KathyAnneArt

Getting Started with Digital Printing Alternative Surfaces

2012-01-26T12:18:00.000-08:00

In Studio Workshop set for April 28 and 29, 2012

For all of you who want to learn to print on digital alternative surfaces.

Getting Started with Digital Printing Alternative Surfaces

April 28-29, 2012

9AM to 4PM each day

Kathyanne Art Studio

930 S. Cowboy Springs Trl.

Prescott, AZ 86305

My In-Studio Workshops have a 4 person limit.

Workshop Description:

This workshop will focus on printing alternative surfaces. Where digital printing is concerned my goal is to discover the possibilities between the surface created, the inkAID precoat used and the printer capabilities. One of the goals of this workshop will to be experiment and build surfaces that will take us into the basic new ideas of digital printing. We will use an Epson Stylus Photo R3000 for most of the printing. This will be hands on experience with Epson printers. We will also create a couple of surfaces to print on the Epson 1100 Workforce for hands on experience with a straight pass through non art printer.

We will prepare and print metal mesh and beverage cans along with fabrics and surfaces we build from scratch. Students will get a well-rounded look at the digital printing process with alternative surfaces. At the same time preprinted surfaces will be available for students to use to get an idea of innovative ways to assemble digital prints and create studies for future projects. I have supplies and tools for us to experiment with assembling metals.

A laptop will be helpful. Images may need to be altered to fit the size and the look of your surface. When building surfaces we may paint, dye or add elements that will easily be seen in the final print. In this case students will create an image file that reflects the look of the prepared surface. We can scan and/or photograph your surface to get a better idea of the effect the prepared surface will create. I will have jump drives to move and load images for printing.

Bring lunch since there is no place near to get something to eat. I have water, diet soft drinks and ice tea and will have some snacks. There are a few errors in some of the gps tracking for directions. Let me know where you are driving from, so I can give you correct directions.

This studio is in a rural area on a dirt road. I do have animals around including a cat in case you are allergic.

Be sure to wear comfortable clothes that won't matter if you get some type of product on them. If you want to wear gloves while painting or applying products please bring them.

Come with your imagination, questions, ideas and desire to explore. We will deal in what if's while we create surfaces that safely print on my printers. Any questions or registration contact me.

Digital Printing Fabrics and Beyond in Austin Texas

2012-01-25T12:36:00.000-08:00

New workshop scheduled for May 18-20, 2012.

Dragonfly Gallery at Rosedale will be hosting my "Digital Printing Fabrics and Beyond" in Austin Texas this May.

Digital Printing Fabrics and Beyond

This workshop is designed to be your complete guide to digital printing on uncommon types of substrates. We will prepare and print fabric, specialty paper, substrates we build ourselves, beverage cans and metal mesh. During the course of this workshop you will be introduced to many ideas for you to continue your exploration of the alternative digital printing process once the workshop is over.

For a better understanding of this type of process and how images print with different substrates and precoats, it is recommended you use one image throughout the workshop. Images that work best are all over prints without strong dividing lines such as a floral scene. If you have any questions about suitable images, please contact me.

Exercises on color correction, size and resize and printer profiles will be available for students to understand how to create quality prints. The current Photoshop CS will be used for demonstration, but instructions will also be printed using the current Photoshop Elements program at the time.

Dragonfly Gallery is on Marathon Blvd in Austin Texas. For workshop registration contact Nina Mihm.

Spontaneous Creating

2012-01-14T12:08:00.000-08:00

This morning I was on the way to my studio just wanting to create something. (Okay so it is only at the bottom of a set of stairs, but I knew something had to happen since I was feeling so inspired to go forward with an idea.) Right now I am in the midst of many amazing projects, writing an ebook, doing workshop prep, a keynote to polish, an enews to write and a workshop of the month to finish for KathyAnne Art members. Plus I am in the process of working on 2 art pieces simultaneously one for our 8 that create group and one for a refuse show.

So what am I doing today? Creating without regard to what deadlines are looming. That is one of the things I love the best. This is also a refuse piece that is calling me, so I can’t stop myself. Have to go with the flow on this one and what a great morning it was with most of the elements ready to construct this piece.

Here is the start of the set up and then I will have to see what other parts will be needed to assemble the piece. Only a few more elements to get this to go together.

My first inspiration was to go for the bottle caps. Then I went for a rectangular box shape that is 6" x 6" x 10".

This rectangular hardware cloth piece was put together a few months ago and not used.

Next I knew I wanted to fill the bottle caps with layers of something and the total layer thing wasn't clear yet, so I started with beverage can prints.

I tested some beverage cans to stamp into circles and found the size I wanted. I then proceeded to cut enough circles with a smaller size circle to layer over the large one.

I know what's next- this print will be torn small to fold over the edges of the bottle tops with 2 layers of beverage can circles and maybe beads. I will try a study of a few caps later today or tomorrow.

Art Unraveled 2012

2012-01-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

It's wonderful to be back at Art Unraveled again this year and teaching Explore Digital Printing. My workshop at Art Unraveled 2012 will allow all the students to get a jump start on digital alternative surfaces. Everyday I am creating ways to print on uncommon surfaces and now am continually designing surfaces that can be printed from a regular Epson Work Force printer. It is amazing what can be done on a regular straight pass through printer.

I will include the workshop description here and links for access. There is a short video on youtube to see a little of what the surfaces look like. As with any of my workshop I strive to give the latest and greatest to my students and by August there will be tons more latest and greatest. In any event we will also play with my printed surfaces so students will get an idea of what they can do with printed surfaces. It will be informative, interesting and lots of fun, so if you are planning to be at Art Unraveled this year, check it out.

Registration is open on January 17th, so get ready. We will be using my Epson small format printers and if we can print on them you can print on any pass through printer.

Explore Digital Printing

One of the amazing things about digital printing is the amount of surfaces you can use to print images for your artwork and journals. In this workshop students will print surfaces that have been prepared in advance. There will also be complete instructions to prepare surfaces for future printing. We will explore printing on fabric, lightweight metal, cheesecloth skin, tyvek and watercolor paper.

During the workshop we will use 2 Epson small format printers as everyone prints the surfaces from their kits for hands on experience. Learning how to use these 4” x 6” format printers prepares students to use other direct pass through printers to print alternative surfaces in the future. This workshop is mostly a process workshop although participants will make a small project of a mini journal and/or artist trading cards with some of their printed images. Additional materials will be available for students to use to experience working with printed surfaces to create mini journals or artist trading cards.

Each student will receive a CD containing a pdf of information about the digital printing process on alternative surfaces including printer profiles, sizing and resizing images, supplier information, a description of precoats and step by step instruction for applying precoats. See my youtube channel for a look at the surfaces we will print-

Art Unraveled 2012 Explore Digital Printing

Art Unraveled 2012, Phoenix Arizona July 30 to August 7, 2012

8 That Create

2012-01-04T10:33:00.000-08:00

Catchy title for a new artist group. Like our title says, we are "8 that create". Our group includes, myself, Kathyanne White, Sue Bleiweiss (the one who pulled us all together), Jane Davilla, Jamie Fingal, Gloria Hansen, Leslie Tucker Jenison, Liz Kettle and Carol Sloan.

8 That Create is a group of professional, artists that explore the use of

innovative mixed media techniques to manipulate, alter and enhance the

appearance of their chosen surface.

Our mission is to support each other in our individual artistic journeys and to

provide inspiration to others through our group exhibitions, publications,

website and blog.

Each of us has introduced ourselves on our 8 that create blog. There you can follow what is coming up for our group. We will have our first internet show in March so stay tuned to see what happens then or better check our website for details sometime in the future. My piece is in the works and I will post "in the beginning pictures" in about 2 weeks. Check our blog from time to time and keep up with the happenings of "8 that create".

IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES- WE DO!!!!!

Happy New Year!!!

2011-12-31T19:26:00.000-08:00

Wrap it Up Journals in my Etsy Shop

2011-12-06T08:30:00.000-08:00

I recently added some of the Wrap it Up Journals to my Etsy Shop. I created these journals when I wrote my ebook "Wrap it Up:journals with style. Four of them are depicted here. There are many inside secrets to these and are a mix of surfaces, all are described in my Etsy Shop.

iPhoneography

2011-12-05T14:45:00.001-08:00

This is a subject that is fascinating to me. Right now I have been playing with Pano apps and these images were taken yesterday with Pano on my iPhone. I haven't printed any of these yet, but will in the next couple weeks. My iPhone is the new 4s, so it's the 8 mega pixel camera. We will see how this progresses, but for today here are some shots from the deck on the second level of our house and my studio.

Working Through Monday

2011-11-21T11:35:00.001-08:00

Hard to believe I haven't posted in a month. Been really busy. One major event was the jurying of the Texas Federation of Fiber Arts Show- Fiberwerkes 2012. The show will be at the Hill Country Arts Foundation from February 4-25, 2012. A the conference, I will be teaching a digital printing workshop February 24-26 and will be giving the keynote at the conference dinner. The workshop is full with a waiting list, but there are spaces in some of the one day workshops with other instructors. If you will be in Ingram Texas at the end of February, you may want to check out what is happening at Fiberwerkes 2012 Conference.

Now as I work on my workshop of the month for KathyAnne Art members for my December news, I have 3 ideas I am considering for the workshops. This December I will be posting 2 workshops free to members. One of those will also be free to everyone on my enews list for the month of December whether they are members or not. This way anyone who want to try one of my mini workshops will get a chance for free. I will put a coupon code in my news for everyone who is on my email list to download the workshop for free. Still not sure what it will entail, but my enews will be out in a couple weeks. Be sure you are on my email list to be able to receive the coupon for the free workshop.

So the rest of my time has been taken up in developing some new work, learning to draw, learning Corel Painter 12 and other fun stuff. And the biggest thing-working on my keynote. It is pretty much laid out, but now it is down to research and writing. Also I promised myself I would take a month off between my workshops do my website stuff and play with art so that's what I am about at the present time.

A couple of ongoing pics. We'll see what happens with all of this-first the metal prints have to be varnished.

Two Guns

2011-10-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

Route 66 ran through Northern Arizona and when Highway 40 was constructed and Route 66 was bypassed by the new freeway, many places along 66 ended up dying. Two Guns is one of those places. If you take the exit from 40 for Two Guns now, it only goes to an old camp that was used by people traveling on Route 66. There is a town area, but can’t be reached by the current road. Today Two Guns is an historical ghost town.

Last week my husband and I drove up there to photograph the grafitti on what is left of the campgrounds. I have always been fascinated by graffiti and love to see how tag artists express themselves, but don’t embrace the destruction part of the process. I had seen photographs of the pool and parts of the grounds, but I was astonished by what I have never seen in photographs of Two Guns. The main building of the campground has been totally destroyed on the inside by the taggers and not just with the graffiti, but they have literally torn the place apart.

It’s quietly spooky up there in the middle of no where and includes a zoo that was created with brick buildings that are pretty much just ruins currently. We didn’t walk far enough to get into the ruins of animal cages, just the entrance.

In the next few days, some of my pictures will be available on KathyAnne Art. When the images are up, I will be posting on my Inside KathyAnne Art blog with information on how to access the images. A complete visual list of images will appear on Inside KathyAnne Art.

Steve Jobs One of my Heroes

2011-10-06T09:03:00.000-07:00

Steve Jobs was just one of those amazing creative beings who did amazing things on this planet. Jobs life works had touched people in ways they may never know. Recently I was drawn to watch his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford (again) and was reminded of where he came from and where he was still heading. His advice to the graduating class "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish." words he had seen in the last issue of The Whole Earth Catalog. It was wonderful advice, especially the foolish part.

