Art: Just have to do it sometimes

"Containment" - collage/mixed media

I was inspired to "just create something" after Friday's local Art Walk here in Grand Junction. Specifically, Faye Timmerman Traudt's three dark gray oils on birch at the Oakley Gallery, Elise's all-red acrylic on yupo at +1 Gallery, and the collages at The Art Center all caught my attention reminding me that it has been too many months since I last sat at my art table.

The past few weeks have been somewhat overwhelming: the outrageous heat, the fires, growing business, moving to our new offices, looming deadlines, a lot of new and interesting observations and discoveries.

Apparently all of this in combination is reflected in the piece I ended up assembling this weekend. I had to use what I had around the house: a lone piece of yupo, some metalic acrylic paint, a foil yogurt top, a piece of textured red paper, a dab of pearl-x powdered pigment, a shiney piece of confetti that Faye picked up for me at a Bette Midler concert, netting from a grapefruit sack, and a piece of turquoise from a broken earring.

I'm calling it "containment" for now. I still can't decide though on its orientation: I turn it all four angles and they all seem to be the right one. Odd.

Glad we went for First Friday. Glad I used creative time and space to channel some stress and overwhelm. Feel much better as a result. Whew. I can focus again. Art. Just have to do it sometimes.

I have two pieces in the members show at the Art Center!

Oh my goodness! I was so nervous but excited dropping off the two art pieces for the Art Center's members exhibit that opens this Friday evening.

I decided to take the plunge and create bigger pieces per artist and teacher Dianna Fritzler for the exhibit. And it turns out, I loved it! I don't know why I fought it so long and hard!

"Rail Tales" Collage on canvas

The first piece, Rail Tales, was inspired on a Saturday morning at the train station downtown Grand Junction; daughter Melody standing in the doorway of her train car.

That inspiration stayed with me as she sent occasional text messages and photos along the way: Glenwood, Denver, Chicago, and several stops in Pennsylvania. It was her first train excursion and she had a wonderful experience.

"Mom, seriously, this is the way to travel!" Considering she was annoyed when she first learned she would have to take the train rather than fly. Tsk tsk. "You were so right!" Don't hear that very often!

It is a collage with painted brass, powdered pigments, cornhusk (from a really good tamale actually), and alcohol ink on yupo.

The ground is canvas painted wiht copper, gold, antique gold, and ochre metallic paints. I like this piece!

The second piece I put in the show is called, "Quiver." As I was making it, my husband walked past and said, "oh, a quiver of arrows?" I looked at it and thought, yes of course, it does give that sense!

"Quiver" Collage on yupo

I had such fun with the metallic paint on Rail Tales that I decided to stay in the copper metallic theme for the second one.

The ground is antique copper metallic paint on yupo. The collage is made up of cork, painted yogurt top, and of course cut-ups of some of my smaller alcohol inks on yupo, sticks I rescued from the trash bin at collage artist (and teacher) Gayle Gerson's  house during the Rocky Mountain Collage Society workshop on Cornell Boxes.

I smooshed the cork into the wet paint on the yupo before it dried then turned it over to give that mottled effect with the metallic on the cork. I attached the sticks to the cork with scraps of waxed linen thread from our bookmaking projects.

When I accidentally got some of the copper metallic paint on a piece of netting it was love at first mistake! I love tactile art and have sooo wanted to incorporate it someway into my art pieces. I tied the netting to the piece using the same waxed linen threads that I used to attach the sticks to the cork.

Lovin' these metallic paints and inks!!!!! And I am so thankful that we have an Art Center that opens up to member artists -- including us beginners -- from time to time. We are soooo fortunate!

Small collage called "Industrial Evolution"

"Industrial Evolution." Collage 8"x10"

The art piece is only 8" x 10" but it is a step on the road to making bigger art pieces per my homework assignment from artist Dianna Fritzler.

"Go bigger," she said after learning that all my art pieces are only 5" x 7".

I like making the smaller pieces because I can do them in one sitting while thinking or whatnot.

It is a collage using cut shapes from my little alcohol ink art pieces on yupo paper, bits of brass scraps (that I painted), powdered pigments, and some netting from something (I can't remember where I got the netting).

The ground is a mix of copper and antique copper metallic paint on yupo. It was fun!

GV Magazine, Melody, and Coptic-stitched books

The December issue of Grand Valley Magazine is on the newsstands and subscriptions on their way to readers. The comeback has been nice. I haven't blogged since early October because we had to create a sample issue followed immediately by the November re-launch issue. And of course right after that we were in production on the December issue. Whew. The reception has been wonderful.

