Cynthia Shaffer

Golden Demo and Paints

Last Sunday, a handful of us painter types were invited to Studio Cresendoh to learn about Golden paints and to hear Chris Cozen talk about this wonderful product.

After I quick intro by Jenny Doh, Chris was off and demoing and playing with paint, glazes, pastes ans so much more ... my head was spinning right from the start!

Chris gave us a quick overview of how Golden paints came to be and how the quality and the care behind the products can truly be felt in every tube of paint they produce. She explained the difference between pigments that are mined from the earth and then talked about the colors that are developed in the lab ... I was amazed and loved hearing all this information. It all made so much sense and now I understand why some colors sort of glow and why some are flat.

Golden provided a ton of paint samples and well as already prepared boards with their Fiber Paste and different Molding pastes slathered on them ... then we got to play!

So much fun and such great vibrant colors!

I brought with me a 12 x 12 inch canvas to play with and to add a bit of color so that that scary white canvas wasn't staring at me.

Here's Christy Nimeh, showing me her canvas she worked on ... how come hers looks all finished and pretty?

Mine, not so! After I came home that day, I couldn't stop playing and painting ... not sure where this will end up, but for not, this is what it looks like.

And here's JenEve ... posing just a little once the camera was aimed at her! Too cute.

And Jenny, forever the art collector ... purchasing one of Chris Cozen's beautiful works!

Thanks for a great morning Jenny and Chris!

 

 

 

A glimpse of our day .....

 

Yes, we went outside and braved the rain ... for just few minutes.

And captured some great photographs of the architecture and of the rain frozen in time.

I'm not sure what everyone was shooting here, but I couldn't resist taking this shot.

Cynthia Flores was such a beautiful model and this photo is so fabulous with all the brick, I had fun playing with it and applying different presets.

And back inside we were down on our belly's shooting up, at the ceiling, down at our shoes and at strange and fun angles of each other.

Here's Christine Schulz checking out a capture or two.

We talked about different types of lenses ... the wide angle lens is great for capturing almost everyone sitting at these tables.

And my Lensbaby, sweet 35, tilt shift lens is fun to play with and gives some pretty cool effects.

And here's a photo using my favorite lens to date ... 50mm f/1.2 ... it really doesn't get much better than this! Well, that is until I get my hands on that 85mm lens that I have been eyeing for a while now!

And what a great way to end the day ... Dinner at Memphis!

Thank you Janet Higley, Deborah Ambrosino, Jenelle Van de Mortel, Amber Anderson, Kerri Bradford, Cindy Lantier, Nancy Peevey, Cynthia Flores, Christine Schulz, and last but by no means least ... Rita Reade!

 

The Studio is Ready!

Photography 101 class is tomorrow and the studio is all set up and ready to go!

And with a little luck the rain will stop right around 2:00 so we can go outside and get some great photos of the neighborhood.

In the studio I have a few different vignettes set up ready to be shot.

And then at the tables I have small pieces of art, cookies and flowers ... just waiting to be photographed.

If this group of ladies is anything like the last class ... everyone will love playing with this set,making this fabulous bokeh.

So ... stayed tuned and I'll post some photos of our fun day together.

Carving Rubber Stamps : : A Duet With Jen Osborn

I've been carving rubber stamps lately, something that I thought I would NEVER do ... but I have to tell you, it is SOOOO much fun. 

Yesterday I woke up to a text message from Jen Osborn, we are friends on facebook and from time to time we chat back and forth ... I love her art. There weren't any words in the message, just a photo of her 2 latest paintings. 

So fun don't you think? 

I got inspired ... and I loved her barn, tree and of course her signature skeleton head ... I decided to carve some rubber using her images as inspiration.

I know, I know ... the barn is falling over ... oh well, it happens.

So simple and yet soooo Jen!

 

Of course I couldn't well enoguh alone ... out came the Glimmer Mists.

 

So sweet don't you think? Love this one ... I couldn't stop stamping ........! 

Here's what you do:

Find a simple image that you like and simply sketch it out onto an eraser or this pink rubber. Next, using the smallest carving blade, outline the image and then cut out the details.