The innovation and technological achievements of Steve Jobs changed our world for ever. More than that, he made a difference in zillions of lives in zillions of ways that will live on in eternity. What a dynamic, incredible legacy he leaves behind.

The world will miss you Steve Jobs. My heartfelt condolences to your family and friends.

Crochet with Bottle Caps

2011-10-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

Since my post last week I have been working on the piece shown here and another one that also uses ice resin. You can see my other ice resin piece with digitally printed papers on kathyannewhite.blogspot.com. Both pieces have one thing in common in that I haven't worked this way before. For the piece here I am still working out the layers in my mind and will be working other layers above and below as I work the solutions out. For now I am appreciating some interesting textures and a path of creation that has tons of possibilities for future pieces.

Something Old Something New

2011-09-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

After catching up on most of my deadlines - new ones approach. Working on some ideas with digital prints and ice resin today. This one entails recycled bottle caps that I filled with the resin and floated waxed linen, digital prints on beverage cans, beads, wire and some pieces of digitally printed printers plates. At the present moment I am crocheting one of the layer bases with 22 gauge bronze wire (from Art Mechanique). I have no real idea of where this is going, but I have been thinking about it all week and just need to dive in. This represents what might be 2 layers of a multi textural piece in the works!

For the something old, I have the completed journal quilts as samples for a workshop I will be teaching at the Fuller Craft Museum September 2012. Contact me for the date a description.

Ways to Use Corel Painter

2011-09-22T11:09:00.000-07:00

Some of the email I receive asks about the different photo software programs on the market. Now that I am using Corel Painter, I have been working to get up to speed. Of course Painter is just that, a Painter Program, but with the Clone tool, their amazing brushes and many other features Corel makes it easy for users to work with their own photographs and turn them into beautiful paintings. You give the computer as little or as much control as you want using the clone source. If you stay with the software for awhile you will develop your own style within the tools of Corel Painter.

Recently I had some conversations with Karen Sperling who has an amazing command of Corel Painter and combines it with Photoshop. There is a whole slew of information on Karen's website Artistry online. Karen wrote the first Painter manual, so she has been working with painter for sometime. She has lots of information on her website and has put together a new package "Painterrific " that she will give a 10% discount on, to my readers. This means from now until September 30th, you could get an extra 10% off on Karen' Painterrific. It is already 10% off on her site, so you all would get an extra discount off the price reduction already listed on her site. To get this special offer you need to contact Karen by September 30, and you would have to mention that Kathyanne told you about the offer.

If you go to this link - click here - then you scroll down to the end of the page, it tells what Karens Painterrific Debut is all about. On this page you can also watch some of her videos as samples. Her ebook, "Painting for Photographers" and several DVD's are included in Painterrific. On the sidebar at the left top of the page you can look through information on Karen's expertise by going to the various links.

Email Karen Sperling for questions.

Changing Plans

2011-09-15T14:57:00.000-07:00

So here's one for you. What do you do when your pup accompanies you on your wonderings all the time. You sit down to make a little drawing of a tiny limb growing from the earth. Since I have been working on my drawing skills, I like to draw something several times and go back to try it again. Here is an illustration of having to change your plans because your pup decides to run over and eat your subject.
When she is focused, she's hard to distract:)

iPhoneograpy

2011-08-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

In researching items to write about in my news, I remembered a link I received in an email. The link was from the iPhone Diva blog and she is about iPhoneography. From there I got into other links and discovered a whole lot about using my iPhone for photographing and a wide selection of apps that will alter photographs in various ways. With a little research I found another site based on iPhoneography called iphoneography central. Now I want to warn any of you iPhone people, searching apps is a dangerous thing, for .99 or 1.99 up to 4.99 you can easily buy apps with one click. In my foray this afternoon I ended up with an assortment of 9 new apps and a list of many more. Since I travel it thrills me to use my iPhone and iPad to alter photographs in interesting ways without having to use Photoshop and my laptop.

From my iPhone in front of my studio no apps used

these 2 are from ProHDR

Auto Painting

I know nothing about these apps yet, but just ran the pic a couple of ways.

Here is a list of the apps that some of these photographers are using. This is a small list, but thought it would help any of you find some new ideas for photo manipulation on your iPhones. These apps may be available for other devices or other devices may have similar apps. I am always looking for a way to experiment and to get images for my alternative surfaces. I just don't always know what apps I should use and have never done more then grandkids, kids and pets photos or videos on my phone. Oh and I shot my sunglass picture on the sidebar of the blog with my iPhone at a wedding my husband and I enjoyed this spring. I just cropped him out:)

Some of these are available for iPads and iPhones you can search them on the web or on your devices in the app category to see exactly what each of these does:

Auto Stitch
Classic Pan
Pano
Auto Painter
Iris Photo Suite
Slow Shutter Cam
PhotoForge 2
Crop'n'Frame
Dynamic Light
PhotoArtista Oil, Haiku and Sketch
Crop'N'Frame
Pic Grunge
Grungetastic
Filterstorm
Hipstamatic
ProHDR
Rays
Perfectly Clear

This is a small list, check them out and see what may work for you.

Now a couple pics updating my last blog post on Journal Quilts that are still in process, but getting closer.

Journal Quilts

2011-08-19T09:23:00.000-07:00

On September 15 and 16, 2012 I will be teaching a pair of one day workshops at the Fuller Craft Museum. (More details will be coming later). One of the workshops is Journal Quilts and since I have been working on my journal wall here and here in my studio, I have been putting together a couple of journals quilts while I work on other things. It helps me through my pondering time as I develop work.

These pieces are around 16" x 20" and the base is canvas with dyes and/or paints for coloring. They are of course in the works and I will post some more in a bit as they grow. I will be expanding my journal wall, but until I do, these are sitting on one of my tables to be accessible when the mood hits.

Wrap it Up: journals with style-Video Preview

2011-08-03T13:04:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I will be participating in Shopping Extravaganza at Art Unraveled in Phoenix. Since my new ebook "Wrap it Up: journals with Style was published on KathyAnne Art last week, I will have cd copies of the ebook and also all the journals created for the book. This post contains a video peak of some of the projects in the book. You can page down to the blog below this and get a look at the introduction and the table of contents with a couple of pictures.

If you will be in the Phoenix area on this Saturday August 6- stop by and say hi. All the artists and vendors are listed if you click on these next 2 words Shopping Extravaganza it will take you to the page on the Art Unraveled site where you can also get directions to the Embassy Suites, Paradise Valley.

Wrap it Up: journals with style!

2011-07-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

For the last few months I have been working at a new journal concept I call Wrap it Up. The idea sprang from nesting dolls. I collect dolls. While I have sold most of my collection I kept the funky ones. My nesting dolls were one of the ones that remains on my shelf. Always looking for a new way to make a journal I designed these journals to be light weight, portable and have sections that fit into one another.

The first incarnation came from wanting to use recycled book pages in a new way. From there I got into all the what ifs? The resulting ebook Wrap it Up: journals with style! was finished yesterday. Oh - I am not done with the what ifs? A sequel could be coming up. I am also working on a book on digital printing all sorts of surfaces.

Here you will see the table of contents and the introduction here along with a few pictures of what the journals look like with all their sections open and closed. Closed they all go into one another with each section getting larger as they fit inside of each other. It’s a plus that you can take just one section and carry it easily. There are plenty of instructions and ideas to create your own unique ideas!

The Kindle and Nook versions will be ready in the upcoming months. They have to be designed somewhat differently to flow to the smallest of devices that use the Kindle and Nook apps. Also there are tons of images in this book that need to be labeled correctly for this type of book.

Wrap it Up: journals with style is available on my KathyAnneArt site as a download. If you are a member, sign in first and you will get 20% off. The price of the book is $9.99. It will be that in the Kindle and Nook versions, so the price will be the same. Members that gives you a price of $7.99. Become a member here for $35.00 a year. Members get a free mini workshop every month as well as 20% off ebooks and my video/action guide workshops. Did I also mention there are over 600 royalty free images that members can download for their own use? There are over 30 mini workshops right now that members can download. A new mini workshop is posted every month. FInd the tutorial section here.

Jeremy Sutton

2011-07-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

Not being a truly organized person myself, organizing my images is beyond my chaotic thought process. I am fascinated by artists who can always put things in order and be utterly creative. Not me, but I love them for it. So while I was watching a webinar from Corel featuring Jeremy Sutton - (Corel Painter Master) -one of the first things that struck me was his deliberate ways of saving multiple files for images.

Jeremy documents and saves sequential versions of his images created during his process. He keeps a file of working images and source images for each of his pieces. He didn’t comment about backing up, but with his consistent way of handling images that has to be a given. As someone who recently crashed a hard drive loosing 1T of her image archives, I longed for not only having my images in that kind of shape, but having my images at all. Sutton's system is explained in his books and DVD’s. One reason alone to have one of his books on your bookshelf. (See Jeremy's books and DVD's at PaintboxTV)

There are many inspiring aspects of Sutton’s work. When you view his art, you immediately understand Jeremy “gets” his subject. He paints and represents them in a soulful way. Watching Sutton work was an extreme pleasure as he brought out the essence of his subject. His photographic images are already expressive and he enhances them in a way only he can.

(This is the image he used in the webinar)

Jeremy’s genius as he demonstrated his techniques through Painter 12 was truly inspiring. I especially appreciated the care he takes with building texture. Even if in the final image you only see a minuscule piece of texture, he textures the canvas for that little bit.

Last year I bought my first copy of Painter with Painter 11. When the upgrade-12- was released, I upgraded mostly for the kaleidoscope tool. My idea was that with the kaleidoscope tool I can create even more textures to be buried in my layers by bringing what I create in Painter to Photoshop. I haven’t worked with Painter enough to really know much about the program, but I see how valuable it can be to my work. I’ve been searching to find someone to learn from. Once I saw Jeremy work, I realized what a magnificent creator he is with painter. Jeremy Sutton is a thorough and thoughtful teacher. He is a master and I will be spending more time with his books, dvds and workshops. In March of 2012 I plan to go to his studio in San Francisco to participate in “The Painter Creativity Workshop”

Photoshop has been my image manipulation choice from the beginning. (Wasn’t it on floppies back then?) I chose to take a look at Painter from a trial version. I tried their brushes and thought they were brilliant. There is a lot of value for me and my work in Painter and now I found someone I want to learn from and be inspired by. There is nothing better then that. Imagine the possibilities with my hand built alternative surfaces......

Enjoy Jeremy Sutton’s work posted here, with his permission.

Visit PaintboxTV.
Browse some PDF’s here.

Digital Print on Pieced Silk

2011-07-20T14:03:00.000-07:00

After I posted last month’s mini workshop for members Digital Printing Silk Surfaces, I went back through my photographs to write exactly what I did to create the 24” x 48” panel of pieced silk. When I started to prepare surfaces to print, I had one of those "what if?" moments. My imagination is drawing me forward to experiment widely with the printed surface. On this particular path my inspiration was to create a silk surface that combined many pieces of silk into one print. Now- how do I do this and further more, how do I do this and not get it stuck in my printer?

With my Epson 7890 I am pretty careful about my approach and the surfaces I print. Wanting to print a heavy weight silk in a 24" x 48" size has it's own intricate parameters. Using many pieces of silk put together there were many ideas to consider.

