Join us for CJS 2015 an Online Mixed Media Event!

I'm so excited to announce that me and Aaron will be participating as artists in Creative JumpStart (CJS) 2015, which is run by Nathalie Kalbach. Creative JumpStart features online video tutorials from 23 featured mixed media artists, called "JumpStarters", and we are so excited to be among these fantastic artists…what an amazing lineup! Throughout the month of January, 25 video tutorials will be posted, and as a participant you'll have full access and can watch them again and again. We're psyched about our particular project, (hint…it involves cake!) and this is actually our first time teaching an online video course. We were thrilled when Nathalie asked us to be a part of it.  

The holidays are such a busy and hectic time, and come January I think we'll all have earned a bit of "me time". Why not spend that "me time" creatively? Make some fab art, learn some techniques, discover new materials, connect with other artists and crafters! I think you guys will have a lot of fun with our project…there's paint, assemblage, collage…all sorts of fun techniques! This is a brand new project…it's not in our book, and we've never taught it before.

And check out this video to see some details and the awesome lineup of artists!

You get 25 videos for just $25 (USD).

Such a great deal! So treat yourself, and head on over to Nathalie's site for more details, and to sign up!

And the deal is even better if you sign up now. Sign up today and you’ll get $5 off. 

Just use this coupon code during checkout:

cybercjs

*This is a limited offer valid from 9:00 am Dec 1, 2014 to 8:59 am EST on Dec 2, 2014.

CJS 2015 is proudly sponsored by Liquitex.

Making art and making friends in 2015…we love the idea of starting off the New Year this way! 

Make sure to sign up today! We can't wait to get creative with you!

xo, Jenny & Aaron

Art Is You (Stamford) recap

We are back from Art Is You (Stamford CT) and my goodness was it a GREAT time! Every time we do Art Is You we are once again reminded that it is just such an incredible event! Sallianne & Ellen (the founders of Art Is You) do an amazing job, the teaching faculty is so diverse and so talented, and everyone there is just so generous and kind and we are so honored to be a part of it all. We taught at Art Is You in Memphis back in May and were so excited to see all of our friends again, and to make new friends of course! We normally teach a few full day classes, but this time we opted for just one nighttime class, which is about half the time of our normal classes. So instead of the usual 6 hours, we had to design our project to fit into a 3 hour time frame. It was a Friday night class, and it worked out great! And then early on Saturday we set up our table at the vendor fair. 

For the vendor fair we made some cute little plaques and pins with my new favorite mantra. My take on the Saul Bass quote. 

I'd like to think I speak for us all…the lovers of cute and fun. Whether it is our art, paintings, art journals, aprons, our decor at home, or the outfits we wear. 

 We may add some of these cute talk bubble pins to the shop soon. 

We always like having some sweet favors for our students, and these cute aqua lollipops were perfect! I just stamped some quick little tags to tie to each one using our new cakes stamps.

Yep! They are in the shop and available for pre-order in case you'd like some of your own! 

One of our favorite things ever is when friends that had never heard of Art Is You, hear about it from us and decide to come! I was so so excited when my friend Lizzy aka The Connoisseur of Cute, messaged me on Facebook to say she wanted to take our class! She had never been to one of these events, and would be driving all the way from Rhode Island for it! She didn't even stay over…just drove there…made art...and drove back. That is so hardcore.

 It was just her birthday and I had found the most perfect gift for her. I was so excited that I'd be able to give it to her in person! We met through Instagram this past year and totally hit it off Instantly.

How adorable is she? She posted this pic on instagram earlier on Friday...all dressed and ready for Art Is You! Look at her Barbie and Midge suitcase! And the girl is brave for wearing white to a painting class! ha! 

My brother Walt drove us and dropped us off at the hotel...which was only an hour and a half drive. When we arrived we weren't in the lobby 2 minutes before the adorable and ridiculously fun Kim and Kiki ran into us! Kiki is queen of magical selfies! This pic was sparkling on Facebook within minutes! 

The Stamford Sheraton is pet friendly! How great is that?! So of course Lieutenant Dan came! Look at how tiny he looks on this big big bed! ha! You can see his little trail leading to his spot…it looks like tracks in snow. Doesn't he look like a tiny deer? Carlos stayed the weekend with his grandparents. 

And here he is in the morning without his bow tie…a little nudie! HA! 