For larger shapes just use a scissor or a craft knife and cut out around the image, then carve out the interior details.

Thanks Jen for the inspiration! 

Happy carving.

 

Bokeh and Bees

The weather is soooo beautiful these days and the bees are out in full force! 

(50mm lens, 1/160 sec @ f/2.2, ISO 100, flower filter ON!)

In my backyard I have a few fruit trees ... a pink grapefruit, avocado (Yum, my favorite), an apple tree and a peach tree!

(50mm lens, 1/800 sec @ f/2.2, ISO 100, no filter.)

And let me tell you ... they are all in full bloom and the bees are hard at work pollinating and buzzing all around!

While I was shooting away here, I noticed all the nice bokeh, so I went and grabbed my flower filter that I made ... tutorial is here ... then went back out to shoot another round of the bees hard at work.

These filters are so much fun to shoot with. You can see the photos that have the filter and those that don't. 

Love this guy coming in for landing ... and that shadow ... so cute don't you think? Might have to go back out and shoot something else ....

There is a shot of one of the last stalks of Lavender, hanging around ... I might just have to paint this photo! I'm loving the colors!

Friday Featured Artist

I know I'm a bit behind here ...  but last Friday I was featured on Harmony Pypers blog as her Friday Feature Artist! Oh, this is me ... I needed a new head shot ... and check out my uniform ... I've worn it for 6 weeks straight and still loving it!

Anyways ...what a privilege it was to be interviewed by Harmony ... such a sweet, sweet soul!

I first met Harmony  a few months ago. A bunch of us had gathered to paint together at Studio Crescendoh.

The next time I spent time with Harmony was when she enrolled in my Photography 101 class. That's where I really got to know her ... what a doll and so driven to really figure out her camera and man oh man has she caught on ... her blog has such great energy now that she's shooting in manual mode! Oh, and she's funny too! Go read some of her posts!

Anyways ... check out her blog and her Friday Feature Artist interview ... I kind of just tell it like it is ... and so far nobody has been too offended. I don't think.

Jennifer Mercede : : Amazing Class!

Can I just tell you something? Jennifer Mercede's class this weekend was amazing. This was her first class she has ever taught and let me tell you ... it was amazing, and she was an amazing teacher!

This is the one painting I did finish ... and I love it! It's actually really big, like 30 x 30 inches. I loved all the doodling and and all the layers and then more layers ... then more doodling ... then we covered it all up and started again.

On Saturday, the morning started out with a few fun warm-up type games ... so fun!

then Jennifer talks with all a little about how the weekend was going flow ... and what we were to expect ... and she was constantly asking us if the pace was ok, or if she could help in anyway ... so sweet!

And in no time were all blind folded and had to doodle all over our big canvases! So fun.

I thought I had covered my entire canvas ... or that the pen was not working at all ... 

Next we were to pick just one color and slather it all over the canvas ... not paying any attention to what was being covered up.

Then came the doodling and mark making ... and random words, what ever words were popping into our head were to be written down.

Next ... more doodling and random painting dripping and splattered.

And most of this painting so far has been done with these random house paints that I picked up a Home Depot for little to no money!

I was really having fun with the doodling ... these marks were all made with my left hand!

And just about the time I was kind of liking my painting ... we had to cover up 90% of it with random paint! I cringed at first, but then fell in love with it again.

Of course there would be a final challenge ... we had just one hour to finish our paintings ... needless to say ... I was sweating at this point ... but I did it ... I even had a chance to get some advice from Jennifer on a few things that were not feeling right.  Finished with a few monents to spare and  I loved my painting all over again!

This is one other piece I started to work on ... but ran out of time ... not sure where it's headed!

And this piece is still in the works ... hmmmm ... What to do next? Maybe more doodling ... always a good thing to do when you're stuck! I need to remember that!

 

Tag Explorations

 

Crescendoh is featuring my tags this week ...

You can find the entire tutorial here in the Gallery section!

Enjoy and Happy Crafting!