On Line Workshops & the December Hare

I am falling behind!  Haven't spent anytime on the Dog Journal!  I had said I would try to do a page a week but it just isn't happening.  I am currently taking an online course - Monoprint Collage with Jane Davies.  This is a six week course and it is entirely up to you how much or how little you want to do.  Once a week we receive a written lesson plan and a video demonstration. You go through the weekly lesson and post your work and comment on it according to the guidelines Jane has set out. I have taken other online courses from other instructors and I would have to say that the online workshops I have taken from Jane (okay.....all that are currently offered on her website!) are heads and tails above anything else.  Jane comments on everything you post on the workshop blog (only open to participants of the workshop), offers constructive comments and answers any and all questions. Check out Jane Davies webpage for more info on her workshops and artwork - you won't be disappointed! Jane's videos' are also worth checking out, great demo's to get the creative juices going! And yes - I have learned so much from Jane and really do feel it has strengthened my art practice!

The Hare image is from a photo I took while on a week long workshop at Red Deer College (Red Deer, Alberta). She was enjoying a snack of some grass and wasn't too bothered by the clicking of the camera!  It is so nice to see them out and about, doing their thing. This is just a study. I had never used watercolour and acrylic paint together and I think it worked out okay. Not that keen on the background, so doing these smaller studies is extremely helpful. I am doing more 'studies' of images I would like to develop into larger work.  In the past I would have just gone straight to 'big'! And spent a lot of time struggling through the creative process!! Am enjoying the studies and taking the time to experiment with materials and techniques. Maybe in the New Year (hate to talk about that - seems a bit premature!) I will do a bigger picture. Want to exaggerate some of her features more - feet and ears - will have to do a few more drawings first though. 

9"X12"
Watercolour, Acrylic, stencils, white pencil
crayon, white gel pen and 6B graphite pencil
On Arches 140lb cold press watercolour paper