I do maintain a GV Magazine blog on topics relating to the magazine at grandvalleymagazine.com/blog/ but I have missed writing my personal blogs here!

Daughter Melody is living with us right now and doing really well. She also helps out at the office and is even doing a little photography for the magazine too. We're so blessed to have her home and getting healthy.

Coptic Stitched book I made in the bookmaking class.

Bob and I so enjoyed the bookmaking class taught by Maxine Buchholtz we took together at the Art Center from mid-September to mid-October.

We made a Coptic stitched book (my favorite;  I even wrote a little ditty about it in the current issue of the magazine), a leather wrapped book, and a mini leather book.

Maxine is a master of handmade books. Such an honor to be taught by her.

I use this book as my "art notes" journal. I also put my small alcohol ink paintings in there. I used a handmade paper with leaves between the paper layers (I did NOT make the paper) over the davey board. The thread is a 4-ply waxed linen thread. Took six needles threaded at the same time to do the stitching.

The technique allows the book to lay flat when open. The technique is quite ancient as far as books go! I love the way the book looks, feels, and it is wonderful to write in. I want to make more but can't remember how to start it, ugh. I'll have to get a review from Maxine.

My latest alcohol ink and collage pieces

"Moon Over Red Rocks" by Krystyn Hartman

I attended an excellent artist marketing workshop taught by popular Western Colorado artist Dianna Fritzler late last month and my homework per Dianna is to make a 16x20 piece.

Becauase I'm not sure what to make that big, I am making some smaller pieces with the bigger piece in mind.

This one with the dark and cloudy night sky over the red rocks is an idea I'm considering for the big 16x20 piece. The moon in the upper right is actually silver metallic, but its hard to tell in the photo. The dark red is a lot more vivid than came through in the photo.

I'm also making smaller pieces to use as covers for the handmade books we're learning to make in Maxine Bucholtz's bookmaking class.

The black tree with cranberry flowers that will be used for a cover on a handmade book was inspired by the two rhinestones.



Book cover with rhinestones

I had the two rhinestones and wanted to incorporate them into something so I chose the black, purple, and cranberry alcohol inks for the piece, then added the silver metallic circle (an orange juice bottle top), and the two rhinestones. And voila!

I will make the book that it will cover after we get through the bookmaking class. I want to do the coptic stitch book for this one. We've learned three book stitches so far.

Love the class! My husband and I are taking the class together, which is wonderful!

Hope we do another coptic stitch book in the class because I can't remember how to start the stitches. I remember what to do once started, but just can't remember how to start it. We have three more classes left so if we don't cover it again, I'm going to ask Maxine in the last class to show me again!

I've gone alcohol ink crazy!

"Chili Glut"

I made five more pieces using the alcohol inks over the past few weeks! I still can't believe how much I'm lovin' this!

Yesterday was the monthly get together of the Grand Valley Art Students League at the Art Center. I went in with a blank piece of yupo paper and my little box of inks and, admittedly, I mostly visited with the other artists and looked at the "wood" exhibit throughout the gallery for the first hour, then stared at my blank yupo for another 15 minutes before put ink to paper.

This is the piece I made, starting with chilis. I'd been hankering to use the black ink, so decided the jar had to be black.

The silver circle is an orange juice bottle top that I painted half black. I'm learning!

It was so great to have Sara Oakley and Faye Timmerman-Traudt there to answer questions! They are so terrific! We all had such fun!

This month's "practicum" was taught by Daphna Russell, who was in a particularly chipper mood because she'd just made a major sale!

"Dreaming"

My mother and I took Daphna's one-day workshop on clay sculpture back in June, so it was fun to hear her again -- she is so funny!

Overall, as always, I love the league's monthly sessions!

I painted the little tree with the purple metallic circle in it late the ohter night; I was just feeling purple and painted the underside of a Pelligrino foil top.

Then thought, hmmm, what to do? So I created the sky and tree for that little purple circle and voila!

I created the butterfly piece while praying for my daughter Melody, sending her love and strength for her continued journey through a challenging transition.

"Reaching Melody"

The butterfly was created on a separate piece of yupo, then I cut it out and added it to the background, then painted a large yogurt top purple and added that.

I call this one, "Reaching Melody."