The hotel had a great area for walking the pups. There was even a bag dispenser for picking up after them. 

And here we are just before leaving our hotel room to go down to teach our class Friday night. 

The class we were teaching was Ancestral Abstracts. Abstract/mixed media paintings incorporating old photos…or new if you prefer. 

Class was so much fun! Everyone jumped right in! Some gals were pros and some gals had never used some of the materials or mediums before. We provided a few portraits for the students to choose from but some brought their own ancestors or instant ancestors (flea market finds). How great is this dapper fellow in the top hat?

Lt. Dan couldn't get enough of Sandra and Liz's table. If he wasn't asking to be picked up, he was making a bed of a purse. Ha!

It was so great getting to walk around and see the canvases coming to life! And getting to chat with gals we had only known on online like Pamala. She is a sweetheart! 

And in the background I can spy Lizzy and Nancy…who are most likely talking about Rhode Island or handlebar mustaches…what a coincidence that they happen to sit next to each other and both hail from the same place and have a thing for manly facial adornments.

Everyone really knocked our socks off! The colors and unique textures they achieved using the knives were fantastic! 

One of our fave duos are the Totire's…Katie and Aleta. It was such a pleasure having them in class again! We had met them a few years back at Art Is You and have been fb friends. We love that they brought their own photos to use. This little guy is too adorable 

And here is again! Older and serving our country! 

A shot of Pamala, Aaron, and Francine working away.

And here is Lizzy working on a bright, colorful and fun canvas.

Lt. Dan napped most of the class in his "good boy bed". And yes his water bowl is a pink vintage melmac teacup. 

Here is an in progress shot of Maureen's beautiful piece. You may recognize this trio of friends. We used this photo in our book! In our "Sweet Spot Necklace" project! 

And here they are finished! Wow right?! All so unique!

Look at that texture! and color!

Francine's gal is on the left with the shimmering shoulder! That's german glass glitter embedded in the gel medium, which will eventually tarnish and have a fabulous look to it! 

I just love seeing them all together! What a great time we had! And we were pretty psyched that we all finished within the three hours! 

Here's Lt. Dan and daddy hanging in the lobby on Saturday. We had such an amazing time! Artsy people every way you turned...conversations in the elevators, getting coffees, everywhere you looked there were people making incredible art, catching up, and trading stories. If you've never been to an art retreat and have even the slightest interest…GO! Seriously! they are sorta life changing! 

This here is a gift from our other fave duo…The Gabels! Another mom and daughter. Brittany and Deb! We met Deb way back when we taught at The Creative connection in St. Paul, Minnesota! We told her all about Art Is You and now she and her awesome daughter Brittany are part of the Art Is... Family! They were in Memphis too! Both are total crack ups! Also generous, kind, and funny! You wouldn't believe the costumes they were in this weekend! I wish I had a pic! They really went all out! I'm cracking up right now thinking about it! This adorable necklace was a gift from them. It's hand sculpted and painted by Doreen Kassel. Doesn't it look so so much like our little Jack? Oh my gosh… all he's missing is the bit of orange. It melts my heart! I love it so so much! Oh it's quite big too! 

These tiny adorable handmade book pins were a gift from Aleta. She made one for me and one for Aaron. Using our scrapbook papers! This photo doesn't do them justice at all! Oh and ignore that paint covered thumb nail. I had been making lots of art! ha! And Katie baked us the most adorable and delicious sugar cookies…which we devoured as soon as we got up to our room…sorry no pic! ha!

Oh and this is funny…way back at one of our very first Art Is Yous, Katie and Aleta had taken an Art Journaling class with us and Aleta borrowed this paint brush. She has had it this whole time! Years! She was patiently waiting to return it to us! ha! And she presented it to us in it's very own chalice. We told her over and over that it was no big deal...to keep it. But nope...she brought it to us this Friday! So funny!

And Lizzy brought me the cutest gifts (ya know…because she's the Connoisseur of Cute). This vintage honey bunny soap on a rope, and sweet pink plastic nut cup! She knows me so well! So cute right?

And our sweet online friend Terry, who we met for the first time this weekend, gave us these cute pins she had made using vintage scrabble tiles. And yep...she made sure to add some pink and aqua glitter! 

I bought this these great old portraits from Kim and Kiki at the vendor fair. I can't wait to use them in some future projects! 