The silk fabric had to be flat and stay on the carrier sheet. Sometimes when fabric is printing the wetness of the ink will make the fabric lift and bunch toward the end. Two things could happen there, the printer may quit printing because it senses something is not right, or it could jam. Believe me I would way rather have the printer stop printing than jam! This meant I wanted to printing to go amazingly well. So here are the decisions I made to create my study.

* I laid out several pieces of silk and free cut them just like I used to do for my spontaneous pieced art quilts.

* Cutting the pieces to fit together I then used inkAID Clear Semi Gloss precoat to coat the surface of each piece.

* Once the piece dried, they had changed shape quite a bit and had to be recut. They did however stay flat as I pressed them from the back side before cutting.

*My aim all along was to get a amazingly flat surface, so the printer would not have any trouble. My 7890 is a brilliant machine and it would be wonderful if it lasted a really truly long time:)

* Once the silk was recut, I used a cloth tape to attach the pieces together and coated just the tape this time with the same precoat I used on the fabric.

*The cloth tape had some little darts that were created as the tape curved. I pressed those down and got the tape flat when I ironed the piece while the tape was still slightly wet.

*Then wondering if the tape edges would lift, I stitched all edges with a clear thread.

*Leaving nothing to chance I then attached the silk surface to a carrier sheet. First with applying Spray Photo Mount to the back of the print- I also ran double faced scotch tape along the tape on the backside. Plus before I taped the edges with masking tape to hold the surface firm for printing, I used some double faced scotch tape on the edges where they were a little rippled and didn't lay exactly flat.

One more thing before the print could be put into the printer. The image file had to be manipulated. I took a picture of the surface, transferred it into my computer, opened it in Photoshop and it became the base of the image I was designing. I wanted to use text, so I used text that I had typed from the Thesaurus that came from words that had to do with forests, trees and the like. I pulled the text into another layer on top of the background and took pieces of other image to overprint on the design. Before the image was printed I turned off the layer of the color of silk, so that wouldn't print. Once it was printed my plan is to print other surfaces with the color of silk layer and create a cheesecloth skin and some metal pieces to build a textural piece from the texture.

Print on carrier sheet

Final print

Amazing Digital Printing Weekend!!!!

2011-07-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

Well it's Monday and after such a wonderful weekend, I'm ready for a fabulous week of working in my studio.

Some professional photographers were here to take my "Not Just Digital Printing" workshop. They created surfaces to print on 2 different metals, metal mesh, layered paper, 3 types of skins, dyed silk, collaged watercolor overprints and did test strips of inkAID precoats on organdy on pimatex.

During the workshop we took a look at how to use regular plastic bags (recycling these) melt them together to prepare to print and then printed the surface using iridescent red precoat from inkAID. Now this surface is still experimental and the texture is awesome while it creates a beautiful print. I have other ideas on how to push this recycled surface further, so that will happen in the months to come.

I am not posting images from the photographers, but every time the prints are finished by the end of a workshop it is exciting to see what everyone has created. They had some brilliant images. Here are some links you can visit to see their work. Southwestern Photos and Dudley Bacon.

Now that major cleaning was done to my studio to have a workshop in uncluttered space (which ended up being extremely cluttered throughout the weekend) I took some pictures of my studio wall which is coming along nicely. I added a chalkboard painted into the joining wall on the right. That will be one of the next walls I move to along with one in the short hall to my computer and printer part of my studio.

Redesigning my Studio

2011-07-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

Since mid June I have been redesigning my studio for a different flow. My new printers are larger than the old ones, so the office had to be moved around. When the larger printer moved in one of my large desks had to move out to the other part of my studio. That was months ago, but I have tendency to pile things and move them out of the way to work until it is impossible and I have to do something about it. This allows me to get better use out of everything and let go of what I don't need. Since I am having a digital printing workshop here in 12 days from now, the last few weeks have been the perfect time to finish organizing.

One of the added inspirations for me during this process was to start painting my walls in a fun way. I started in one corner of my studio, did a base of a sort and turned the wall into a huge journal. What I love about it is that when I am working the wall is easy access to play for awhile. The next wall is all picked out to continue the flow:)

Starting Out

Adding Color

Work in Progress

Detail

Digital Printing Expanded

2011-06-28T11:52:00.000-07:00

Imagining more to expand digital printing I found this kind of brass colored screen last week. My favorite is still copper, but this is pretty neat stuff. We'll be printing this in the workshop coming up in my studio "Not Just Digital Printing".

Couple of new printers plates printed

and some collaged silk.

Silk on carrier sheet.

Finished print

Printed the printer plates and collaged silk surface while working on my new mini workshop for members of KathyAnneArt, "Digital Printing on Silk Surfaces.

Next is building paper surfaces by layering, not sure where that will go. I want some new tested surfaces before my digital printing workshop in July where we will get some radical new surfaces created.

Art Unraveled Workshops in August

2011-06-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

Thought I would give everyone a look at some constructions of studies that will spill over to my Art Unraveled workshops that take place in August right here in Arizona, Phoenix to be exact.

On the first day of Art Unraveled August 2nd I will be teaching "Dimensional Collage with Digital Medium". There is nothing better then to incorporate digital pieces into your artwork. Printing images on alternative surfaces is an amazing way to add texture and fabulous design elements to your art.

For the Dimensional Collage Workshop I will be printing each students images before the workshop so they will have their images on the following surfaces-lutradur, tyvek, cotton and watercolor paper. These surfaces will then be used to create collage for their pieces. Magic happens when the students start to mix all sorts of other items into their collage. There will be all sorts of items from my studio stash for students to use as we create their work.

Starting with smaller studies as a warm up, we will move on to putting those ideas together into either an art book or stand alone collage. Each student will have original work that is clearly their own.

As for my other workshop at Art Unraveled, "Can-Can Art" August 9th, we are going to go over how you can digitally print beverage cans. Once everyone has been through that process and has a couple flattened and coated cans to take home to print, we will play with making things from beverage cans.

Student kits will include printed cans and there will be extras if you run out. It is amazing how cans can be used to create art or interest to collage and art pieces. If you are still looking for a workshop to take at Art Unraveled this year, join us.

Here are some pictures or details of some of my can art.

Join us!

Starting the Week

2011-06-21T05:58:00.000-07:00

Not too much work going on last week- had our grandson here till yesterday. He's 2 and he's really good at it-lol- so between him and the new puppy it was pretty wild and not much working time.

Today I will be finishing an article for Maggie Grey's Workshop on the Web. Recycling is the topic and the piece for the magazine is uses paperback book pages for a journal. There is a new twist to the journal piece in which is excerpted from an upcoming ebook. Check out WOW- there are many interesting articles and writers and Maggie is well know for her work, workshops and books.

Also on tap for this week is my monthly workshop for KathyAnne Art Members. The workshop will be about digital printing in some form. Still working out the details. Thinking it will concern printing light weight silk and take a video form. I want the surface to be thin enough so that any pass through printer will work. I'll test it on my Epson Picture Mate Charm to see what type of printer will work.

Don't forget. I am teaching "Not Just Digital Printing" in my studio July 16 and 17 in a few weeks. Two spots left.

Another New Printer

2011-06-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago my Epson Stylus Photo R2400 gave up. I returned to my studio one afternoon and there was ink leaking out of the printer and on the desk. To make a long story short it was an end of life problem. Never knew there was such a thing, but if I had a PC that is what the message from the epson utilities would have been. They say you don't get that error message on a Mac. Seems the ink pads that collect the ink cannot be replaced on that printer or actually any in that class and when you do a lot of printing it happens sooner then in lightly used printers. Amazing, but from research with Epson I found out it is expensive to fix, better to get new. HMMMM and my R2400 was working so well for me. Traveling to conferences for years, oh well.

That brings me to my new Epson Stylus Photo R3000-once again Epson has seriously improved that size printer since 2007 which is when I purchased my R2400. I may have gotten along with my Epson 7890 (see my blog post from March 19, 2011) except that I don't want to print beverage cans on it. The R3000 is really wonderful. It prints a little thicker paper than the 2400 so printing metal mesh, beverage cans, heavy weight canvas, papers and fabrics are a snap. The pic here is set up for a 7 can print. I had to change one of my type of carrier sheets. The cans print best when using the Epson Presentation Matte paper for a carrier sheet. They of course have to be really smooth, no creases or anything and taped well on the edges, but I easily printed 30 cans or so and they look great. It also did a great job on some new brass looking metal mesh I have.

Studio Dog or Actually Studio Pup:)

2011-06-03T08:11:00.000-07:00

Today Robert Genn (of Robert Genn Twice-Weekly Letter) wrote an email entitled "The Dog Decision". I have been getting his emails twice weekly for as long as I can remember and enjoy his perspective on the art world. This morning was perfect because I recently made the decision to take on a 6 week old puppy for a new studio dog.

Robert writes "Every puppy begins in joy and ends in tears. Sometime ago I wrote about the loss of our former dog, Emily. The email condolences that came in here were overwhelming. As far as I'm concerned there are two downsides to having a dog. The first is when you finally lose them, and the second, an ongoing problem, is what to do with them when they can't travel with you. Lining up trusted dog sitters is vital. Having said that, a dog will increase your studio hours and prevent you from wandering off and getting into trouble. Benjamin Franklin said that in order to be happy a man needs "a good woman, a good dog, and ready money." I've noted that none of my dogs have ever criticized my work. A loving tail-wagger in the studio goes a long way in a profession of loners."

So right now I am in the middle of the chaos of potty training and the ever present puppy finding anything she can put into her mouth. The good news is my studio floor has never been this clean. The bad news is that at this time, she does cut into my work time. That leads to more good news as I get to walk her on my property and appreciate my surroundings - which makes me more productive and I get to enjoy a walk outside which I wouldn't do when I am working on something. It does keep me feeling good. Today I will be printing wire mesh and beverage cans, so we will see how she does with that going on. I have a nice little fence built around my printers so there will be no chewing on any printer parts.

This picture is from the middle part of May. Actually she is a puppy and at the time the picture was taken 7 weeks old. Sage was born on April 5, 2011so she will be 2 months old this weekend. She looks little, but is growing everyday and being a mastiff she will be quite large in a really short time. After my lab died I missed having company with me everyday and so I finally gave in a decided to go for a puppy.

"Not Just Digital Printing" Workshop

2011-05-31T09:46:00.001-07:00

On July 16 and 17, 2011 I will be teaching a workshop "Not Just Digital Printing" In my studio in Prescott, Arizona. This workshop will focus on printing and assembling alternative surfaces. Where digital printing is concerned my goal is to discover the possibilities between the surface created, the inkAID precoat used and the printer capabilities. We will use and Epson Stylus Photo R3000 for most of the printing, but students will also rint at least one print on the Epson Stylus Pro 7890. This will be hands on experience with a couple of Epson's newest printers.

We will prepare and pring metal mesh, lightweight metal and beverage cans along with surfaces we build from scratch. Students will get a well-rouded look at the digital printing process with alternative surfaces. At the same time preprinted surfaces will be available for students to get an idea of innovative ways to assemble digital prints and create studies for future projects.

The workshop fee of $350 includes all supplies

For a complete prospectus contact me.

To register and save your spot click the buy now button. Since this is in my studio there are limited spaces available. When you register you will receive information on travel and a prospectus.