The tryptic (three side-by-side related pieces) was created a little at a time over the past two weeks while watching the Olympics -- I couldn't help but want to paint with a sense of celebration! Celebration, energy, and lots and lots of medals of course!

"Celebration"

I call it "Celebration," but what else could it possibly be called?

We're watching the closing ceremony of the Olympics as I post this. I am so going to miss the Olympics, sigh; its been such a beautiful world peace break from all the political hostility. Sigh.

The adobe house is the result of trying to paint an adobe house. I just couldn't get the color right! I tried blending orange and latte, but the orange completely overwhelmed the latte!

"Adobe"

Wendy Videlock, who is an amazing artist who specializes in alcohol inks, told me that each ink color will behave differently. And she was so right about that!

I think that covers my latest pieces!

I don't know how much time I'm going to have to make art over the next few months, but am determined to make time as I can! There is just something so incredibly fulfilling in the creative process! Gotta do it!

GV Mag Arts Leadership Team official

I'm thrilled about adding an arts leadership team for selecting the featured artists in each issue of the new Grand Valley Magazine.

Kay Crane, Sara Alyn Oakley, Terry Shepherd, and Steve Traudt will coordinate efforts in selecting the featured artists, as well as emerging artists for each issue.

All four are respected artists, teachers, and gallery managers and have a very real sense of the who-is-who and doing-what in the arts in our greater community.

Kay Crane, artist and photographer, manages the Blue Pig Gallery in Palisade and teaches classes at the Art Center in Grand Junction. Kay was part of the original GV Magazine core team as photo editor, writer and photographer. Having had the honor and pleasure to work with her for several years, Kay was first on my list! Not only is she talented, but she is wonderful to work with and an amazing team player.

Sara Alyn Oakley, artist and teacher, owns the Oakley Gallery downtown Grand Junction. She also runs the Artists' Colony and is founder of the Grand Valley Art Students League. I got to know Sara through the Students League and was completely blown away by her talent, leadership, and commitment to the arts in our community.

Terry Shepherd, artist-in-residence at the Art Center in Grand Junction is all about clay. He also teaches and has the patience of a saint when it comes to helping budding art students. I feel that Terry is the quintessential representative of the clay arts in our community.

Steve Traudt, photographer and teacher, has a reputation not only for exquisite photography, but for his approachable style. Steve taught at Colorado Mesa University (when it was Mesa State College) for 18 years. I became familiar with Steve's work when we featured him in GV Magazine. And have since learned of his friendly disposition and love of teaching.

I am so excited about this team's collaboration for selecting the featured artists/photographers and emerging artists/photographers for each issue of the new GV Magazine. We will introduce them and their signature pieces in the relaunch issue of the magazine this November. It is such an honor to have them on the team in this capacity!

Artist surprise trade and beautiful moment!

I had the most amazing thing happen Saturday! I went to the Art Center to pick up my art from the Instructor-Student exhibit and while walking through the back in the clay area, there were several clay artists working at a table, chatting. I stopped because a beautiful platter caught my eye.

Platter by Caroline McDaniel

"This is beautiful," I said to no one in particular.

"Oh thank you," the woman at the end of the table responded.

"Did you create this?" I asked, lightly touching the platter. "I love the blue in the center and all the imprints around it."

"Wow, thank you," the woman smiled, then asked, "do you want it?"

I quickly pulled my hand back from the platter. "What?"

She smiled, "do you want it?"

Tears immediately filled my eyes. "Seriously?"

"Yes, no one has ever cried over one of my pieces before; I would love for you to have it."

I just stood there in stunned silence, not knowing what to do or say.

"I would be honored," I said, picking it up carefully. "Um, I'm new at this whole art-making thing, but can I make something for you? I am learning how to work with alcohol inks; what colors do you like?"

"Purple. Purple and green," she said, pointing to her purple and green plaid hat.

We exchanged contact information, and she went back to her clay and I left the Art Center with this lovely platter and completely overwhelmed by the whole incident.

"Caroline's Treehouse" by Krystyn Hartman. Alcohol ink on yupo

Her name is Caroline McDaniel. She is so cool! I worked on this piece for her over the past few days, starting of course with purple. Its similar to the "Treehouse" piece I did, which I really enjoyed doing so thought I'd try a similar piece for Caroline.

My mother and her artist friend visiting from Texas dropped by while I was working on it and her friend suggested I try painting the silver metallic circles wiht the inks, which had not occurred to me! So, I painted the circle with the orange to give a shiny sun-like effect.

