-Felting Workshop

This is me, making felt. One does this for about an hour and voila, a fabulous piece of hand made felt. I've planned another wet felting workshop, and this one will be held in Escondido (California) on Saturday, January 9th from 9:30-12:30 and cost $85, which includes plenty of wool roving for a piece about 18x18" piece. Email me if you want to be on the interest list and as we get closer, I'll ask you to commit and pay. (I'm handling registration)

Husb

My dear husb will have his artwork for sale tomorrow at the annual Fundraiser for the San Diego Brain Injury Foundation. The event is Sunday, October 25, from 1:30-4:30 in LaJolla, and costs $50 to attend. Click here for the invitation. He'll have 5 or 6 paintings and sketches for sale.

He asked me to update and print out his 'art' bio for the event, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Don Strom, originally from Seattle, Washington, graduated University of Washington and earned an MBA from San Francisco State University. After a stint in the army, he joined Hewlett-Packard as a member of the personnel department in Palo Alto, California. During his nearly 20-years with Hewlett-Packard, he and his wife, Jane LaFazio, relocated as his career warranted. Don and Jane moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Corvallis, Oregon; Seoul, Korea; Los Angeles; and in 1989, to San Diego, when Don became Site Personnel Manager at Hewlett-Packard in Rancho Bernardo.

June 1992, Don suffered a brain aneurysm in the left side of his brain. He was 46 years old. As a result, Don has aphasia, a language disability. He had to relearn communication, from understanding language, learning the alphabet, and pronunciation, to reading and writing. He battles the symptoms of aphasia daily. After years of perseverance and with continuing therapy, Don has developed a rich and rewarding quality of life. As a Hewlett-Packard executive, he was active in community service, and his family has always valued volunteer work. It was a natural transition from his extremely active management position, to an equally busy life of volunteer activities. Over the years of his disability, he has been active with Palomar Rehab’s "Time to Communicate," Y.E.S.S. (Young Enthusiastic Stroke Survivors), Toastmasters, and San Diego Watercolor Society and the Hewlett-Packard Retirees Club where he was President in 2004. In 1994, became a board member for San Diego Brain Injury Foundation and served for a dozen years (including a term as president and vice president) and continues to run the SDBIF monthly meetings held at Joyce Beers Center in Hillcrest.

Don enjoys sketching and painting on location and works in pen and ink, color pencil and watercolor. He began painting in 2000, and has studied with Helen Shafer Garcia, Jane LaFazio, Walter Brunning, and Norma Soule. His watercolor was selected as the cover art for "Brain Injury Guide for Families" with over 5,000 copies printed in English and Spanish and his painting "Lemons" was featured on notecards for a SDBIF fundraiers. Don has won numerous awards in local art exhibitions for his paintings and drawings

Lillies

This is a 5x5" cyanotype (ah, just my size) and I added stitching to it. I'm going to finish it with a border of some kind.

Another class at the Winery

I taught another one-on-one "Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style" at the winery yesterday. Here's Sherrie with our subject matter.

Another leaf from the Winery

Angel trumpets

Orvieto, Italy 2010 trip

WooHoo! Cooky, Judy, Louise, Maureen and Ruth have signed up for my Bella Italia: Orvieto Sketchbook workshop May 23-29, 2010!! We're going!! There are a few more spaces, so join us! It's going to be fabulous...

Mundo Lindo

I was interviewed yesterday for this article in the North County Times newspaper. You can read the whole article here. And make a donation by mailing it to: California Center to for the Arts, Escondido and sent to the Education Department, Mundo Lindo, California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido, CA 92025.

I'm teaching a kids class this saturday

Self Portraits for kids age 8-12
Bravo School of Art, at NTC in Pt. Loma

Using soft pastel (chalk), create an original self-portrait on colored paper. With gentle instruction on facial proportion and placement of features, children will draw a face and color it in, learning to blend the chalk to their own skin tone. Self-portrait hair color and hair styles are left to their creative judgment!
Fee $23.00
Materials fee $2
Saturday, October 24 11am – 12:30pm
Register here

You can take your kid to the class, have a cuppa coffee, then go to the FALL FESTIVAL & FUN
from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Ingram Plaza at NTC Liberty Station, Point Loma, CA 92106
Bravo School of Art will have a booth and will be offering Mask Making at this event.
A pumpkin patch with pumpkins for sale, a pumpkin carving station, kids crafts, bounce houses, face painters, balloon artists for kids of all ages to enjoy, along with hay rides will be among the many festivities for the day. There will be a costume contest for kids, adults, and your favorite four legged friend.

Balboa Park

they're not all winners...I did this as continuous line, straight to ink, and painted in 25 minutes. Flowers are a heck of a lot easier than architecture!

Queen Annes Lace

Another for my series "Flowers: Realistic to Graphic." I hope to teach this in a workshop, and I'm really having fun with the challenge. I draw the flower from life, then design and hand carve the stamp. The process really appeals to the graphic designer in me.

pom and peppers

I'm trying to draw everyday, directly in ink, a nearly continuous line drawing. I did a couple of practice drawings on cheap paper, then did this one in my Moleskine watercolor journal.

Stargazer Lily Frenzy!

Yesterday I drew these lilies a couple of different times in different arrangements, all directly with pen and very quickly. In this image, I layered two of the drawings (one is on a transparency)

cyanotype with Lily

I also used the drawings I'd done, and part of the real lily in a cyanotype (sun print)

lilly in moleskine

Of course, I had to also do a very quick continuous line direct with pen in my Moleskine, with watercolor.

I'll be teaching "Sketching & Watercolor: Journal Style" in Encinitas, CA on Dec 5 and I'll share all this with you! Register by calling 760-436-3310 or email Ellen here.