Building Studio Journals

2011-05-31T06:15:00.000-07:00

Keeping a studio journal is a great idea and one that I let go for long periods of time. Once Sue Bleiweiss asked me to participate in both her Sketchbook Challenge Blog and her actual Sketchbook Challenge Book (tag line to be announced - book in mid 2012) I have given more thought to incorporating what I call sketch-journals into my art practice. Participating in Sue’s book was a gift in more ways then one. Actually doing a studio journal type idea lead me to focus on documenting my art in a better way. The fun part is that I love doing the mini creation of books to go with my artwork and increase the viewers awareness of what I am thinking.

Without a narrative it is easy to see that when photographs are taken of my beverage can installations and some of my other digital imagery assemblages, the viewer doesn’t get the full idea of what goes into the artwork. Especially if they are only seeing a photograph. I have to agree that the transition of thought from beverage cans to rich lush forests may be a leap for the person taking in the artwork. The viewers don't see the fluidity of the piece as you run it over your hand. They don't see the light shining on the metals that move and reflect like the leaves moving in a tree. If you have never been in Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park as the sun comes up, you may not have the experience of the massive giants that grow there over hundreds of years and how the patterns run off them in amazing ways in their bark and form. No one has any idea of where an artist is or what they were thinking unless you share it with them.

This led me to creating a workshop on exactly how I have designed my studio journals. So this months mini workshop is “ Building a Studio Journal”. In this workshop I share my path to creating the basics of my sketch-journal and then other elements can be added as the book progresses. The great part of it all for me is that I have places to play and write quotes or doodle and then have other pages to do the documentation of my work.

Studio Journals Mini Workshop is posted on KathyAnne Art and since it is the workshop of the month it is free to members. Go to my INSIDE KATHYANNEART BLOG for details.

Studio Journals

2011-05-22T15:38:00.000-07:00

The month is more then half over and last night I realized that I haven’t posted since for weeks. Where does the time go? My studio is full of bits and pieces of unfinished work for new workshops in the works. I am constantly thinking of how I can take what I do and teach informative workshops in a one day format. It is always a challenging proposition. Then of course my monthly enews needs to be finished and a new workshop posted on my KathyAnneArt site. At least I know my workshop will be about how I create my studio journal/sketchbooks. It will be a video workshop and posted by the end of the month. Probably the video will record on Thursday but my deadlines for that are loose:)

Since Sue Bleiweiss invited me to be a guest blogger for her Sketchbook Challenge and then included my art and sketchbook for a certain project in her new book due in June 2012, I have been working on a plan to create sketchbooks/journals based on my current work. It is easy to see that when photographs are taken of my beverage can installations and some of my other digital assemblages, the viewer doesn’t get the full idea of what goes into the artwork. When a viewer is standing in front of one of my large beverage can wall pieces the statement I hear the most is- “but where are the beverage cans?” When I pair that with the experience of creating artwork for Sue’s book, I see how important it is to keep records of what happens in my studio.

So today as I was feeling frustrated with some results I was having with one of my projects for a new workshop idea I sat down with my studio journal and before I was done writing I knew what I wanted to do. I blurred out a word or 2. There are also a couple other pages from my studio journal from a couple months ago. Enjoy!

Beverage Cans and Crochet

2011-05-05T10:06:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I will be leaving for Colorado on a trip that combines business and pleasure. Why is it that whenever I leave my studio for a bit I think I have to set up all sorts of work on the road? Then even as I drag the work in progress with me, I could never possibly finish much of it when I am out of town. Case in point today while trying to clean my studio a bit and get a little further on some of the projects for deadline, I get involved in setting up the pieces to continue work on my 4 foot tall Forest Book. This page involves beverage cans and crocheted hemp. So even when I should be packing, I am cutting cans and punching holes in them to string them on hemp to crochet while I am out of town. At least I had the cans printed from a few weeks ago, so I wasn't varnishing them in a hurry to get them ready to string.

Looks like this right now as I work through the pile to punch holes:) to add to the crochet section.

Studio

2011-05-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

Trying to make sense in my studio lately is a massive job. Working on ebooks and creating new workshops helps me make a serious mess. It never fails - one minute the studio has all sorts of room on my 4- 4 x 8 foot tables and as soon as I get going there is stuff everywhere. Plus out my sliding door I find myself looking at 4 huge plastic bags of uncut beverage cans. Need to get tons of stuff done this week.

So instead of working I'm multi tasking - working out and writing at the same time. Our property has a 700 foot driveway from gate to studio. This invigorating incline is the perfect place to do intervals. It's a favorite thing of mine to use the driveway for a workout-a quick 45 minute up and down and I'm done. In many of my previous times I get all sorts of ideas about my artwork and I had to run into my studio to grab some paper and pen before continuing on my way. Now I carry a little 3.5" x 5" sketch book to scribble while I walk. Yes I could record instead, but what fun is that.

Great news in the mail yesterday. My piece Mariposa Grove won an award in the Yosemite Museum Gallery show. Yosemite Renaissance XXVI. It was a nice surprise and accompanied by a check. Mariposa Grove Is one of the most beautiful and inspiring places in the world. Thinking of taking a trip there before the end of the year. Spending time in that forest early in the morning when you are virtually alone except for the animals and the trees gives me such a sense of peace and well being. The grove is a brilliant environment. Yosemite National Park is one of those places you have to see to believe.

Time to be in my studio picking between the jobs on my agenda.

The Sketchbook Challenge.........a Book

2011-04-29T17:49:00.000-07:00

This is exciting news!! A bunch of us artists have been keeping a secret and today we are able to tell part of the secret and keep the rest until you all see the finished product. The amazing popular Sketchbook Challenge will be a book by the summer of 2012.

A couple months ago, I was invited to participate in a what will be an incredible book by author Sue Bleiweiss who initiated the challenge by the same name. The title is a The Sketchbook Challenge with a tag line, but that will be a surprise later too:) Thanks for including me Sue and congrats on your book, can't wait:)

It's thrilling to be invited to be one of the artists included in this book. It's a brilliant list and here are the artists, in no particular order:

Carol Slone, Jane Davies, Leslie Jenison, Lynn Krawczyk, Laura Cater-Woods, Jackie Bowcut, Jill Berry, Judi Hurwitt, Lyric Kinard, Jamie Fingal, Diana Trout, Kelli Perkins, Jane LaFazio, Kathyanne White,
Susan Brubaker Knapp, Tracie Huskamp, Kathy Sperino, Carla Sonheim, Violette and Kim Nugent.

For the rest of the details, you'll have to wait. When the book comes out, I will share some items here, but for now I will give you some tidbits from my project for the book.

TIFF Images on KathyAnneArt.com

2011-04-27T11:32:00.000-07:00

All professional image editing applications on the market are able to open TIFF files.

.tif or .tiff. The advantage of using a TIFF file instead of a jpg file is that a TIFF file can

preserve transparency on a layer while a .jpg cannot. For use on the KathyAnneArt website that transfers to being able to load images, collage element sheets, words, shapes and many other objects without a background of white or black. For instance these images and elements can be taken from layer to another layer as a selection.

Starting this month I will be building up the TIFF images on KathyAnneArt in all sorts of ways. Having the capability to save layers supporting transparency opens up new opportunities for the file uploads. In the second mini workshop that is free to members this month, I show ideas on how to use the new images and selections. When I post Photoshop or Photoshop Elements workshops, the images plus all the layers from the tutorial images will now be available on KathyAnneArt.

The images are placed on black, but could have anything behind them since they are selections that are movable.

Ebooks on Kindle and Nook

2011-04-16T13:07:00.000-07:00

All three of my ebooks have been published on both Amazon's Kindle and Barnes and Noble's Nook. Actually Design Intriguing Surfaces is still a hold out on the Nook since it seemed to me that some of the pages cut off the words on the edges. Once that problem is solved Design Intriguing Surfaces will be available on Nook as well as Kindle.

Kindle is still a black and white format, so be sure to get the app for your iphone, droid, ipad or computer so that you can enjoy the full color versions of these 3 ebooks.

Design Intriguing Surfaces Kindle version   Nook version (in the works)

The Complete Guide to Digital Printing and Assembling Beverage Cans Kindle version  Nook version

Inside Sensual Surfaces Kindle version   Nook version

The pdf versions of my ebooks are also available on www.kathyanneart.com They are in the tutorial section, but you can follow these direct links to the pages -Design Intriguing Surfaces   The Complete Guide to Digital Printing and Assembling on Beverage Cans   Inside Sensual Surfaces

To buy now and get the full page pdf versions by email for 9.99

Design Intriguing Surfaces

The Complete Guide to Digital Printing and Assembling Beverage Cans

Inside Sensual Surfaces

Beverage Can Prints

2011-03-31T13:46:00.000-07:00

Crazy busy in my studio and at least I am getting to some of my serious printing tasks. Since I am gearing up for vending night at ARTFEST 2011 (wow is it really next week?) I have been doing some printing. First some cheesecloth skins on my new 7890. Those are already packed so you won't be seeing those, but these can prints are in the drying process and on their way to be varnished. Loving our weather in Northern Arizona, my drying time is sweet. I will be printing some more cheesecloth skins this weekend, since that will be about all the time left before finishing packing. LOTS of stuff to get ready before my 2 workshops and vending night. It's always so wonderful when you get there and it all comes together.

Beverage Cans in mid process. Varnishing next.

Details

Check out my ebook to learn about printing on beverage cans. Amazon Kindle-"The Complete Guide to Digital Printing and Assembling Beverage Cans"

Epson 7890

2011-03-19T15:58:00.000-07:00

Well is just had to bite the bullet and purchase a new printer. There were several problems that needed service with my 4800 and it wasn't worth repairing it, so I bought the 7890. It's an awesome printer, but a little bit of a learning curve is appearing. The other thing is that it loves to suck the ink to get set up, or clean nozzles or whatever it thinks it should be doing. It is not as easy to fool as my last printer with paper or sizes or anything and tomorrow I will start printing some cheesecloth skins, so I will learn how to use this printer with carrier sheets etc.

The color is beautiful and now I can print 24" wide which in the case of my new large book pages is a fabulous thing. This afternoon I am printing silk 17" wide prepared for printing. Think this is the last of my 17" fabric and then I will be precoating lutradur and heavy weight canvas to get my printer profiles down with those surfaces and also some recycled printers plates. Hopefully by the end of my planned printing I will feel a little more comfortable with this printer.

Digital Printing Workshops for 2012

2011-03-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

In 2012 I will be teaching 2 amazing digital printing workshops. One in February in Texas and one in July in Greenville New York.

Fiberwerkes 2012
Texas Federation of Fiber Artists
Kerrville, Texas
February 24 - 26, 2012

Digital Prints on Alternative Surfaces

This workshop is designed to be your complete guide to digital printing on alternative surfaces. We will prepare and print fabric, specialty paper, substrates we build ourselves, beverage cans and metal mesh. Whether you are new to this idea of familiar with printing on fabrics, this worksop is jam packed with information on the subject.

For a better understanding of precoats and how they react with different substrates, it is recommended you use one image throughout the workshop. Images that works best are all over prints without strong dividing lines for example a floral scene usually works well.

There is a class fee for and a supply list for students.

Hudson River Valley Art Workshops
Greenville New York (at the amazing Greenville Arms)
July 1 - 7, 2011

Digital Printing Alternative Surfaces and Beyond.

This workshop will teach you everything you need to know about digital printing on alternative surfaces. Starting with specialty paper and fabrics and beyond. During the 5 days with this subject you will be amazed at what is created.

Techniques such as overprinting, adding elements to a surface before printing, light weight metal mesh, beverage cans and handmade substrates will give students ways to start experimenting and printing alternative surfaces successfully during and after the workshop.

