Two fabulous artists hosted a Christmas Lunch and Learn event this past weekend at Christine Pilkinton Studio, just in time to get us all in the mood for Christmas. I never thought about making art on canvas for Christmas, and this class has inspired me to do more! But first, I must frame the two I did from the class and hang them for the holidays!
The day began with fruit, muffins, hot tea and coffee and conversation. Then Jean Parker, an amazing mixed media teacher, directed us in making the first of our two projects for the day. We made a mixed media/collage with O Tannenbaum (the old song) as the inspiration. Jean makes it easy to become a great collage artist. She shares many insights in to what NOT to do, along with the many tips and techniques she has in her repertoire. She also brought "goodie bags" with samples and color charts and many other fun things.
Lunch was served following Jean's class. What an amazing spread it was, and we all enjoyed the festive table, set with Christmas dishes and lots of red and white decor. At lunch, Jean asked some fun art questions in exchange for our Christmas gift from them. That was a nice extra we hadn't planned on!
Following lunch, Christine Pilkinton, who hosted the event in her brightly lit studio, initiated a project of painting Christmas ball ornaments suspended on pine boughs. It was a fun project, and she showed us several examples of Christmas art for inspiration. She had a setup with ornaments lit so we could see how the reflective surfaces would look, making it easier to observe and paint. To speed the class along, we used acrylic paints because of their rapid drying characteristics. The final photo in the video is of me holding my ornament painting, and the video only lasts three and a half minutes. This well-done video (excellently photographed and put together by Christy Pilkinton) shows it all.
