Thursday, June 19, 2014

Dorothy Caldwell Extravaganza 2


The first Dorothy Caldwell workshop last week was called "Human Marks," in which we explored many ways of putting marks down.  We started with paper and india ink.

Here are our brush marks, put up on the wall together to make a "quilt" of marks.

Then we attached our brushes to long sticks to make the lines less controlled and predictable.  We experimented with pale ink washes and wet-into-wet.  There was a stiff breeze as we worked so some of the papers went skittering across the parking lot; a dish of ink overturned onto one of the paintings; mostly we liked the accidental effects.

Here are the finished papers on display.

We cut and folded the papers into stand-up accordion books.

Here's the best part -- when I took my book out of my bag at home to show my husband, I realized that it had a little red mark on its front cover.  I didn't put it there, and in fact I can't recall anybody in the room who was even using red.  But it's perfect!  Gives the book a very oriental flair, don't you think?


11 comments:

  1. It must be fabulous to be you. I love reading about everything you are doing in your artistic life.

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  2. I am so glad you're posting about this; I would have loved to participate.

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  3. That looks like so much fun and I love the little red spot, it's perfect.

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  4. What fun - I would love to take a workshop with Dorothy !

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  5. Love the red spot - and the mystery of it.

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  6. mmm it looks so enjoyable and the results are lovely - I'm going to have to try the long stick thing at home...

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  7. Though I am thrilled that I got to attend the 2-day'er, this makes me wish even harder that I could've been there all week! At least I got to see y'all's work individually, and it was spectacular. Wonder what you'll wind up doing with your book?

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    1. Jeanne -- interestingly, I don't do anything with all the beautiful little books I make in workshops -- I hate to use beautiful books for mundane notes and if I want to keep records of stuff I do it on the computer. Fortunately my sister has no such compunctions so I often give the books to her (no idea what she does with them).

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  8. What fun you had in Dorothy's class! Love the red mark.

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  9. what a process!! How exciting the product came out. The red mark is like a chop for sure
    Leeanna Paylor
    lapaylor.blogspot.com

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  10. That little red mark is absolutely elegant. Sounds like a great workshop.

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