Photoshop or Photoshop Elements (in the current version at the time) will be used for any instruction on working with and printing digital images. There will be information and ideas for image manipulation, correcting color, resizing an image and the proper way to print successfully using printer profiles.

Before the close of this workshop we will experiment with assembling digital surfaces. This will be comparable to doing studies with the prints you created in the workshop. There is no end to the amazing ways we can work with digital prints. You will get ideas and learn ways to successfully use digital prints to add elements to you artwork. Consider the prints you will create during the workshop accordingly. If you have a specific idea you would like to test, bring the supplies for that. I will bring a stash of items for students to play with. I will be happy to speak with individual students before the workshop to help clarify this idea and assist each student to arrive fully prepared.

If you have never been to Hudson River Valley Workshops before you will be amazed at the facility. The classroom is always open, so if you want to work other then workshop times you are welcome to. At least one evening we work with Photoshop ideas and shortcuts.

I am looking forward to an incredible week for students to learn about expanding the digital print and assembling your results. Whether you are a fiber artist or a mixed media artist this class will enable you to add digital elements to your work. Techniques will be taught on innovative ways to use your printed alternative surfaces in your artwork.

Join us for a week to push the envelope with digital prints and your art.

Information and registration

The Sketchbook Challenge

2011-03-11T03:00:00.000-08:00

The Sketchbook Challenge, have you heard about it, are you participating, are you curious? In January Sue Bleiweiss started this amazing group of artists to participate with her on a wonderful idea. Who of our creative selves doesn't at least think of sketchbooks and journals. even if we don't keep them ourselves. Well here's your chance. Start any time and get behind the monthly theme. March's theme is Spilling Over. I love this theme, my sketchbooks and journals never stay in their pages. If you check the blog today, you will see that I am the guest blogger, check it out. I was thrilled when Sue asked me to participate.

There are sketchbooks and journals laying around all over my studio and house. Never know what I may want to pick up play with. I work on many at one time and am always creating them new when I am procrastinating or looking for something to do. One thing I know is that they have to have color, pictures, texture, layers and covers with dimension. Below I put together some images with the must have for all my sketchbooks/journals. Colored pages either dyed or painted, some type of dimensional collage or elements, definitely some digitals and anything else that calls to me.

Phoenix Airport Museum Art Collection

2011-03-08T13:42:00.000-08:00

The Phoenix Airport Museum has included my work Forest Trail 4 and Forest Trail 6 in their museum collection. Both of these pieces from my Sensual Surfaces Series were exhibited in "Fiber Art Unraveled: Material and Process".

Forest Trail 4

Forest Trail 6

"In the heart of Phoenix is one of the largest airport museums in the nation. The Phoenix Airport Museum is spread out in six buildings at three airports. It has a collection of more than 500 works of art with gallery spaces for exhibitions."

Art Museum Mission Statement-Through the art collection, exhibitions and aviation archive, the Phoenix Airport Museum's mission is to enhance the public's experience by creating memorable environments in the airport system that promote Arizona's unique artistic and cultural heritage.

Bordering the Ridiculous

2011-02-24T15:12:00.000-08:00

In the process of finishing the last 2 pages in my first Forest Book in a series. There will be 10 total- 2 feet by 4 feet pages. Once these last 2 are complete, the book pages will be attached to the metal spine. This would be really exciting except that it will still take quite awhile. The labor for this page is pretty time intensive. The hardware cloth in the frame for these last 2 pages has to be worked side to side in stages so as not to ruin the assemblage being constructed on the opposite side. As the pages are worked on, the work is juggled side to side for the correct time to put pieces together.

The part being constructed below needs one 8" piece of jute twine in each 1/4" square of the grid that is open. The twine is pulled through, doubled over and tied close to the grid. The composition in the center is also being built up with layers of melted and torn lutradur that will attach to the top of the cheesecloth skin digital print. Before the lutradur goes together the jute has to be completely attached to the grid. It took 2 hours to do the small section in the left bottom corner that is finished. I'll be here awhile:)

The crochet grid pattern you see in the background of the frame is the back side of this page. The crochet grid will be the bottom layer of an assemblage using digitally printed tyvek, metal grid and waxed linen. Some other elements are also being considered.

Dimensional Collage With Digital Prints in WOW's March Issue 2011

2011-02-13T07:43:00.000-08:00

"Dimensional Collage With Digital Prints" is my new workshop/article written for Workshop on the Web. This article will appear in the March 2011 issue of this interesting internet publication.

My artwork including journals and art books incorporate original digital images with many textures and other mixed medium elements. Digital media can be used in many uncommon ways with alternative ways. This concept drives my work. For this workshop/article my focus is on simple ways to include digital prints in mixed media art. I chose a base of watercolor paper that can be printed on any digital printer with no precoat. This makes the process fun and simple. The dimensional parts come from other added elements seen in the article.

Here are a couple pics-for the complete worshop/article visit Maggie Grey's Workshop on the Web to subscribe.

Forest Book Lutradur and Encaustic Page

2011-02-09T14:57:00.000-08:00

Another page is ready for my Forest Book and it is composed of paper clay, encaustic, waxed linen, digitally printed and melted lutradur, dyed burlap, threads and pieces of a multitude of digital prints on alternative surfaces. This page measures approximately 4 feet x 2 feet. The back side will be posted here soon. I have included a full shot and detail. If you would like to see some other pictures of the base and the start of adding encaustic pieces go to my texture blog.

Reconstructing Mariposa Grove 3

2011-01-31T11:27:00.000-08:00

My process of art is ever evolving. Taking this piece, Mariposa Grove 3, from where it was to where I want it to be was the focus of my weekend. The untangling and repositioning will probably take another day or so, but here is the first section ready to hang. The other part will be the same size as this one and is being finished. It is now manageable to ship and show.

Before the changes, it would take me to set it up each time, this new configuration takes care of the problems. (For the first configuration see my post of May 18, 2010 for the second see my post of May 19, 2010) What I did was place the piece on one of my 4ft x 8 ft tables with the back side up. Once the section was straightened and untangled, I used jute twine to attach all the single columns. It created a stability in the piece. Here are some pics, my studio ceiling is not tall enough to hang the piece without the bottom touching the floor. Next week I will hang the piece outside for proper pictures.

ARTFEST 2011 Workshops

2011-01-16T09:21:00.000-08:00

One of the exciting workshops I will be teaching at ARTFEST 2011 in April this year is on the 8th entitled “Layered 3-D Collage”. This interesting workshop is based on building textures and dimension. Techniques from this workshop are just the start of an infinite amount of ways to build interest in your art. The workshop incorporates little challenges where I will supply students with items to stimulate a unique 3-D element. We will also make a 3-D artist card including what is designed in the workshop. Imagination and risk will play a role in this unique workshop.

I encourage you to bring any found or dimensional object to this workshop to incorporate in a design.

There are plenty of designs on my texture blog and all over the web that include my 3-D and textural work. Here a few little pics to add to those:)

Passing on what I have learned with digital printing is something near and dear to my heart. At ARTFEST 2011, I will be teaching “Printing Alternative Surfaces” in which we will discover how to digitally print on surfaces other then the norm of photo paper. The surfaces chosen for this workshop give a wide range of what can be printed and will add texture to the prints. Any question you have ever had about digital printing on fabrics and specialty surfaces will be covered and my aim is for everyone in the workshop to go home feeling confident about printing on their own.

There are only 3 spaces left in “Printing Alternative Surfaces” on April 7, at ARTFEST, so if you are interested make sure you sign up soon. Here are a few Southwest style images to be printed on the various surfaces we will use in the workshop.

youtube videos on these workshops:

"Printing Alternative Surfaces"

"Layered 3-D Collage"

Interview on Creative Mojo

2011-01-15T06:16:00.000-08:00

This Wednesday, January 19, 2011 I will be interviewed on Creative Mojo with Mark Lipinski. The show
airs 3PM - 5PM EST and you can catch on toginet radio. Follow the link for toginet radio and it will give you other options for listening if you miss it. The show will go to pod cast later.

In My Studio This Week

2011-01-09T07:54:00.000-08:00

This first week of 2011 was inspirational and interesting in my studio. Most of the week was spent finishing proposals for upcoming workshops. In the process of doing so, I was working with a new idea about creating dimensional and 3d collage with wire mesh. Instead of digitally printing the mesh, I used some digital prints on wood veneer, and copper mesh. These items are combined with wire, beads, hardware cloth, waxed linen and colored plastic covered wire.

The wonderful outcome of working with the mesh came from seeing the materials in layers. The see thru property of the mesh combined with the delicacy of the other pieces is incredible and something I will be working on in larger pieces for my series of giant sized books. Go to my textural blog to see some of the detail pics of the beginning of this process.

The rest of what I pursued this week will turn into a series of online video workshops for my Kathyanne Art website. These workshops will be about combining surfaces for collage and journal projects or artwork. We will work with getting the surfaces ready and explore ideas for using the surfaces.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2010-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

December 31, 2010 on my deck.

This is the time for new year resolutions. I seriously consider these all the time. I think and pile on all those things wonderful ideas about art, growth, accomplishing what I want blah blah blahI and decide what I think I should do. This year I have some incredible ideas about learning new computer software. Just got Corel's Painter 11 and absolutely love their brushes. Have lots more to learn in InDesign and Illustrator and a program that will allow me to create my own fonts. I already have a schedule to write more consistently on my blogs blocked out.........and then I realize what ends up happening with all those lofty ideas.... they are made -now -today -without any thought to where I will be or how I will be feeling when I have to keep my agreement with my resolutions. Then you know what happens? Life gets in my way and while I am doing life, in the back of my mind I think of what I said I would do and haven't.

I create, that's what I do and that is what I am going to keep doing everyday for this year and all the years after. In creating there are no rules. So here's my this new years solution resolution. For 2011- I created a treasure box. Everyday I will make a contribution to my treasure box. What that will be....I have no idea.....the surprise of it........that is the key. I have no idea what will land in my treasure box day to day, but I am looking forward to the journey and that is awesome.

For this year, remember, there are no ordinary moments.

December 31, 2010 from my studio porch.

Design Intriguing Surfaces in FiberArts

2010-12-22T05:16:00.001-08:00

The new FiberArts Winter issue 2010/2011 has a blurb on my ebook-
Design Intriguing Surfaces. Page 13 at the very bottom it mentions my ebook. Thanks to FiberArts for including me!

For information on Design Intriguing Surfaces see my post in a previous blog.Design Intriguing Surfaces
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Yosemite Renaissance XXVI

2010-12-21T08:01:00.000-08:00

My piece Mariposa Grove has been accepted for Yosemite Renaissance XXVI at the Yosemite Gallery Museum to open on February 25, 2011. The opening reception is 5:30 to 7:30PM.

Mariposa Grove is 36" x 17" and is a digital print taken in the Grove in 2008 on an early morning hike. My husband and I arrived at around 7AM and and spent 3 hours hiking the grove as I took an obscene amount of pictures. The image is altered in Photoshop and printed on a piece of my hand made amate bark paper along with a piece of copper mesh. The prints are attached together on a piece of 1/4" hardware cloth with waxed linen thread.

"Yosemite Renaissance is an annual competition/exhibition which is intended to encourage diverse artistic interpretations of Yosemite. Its goals are to bring together the works of serious contemporary artists that do not simply duplicate traditional representations; to establish a continuum with past generations of Yosemite artists; and to help re-establish visual art as a major interpretive medium of the landscape and a stimulus to the protection of the environment. Historically, the arts have played a very important role in the establishment of our State and National Parks. It is our hope that they can be just as important in future efforts to preserve and protect that heritage." From the Yosemite Renaissance Prospectus

Art Unraveled 2011Workshops - August 2nd and August 9

2010-12-18T20:04:00.000-08:00

I am truly excited to be teaching at Art Unraveled again this coming year.