I stuck a red feather over the top of the chili ristra too, to give it more texture. I do love texture! So, I'm calling this piece, "Caroline's Treehouse," and can't wait to give it to her. I hope she likes it!

Making art while writing ... in my head

"Amber" by Krystyn Hartman.

Ended up doing two pieces today while writing my column for this week. Again, I am hooked on working with these alcohol inks on yupo paper. Can't get enough, apparently.

I made this one, a very green tree with a big silver circle in the center, which I call "Amber."

The circle is the shiny top from a Jello snack pack that I brought back from Nebraska a few weeks ago. I included it in this piece because the Jello was shared among family when we were in Nebraska and I wanted as many family elements in this piece as possible. Of course, a very leafy tree is also very representative of family. It was important to include a lot of family elements in this piece.

I made this one for my friend who is moving to a new city to begin a new life. She's nervous right now; this is a challenging transition for her, but I know she will do well. She is strong, smart, beautiful and, well, she's just fabulous.

I also felt the need to make a piece featuring a lemon tree. As with the other piece, this one has a family connection for me.

"That Lemon Tree" by Krystyn Hartman.

I actually wrote most of my column today (in my head of course) while painting the lemon tree. (I still need to get the column out of my head and onto paper, but that should go pretty quick now that I know what I'm writing.)

Lemonade is the name of the yellow ink I used for the lemons. I didn't realize that was the name of the color; I just grabbed the bright yellow. When I'd finished and was putting the inks back in the tin, the label caught my eye. How appropriate!

I started to add more to the piece, but there was something about the simplicity of it that just felt right and stayed my brush.

Overall, had a very nice day painting family trees and writing (in my head)!  Okay, better get my column to paper already!

I call this piece "Treehouse"

I still can't believe I lived 50 years without making art. I can't believe how incredibly fulfilling is the process. No matter how it turns out, the process is indescribable. The clay class I took at the Art Center a few years ago opened my eyes, but the collage class earlier this year unleashed something in me, meaning, an overwhelming need to make art, to create. I can't explain it; just that I have to do it. (Well, seems that after a week or so of not working on a piece, I just have to make time to do it.)

"Treehouse" by Krystyn Hartman. Alcohol ink on yupo paper.

This is a piece I finished yesterday. I call it "Treehouse." My favorite part of the process was painting the chili ristra. I started with three chilis then couldn't stop! Had I started with the chilis rather than finished with them, I likely would have filled the entire piece with them! I had no intention of adding chilis to the piece when I started; shoot, I didn't even think to add them until the very last! Oh, the moon is actually the top off a bottle of orange juice. I like incorporating "found objects" into my pieces.

I write my column on Wednesdays/Thursdays, so I'm going to try painting a lemon tree while thinking about my column for this week. I'm going to write about the Olympics and how it is the one event that brings the whole world together to celebrate the beauty and strength of human performance; an event of common ground. I so need that right now as I'm truly sick of the political venom and horrendous killings; just sick of it. I'm excited to write about the Olympics in my column for this week.

And, through the art process, I've realized that my brain calculates, ponders, organizes and all that while I paint. I know, how cool is that?

More art using alcohol ink!

I had a bit of free time while visiting family in Nebraska this weekend, which means I was able to sneak in a little art time.

"Roots" by Krystyn Hartman. Alcohol Ink on Yupo

My husband's youngest sister was in the hospital when we arrived and was eating a yogurt when we walked into her room. (She was released the next day and is doing much better.) I told her that I brought some of the alcohol inks with me and she asked if I would paint something for her. Seeing the shiny yogurt top on the table next her, I told her yes of course then asked for the yogurt top.

Here is the piece I did for her, incorporating the shiny yogurt top, complete with sell-by date, into the piece.

Thinking family, and that her brother (my husband), and other two sisters were all together, I decided to paint "roots" in the piece over and around the yogurt top.

There is no art supply store in Chadron (if there is, we sure couldn't find it), so I found a nice little frame for $4 at Walmart and voila! A personalized piece for her and good practice for me.

"Dichotomy" by Krystyn Hartman. Alcohol Ink

On a roll, and eager to do more, I decided to try another piece the next evening. It was so blasted hot out that I was reminded of the bare red slick rock in our high desert of Western Colorado but was also thinking how refreshing it would be to jump into some cool fresh water.

