Plaster – Page 5 – Dayna J Collins

I was invited by Kristina Trudell, a Washington artist I had met in a previous workshop, if I would be willing to teach my plaster/oil/cold wax class, Abstracted Play, either in Salem, Portland, or Washington. Since I have a daughter in Tacoma, I decided to make it a road trip. Of course, if I’m on an art road trip, it usually involves Tory Brokenshire. I invited Tory to join me, and she did the driving; we picked up two artists along the way and made the trip north last Friday afternoon.

Tory surprised each of us with a goody bag for the drive north.

The class was held at the home of Kathie Vezzani, who lives in Gig Harbor. Oh my. She prepared a wonderful space for the workshop and provided several gourmet meals. (Side note: Kathie arranges art trips around the world, so check out her blog and get on her mailing list for information on her upcoming trips.)

Friday night we prepared our boards with paint and plaster.

By morning, the plaster was dry and ready for sanding and more paint.

Before noon on Saturday, we were laying down layers of oil and cold wax.

The food Kathie prepared was delicious, and the weather was perfect.

Then back to it.

Saturday night we took a little road trip to the Key Peninsula for dinner at Leslie’s house. It was a magical and dream-like evening.

Sunday was our final day. A time to work on our pieces, resolve problems, start over, scrape back, scritch, scratch, and finally, lay out our pieces for show and tell.

What a great weekend. And this was our view on the drive home Sunday evening.

To teach or not to teach. I used to teach quite a bit, then I took a year and half hiatus to focus on my art. The time away from teaching allowed me to dedicate more time to creating my own style of painting, and I’m glad I temporarily stepped away from teaching. But I’ve been feeling the urge to teach again. I’ll be teaching a plaster, oil and cold wax class later this month in Gig Harbor to a closed, private, group of artists. I’ll also be teaching my Layers of Memory plaster class next May in southern California (details on that will be shared later). And I’m ready to begin teaching regularly in Salem.

My good art friend Tory and I recently leased studio space with a group of artists at Mission Mill (Willamette Heritage Center) and there are two common areas that will be available for offering classes. I’m in. But what to teach? That’s where I’m seeking input. For those who know me or have taken classes from me in the past, what would you like to see offered? If you don’t know me and have never had a class from me, what would interest you? Here are some ideas that I’ve been thinking about.

Layers of Memory
Working with plaster to create texture and interest.

Oil and Cold Wax: Abstracted Play
Creating abstract pieces using oil and cold wax.

Oil and Cold Wax with a Punch of Plaster
A combination of both the plaster workshop and then the addition of oil and cold wax workshop (this is how most of my pieces of are created).

Visual Journals
Building a journal from scratch, then incorporating visual journal techniques on the pages.

Visual Journal in a Deck
A couple years ago I created a visual journal using oversized flash cards. This class would go from prep to art on the gessoed cards, incorporating a variety of techniques and prompts.

Prayer Flags
I’ve just finished a summer of creating and overseeing the creation of prayer flags through my Scattered By the Wind Prayer Flag Project. This class would be basically a time to create a personal strand of prayer flags.

Art Dolls
Why not be a kid again. Paint and embellish a tall, skinny muslin Bendi doll.

Please let me know what class or classes you would be interested in and I’ll put together a schedule of classes. Contact me with your thoughts: dayna@daynajcollins.com/curele.

Is there something else you would like to see me teach? Let me know that, too.

Tag: Plaster

Abstracted Play: On the Road

To Teach or Not to Teach: I Say TEACH