 |
At the Dallas Art and Soul Retreat in May 2006, I took a class with Claudine Hellmuth. Claudine's style of collage artwork is very distinct. She's produced a couple of fantastic books on the topic: "Collage Discovery Workshop" and "Collage Discovery Workshop: Beyond the Unexpected". I stock them at Studio Astarte from time to time, so it was a thrill to meet Claudine and do a class with her. You can learn more about her on her website. The work at left is a cut-out black and white photocopy of a photograph adhered to a painted 8" x 10" stretched canvas. Yup, that's a pic of me in my Sunday best with a pretty parasol. After the photo was glued down with gel medium, I painted over the top, except for the arms and head. Once dry, I outlined the image with a black felt tip marker. I attended Claudine's class on Mother's Day, and gave the picture to my mom when I saw her a couple of days later! I loved each and every one of the five classes I did at the Art and Soul Retreat, but my spirit soared with this class. Why? Claudine's techniques were quick and easy with really whimsical results. I like humour in artwork. I also like fast results! |
||
| The piece above was a little on the "extra-curricular" side. The main aim of the class was to create a fabric book mounted on a stretched canvas, so you could have a book virtually displayed on your wall. The pages are gessoed and painted canvas with photocopied photographs adhered and decorated. The pages are bound together with buttons on the left side. A third button is stitched to the right side and a cord comes from the rear of the book to loop around it and hold the book closed while it is displayed on the wall. (The back cover is glued to the painted stretched canvas.) I've called this my "Narcissistic Book" because every picture is of ME as a little girl! | ||||
 |
 |
 |
||
|
Above: I'm wearing a hand-me-down Indian costume that is a little too big for me. Right: Easter morning. |
||||
|
The cover features a picture of me in my nurse costume. In the original photo I am standing on my grandparents' front porch in rural Indiana, and it must be very cold because I am wearing a red winter coat and mittens and tights. Because I could paint over the photocopy, I was able to make some alterations to the costume, like making the red crosses more prominent on the hat and nurse's bag. I wanted to be either a ballerina or a nurse when I grew up. You can see my ballet costume at right. I suppose most little girls love dressing up, but I've had a love affair with costumes and clothes all my life. At Indiana University I got my bachelor of arts degree in Theatre and Drama. That had something to do with my love of dressing up and trying out different personas. Of course, neither a nurse, ballerina or actress did I become, but I still love dressing up! |
Gee, I loved this tutu and sequined tiara! I used to put them on and dance around the living room to a scratchy recording of the Nutcracker Suite. Those
were the days, eh?
|
 |
||
| Claudine Hellmuth on the left; me on the right. I think she's very glam and an absolute hoot. Quite a generous teacher, too. | ||||
Return to the main page of Stacey's blog: Ispirato