The result of that mood? Desert rock, a lone juniper, and thundering waterfall. I named this one "dichotomy" because of the beautiful contrast yet harmony between the hot desert rock and cool water falling in the distance; from the vantage point of the rock.

I do so love painting with these inks! I may try something more abstract next. Something purple, I'm thinking... Of course, by the time I get around to making another one, my color mood may have changed!

Great fun. I'm glad I had the chance to do some art while away because I have a super busy few weeks ahead so it is doubtful I will have much time to do art for a little while. I take advantage when I do have time!

My first art piece with alcohol inks!

I am completely hooked on this medium: alcohol inks on yupo paper! Artist and poet Wendy Videlock gave a demonstration of the inks on the yupo yesterday at the Blue Pig Gallery in Palisade. (Wendy's alcohol ink paintings are extraordinary; she is the featured artist at the Blue Pig this month!) I sat there and watched and asked questions for about 45 minutes; taking copious notes! She is delightful! I was completely fascinated, mesmerized, hypnotyzed!

This morning, I dashed over to the Artists Haven for the basic supplies and this afternoon I broke out my notes, opened up the inks. Wendy said, "play with the inks at first, each color behaves differently, so get familiar with them -- and have fun." So, that's exactly what I did and I am completely hooked!

"For My Uncle" by Krystyn Hartman. Alcohol Inks on Yupo.

Here is my first art piece using the alcohol inks on the yupo paper! Fun!

I used six colors (Brand: Jim Holtz Adirondack), applied them using H2O brush pens, spritzing the piece occasionally with acohol blending solution.

I am so in love with this medium!

Can't wait till I'm more familiar with it so I can incorporate objects like sticks, stones, and metal into the pieces. I just love it!

Creativity is crucial, not only for culture, but for our survival

Creativity represents not only beauty and freedom of expression, but innovation, progress, and survival of our very species.

Of all the related species of Homo — Homo floresiensis, habilis, heidelbergensis, denisovans, neanderthalensis, sapiens — only we sapiens remain. The Neanderthals had bigger brains, but they didn’t progress the way we did.

"The Neanderthals devised neither visual art nor personal ornamentation. Oddly, throughout this static history, they had a larger brain than sapiens,” wrote biologist Edward O. Wilson in his book The Social Conquest of Earth. He writes that Neanderthal tools remained essentially unchanged for thousands and thousands of years despite the extreme challenges and opportunities presented in their environments, while sapiens, on the other hand, were highly creative.

The differences between our two species are clear, but scientists don’t know if the lack of Neanderthal creativity is the result of something missing in their DNA or a cultural agreement not to change anything. Maybe their larger brains remembered all too clearly the disasters of taming fire and determining which berries were poison. Or maybe it was the other way around. Maybe our sapiens brains are given to longer memories.

“A group with members who could read intentions and cooperate among themselves while predicting the actions of competing groups would have an enormous advantage,” Wilson wrote, “... the crossing over of a threshold level of cognitive ability that endowed Homo sapiens with a dramatically high capacity for culture.”

We are an innovative, culturally rich, and complex species. We instinctively understand the importance of creativity when it comes to our very survival. Creativity is necessary for innovation. But in some people living today geneticists have found small traces of Neanderthal DNA. Maybe they’re the ones who don’t understand the importance of the creative spirit. Maybe not. No matter.

Here’s to all the Homo sapiens who recognize, support, and champion the creative and cultural arts in our communities, nation, and around the world.

This post is excerpted from my weekly column in The Daily Sentinel as published in the Sunday, May 13, 2012, edition of the newspaper.

The art pieces I'm putting in the Instructor-Student art show are (finally) framed!

"Seeking" by Krystyn Hartman. Collage-Mixed Media

Exciting event for me! My first framed art pieces! They look so "real" framed! Gayle Gerson, the instructor from the Collage/Mixed Media class I took a few months ago with my mom, suggested we students participate in the upcoming Instructor-Student art show at the Art Center here in Grand Junction.

When she first mentioned it, I thought, "yeah, right." But the more art I create, the more I enjoy it, and thought, why not?

This weekend, I selected three pieces to frame for the show. My husband helped me spray mount and frame them. (He patiently photographed them for me too -- despite the lighting challenges in our living room in late evening.)

Seeing them framed was such a strange feeling! They look real! Here are two of them.