My workshops: Dimensional Collage with Digital Medium will take place on August 2, 2011.
Here's the class description:

Dimensional Collage with Digital Medium

All levels

Project and Process

Using digital images and dimension with collage adds depth and interest to all types of artwork. Before coming to the workshop each participant will email me images so they can be printed on several alternative surfaces and be ready to use in your designs. During the class you will use these images as you combine other elements for dimensional colllage.

We will create artwork that is uniquely yours. Starting with your digital images we will

construct a collection of small compositions. These compositions can be put into book form, or stand alone as collage pieces. There will be instructions to accomplish the format that works for you.

Constructing the base and working from there, our digital images and other elements will be assembled and embellished. Participants will also receive verbal and written instructions on how to prepare fabrics in the future to print on their inkjet printers.

My workshop: Can-Can Art will take place on August 9, 2011.

Here's that class description:

Can-Can Art

All levels

Project from process

Ever thought of digitally printing on a beverage can and incorporating it into your art work? Well here is your chance.

This is a 2 part process/project workshop. First will be complete instructions on how to prepare cans for successful printing, with full written instructions. There will be a demo and hands on prep for the cans to understand how to complete this process later on your own. This will allow you to take this process home to your inkjet printer and print your own images on cans. (You will ultimately need a straight path printer for this process.)

As we start the next phase of the workshop, we will use the pre-printed cans from your kit to assemble your project. Making little elements and/or objects with the printed cans from your kit, we will learn the ins and outs of construction. Follow your own inspiration, or use step by step instructions to build your creation.

It is amazing how many ways this surface can be used to add interest to your art, mixed media work and journals. We will explore many ideas and assemblage techniques for you to go ahead with this process. Join us and be inspired to recycle beverage cans in a unique artsy context.

Forest Book Kauri Page

2010-12-15T07:58:00.000-08:00

Enter more to the inside of my Forest Book with a page based on the Tane Mahuta, New Zealands largest known living Kauri tree. This tree is in the Waipoua Forest on the north island. This forest is magnificent and the print this page is based on is but a tiny section of this immence tree that is upwards of 1200 years old.

The image is printed on these surfaces: lutradur, tyvek, rice paper and dyed canvas. The layers also contain dyed burlap, chrocheted hemp, twigs and dyed cheesecloth. The stacks are wired together an attached to hardware cloth. A large border of crocheted jute surrounds the tree composition.

Mesa Contemporary Arts' 32nd Annual Contemporary Crafts Exhibition

2010-12-05T11:28:00.000-08:00

My piece Forest Surfaces 15 will be displayed in this Mesa Contemporary Arts show from January 21, 2011 through March 6, 2011 with an opening on January 21st. The show is curated by Perry Price, Assistant Curator of Exhibitions and Collections at the Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, Massachusetts. The Mesa Contemporary Arts Crafts exhibition will include 47 artworks by 37 artists representing 18 states.

Forest Surfaces 15 Artist Statement

My visits to forests that are home to the largest trees on the planet, has been inspirational in depicting a response to this incredible environment. Photographs of trees and their surrounding areas evolved into a series of work.

Forest Surfaces 15 is an expression of the Waipoui Forest in northern New Zealand. An image is manipulated and printed on an alternative surface with archival ink. Visually stepping into the composition of layers inspired by the forest, hemp is crocheted for a base. The digitally printed surface is melted and torn then layered with beads for the final composition.

Forest Surfaces 15 is 78" long and 20" wide.

Forest Book Metal Mesh

2010-11-30T13:03:00.000-08:00

Metals and metal mesh in various forms are the basis for this page in my giant Forest Book. This page measures 4 feet heigh and 2 feet wide. It starts with a piece of plywood, sanded, varnished and used for a base for riveting all the metals. Tracy Moore taught me this technique at a workshop in his studio on forged metal journals.

As the page begins, I start to cut up some of the metal to start riveting pieces to the pages. These are digital prints on recycled printers plates.

Digitally printed metals include: beverage cans, recycled printer plates, fine copper mesh, aluminum and copper screen. Most of the metals are riveted, some of the pieces are attached with waxed polyester thread. Cord of waxed polyester thread are cut and attached to use with 3D collage.

All the surfaces have been digitally printed, most using a Clear Matte Precoat from inkAID. Some of the mesh and metals have been cut and strung together with beads.

This detail shows recycled printers plates attached in strands and also riveted right to the page. For more detail pictures of this page see my Kathyanne White Texture Blog.

Forest Book Amate Bark Page

2010-11-22T13:50:00.000-08:00

This page is 48" x 24" and is several prints on paper made with the Amate Bark Process. This is a several day process, but the results are always beautiful and full of texture. I used Kozo Fiber from Japan. The picture below are the 2 full panel used, you can see one has more holes in the surface then the other.

The prints are attached to a piece of wood. Dyed cheesecloth is attached to the surface of the wood with gel medium. The 2 larger prints are stacked and attached together with waxed linen with a large bead strung in between the panel layers. This keeps the layers separate. The print with more holes is on top. The edges are extended by using the smaller pieces with large beads and waxed linen

A cursory look at the process goes like this: soak the fibers overnight. Boil the fiber and transfer it to a crock pot to simmer between 8 to 12 hours. Layer the bark horizonally and vertically and again, depending on the thickness wanted. Then pound together with a smooth rock and let it dry. Coat with the inkAID precoat of choice. Let dry again and print from a carrier sheet.

Detail pictures appear on my kathyannewhite texture blog.

A New Idea About Digitally Printed Alternative Surfaces

2010-11-17T19:57:00.000-08:00

For a month I have been printing surfaces to be used in my Forest Book series. The work for the series will push my idea and imagination on new alternative surfaces, the way these surfaces can be created and assembled.

For now I am working on studies to create large size books with the smallest page size of the smallest book to be 48"x 24". These Forest Books are based on my photography taken in the Waipoua Forest in Northern New Zealand and Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park.

I have finished 6 pages and have 3 more in pieces all over my studio. As I work through this idea, I will be posting images. My plan is to create a digital journal on what happens along the way, but that will evolve as this goes along. I will also be following up with details of the textures in the book on my KathyAnne White blog, where I post on texture.

This is the front of the first book with 6 pages. In the next few days, I will follow up this post with details of the pages.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Complete Guide to Digital Printing and Assembling Beverage Cans

2010-10-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

My new ebook is now available on KathyAnne Art. Members be sure to log in first to get your 20% discount.

Introduction-

"Whether you are doing this for fun or to create interesting artwork, beverage cans are an incredible surface for digital printing. This ebook is your action guide to everything you need to know about creating a successful digital print on a recycled beverage can. As an added benefit, you will be able to use the techniques you learn here on other lightweight metal surfaces. From trial and error after preparing and printing over 4000 beverage cans my process has evolved to its current state. This ebook will assist anyone at any level to be able to successfully print their own cans.

In 2009 I was awarded an Artists Project Grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts for my project “Expanding the Digital Print to Uncommon Surfaces.” Since the grant period started in January 2009 I have been experimenting with and printing a multitude of substrates. One of my goals for the grant was to share what I had learned about the digital process on alternative or uncommon surfaces. My beverage can process began with the search for interesting substrates to print and create how-to videos for youtube. Through experimentation and research the list of my substrates continues to grow and beverage cans are one of the surfaces on which I developed tried and true techniques. My continous search for alternative substrates still finds beverage cans as one of my favorite surfaces to print and assemble................"

To purchase this ebook download for $9.99:

New Ebook on Printing Beverage Cans Available Soon!

2010-10-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

By the end of this month, my new ebook will be available from the KathyAnne Art Site.
This ebook will describe everything you wanted to know about creating a successful print on a recycled beverage can. As an added benefit, you will be able to use the techniques for preparing and printing other light weight metal surfaces. From trial and error for over a year and after preparing printing over 2000 beverage cans my process has evolved to it's current state and will assist anyone at any level to be able to successfully print their own cans. Whether you are doing this for fun or to create interesting artwork, beverage cans are an incredible surface for digital printing.

From cans to assemblage, this ebook will have it all!

The Complete Guide to Printing then Assembling Recycled Beverage Cans

New inkAID Videos

2010-10-09T06:36:00.000-07:00

The inkAID site has several of my videos running on their pages. This inspired me to do some specific videos on inkAID products since they are an integral part of my work. There are more videos coming soon, but you can visit my youtube channel from time to time to see what's new. Or you could subscribe and when I post new videos you will know.

One of the surfaces I showed in the video on metals is a new one for me. I purchased a bunch of printers plates that are turquoise. The color is a factor in the decision for the image and the coatings used. The differences in inkAID precoats is documented in the Metals and Metal Mesh video. Here is an example on the prints on printers plates. You can view the video on youtube to get the whole scoop.

Printing Alternative Surfaces using inkAID

Digital Printing Alternative Surfaces with inkAID: Skins and Overprints

Printing Alternative Surfaces using inkAID: Easy Start

Digital Printing Metals and Metal Mesh Using inkAID

For more videos on the digital printing process with inkAID precoats, workshop previews etc. see my youtube channel.

Photoshop Elements 9 is Here!

2010-09-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

When Adobe brought out Photoshop Elements 9 recently they added content aware to the healing brush tool. Content Aware is a valuable feature in Photoshop CS5. (See my post about Content Aware Fill on Photoshop CS5 from July 20, 2010)

Content aware in Photoshop Elements 9 has been added to the spot healing brush as a default setting in the upper tool bar and works somewhat differently. Let me show you some comparisons.

In the original photo above, I will remove the dark spots on the flower. In Photoshop CS5 I circled all the dark spots on the flower with the lasso tool at the same time by holding the shift key to add the other small circles. Using Edit

For the spot healing tool in Photoshop Elements 9 content aware is selected in the upper tool bar, but I had to use the brush over the spots one at a time, so they can't be done all at once. Just takes a little more time, but the results are the same.

Now here is where it changes a bit from the 2 programs.

Starting here I want to remove the feet and the piece of garbage from the grate. First I will show you what happened with content aware fill in Photoshop CS5

Now Photoshop Elements 9

You can see that the top part isn't too different, but the grate is not as good, so I tried again.

A little different results for this correction.

Now I want to show you something that I like to do with the Content Aware Fill. Instead of taking unwanted parts of the image out, I fill what could be called the background with the main part of the image. This gives a different affect with the 2 programs.

Original Image

I selected all the parts of the ground around the image and Photoshop CS5 filled it like this.

Then I did the same thing with the spot healing brush in Photoshop Elements and here it is.

You get a different interpretation of pixels.

In Photoshop CS5 you can easily select areas, my tools of choice are the lasso tool and the pen tool.
In Elements the tool is the spot healing brush and isn't quite as easy to make a selection when you want to change such as the one with the red flower. I will be doing some tutorials on my Inside KathyAnne Art blog on this subject in the future, so check there from time to time.

Quilts: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum

2010-09-26T11:08:00.000-07:00

On October 5, 2010 the American Folk Art Museum will open "Quilts: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum." My piece Reflection will be included in this exhibition. Reflection was added to the museum's collection in December of 2003.

A book with the same title as the exhibition will be available from the museum store in October of 2010.

