more Dina love...

Honoré here: In my last post, I promised to share more face photos and information from Dina's encaustic tag book class. First, the faces:

I love and am inspired by each one and the entire Faces class  ~ in fact, I find that I cannot look at a magazine or a person on TV or in person without thinking: I can draw that face...I think. That thought may be a bit premature considering I've not actually taken pencil to paper since the class but I have been collecting faces. 

Dina suggested we build a reference library and I have: using my iPhone camera ; ripping out pictures from magazines; and gathering information from the Internet, books and DVDs. I ordered and received 100 Girls on Cheap Paper, a neat book and just downloaded from Interweave Press The Whimsical Face by Jane Davenport (you can take a quick preview of the DVD here).  I am so inspired that I've planned an "art afternoon" with my grand nieces for this Sunday (June 30); guess what's on the agenda?!

Regrettably I did not take Dina's Encaustic Tag Book class - and like the commercial that shows a woman kicking herself in the derriere, I could/did the same, after I saw some of the class' creations:

Not to be totally undone because I'd not signed up for the class, I did the next best thing and found an online tutorial that I share with you here (tho' minus instruction on using the encaustic medium: hot, melted beeswax - a quick search will turn up some more information, I'm sure) and a blog post from a participant at one of Dina's classes (note: not at The Queen's Ink) that adds a little more to the process. I'm pretty confident that with Dina's book: Art Journal Freedom and my experiences from the classes I've taken with her - all thanks to The Queen's Ink for bringing her to Maryland - I too will eventually make an encaustic tag book. It's on my agenda for the summer.

If you took either/both of the classes, we'd love to have you share your Dina love in the comments. What did you take away? What are you creating? 

Cheers~

PS. Dina hinted strongly that she'd be back to The Queen's Ink before 2013 ends. So I suggest you stay tuned via The Queen's Ink website/this blog. In the meantime, check out the summer classes on tap and take yourself on an artist's date to The Queen's Ink. I always find something new, exciting, inspiring...always!

welcome back, dina!

Last weekend, June 7-9, Dina Wakley was The Queen's Ink's featured artist-in-residence.

Over the three days! she taught a total of five workshops. I was lucky enough to take three (and wished I'd signed up for all).

We were introduced to a variety of art techniques and inspired beyond our wildest imaginations. In Dina's inimitable style, we were encouraged to experiment, play, discover, and told, in no uncertain terms, that we weren't allowed to  a) moan or  b) over-think. Always great advice and often, really hard to refrain from doing...but we did (or if we did moan and/or over-think, we did so surreptitiously.)

Of the three workshops I took, my favorite was "Facing the Facts." We learned to  draw faces. Yep, you read that right:  d-r-a-w! When asked, we all agreed that we couldn't draw and especially, not faces. Surprise, not only could we, we did! Take a look:

Dina demonstrating

Left: drawn; Right: painted

The next four faces are by some of the class participants:

Dina told us that she'd only been drawing faces for about a year and a-half...since being inspired by the book: 100 Girls on Cheap Paper by Tina Berning. So, in 2012, Dina also drew 100 faces (and many more)...and challenged us to do the same. We did draw at least three during the class - guess that only leaves 97 to go...

When I got home Saturday afternoon, as I'm wont to do, I did an Amazon search for a) the book (my used but in mint condition is on its way) and b) a web search on drawing faces - lots of great fodder out there. I, too, am inspired to draw at least 100 faces this summer. How about you? Want to join me? If so, please leave a comment and/or if you attended the class, let me know that also and share with us your take on the experience.

In my next post, I'll share some more faces...and also, some photos from Dina's encaustic tag book class. 

(a face in progress...)

Cheers~
Honoré