CREATE Revisited

Back in August my BFF and I attended CREATE Chicago, a mixed media retreat.  Each year we say that we are going to be very selective about the classes we sign up for, but once the catalog comes out we lose all self-control.  This year I took 5 classes and my BFF took 8.

A last minute choice was the “Dream House” class with artist Cindy Wunsch.  I used 2 10x10 canvases to paint my figurative dream house (not literal dream house).  The process started with collage on the canvas using fabric, paper, and ephemera.

The next step was to paint the background.  Cindy’s technique is to apply the acrylic paint using a paint chip as a brush.  The paint chips are made of thick paper and that prevents the paint from getting into all the cracks, leaving some of the collage to show through.  And paint chips are free!

Additional paint can be layered over the background.  We also added some spray paint using a stencil and some silver leaf.  Ephemera can be added as a top layer as well.  Finally the whole thing is sealed with resin, a process that Cindy did for us overnight.  I was so excited to see the results the next morning! 

 

My pictures express my belief that life should be an adventure
and I don't think of "home" as a physical place.

I love my paintings and I love the ones my BFF made as well.  

My BFF's "houseboat" that carries her whole family.

My BFF wasn’t so excited about the prospect of taking this class because she thought it would be too “touchy-feelly”  (since it was all about expressing your desires for safety, security, and growth through an imaginary house).  In the end, though, she loved the process and she loved her product, luckily for me.

What do you imagine when you think of your "dream house?"

- christina