"Quilts: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum" launches the Year of the Quilt, the museum's celebration of a glorious American art form and the creative contributions of three centuries of talented women. Highlighting textile masterpieces in the collection, the exhibitions include recent gifts, bedcovers that have rarely been on view, and important cornerstones of the museum's comprehensive quilt holdings. Given the rarity of the fabrics used in most of the museum's historic quilts, the fine workmanship, and the quilts' well preserved condition, it is clear that they are examples of "best" bedcovers, saved for use on special occasions or when company visited. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when quilts no longer needed to be made for mere warmth, quiltmakers used the at form to express their creativity within the confines of popular decorating trends. Most recently, contemporary fiber artists have taken the opportunity to transcend time and place, using the historical concept of a quilt as a starting point for their artistic, and often social and political, statements.

Elizabeth V. Warren, guest curator

Assembling Digital Prints on Recycled Printers Plates

2010-09-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

The prints from last post have been altered. The back of the prints are painted with copper and black. After painting the panels are cut in random leaf like shapes, hole punched and threaded through black 28 gauge wire. The wire is crocheted with the pieces separated in the crochet stitches. I crocheted a 2 foot by 4 foot piece of black and brown hemp and am layering that on top of a piece of hardware cloth. The print pieces are going to be attached to the surface of hemp crochet along with a base of hardware cloth.

Before the pieces are attached I will frame the hardware cloth layer to give it stability. I still don't know exactly how I will do this, but a trip to Home Depot tomorrow should help. The section of hardware cloth must be able to stand alone and needs to be stabilized to accomplish this. When finished this piece will be one of several pages in a book that will have a cover 2 feet wide and 4 feet tall. The giant size book is a study of pieces to come, so right now I will be solving some construction issues. The actual covers for the book are plywood and the digital print assemblages to cover the wood are complete, but not attached. As pieces are finished they will be posted here.

Crochet hemp over hardware cloth

Digital prints on recycled printers plates, cut in random shapes

Detail of cut prints

Cut prints crocheted with wire on crocheted hemp and hardware cloth.

Digital Prints on Recycled Printers Plates

2010-09-05T06:45:00.000-07:00

These digital prints are on recycled printers plates. Since the plates are thin metal, the process for printing would be the same as most metals. The images are from a tree in Hawaii and have each been changed slightly. Each print has a layer of texture that has been created by using the photobucket tool and just laying the texture in to small chosen sections of the photograph.

These prints are going to be cut into random leaf like shapes and then riveted together so only the image shows on both sides. Then they will be added to wire and used on one of the sections of new work I am planning. By the end of the week, I plan on posting the results.

ArtFest 2011 Workshops

2010-08-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

Two of my favorite workshops will be offered at ArtFest 2011. Printing Alternative Surfaces will take place on April 7, 2011 and Layered 3D Collage will be on April 8, 2011. I have listed the class descriptions, pictures and cursory youtube videos about the workshops. Hope you will join me there, this will be great!!! Oh and if you plan to come for the Layered 3D Collage- please note my supply lists, as of today, the supplies on the ArtFest site are not for my workshop. They were mixed up with another class and hopefully will be changed on the ArtFest Site soon.

Printing Alternative Surfaces

The content of this workshop will enlighten you on absolutely everything you need to know

about digital printing on alternative surfaces. We will not print on regular photograph paper.

Each student will have a kit of surfaces that have been prepared for printing on a small 4” x 6”

format printer. These surfaces will include lutradur, organdy, pimatex cotton, metal and hand

made cheese cloth skin, specialty paper.

Printing Alternative Surfaces is a process class, which includes a handout containing complete

instructions on types of pre-coats, pre-coating surfaces, carrier sheets, printer profiles, printing

on uncommon surfaces and creating surfaces by hand.

Each student will purchase a kit of surfaces (see supplies for contents of kit) that have been

prepared for printing. You will attach those surfaces and print them on a small 4” x 6” format

printer. These surfaces will include lutradur, organdy, pimatex cotton, metal, hand made

cheese cloth skins, specialty paper, and watercolor paper. You can use my images or bring

your own.

Since there will be time taken up by students printing, while others wait, we will also look at

using printed surfaces in collage. Your kit will also contain watercolor paper for this purpose.

We will experiment and play with this part, but who knows you could create a great collage!

I will pass on whatever I know that will make your journey easy, fun and inspiring.

Layered 3D Collage

Want to add excitement to your projects.? Go 3D in a good way. This works for everything, collage, mixed media, journals, art books and whatever else you may be creating. We will create small compositions to experiment with exercises to push your creative techniques, then we will add them to larger compositions.

This workshop is largely a process class, but you will end up with interesting elements to use in future work and have the opportunity to create an end result with exercises developed.

Designed to produce extremely interesting 3D elements, we will manipulate fabric, paper and other items. During the workshop we will experiment with some, if not all of the following materials: found objects, metals, twigs, hemp, canvas, paint, thread, recycled items, metal mesh and wire.

We will look at uncommon ways to use surfaces and items in a 3D and layered way, with exercises that stretch beyond where we have been before.. Each participant will bring their special style to the elements created. Students are encouraged to develop their own interpretation with the ideas presented.

Depending on how fast you work, will depend on how far you can go, but you will open a world of discovery and stretch as your imagination leads you through the exercises. There will be food for thought and plenty to try later on your own.

Supplies

Remember we will be in the classroom only one day, so don’t over bring things.

General art supplies such as: scissors, gel medium or glue (for tougher glue jobs, I like using gel medium, but you decide what you would like to use). A few small pieces of sturdy paper or fabric around 6” to 10 “, you can use as a base for elements.

You will receive instructions for the exercises, that sometimes include items I give each student. You will need to bring a small assortment of other like materials like, pieces cut off of old artwork, pieces of clothing, buttons, yarn, ribbon, recycled things, scraps of anything to combine with your creations, found objects, beads, items to stack or build onto, whatever you think you want to create with. No worries, I will also have a large stash of all sorts of items for you to use, so don’t bring a lot.

One package of 24 to 33 gauge wire. Craft wire is fine. The larger the gauge, the thinner the wire.

Embroidery thread (6 strand) with needles to use with the thread.

Printing Alternative Surfaces on youtube

Layered 3D Collage on youtube

Encaustic and Digitals

2010-08-11T21:06:00.001-07:00

I've been wanting to learn about encaustics and how that process may be incorporated with my digital prints. While I was teaching at Art Unraveled recently, I was able to take an Encaustic workshop from Patricia Seggebruch. She's great and if you want to check out her book, it's called "Encaustic Workshop."

Working with this method was truly interesting along with challenging. Developing work while using the encaustic technique opens endless possibilities in journaling and collage along with some limitations. Here are some of my results from that workshop.

Digital on melted tyvek, dyed burlap, metal screen, encaustic

Dyed cheesecloth and burlap, print on heat distressed lutradur, print on paper, twigs, copper wire

Crocheted waxed linen, crocheted hemp, printed tyvek, crocheted wire, encaustic

Dyed cheesecloth, dyed burlap, metal screen, twigs, printed paper, copper wire, encaustic

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Phoenix Airport Museum

2010-07-30T04:47:00.000-07:00

From now until February 2011 the Phoenix Airport Museum is showing 2 of my pieces from my Forest Trail Series. Yesterday I was in the Phoenix Airport, on my way to Denver,. As I rounded the corner to security in terminal 4, I saw one of the exhibits featuring Forest Trails 4.

Forest Trails 4, 68" x 48" is composed of texture layers of canvas, burlap, fiberglass screen and has a 2 top layers of digital prints on canvas and tyvek.

This picture was taken with my Android. The reflection in the glass makes it impossible to get a picture without all the reflection, but I was able to clean a little of it up with the Content Aware Fill from Photohshop CS5. On my way back through the airport on Sunday, I will hunt up the other exhibit in the same terminal.

Content Aware Fill- Photoshop CS5

2010-07-20T15:44:00.000-07:00

Did you know Photoshop CS5 has Content-Aware Fill? Take items out of a photo with no fuss, just make a selection and then use the Content-Aware Fill. Here's a before and after. This bear was pacing his cage at the zoo in Omaha. I wanted to print him on a skin and as usual I didn't have a lot of time to finish the image preparation and printing. Since I had been working on the new version of Photoshop, I thought I would try to use the content aware fill and see how easy it was to use.

The bear was in a glass enclosure at the zoo and there were a bunch of people standing around watching him. The reflection off the glass in the picture showed parts of the watchers. There was garbage in part of the bears domain. I used the lasso tool to make some quick selections and each time I had a selection active I used Edit< Fill< Use

Here you see the Bear with circles around some of the selections. If you look closely you can see people and distracting stuff.

This photo shows the correction made with the Content-Aware Fill, this took just a few minutes.

Last, I textured the rocks with one of my patterns. The final overprint onto a skin with elements is part of my Skins and Metal Mesh Workshop.

Flickr Group for Digital Alternative Surfaces

2010-07-19T12:19:00.000-07:00

Amazing digital surfaces are the central theme of my new group on Flickr-Digital Prints on Alternative Surfaces. I would love to see what you are printing on. Printed alternative surfaces are interesting, innovative and inspirational. Here is a place to share what you have created in this genre. You can access this group and get permission to join by going to http://www.flickr.com/groups/alternative_surfaces/

Photos and posts can be anything concerning digital printing: an idea you are working on, a print on an uncommon surface, or a finished piece that incorporates digital prints on alternative surfaces. This is the place to post your photos or join a discussions.

Join us to share inspiration, ideas and projects with digital prints.

You will need a Flickr account to post. Also I will have to approve you. You can go to this url or you can contact me and request an invitation to Digital Prints on Alternative Surfaces on Flickr. Then you can start a discussion, add to a discussion, ask questions etc. The best part is for you to share your digital creations in any form and let us all view them. If you are looking for feedback this is a great place to ask for it. We would love to have you as a group member.

Recycled Beverage cans, assembled in layers of printed cans and crochet wire

Digital print on copper mesh

Digital print on organdy, painted canvas and lutradur

Digital print on aluminum flashing with molding paste and sand added before the inkAID precoat for printing.

Just for Inspiration

2010-07-15T14:08:00.000-07:00

Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield is such a great song for inspiration when I work . Her song is on several playlists on all of my ipods. Here is the video and the lyrics. Sometimes in my studio, it's all about loud music and sometimes it's all quiet and working. Today it's loud music and this started me out.

"Unwritten"

I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined
I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Oh, oh, oh

I break tradition, sometimes my tries, are outside the lines
We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can't live that way

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten

Oh, yeah, yeah

Art Full Day

2010-07-09T16:33:00.001-07:00

Today I have been trying to finish cleaning up my studio for a 2 day workshop that starts tomorrow. It is amazing how many neat elements I found beneath the rubble. It’s a good thing I am almost done, because I took some inspiring detours:) that have me somewhat behind on my final preparations. Here’s what I was up to.

*I made several small journals from dyed watercolor paper I found.
*Did a small study for a new beverage can piece, with printed cans that appeared.
*Got ideas for 2 new workshops.
*Received my camera connection kit for my ipad from apple.
*Worked on and finished a journal with beverage can accents.
*Here’s something really awesome-found 8 loose leaf journals containing hand dyed watercolor paper and pieced and beaded covers. These were put away for the shopping extravaganza at Art Unraveled next month. Lucky me to find them.

This ended up to be a very art full day. I found lots of great stuff, made stuff and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Now tomorrow, (as I will keep working) my space should be nice and neat. Already set up my printers to get some good stuff done with the students. A little fine tuning in my office and I’m ready to go.

