Sunday, January 15, 2012

Free Online Class

Three weeks ago I started a free online class sponsored by Strathmore Artist Papers. They have three classes available, visual journaling, watercolor sketching and FORCE drawing technique. Now, I'm not so good at the sketching and drawing, but I wanted to start off my year in a creative way and decided to take Traci Bautista's visual journaling class.

These classes have been very fun and each comes with a video and PDF of the techniques and media that Traci uses for her "Doodles Unleashed." Monday will be Lesson 3 for those of us who have started from the beginning. But....you can still register for the classes and start at the beginning and work through the last lesson. That's the great part about online classes, you can start at any time and work as fast or as slow as you feel comfortable working. There is a lot of help from Traci and the other students if you have any problems, so ask. We also have a Flickr group if you would like to take a look at what people have been doing.

Here are my attempts at the "doodles" that Traci is trying to teach us. Lesson One: Playful Printmaking

These are the steps it took to get to the final picture.
This is the final picture.
I didn't have the correct size paper, but had smaller sheets that I taped together to use as one sheet. I then took them apart when I completed the piece and now have journal covers. They look so different than the whole.
Now...start your year off with a free creative jump and try one of these classes that interest you. I don't paint, but I'm having fun playing with all the media that Traci has suggested for her classes. If you don't have everything, use what you have. That's what creativity is all about. Have Fun!

6 comments:

Lesley said...

This sounds really cool! I've been looking to take a class, this looks like a great jumping off point. It looks like you need to go here to register: http://www.strathmoreartist.com/workshop-reg.html

Debi K said...

Z'anne, Thanks for posting your finished piece, and how different the journal covers look once you cut the finished piece into quarters. Very cool. A class like this is the perfect "stretch and grow" for the New Year. Debi

Robin Olsen said...

Z'anne, these look great! I like have they have your own style and colors and do not look just like Traci's.

Z'anne said...

Thank You, Lesley. I tried to get to the register page for everyone, but it kept popping me up, even after I logged off. Silly technology!

I can't tell you how much fun this class is. Today, in lesson 3, we are doing some cool backgrounds as the first part and will finish up next week with painting faces on those backgrounds.
Come on and play!

Thank you, Debi and Robin! Everyone taking this class has so many different styles and I love to see how we all interpret Traci's techniques. :)

Dede Warren said...

Thanks for sharing this great source; it's always nice to learn new techniques and free online classes... especially nice!

Suzie said...

Had I just seen your finished piece, I would have never guessed how you made it Z'Anne. I love the complementary colors and the bold design. Very lively.