Rubber Fish Chronicles

Have a hankering to paint some rubber fish?  Holy mackerel! You'll have your chance in Chicago this August with me at the Cloth Paper Scissors Create conference. I'll be bringing all of my fishy friends for a day of gyotaku painting fun!

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish - big fish, small fish and a seahorse and starfish too. Don't let this one get away. :)

I'll also be teaching a 3D fiber house plus a workshop on Jump Starting Your Art Career - now's the time to get serious about your art and I can help you. This is an evening workshop with lots of hands-on activities to help you develop your personal marketing plan for your career. Tons of useful, practical information about branding, dreaming big, approaching galleries, selling more art and much more.

Bricolage revisited

Remember the bricolage shadow boxes I made last July? Well, if you have a hankering to make one of your own, come join me at the Art-Is-You east coast art retreat in Danbury CT this October. I'll be teaching three different classes over the weekend and know that we'll have a rollicking good time.

The theme this year is Art Is... Wickedly Good and you can adapt your bricolage to that theme - oh the possibilities!

This retreat is about 15 minutes from my studio and I'll be able to bring tons of goodies to show and share. I'm so excited!

Colliding passions

I'm working on a new series of fiber art postcards and am exploring something different this time. I purchased an absolutely spectacular assortment of 60 jacquard batik squares from Lisa Shepard Stewart of Cultured Expressions a couple of weeks ago at a quilt show in Warwick NY and decided that they'd make gorgeous backgrounds for the postcards.

The fabrics are from Ghana and the colors are so luscious and vibrant  -- very different from my usual more muted palette. I don't know if it's the season or the weather or my mood, but I'm going with it.

I'm thinking about adding some photo transfers of the images I've been snapping with my iPhone using one of the several apps that give lomographic effects to photos. I've been noodling around with Camera Bag, Toy Camera, and Plastic Bullet but my very favorite is Hipstamatic.

I LOVE these hands. They're antique glove forms that we found in Judy Gula's booth at the Art Opera in NJ in April. They live on a shelf in my office and wave happily at me every day.

Stay tuned to see what happens next!

Recently I signed up for the Art Sketchbook Project from the Brooklyn Art Library and I got word today that my sketchbook has shipped. I picked the inside/outside theme and I can't wait to get started. It's not too late to sign up if you're looking for an inspirational and creative project.

On the Radio

Creative Talk Radio - Live today!!

I'm so excited to be a guest on Pat Sloan's radio show at 4 EDT this afternoon. You can listen in live here: http://toginet.com/shows/creativetalkradio or you can catch it in the archived version later at the same address - click on the 05/10/10 show in the Recent Shows sidebar or download on iTunes.

We'll be giving away a copy of my new book, Jane Davila's Surface Design Essentials, on Pat's blog. Go to her blog to enter until this Friday for a chance to win.

Workshop opportunity in New Jersey

There are a few spaces left in the Sketches from Nature workshop I'm teaching at the Garden State Quilters' Guild next Tuesday, April 13 in Chatham NJ. If you're interested please contact Becky at the guild to sign up. You don't need to be a member to take the class.

We'll be free-motion quilting with black thread and then adding acrylic ink to create the look of pen-and-ink drawings with watercolor effects. A really creative and easy process that looks more difficult than it is, this technique is from my new book, Jane Davila's Surface Design Essentials. The supply list is minimal and I provide all of the inks for use in class. I hope you can join me!

La Bota

Lotería Collage Project

22 - La Bota (the boot)

I'm making progress on this series, slowly but steadily. I have been collecting some wonderful square frames in Ikea to frame the whole collection (with an eye toward a potential show) and yesterday discovered that I'll have to recut all of the mats. The openings on the mats included with the frames are about 1/2" too small. Bummer.

La Mano

Lotería Collage Project

21 - La Mano (the hand)

I love this one. The card is cool and these are some of my favorite colors.