Art Unraveled Workshop - August 9, 2010

2010-06-28T15:52:00.000-07:00

I love creating digital prints and then using them for collage or elements in my art books and journals. On Aug 9, next month, I will be teaching "Eclectic Digital Elements Journal" at Art Unraveled in Phoenix Arizona.

We all have photographs that we love and would like to add to our journals or artwork. This workshop introduces you to printing your photographs on uncommon surfaces. Eclectic Digital Elements Journal expands the way you think about your photographs. This concept will even get you thinking about what kind of photographs to take for your work in the future.

One of the great things about this subject is the versatility of the information. This is a great mixed media class; from the fabric embellished cover, to the dyed watercolor pages, concluding with the collage of the pages in the journal itself. There is no end to the ideas once you start using digital elements in your art. This workshop opens a door of expression in a whole new way.

This is a process that takes a path and presents the fundamentals for constructing a custom journal. Techniques are just a bit edgy. Each student in the workshop will express their ideas in their own unique voice.

We will be using my Epson PM260 4" x 6" printer to create our digital elements. This printer is amazing at printing beautiful images on alternative surfaces. The workshop is 2 fold in that you learn the process for printing on uncommon surfaces ad you will make a clearly custom journal reflecting your personality.

There is a youtube video posted on this workshop, you will be able to see the journal live. Check my blog post from Dec 9 last year for a complete class description. Then join me in Phoenix for this inspiring workshop. Now here are tons of pics of collage with digital prints.

Digital Prints on Alternative Surfaces:Skins and Metal Mesh

2010-06-23T22:34:00.000-07:00

My online workshop Digital Prints on Alternative Surfaces:Skins and Metal Mesh has been posted to KathyAnne Art. If you are a member of KathyAnne Art be sure to log in to be sure to get your 20% discount on the workshop.

Using skins, creating texture with them, embedding other elements, using them in 3D compositions, these things appeal to me. As long as the surface fits through my printer, there are unlimited constructions ideas open to this alternative surface. In this workshop we will explore the basics, look at some of the ideas about building skins and learn how to print them successfully.

Metal mesh, the other subject of this workshop, creates an incredible surfaces. This surface will have the texture of the mesh as underlying interest. Metal is an interesting surface to print. When the metal is a mesh it is pliable and alluring.

Join me on this look at creating alternative surfaces with skins and metal mesh. This workshop has a video that can be downloaded to your computer when you view it. It also has a PDF Workbook that you can download, with pictures, descriptions, step by step for both skins and mesh, list of supplies and other thoughts and hints about these
intriguing surfaces.

Video access never expires, so as long as you keep the information on passwords and url of the video, you will be able to view it as long as you wish. Feel free to email me with questions at any time.

Once you learn the techniques you will find what works for you, what you like or not and you can tailor make your surfaces to fit your work.

The workshop workbook contains descriptions of the inkAID precoats, suitable for this process, along with other information on resourses.

Watch my youtube introduction video to view some of the printed surfaces.

You can also view the video on my Inside KathyAnne Art blog

The cost of the workshop for non-members is $50.
Remember members get 20% off when they log in before they purchase the workshop.
Member Login

Changes in Printing Boxes for Photoshop CS5

2010-06-19T19:00:00.001-07:00

Several of my online workshops will need updates since Adobe released CS5 last month. I will be adding addendum's to the workshops, but until that is in place, I thought I would give you a look at the new print boxes.
With a cursory explanation. This is for Photoshop CS 5.

When I select print - this box will open. I am printing with my 2400, so I chose that printer first.

My presets say last used settings. Since I can't remember what I printed last, I will want to review those settings in a minute.

My paper size is a custom size. I created this by using the paper size pull down menu, using manage custom sizes and entering the size of my print.

So before I choose save, I will go to layout in the presets pulldown menu to see if I want to use my last used settings again.

From this list, I pick print settings...

I chose the media type I will be printing and then under color settings I chose off no color adjustment. This is important, so my color will be correct from my photoshop file and the printer won' manage my color. I still want to make another change, so back to the list I used when I chose print settings. I choose extension settings

This is a thicker surface and I am using a carrier sheet, so I want to be sure my printer knows. I check the thick paper box.

Now if I want to use the same profile for my next print, it will save me having to make all the choices again when I use last used settings in the original box. Once I save my changes, I click save and get back to the print box.

As I get back to the print box, in the column on the right, I will make sure Photoshop manages my color and that I again choose my media type. Then I can click print.

More details on this later and also I will do show you this process with Photoshop Elements 8.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Textures from the Sea

2010-06-17T19:08:00.001-07:00

Well these textures are not actually from the sea, but from a zoo aquarium. I was at the Omaha Zoo this week and took these pictures from a series of small separate tanks. Wasn't sure this would work through the glass, but turns out it did.

There is tremendous potential for creating textures using the elements in these scenes. Some of the obvious ideas would be designs for crochet, embroidery, beading and other fiber projects. I am looking to create digital
Textures based on the photographs. Future postings will show the results.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Skins and Metal Mesh

2010-06-09T19:31:00.001-07:00

Skins and Metal Mesh, a new online workshop, in the video stage since Memorial Day. Hopefully the entire workshop will be finished in a little more then a week. The videos are over half done. What is left now, is the printing process and the information for the workshop workbook. Documenting the process with photos and words, take longer to create then the videos themselves. Since I will be out of town until Tuesday next week, it will add some time to the launch date. The workshop description will be in the June Enews and posted here when it is online and ready.

Here are a few pictures of some printed surfaces at will be covered in the workshop.

Skins -assemblage ideas. How you can use them in your work.

Printing copper mesh

Overprinting skins with elements

Posted from my iPad.

In Studio Workshops

2010-05-27T08:55:00.000-07:00

This summer, I will be teaching 2 day workshops covering the digital printing process with alternative surfaces, in my studio in Prescott, Arizona.

Three dates to choose from this summer:

June 19 and 20
July 10 and 11
August 21 and 22

There are lots of places to stay in the Prescott area. I would be happy to help you with this. You can contact me with questions.

All supplies will be provided in the workshop price.

During the course of this workshop we will:
Learn the basics and information on all the pre-coats.
Prepare and print fabric and specialty paper.
Prepare and print beverage cans.
Prepare and print skins.

Prepare and print metal mesh.
Prepare and overprint a surface.
Experience the complete printing process.
Use tutorials in Photoshop and/or Photoshop Elements
Receive written instruction and suppliers for future use.

This 2 day workshop will prepare you with hands on instruction on how to get the most from
your digital prints on alternative surfaces.

Bring your laptop to work on images during the workshop.

Even without a laptop, you can still participate in any image manipulation discussions.

I will be happy to answer any questions you have before and after the workshop. To enroll for one of these workshops use the buy now button, below for the date of your choice.

Workshop price of $325.00 includes all materials for the workshop.
Once you enroll, you will receive workshop details by email.
Workshop size is limited to 4 people.

June 19 and 20, 2010

July 10 and 11, 2010

August 21 and 22

Dyed and Painted Journal Pages

2010-05-26T16:04:00.000-07:00

Here is a little hint on getting interesting color when painting paper or fabric.

In my art journals, overprint digitals, any type of books, I often paint watercolor paper as a base. My favorite paper Fabriano Artistico hot press 140 lb watercolor has a scrumptious hand. Of course it is watercolor paper, but there is not a watercolor palette involved. I use acrylic or liquid acrylic with water mixed with different colors of dye. Type of dyes? Procion Fiber Reactive Dye in powder form from Dharma Trading Company. Many times, it is the left over dye from other projects that is used to color the acrylics.

Mixing dys with the acrylic paint does great thing to the colors. The color is mixed right on the paper or fabric. Sometimes the dyed water is lightly spilled on the paper first before adding some splashes of paint. Other times a few dabs of acrylic will be first and a very wet brush with the dye water will spread the acrylic around. The technique is spontaneous and quick and many sheets can be colored in a short period of time.

Here is the workspace set up and some of the results. These pages are for a combination fabric and watercolor paper that is currently in construction.

Mariposa Grove 3 Almost Ready

2010-05-19T19:22:00.000-07:00

Today was spent reconfiguring my large piece for the opening of an exhibition on Friday night. See yesterdays blog post for the details. Well the piece is now almost ready, just a few things to do while it is on the wall. Here are pics of todays progress, starting with the piece after it was taken apart and put on the floor to rearrange.

Back up with a few things to straighten fix

Detail

The drawback of pictures is they cannot show the detail, texture or feel of this piece.

Finished size is 103" in length, 120" in width. There are 2200 cut can pieces that

have been digitally printed. There were 350 cans printed to create this piece.

The piece is joined with hemp and has twigs wrapped in amate bark paper on the

center of each can piece.

Crazy:)

2010-05-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I finished all the work for my upcoming show:
Arizona Commission on the Arts Awards: 2009 Prescott Project Grant Recipients -May 21-June 25, 2010, Yavapai College Art Gallery.

Outside my studio is a covered patio, where I assembled my Mariposa Grove 3 to see what it would look like once it was in the gallery. I had been over the ideas for installation with the powers that be in the gallery. To make a long story short ( and not to sound like I am complaining) it didn't work out the way it was planned, so today I took the strands apart and right now they are laying on the gallery floor till tomorrow, when I will reassemble it in another way to hang on the wall, flat and not the way it was intended.

Hopefully this will have a happy ending. The show opens Friday night this week and after 3 months of work it would be great to hang this piece. Stay tuned and we will see what happens. Until then here are some pictures of the piece 10 feet long and 42 inches across the circle.

Puppet Warp-Photoshop CS5

2010-05-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

Before

Haven't had much time lately as I am finishing my artwork for an upcoming show, but yesterday I was playing with puppet warp to take a break from construction. Here is the before and after. This particular feature of the new version of photoshop takes some practice and I am looking forward to doing just that. It will open many doors for the images I will be using in upcoming work.

After

After Puppet Warp, using 3 photographs.

Yavapai College Gallery Show

2010-04-28T11:51:00.000-07:00

This is turning into a white knuckler, but on May 17th I will be delivering my work for an exhibition at Yavapai College Gallery. The work for this show will be from my Artist Project Grant 2009 from the Arizona Commission on the Arts.

My project "Expanding the Digital Print to Uncommon Surfaces" took me on a fabulous journey. From creating digital prints on beverage cans, metal mesh, my hand made amate bark paper and many other surfaces, I was able to do some incredible things with digital prints. This will be my first chance to photograph this work in one place that is also large enough to do justice to my beverage can assemblages. There will be 3 beverage can assemblages. Now all I have to do is finish the last 2 planned pieces.

The pieces for Mariposa Grove 3, the largest of the 2 unfinished pieces, has several phases of creation. All the beverage cans have been cut to size to assemble as of yesterday. Then holes punched, before going to the next step. Once those pieces have holes punched they get a strand of hemp tied to each corner. Then the centers have to be punched and hemp strung in the middle holes for the next step. Small pieces of a print on hand made amate bark paper is wrapped around twigs and attached to the hemp in the center hole. Once those steps are complete the pieces will be tied together in 10 foot strips. After today, I will have a better idea of the amount of time still left to finish this piece.

Twigs to be added, bark to be cut.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with the gallery director for us to figure out exactly how this can be hung from the ceiling. This will be interesting, but we have to solve the problem of how to hang the piece in the way I envision. By Monday, I hope to have it pretty much finished.

Pieces before twigs and bark.

Pieces complete and ready to be tied together for the assemblage.