hi all,
It has been quiet for some time, because besides the fair and some assignments, I was doing the e-course of
Lilla Rogers, MATS, make art that sells.
The one who got me curious about this e-course was,
Miriam Bos, from
Bos illustrations. She took part A earlier and saw what she was doing with it and loved it. I thought it could be the next step in the direction of taking my art more seriously.
This course, part A, took 5 weeks and we now are having a blog-tour about our experiences and the work we made and still are. My blog-buddies for today are :
Ohn Mar Win and
Diane Neukirch.
It was a flood of information, hard work, but so much fun to do.
The course took 5 weeks, every week with another market and subject to work on.
The weeks started with ICONS, then halfway we got the real deal and on Sundays we had to submit our assignment.
The first eye opener and most important one for me, even as a traditional artist, was to work as much as possible in icons, to practice the subjects plus you could mix them up into a design at a later point, traditional or digital.
Week1: Fabric, berries and Pyrex casserole
I made a paisley kind of icon with mistletoe and the lid of a casserole in mistletoe-design. I found it hard and perhaps tried to hard, but was glad I could meet up with the deadline.
this week I found out that I really needed to update my skills to work digital, something to pick up after the class.
Week2: Home decor, bromelias. plate design.
Second thing I learnt, artists don't have favourite colours they work in all colours. So took the challenge in using the given colour palette and played with it. Had lot's of fun with this assignment. The bromelias became not the main icons but loved the over all look.
Week3: childrenbook's illustration.
This was a bummer for me, because I had to finish stuff up for a fair I was attending and couldn't finish this assignment.
But found out, although had a hard time with it, I'll live ;).
week4: Wall art, abstract and flowers
Started off this week with great enthusiasm, but was at some point scared and too afraid to ruin it, messed with the lettering and took the lesson from Lilla, don't try to find the most perfect work, that way you run the possibility to get never finished and you'll keep starting over and over again, so finish what you have in the best possible way. I think this is a wise lesson.
Week5: gift market, super lush zipper pouch
Already the last week, we had to search for our collection, I don't have certain collections, but collect all different kind of things, memories. I was cracking my head about it, what to do, then it hit me. The third week I had made a flamingo in class, or as a classmate said: glamingo. So started off with her and what I could do more, a little scene popped in my mind, about her in around 1920, Paris, on the road or just arriving with a ton of bags... Hand painting took a lot of work, so decided to leave the car in a silhouette and start cracking my head with photoshop ;) Again I was glad I made it in time, had so much fun with it, but also knew I still have so much to learn.
Those 5 weeks were intense, emotional, nerve wrecking, but so much fun and challenging to do. I learned tons of Lilla and loved the guidance of Beth in the process and am so thankful to have met so many lovely people all over the world with the same passion, making what you love: ART.
When time is a bit less busy, I want to rework all of the assignments and reread all the lessons and information again. In between I'm doing an on-line lettering course and going to the library to get me some books about photoshop. So when part B starts, I will have more to explore and to work with.
So a big thank you for Lilla, Beth, Paul, and the classmates.
Miriam Bos for helping me on the side and supporting me all the way through.
And my husband and children to put up with me those 5 weeks, living like in a cocoon ;).
You can find the urls of the other mates at the bottom of this post, make sure you take a look at their work and experiences as well.
Enjoy! love, Andrea
Tina Koyama