We had such a great time! It all went so fast! We wish we could have stayed longer, and maybe taken a class or two. We both vowed to do so next time! We've been saying it forever, and we have to make it happen! We'd love to take a class with Andrea DeMeng or Jodi Ohl. or Kecia. Oh geez…we'd wanna take everyone's class!! So hard to choose! 

There are so many more pics over on fb! Be sure to like the Art Is You page!

Thanks for catching up with us!

xo, Jenny…and Aaron says hi!

Come take a class with us! "Ancestral Abstracts" this October in Stamford CT

Yesterday we spent part of our day working on a couple canvases in anticipation of our Ancestral Abstracts class that we're teaching this October at Art Is You, in Stamford, Connecticut. We hope to be able to take time each weekend to work on new class examples and techniques in preparation for Stamford. Painting free and loose is such a great change of pace. And we love the idea of bringing the pieces together with a favorite vintage photo. 

So much of this class is based on working in layers and creating depth an texture with paint and other mediums. We love that we can work on opposite sides of the room, but in the end our pieces will bear so many similarities.  

These are the types of pieces that you can't fully appreciate through photographs. There is so much depth, and most of it is achieved with layers of transparent mediums. I love floating color directly into a thick swath of clear gel…when it dries it's like the paint is trapped inside a chunk of amber. 

We had a lot of fun teaching a condensed version of this class in Memphis, and for Stamford we plan on going much more in depth with the process.

I feel like beginning a piece is just as rewarding as finishing one. There's a little thrill that goes along with laying those first marks down on your canvas. 

If you've got even the slightest urge to join us, please do. Sign ups will be closing fairly soon, and class size is limited. It's so awesome that ours is a Friday night class…from 7-10pm. And the next day we'll have plenty of our artwork for sale at the vendor fair. 

We've included all the info below. In addition to us, there are so so many great teachers who's classes we know you'll love. We'd so love for you to join us!!

We will be teaching at Art Is...You Art Retreat in Stamford CT!

ANCESTRAL ABSTRACTS

Friday October 10, 2014  7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

"Instant Ancestors" are one of our favorite collectibles. These are our prized vintage and antique photographs or cabinet cards of handsome gentlemen or striking ladies, who we have no relation to, but they are family all the same. Collected over the years from flea markets, antique and junk shops, hidden away in old shoe boxes...they put a face to our love for vintage treasures. And we love to create artwork using these time worn, tattered, and sepia toned portraits.
This class is all about pairing the old with the new. You'll create a mixed media abstract painting with layers and layers of color and texture, using a wide range of mediums and tools, and as a focal point you'll incorporate an enlarged print of a favorite antique or vintage photograph. Your resulting Ancestral Abstract will be a gorgeous and very personal piece of portrait art.Painting abstracts can be intimidating, but we'll help you free yourself to develop your own style and color palette, and to identify what your special "marks" are. We'll show you what mediums work best to create depth and texture. And that blank canvas that was once so intimidating will be your own personal playground by the end of this class.  
Students will need:
1 inch flat brush#8 round brush#14 round brush# 10 painting knife (Bob Ross brand is our favorite)PencilOptional:
(We will be providing a whole lot of supplies but if you have favorites of the following that you’d like to use feel free.)
Patterned rubber stampsArchival all surface ink padsGood Quality enlarged prints of vintage & Antique portraits/photos 
Sign up here.
xo, Jenny & Aaron

When the mood strikes...paint!

Hey Happy Tuesday! We intended to pop in and say hi yesterday but we really lost track of time. We were completely immersed in several projects and we simply couldn't get ourselves to stop. As usual we were jumping from task to task, balancing work stuff, house stuff, studio stuff, life stuff. Some cleaning happened, some organizing happened, some more trim was painted, walls were patched and sanded, furniture got rearranged...yeah one of those days. And on top of that we were going over ideas and lesson plans for our upcoming classes that we are teaching at Art Is You in May! We are so excited  about them! We blogged about them here, and we'd love for you to take the time to check out all the details...and by all means...sign up and join us if you can! 

I'm not a gal who self promotes a whole lot, but when it comes to these classes, I have no problem shouting it from as many mountain tops as I can. Because I KNOW that you guys will absolutely love your experience. I KNOW that you'll learn a lot and laugh a lot. I KNOW that you'll whole heartedly impress yourself and unearth talents you didn't know you had. Come on down to Dixie to get your hands messy, expand your creative repertoire, and make some fabulous artwork in the process!