"Recovering" by Krystyn Hartman. Collage-Mixed Media

The opening reception for the Instructor-Student exhibit is Friday, July 6, at the Art Center from 7-9 p.m. (Part of Grand Junction's monthly First Fridays art events.) The exhibit runs through the end of the month. I've never had art in a show before, so I'm a little nervous and intimidated (artist Gayle creates collage masterpieces -- she is amazing), but what the heck?

We have the option of making the pieces in the show for sale or not. I'm going to make mine available for sale, just in case?

I am really enjoying creating art pieces in collage and mixed media. I like adding bits of wood, metal, and wire to them. And I love using the powdered pigments in my pieces.

Oh, and circles. I love starting with circles in my pieces. Of course, that's probably that science-nut connection.

Grand Valley Art Students League is simply amazing!

I joined the Grand Valley Art Student's League a few weeks ago and attended my first "session" Saturday. The "sessions" are held at the Art Center the second Saturday of every month from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cost is only $40 a year. The league was founded by popular artist Sara Alyn Oakley of the Oakley Gallery and the Artists Colony here in Grand Junction. That's all I knew going in to my first session. Oh, and I was told to just bring my "kit."

So, I packed up my "kit," which is a lightweight Stanley tool box on wheels, and arrived a few minutes early, so I was able to secure an end space at one of the long rows of tables. Artists were setting up easels, putting on...

The piano, basic walls and floor of my little music video cafe

My clay stop-motion music video project is underway. As you can see, I have the floor and walls of the little set done!

I started out with the idea of a living room in a house where the pianist (Mike), sax-man (Warren), and I (vocalist) are rehearsing, but when I saw the little black and white tile squares for only $2.40 per square foot at Home Depot, I knew it had to be a small cafe instead of a living room. That tile just screamed cafe to me. And knowing I only needed six of those tile squares because the whole thing is only 3' wide by 2' deep, how could I resist?

I cut the three walls from old Grand Valley Magazine cover posters (felt strange cutting them up like that); my husband sprayed them with wall texture stuff and painted them yellow. I have no idea what color cafe walls are supposed to be, but yellow paint is what we had, so this cafe's walls are yellow.

The table cloths were cut from...

Those frivolous nonessential arts

Ever wonder why the arts are the first to see their funding cut during unstable times? Ever wonder where the idea that arts are “nonessential services” comes from? I used to wonder that too.

The movie The Sound of Music had a profound effect on me as a child. I was too young certainly to understand its climate of politics and war and all that (I was only five or six), but what did take hold of me was the undeniable power of music as a survival tool. For all their...

Wire armature for clay figures: My first!

My first armature wire structure!

We stayed with artist friends Kitty and Bill Vielehr at the Aspen ShortsFest and while talking about my little project to make an animated video to go with one of my music recordings, Bill said, "you'll want to make an armature for your characters."

What? I had no idea what he was talking about. Bill is an internationally renowned sculptor and turns out he used to teach figure classes for animation students. I know!

Bill's sketch in my notebook.

He started to describe how to make a wire armature for the clay figures, then grabbed a notepad and a pencil. I pushed the notepad away and stuck my notebook in front of him! He drew as he talked. I couldn't believe my luck! A lesson from a master! Me, a novice; no, a complete and total beginner. As you can imagine, I hung on every word!

A few highlights of the lesson...

Playing with clay: Meet Arliss

Arliss with hair and scarf.

Well, I finally ripped into the clay and made a practice head. My first attempt!

This is Arliss in her latest form. Below are the various stages getting her to this latest form.

I found two pearl-ish buttons in my button box, so used those for her eyes. I just used a blue sharpy to color the pupils.

Her hair is a curl snipped from an old wig I wore in a melodrama about 9 or 10 years ago.

I had such fun playing with the clay!

Next, I think I'll work on a body and little clothes for her. Hoping to carve out a little time this weekend to do that!

1. The lump of clay

2. Hello, I'm Arliss.

3. Hair and a hat of flowers?

4. Not liking this at all.

5. Really? Ouch.

6. Oh yes, this will do!

Clay: Taking That First Step

Modeling clay value pk

Today, I bought modeling clay. An 18 color pack for $14.99; a first step in my new art project.

As a kid, I loved playing with clay. About two years ago or so, I took a clay class taught by Nina Williams at the Art Center here in Grand Junction. She creates the most amazing minature clay things.

The classes were once a week over six or seven weeks for three or four hours or so. I enjoyed playing with the clay even moreso than I did as a kid!

The art projects in the class were so cool. The whole process, from squishy clay to shaping and molding to firing and glazing, was fascinating! ...