Artwork that's similar to what you're seeing in this post. You'll explore the many facets of mixed media...you'll learn all about layers and shading...experience first hand how to render cute girls' faces...create fun and fabulous backgrounds. It's an in-depth course...and "in-depth" doesn't mean that it will be hard. Nope, just the opposite. "In-depth" means that you'll get to take the time to really figure out what works for you. We won't ever quickly skim past the details. We'll stop, slow down, and offer you every bit of our 20 years of professional experience.   

Ok, end of sermon...lets get back to yesterday's fun project! 

We love combining our cute girls with textured and layered backgrounds. When it comes to creating backgrounds and layers, you'll notice that most artists have their go-to colors and textures. We're no different...we work within our own little comfort zone, we've got our special "tool box", our specific color palette that works for us. Very often we'll collage our backgrounds because we just love the extra bit of texture that patterned papers will bring to a piece. But yesterday's piece was all about paint. 

I honestly didn't have anything planned. I just let it all happen. Maybe the only thing I knew for sure was that there was going to be some black. Just like in our decor and my wardrobe. Black is necessary. Black balances our candy colors and sweet pastels.  

So...this piece was a lot of fun to work on. I rendered the girl all on her own...as you can see in the first pic at the top of this post. And as you can see, this girl has come a long way from that first photo. She started out as just a pencil sketch on water color paper and initially her coloring was very subtle. I had painted the canvas with a vague idea of how much space she'd occupy and approximately where she'd be positioned. I brought the background and the girl to a certain level of completion, and when the time was right I brought them together so that they could be completed as one cohesive piece of artwork. Doing it this way is a lot of fun. It's kinda exciting when you combine the two elements and see that you've got this whole new piece of artwork. After I adhered the gal to the canvas it was like starting all over...which really was fun. I added more texture, layered on some mediums, splashes of paint, sketchy pencil work...lots of stuff. 

Here she is hanging up. I like how it looks almost as if that is a window behind her...a glimpse of night sky. 

After painting this piece yesterday we got so excited about our upcoming classes. One of our classes focuses on abstract painting. And the other will feature portraits like this. We'll spend an entire day teaching all the techniques, tips, and tricks, so that in the end each student will have at the very least a go-to set of skills...a head start for future paintings. 

And once you've got your go-to "artist tool box" the sky is the limit! Whenever in the mood, you can paint a pretty girl, create a vibe, conjure up a dream world, and make fabulous artwork. 

Here is another painting that I worked on recently. A perfect example of what will be covered in our Abstractions class. I can't describe the joy I experience, starting with a blank canvas and building layers, creating movement, expressing a specific mood. I'm telling you...it's addictive, 

I really like how soft this piece turned out. Aaron says its his new favorite painting of mine. But seriously, he says that about each new one I do. He likes to point out his favorite areas of my paintings. What we refer to as "the sweet spot".

And now that the house is coming together we are able to hang art. It has been so long and we are really excited about it. Here are some of our personal favorites. Some are mine and some are Aaron's. Can you tell them a part? The two of us stay within our shared color palette which matches our home decor. But if you look closely you may be able to tell the difference between our respective paintings. We work in completely different styles, and in our classes we will both be teaching our personal methods..our favorite techniques and styles. It's fun to see how students drift toward either Aaron or myself based on the commonalities they sense in their own style. With abstracts it's all about two things...method & color. You wouldn't believe what a world of difference color makes. Imagine the above abstracts rendered in jewel tones, or earth tones even...with each student there are endless brand new possibilities. And this excites us so much!

It's not too late to sign up! Come for both classes or just one! Stay over night or just make a day trip of it if you are local enough! We can't say enough good things about Art Is You Art Retreats. Any fears you may have...seriously, throw them out the window! These are full day classes...One on One instructions! Plenty of time to learn, practice, create, and chat. You will leave confident, armed with new skills, and ready to create.

And we are offering a special discount! If you use a limited time promo code you can get $60.00 off your Art is Dixie purchase price!  When you register for either of our classes enter HOLIDAY (all caps) into the Event Code box on page 2 beside the package of days selection, and you will get $60 off your total registration.

Hope your week is off to a great start! Thanks so much for popping in! 

Love from NJ!

xo Jenny...and Aaron says hi!